VALDOSTA – COVID-19 couldn’t stop the Valdosta-Lowndes County Chamber of Commerce from bringing the 10th Annual Economic Summit to its members with the help of sponsor, Georgia Power and producer Event Point.

“Georgia Power is proud to be the sponsor of the 10th Annual Economic Summit,” said Joe Brownlee, Southwest regional director for Georgia Power.

When addressing the company’s role in economic development and providing the community with the event, Brownlee said Georgia Power set out to “educate and create hope.”

Betty Morgan, vice chair for business development, noted the event has taken place for 10 consecutive years.

“The purpose of the economic summit is to bring together our community and business leaders to better understand our local economy, how it is affecting our growth and ability to do business,” Morgan said.

Ninety-five viewers heard from five speakers from four different industries who delivered the outlook of their fields during times that can only be described as “business as un-usual.” Speakers included Ellen Hill (Valdosta Main Street), Franklin Bailey and Scottie Orenstein (Home Builders Association of South Georgia), Steven Reynolds (Ameris Bank) and Dr. Cynthia Tori (Valdosta State University – Langdale College of Business).

Event Point was no new player in the game. The Economic Summit typically takes place over lunch with the audience’s attention directed at a set of speakers on stage and large screens on all sides of the room monitored by Chris Shelton and his team at Event Point, chamber officials said in a statement.

“We knew it was not an option to gather for the event this year, but we still had to deliver this content to our members,” Morgan said. “With Event Point’s new set up, we decided to move forward with the presentation as a virtual experience.”

Event Point completely redesigned one room in its office to virtually bring an event. The setup is a mock stage featuring curtains draped behind up-lights, framing a podium and microphone. Four large digital monitors, an audio monitor and multiple cameras are across the room only visible to the speaker. 

Each speaker entered the studio individually as a safe practice where they were recorded live with a picture-in-picture display of their presentation.

Hill began the series of presentations with her take on the happenings in retail, most notably downtown, from a small business perspective. 

In a recent survey done by the National Main Street Center, 30% of small businesses across the country have never closed due to the pandemic, and 53% have now reopened.

“We have not lost one business in Downtown Valdosta due to COVID, which is something we are proud of,” Hill said. Because of Valdosta’s “Mask Up Valdosta” campaign, many businesses have taken extra steps to help reduce the spread of COVID-19 so they can remain open. 

More than half of Valdosta businesses have made requirements for employees and customers wear face masks and many have placed bottles of hand sanitizer in their entryways, chamber officials said. 

“We made sure that our social media pages were ready and available for our downtown businesses to get their message out,” Hill said.

Businesses, especially restaurants, have limited the capacity of customers or diners in their business at any given time. Many businesses have implemented curbside service, delivery options and outdoor seating and dining.

“Most of what we have seen downtown is curbside pickup, online e-commerce and outdoor business — sidewalk sales, for example,” Hill said. 

Some of the changes, though necessary, are cost prohibitive. Online operations, delivery services and touch-free technology can be costly for a lot of businesses. 

Hill directed her presentation to Black Friday operations and predicting turn out.

“More than one third of U.S. shoppers said that they would not shop in a store this Black Friday,” Hill said. “Seventy-five percent said that they plan to shop online.”

“Valdosta is looking forward to the Holiday Haul Crawl event this year, where shoppers are encouraged to shop local this holiday season as it is more important now than ever,” chamber officials said. 

The economic impact of housing in the Valdosta was presented next by Bailey and Orenstein of the Home Builders Association of South Georgia. 

“We believe that housing is central to American family life and critical to the thriving economy,” Orenstein said. “Amidst the current recession of the coronavirus pandemic, the housing industry is one of the few bright spots due to low inventory, low interest rates and pent-up demand. The industry is poised to lead the economy back to strength.”

Bailey followed with figures.

“Based on an 8% sales tax, I spent $64,000 in sales tax with one vendor this year,” he said. “Is the housing industry an economic impact? Most definitely.”

Orenstein said despite COVID-19, the housing market is at an all-time high since September 2006 due to low interest rates. There is, however, a manufacturer material shortage due to COVID-19 that has disadvantaged the industry and has driven the price structure up. 

Bailey and Orenstein said they are unsure when material costs will come back down to normal, but they are optimistic it will happen in the near future.

Reynolds entered the studio next. 

He discussed how COVID-19 has impacted community banking. In the spring of this year, the nation was struck by a wave of uncertainty. 

“Fellow bankers and I asked each other if this would be the beginning of the next Great Recession,” Reynolds said. 

As of now, banks are at the forefront of the economy and are expected to remain successful moving forward.

“Banks are very strong right now and plan to continue to support small businesses through this pandemic,” Reynolds said. “The small business industry is the lifeblood of any community and they have been affected greatly by COVID-19. PPP loans go hand in hand with banking in times like these. 

“In Lowndes County alone, there were 1,800 PPP loans closed and funded. Of those, 68% were closed by local community banks with a presence in Lowndes County.”

Reynolds concluded by stressing the importance of banking locally. Some of the benefits include local assistance, a personal relationship with a banker and access to a banker during non-business hours.

Tori concluded the event with the economic impacts that VSU has had on the Valdosta area. 

“From a quality of life perspective, Valdosta State faculty, staff, students and administrators engage in activities that improve our community,” Tori said. 

For example, the Dewar College of Education and Human Services provides a Sullivan literacy program, which offers one-on-one and small group literacy skill building activities for elementary school children.

The College of Arts provides the Peach State Summer Theatre and the Valdosta Symphony Orchestra.

The College of Science and Mathematics provides science camps for K-12 students during semester breaks and the summer months.

The Langdale College of Business students help local businesses create strategic marketing plans through experiential learning activities.

The athletic department provides national champion-caliber sporting events.

“The faculty, staff, and students volunteer thousands of hours each month in our community,” Tori said.

Along with these exceptional impacts on the community, the university also has an economic impact on the Valdosta area, she said.

“For the 2019 Fiscal Year, the economic impact of the university was around $383.5 million. This helped to employ 4,241 people,” Tori said.

Because of the university shutdown March through July due to COVID-19, the economic impact for Fiscal Year 2020 is suspected to be much less, she said.

“However, as the university opened this fall, we saw a return of activity,” Tori said.

Through efforts of the admissions office, student enrollment was increased by 10%, jumping to 12,455 students.

Lee McArthur, chairman of the chamber board of directors, concluded the event by thanking all speakers and sponsors involved. 

“The community that we live in is the best place to thrive and recover from all that we are walking through,” he said.

To watch a recording of the Economic Summit, visit ValdostaChamber.com/Webinars.