The biggest concern I had was the availability of wireless connections and cell-phone signals on Mackinac Island, and I was right to be concerned. I was pleasantly surprised to find so many unsecured wireless connections at businesses around the island, but the signals were definitely limited in strength and reach.

As for cell phones, well, you might be able to make a phone call or get your email or send and receive text messages on Mackinac Island, or you might not. I found that it wasn’t the provider or the model of cell phone that mattered – it really seemed much more dependent on which way the wind was blowing.

So, suffice it to say, thank goodness we decided to scale back what we planned on offering to blogs and tweets – sticking with text only saved us a lot of headaches and embarrassment the first time out.

Looking back, I think we could have done more by providing additional bloggers to expand upon what we were seeing at the conference. I’ve bugged my colleagues to write post-event blogs now, sharing some insights they may have that I didn’t.

Another big test involved in this concept was the idea of being able to flood Twitter with an almost constant stream of information. All-in-all the site performed well. I think I only received the “sorry, too many tweets at once” error three times in four days. That’s not too shabby considering how many tweets hit www.twitter.com at any given moment.

I’ve heard from a few people so far that they thought the service we provided was worthwhile and should be tried again. I think it was a big enough success that we will.

Of the comments I received, this one summed it up best: “It was great for those of us who were stuck here in Lansing to keep tabs on what was going on.”

Hey, go figure. That was the whole point!

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The conference attendees are petering out – you can feel it in the air. People aren’t as upbeat as they were when they arrived. They are probably feeling the effects of too much late-night networking.

It’s also raining today on the island, which tends to dampen everyone’s mood a bit. No long strolls in the sun and breeze from your hotel downtown to the Grand Hotel. No, instead you’re dealing with the sights, sounds and smells of a horse-drawn era.

But the stormy weather reference also pertains to what many consider the must-see discussion of the conference: the Big 4.

Every year, the Chamber hosts a panel discussion moderated by Paul W. Smith of WJR 760 AM that includes the elected leaders of Detroit, Wayne County, Oakland County and Macomb County.

Kudos to Paul W. for making Kwame Kilpatrick, Bob Ficano, L. Brooks Patterson and Bill Crouchman stay focused on a major issue facing the region that could be a poster child for dysfunction Southeast Michigan style.

I’m speaking of the need to expand Cobo Arena in Detroit. The discussion was intensified because of an announcement during the conference that if something isn’t done to address the space constraints, the folks running the North American International Auto Show may consider going elsewhere.

As Paul W. pointed out, Southeast Michigan got all excited about the Super Bowl being in Detroit and yet the NAIAS brings in $500 million every year and we can’t get the Big 4 to agree to do whatever it takes to keep it here.

When it came time for audience participation, a couple of people commented on the need for the four leaders to “set a better example.” Hopefully they got the message.

I was on Twitter during the entire session, so you can get play-by-play highlights at www.twitter.com/aribadler. Earlier tweets will provide you some insight into Gov. Granholm’s speech this morning as well.

Suffice it to say that folks in the audience during and after the session as well as those at lunch were frustrated by the constant in-fighting that occurs in the region. Mayor Kilpatrick probably said it best when he noted that it is an “angry region” and that if people don’t start relating to each other better, none of them will succeed.

Speaking of lunch, breaking bread with folks allows you to have a more casual conversation that gets you further than any official meeting ever could. I ended up at state Rep. David Palsrok’s table and I think the folks who joined us would agree with me.

The conference will take on a whole new flavor starting tonight and into tomorrow as the young professionals track gets into full swing. I instead will be looking forward to spending a day on the island that doesn’t involve wearing a name badge.

I’ll probably tweet some more while I’m out and about tonight and tomorrow so don’t forget to follow me on Twitter. And the JB&A team will update this blog with more entries once we’re all back home.

Next stop, a fudge store.

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The conference sessions are running hot and heavy today with lots of people racing from one to the next to hear all the latest ideas for the metro Detroit region.

There are a lot of good discussions being had between panelists and among the attendees before, during and after the sessions.

Perhaps even more telling, however, is how many people are not at the sessions but are, instead, networking one-on-one with folks to connect or reconnect. That’s important because as I’ve discovered over the years, media relations, public relations, government relations – they all have to do with relationships.

I sent some Twitter posts out today about what a haven for networking this policy conference is. During a 2-hour span, I said hello and chatted with folks from Gov. Granholm’s staff, Lt. Gov. John Cherry, Sen. Deb Cherry (D-Flint), Sen. Mark Jansen (R-Grandville), key folks at the Michigan Democratic Party, clients, potential clients and a handful of reporters.

That list is quite remarkable when you consider my background – it’s no secret I used to be the spokesperson for a Republican Senate Majority Leader and often sparred publicly with Democrats.

Some question – including some who are on the island right now – the validity of holding this function on Mackinac Island instead of somewhere in the Metro Detroit region. But when you’re here, you can truly get a sense for why it matters to get away from it all.

By pulling everyone out of the region you create neutral territory where folks from both sides of the political aisle can have a nice chat and maybe even jab each other with a few political commentaries but still laugh together – because they aren’t defending any home turf.

You can have people from all walks of life – business, media, public relations, local government, state government, federal government – and you can have them all view the Metro Detroit region from afar. From up here on Mackinac Island, you can get a virtual birds-eye view of Southeast Michigan.

Thursday night is the middle of the conference and tonight’s activities include a tremendous number of events and parties sponsored by all kinds of different causes looking to bring people together under their tent. Sure, in part it’s to grab the attendees’ attention long enough for them to hear about what you or your clients are up to. But it’s also about putting the humanity back into what we spend the rest of the year bemoaning as faceless entities known as “government” and “the business community.”

I can’t wait.

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The first day of the policy conference is coming to a close, although it’s only a little after 11:30 p.m., so the “networking” should be continuing for some time yet at the local watering holes.

Opinion leaders, business leaders, state legislators, lobbyists, legislative staff and media from around the state are here along with more average business folks.

So far, the talk from attendees seems to be focused in a few areas:

1. Why is it so cold this year? / At least it’s not snowing (new attendees vs. veterans).
2. The opening session had some good messages (Can we carry it forward?)
3. The annual discussion that involves Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson and others is getting stale, particularly when it becomes the talk of the conference only because of the antics Kwame and Brooks try to one-up each other with. (Where is the person willing to stand up and challenge the regional leaders and demand some answers? It seems the region is desperately in need of a hero.)
4. When will the mayor arrive? What will happen when he arrives? (Depending on who you talk to, it’s either a tense moment best avoided or a must-see event.)
5. How can you have a full signal on your cellular phone one second and no signal the next? (OK, that one is actually mine, but, seriously, it would almost be better to just not have a signal rather than the constant teasing from the Verizon Wireless Fairy.)

One last note for tonight: kudos to the folks at Arnold Transit Company. Not only did they handle a lot of people and their luggage efficiently today, but when a certain blogger had to return to his car for something he forgot, they offered a free round-trip to retrieve it. That’s customer service worth telling your friends and neighbors about.

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It’s that time of year again. The time when the state’s leaders come together on Mackinac Island to review what’s wrong with Michigan, to chart a course for where Michigan could be in a year, and to pledge to really work together this time and get it done.

Messaging will be crucial this year when the annual Detroit Regional Chamber Mackinac Policy Conference gets underway on Wednesday. The politicians and business leaders will need to work hard to put away the partisan bickering and the disagreements over who really gets taxed more. Nolan Finley at the Detroit News has his ideas for what should be on the agenda this year.

It’s been a rough year for many attendees, their constituents and their employees. And yet, with each spring dawns new hope for Michigan – particularly Southeast Michigan – as the smell of fudge and horses mingles in the air on a tiny island 300 miles away from Detroit.

Many wonder why the Detroit conference isn’t held in Detroit – and it’s difficult to explain to some folks how much work is actually getting done at such a grand vacation spot. Ron Dzwonkowski at the Detroit Free Press noted a key point recently – that being so far away from the office makes it that much less likely you’ll be tempted to avoid part of the conference for “just a few minutes.”

John Bailey & Associates recently partnered with the Detroit Regional Chamber to find out what’s on the mind of Michigan’s business leaders as they head north this week. The survey results aren’t all that surprising, but they’re still interesting.

The agenda is chock full of ways to ferret out what Michigan should be doing and why. Here’s hoping that this time next year there can be an agenda item for “2008’s results.”

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