An experiment that Succeeded

An experiment that Succeeded

So I'm scanning the offerings on AppSumo, which sells software and such at a steep discount. I see this thing called Hey Summit – "everything you need to hold a virtual conference."

I've always wanted to do some sort of Forward Kentucky political conference, to show that it's possible to be progressive in red-state Kentucky. But I'd always envisioned it as your normal conference: hotel ballroom, breakout rooms, meals and snacks – and Forward Kentucky certainly didn't have the funds for that. All virtual, though? Hmm.

So, I bought a license and began digging into the service.. I picked a date after checking schedules to see when both UK and UofL were playing away games.

I started lining up speakers and working out a schedule. And, I started looking for sponsors.

Right off the bat, John Peace of urTopix stepped up. I had gotten to know John after cross-posting one of his magazine articles on our site. I'd then interviewed him and his partner, Doug Mullins, and found them both refreshing and insightful, especially when it comes to running for office in rural America.

urTOPIX LLC is sponsored by a new PAC, Rural America Rising, signed up as a sponsor early on. John agreed to be one of the speakers. And John and Doug didn't know it at the time, but those two commitments made me think that maybe, just maybe, this was a Good Idea, and that it was going to work.

And as it turned out, they were right.

We held "Summit '25" on Saturday, September 27th, from 9 AM to 4 PM. We had 17 talks on the schedule, plus a bang-up keynote from Anderson Clayton, the chair of the North Carolina Dems on how they turned that state organization around.

I had hoped to have at least 30 people attend. Fifty would be a success, I thought, since it was our first try at this.

We had over 100.

All the talks went great. There was lots of positive feedback, from both the attendees and the speakers. And, Forward Kentucky got a bunch of new members out of it.

The Rural America Rising PAC not only was a sponsor; they also paid for registration for a number of candidates. And, John was a key part of the work: promoting it in multiple ways and multiple places, and presenting a solid workshop on how to win in rural areas.

All in all, "Summit '25" was a solid success, in my estimation. And John, Doug, and RAR PAC were foundational to that success.

In conclusion, if you are looking for good places for political investment, I can think of two: Forward Kentucky and the Rural America Rising PAC.

Bruce Maples—Forward Kentucky

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