Putting Oklahoma on the map

I have lived in Oklahoma off and on over the years, but I always understood the limitations. The main, and most frustrating limitation, of living here is the fact that it is so hard to go to an event here. If you are wanting to go to a seminar or conference you have to go out of state to do so. I know that the vendors/trainers/speakers are all willing to come here and that people are willing to pay money to go to these events. I have brought these type of people here before - without too much coaxing. However, the event planners don't seem to think that this state is one to put on their list as a matter of course. They would rather go to Dallas or Phoenix than come to Oklahoma City. The whole reason this came up is was a little Internet surfing that resulted in locating a calendar of events that listed Provo, Utah as having an event. But there wasn't a single event listed in Oklahoma. It just got me to thinking about how we very often see events that are more willing to go to Salt Lake City than they are to go to Oklahoma City. Which lead me to wondering if population were a factor? So I looked it up on the good ol' Internet (which means use these numbers at your own risk): Utah Population: 2,233,169 Salt Lake City: 179,894 Provo: 105,410 Oklahoma Population: 3,450,654 Oklahoma City: 506,132 Norman: 100,923 It makes no sense. We have far more people here than there are in Utah, but the event planners almost always go there - and avoid Oklahoma. It just makes me wonder: Are we (Oklahomans) forgetting to ask for some of these events to come here? Is there a reputation that we can't even begin to overcome? Is there nothing to offer to events people? Technorati tag: events