A newly assembled state Republican Strategic Planning Commission gathered Thursday in a conference room of a Cheektowaga hotel to hold its first round-table strategy session, designed to attract top talent for public office and grow the party’s appeal with voters.

The 20-member panel, headed by Andrew S. Eristoff— the former Manhattan GOP chairman and tax commissioner under Gov. George E. Pataki— chose to hold its initial meeting in Buffalo because of the party’s success here in electing GOP leaders despite a large enrollment disadvantage.

Leaders pointed to the recent elections of Erie County Executive Chris Collins; Rep. Christopher Lee, R-Clarence; and Chautauqua County Executive Gregory J. Edwards as examples of successes that Republicans in other parts of the state can follow.

“It’s a blueprint for how to be successful in a blue state,” said Matthew Walter, the executive director of the state committee and a commission member.

Walter said Thursday’s discussions centered on “some of the basics.”

“Building organization. Getting people active and involved. Finding and developing a team,” Walter said. “These things go hand in hand.”

Nicholas A. Langworthy, district director for Lee and also the Western New York representative on the commission, said information sessions Thursday with some of the local “rising stars” in the party highlighted the importance of “looking outside the box” when it comes to recruiting Republicans to seek public office.

That strategy is already working in Buffalo and Western New York, commission members said.

“It’s not just ‘who’s next in line’ — the same old, same old,” Langworthy said. “We’ve had a good run in recruiting good candidates.”

Often, Langworthy said, it’s simply a matter of approaching someone who’s found success outside politics and asking whether they’re interested in running for office.

“You just ask,” he said. “If they’re not asked, they might not want to get involved.”

Eristoff’s panel was appointed in December by State Republican Chairman Joseph N. Mondello to reassess the party’s position after the loss of its last bastion of Albany influence — the State Senate. It now finds itself shut out of every statewide position and in the minority of both houses of the Legislature.

In addition, changing demographics continue to weigh in the Democrats’ favor. While Democrats outnumbered Republicans by about 500,000 voters when the GOP’s Alfonse M. D’Amato was elected to the U. S. Senate in 1980, there are now 2.4 million more Democrats.

As a result, Mondello called on Eristoff and about 20 other commission members to study the latest political technology and strategies and “develop a forward-looking blueprint” for the party. William D. Powers, the former state chairman who presided over some of the party’s most significant successes in the 1980s and 1990s, serves as a senior adviser.

“I’ve asked this commission to do a thorough and independent assessment of the best strategies and techniques,” Mondello said then, “to provide a game plan for moving our party forward.”

Erie County Republican Chairman James P. Domagalski, Niagara County Chairman Henry F. Wojtaszek and other local GOP leaders were among those who addressed Eristoff’s panel.

The commission has planned similar sessions to be held across the state.