The 2023 theme is Placemaking and Economic Recovery: Creating Communities Where People Want to Live and Businesses Want to Be. Keynote speakers include Eric Kronberg, founder of Kronberg Urbanists Architects, and Elizabeth Ward Williams, that firm’s director of urban design.

BEDC course speakers will address several topics over the four days that will help attendees capitalize on their communities’ unique assets and how they can effectively use and maximize placemaking as an economic development tool.

Among the course topics:

• Workforce Housing Strategies
• Business Retention and Expansion
• Real Estate Development and Reuse
• Business Credit Analysis
• Workforce Development
• Strategic Planning
• Economic Impact and Incentives
• Managing Economic Development Organizations
• Ethics in Economic Development
• Small Business and Entrepreneur Development
• Marketing and Attraction
• Disaster Recovery and Resilience
• Media Strategy

This four-day conference gives attendees opportunities to network with industry peers and experts, deeply explore the fundamentals and emerging concepts of comprehensive economic development and prepare them to immediately implement tools and skills gained during the course.