Update on 2012 FRED Conference

What is economic gardening and how can be better utilized in both rural and urban communities?

Over the last 7 years we have compiled some of the best economic gardening techniques by rural economic gardeners who have attended the FRED (Focus on Rural Entrepreneurial Development) gatherings or the national economic gardening conference in Fairfield, Iowa. While the sweet spot of EG lies in the acceleration of 2nd stage companies, the development of an entrepreneurial ecosystem and an entrepreneurial culture to foster innovation are really important.

I invite you to continue this discussion in person and attend the upcoming FRED conference in Fairfield on May 3-5. There is an optional Economic Gardening Boot Camp on May 3. The Boot Camp will provide some in depth background on the 7 key economic strategies highlighted at http://www.BrainBelt.com.

This is a peer-supported learning environment that allows Economic Gardening practitioners to bounce their ideas and showcase both successes and challenges of economic gardening system development.

If you would like to present or participate, please let us know as soon as possible. Details of the event will be constantly updated on the http://www.FREDConference.com website.

This year will focus on some larger economic issues. Michael H. Shuman, author of Local Dollars, Local Sense – How to Move Your Money from Wall Street to Main Street and Achieve Real Prosperity http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1118034708/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=leeleffler-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1118034708 will participate. We invited new Fairfield resident, John Ikerd, Professor Emeritus of Agricultural Economics University of Missouri, to speak on ecological capitalism. Norman Walzer, Ph.D., Senior Research Scholar at the Center for Governmental Studies at Northern Illinois University, will present research findings on business start data for 850 counties in 9 Midwestern states and have found several key variables related to growth in starts of small businesses. The most important thing you can emphasize for businesses is to understand their customer and market place. Same thing is true for economic gardeners.

Want more nuts and bolts, we’ll highlight asset quilting mentoring projects in Kentucky and New Mexico. Phyllis Khare, author of Social Media Marketing eLearning Kit For Dummies, will give a crash course.

We’ll alos share some of the newest economic gardening strategies that have put Fairfield in consideration for a share of the 2012 TED Prize – City 2.0: Fairfield Food and Innovation Center and Fairfield Free University.

All the best,

Burt

Burt Chojnowski

BrainBelt Consulting, Inc.

[email protected]

(641) 919-2163

(415) 329-2163 – fax