How You Build It: Creating Cutting-Edge Developments
http://www.iedconline.org/HowYouBuildIt/index.html

June 6-8, 2010 | Oklahoma City, OK
Register today: http://www.iedconline.org/HowYouBuildIt/Registration.html

In today's economy, communities need to leverage their assets to be competitive and grow their local economy. Often overlooked or abandoned, the key to igniting the local economy may already exist in your community. At the 2010 How You Build It conference, we will examine the resources communities already have to jump start new developments and growth.

Join your colleagues from around the country as we:
• Learn how to exploit waterfronts as a natural public gathering place and spark for new businesses.
• Discover how to take vacant buildings in your community to grow new businesses and entertainment centers.
• Hear how to use your local transit centers to drive new developments and revive neighborhoods.
• Find out how a small project can cultivate new life and businesses into your community.
• Hear how your community can benefit from new green technology and developments.

Routinely boasting the lowest unemployment rate of any large metro in the country in a state ranked first in home-value gains, Oklahoma City is now being widely recognized as a city that has successfully weathered the recession. Oklahoma City has also been named Fortune's "Best Place to Launch" a small business, landed at #3 on BusinessWeek's "Forty Strongest U.S. Metro Economies" list, #5 on Forbes' "Best Bang-For-The-Buck" large cities, #6 on Bizjournals' "Best Places for Young Adults" ranking, and #4 on Business Insider's "Cities That Are Having an Awesome Recovery." What spurred this flurry of rankings fame and fortune? Experience it for yourself! Join IEDC in Oklahoma City this June as we learn from industry experts, representatives from communities of all sizes, and the development community on how to take projects off the drafting board and bring them to reality.

TOPICS & SESSIONS OF INTEREST INCLUDE:
Going Green: Building Sustainable Projects for Tomorrow
Incorporating sustainable design makes projects less expensive to maintain in the long term and more attractive to their users, in addition to lending marketing cachet. This session will showcase examples of innovative, green projects that bring economic and environmental benefits to their communities, covering how they were conceptualized, funded and built.

Leveraging Smaller Projects for Big Impacts
Many communities can't support a stadium, large performing arts center or convention center, but there are many kinds of smaller projects that can add new tax dollars and jobs to a region and contribute to the quality of life. This session will examine how communities can leverage smaller projects for big impacts.

Waterfronts: Natural Destinations for Communities
Once regarded merely as convenient places for roads or industrial uses, communities are reconnecting with their rivers, canals, creeks and other water features, bringing them back to life with sensitive developments. As a result, waterfronts are becoming attractive places for businesses to locate and people to recreate, and are improving the environment as well. Learn more in this session about the different ways in which waterfronts can be creatively returned from liability to asset.

Next Stop: Transit-Oriented Development
Out of both need and desire, people are turning to public transit in increasing numbers. Concurrently, there is a growing lifestyle demand for retail, services, entertainment, housing and jobs closer to public transportation centers. By leveraging transit centers to accommodate these demands, communities are revitalizing neighborhoods, increasing tax revenues and improving environmental sustainability.

Distressed Neighborhoods: Reinventing Older Assets for New Uses
Rather than demolishing run-down buildings, many communities are matching these "diamonds in the rough" with a fresh vision and economically viable reuse. This session will look at creative renovations and reuses that have brought new life to older buildings and resulted in successful neighborhood revitalization.

OUR EXPERT SPEAKERS WILL HELP GUIDE YOU THROUGH THE PROCESS:
• Dena Belzer, President, Strategic Economics, Berkeley, CA
• James A. Edison, Principal, AECOM, San Francisco, CA
• Mark Edlen, Managing Principal, Gerding Edlen Development, Portland, OR
• Thomas Flynn, CEcD, Director, Economic Development, City of Charlotte Economic Development Office, Charlotte, NC
• John T. Kaatz, Principal, CSL International, Wayzata, MN
• Kathy Robertson, Director of the Westside Initiative Project, Baltimore Development Corporation, Baltimore, MD
• Garth Rockcastle, FAIA, Founding Principal, Meyer Scherer & Rockcastle, LTD, Hyattsville, MD

This is just a sampling of our full How You Build It conference program! Join IEDC in Oklahoma City this June as we explore all aspects of the development process: from the humble beginnings of an idea through all the stages that follow. We'll cover trends, case studies, and innovative ideas. Register today and join your colleagues from around the country as we learn how to create and complete projects that contribute to local economic development and community competitiveness during these tough economic times.

View the conference program: http://www.iedconline.org/HowYouBuildIt/Program.html

Expert speakers: http://www.iedconline.org/HowYouBuildIt/Speakers.html

Register today: http://www.iedconline.org/HowYouBuildIt/Registration.html