By Robert Pittman, Executive Director, Janus Institute
Five years ago, we had an idea to bring some leading economic developers together in a scenic, relaxing location to brainstorm about issues and opportunities for the profession and the professional — no speakers, no hurried conversations in the hall before the next session begins, just focused discussions with lots of time to get to know and learn from each other. For the venue, we chose my Rabun County home in scenic Northeast Georgia because it is readily accessible but also has that “getaway” feeling. “On the Porch” became our watchword, and the Forum has taken off from there.
With success comes challenges, and as we got more requests to attend the Forum (all participants are invited by a panel of Janus Fellows and alumni), the challenge became to maintain the small, intimate nature of the Forum yet make room for more participants. The logical answer was to hold multiple Forums across the nation. We sought a partner to help us grow in this fashion, and we didn’t have to look far – just down the road in Norcross, an Atlanta suburb. Conway Data Inc. is well known to economic developers, corporate executives, consultants and others in related fields as a full-service economic development firm. For 60 years, they have published Site Selection magazine, managed associations in the corporate real estate and economic development field (currently they manage the Industrial Asset Management Council – IAMC), and provided many other services to the industry. They are a great partner for taking the Janus Forum and Janus Institute to the next level because of their broad experience, global footprint and shared goals.
Our first Janus Forum away from our Rabun County home was held just recently (February 16-19) at Watercolor in Santa Rosa Beach, Florida with another great group of attendees. Sunday afternoon and Monday morning were devoted to open discussion and identification of priority topics. Through advocacy, debate and voting, the attendees arrived at two topics for detailed discussion: 1) economic development “under attack” from stakeholders who don’t understand it, and 2) keys to successful public-private partnerships. Then, in breakout sessions attendees discussed why the topics are important and who is most affected (description) and then action items to address the topics (prescription). As always, we took lots of notes and the excellent discussions and ideas will appear soon in the next Janus Journal.
In addition, we had two separate discussion panels, one featuring site consultants and the other corporate executives. Like previous Rabun Forums, the consultants and executives stayed longer to enjoy more small-group networking and learning. At the final Wednesday morning session, we held an impromptu joint panel discussion with both the consultants and executives with great audience discussion. That’s another unique aspect of the Forum – the program is not set in stone; we adjust it in real time to get the most benefit based on the attendee and guest discussions. Thanks to our sponsors Enterprise Florida and Batson-Cook for their generous support.
Perhaps most importantly, the Forum at Watercolor demonstrated what we really knew all along – while the nice mountain and lake venue in Rabun County is great, what makes participants enjoy the Forum so much and want to come back again and again is the unique attendee-driven program and unsurpassed peer-learning and networking. We now know the Forum travels well, so let’s hit the road!
Following the sixth annual Rabun County Forum June 8-11, we will hold a Forum in New York State in the Fall (details will follow shortly on venue and dates). Great interest has been shown in scheduling a Forum in the Rocky Mountain states and some other locations in 2015. We’ll keep you posted as plans develop via email and our web sitewww.janusinstitute.org.
No matter where we go, we will always remain true to what has made the Forum so rewarding to participants:
- Great peer learning and sharing in an informal “safe” way;
- The participants (economic developers) are the program;
- Relaxing, scenic venues;
- Networking and learning with key economic development constituents including site consultants, corporate executives, elected officials, and others;
- A feeling of contributing to and advancing the practice of economic development.
Plans are also under way to grow the non-profit Janus Institute as a unique organization improving the knowledge base and practice of economic development through further organizing and disseminating the ideas and best practices from the Forum in conjunction with partner Conway Data Inc. Many, many people have helped grow the Institute and Forum because they believe in its unique approach. We are very thankful to all of them and acknowledge that we could never have gotten this far without them. We look forward to your joining us at a future Forum and becoming a part of the Janus Institute family.
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