2012 BALLE Business Conference: Real Prosperity Starts Here

Posted by on September 19, 2011

2012 BALLE Business Conference
Real Prosperity Starts Here
May 15-18, 2012 in Grand Rapids, MI

Wedding? Send your regrets!
Kids? Send them to camp!
Boss? Send her the bill!

Whatever you had planned, cancel it, because the old economy is crumbling around you and we have solutions you can’t afford to miss.

Save the date for the most innovative and inspiring business event of the year: The 2012 BALLE Business Conference, proud to be held in Grand Rapids, Michigan, named “America’s Greenest City” by Fast Company magazine.

As home to nationally acclaimed BALLE network, Local First West Michigan, Grand Rapids has proven that even the forces of recession and industrial decline are no match for the economic power of a thriving community of innovative locally owned businesses. Grand Rapids has put apathy, malaise and economic decline on the ropes, and you don’t want to miss the final round.

Join more than 700 of the world’s most innovative community leaders, entrepreneurs, independent business owners, policymakers, economic development professionals, funders and investors for our 10 year anniversary in Grand Rapids, MI. Come for the cutting-edge solutions, stay for the party.

2011 BALLE Conference attendees described their time as “Fabulous! Inspiring! Dynamic! Life-changing!”  And this year is going to be even better.

The 2012 BALLE Business Conference offers you:

Presentations from over 50 of North America’s Top Local Innovators
Dozens of Main Stage Plenaries and Collaborative Interactive Sessions
Extensive peer networking
Full-day Accelerating Community Capital Workshop
Off-site parties, special events and living economy tours

Today Grand Rapids, the surrounding West Michigan region, and BALLE network Local First offer a new economic model for transforming the Rust Belt economy. It is why:

Despite the recession’s disproportionate impact on Michigan, Grand Rapids saw more than $1.4 billion invested in new downtown construction in the past seven years.
The world’s largest open art competition — Artprize — and the world’s first newly built LEED-certified art museum call Grand Rapids home.
The country’s second-most agriculturally diverse economy and the beaches, dunes and wildlife of Lake Michigan remain as protected and pure as they are.
The academic arm of the United Nations designated Grand Rapids its first “Center for Expertise and Education for Sustainable Development,” and Fast Company called Grand Rapids “America’s Greenest City.”
The city government and Local First are working together to incentivize recycling and support local business ownership.

Welcome to the economy re-imagined. Welcome to Grand Rapids. Real Prosperity Starts Here.

SAVE THE DATE
May 15-18, 2012 in Grand Rapids, Michigan
Check back often for updates!

http://www.livingeconomies.org/conference-2012