1. Business Participation in Planning Economic Development Strategies
A practitioner perspective
2018 EDCO Conference

2. What’s the Business Case for Engaging Business?
Economic development success requires true partnership between business and government.
Business retention and investment decisions directly impact your assessment base.
Resilient communities play to their strengths and guard against their weaknesses. Seek to diversify organically.
Authentic personal relationships are economic development gold.

3. Meaningful Participation
What does ‘Meaningful Participation require?
Stakeholder identification from many perspectives
Opportunity for two–way communication
Data and analysis and a place for personal perceptions – sniff test
An ongoing conversation
Mutual value proposition

4. Barriers to Gaining Business Engagement
Low trust
Lack of awareness
Perceived low value/return on investment
Cynicism
Survey fatigue
Lack of respect for their schedules or knowledge
Wrong people at the table

5. Building Blocks of Meaningful Engagement
A high profile economic development lens is consistently applied across every area of the municipality
Relationship development is priority one
Face to face, on the phone, last resort
Customer service – if your ec dev dept. was a business, would your products and services be in demand?
Goals and objectives are clear and widely supported

6. Path to Long Term Success
Celebrate their success! Offer genuine thanks for their contributions!
Check assumptions always
Inform the conversation, help business to help you by sharing data and analysis
Understand their challenges and opportunities, give them a leg up
Engage and inform Council, find ways for them to interact with more than the usual suspects
Close the loop

8. Strategic Direction + 2017 Initiatives