October 2010 Newsletter

Featured Articles Annual Conference Wrap October Luncheon Renew Today IEDC Salary Survey Upcoming Events New Members Consultant's Forum Renew Your Membership! Avoid the Rush - Renew today! DID YOU KNOW that you can renew your membership any time between now and the end of the year and it will count for 2011?  That's right!  If you go online and renew, you won't have to worry about dues again until late 2011!  This can be particularly helpful if you have some budget room remaining in 2010 and would like to go ahead and pay your dues for nest year now. Click on the link and the system will guide you through the process.  As always, let us know if you have any questions! IEDC Salary Survey GEDA Partners with IEDC Every two years, the International Economic Development Council (IEDC) works with a group called Readex to conduct a nationwide salary survey of economic development practitioners.  Once again, GEDA will work with IEDC and Readex to facilitate the process in Georgia. You will soon receive an email from Readex/IEDC about the survey.  Please go and complete the survey.  After they are complete, we will be able to post the Georgia-specific results of the survey on our website!

Annual Conference Wrap What a great time we had in Savannah!  Over 350 people attended GEDA's 47th Annual Conference in Savannah.  Our breakout sessions on Wednesday were standing-room only in some cases; the Thursday sessions are receiving rave reviews; the GEDA All-Star Band was fantastic again; awards were given to our best and brightest on Wednesday evening and we heard from two gubernatorial candidates on Friday.  By all accounts, this was a very successful conference!!  Congratulations to Misti Martin and her committee! For all conference attendees, make sure you fill out our online SURVEY so we know what you loved and what we need to focus on for improvement. Friday morning of the Conference was also where we conducted our Annual Business Meeting.  Officers & Directors were elected and all of the new Committee Chairs were announced.  (Reminder: GEDA changed our terms of office to coincide with the calendar, so these names will take their new positions effective January 1, 2011.)  Here is the new GEDA Leadership Team: Chair: Bob White First Vice-Chair: Misti Martin Second Vice-Chair: JoAnne Lewis Secretary-Treasurer: Angie Gheesling Immediate Past Chair: Pat Topping Click here to continue reading about GEDA's new leaders and the rest of the Annual Conference ... October Luncheon The October Luncheon is almost upon us (it seems like we just left Annual Conference)!  GEDA is very excited to announce that we will have DOT Director of Planning, Todd Long, to address the membership.  We all know that transportation and logistics are vital to any economic development success.  The new Regional Transportation Tax that was passed in the most recent Legislative Session holds much potential but also has created a host of questions.  Some of them were answered at our breakout session at Annual Conference, but we know that many remain.   In our continued response to your requests to try new and different properties for our luncheon meetings, we will yet again be at a new facility for us.  GEDA is pleased to visit the Marriott Buckhead (this is the former Sheraton across the street from Lenox Mall).  A map to the location is available on the Luncheon Registration Page.  REGISTER TODAY!  And we'll see you on October 18th. NOTE: For those of you wishing to pay by check, you can STILL register online. When you register online, on the payment screen, you can select "Pay By Check."  This will do two things - it will tell the system that you plan on coming, and it will mark your payment as receivable.  At that point, all you need to do is mail the check and you're done!  No paper forms to fill out!

Upcoming Events October 18 - Monthly Luncheon at the Marriott Buckhead. November 15 - Monthly Luncheon at the Georgia Tech Hotel & Conference Center. Welcome New Members Gary Sanchez, Atlanta Gas Light Cartter Fontaine, Athens Economic Development Foundation Courtney Bernardi, Jackson County Area Chamber of Commerce Keith Colgan, Dabbs-Williams Victoria Lee, Georgia Tech Gina Morrison, Student Joshua Pendergrass, Processes Unlimited International Robert Shaw, Development Authority of Fulton County Corinne Thornton, Georgia Academy Consultant's Forum in Savannah GDEcD and others working with Area Development On December 5-7 a Consultants Forum will visit Savannah, Georgia.  The Forum is a "non-nonsense business conference with an outstanding program of topics and speakers."  The Forum will examine different industry sectors and specific case studies, while focusing on best practices and strategies for attracting and retaining companies in this changing economic landscape. Please contact Annie Gregson at 212.579.4469 for more information or to register.