Let's face it, if we work with people, there are bound to be conflicts.  While each conflict is a bit different, there are some guiding principles that can help navigate these tough situations.

In this episode, Dennis and Jason offer some words of wisdom and best practices for dealing with conflict in the office.

Many projects in the economic development business must be done with a high level of confidentiality until they become public.  Regardless of your organization's structure, there are likely volunteers that serve either on a board or advisory committee that have access to information about ongoing projects.

Confidentiality agreements are a best practice to ensure volunteers and staff understand the organization's policies around using or sharing sensitive information.

In this episode, Dennis and Jason discuss the challenges of confidentiality agreements including the penalty for breaching the agreement.

Trade shows can be a great venue to learn more about a particular industry and identify those companies best poised for growth.  However, working a trade show floor can be like looking for a needle in a haystack unless you come with a solid game plan.

In this episode, Dennis and Jason discuss their experiences working trade shows and offer tips for making the best use of your time.  Don't just show up with business cards and expect to land a new company.  Do your homework ahead of time.

Are you a PowerPoint snob?  Well, you should be.

In this episode, Dennis argues that most do a bad job with PowerPoint presentations.  He suggests (more like demands!) that your presentations should be used to inform, inspire, and entertain and also suggests using the 10-20-30 rule.

Up your game when it comes to your presentations and society will thank you.

Additional resources mentioned in the episode:

Garr Reynolds

Damon Nofar

Unless you are part of a very special group of people, odds are you don't pay too much attention to the tax returns of non-profit organizations.  However, if you learn the basic components of a tax return, you can learn a ton of information about the organizations you interact with.

In this episode, Jason covers some of the big items in an organization's tax return and offers suggestions for those that personally sign them.

Each of us has a right to express our political views, but as the Kavanaugh confirmation process proved, most of today's current event topics are highly divisive.  Given today's highly-charged context, how should the economic development professional engage in political discussions?

In this episode, Dennis and Jason discuss and debate whether or not your political stripes should be known by those in the community.  Jason's political leanings are well known while Dennis expresses his thoughts in a much more subtle fashion.

Craig Hulse, CEcD with North Richland Hills, Texas, is back to share how the groups in the Dallas - Fort Worth collaborate on economic development projects.

You might think that attracting projects to a rapidly-growing market in Texas is easy, but imagine 100+ cities in your regional all competing and/or collaborating on the same deal.

In this episode, Jason continues the interview with Craig to gain insight on the collaboration efforts in DFW as part on a series on regional economic development models.

In the economic and community development business, we often aim to please prospects and clients.  Despite our best efforts, however, sometimes we just have to let people down gently.

In this episode, Jason interviews Craig Hulse, CEcD with the City of North Richland Hills, TX.  After a career in both economic development and the private sector, Craig offers six tips for saying 'no' without damaging the relationship.

As a crowd-sourced platform, we have had a request from a listener to share various regional economic development models including best practices and organizational structures.

Let's learn from each other!  We are good for good, bad, and ugly stories from regional efforts.  Come on the show and share your insights!

Series to be published soon!

Email [email protected]

The City of Loveland, Colorado embarked on a mission to redevelop an area on the southern edge of its downtown.  The city of 77,000 put up $6.5 million to acquire two blocks of properties controlled by multiple landowners.

The project, now called The Foundry, is coming to fruition complete with a public plaza and $75 million in private mixed-use investment.

In this episode, Jason interviews Mike Scholl, project manager with the City of Loveland's Economic Development Department.  Learn how the city negotiated with private landowners without the use of eminent domain.  In addition, you will hear how the city used an RFP process to recruit a new developer when the original partner fell through.

This is one story you will not want to miss.

Links:

The Foundry Project Today

The Foundry Project History