Wheeling, WV: The fourth annual Create West Virginia conference is coming to the Friendly City October 17-19, 2010. This statewide celebration of creative community building is designed to spark new economic growth in West Virginia.
The conference is expected to attract more than 400 people representing the state’s business, economic, academic, and cultural and community development leadership. The goal is to help West Virginia communities foster “New Economy” growth, which is defined as those industries that generate income from the development of intellectual property and innovative entrepreneurship.
“This year’s conference theme is about ‘Creating Your Own Opportunities.’ We’ve selected keynote speakers and track topics that will help empower West Virginia communities, schools, non-profits and entrepreneurs to use innovation to build a better future,” said Jeff James, Create WV’s chairman.
The 2010 Create WV keynote speakers will include:
- Dan Roam is the author of the New York Times bestseller, “The Back of a Napkin: Solving Problems and Selling Ideas with Pictures,” which is an innovative business book that explains how any problem can be solved with a picture – and anyone can draw it. The book was named Business Week and Fast Company’s innovation book of the year, and is No. 5 on Amazon’s list of best selling business books.
- Richard Bendis is the founding President and CEO of Innovation America, a global, not for profit, private/public partnership focused on accelerating the growth of the entrepreneurial innovation economy in America. Bendis has found success in many different areas as a distinguished entrepreneur, corporate executive, venture capitalist, investment banker, innovation and technology based economic development leader, international speaker and consultant in the technology and healthcare industries.
- David Shenk is the author of “The Genius in All of Us,” which explains why the nature-nurture debate is dead. Shenk writes that it is not just the genes we are born with, but how we are raised and what opportunities are open to us that determine how smart we will become. Shenk argues that people simply are not born with or without genius or talent. Nurture and experience reshape our genes, and thus our brain.
This year’s Create WV conference will be based at Oglebay Resort with excursions planned to take participants to all corners of Wheeling.
“Wheeling is an ideal city to host the 2010 Create WV Conference,” said Juliet A. Terry, president of Vision Shared, a statewide nonprofit community and economic development organization that supports Create WV. “As a proud Wheeling native, I can attest to the incredible diversity that exists in the Friendly City - industry and high tech growth mixing with a long history of arts and culture. I’m excited for West Virginians from other parts of the state to experience what Wheeling has to offer, and the content planned for the fourth annual Create WV conference will benefit any group or community that seeks to effect positive change.”
The fourth annual Create WV Conference delivers an unprecedented level of insight and inspiration towards building creative communities for the new economy, with dozens of track sessions in Business Innovation, Quality of Place, Resources, Technology, Diversity and Education.
Special early bird pricing is offered for conference attendees, including special rates for students. For more information about the Create West Virginia Conference, visit www.CreateWV.com.
###
Media Contact:
Sandy Sponaugle
O: (304) 876-8321
C: (304) 702-0350
Post new comment