Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Create West Virginia Conference set for Oct. 18-20 in Huntington

HUNTINGTON - The Create West Virginia Conference to be held Oct. 18-20 in Huntington, is a statewide celebration of creative community building that is designed to spark new economy growth in West Virginia. The "new" economy is defined as those industries that generate income from the development of intellectual property and innovative entrepreneurship.

"Our goal is for the creative energy from Huntington and the Create West Virginia Conference to spread throughout the state," said Jeff James of Mythology LLC and Chair of Create West Virginia. "We want West Virginia to become a recognized leader for generating economic growth through creativity and innovation, and this conference is the perfect place to create that spark." The conference is expected to attract nearly 500 people representing the state's business, economic, academic, cultural and community development leadership."

"We chose Huntington as the location for the Create West Virginia Conference because Huntington is an amazing example of a creative community in action, with the local Create Huntington team at the helm of this venture," said James. Community members are encouraged to take what they've learned at the conference, go back to their communities, form teams and move forward on a new economy growth plan. So far, there are local "Create" teams in: Huntington, Fayetteville, Buckhannon, Mercer County, and Pocahontas County. Other communities, such as Spencer and Glenville, are also moving forward with similar goals.

As a community-focused, grass roots movement launched by Vision Shared (http://www.visionshared.com/), Create West Virginia has broad goals and strategies to build creative communities. Communities themselves can then determine how to move forward in a way that builds on their local strengths and goals. This conference is an opportunity to share ideas and generate renewed energy to spread the creative development of economic and cultural opportunities throughout the state.

Local leaders are encouraged to bring teams of attendees representing key areas of the community, including entrepreneurs and small business owners, superintendents of schools and board of education members, economic developers, non-profit and community leaders and cultural leaders. Based on the experience of prior conferences, the diverse mix of insights and ideas has been the spark that many communities needed to move in positive new directions.

The third annual Create WV Conference delivers an unprecedented level of insight and inspiration towards building creative communities for the new economy, with over 40 track sessions in Business Innovation, Quality of Place, Resources, Technology, Diversity and Education. In addition, conference attendees will attend a FREE Mountain Stage concert featuring Kathy Mattea during the Sunday evening welcome reception. Special 2009 pricing is offered for full conference and half day attendance. Register today at www.createwv.com/2009conference.

Create WV 2009 Conference Sponsors include: BrickStreet Insurance; MATRIC; West Virginia Department of Education and the Arts; Steptoe Johnson PLLC; SCORE; Mountain State Blue Cross Blue Shield; WVHTC Foundation; Cabell County Commission; Entrepreneurship Alliance; West Virginia State University Extension; Triad Engineering; Mine Safety Technology Consortium; Spilman Thomas & Battle PLLC; Unlimited Future, Inc.; CISCO Systems; Generation WV; and Good News Mountaineer Garage.

For more information about the Create West Virginia Conference, visit http://www.createwv.com/.

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