The Council Training

Overview of Data for Community Economic Researchers
August 18, 2008 / Hotel Indigo Chicago Gold Coast / Chicago, IL
This session provides the basics about the critical data sources used in describing regional economies.  Learn more about how to manage your community's data and be prepared with the data that businesses need most in making economic and workforce investments.

Community Profiling: The Basics of Demographic Analysis
August 19, 2008 / Hotel Indigo Chicago Gold Coast / Chicago, IL
Community profiles represent one of the most fundamental products of a applied research unit.  Within those profiles include a number of key demographic variables.  This session focuses on helping researchers understand the foundations of demographic research, providing the most important data sources and fundamental tools/techniques for conducting demographic research. You will learn by doing- accessing, analyzing, interpreting, and presenting demographic data to your community, county or region.

Monitoring Your Economy: Understanding Economic and Business Data
August 20, 2008 / Hotel Indigo Chicago Gold Coast / Chicago, IL
This session is designed to help you better understand the fundamental metrics of regional economies.  You will examine a variety of data elements about business activity that are used in deriving Gross Domestic Product and how that data is adapted to help us understand metro areas.  You will also review other key economic indicators that can be used in monitoring your economy and learn basic principles used in selecting appropriate measures of regional economic performance.

Measuring Innovation and Entrepreneurship
August 21, 2008 / Hotel Indigo Chicago Gold Coast / Chicago, IL
This training session reviews basic principles for developing benchmark indicators that demonstrate how innovative and entrepreneurial your local or regional economy is and/or can be. You will learn about different data sets and weighting systems to develop your own index as part of a strategy for promoting 'innovation/entrepreneurship' as an element of your regional or statewide economic development efforts.

Agenda | Online Registration | Registration Form

Data Management and Analysis for Community Economic Research (Pre-Conference Training)
May 13, 2008 / The Westin Buckhead / Atlanta, GA
Become more proficient in pulling together responses to prospect requests for information.  Make your website more powerful with relational databases.  Organize your community profiles in more dynamic ways.  Tap your existing business database to generate a better understanding of your economy.  As a community economic information manager, one of the most important skills you need to develop is how to manage and analyze data for these and other applications in the most effective way possible.

In this session, you will learn how Microsoft Excel's built-in functions can enable you to manipulate your data in previously unimaginable ways.  You will also become more productive with new techniques that will allow you to automate many routine data tasks using Excel's more advanced features (including pivot tables and macros). You will also learn how to manage relational data and link your information to database management systems (such as Microsoft Access or SQL server) to allow you to manipulate large or complex data sets fast and efficiently.

Agenda | Online Registration | Registration Form | FAQs

Presenting Data and Research:  Engaging Clients and the Media (Pre-Conference Training)
May 14, 2008 / The Westin Buckhead / Atlanta, GA
Learn tips and tricks for getting media attention for your work and effectively communicating your data. This two-part session will provide a wealth of practical hands-on assistance about generating good publicity and creating excellent information graphics.

The first part of the session focuses on creating energy for research by adopting a "marketer's mindset" before, during and after your research.  The second part focuses on developing the skills to effectively communicate complex data.

Agenda | Online Registration | Registration Form | FAQs