Site Selection Dinner a Success at the 2012 "Best of the Midwest" Mid-America Economic Development Council Conference

LITTLE FALLS, MN, January 04, 2013

Each year, the Mid-America Economic Development Council hosts a "Best of the Midwest" Conference. This conference was held December 2-4 in Chicago, IL at the Intercontinental Hotel. It consisted of many different specialists from various aspects of Economic Development presenting their ideas. This year's conference was the best attended in MAEDC history.

One of the highlights of the conference was their annual Site Selection Dinner. This is an event that gives Site Selectors a chance to network, converse, and dine with select MAEDC sponsors eligible to attend the dinner. It is a great opportunity for Economic Developers to meet site selectors in a more casual and relaxed setting. The dinner was held in a private dining room at the Intercontinental Hotel. The dinner began with a social hour and moved into a served dinner. After dinner, those present were able to participate in a door prize exchange. The door prizes were framed and signed Chicago Bulls trading cards. The coveted cards included 2 that were signed by basketball legend Michael Jordan.

This year's dinner had 10 site selectors attend as well as 28 Economic Development professionals. Jerry Szatan of Szatan & Associates based out of Chicago was one of the Site Selectors who attended the dinner. He was pleased with the additional chance to meet with experts and get the chance to become acquainted with them on a one-on-one basis.

"Dinner gave me a chance to talk with sponsors and other speakers and conversations ranged from site selection to football to touring Chicago. As a local, I particularly like being a guide to fun in Chicago." Szatan said. "Attendees also had a chance to pick signed Chicago Bulls trading cards, with most prized cards being two signed by Michael Jordan. The the person choosing after you had the option of taking an unclaimed card or taking a card from a person who had picked before. I think the people who picked the Jordan cards did a good job of masking their choices. It was a good finish to the day."

The Site Selectors dinner has been an annual event of the conference since 2006 and will continue to be a event to look forward to for years to come. This year's conference will be held on December 8-10 in Chicago at the Intercontinental Hotel. The dinner will be held on the evening of the 9th.

To learn more about the Mid-America Economic Development Council, or about their two annual conferences, go to http://www.maedc.net.

The Mid-America Economic Development Council is an organization that provides economic development professionals with many helpful resources including: recognition of quality economic development programs and marketing, resources aimed at helping the economic development professional to excel, awards programs to reward excellence, promotion of the ten-state region to site selectors and industries to help raise the level of awareness, and networking opportunities among regional members to promote idea exchange and partnering. http://www.maedc.net