People Powered, Longmont's look at economic success for local businesses

Earlier this year, the Longmont Chamber of Commerce launched a business climate study to better understand the needs of local businesses. Early results combined with recent events inspired the chamber to host an event to take a look at the state and local economy.

People Powered: An Economic Outlook will host keynote speakers Elizabeth Garner and Kurt Spieler will take a deeper the future of Colorado demographics and the local opportunities and upcoming trends.

Garner is the Colorado State demographer and travels across the state to discuss social and economic shifts that are brought on by population shifts. Spieler is the senior vice president of investment management at First National Bank, where he is responsible for developing and implementing investment strategies.

Karen Stallard, business development manager at the Longmont Chamber of Commerce, said the half-day conference is a response to some challenges local businesses are facing and to provide tools for business owners to use to overcome challenges.

“We built People Powered, which is designed to both look at the big numbers — statewide in Colorado and also specifically in Longmont,” she said. “It is going to be a lot of information that will be super valuable and helpful for businesses as they recalibrate for what the rest of the year looks like.”

The event is scheduled for April 5 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Longmont Museum. Registration to the event is required.

In addition to the keynote speakers, the event will host four breakout sessions. The first two will focus on the changing landscape of how housing and migration impact the workforce and workforce recruitment and retention. The remaining sessions will connect business leaders with banking information in the current financial climate and a discussion with human resource professionals about company benefits.

The event is geared towards business leaders, however, Stallard said the information included in the conference will be interesting to the public as well.

Stallard hopes that people “get one thing (out of the event) that they as a business owner or a community member wasn’t aware of or was surprised about Longmont and also a way to help counterbalance something that they’re feeling directly in their business.”

As the Chamber continues learning more from the business community, from this event and its business climate study, Stallard expects to host more events to build up Longmont businesses as they struggle with the impacts of the last few years.