This event explores Calgary’s current path to diversifying its robust economy.

Consistently ranked as one of the best places in the world to live, Calgary boasts the highest GDP per capita of major Canadian cities, highest labor force participation, and highest average earnings. The city’s solid economic foundations are setting the stage for the creation of a community of lifelong learning and resilient people with skills needed to adapt to an ever-changing economy. 

More information and registration: https://calgary.iedconline.org/

The 2023 Annual Cando Conference takes place in Nova Scotia this year. For more information go to www.edo.ca.

Thanks to the support from Alberta Agriculture and Irrigation, EDA is hosting a series of FREE luncheon webinars over the next several months.

EDA’s ‘Ask an Expert’ webinars will enable rural and remote community economic development practitioners to ask an expert, or a panel of experts to provide guidance, insight, and information about possible strategies, solutions and/or resources regarding rural and remote economic development challenges and opportunities. They are scheduled every other month over the lunch hour.  

Experts will be selected based on their experience with the proposed topic, and their ability to speak to the topic in a rural context as well. The objective is to build capacity and skillsets with relevant, timely topics. Participants will have the opportunity to ask questions and learn from best practices of other communities. 

This month the topic is: Performance Measurement in Economic Development - Measure What  Matters

Your Session Expert/s: 

• Alia Abbas, Founder/CEO Alia Consulting
• Amanda St. John, Senior Economic Development Officer, Town of Oakville
• Brandon Webb. Research & Marketing Economic Development Officer, County of Brant

Business retention and expansion (BR&E) is a primary economic development strategy. BR&E supports and fosters the development and growth of the business community. The result of a strong BR&E strategy is a healthy and thriving business community which in turn provides a long term sustainable community foundation. Long-term BR&E programs are a means of connecting businesses with resources and opportunities that will improve their competitive position, market networks and ultimately their profitability.

If you wish to have credits applied to Continuing Education’s Professional Management Certificate – Economic Developers, you will need to contact our office at 403-220-2866 . Credits for the Community Economic Development courses equals 2/3 of the instruction hours to a maximum of 30 hours, i.e. for a 15 hour course you will receive 10 hours credit.

Instructor: Natalie Gibson 

To register: https://conted.ucalgary.ca/search/publicCourseSearchDetails.do?method=load&courseId=15264259

Thanks to the support from Alberta Agriculture and Irrigation, EDA is hosting a series of FREE luncheon webinars over the next several months.

EDA’s ‘Ask an Expert’ webinars will enable rural and remote community economic development practitioners to ask an expert, or a panel of experts to provide guidance, insight, and information about possible strategies, solutions and/or resources regarding rural and remote economic development challenges and opportunities. They are scheduled every other month over the lunch hour.  

Experts will be selected based on their experience with the proposed topic, and their ability to speak to the topic in a rural context as well. The objective is to build capacity and skill sets with relevant, timely topics. Participants will have the opportunity to ask questions and learn from best practices of other communities. 

This month the topic is:  Attracting Remote Workers – Why and How?

Your Session Expert: Patrick Brunelle, Co-Founder, YOLO Nomads

A remote worker himself, Patrick Brunelle co-founded YOLO Nomads to help the millions of people feeling a sense of helplessness in big cities discover happiness through smaller community living. Patrick is also the Senior Strategist with the Rae Mackenzie Group.

This is the annual IEDC conference. For more information click here.

Join us at the Annual Alberta Municipalities convention.

Come and visit us at our booth. We look forward to seeing you there!

For more information and to register go to www.abmunis.ca.

Plan now to attend the 2023 EDAC Conference.

For more information see: https://edacconference.ca/

Learn key concepts related to business and investment attraction in economic development. Cover community investment readiness; competitive advantage, how to select key target markets for investment attraction; working with site selectors; and, attracting foreign direct investment to help your community expand its economic base. Learn how to develop business investment strategies that will benefit your community.   

Upon successful completion of this course, you will be able to:

• Recognize the different types of new investment versus investment attraction
• Examine criteria to evaluate if your community is in fact ‘investment ready’
• Describe components that may be included in an Investment Attraction Strategy
• Identify methods to recognize the target industries that may be attracted to your community
• Explore investment attraction tools and resources
• Classify the different types of site selectors and what their search criteria may be
• Recognize the four basic stages of site selection
• Review types of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and support resources
• Compare methods of measuring your BI&A program or activities success
  

Online registration: https://conted.ucalgary.ca/search/publicCourseSearchDetails.do?method=load&courseId=15410870

Instructor: Natalie Gibson

Does your community host investors? Are you interested in learning some best practices in this regard?

Join us for this Wednesday Webinar, where our partners at Invest Alberta will join us to provide us with advice and suggestions on what they are seeing that works!

The purpose of this dinner and speed-dating style event is to bring together EDA members and  key federal and provincial Ministry representatives to network, share information and explore potential partnerships.

This event is SOLD OUT every year, so register early.

For more information see:

https://rmalberta.com/events-programs/rma-conventions/

This course is the first in a series that will provide you with the knowledge and skills to become proficient at economic development. The function of economic development (ED) is often complex, and understanding your role in the process will be key both to the success of your career, and to the overall success of your economic development activities.

This course is the 30,000-foot view of the process of economic development. It provides the theory and fundamentals of ED along with examples of how it can be applied. There is no one way to do ED. Each community, organization or volunteer group will do ED differently.

The primary goals of this course are to:

• Identify what economic development is;
• Determine how you fit into the function;
• Examine how you can best serve your community as an economic development professional; and
• Identify the tools and resources that can help economic developers meet local development challenges.

To register: 

https://conted.ucalgary.ca/search/publicCourseSearchDetails.do?method=load&courseId=12618114

Instructor: Holly Sorgen

Thanks to the support from Alberta Agriculture and Irrigation, EDA is hosting a series of FREE luncheon webinars over the next several months.

EDA’s ‘Ask an Expert’ webinars will enable rural and remote community economic development practitioners to ask an expert, or a panel of experts to provide guidance, insight, and information about possible strategies, solutions and/or resources regarding rural and remote economic development challenges and opportunities. They are scheduled every other month over the lunch hour.  

Experts will be selected based on their experience with the proposed topic, and their ability to speak to the topic in a rural context as well. The objective is to build capacity and skillsets with relevant, timely topics. Participants will have the opportunity to ask questions and learn from best practices of other communities. 

This month the topic is: TBC

Your Session Expert/s: TBC

Thanks to the support from Alberta Agriculture and Irrigation, EDA is hosting a series of FREE luncheon webinars over the next several months.

EDA’s ‘Ask an Expert’ webinars will enable rural and remote community economic development practitioners to ask an expert, or a panel of experts to provide guidance, insight, and information about possible strategies, solutions and/or resources regarding rural and remote economic development challenges and opportunities. They are scheduled every other month over the lunch hour.  

Experts will be selected based on their experience with the proposed topic, and their ability to speak to the topic in a rural context as well. The objective is to build capacity and skillsets with relevant, timely topics. Participants will have the opportunity to ask questions and learn from best practices of other communities. 

This month the topic is: TBC

Your Session Expert/s: TBC

Thanks to the support from Alberta Agriculture and Irrigation, EDA is hosting a series of FREE luncheon webinars over the next several months.

EDA’s ‘Ask an Expert’ webinars will enable rural and remote community economic development practitioners to ask an expert, or a panel of experts to provide guidance, insight, and information about possible strategies, solutions and/or resources regarding rural and remote economic development challenges and opportunities. They are scheduled every other month over the lunch hour.  

Experts will be selected based on their experience with the proposed topic, and their ability to speak to the topic in a rural context as well. The objective is to build capacity and skillsets with relevant, timely topics. Participants will have the opportunity to ask questions and learn from best practices of other communities. 

This month the topic is: TBC

Your Session Expert/s: TBC

For more information see www.rmaalberta.com.

Once again, our AGM will take place online.

Only EDA VOTING members in good standing are eligible to attend the AGM.

Please ensure you are signed into the EDA website with your user email and password associated with your membership. If you are having trouble registering please check your membership to ensure you are a voting member.

Please register in advance if you can. You will be sent a password. All voting will be done during the meeting. 

At the AGM we will be electing our 2024-25 Board of Directors. 

All documents required in advance will be available on our website, under the members-only section. Please note only EDA voting members are able to access this web page.

If you have trouble accessing this page, please ensure you are logged in to the EDA website with your user email and password. 

Are you thinking of coming to the conference early?

Then think about coming to our pre-conference mixer to enjoy some drinks, tasty snacks and catching up with new and old friends!

Kickstart in Kananaskis is held in the Rockies Room in the rear of the Forte Restaurant at the Pomeroy Kananaskis Mountain Lodge. You must register in advance to attend. 

Your ticket will include a some tasty snacks and a beverage ticket (wine, beer, highball or pop). Cancellations will be refunded before March 24 with a $25 cancellation fee.

No refunds after March 25, 2024.

Our Leaders' Summit and Conference attracts more than 400 economic development experts and elected officials from across Alberta, Canada and around the world.

2024 will mark our 50th Anniversary!

Register early, as onsite registration will be SOLD OUT.

We will also be enhancing our virtual component, so opportunities to attend virtually will also be possible.

Please ensure the email used to register matches the delegate who is attending. 

Our strategic partner, the International Economic Development Council (IEDC) has designated the week of May 6-10, 2024 Economic Development Week.

We invite you to take part in this North America-wide campaign that consists of activities designed to create awareness of the economic development programs in your communities that enhance your quality of life.

Check www.iedconline.org for updated resources to help you get started on your campaign to increase exposure for the profession and the benefits of economic development. 

View our video @ www.economicdevelopmentmatters.com.

Email us at nancy.toombs@edaalberta.ca with your iconic development week initiative and we will post it on our website. 

Thanks to the support from Alberta Agriculture and Irrigation, EDA is hosting a series of FREE luncheon webinars over the next several months.

EDA’s ‘Ask an Expert’ webinars will enable rural and remote community economic development practitioners to ask an expert, or a panel of experts to provide guidance, insight, and information about possible strategies, solutions and/or resources regarding rural and remote economic development challenges and opportunities. They are scheduled every other month over the lunch hour.  

Experts will be selected based on their experience with the proposed topic, and their ability to speak to the topic in a rural context as well. The objective is to build capacity and skillsets with relevant, timely topics. Participants will have the opportunity to ask questions and learn from best practices of other communities. 

This month the topic is: TBC

Your Session Expert/s: TBC

Thanks to the support from Alberta Agriculture and Irrigation, EDA is hosting a series of FREE luncheon webinars over the next several months.

EDA’s ‘Ask an Expert’ webinars will enable rural and remote community economic development practitioners to ask an expert, or a panel of experts to provide guidance, insight, and information about possible strategies, solutions and/or resources regarding rural and remote economic development challenges and opportunities. They are scheduled every other month over the lunch hour.  

Experts will be selected based on their experience with the proposed topic, and their ability to speak to the topic in a rural context as well. The objective is to build capacity and skillsets with relevant, timely topics. Participants will have the opportunity to ask questions and learn from best practices of other communities. 

This month the topic is: TBC

Your Session Expert/s: TBC

Thanks to the support from Alberta Agriculture and Irrigation, EDA is hosting a series of FREE luncheon webinars over the next several months.

EDA’s ‘Ask an Expert’ webinars will enable rural and remote community economic development practitioners to ask an expert, or a panel of experts to provide guidance, insight, and information about possible strategies, solutions and/or resources regarding rural and remote economic development challenges and opportunities. They are scheduled every other month over the lunch hour.  

Experts will be selected based on their experience with the proposed topic, and their ability to speak to the topic in a rural context as well. The objective is to build capacity and skillsets with relevant, timely topics. Participants will have the opportunity to ask questions and learn from best practices of other communities. 

This month the topic is: TBC

Your Session Expert/s: TBC

For more information see www.rmaalberta.com.

Thanks to the support from Alberta Agriculture and Irrigation, EDA is hosting a series of FREE luncheon webinars over the next several months.

EDA’s ‘Ask an Expert’ webinars will enable rural and remote community economic development practitioners to ask an expert, or a panel of experts to provide guidance, insight, and information about possible strategies, solutions and/or resources regarding rural and remote economic development challenges and opportunities. They are scheduled every other month over the lunch hour.  

Experts will be selected based on their experience with the proposed topic, and their ability to speak to the topic in a rural context as well. The objective is to build capacity and skillsets with relevant, timely topics. Participants will have the opportunity to ask questions and learn from best practices of other communities. 

This month the topic is: TBC

Your Session Expert/s: TBC

For more information see www.rmaalberta.com.

Plan now to attend the 2025 conference. 

For more information see www.rmaalberta.com.