The Business Alliance for Local Living Economies, or BALLE, will host its 6th annual conference June 5-7, 2008 in Boston on the campus of Boston University. The 2008 theme, "Grow Deep: Businesses Building Strong Communities," celebrates pioneers of the local green economy. Hundreds of business owners and entrepreneurs, BALLE network leaders, economic development professionals, and local government officials will gather to discuss emerging opportunities to grow community wealth through strong locally-owned businesses. On Saturday, June 7, Michael Shuman will moderate the panel "Reinventing Public Policy as if Community Mattered." Panelists include Greg LeRoy, Stacy Mitchell and Alissa Barron, who will discuss current public policy reform efforts aimed at leveling the playing field for local businesses.

Hosted by the Association for Enterprise Opportunity, the National Summit on Entrepreneurship is the largest gathering in the U.S. of organizations and practitioners focused on micro-entrepreneurship as a solution to community economic development and poverty alleviation. The 18th annual summit, Empowering America's Communities, is co-hosted by the California Association for Microenterprise Opportunity (CAMEO) for the benefit of service and product providers and microentrepreneurs across the country. At the opening ceremony on Wednesday, May 21, plenary speaker Michael Shuman will deliver an address entitled "Building Successful Communities with Small Business." The summit will take place at the Hyatt Regency in Anaheim, California.

The Idaho Green Expo is a collaboration of businesses, non-profit groups, concerned individuals and government agencies seeking to promote sustainable products, services and behaviors in Idaho. The Expo 2008 will promote various paths to sustainability through exhibits, workshops and networking that "contribute to the knowledge of our community as we embrace the emerging green economy." On Sunday, May 18, Michael Shuman will deliver an address entitled "The Small-Mart Revolution: How Idaho Businesses Can Beat the Global Competition." Held at the Boise Center on the Grove in Boise, Idaho, the expo is free and open to the public.

The National Business Incubation Association (NBIA) 22nd International Conference on Business Incubation will be taking place in early May 2008 in San Antonio, Texas. The theme for 2008 is Innovation for a Strong Economy and a Healthy Planet, exploring how incubation can have a positive effect on the environment in addition to spurring economic development across the globe. The conference aims to introduce colleagues from around the world, foster exchange of experience and ideas, offer new tools and techniques for a variety of programs.

Michael Shuman will headline the Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA) 20th Annual Conference & Exhibition, May 2-5 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. SCAA is the world's largest coffee trade association. Shuman's keynote presentation will help specialty coffee businesses and SCAA conference attendees realize dozens of ideas for improving their competitiveness in a local business economy.

Held in Brandon, Manitoba, Capturing Opportunities is a comprehensive event designed to help Manitobans capitalize on promising and profitable business development opportunities available locally and around the world. Michael Shuman give two talks on April 25 focused on the concept of "meta-businesses," business models that can support various local businesses and begin to transform economic development from a cost centre into a profit centre for a community.

At 7:30 pm, Michael Shuman will speak to students, faculty, staff and community members about the role of individuals in the Small-Mart Revolution at this free student Earth Week event. Hosted by the Truman State Environmental Studies Minor Committee.

The Sustainable Business Conference brings together representatives from the private, public and nongovernmental organizations as well as university faculty, and students from around the world. Now in its 4th year, the 2008 Sustainable Business Conference held by Concordia University will center around the theme of "Food for Thought", where industry leaders are invited to discuss the value of the fair trade certification, pros and cons of genetically modified organism (GMOs) and local versus organic sourcing in the context of Montreal and international business.

Northwest State Community College in Archbold, Ohio presents Michael Shuman as part of the series "Back to Basics: Going Local and Creating Self-Reliant Communities in Northwest Ohio." The program opens with a community-wide keynote address on the evening of March 10th and continues with workshops the next day. The program will focus on why it is important in these times to develop sustainable, local economies and how community leaders, local business people, and concerned citizens effectively face the challenges of the global economy. All events are free and open to the public.

Michael Shuman will give a talk entitled, "Local Economy - Saving the World by Eating Locally: The Small-Mart Revolution." This is the second of four talks in the Local Economy & Urban Farming Series. Also see the Pittsburgh City Paper article about the event.

Michael Shuman will speak to a crowd of 3000 on February 15 at the World Conference on Development of Cities, which is to be held in Porto Alegre, Brazil at the PUC/RS Central Campus. The conference theme is "Democratic innovation and social transformation for inclusive cities in the 21st century." The event is being organized by The City Councils of Porto Alegre (Brazil) and Rome (Italy) and a series of national and international organizations, and will assemble world specialists to analyze what is being done in terms of democratic innovation and social innovation for promoting inclusive cities in the 21st century.

Hosted by the University of Kentucky Appalachian Center, this retreat for Kentucky's economic development professionals will take place in West Liberty. Kentucky economic development professionals from all sectors are invited to attend to clarify the values they share and identify best practices regarding local economic development. Michael Shuman and Alissa Barron from the Training & Development Corporation will participate, and Mr. Shuman will offer commentary.