2009 Mackinac Policy Conference moving Michigan forward: state-wide registration, increase in top executives among successes.
We recognize that there are many different conversations and initiatives that occur throughout the year on ways to move Michigan forward. The power of the Mackinac Policy Conference is that it allows constituents across all sectors -business, civic and community - to join in a collective conversation. This year's conference focused on the role we can play as individuals and collectively for the benefit of our great state.[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
The 2009 Mackinac Policy Conference expanded to a state-wide focus and featured many business CEOs from across Michigan as presenters and attendees. In fact, this year 28 percent of attendees were the top executive - a 6 percent increase from 2008.
Program highlights
The agenda highlighted Michigan-based examples on how to:
* Leverage leadership and private investment to build stronger regions
* Take advantage of the opportunities in the alternative energy and film industries
* Diversify one's business to experience growth even in a tough economy
At the same time, there was open dialogue with public officials on the barriers preventing our state from moving forward and provided metrics to guide decisions in the 2010 state-wide elections.
New web technology utilized
The new Mackinac Policy Conference experience site, which offered conference coverage, media coverage and a photo and video library, saw a 75 percent increase in visitors and a 56 percent increase in page views when compared to the 2008 conference Web site.
An additional success for the online conference strategy was an increase in the average number of page views and time visitors spent on the chamber's Web site.
For the first time, the chamber incorporated real-time interaction with the audience during general sessions using the popular service, Twitter. In its first year, we are very pleased with the outcome of this strategy. Results include more than 1,200 tweets during the conference sent by 175 people. The chamber's marketing team developed a Twitter strategy that included the creation and marketing of a conference user I.D. and hash tag; preconference recruitment of V.I.T.s - "Very Important Tweeple" - to tweet throughout the conference; preconference communication and instructions for attendees about tweeting; and a twitter wall used in four sessions to provide immediate audience interaction.
For the second consecutive year during the conference, the chamber's weekly e-publication, the eDetroiter, became a daily publication and served as a connection between chamber members at home and happenings at the conference.
Session highlights
The opening session set the energy level for the conference right out of the gate when Marge Byington, Bill Johnston, Rip Rapson, John Rakolta and Bobby Taubman talked about personal responsibility and philanthropic investment to move regions forward. T. Boone Pickens & Governor Granholm continued the next morning with a robust dialogue in how the nation and Michigan, in particular, can take advantage of the opportunities in the alternative energy industry.
Our Michigan CEOs provided real-life examples of companies innovating to keep their businesses fresh and growing in this economy. An exciting panel that focused on successful Michigan entrepreneurs was kicked off with a preview of a national innovation initiative being led by the Henry Ford called On Innovation. The session included Ari Emanuel, founder, Endeavor Talent Agency; Dennis Archer, Jr., Archer Corporate Services; Marc Gardner, North American Bancard; and Edward Walker, W Industries. Ed Bastian of Delta Airlines also shared insights of the successful merger of Delta and Northwest Airlines.
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Friday morning's opening session with Tony Earley, Bill Ford, Ron Medford and David Cole featured a provocative and enlightening discussion on the topic of the electrification of the car, what that means to our nation's power grid and what we can expect as a nation and as consumers.
The "Big Four" session incorporated a new format this year with me representing the business community on the panel.
Sessions with our congressional and state legislative leadership fostered open dialogue with the business community. The final session of the conference tackled the topic of holding our elected leaders accountable. Both sessions were timely as we prepare for the 2010 elections.
The conference ended with a twist when the power went out on the island. However as Michiganders we persevered and continued our planned celebration of all things Michigan - its people, products and achievements. It was a unique ending to the conference. By candlelight we laughed, danced and enjoyed food and drinks produced by Michigan farmers, ranchers and food retailers - including Faygo Red Pop in a Grand Hotel goblet.
Sandra E. Pierce is president and CEO of Charter One, Michigan and is the chair of the Detroit Regional Chamber.
mackinac
POLICY CONFERENCE
By the Numbers
registered attendees 1461 young professionals participated in the Fusion Track 84 (18 more than in 2008) companies/organizations represented 618 (139 have 101 or more employees, 479 have less than 100 employees) legislators in attendance (6 federal, 83 state) 89 working media 101 Breakdown of attendees: Business (S/M/L) 42% Non-Profit 14% Education 7% Association 3% of attendees were the top executive 28% the second executive 15% Government 21% Media 9% Hospital 3% Union 1% Note: Table made from pie chart.
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| Title Annotation: | Mackinac Policy Conference |
|---|---|
| Author: | Pierce, Sandra E. |
| Publication: | Detroiter |
| Article Type: | Conference notes |
| Date: | Sep 1, 2009 |
| Words: | 845 |
| Previous Article: | Impacting the bottom line. |
| Next Article: | Volunteer of the year: Terence Thomas, St. John Health. |
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