Business Facilities LiveXchange is an invitation-only event for corporate executives responsible for choosing a new location for their companies’ next facility. Delegates meet with senior economic developers from across North America; attend seminars, workshops, and think tanks led by experts in the field of relocation and expansion; and network with other corporate executives faced with the same corporate growth challenges. This month, we preview some of the high-profile speakers who will be making presentations at our 2009 LiveXchange keynote address, seminars and workshops.
Each year, our LiveXchange event provides a fertile meeting ground for site selectors and senior economic developers. This year—as every sector battles its way from the depths of recession into the sunlight of an emerging recovery—we believe LiveXchange presents a crucial, not-to-be-missed opportunity for locations to zero in on pre-qualified, viable projects in an economy that has winnowed the field and intensified the competition. No other event can offer this kind of value in return for time well spent.
As in our past events, the unique LiveXchange experience will be supplemented by an all-star list of guest 
speakers who will be making presentations and leading discussions on a number of hot-button issues. This year, we are paying particular attention to an emerging sector which rapidly is becoming an economic driver from coast to coast: alternative energy. Fueled by $3 billion in federal stimulus grants, alternative energy projects for solar, wind, biomass and other renewable fuels are being pulled off the drawing board and rushed into construction, blossoming like hundreds of “green shoots” across the national landscape.
Our keynote speaker at this year’s LiveXchange has been in the forefront of the ongoing debate over an issue 
that is central to the transition to a green economy: the introduction of a cap-and-trade system for carbon emissions. Delivering an address entitled “What You Need To Know About Carbon Trading” will be William Sloan, an attorney in the global law firm Morrison & Foerster’s Cleantech Group.
Sloan previously served in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Justice, and is a member of the Energy Bar Association’s Emission Trading Commission, the Climate Change Advisory Committee for the California Manufacturers and Technical Association, and the Environment, Energy and Resources Section of the American Bar Association.
In his keynote, Sloan will explain how a carbon-credit marketplace could make the cost of carbon emissions a primary factor in the site selection, expansion, relocation and facilities management decision-making process.
Several of our seminars and workshops at this year’s LiveXchange also will focus on the rapidly accelerating green economy:
• George Tobjy, a director at KPMG Global Location and Expansion Services, will make a presentation entitled “Green Economy: Opportunities/Best Emerging Sectors.”
• David Brandon, senior vice president, Site Selection Group, will conduct a seminar on “Renewable Energy: Target Industry Analysis and Location Trends.”
• Jerry Szatan, principal, Szatan and Associates, will examine the impact of green building/smart growth considerations in his LiveXchange think-tank session on “Location Strategies for Consolidating Facilities.”
Globalization is another hot-button topic that will be analyzed at LiveXchange. Don Holbrook, partner, The Vercitas Group, will conduct a seminar on “The Art Of The Deal In The Era of Globalization.”
A seminar focused on the ins-an-outs of evaluating locations for high-tech investments will be presented by Matt Szuhaj, director, Strategy and Operations, Deloitte Consulting LLP, and Dennis Donovan, principal, Wadley-Donovan-Gutshaw Consulting, will explain the keys to a successful back office location.
LiveXchange 2009 will take place October 18-20 at the Sanibel Harbour Resort & Spa in Fort Myers, FL. We look forward to all of these thought-provoking presentations. For more information about our upcoming LiveXchange event, visit our Web site at businessfacilities.com.
