Sustainable Business Summit

Are you interested in

- Growing your business with sustainable business practices and principles?
- Exploring sustainable business opportunities?
- Sharing your sustainable business experiences and hearing those of others?
- Understanding how to use sustainable practices and products as a market differentiator for your business?

If you said “yes” to any of these, you need to attend! Come to get inspired and leave knowing what to do and how. The Summit features Dr. Pat Long Director of the Center for Sustainable Tourism at East Carolina University. The Sustainable Business Summit will be held on September 30, 2011 from 9:00 am to 2:30 pm at the Broyhill Inn and Conference Center.

The Intent of the Summit is to expose participants to the compelling opportunities and benefits of incorporating sustainability practices or products into their business models, offer opportunities to hear from and talk to local business leaders who are successfully incorporating sustainable products or practices in their businesses, provide opportunities for participants to learn how to make their sustainability initiative a market differentiator, provide “how to” information on how to incorporate sustainability practices in the everyday operations of a business, allow participants to network and meet other business leaders interested in or actively incorporating “green practices and products.

Pat Long is the Director at the Center for Sustainable Tourism at East Carolina University. He has extensive experience in grappling with the competing requirements of regional development and resource conservation. He comes to ECU from the Leeds School of Business, University of Colorado at Boulder, where he established the nation's first sustainable tourism center. Long holds tenure in ECU's College of Business and applies a much-practiced interdisciplinary approach in guiding the development of a new MS degree offering in Sustainable Tourism, as well as directing the Center's plans for multi-campus partnerships. He served for a number of years as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the National Rural Tourism Foundation as well as President/CEO of that organization. His scholarly publications have appeared in Annals of Tourism, the Journal of Travel Research, the Journal of Sustainable Tourism, the Journal of Business Research and Tourism Management, among others.

The Agenda:

8:30 Registration
9:00 Welcome and Overview of the Day
9:15 Choosing Sustainable Business Practices – why it’s the “Smart Business Direction”
10:00 Networking Break
10:30 Panel Discussion - Sustainable Business Practitioners
Networking & Lunch with Panelists
1:00 Workshops
- Making Sustainability a Market Differentiator
- Sustainable Business basics -Green Business Plan Certification
2:30 Adjourn to Tours (Optional)

To Register:
Send name, email, phone number and address with registration fees to:
MountainKeepers, PO Box 21 DTS, Boone, NC 28607
Fees for the summit are $40.00 or $20 Members of MountainKeepers, $50 on 9/30/11
Register by 9/21/2011 to qualify for lunch, please let us know if you prefer a vegetarian option
Make Checks payable to: MountainKeepers

This Summit is presented by MountainKeepers, in partnership with the Boone Area Chamber of Commerce, Broyhill Inn and Conference Center, Center for Sustainable Tourism @ ECU, ASU Office of University Sustainability. For more information about MountainKeepers visit, www.mountainkeepers. Display Table Space is Available call 828-268-0637 or email summit@mountainkeepers.org