Michael will be speaking to staff from the Montgomery County, Maryland Departments of Economic Development and Planning and interested members of the public.

Michael will be speaking to members of the Association for Enterprise Opportunity (AEO) in South Carolina.

Join Community Capital for a special luncheon on Tuesday, November 18th from noon to 1:30 pm at The Old Labor Hall in Barre, Vermont to celebrate $3 million in Community Capital loans made to micro and small businesses in Vermont since 1997. Michael Shuman is the invited speaker, and the event costs $25. Online pre-registration is available; walk-ins are also welcome. Later on Tuesday, Michael will give a talk entitled "Local Entrepreneurship: How Vermont Can Prosper While the Global Economy Melts Down," hosted by Community Capital of Vermont, the University of Vermont, Northfield Savings Bank, Preservation Trust of Vermont and a half dozen other community partners around Vermont. This event is free and open to the public, and will take place at the Vermont Statehouse from 4-6 pm. A book signing and reception will follow.

As part of Global Entrepreneurship Week, the University of Vermont will host a panel entitled "Product Innovation, Invention, Development and Commercialization," on Monday, March 17, 4-7pm. Panelists include Tom Ference of Vermont Patent Agent, LLC, John Bourland of New England Financial Vermont, Steve Densham of VtSBDC, and Michael Shuman of the Training & Development Corporation. Dr. Kathleen Liang, Associate Professor of Community Development and Applied Economics, will moderate. The event takes place in the UVM Billings North Lounge and is open to the public.

The Green Festivals are a joint project of Global Exchange and Co-op America. The festivals are now held annually in 5 major U.S. cities. The D.C. Green Festival, held at the Washington, D.C. Convention Center, will celebrate what’s working in our communities—across the District, Maryland and Virginia—for people, for business and for the environment. The event features 125 renowned speakers and 350 green businesses, how-to workshops, green films, a Fair Trade pavilion, yoga classes, organic beer, organic cuisine and live music. Michael Shuman will moderate a panel on November 9 at 4pm entitled "Triple Bottom Line Businesses: How to Make them Work."

The D.C. Green Festival, a project of Global Exchange and Co-op America, is proud to host the 2008 D.C. Environmental Conference, sponsored by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Pesticide Programs and Wholeness for Humanity. The conference will take place at the Washington Convention Center and includes a community focus pavilion and an Environmental Scorecard kiosk, a Town Hall Meeting on the Chesapeake Bay on Saturday at 1pm, and a dramatization of the degradation of the Chesapeake Bay.

The Baltimore Bioneers conference program will feature an array of innovators working to change the region and the world, and will showcase recordings from the October 2008 national Bioneers Conference in San Rafael, CA. Small-Mart's Managing Editor, Alissa Barron, will speak on Saturday, November 8 at 4:15 pm as part of the panel entitled "Public Policy: Environmental and Social Legislation for Maryland in 2009." Fellow panelists include Baltimore City Councilman Jim Kraft; Jennifer Bevan-Dangel, Deputy Director of 1000 Friends of Maryland; and moderator, Keith Losoya, Executive Director, Chesapeake Sustainable Business Alliance and Commissioner for the Baltimore City Office of Sustainability.

Taking place at the Laxson Auditorium in Chico, California, This Way to Sustainabily IV seeks to develop common ground to help build a sustainable society; one that balances economic, environmental and social needs. This annual event provides a forum to discuss issues that are relevant to the Chico region, community, faculty, staff, and students. On November 6, Michael Shuman will deliver a keynote entitled The Small-Mart Revolution: How Local Economies are Beating the Global Competition. Hosted by Calfornia State University (CSU) at Chico, The Associated Students of CSU Chico, Butte College, and The Associated Students of Butte College at the CSU Chico Campus. This event is free and open to the public.

Michael will be speaking to the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco, California.

Hosted by the University of Kentucky's Appalachian Center, this one-day event will bring together economic development practioners from Eastern Kentucky to discuss mechanisms for collaboration and innovation through localized economic development. Speakers include Michael Shuman; Anthony Flaccavento, executive director and founder of Appalachian Sustainable Development; and Becky A. Anderson, founding CEO of HandMade in America. The event is hosted by the University of Kentucky Growing Local Economies Partnership, which includes the Appalachian Center, the Kentucky Entrepreneurial Coaches Institute, the Kentucky Small Business Development Centers, the Kentucky Cooperative Extension Rural Economic Development Program, and the Training & Development Corporation.

The 2008 Rural CAMEO Conference is entitled: MicroEnterprise: Leading Local Economic Development, and will take place at the Sheraton Grand Hotel in Sacramento, California. On October 23, Michael Shuman will speak about how to revitalize your economy, out-compete the world's largest companies, and increase community investment through support of local businesses.

Michael will be speaking at the College of the Siskiyous, a public community college.

The Bioneers Conference is a leading-edge national forum where social and scientific innovators showcase solutions for restoring the Earth and communities that are inspired by nature and human ingenuity. Michael Shuman will speak on October 19 about the Small-Mart Revolution as part of a track entitled Eco-Design and Eco-nomics. The conference will be held at the Marin Center in San Rafeal, California.

In celebration of the Oregon Microenterprise Network's 10th anniversary, the 2008 Summit will feature an expanded set of trainings for economic development professionals under the theme "Building Communities, Expanding Prosperity." The summit - designed to highlight innovations and best practices that help entrepreneurs grow and prosper - will take place at the Governor Hotel in Portland, Oregon. Michael Shuman will be speaking on October 17. The Oregon Microenterprise Network (OMEN) is a statewide association of microenterprise development programs and their supporters.

The FoodBIN conference, held in Cherry Hill, NJ (near Philadelphia) will provide an opportunity for social enterprise proponents, community development specialists, microenterprise and small business lenders, food business development advisors, urban and rural economic development professionals, and food technology support groups to learn about how food business incubation practices are helping regional economies and supporting entrepreneurs and farmers around the world. The FoodBIN Conference is a special segment of the 2008 Community Food Security Coalition (CFSC) Annual Conference, whose theme is “Restoring Our Urban and Rural Communities with Healthy Food.”

Michael will be speaking the morning of September 24.

National leaders discuss and identify workable solutions to environmental challenges via a free, live webcast from Washington, D.C. A recorded version will be available 3 hours after Summit concludes. Confirmed panelists include Representative Edward Markey (D-MA), Governor Tim Pawlenty (R-MN), Representative Fred Upton (R-MI), as well as principals and executives from the Natural Resources Defense Council, The Dial Corporation, Second Nature, Ford Motor Company, Citizens for Affordable Energy, Wal-Mart, PBS, and Arizona State University. Moderating will be Aaron Brown, former CNN News Anchor; Professor, Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication; and Host, PBS' Wide Angle.

The annual conference of the Hawai'i Congress of Planning Officials is a gathering of planning professionals, developers, planning commissioners, consultants, and elected officials from around the State of Hawai'i. Hosted by the Maui County Planning Department on the island of Maui, this year’s theme is "Planning Island Style – E Ola Pono," and the conference program incorporates a focus on planning for island sustainability following the recent completion of the Hawai'i 2050 Sustainability Plan. Michael Shuman will deliver a keynote address entitled "The Small-Mart Revolution: How Local Businesses Can Boost an Island Economy."

Slow Food Nation '08, the inaugural Slow Food Nation event, will be held at several venues across San Francisco, California from August 29 to September 1. Through dozens of events, Slow Food Nation will inspire and empower Americans to build a food system that is good, clean and fair, and aims to be the nation's largest celebration of American food and sustainability. The convening is a community event and all are welcome to attend.

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.