2013 Midwest Regional Government Affairs Conference

The Premier Advocacy Training Program for Chamber Professionals

Do you always mean to attend the Regional Government Affairs Conference, but find your schedule gets too full before you get around to looking at the schedule?

Make your development a priority!   We will have two great conferences in two fantastic cities you can choose from.

October 9-11, 2013  |  View agenda  (PDF)

Chicago Millennium Knickerbocker  Note: The hotel room rate is available 3 days post and prior to the conference.
163 East Walton Place
@ North Michigan Avenue
Chicago, IL, 60611
(312) 751-8100
Room Rate: $219.00
Register here.

To reserve your hotel room at the discounted rate of $219, please click on the dedicated link below.  From there, you will be prompted to enter your arrival and departure dates, personal information and any special requests.  You will receive an e-mail confirmation upon confirming.

Click here to book online for the Millennium Knickerbocker Hotel.

Agenda

U.S. Chamber of Commerce

Regional Government Affairs Conference - 2013

Millennium Knickerbocker 

Chicago

Wednesday – October 9

Noon – 3:00 State Chamber Roundtable – Expanded this year by popular demand, state 

chamber execs and government affairs staff will have more time than ever to 

exchange ideas on what’s working and what issues are emerging that could 

spread.

12:00 – 5:00 Registration

1:00 – 3:00 Concurrent Roundtable Discussions

Get the conference off to a solid start with one of these open-ended discussions 

with your peers. With the economy pressuring the budgets of our governments, 

our members, and our chambers, we need new ways to get things done. Nothing is 

off-limits, and if you are facing a difficult situation chances are another 

participant is, or has, too. There’s always plenty we can learn from each other.

State Chamber Roundtable (continued)

Metro Chamber Roundtable

Taking Your Government Affairs Program to the Next Level

Moderated by Dave Kilby, President, Western Association of Chamber Executives

3:15 Welcoming Remarks

“Enterprising States” and the Demographics of a Changing America

Joel Kotkin, Distinguished Presidential Fellow in Urban Futures, Chapman 

University

Described by the New York Times as America’s “uber-geographer,” for over three 

decades Joel Kotkin has been writing about global, economic, political and social 

trends. He was an author of the U.S. Chamber’s “Enterprising States” report, 

which takes a no-nonsense look at what it takes to grow in America today and 

who’s leading the way.

“Energy Forecast: Sunny, If Governments Allow It”

Karen Harbert, President, Institute for 21stCentury Energy

A “Frack” Discussion

An explosion of oil and natural gas production is taking place – on private lands. 

Hundreds of thousands of good jobs have been created and government revenues 

have benefited enormously. But public lands with high potential have been locked 

up and governments are considering drastic regulations that could cripple production on both public and private lands. Karen Harbert will lead a tour of the 

opportunities and the obstacles presented here. (Followed by a panel discussion 

on shale oil and gas production opportunities)

6:00 – 9:00 Opening Reception, Sponsored by the Center for Women in Business

Dinner / Entertainment

Thursday – October 10

7:30 – 10:30 Registration

7:30 Breakfast with the Pollsters – What Small Businesses (Your Members) Think

Robert Fronk & Sarah Simmons, Harris Interactive

The brains behind the U.S. Chamber’s Quarterly Small Business Survey tell us

the sentiment among some of our most important (and hard to divine) members.

Harris will have new data from the field to help us better communicate with… 

well, ourselves.

9:00 – 12:15 Concurrent Tracks (Choose One)

1) COMMUNICATIONS TRACK

2) PUBLIC POLICY TRACK

Case Study: Immigration – Diverse Coalition; Shared Goals

Tamar Jacoby, President & CEO, ImmigrationWorks USA

Labor and Legal Reform: States Take the Lead

Glenn Spencer, Workforce Freedom Initiative

Harold Kim, Institute for Legal Reform

Issue Pods (pick 3 of 5)

Choose three sessionsthat matter to your chamber for whirlwind, interactive

discussions led by U. S. Chamber experts. The “pods” are great opportunitiesto 

focus in-depth on your primary issues with colleagues who share your concerns.

Healthcare

Regulation 

Tax/Budget

Trade

Women in Business

Free Enterprise Network

12:30 – 1:45 ThursdayLunch Keynote 

Rich McClure, President, UniGroup Inc.2:00 “Challenges, Opportunities and Lessons Learned from Political 

Engagement”

Dr. Paul Green, Roosevelt University

“Transportation and Infrastructure Update” 

Janet Kavinoky, U.S. Chamber

6:00 – 8:00 Dinner / Entertainment

Friday – October 11

8:00 – 9:45 FridayBreakfast Keynote

‘Addressing the Skills Gap and Putting our Financial House in Order’

Ed Rust, CEO State Farm, Immediate Past Chair U.S. Chamber

9:45 Protecting Intellectual Property and You 

Closing KeynoteLunch 

Stephen Moore, Senior Economics Writer, Editorial Board, The Wall Street 

Journal

Illuminating the inter-workings of our government and our economy has been 

Stephen Moore’s specialty for many years. He is among the best at clarifying how 

the actions of the former affect what we can expect from the latter, for better or 

worse. Prior to joining the Journal’s Editorial Board, Moore served as a senior 

economist on the Congressional Joint Economic Committee, as a budget expert 

for the Heritage Foundation and as a senior economics fellow at the Cato Institute.

12:30 Adjourn