A Greensboro businessman once, when asked by the Rhino Times “How’s Business?” responded, “Oh, business is very good!” and then he added, “Business is always good.”
When questioned about that last statement, he said that, if you were a businessman, and somebody asks you “How’s business?” you’re always supposed to say excitedly, “Oh, business is very good!” – no matter how business actually is.
Whether or not that’s good advice, it has always been the case, year after year, that, at the Greensboro Chamber of Commerce’s Annual “State of Our Community Luncheon,” the speakers project that attitude. Chamber of Commerce members, elected officials, business leaders, top educators, and others who speak at the event have always put a highly positive spin on local business conditions, extolled the virtues of the Greensboro area and celebrated the tremendous progress the community has made in the year since the last State of Our Community event.
There will be plenty more of that on Wednesday, Aug. 28, when the Greensboro Chamber of Commerce hosts its annual event from 11:45 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. in the Koury Convention Center at 3121 W. Gate City Blvd. in the Guilford Ballroom A-H.
Each year, the State of Our Community luncheon is the Chamber’s largest networking event, when more than 1,000 business leaders and others come together to celebrate the successes of Greensboro, Guilford County and the surrounding area.
While it’s a celebration of the local economy every year – whether business really is very good or not – this year on August 28, there will be extra pep in the attendees’ steps because, as has been the case in recent years, the business of economic development and economic recruitment has been very, very good indeed.
Large new businesses have been choosing Greensboro and Guilford County – in some cases it’s tech-based companies. And aviation-based companies are flocking to the Piedmont Triad International Airport’s new 1000-acre megasite, which used to be largely forest and a golf course.
Also, with each new big catch, more attention is focused on the Greensboro area as a great place to bring a business and that point is being made more often in the national business publications and among the consulting firms that help new and expanding businesses decide where to open shop.
This year’s sold-out luncheon and speech-fest will feature the theme, “Our Future in Flight,” due to the announcement of Boom Supersonic’s Overture Superfactory has been what the chamber is calling “a massive community win.”
The company is bringing 1,750 jobs to North Carolina by 2030 and plans on expanding to more than 2,400 jobs by 2032.
Blake Scholl, the founder and CEO of Boom Supersonic, will speak about how Greensboro is “on its way to becoming the aerospace hub of the Southeast and what this future of aerospace means for Greensboro.”
The annual luncheon is also, of course, a time when awards are handed out. Those will include…
- The Hubert B. Humphrey, Jr. School Improvement Award, which will be presented by the Community Foundation of Greater Greensboro and the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation.
- The Stanley Frank Economic and Workforce Development Award. This award will be presented by Brent Christensen, the president and CEO of the Chamber and the world’s biggest Duke basketball fan.
- Also, this year, a new award will be unveiled and presented: the Kathiann Lester Accelerate Award.
The Greensboro Chamber of Commerce, which includes the entrepreneurial advancement arms of Action Greensboro and Launch Greensboro – puts on the luncheon/pep rally every year.
The Chamber has over 1,300 member businesses and its goal is to help those businesses grow and prosper – while attracting new companies to Greensboro as well.
The chamber is a member of, and often partners with, the Guilford County Economic Development Alliance – a countywide agency established in 2015 that includes the High Point Economic Development Corp. and others.
