VBSR Business Conference on May 5 at the Hilton Hotel in Burlington

VBSR’s 2009 day-long conference is Vermont’s largest gathering of the state’s most innovative, socially responsible business people. This year’s conference, entitled “On the Long Trail: Sustaining Success,” focuses on how businesses can survive, thrive, and stay true to their principles in tough economic times. David Cay Johnston, Pulitzer Prize-winning author and former journalist, will kick off the conference with his morning keynote speech. Johnston is the author of best-selling books on tax and economic policy, including Free Lunch: How the Wealthiest Americans Enrich Themselves at Government Expense and Stick You With The Bill, about hidden subsidies, rigged markets, and corporate socialism. Johnston’s investigative work exposed tax shelters, saving the public more than $250 billion over a decade. The conference features 17 workshops, including:

What: “On the Long Trail: Sustaining Success”

When: Full day conference, Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Time: 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

Where: Hilton Hotel, 60 Battery Street, Burlington, Vermont

Been There, Learned a Few Things: Several long-established companies and their leaders look back to past difficult economic times, and share stories of making it through, what worked, and what they would do differently.

Marketing: New Tools & Tough Times: New and emerging marketing tools that are rapidly replacing traditional media, and strategies for reaching audiences and moving markets in tough times.

Through the Looking Glass (of Hiring): Applicants helping employers, employers helping applicants: Insightful and practical discussion about how to create a more effective approach to the hiring process for both applicants and employers.

Climate Change: Engaging Business Leadership: Action and change on climate change must come from business. Several Vermont business leaders describe how they have gotten senior management on board with initiatives to reduce carbon footprint and address climate change, the kinds of resistance they've encountered, and how they've overcome it.

Sleepless in Vermont: What Keeps Us Up at Night: Leadership conversation designed for CEOs and upper management—what decisions keep business leaders up at night, how they stay focused on what they are able to influence, and how they keep a long-term perspective when things get tough.

Will Raap, Founder and Chairman of the Gardener’s Supply family of companies, will deliver the conference closing remarks on the opportunity of business in Vermont to work our way around tough times and take charge of our own destiny.

“On the Long Trail: Sustaining Success” is made possible by sustaining members Ben & Jerry’s, Chittenden Bank, Chroma Technology, Gardener’s Supply Company, Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Green Mountain Power Company, Main Street Landing Company, NRG Systems, Inc., Seventh Generation, Small Dog Electronics, and Villanti & Sons Printers; underwriters Cabot Creamery, City Market/Onion River Co-op, National Life Group, Northfield Savings Bank, Praxis Consulting Group, TruexCullins, and University of Vermont Continuing Education; media sponsor Vermont Public Radio; sponsors A. N. Deringer, Inc., Black River Produce, Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Vermont, Brattleboro Food Co-op, Business Culture Consultants, Castleton State College, Champlain College, Community & Economic Development Office (CEDO), Dinse, Knapp & McAndrew, Farrell Distributing Corp., Goddard College, Hubbardton Forge, KeyBank, King Arthur Flour Company, Lake Champlain Chocolates, Marketing Partners, Inc., Marlboro College, McKenzie Country Classics, Merritt & Merritt & Moulton Attorneys at Law, Middlebury College, The Point WNCS-FM, Rhino Foods, Shems Dunkiel Kassel & Saunders PLLC, SymQuest Group Inc., University of Vermont, Vermont Butter & Cheese Company, Vermont Country Store, Vermont Energy Investment Corp. (VEIC), Vermont Pure Holdings, Vermont State Employees Credit Union, and Zutano, Inc.; workshop sponsors Antioch New England Graduate School, Concept2, Washington Electric Cooperative; and co-sponsors Cole Consulting, Good Point Recycling, Northeast Delta Dental, and William Maclay Architects and Planners.