The city is hoping by hosting a national event, it will have benefits for local businesses.
The four-day 2012 BIA National Conference is underway this week in Thunder Bay, featuring more than 200 delegates from business improvement areas across Ontario and the country.
Jack Moro, from the Westfort Village Business District, said he’s looking to gain knowledge on everything from promotion to beautification from the other delegates.
“So we can kind of emulate that a little bit to try and grow and get better at what we do,” Moro said.
Westfort is one of five local improvement areas hosting the conference. One of the main concerns for the South side neighbourhood is trying to get new businesses in and have old businesses develop a succession plan when owners retire.
Because Westfort is around 130 years old, it can be difficult to develop the area Moro said. He’s looking forward to speaking with other historic districts in Ontario on how they manage their areas.
“That’s very important to us because we can learn from other people and hopefully they can learn from us,” he said.
Ontario BIA Association president John Kiru said making those connections is the most important part of the conference. Finding common issues and working on them together is why the conference started 13 years ago.
“It was a number of little things but they all added up to making life a little more difficult for people who are busy working, trying to operate their businesses and on top of that taking on the added responsibility of trying to improve the economic and social well begin of those neighbourhoods,” he said at Valhalla Inn Monday morning.
It’s also about discovering new ideas on everything from business plans to graffiti removal. Every year new ideas are born at the conference Kiru said.
“Somebody will come up with an idea that everyone will carry down, some of the engaging speakers that we try to bring out here may spark some kernel of an idea that may move forward.”
This is also the first time the conference has come North.
Kiru said it was important to make the trip so that the association truly is province-wide.
Coun. Rebecca Johnson, who chaired the local organizing committee, said holding the conference in Thunder Bay is a good way to get local businesses involved and showcase the city to other delegates.
“It’s a learning opportunity a chance to network,” Johnson said. “It’s a real variety of opportunity for our local business areas.”
