Forums & Workshops

October 2, 2020 – Metuchen Downtown Alliance Executive Director, Isaac Kremer, and Storefront Mastery‘s Storefront Ninja, Jaime Izurieta, led a discussion about best practices in placemaking to make your downtown inviting and comfortable during cold weather.

September 18, 2020 – National retail consultant and Downtown specialist Mike Berne, President of New York City and San Francisco Bay Area-based MJB Consulting, led a discussion about harnessing creative thinking, collaboration, and adaptability to encourage the timely emergence of new innovations and business models in response to changing realities and unforeseeable shocks.

August 18, 2020 – At this forum, seasoned communications expert Susan Adelizzi-Schmidt of Suasion Communications Group, led a discussion about public relations, digital marketing, and creative brand strategy for downtowns in recovery.

July 29, 2020 – At this forum, we were joined by John Donio, President of Wildwood BID, Ollyn Lettman, Director of Bloomfield Center Alliance, and Emily Manz of EMI Strategy who shared their experiences staging in-person and virtual events.

June 26, 2020 – At this forum, Larisa Ortiz, Managing Director of Research & Analysis at Streetsense, provided an overview of the Commercial District Recovery Guide that provides place-based organizations and intermediary partners focused on community economic development with a curated roadmap for action to support COVID-19 recovery efforts in downtowns and commercial districts.

June 19, 2020 – At this forum, we learned best practices from industry experts, and how NJ business owners are handling re-entry.

June 12, 2020 – Now more than ever, “going digital” is necessary to stay relevant and present in the consumer’s mind. At this forum, we heard about a few of the digital resources that our members have found valuable for both their downtown and their businesses.