This year’s Business Forecast Luncheon is going local.

For more than three decades the event, hosted by Smith School of Business, has fostered connections with the Kingston community as Queen’s experts discuss the financial and economic outlook for the coming year, often on the national or provincial level.

This year’s event, being hosted Thursday, Dec. 7 from noon to 2 pm at the Four Points Sheraton, will take on a more local focus, explains Evan Dudley, Assistant Professor of Finance at Smith School of Business, will be discussing how Kingston ranks relative to other communities of similar size in terms of economic growth and job creation as well as a national economic forecast.

“What I’ve learned from the attendees is they are very interested in what Queen’s researchers have to say about the local economy. I think that is the missing piece for the event and that is what we are bringing to the table this year,” he says. “At the luncheon I will do a national macro-economic forecast but I will also talk about the local economy, which is much more difficult as there’s not a lot of information on Kingston because it’s a smaller city.”

Joining him will be Julian Barling, Professor of Organizational Behaviour and Borden Chair of Leadership at Smith School of Business, and Betsy Donald, Professor, Department of Geography and Planning.

At the luncheon Dr. Barling will talk about early childhood environments and how they foster leadership outcomes, a topic that Dr. Dudley describes as “fascinating”.

“It’s original research and he will be talking about that, with an application to Kingston of course,” he says. “He’s very knowledgeable about what’s going on here.”

Dr. Donald, the first faculty member from outside the business school to be featured at the luncheon, specializes in economic geography with a particular focus on innovation and regional economic development, urban planning and governance, and sustainable food systems. Her talk will also take a look at Kingston in relation to where it stands in comparison to other cities now and going forward.

Following the presentations there will be a question-and-answer session, moderated by Dr. Dudley, where audience members can put their queries on a wide range of topics directly to the experts.  A hot topic at past luncheons has been development projects and whether or not the City of Kingston should move ahead with them.

“When you look at Kingston, we do well in some dimensions but in terms of growth relative to other cities Kingston is maybe in the middle of the pack,” Dr. Dudley points out. “That’s a discussion we have every year and some people think that is the right place to be while others feel we should move up. There’s definitely a trade-off there and both Dr. Barling and Dr. Donald are going to be speaking about that trade-off.”

Tickets for the Business Forecast Luncheon can be purchased online at Smith School of Business website or contact Samantha Arniel at 613-533-6000 ext. 73800 or samantha.arniel@queensu.ca.