EDC staff were busy promoting our region from coast to coast this week. Their goal: to highlight Central Florida's advantages for business, especially in the film and technology industries.

Sheena Fowler, EDC associate director of film & television, was in Miami for the National Association of Television Program Executives (NATPE) conference. She presented the region as a location for television production and met with several producers and studio heads. The EDC also partnered with Film Florida on a panel session on "TV Set in Florida" designed to showcase the advantages of production in the sunshine state. Next week, Sheena will travel to Washington, D.C. for the RealScreen Summit, the premier non-fiction film and television event to promote Central Florida as a filming location for non-fiction.

Shelly Weidenhamer, EDC director of business development, was in San Francisco for SPIE Photonics West, an annual gathering of lasers, optics and photonics company executives. This specialized industry has a strong base in Central Florida. The EDC also partnered with Enterprise Florida, the University of Central Florida and the Florida Photonics Cluster in representing this important cluster.

This EDC has become recognized as an industry leader in the use of social media efforts to maximize impact before, during and after conference participation and sales missions. This week's activities reflected that. In order to stand out in the crowd, the EDC scheduled tweets designed to attract the attention of festival-goers. Here are a few samples:

• At #NATPE? Today @ 1:30 in the Flash Ballroom of the Versailles Tower, attend the "TV Set in Florida" panel by Film Florida

• Did you know Orlando based @UCF #CREOL is one of only three Centers of Excellence in optics + photonics? http://ow.ly/8DsJ9 #PhotonicsWest

To follow the Metro Orlando Film Commission on Twitter, click here. To follow the EDC, click here.

The Metro Orlando community hosted the first-ever Site Selectors Guild Conference this week at the Hilton Orlando. A new professional association comprised of the world's most respected site selection consultants as voted by their peers, the Site Selectors Guild members represent an estimated 60 percent of corporate site selection projects ranging from international supply chain analysis to local business relocations - from globally-known corporations to new business startups. This was the first conference of its kind, providing a platform for networking, training and information sharing for economic development agencies across the U.S. and site selection consultants to exchange information and build business relationships.

The Metro Orlando EDC and partners - Enterprise Florida, JAXUSA Partnership, Greater Ft. Lauderdale Alliance and FPL - hosted a private dinner for the Guild members at Walt Disney World Resort's Epcot as part of the conference. Understanding the importance of this group, Florida Governor Rick Scott was in attendance to express his commitment to helping site selectors and their clients do business in Florida.

Rick Weddle, EDC president and CEO, provided the opening remarks for the conference and introduced Dr. Sean Snaith, UCF's director of the Institute for Economic Competitiveness, who served as the keynote speaker. Rick also participated in a panel discussion that featured economic development professionals speaking directly to the site selector guild members. Throughout the week, members of the EDC's business development team participated in conference activities and fostered relationships with this important group.

Wyndham Vacation Ownership - a member of the Wyndham Worldwide family of companies - is expanding their presence in South Orange County with a $24.7 million capital investment in the 300,000 square foot former Harcourt-Brace building.

The company plans to hire 231 new jobs over the next three years in positions including executive management, marketing, sales and administration.

The EDC has worked closely with Wyndham Vacation Ownership over the last several months, assisting them with information on our business climate and workforce; analysis of key location factors - real estate costs, labor market conditions and operating costs; and incentives facilitation.

Orange County, the State of Florida, Enterprise Florida and Workforce Florida have been important partners in this successful corporate expansion project.

The process to make way for the development of Orlando's Creative Village is underway. Over the next two months, work will begin on demolishing the Amway Arena, resulting in its implosion in March.

This is the first step in clearing the land for the 68-acre Creative Village - a mix of living and work spaces designed to build on the success of Orlando's digital media industry. It is envisioned to be a place for high tech companies to locate and employees and residents live, work, learn and play. The village will have a strong focus on education as it is anchored by the University of Central Florida's Center for Emerging Media and its Florida Interactive Entertainment Academy (FIEA), House of Moves motion capture studio and the Nap Ford Charter School.

At its build-out, studies estimate the Creative Village will create 5,000 permanent jobs.

To learn more about Creative Village, click here.

The Aspen Institute named Valencia College as the nation's best community college.

Valencia was selected over 1,200 colleges around the country for the inaugural Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence. The award is based on student performance and graduation data and Valencia was commended for its higher than average graduation rates, assistance for students who transfer and its success with a large, diverse population.

The Metro Orlando Economic Development Commission (EDC) is pleased to announce that Pat Engfer, general manager of the Hyatt Regency Orlando International Airport, will receive the 2012 James B. Greene Economic Development Award, the highest honor bestowed by the EDC. The award recognizes an individual whose work has contributed substantially to the economic prosperity of the region.

First presented in 1990, the James B. Greene Economic Development Award is named in memory of the long-time Orlando business leader who was very active in the region's economic, transportation, and civic development. The Central Florida Greeneway, State Road 417, is named after him as well.

Pat Engfer's involvement in the Central Florida community is unprecedented. She has not only served as the Chair of the EDC, but she's also served as Chair of Visit Orlando, Central Florida Partnership and the Central Florida Hotel and Lodging Association. In addition, she also serves as a board member of the University of Central Florida Rosen School of Hospitality Management and as the chair of American Heart Association's Go Red for Women.

Prior to becoming the general manager of the Hyatt Regency Orlando International Airport in 1992, in her 35 year career with Hyatt, she worked at the Hyatt on Hilton Head Island, Hyatt Pittsburgh, Hyatt Regency Atlanta, the Watertower Hyatt and various general manager positions in Southern California.

Past honors have included being named the Hyatt Hotels General Manager of the Year, induction into the UCF Hospitality Hall of Fame and as the CFHLA Hotelier of the Year.
She holds a bachelor's degree from East Carolina University in Parks, Recreation and Conversation.

Engfer will be honored with the award during the annual EDC Awards Dinner on Tuesday, March 6 from 6:00 - 9:00 p.m. at the Amway Center in downtown Orlando.

Back in October, the Metro Orlando Film Commission worked with Los Angeles-based Beef Films on a television commercial shoot for Rapala, a manufacturer of fishing lures.

The commercial filmed at locations including Lake County, Earl's Barber Shop in Winter Garden, Greenwood Cemetery and downtown Orlando, even including using the offices of the EDC.

This is the sixth project over the last two years in the region for executive producer John Malina. Below, John explains why he finds Central Florida an advantageous place to bring production.

Watch the recently released commercial below.

Orlando Film Commissioner Sheena Carlisle Fowler was recently profiled in the Orlando Business Journal.

Click here to read the executive profile.

The State of Florida was recognized by P3 Update Magazine's annual ranking of top states for film production. Florida ranked as the 3rd best state for the "most attractive combination of tax incentives, crew base, talent pool, infrastructure, accessibility, significant production revenue and overall popularity among filmmakers."

Florida has historically been recognized as a top ten state for filmmakers but had fallen off the list in recent years. Thanks to the recently revamped Florida film incentive program, the state is back on top.

In addition to the incentive program offered by the state, Metro Orlando has always been a major hub for production thanks to strong film infrastructure, experienced crew, large talent pool base, weather and variety of locations.

In just the last year, a few of the productions that have filmed in Metro Orlando include: Feature films - Tooth Fairy 2, Renee, Transformers 3 and Cassadega; Television pilots - MTV's The Inbetweeners, Big Mike and Bad Mom; and Television commercials - Massey Services, Minute Maid, PepBoys, New York Life and HH Gregg.

For more about filming in Orlando, visit www.filmorlando.com.

by Rick L. Weddle, President and CEO, Metro Orlando Economic Development Commission

This year, people from around the world faced challenging economic times, the likes of which were bigger than almost anything we've ever faced before. No one was exempt. Jobs were lost and too few new jobs were created. Entire sectors of the economy were seriously damaged.

This is much more than a cyclical recession and much bigger than Central Florida. Worldwide, we've all relied too much on credit and leverage; depended too much on population driven growth and development; and got accustomed to taking orders and managing growth. We must now shift our thinking from managing growth to making growth happen.

A 'new normal' began to emerge, replacing 'business as usual.'

This has given rise to new opportunity. As a region, we need to develop a clear long-term version of what we want to become. Our region is already blessed with all the right ingredients for long-term success - a strong higher education system, fantastic international airports, Central Florida Research Park, Lake Nona Medical City, a skilled and talented workforce, strong regional collaboration and advantages at intersections of key industries.

Over this year, the EDC has reorganized both our organization and our regional partnerships so as to create a more effective and better-focused economic development delivery system.

We've tightly focused our efforts on primary business sectors that will generate quality jobs, an expanded tax base and enhanced business opportunities. Over the next few months, you'll begin to see a more streamlined approach to our key industry sectors, focusing on both where our strengths currently are and where our strengths will be.

During fiscal year 2010-11, EDC clients projected to create or retain 4,033 jobs over the next three years with an average wage of $43,330, impacting $43.6 million in capital investment and 524,583 square feet of real estate.

Of these projects, nearly two-thirds were local retention and expansion projects and just over one-third were companies that were recruited to the region. The bulk of these projects were from the manufacturing and distribution industry (32%), aerospace and defense (21%), business services (16%) and information technology (16%) sectors.

Companies we worked with this year included: AcAe; Advanced Solar Photonics, LLC; afni, inc.; Amcor PET Packaging; Connextions, Inc.; Customed; DSCI; Industrial Lighting Products; Millenium Luxury Coaches; MYMIC LLC; Parker Software Ltd.; Raptor Technology Group; Row Sham Bow, Inc.; SAIC; Team Cymru, Inc.; Tecport Optics, Inc.; TravelCLICK; Wheeled Coach Industries, Inc.

We also had a very busy film and television production year with 434 days of production, including production of feature film Tooth Fairy 2, MTV's The Inbetweeners and plenty of television commercial work - our region's bread and butter for filming.

We've set our goals for 2012 to be more aggressive. We are aiming to work with companies who will create or retain 4,050 jobs over a three year time period, creating a capital investment of $120.8 million and for 500 days of film and television production.

During this next year, we will work with our partners at all levels - state, regional and local - to improve our competitiveness now and in the future as a profitable location for new and expanding businesses. This includes making sure we have a favorable tax and regulatory climate as well as strategic investments in needed physical infrastructure to support a company's top line growth such as transportation and education.

Overall, both the EDC and the Metro Orlando region are extremely well positioned to face the challenges ahead and, importantly, capitalize on the opportunities they present.

If we as a region and as an organization make the right choices, do the right things and sustain the needed investments, the path ahead looks very bright.

I look forward to working with you collectively and individually in support of this end - and encourage each of you to become even more involved with the EDC in the year going forward.

Here's to a prosperous 2012!