I'm fairly new to the field, so it was great to find an organization like the Edward Lowe Foundation," says Joan Siefert Rose, president of the Council for Entrepreneurial Development (CED) in Research Triangle Park, N.C. "At the ESO2 retreat, I was able to meet people who had been working with entrepreneurs for a long time and others, like me, who were relatively new."

"Granted, it's always hard to leave the office, but the ESO2 retreat was a very worthwhile use of everyone's scarce time. A lot of good information was shared and connections made in a compact period of time."

"Today entrepreneur support organizations are being asked to do so much for so many, yet most of us have limited resources. The retreat made me realize it's important to focus on what you do best and where you can make the most impact — and it gave me the confidence to stop doing certain services and programs that no longer offered as much value. As a result of discussions at Big Rock Valley, we've retooled our general offerings."

The ESO2 retreat was wonderful and certainly worth the trip. Both the program content and the environment were helpful in getting me to think about new things. It was relaxing and invigorating at the same time."

"Perhaps my greatest takeaway was the affirmation of how important peer learning is for entrepreneurs. Last year my organization launched a CEO network, which is similar to the foundation's PeerSpectives roundtables. Hearing about peer learning at the retreat confirmed for me that this is one of the most effective ways to convey expertise and counsel to entrepreneurs — and is a strategy working elsewhere. This helped us make the decision to expand from one to four CEO networks. We're also trying to organize a group of Arizona entrepreneurs to make the trek to Big Rock Valley."

I got a real return on my investment of time at the ESO2 retreat. It was great to meet individuals who share the same challenges I do, to be able to learn from their experiences and to share ours. And, unlike other networking events I've attended, I never felt like I was being sold something. It's clear that the foundation has a sincere desire to help people who are working to improve the nation's economy."

"One of my takeaways was how universal the concept of economic gardening has become. It's something my organization has been focusing on, but I was surprised to find that everyone else at the retreat was also working on initiatives — or trying to get their communities to recognize that growing your own entrepreneurs must be an important and central part of an economic development organization's strategy."

"We were also exposed to the PeerSpectives roundtable methodology, and I was very impressed with the results, which were significantly better than similar peer-to-peer discussion groups that I've been involved with."

The ESO2 program was a great opportunity to meet people who are in my profession but outside of my community. For one thing, that made it much easier to say what was really on my mind. Yet more important, it gave me the chance to learn about best practices in other places and hear what other people are doing – what has worked and what hasn't."

"I was really surprised to find out that some of the ideas we discussed are already being done in our region and I didn't know it, which tells me that we're not marketing some of these programs as well as we should. So now I'm working on finding ways that we can better communicate our local programs with the business community."

"At a lot of conferences, there isn't much time to just talk to people and trade war stories, but there was plenty of time for networking at this retreat. I came away with a renewed sense of purpose and inspiration — and a new way of thinking about how I talk to business owners, especially small—business owners and entrepreneurs."

My time at the Edward Lowe Foundation retreat was the most efficient, insightful, productive and entertaining 48 hours of my professional career."

"The event was full of surprises beginning with the sanctuary-like environment where the retreat was held. The quality of facilities and hospitality services were outstanding. But, the opportunity to meet a group of peers who share similar missions, objectives and philosophies on economic development was the best part. These were people like me who believe entrepreneurship is driving the New Economy. It was a validation our efforts are on the right track."

"It was amazing how quickly the group bonded; within hours we were on a first name basis."

"Other organizations are doing good things in the area of entrepreneurship, but this is the first event I've attended that focused on us, the practitioners who are working the front lines, advancing entrepreneurship. Because we work more or less in isolation, having the chance to hear what other practitioners do—and learn their best practices—was a real learning opportunity."

It's time that someone saw the world through the eyes of the established, but growing entrepreneur without discounting the role of business-trade associations in regional economic development. The capturing of goals, practices and data needed to create the modern entrepreneur support organization is a keen insight into thinking about how economies grow. That the foundation is willing to be so smart and generous about fostering groups such as ours, is an asset to the field and a wonderful legacy to Edward Lowe's vision."

"One of my takeaways revolved around the facilitation—how quickly and effortless the group was brought together. Granted, the foundation had already selected a group of like-minded people, but it's still a hard thing to do. Such a group might be jaded, jet-lagged and reluctant to turn off their PDAs. Any time you're dropped into new territory with strangers and an unclear agenda, and then the next day you're walking around hugging people—well, that's impressive. Those of us who facilitate events in our own communities couldn't help but be delighted to see that it's possible to build a sense of camaraderie and empathy so quickly."

"The foundation has defined a horizontal activist group of ESOs—something that no one has really done before—and woven together different organizational cultures with a common purpose."

I've been doing this job for 13 years, and it's definitely unique to find the kind of support system the retreat offered, and meet people from other parts of the country who share my organization's philosophy and mindset."

"As a result of the retreat, I'm already doing things differently. For one thing, I'm taking more of a leadership role in our community around economic development and small-medium enterprises. In the past I talked more about my organization, trying to justify why it exists and why people should give us money. Granted, funding is critical, but at some point you've got to do things that build capacity throughout the economic-devlopment community. This is a real shift for me—it's like getting out of survival mode and getting into more of a leadership, long-term sustainability mode."

The ESO2 retreat was a unique opportunity to be with peers. My organization has been in the small-business advocacy and development field for a long time. But to really focus on the entrepreneur rather than small business is new for us—and I sense it is for other practitioners as well."

"I came away with a little frustration—but a lot of hope. Frustration, because although the term 'economic gardening' is a great metaphor, it hasn't taken shape in a clear sense. Certainly, Chris Gibbons has done it Littleton, however, the question remains: How do you standardize economic gardening and make it applicable to any community—and then bring it up to the state level? Yet I think the Edward Lowe Foundation is on the forefront of defining economic gardening into a set of services that can be applied throughout the country."

The retreat was superbly done! It was great to get so many people who are managing entrepreneurial programs together in one room and share ideas. What's more, it was a diverse group—people who not only understand entrepreneurs, but also work with them day in and day out at different levels."

"The bonding part was probably most important for me. Now I have a group of peers that I can ask questions and bounce ideas off. It's a new and completely different network for me."

I've never experienced an event like this. . . it was positive in every way. The peer-to-peer learning was fantastic, and I've already been in touch with some of the other participants."

"Among key takeaways was the significance of second-stage companies. Although we focus first and foremost on existing industry, to define a target is important from a best ROI perspective since we, like many organizations, have limited capital."

The ESO event was fabulous—it exceeded all my expectations. I thought the retreat would be more about the foundation, but instead it focused on our organizations, our communities, and our best practices, which was a pleasant surprise. And the informal dialogue was just as valuable as the formal dialogue."

"One takeaway for me was the commonality of issues that participants shared regarding economic and community development. Although we were a very diverse group, with representation from large and small cities, agricultural and industrial areas, we discovered that our core issues were very similar."

"My organization is a hybrid—we're a regional chamber and economic-development organization that recently added community-development to our mission. I don't have a lot of peers in this space in my daily work, so it can get a little lonely. At the retreat, however, I met many people like myself that had complex organizations."

"Among best practices, I learned a different protocol for company valuations. This isn't our core business, but we work with entrepreneurs who have offers to sell their companies, and we often get called in on those discussions."

"The more we can continue to have a dialogue about entrepreneurship and beat that drum, the better. I see the foundation as the vehicle for future connectivity to help us leverage learning from the group."