Sneak Peek at Keynote Speech from Gene Stanaland, Economist and Speaker at Dine America 2010

Gene Stanaland has been aptly named the “Will Rogers of Economics”, and is as personable on the phone as he is in front of a conference hall full of people. His friendliness comes as no surprise—after all, a man who balances one of the nations most intense college rivalries, University of Alabama vs. Auburn University, must be personable. (More about his allegiance later in the post.) With humor and wit, Stanaland analyzes and explains economics to audiences from industries ranging from food service to healthcare.

In our phone call, Stanaland gave me a glimpse into the points he’ll be covering in his keynote presentation at Dine America 2010. He’ll be detailing what brands of all sizes can expect from the economy and Washington in the year to come. Beginning with the Washington factor, he’ll expound on the influence our government has on the economy, and we’ll learn about Washington’s connection to both consumer and businesses’ spending psychologies.

In our conversation, Stanaland made an excellent point regarding the role of psychology in economics today. According to him, a large component of the economic downturn is psychological—if we could improve or alter public perception and alleviate much of the fear surrounding the recession, it would have a major impact on our ability to recover.

I was excited to hear that he’ll answer a question we’ve all asked: “How did we get into this mess?” In response, Stanaland will delve into the housing decline, and then go into further detail about causes and effects.

He’ll conclude with an economic forecast for the remainder of this year and 2011, a prediction based on quarter-by-quarter analyses of how the economy has progressed since the housing decline. A hint at his conclusions: while we’ll improve in other areas, unemployment will still be a challenge, with rates hovering around 9% in 2011.

Now, back to that Alabama-Auburn rivalry: after attaining both his MBA and Ph.D. at Alabama, Stanaland served Auburn’s Department of Economics for 20 years. So, when football season starts, he heads to his undergraduate alma mater, Huntington College in Montgomery, Alabama to seek out neutral ground.

I’d like to extend thanks to Gene Stanaland for allowing me to take a sneak peek into the topic(s) of his keynote presentation—after speaking with him, I’m certainly looking forward to hearing more.