COVID-19 recovery highlighted the Business Record’s 2021 Economic Forecast panel on Thursday. 

For the first time in its nearly two-decade history, the Business Record’s annual Economic Forecast event was held virtually on Zoom. For those of you who couldn’t attend yesterday — and to recap for all who could — our staff writers gathered a few takeaways from a lively panel discussion. 

The video above is the first question from yesterday’s event. We asked the panelists: “What is the most important thing Iowa businesses should know about the economy in 2021?” 

Watch the first question here.

Panelists included: 

• Scott Brown, senior vice president and chief economist, Raymond James.
• Debi Durham, director, Iowa Economic Development Authority and Iowa Finance Authority.
• Amy Friedrich, president, U.S. Insurance Solutions, Principal Financial Group.
• Ernie Goss, MacAllister chair in economics, Creighton University.
• Wil Osborn, chief business officer, Federal Home Loan Bank of Des Moines.