The Business Incubator Center in Grand Junction will offer a series of free breakfast presentations offering panel discussions on important issues facing entrepreneurs.

The new Business Over Breakfast presentations are planned for 8:30 to 9:30 a.m. the second Wednesday of each month at the center, located at 2591 B 3/4 Road. The first session is scheduled for Aug. 11.

Breakfast and coffee will be provided for free. Since seating is limited, reservations are required. For reservations or more information, call 243-5242 or log on to www.gjincubator.org.

“I think it’s kind of cool,” Chris Reddin, executive director of the Business Incubator Center, said of the new program.

For years, the center has hosted monthly luncheons for the entrepreneurs who operate tenant businesses through incubator program.

Reddin said she was looking to change the format as well as make presentations available not only to tenant businesses, but also other businesses in the area. She borrowed the idea for the Business Over Breakfast program from an incubator in Texas.

The panel format offers a number of advantages, Reddin said, in that it’s more engaging for participants and easier for panelists to share information and perspectives.

The first presentation will feature what Reddin called a “home run panel” of three Grand Junction entrepreneurs: Bruce Milyard, a developer with Constructors West; Jim Saad, owner of Movers Suite Software; and Doug Simons, president of Enstrom Candies

The three will discuss the challenges they faced during the oil shale bust of the 1980s and how their businesses survived during and after the bust. The three also will discuss the current economy and their outlooks for the future.

Reddin said the presentation will offer advice and perspective to entrepreneurs struggling to get through the current downturn.

Future presentations will address such issues as insurance, financing and social media, she said.