Las Vegas may have taken a powerful body blow when the economy was down for the count, but speakers of Thursday's Preview Las Vegas 2012 say the city is making a comeback.

As the "Rocky" theme song "Gonna Fly Now" sounded, Mayor Carolyn Goodman made her way onto the Cox Pavilion stage accompanied by John and Rico, two male performers dressed as boxers pumping their gloves in the air.

"When you leave here you'll be armed with an arsenal of information," Goodman told an audience of business professionals dressed for a meeting, not a championship fight.

Las Vegas is a city that doesn't look back.

It's a town where once-grand hotels and resorts disappear in an instant, leaving the desert to be scraped clean for the next big thing.

Now, more than ever, that capacity to always focus on tomorrow is a strength, speakers said Thursday at the annual Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce annual economic forum.

The City of Las Vegas is streamlining a number of its business services to better serve Southern Nevada's small business community. This is great news for Chamber members. In a recent Chamber economic survey, many respondents expressed frustration over cumbersome processes these streamlined services will address. The move has already resulted in reduced wait times, more efficient scheduling and faster and easier access to information, paperwork and city personnel.

Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce steps up to help

Last month, when Evaleen Diaz found out she was pregnant, it became one more obstacle of many toward her goal of graduating in June with the rest of her Western High School class.

The 17-year-old senior is short on class credits and needs to pass three more proficiency exams before she can walk across the stage to receive her high school diploma. Now, Diaz is three months pregnant, complicating her plans to make up credits and cram for the state-mandated exit exams.