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Brandon Burton 0:00
This is the Chamber Chat Podcast, the show dedicated to chamber professionals to spark ideas and to get actionable tips and strategies to better serve your members and community.
Welcome to Chamber Chat Podcast. I’m your host Brandon Burton, and it’s my goal here on the podcast to introduce you to people and ideas to better help you serve your Chamber members and your community.
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Brandon Burton 1:00
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Our guest for this episode is Lindsey Griffin Boylan. Lindsay is the president and CEO of the Greater Wyoming Valley Chamber in Pennsylvania. She’s a graduate of LaSalle University where she received her bachelor’s degree in business. Lindsay began her career at the Greater Wyoming Valley Chamber as the events and program manager and has since worked her way into her current position as president CEO, and is the first woman and young professional to hold the position since the organization began in 1884. In her pre chamber life, she worked for Comcast spectator that Philadelphia 70 Sixers while cobia arena, Mohegan Sun and Pocono downs, and Genetti Hotel Conference Center. Hopefully I’m saying those right. Lindsay is passionate and engaged with the community and is a board member and committee member of several organizations in the Northeast Pennsylvania area, all working towards betterment of their community. She was born and raised in northeastern Pennsylvania and currently resides in Harvey’s Lake, and is proud to be able to live work and play in the area she grew up in, and be able to make a difference each day. Lindsay, welcome to chamber chat Podcast. I’m excited to have you with us today, I’d love to give you an opportunity to say hello to all the chamber champions that are out there listening and share something interesting about yourself so we can all get to know you a little better.
Lindsay Griffin-Boylan 2:59
Yeah, thank you so much, Brandon, I’m very happy to be here. And I know my team and I are big fans of this because I think we’re all trying to really connect with in our chamber industry and, and really the past few years having all their challenges, can you learn new things and the ideas and I know something that we’re all really striving towards, as we’re all trying to help our community. So I’m really, really excited to be here today. And certainly share what I can and, you know, happy to happy to connect with everybody that’s listening. Something interesting about myself, I think, really, you kind of read my bio, and it’s a little bit, I think, a little different and unique as to how I got here. But you know, I think that I had always been really an event lover, I love bringing people together. I like to kind of seeing that collectiveness. And, yeah, I mean, I started out my chamber, really not knowing what a chamber was about seven years ago, now seven and half years ago, and really just saw what the role was in the community, and just really fell in love with all of it. So I think, really had just worked my way up into the current position that I have now. And I think it’s a really exciting time to be in industry. It’s a tiring time at the same time, but it’s a really cool way that we’re all sort of reinventing. So I was really in sports marketing. That’s what I kind of came out as, and that was really my first my first job essentially, when I and I left the area I originally was from NEPA. I left and said, Hey, I want to, you know, want to kind of get out of here and I moved to Philadelphia had some great experiences out there and realized really how incredible this area was. And when I came back, I knew I wanted to be part of making a change and making it so that you know and goal is our younger people. We end up retaining them they don’t want to leave they want to stay here and make this their home. So I think my Interesting thing is kind of how I’ve gotten here, but I’m very happy to be here at the same time.
Brandon Burton 4:48
Very good. Thank you for sharing that background. I can see you know, a lot of young people going through school sports marketing is very attractive. You know, it’s a it’s a glamorous type proposition and I can see where that attracts people chamber work not so much like you said, you came into it not really knowing what a chamber does. And I don’t think you’re too different than other people. And that way is to get, you know, being introduced to chamber work. But we’re glad you’re here. So thank you. Unless you tell us a little bit about the greater Wyoming Valley Chamber just to give us an idea of size, scope of work, staff budget, that sort of thing, just to give us some perspective, before we dive into our conversation,
Lindsay Griffin-Boylan 5:28
sir, yes, so we are located right in the works bare sort of Scranton area in northeastern Pennsylvania, we were formerly known as the greater Wilkesboro Chamber of Commerce, and that we’ll talk about that in a little bit. I know. But we have rebranded to the greater Wyoming Valley Chamber of Commerce about two and a half years ago. And really, that was to be representative of a lot of our members to make sure that we were servicing, you know, everyone in our community in the best way possible, and really start to get that collectiveness that we know that regions that are doing, you know, the collective sort of way of working together, are seeing success. So we represent a little over 600 Members, we have a team of 10. So my incredible team who really has just been so amazing at pivoting, reinventing the wheel looking at new things. So, you know, we’re able to really focus on a few different areas that we’ll talk about today. But we also so we have our chamber of commerce division, we also have our chamber of business and industry, which is our 501 C three, and it’s our foundation, which is allowing us to do a lot of our workforce development, economic development, and what houses our entrepreneurial development, which is called books fair connect. And then we also, you know, have many different affiliates that will fall under that as far as our councils, our committees. So we are really covering, I’d say a wide variety of, you know, we have our government affairs, we have, you know, our women’s network, our Young Professionals Network, we have a nonprofit network, so many different, you know, items that are going to kind of umbrella underneath that. But my incredible team, really kind of each manages one of those aspects and collectively, we operate as the greater Wyoming Valley Chamber of Commerce. So
Brandon Burton 7:16
that definitely gives some good perspective and kind of teasing the topic a little bit as far as what we’ll be focusing our conversation on today around reinventing the chamber brand so you had mentioned about two and a half years ago, you guys really dove in into making that change. So we’ll we’ll dive in much deeper into why that what drove that and what that experience is like as soon as you get back from this quick break.
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Brandon Burton 10:34
All right, Lindsay, we’re back. So I’m curious, you had mentioned as you were telling about your chamber, that you guys went about, I guess, the beginning of this rebrand about two and a half years ago. And, you know, curiously, I’m just wondering, does it have anything to do with COVID during that timeframe, and taking a deeper look at your organization, what you had to offer?
Lindsay Griffin-Boylan 10:57
Yeah, actually, interestingly, happened right before COVID. So we had, I think one of the big things that my team and I had really been very focused on was we have a lot of different, you know, in our area, and it’s a smaller territory, we had a lot of, we have many different chambers, covering different communities, we had many different economic development organizations. And what we noticed was that really, unless you were in our sphere, it was really hard to understand what was here, what resources were available. So if we did have a business, you know, moving into the area, or looking at our area, or a family that wanted to relocate here, there wasn’t really that one stop place to kind of, you know, collectively get those resources. We always say we’re never the ones that are doing every single piece of this work, you know, we never want to reinvent the wheel, we have a lot of amazing partners, but we wanted to make it easier for everyone else to find them. So with the rebrand, you know, I think we were representing members that were all throughout the Wyoming Valley. So we really wanted to reposition ourselves as our tagline is elevate the valley. So we use elevate symbol, which I really love, because elevate to us is really just kind of getting, you know, making sure that our residents or businesses are connected in the best way possible for success. And that goes beyond, you know, just obviously, we’re very focused on businesses and you know, recruiting retention, and ensuring the ones that are here are successful. But we also know that there has to be a lot of work done on, you know, our residents here and quality of life that we need to make this the best place to live, work and play. So with with the rebrand, we wanted to kind of not only sort of reinvent what our chamber was, our chamber has been around since 1884, we were heavily involved in real estate. So we, you know, had that was a very strong background of ours, a lot of our programs and initiatives sort of had taken a little bit of a backseat at that time, as that’s really what the organization’s focus was. So as we moved into the future, you know, and we got the team on board that we have now we noticed what the need was in our community. To have an organization like this, you know, not only do we change the name, but we changed the logo, we changed the way we operate, we changed the way that we did membership, as far as making sure that our door was open to anyone and everyone, especially to be a part a lot of those councils I talked about, you don’t have to be a chamber member to sit on diversity, equity and inclusion or women’s network or young professionals. We welcome anyone and everyone to the table, because we noticed and one of the things when I came on board was, you know, I noticed a lot of the people that were on our board and other boards and you know, different organizations were a lot of the same people. And we weren’t really seeing that. The diversification that we know what community needs, if you really want to help anyone and everyone, it’s having that representation, making those decisions and feeling like you know, they want to sit at that table. And they can and they can be a part of their area and moving their area forward. So we did a lot of work, not only, like I said, just on the outside of what our logo looks like, and what our website looked like, and what our membership guide looked like, but really who we are in the community and what our position was. And that’s been a lot of the work over the past few years, but really started with the rebrand.
Brandon Burton 14:05
Yeah, I think a name and a logo. Those are very much the surface things right? That’s it. Everybody sees that you think of the rebrand. But really, as I hear this, it’s an opportunity for you to look at what synergies there are, you know, as you have different volunteers working with different organizations, how can you bring things together, but also taking a look at maybe reevaluating and in the scope of work that you guys were involved with? And you You touched a little bit on that by being involved with real estate and as you went about the rebrand, what was that experience? Like looking at the work that you were involved with? And then really making a concerted focus on what the chamber needed to be focused on?
Lindsay Griffin-Boylan 14:39
Yeah, I mean, I think always right, and we’re doing this constantly as chamber professionals of what is our role, what is the need in the community, it’s going to change, you know, every few years and based on what happens and certainly pandemic was, I always say I think the pandemic was an acceleration for change that had been happening for a while I think chambers rarely had to look at themselves. And this was pre pandemic of how am I, you know, how will I be relevant? What is the value? How are we reinventing ourselves to keep up with this next generation, what businesses are now looking for? We know that younger people are participating differently with their communities with different organizations and memberships. So we started to look at that prior and I think that the pandemic completely accelerated that change where you had to look at Where’s where are the gaps in my community right now? What can I fell? And I always say, during the pandemic, I think we were a little bit of everything to everyone. I think that’s what we all did, right? We were trying to kind of help residents find, you know, medical information, we were trying to help businesses get funding and grants and understand the programs that were coming out from the state and federal level. But we were also just trying to push out anything we could to help our communities. And so I feel like now it’s at a place where we’re able to kind of hone in on really, what is our mission? Now. I mean, I think, who, while our mission hasn’t necessarily changed, the way we execute that has to be so I think, looking at our past is really interesting for me always, because our organization was very involved in essentially developing a lot of land now, that is booming in our community. So a lot of our industrial parks, and they’re full, we have, you know, world class businesses that are right here in northeastern Pennsylvania. And so that was a great place for us to be at at that time of making sure this area gets developed for the future and, and secure that, and that is what happens. And I think now is we’re able to say, where are we needed? Now? I think, you know, we just launched our 2023 2025 strategic plan. And I think it’s really great to be able to look at, you know, what is happening now that we’re kind of moving into this next period of, you know, post pandemic, and and where are the needs. And I think for us, it’s, you know, business and community advocacy is a big goal of ours, workforce development, workforce pipeline development, which we know is such a buzzword. And, you know, we have a lot of cool pilot programs, we’re really big on pilot programs and grants that we do to see how things work. And then, you know, work on partnerships that we can see those continued in the community. regional connectivity, like I said, I’m never a go it alone person either, as my team, I think there’s a lot of great organizations, I think we all have our heads down, and we’re working 100 miles a minute. But I know that when we can collectively put that into one package, that’s where we’re going to see a lot of that regional success. And we have so I think that’s a continued, it’s a pillar for us now, to continue those strong. The strong regional partnerships to solve the area’s most pressing issues. And quality of life, like I mentioned, is a huge focus of ours, I think that we know that without a healthy, you know, nonprofit community business community, giving our residents the resources that they need, we won’t have that workforce that we all want, right, we won’t have the continued continued success that we want to see happen in the area. So you’ll see us also do a lot of things on the quality of life side, I’ll be involved in community concerts, and a lot of young professional events, youth events, you know, getting out there and being a part of a lot of the different things that are making this area one that people enjoy and want to live in. So those are really the four things that we majorly focus on. And it’s interesting to kind of look at the plants from years ago as to where we are now, Mission still the same, we’re just doing it very differently to be relevant to what our community needs.
Brandon Burton 18:20
Right? I love how you mentioned that you guys are big on pilot programs, because it gives you a chance to kind of test the waters, see if it’s something that chamber wants to take on or find that community partner that you could, you know, hand things off to or partner with. Along the way with the rebrand or even leading up to it. What did you guys do as far as collecting data, maybe surveys or feedback to kind of course, the direction that the Chamber needed to go looking into the future?
Lindsay Griffin-Boylan 18:48
Yeah, I mean, we had, when we really started on a lot of this work, too, we had worked with Kyle Sexton, who really helped us look at our membership guide, and we looked at the tiered use model of really making sure that again, we were offering the most value we can so we really, we had we had, you know, pulled our membership, you know, asked about kind of what the relevant things were to them, what they were finding the most benefit from, that led us to our to dues transition which we underwent, which again, is still something that is very successful for us. And I think, you know, something that we’re definitely glad we did to see that retention, again, allowing members to participate in the way that is most beneficial to them. And also, it’s helped us out on you know, generate a little extra revenue in the membership department when we know, that’s just been a challenge, you know, nationally for years. So, we also kind of looked at all of our programs and we you know, talked with our boards, we talked to our members, and we you know sort of really asked what do you guys you know, what is still relevant here? What, what are we doing that we shouldn’t be doing? What are we doing that you want to see more of and what are we not doing at all that you really feel like we should be a part of, so we did a lot of that back work, you know, through mainly a lot of those conversations, but also through our Have some surveys that had been put out there to discuss, like what kind of programming would be relevant, and reaching out to new communities that, frankly, were never involved with us and never had anything to do with us really didn’t have that trust in a chamber to say, you know why? What could we do to really make sure you have a seat at the table and that you want to be involved and that you feel welcomed, and that we’re inclusive, and that this is something you want to be a part of. And that’s still a lot of work we do to this day, because it’s, you know, it’s something that we’re still very focused on. So a lot of back end work is done to get initially sort of the focus of where we were going to go with the rebrand and kind of the relaunch of all of our programs and initiatives. But that work continues to this day. It’s it’s an ever, ever flowing process of really, again, understanding the community’s needs and making sure that’s fitting into our mission.
Brandon Burton 20:47
That leads perfectly into my next thought I was thinking as a chamber goes to rebrand, like, I don’t think you can officially say, All right, we’re done. You know, the rebranding is complete. It’s never ending, right? It just keeps going. You keep evolving as a chamber as you continue to stay relevant to your community. But as you were going through this intensive process of a rebrand, were there any gaps that you noticed or surprises that came up as you were either gathering that data or trying to implement a new direction?
Lindsay Griffin-Boylan 21:17
I think that some of the feedback from the community was not surprising. I think some people, though, still really are challenged to understand what a chamber is what a chamber does, what specifically we were doing. I think the model of a lot of people still thinking that you had to be on a board or be certain level to participate and be part of conversations is still something that we work towards. I think that the general and not that it’s a negative, I think people had a sort of connotation of really what our sphere was. And, you know, I think that misunderstanding and really telling our story and having people understand who we are, what we do, and what the mission of the chamber is, is one that, you know, remains to be a challenge. I think it’s always something we all have to be clear on. And I know that as we’re all doing many different things. And a lot of organizations, like I said, you know, we have an economic development side and a chamber side and really having people understand truly what we do, I think was something that was eye opening during that process. But I think it also encouraged us to tell our story about our to make sure that we can be brought back chamber ambassadors to really help us get the mission out there and, and strengthen that, you know, making our social media clear. Again, making sure to have those one on one conversations with, you know, people that we wanted to have involved with us that represented different communities to sort of break down those barriers of sometimes I don’t want to say it was a negative connotation, but I think they had a very clear picture in their mind of what a chamber was, and really reintroducing what that means now for the community and who we are. So I think that was really one of the challenges that and then of course, when you change your name, right, I think that was a little bit of confusion for for a minute of how we how we got that transition, but honestly, I think just continuing to be very cohesive. And you know, we have an excellent marketing team here. But how we were putting that out there so that people really understood that change, but also that it was still, you know, our organization and making sure that all made a lot of sense when we put it out there and packaged up.
Brandon Burton 23:26
So I have to ask, did you guys crack the code on being able to communicate clearly what a chamber does to your community?
Lindsay Griffin-Boylan 23:34
I don’t think we’ve cracked the code, I think we’ve gotten a few of the digits on the code lockbox. But it’s something we always work towards. I mean, I think that we have certainly done and through through social media, through outreach, through our ambassadors, through all the many people, I think one of the coolest things that we did was, and I sort of mentioned this, but we opened up all of our councils to anyone, so they didn’t have to have an affiliation. And that’s helped us a lot, because now we have, you know, young professionals has over 500 500 of them that that are joining into that effort. Di we have, you know, now extremely great council that sort of leads that and, you know, there’s there’s a few 100 people that will be involved with that when we do those efforts, women’s network. So having all of them really, you know, cultivating those groups, and essentially having them understand your mission, who we are, who the team is, what we’re doing and getting that out, there has been a huge piece to us those, getting the community involved and having them sort of help us get that message out there and tell the story. I mean, we did start doing a lot of different mediums where obviously we use social and we show you know all the cool things the team is up to and what the community is doing. But we do a piece once a quarter, we’re still a big print area here in northeastern Pennsylvania in the paper that talks about all those councils and members and you know what’s happening in the community. So I think we’ve tried to reach people in many different ways. And and, you know, speaking in high school, speaking at colleges, all those different things to try to really get that message of who we are out there is a lot of the work that we’ve been doing, I still think we have a lot of work to do on that, especially because you know, this year, we’re sort of, again, putting a new strategic plan out, and you’re gonna see us in doing some different things. So I think that will always be, but we rely on our wonderful media partners in the area, we rely on our ambassadors. And, you know, it’s one of our actual goals, when we talk a little bit more about what our pillar that’s quality of life is telling our story better, but also telling the area story better. So when someone says, Hey, I want to move my business or my family to Northeastern PA, we have a really cool way that, you know, we’re putting those things together and with all of our partners, of course, to really clearly show how this area is that best place and that, you know, we can help link them. And that’s essentially what I think we are at the end of the day, we’re a convener of all these great things in this community. And we’re the ones that can bring all that together, and fill in the gaps where needed. But you know, convening those conversations, being the ones that kind of bring all those pieces into one place, and, and helping to create that change.
Brandon Burton 26:15
I like the idea of leading that community involvement. So then those community members can go out and tell the story of hey, this is what the Chamber’s involved with. I think that’s very smart. And to be able to get them involved in different levels, like you mentioned, the high schools and the colleges. I’d like to have you to maybe touch a little bit more on the social media outreach that you do, because I don’t imagine you guys are saying, Here’s the definition of what a chamber is, or here’s what our mission is necessarily, but how are you telling the story of your chamber through social media?
Lindsay Griffin-Boylan 26:46
Yeah, I mean, we, we really tried to, again, focus a lot on, you know, putting out the different programs, we have the different events, we have things like that, but telling it more. So from a perspective of, you know, if it was one of the pilot programs, we did an economic development to help kids with coding skills or something like that, telling the story about success. I’m telling the story of the businesses that are, you know, ribbon cuttings, and the different types of things that we have really connecting with those members, and telling those stories. So I think we really tried to make it less of an advertisement for the chamber, but more so showing through those types of really, you know, I think personalizing it in a way that’s really showing the different touch points that we have in the community. So I think that we use social as a tool of, you know, enjoying the team, when we’re when we’re out, having lunch somewhere and having fun, or we’re supporting heart month right now, which it is, you know, and helping our local hospitals and medical organizations really promoting that we’ve we’ve tried to really make it something that looks, you know, inviting and welcoming, and that we’re part of this community and, and showing that through all the different pieces that we have. Because I think when we’re highlighting, yes, we’re having, you know, we’re at an event or we’re having, you know, this this government affairs or, you know, we’re doing this, we’re launching a new workforce program. I think showing those in sort of more of a storytelling mode is the way that we’ve really started to capture a lot of people that are following us that are engaging with it. So I again, we have a great marketing team here that that has really focused on that and making sure that we’re telling that story in a good way. That’s that’s welcoming more people into that mix.
Brandon Burton 28:26
That’s fantastic. So I wanted to ask, just as a point of clarity, you mentioned at the beginning, when you were talking about your chamber kind of scope of work, and everything you had mentioned, you guys have a foundation was a foundation set up prior to the rebrand and I’m asking because for a chamber who may be considering a rebrand, should they consider introducing a foundation into their chamber as part of that rebrand?
Lindsay Griffin-Boylan 28:53
Yeah, so our foundation was set up prior. So we did have a C three prior to that rebrand. But you know, this, that entity, which essentially is what our economic development is run through, is, is one that had been also rebranded many years back. So so we really wanted to change the ways that we were operating that so we had developed a entrepreneurial program, which we call again, connect, who was called books fair connect still is, which is a free system for entrepreneurs, businesses to go through any stage of their life cycle to again, get connected with all the different partners that would help a business grow and succeed in NEPA. So literally, we just put all the partners in one place, a business could come in, and it flowed through there. So Kinect was really the launch of how we started really redoing our foundational side. So we started doing a lot of work on we have a really cool incubator that’s in the basement of the building I’m in now, which again, is for entrepreneurs, startups and gets them into our community and out into our business community. And we started developing programs underneath that. But then also, you know what it allows us to do do is essentially every year have what we call the chamber foundation pledge, which is a great campaign that is really aimed at fundraising, to be able to allow us to do the work that we’re doing. So when we talk about, you know, the pilots programs that we’re doing, including our workforce, or one that we’re now doing with 11th, and 12th, graders in schools, it’s really going to focus a lot on that foundational work we’re doing. So it’s allowed us to, essentially, you know, contribute, obviously, to the organization, financially, which is, which is a big piece, but it also allows us to give back. So through that foundation, you know, we’re able to give out grants, sometimes for small businesses to start operating, you know, we’re able to do a lot of great work, we’re allowed to apply for obviously, different grants and initiatives that the C three will allow us to that are very much focused on what our mission is. So the foundation was there, we’re definitely utilizing it in a different way now, which is great, because I think it has to be a big piece of how, if you’re, if an organization is able to how you’re able to continue growing? You know, I know, as things get challenging, but I think that a lot of our work now, you know, while I do think that, you know, we’re starting, we’re seeing, you know, growth and stabilization and membership and events. So obviously, as we’re coming out of the pandemic, you know, when you’re looking at how can we truly grow and continue to do you know, more work in the community. And what we want to do this, the C three in the foundational side is what’s really allowing me to continue growing my team and doing a lot of things that align with those missions.
Brandon Burton 31:31
I appreciate the testimony on foundations, I feel like every chamber needs to have one. And if you don’t have one, you know, start the conversation, see what you need to do to get started. But Lindsey, as we start to wrap up here, I wanted to ask you earlier, you had mentioned that your your goal, the slogans chambers to elevate the valley, I want to challenge you to help elevate the chamber of champions that are listening, for those that are listening that want to take their chamber up to the next level, elevate them What tip or action item might you have to help them accomplish that?
Lindsay Griffin-Boylan 32:05
I would say, you know, I and I definitely feel this because I know we all have felt it. It’s been a challenging for a few years. You know, I think that really it shook a lot up. I know that we were working all throughout the entire pandemic, I mean, harder, right, it was it was more difficult, we sometimes have less resources. But I would say that what what my my view on it has been in what my you know, I’ve definitely tried to instill in my team is that it’s also an incredible time to reinvent ourselves. And I think we’ve had a lot of energy and momentum around that. And I think we’ve kept that with us that we have now this opportunity to really be the ones that you know, I think they they always mentioned, you know, on a lot of the chamber, national efforts, and a lot of the things we talked about this chamber boom, I think people looked at us all during the pandemic and said, I don’t know where to go, there’s a ton of information. I’m getting a million emails, it’s, it’s confusing, you know, where should I turn, and a lot of them turn to us. And I think taking advantage of that right now and saying, you know, we are having this amazing opportunity of being in this position in our communities? And how do we really take advantage of that to make sure that that continues, and that we remain that leader that people continue to look to. And I think that’s something that while it was challenging, we looked at it as an incredible opportunity, and one that we were happy to take on and take that position in our area. And one that you know, I always say we feel very humbled and honored always have that people find that, you know, we’re a resource to come to, and you know, that they’re looking to us for that. So I think just remaining up to that challenge. And looking at it as a cool time to reinvent is is one of the tips that I would get, because I think right now, in all of our communities, which are all going to be different yet sort of the same. You know, all these different aspects of what we’re looking to do every day, I would say are ones that, again, I think we can be the conveners of I think we can show our strength, I think that we can show different ways that we can continue to grow and evolve as chambers. And just like, again, taking advantage of, you know, the community, really wanting to embrace us right now and how the best way to do that and embracing the community. Being inclusive, being open, inviting new people to your table, I think is one of the key things that we’ve really, that’s what we’ve really focused on.
Brandon Burton 34:20
I love how you stay on brand to with reinventing I mean, that’s just the theme through this whole episode. So the next question I like asking everyone I have on the podcast, and he may have already touched on the answer with that last reply. But as we look to the future of chambers of commerce, how do you see the future of chambers and their purpose going forward?
Lindsay Griffin-Boylan 34:40
I think chambers will, as I kind of touched on a little bit, but I think chambers will continue to be that you know if they if they pivot and adapt to really what’s happening and really look at their communities and decide what gaps they’re going to fill. I think chambers will continue to make really great partnerships with their area that might be with others. chambers that might be with other organizations that are similar in their, in their scope, I think that the industry is going to have to continue to evolve. Like I said, I think this next generation coming up just doesn’t participate in the same way that paths have. So I think you’re going to have to find new ways to engage them, I always say I get very excited about this next generation, because they will be the most socially minded and entrepreneurial will have ever seen. So I’d say that you have to embrace that next generation coming in, and make sure that they are invited to sit at your table. If they are not, they will leave your area and go sit in a community, where are they are, because that’s the truth, they want to be involved with their area, they want to make change. And that’s, that’s a big fact of them. And it’s exciting to me, because we need a generation like that, that is going to really be the ones that that helped to make some positive change and be engaged. So I think that our industry is going to continue to make sure that diversity, equity and inclusion is a part of what how we’re operating now, I think we should all be looking at our boards or committees, our membership, making sure we’re representative, and we’re embracing the community we have and that we have resources for for everyone that, you know, are accessible. And I think that again, you’re gonna see a lot of chambers get into really cool, different stuff. I mean, I’m already seeing it with housing and transportation. And, you know, obviously, I know a lot of us are focused on workforce. But I think you’re going to see a lot of people come up with creative, you know, partnerships to be able to solve those issues and in turn stabilize their organizations, because I think it’s going to be a key for all of us to look at how do we stay in our communities? How do we stay relevant? How do we stay growing, and bring people on to do I know the massive amount of work all of us have, but you know, the work we’re excited to do and happy to do? So I think it’s going to be continuing to kind of adapt to those things, looking at your community and saying, Where are the gaps, what’s not being filled? Where we need it? And you know, how can we really fulfill that and get the right people on board with us, there’s never really a grab that you know, or program that we you’re going to see us do that as solo, I mean, we’re either working with a local economic health organization and other chamber, a different partner that may be involved. I think that that connectivity is also a huge piece that people need to embrace. No longer should we be in silos we should be working together, there’s too many problems to solve. Doing it together, I think is much more impactful. So I’d also say doing it as collaboration is something that I’m really hoping that that everyone else is also embracing.
Brandon Burton 37:33
I love that response. I especially like the the idea of looking to the future of this generation coming up being socially minded and entrepreneurial, and making sure that we invite them to have a seat at the table. And I think that plays well into the connectivity because these young professionals that are coming up. They may be working from home on a laptop individually in their own silo. But usually when we think of silos, we think, you know, different industries maybe or different areas of work. But I think those silos will look different as we go into the future and being able to help break those down and solve some of these bigger problems together. So thank you for that. I wanted to give you an opportunity Lindsey to share any contact information for listeners who’d like to reach out and connect with you and learn how you guys are doing things there at the Greater Wyoming Valley Chamber, what would be the best way for them to reach out and connect with you?
Lindsay Griffin-Boylan 38:25
Sure, thank you. So I can certainly be reached i Welcome to Talk to Anyone from the industry, I think it’s always one of the best things ever is to connect within our industry because I’ve learned so much every time and it’s just great to have others that are you know, kind of doing similar missions and getting new ideas. So I can be reached at my email, which is lindsay@wyomingvalleychamber.org. And that’s also can be found right on our website. I’m all of my team is accessible on there as well. So on our WyomingValleyChamber.org website, you’ll see my incredible team, what they focus in, you know, what their initiatives all are. So anything I talked to, I didn’t get to talk too much in detail today. But who manages you know, our di Council, our membership, all of our different networks, young professionals, all those types of things. The team is all on there and always happy to connect with anyone within the chamber world and ideas share.
Brandon Burton 39:19
That is perfect. I will get that in our show notes. And I appreciate the generosity and being able to connect with others and share ideas and help solve these problems together. I appreciate that Lindsey and thank you for spending time with us today here on chamber chat podcast. I feel like you’ve provided a lot of value for those listening for those who may be considering a rebrand of themselves or just that continual evolution and reinventing of the their chamber themselves. So thank you so much for that.
Lindsay Griffin-Boylan 39:46
Thank you so much.
Brandon Burton 31:03
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