Category: Podcast Episode

Rob Bradham, President & CEO of The Greater Dalton Area Chamber of Commerce is our guest this week. Rob talks about things that Chambers should be thinking about in order to stay relevant with the generational shift that is taking place in the workforce. Some of the areas he addresses are being on the tip of the spear to solve the problems in your community and to give more of a purpose to membership for the younger generation of decision makers that are in your community now.

As Rob shared ideas from the Dalton Chamber’s strategic plan, the areas of focus to stay relevant centered on the areas of:

• Community Pride
• Downtown Development
• Economic Development
• Educational Outcomes
• Entrepreneurial Growth
• Housing

In the area of Entrepreneurial Growth, Rob briefly shared the story of a young man named Tripp Phillips who is from Dalton. Tripp landed a deal on Shark Tank with Kevin O’Leary for his company that produces water soluble Lego brick glue.

If you would like to connect with Rob about what he has shared in this episode, you can reach him by email at bradham@daltonchamber.org.

In your mission to be a great Chamber, you may consider delegating to an award-winning Chamber publisher like Community Matters, Inc. for your next Chamber Directory, Guide, or Map. Community Matters can handle all of the ad sales, design work, collection, and distribution. In the end, your Chamber has a great looking print & digital publication and a smooth source of non-dues revenue. Click here to receive a bid for your next publication.

Listen on: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcast, Spotify, Stitcher

Bob Quick, President & CEO of Commerce Lexington, Inc. is our guest this week. Bob covers an interesting topic around his experiences with Chamber Travel Events. He specifically talks about four travel events that Commerce Lexington participates in which are:

• Leadership Trip
• Regional Tour
• Annual International Trip
• Washington D.C. Fly-In

Bob has great insight about the importance and impact of these Chamber Travel Events. If you would like to connect with Bob about what he has shared in this episode, you can reach him by email at bquick@commercelexington.com or phone at 859-254-4447.

In your mission to be a great Chamber, consider delegating to an award-winning publisher and Chamber partner like Community Matters, Inc. for your next Chamber Directory, Guide, or Map. Community Matters can handle all of the ad sales, design work, collection, and distribution. In the end, your Chamber has a great looking print & digital publication and a smooth source of non-dues revenue. Click here to receive a bid for your next publication.

Listen on: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcast, Spotify, Stitcher

Michael Gallops is the President & CEO of the Rowlett Chamber of Commerce. Michael has been in this role of President & CEO for about 2 1/2 years and in this episode, he talks about how he has adapted in this role. He also shares some of the tools and resources that have helped him to accelerate his learning of the intricacies in the Chamber industry.

If you would like to connect with Michael Gallops about anything he discussed in this episode, he can be contacted by email at michael@rowlettchamber.com, office phone 972-475-3200, or on his cell phone at 469-628-7926.

In your mission to be a great Chamber, consider delegating to an award-winning publisher and Chamber partner like Community Matters, Inc. for your next Chamber Directory, Guide, or Map. Community Matters can handle all of the ad sales, design work, collection, and distribution. In the end, your Chamber has a great looking print & digital publication and a smooth source of non-dues revenue. Click here to receive a bid for your next publication.

Listen on: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcast, Spotify, Stitcher

Henry Florsheim, President & CEO of the Wichita Falls Chamber of Commerce visits with us this week about the importance of having a strategic plan and how he went about creating a strategy when he took the helm about 6 years ago at the Wichita Falls Chamber. Henry is a change agent and is not afraid to blow things up, meaning there are no sacred cows.

In this interview, Henry offered to share his 4-page Strategic Plan with any Chamber who may need some direction to create their own. There are resources, companies, and people who can help, but often times with limited budgets, it is helpful to get some advice from other Chambers.

Henry also mentioned the tips that can be learned from Frank Kenny’s Chamber Professionals Facebook page.

If you would like to connect with Henry about anything he talked about in this episode or to request a copy of his strategic plan, you can reach out to him through the resources below.

Search for Henry Florsheim on Facebook and LinkedIn.

Email henry@wichitafallschamber.com, or phone 940-723-2741.

In your mission to be a great Chamber, consider delegating to an award-winning publisher and Chamber partner like Community Matters, Inc. for your next Chamber Directory, Guide, or Map. Community Matters can handle all of the ad sales, design work, collection, and distribution. In the end, your Chamber has a great looking print & digital publication and a smooth source of non-dues revenue. Click here to receive a bid for your next publication.

Listen on: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcast, Spotify, Stitcher

This week, Cathi Hight from Hight Performance Group is our guest as she talks about what A Chamber Member’s Journey should look like. The four main points that Cathi dives into are:

• Developing member personas
• Member journey maps for joining
• Onboarding of new members
• Ongoing engagement of your members.

There were a couple books that Cathi mentioned in this episode. The links to these books are found below.

• Strategic Selling
• Managing the Member Experience

Cathi is a wealth of knowledge and would love to work with your Chamber. Please reach out to Cathi by any of the methods below if you have any questions about what she discussed in this episode or if your Chamber has an interest in having Cathi work with you directly.

Search Cathi Hight on LinkedIn, Twitter, or Facebook.

Email cathi@hightperformance.com

In your mission to be a great Chamber, consider delegating to an award-winning publisher and Chamber partner like Community Matters, Inc. for your next Chamber Directory, Guide, or Map. Community Matters can handle all of the ad sales, design work, collection, and distribution. In the end, your Chamber has a great looking print & digital publication and a smooth source of non-dues revenue. Click here to receive a bid for your next publication.

Listen on: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcast, Spotify, Stitcher

What are you a Superfan of?

I am a Superfan of the San Francisco 49ers.  I grew up going to their practices, meeting the players, and getting their autographs.

I am also a fan of Pat Flynn and the Smart Passive Income Podcast.  I have learned a lot from Pat, including how to match sponsors and advertiser with my audience.  Community Matters, Inc. and Swypit are my two sponsors who specialize in working with Chambers of Commerce and they both support Chambers with a solid sources of non-dues revenue, one in Chamber publishing and the other through a credit card affinity program that pays Chambers very well.

In this episode, I do somewhat of a book review of Pat Flynn’s new book, Superfans but I apply the principles he teaches specifically to Chambers of Commerce.  Pat breaks down the building up of Superfans into different areas of interest.  First you have the casual audience who knows very little about you.  The goal it to get this casual audience to become active with you and your community.  Once they are active, you want to connect them to others in the community, and then finally you are able to get some of your biggest fans to convert into true Superfans! As I go through this episode I point out how these efforts can be applied at your Chamber to loyal members who will support, defend, and spread the message of the great things that your Chamber does for the community.

The book is broken up into segments and I cover the segments in order in this episode. Part One covers taking the Casual Audience and converting the to and Active Audience.  The titles of the chapters should help to remind you of what is discussed in this episode.  The chapter titles are: Learn the Lyrics, Break the Ice, Create Quick Wins, Drive the DeLorean, and Return Every Handshake.

Part Two covers the journey of taking your Active Audience over to a Connected Community.  The chapter titles for this section are: Let Them Take a Shot, Let Them Decide, Create a Challenge, Open the Factory Doors, Stage a Gig, Give Them a Name, Bring Them Together, and Make Them Shine.

Part Three takes your Connected Community and makes Superfans out of them!  The chapter titles for this section are: Remember the Lemons, Send Unexpected Messages, Get Them Involved, and Offer Platinum Access.

You will have to read the book to dive into parts four and five!

I would love to know if you have a name for your Chamber members.  Please send me an email (brandon@chamberchatpodcast.com) to let me know if you have a name for your members or if this is something that you have considered doing.

You can purchase Superfans by Pat Flynn through my affiliate link here.

Listen on: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcast, Spotify, Stitcher

Eddie Brown serves as the President and CEO of the Sherman Chamber of Commerce.  He climbed the ranks as a Chamber executive after a 40 year career at Coca Cola.

Sherman is located about an hour north of Dallas.  The City of Sherman is currently experiencing growth of about 1200 residents each year.  The Chamber averages about 500 members each year, but is steadily growing with the rise in population.

Brown discusses different areas of focus for professional growth from providing opportunities for his members to develop leadership skills, to board and staff training opportunities, and one of the most important areas for growth, what we can learn from others.

The Sherman Chamber began a Leadership Sherman program back in 1980 and the program continues to grow and develop today.  Leadership Sherman is as much about exposing its participants to leaders in various fields to provide opportunities and to ask questions of other industry leaders.

The program continues with an orientation class to bond the group together.  While meeting together one day a month, and attend a trip to Austin the classes seem to become friends and stay friends after the class is graduated.  It fosters participants to become a network of resources for one another.

Eddie emphasized the importance of continuing education programs for Chamber executives as well as staff members to strengthen Chambers and provide tools to help Chamber members.

He suggests budgeting for professional growth and emphasizing to leadership the importance and purpose of the training.  Eddie feels that the training is often more important than some of the day to day tasks Chamber staff take care of and should become a higher priority.  There is a benefit to having shared experiences with other Chamber executives to foster networks and to learn from others. 

If you’d like to contact Eddie Brown to further discuss any of these topics please feel free to reach out to him.

Eddie Brown

ebrown@shermanchamber.us

903-893-1184

www.shermanchamber.us

In your mission to be a great Chamber, consider delegating to an award-winning publisher and Chamber partner like Community Matters, Inc. for your next Chamber Directory, Guide, or Map. Community Matters can handle all of the ad sales, design work, collection, and distribution. In the end, your Chamber has a great looking print & digital publication and a smooth source of non-dues revenue. Click here to receive a bid for your next publication.

Listen on: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcast, Spotify, Stitcher

This episode is a compilation of some highlights from the past 12 episodes from our 2019 Chamber of the Year Finalist Series. In each episode, guests were asked for one action item that can help other Chamber professionals to bring their Chamber up to the next level. These highlights are the valuable answers that they provided. You can click on each name to listen to their entire interview.

Justin Starlin – Wooster Area Chamber of Commerce

What is your brand in the community? Who are the active players making a difference in your community?

Norma Lansing – Effingham County Chamber of Commerce

Are you connected with all the players in your community?

Joe Unterreiner – Kalispell Chamber of Commerce

Maximize the number of reps with each membership to increase your network.

RaDonna Hessel – Grapevine Chamber of Commerce

Listen to your members through a leadership role.

Ron Bunch – Bowling Green Area Chamber of Commerce

Find opportunities to step in with a leadership role in the community.

Kevin Sheilley – Ocala/Marion County Chamber of Commerce

Don’t be afraid to BBQ sacred cows at your Chamber.

Derek Miller – Salt Lake Chamber of Commerce

Become civic-minded business leaders for social awareness and impact in your community.

Beth Bowman – Irving Las Colinas Chamber of Commerce

Be the 411 and the 911 for your community.

Michelle Bundren – Murray-Calloway County Chamber of Commerce

Listen to the data and your members and be willing to change.

Dave Jochum – Longview Chamber of Commerce

Create a strategic plan for your Chamber.

Kit Cramer – Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce

Program exploration through a tiered dues model.

Kent Oyler – Greater Louisville Inc. The Metro Chamber of Commerce

Get to know the key trends from the Horizon Initiative.

Congratulations again to the Murray-Calloway County Chamber of Commerce, the Longview Chamber of Commerce, the Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce & Greater Louisville Inc. on their recognition as 2019 ACCE Chamber of the Year and thank you again to all the finalists for sharing your tips and ideas that make your Chamber shine.

In your mission to be a great Chamber, consider delegating to an award-winning publisher and Chamber partner like Community Matters, Inc. for your next Chamber Directory, Guide, or Map. Community Matters can handle all of the ad sales, design work, collection, and distribution. In the end, your Chamber has a great looking print & digital publication and a smooth source of non-dues revenue. Click here to receive a bid for your next publication.

Listen on: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcast, Spotify, Stitcher

Beth Bowman from the Irving-Las Colinas Chamber is our guest this week in our final episode of our special 2019 ACCE Chamber of Year Finalist Series.

The Irving-Las Colinas Chamber is located right in the heart of DFW Airport.  With a 16 member team the Irving Las Colinas Chamber of Commerce serves 1900 member investors.  They are structured as a public/private partnership working as the Economic Development Corporation and the Chamber of Commerce.  The Irving-Las Colinas Chamber works to be apart of the solution for issues that arise for the  business industry for economic development and public policy; small business services; work force issues; talent initiative; and transportation infrastructure.

The Share Tank Initiative is one way the Irving-Las Colinas Chamber is standing out in the Chamber Industry.  Through the collaborative effort of the city, the Convention and Visitors Bureau, the art center, the entrepreneur center and other organizations, they work under the Chamber’s Community Development Foundation to match non-profits who are seeking funding with businesses who are looking to give back to the community.  The Chamber is able to serve as a conduit to help educate the private businesses and allow the non-profits to pitch their needs to a panel of sharers looking to give.  More information about the Chamber’s Share Tank Initiative can be found at their website: irvingsharetank.com.

Another area that the Irving-Las Colinas Chamber shines is their involvement in public policy.  Their team is actively engaged in building strong relationships with local and state government officials.  Beth shares some of their successes as they have taken an active role in promoting policies for the growth of the Irving-Las Colinas business industry and also educating businesses and advocating on their behalf in regards to public policies being debated.

The Irving-Las Colinas Chamber is strong and thriving.  Beth stated, “You’re only as strong as your weakest link, and in Irving-Las Colinas we are very strong.”  If you’d like to reach out to Beth Bowman to learn more about the programs at the Irving-Las Colinas Chamber of Commerce please feel free to reach out to her.

bbowman@irvingchamber.com

(214) 217-8484

Learn more at: irvingchamber.com.

In your mission to be a great Chamber, consider delegating to an award-winning publisher and Chamber partner like Community Matters, Inc. for your next Chamber Directory, Guide, or Map. Community Matters can handle all of the ad sales, design work, collection, and distribution. In the end, your Chamber has a great looking print & digital publication and a smooth source of non-dues revenue. Click here to receive a bid for your next publication.