Applauding the Return to the Office with Dionne Neubauer

This transcript has been lightly edited for readability and to correct obvious transcription errors while preserving the meaning of the original conversation.

Episode 122 — Applauding the Return to the Office with Dionne Neubauer
Clean Speaker-Labeled Transcript
Guest: Dionne Neubauer
Automated QA: Passed

00:00.842 Brandon Burton
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.
00:18.872 Brandon Burton
And welcome to the Chamber Chat Podcast. You're joining us for episode 122 of Chamber Chat Podcast. I am your host, Brandon Burton, where it is my goal here on the podcast to introduce you to people and ideas to help you better serve your chamber members and your community. Our guest today is Dionne Neubauer from the Findlay Hancock County Chamber in Ohio. Dionne has is the director there at the chamber and has been affiliated with the Findlay Hancock County Chamber of Commerce for nearly 27 years, having served the majority of her career in management positions since she started with the organization in February 1994. Dionne spearheads chamber activities, including its leadership programs, to keep the membership focused and involved in the top business. civic and social priorities of the community by connecting them to important community issues. She serves as ambassador for the Findlay Hancock County community while managing day-to-day operations along with policy administration. In addition, she manages a group of forward-thinking teammates focused on exceeding member expectations. Over the course of her career, she's been involved with three company-wide restructurings that's led to today's organization called the Alliance. Which serves as the parent company for the Chamber of Commerce, Economic Development, and the Convention and Visitors Bureau. Her ability to nurture relationships, build, and sustain a diverse membership alongside strong communication and organizational skills has contributed to the growth of the organization. She's a graduate from the US Chamber of Commerce Institute for Organization Management and is a member of ACCE and Chamber of Commerce Executives of Ohio. Locally, she's actively connected with other groups such as A Renewed Mind Board, Hancock County Drug Court Advisory Board, Handbags That Help, Findlay Area Human Resource Association, Susan G. Komen Survivor Committee, Hancock Leadership Alumni Association Board, and Crime Prevention. Past positions include University of Findlay's Business Affiliate Advisory Board, Flag City Morning Rotary.
02:40.076 Brandon Burton
Hancock County Sheriff's Academy, United Way, Camp Fire Workforce Investment Act Advisory Board, and Trinity Lutheran Church Call Committee. Dionne holds an associate's degree in accounting from Stautzenberger College and is a 2002 graduate of Hancock Leadership. She and her family welcomed her first grandchild, Boston, just a year ago at the start of the pandemic. Dionne, I am excited to have you here with me on Chamber Chat Podcast today. If you would take a moment to say hello to all the chamber champions out there listening and share something interesting about yourself so we can all get to know you a little better.
03:21.506 Dionne Neubauer
Well, hello, Brandon. Thank you for the invitation. A special hello to all of our chamber friends across this broadcast. So a little bit of interest, something that people may not know, or a little bit more information to share, is that when I began my career with the chamber, I had no idea what the chamber of commerce was. I actually started as a receptionist and just worked myself through the roles, had more of an interest. And from there went through three major reorganizations. So but yes, I truly started off with as a receptionist, not knowing what the chamber of commerce was because I was in need of a job because I was just downsized from an accounting firm. I literally opened the yellow pages. There was a chamber, and I called my mother, who is director of HR at Whirlpool, said, Mom, what is this chamber? Do you know anybody there? Like, yes, we are part of the chamber. This is who you need to connect with. And from there, here we are today.
04:23.5 Brandon Burton
Wow. I was gonna ask if it was just a matter of responding to an ad in the paper or what. And it sounds like something similar to that. And here you are. That is interesting. Well, tell us a little bit about your organization. I kind of gave a little teaser to it in your in your bio there, but tell us kind of how you guys are structured, kind of size, location, budget, things like that to give us a little more perspective as we get into our discussion today.
04:32.11 Dionne Neubauer
Here I am, exactly.
04:50.414 Dionne Neubauer
Happy to. So Findlay, Ohio. That's Findlay with an A. Many people like to put that E in there, but that's Findley, Ohio. We are nestled in Northwest Ohio, which is located on I-75, just about an hour and a half south of Detroit, Michigan. So we have a membership base of about 700 members, obviously small to medium, large businesses, as many of my fellow colleagues have, where 95% of our Members are small businesses with under 50 employees. So we have a staff size on the chamber side, about five individuals. As you mentioned in my bio, we are part of an organization where we have economic development, convention of visitors bureau, and the chamber of commerce, three divisions of the alliance, which is the parent company. And so we do share staff. So it helps to improve efficiencies, helps with cost, and also helps with time and resources from our volunteers because many of them are serving in multiple boards. And so we have brought all three divisions together as one organization. So my particular budget, the chamber budget, is about $550,000. And again, we are just one piece of the overall organization. We are located all in one facility, which just started a renovation pre-COVID, and we're finishing that up as we speak. But again, transparency, collaboration are all key elements of what makes the alliance work well in our community.
06:40.248 Brandon Burton
So that's interesting. You mentioned the about the renovation. so it started just before the pandemic hit and you're just starting to wrap things up. And I think that probably timed well with having people working remotely and out of the office to kind of be out of the way of construction and and the remodeling and everything. But tying into our topic today, now we're starting to return back to the office, right? So
07:04.622 Dionne Neubauer
We are.
07:05.972 Brandon Burton
As we're recording this, we're the end of April 2021, and and people are starting to get back to a little more sense of normalcy as far as is returning to work. Not as much of the the remote workers, there's still some out there for sure, but businesses are starting to open up. We got the vaccine rolling out, more you know, people have have recovered from the virus. So It it definitely is being a I I see this as being different stages, right? So we had pre COVID, we had COVID where everything shut down, then we had, you know, the remote period with COVID, and now there's like this hybrid where we're kind of meeting people where they're at and trying to make things work best for them and their situation given you know their individual health circumstances and concerns and things like that. So As we get into our topic today, I'm excited to see how you guys are doing things there to support your members and in making this adjustment. But we'll dive into this topic as soon as we get back from this quick break. Are you looking for a year-round affordable and timely shop local campaign for your chamber or CVB? Look no further. Build a custom eat shop play mobile app with App My Community by visiting appmycommunity.com slash chamber chat. App My Community mobile apps are not just simple membership directory listings, they provide many more capabilities to engage with your community. Provide your residents with a robust events calendar, partner with a local fair, festival, or farmers market to provide a schedule, map, and other resources to promote the event. Run a small business Saturday campaign any time of the year using built-in scavenger hunts. Allow your membership to communicate directly to their customers via push notifications. Your App My Community mobile app will be a unique member benefit, allow you to generate non-dues revenue with sponsorship opportunities, and best of all, provide a valuable resource to your community. Please visit AppmyCommunity.com slash chamber chat now to receive 10% off your first year of an App My Community mobile app.
09:28.6 Brandon Burton
All right, Deion, we are back. excited to get into this topic with you about we we titled this Applauding the Return to the Office. and we'll that word applauding. We'll we'll hit on that in just in a little bit here. But tell us what are things like there in Findlay, Ohio right now with the the workforce? Are people starting to return back? What does that look like? And and how are you guys able to to support your members in that transition?
09:57.176 Dionne Neubauer
So, from a member standpoint, we are starting to see members being active in the community, whether it's through a volunteer aspect or even participating in chamber-related programs. Certainly, companies are still having some restrictions on what participation or in community involvement looks like based on what we're going through with the COVID. And certainly our local health department has been a fantastic leader. working with our public sector, our mayor and commissioners, and that communication is key to keep us, the business community, enlightened as to what what policies, what things we need to look at. Case in point, the chamber, we are looking to bring back our summer we call it the Rally in the Alley series, an outdoor event. Last year we had no summary events. So we are looking forward to bringing Rally in the Alley back in a bigger location so we can spread out much more. But again, in turn, we are working with the health department and other entities so we can do that safely because again, we want to make sure our attendees feel comfortable because everyone has a varying level of concern and we want to be respectful.
11:21.002 Brandon Burton
Yeah. I think that's interesting. You'll need a really wide alley, I guess, for this for this rally in the alley.
11:27.931 Dionne Neubauer
Extra. We found one.
11:30.446 Brandon Burton
And I'm curious to find out. I mean, if maybe you can, you know, send me an email or something after this event. But I I'd love to know what the turnout is. I mean, I I have a suspicion that it's gonna be fantastic just because people are ready to get out and and get back to a sense of normalcy. And if they know that all these precautions are being made with being outdoors and being spread out and being, you know, having all those safety measures in place, I bet it'll be The biggest one you guys have had. I mean, that's just my maybe optimism, but I'll be curious to hear.
12:06.926 Dionne Neubauer
They're actually teaming up with our Marathon Center for the Performing Arts, utilizing their parking lots. And they actually have circles that they have painted on their parking lot. So we have an appropriate number of individuals in those circles. So so yeah, when I say extra wide alley, yeah, it's a bigger parking lot really. But again, we may find that that may be the Wave of the future, you know, for this particular event. But at least for this year, we want to make sure that everyone feels comfortable and spread out.
12:44.686 Brandon Burton
That's good. So what have you seen in terms of you know how you serve your members in this transition when it comes to programming or just overall support in helping them kind of get back to this return to the office?
13:03.392 Dionne Neubauer
Absolutely. If I can take a step back, Brandon, you had mentioned that, you know, we were going through a renovations that started pre-COVID. So throw that in. So we started renovations and then COVID happens and the office is torn up. And you're just like, my goodness, what do we do now? Because we're trying to handle things internally, but also serve the members. And You know, while we're at it, we had already made plans to do a changeover of our membership management system. So let's just throw a full new software system in the mix. You know, why not at this point? But I mentioned this because it's so important for us to take take care of our teammates, our office mates, our coworkers to make sure they're feeling comfortable and taking care of. So cause I know what I just mentioned, that's a lot for anyone. And so it's important that I have a relationship with my direct reports so that one, they have all the tools that they need, because a lot of us were working at home, because obviously we were forced out of our offices, our spaces. So that quick move make and we already had the technology in place for people to work at home. So that was a seamless transition for us. But some of us have children in school, some of us don't, but we had all again all varying degrees of needs for our employees. So taking care of them was very important. And actually, part of that is we had weekly communications just so that we were keeping in touch with each other. And we even saw productivity increase. And you know, in retrospect, Changing over that software system was the best move we did because we actually were able to make it a seamless transition because all our events were ended up being you have to pre-register, pay by credit card because again, everything was changing. So it actually worked for our benefit. So now, you know, actually we're a couple, I would say a couple months in that we are actually all back in the office.
15:25.256 Dionne Neubauer
but it took a transition. It certainly did, because for a while we are but we were open by appointment only. So bringing everyone back in-house and there's some apprehension there, making sure everyone felt comfortable. But yeah, taking care of that team first was important to me, but certainly alongside that taking care of the members as well.
15:49.058 Brandon Burton
Well, and it shows you guys were going through this, you know, hand in hand, pretty much with your members as as you guys were all forced to kind of work from home for a period and and kind of make those transitions. And you had mentioned, you know, those that have children that are in school and and shifting to online learning. And I mean, that was a a huge adjustment for for parents. I'm speaking from experience with with with four. kids at home and and that was a a big adjustment for us. But you guys are going along that with them, with all your members to be able to see, okay, we've kind of shut down, we've been working remotely. And now you guys are starting to implement some some returning yourself alongside your members.
16:37.812 Dionne Neubauer
Yes, those hybrid events. So we are probably a couple of months in because once we brought even staff back in-house, if you will, we start and working with our hospitality partners, we decide, okay, let's just start that process of those hybrid, knowing that the vast majority of our attendees will be online, but we'll still have that in-person option. Again, kind of respecting everyone's level of comfort. But also taking the appropriate measures for those who are coming in person with temperature checks and social distancing, mask wearing. So hybrid, certainly we're doing it. Does it take some extra details and setup? Yes, it does. But we're committed to delivering a product and meeting the member wherever they're they are at. The COVID.
17:31.5 Brandon Burton
So question for you on the the hybrid events. you had mentioned a little little extra on the setup. Do you have a dedicated staff person that kind of is in charge of the setup? Do you have a member that you partner with on the setup that's more tech oriented? I'm just curious how you guys do it. Maybe you have some light you can shed onto others that are trying to make it less of a headache to do a hybrid events, because I know there's some out there that would like to just get rid of it to some degree, just so they could make their life a little easier. But what's working for you with making those hybrid events a reality?
18:12.982 Dionne Neubauer
You know, I'll touch on that latter part of what you just said because I was just literally having a conversation with our chairman of the board because right now all of our board meetings are virtual. And we talked about, you know, we either gonna keep it all virtual because attendance is like a hundred percent right now, or we're gonna go in person. But the hybrid, we're not gonna wanna do a hybrid. It's gotta be one or the other from a board meeting standpoint. But when it comes to events, so I would say we are still a working Progress. We have certainly been leaning on the production team that's already in place at the Performing Arts Center because we've been using that as one of our facilities. So they know exactly what to do. So we are just teaming up with them. In some of our other locations, now you had asked, Do we have a dedicated staff person? Yes, but yes, we do, only because he likes gadgets anyway.
18:57.366 Brandon Burton
Okay.
19:08.97 Dionne Neubauer
And his background, he's relatively new on our staff. He he actually came from the media. So he loves gadgets and so forth. So he jumped right into that role. So to say it's been a seamless effort, you know, we've had hiccups along the way and we appreciate that our members have been patient. They've been showing a lot of grace, knowing that we are all trying to figure things out together.
19:35.264 Brandon Burton
That's right. So I like what you had to say about the the board meetings because I think that we don't need to scrap everything that we learned through the this COVID experience and remote working. Excuse me. you know, there's a lot of good things that came out of it. So to maybe do your board meetings all over, you know, a virtual platform like Zoom could be a great thing. And and maybe you do, you know, one month you do. virtual and the next month in person and just allow for that flexibility. So those people that serve on the board aren't feeling as taxed for their time of, you know, leaving work to to go attend to a board meeting and things like that. So being able to have be a little more flexible, I think, is key.
20:18.19 Dionne Neubauer
Yeah, and our board meetings are first thing in the morning, so at 7:30 a.m. So people can just jump right on for wherever they're at if they're still home or on the way to the office. but we've been having 100% participation and no one really is eager to change that from that Zoom platform to an in-person. So will we get there eventually? Yes, but there's really no urgency with that. And again, as I mentioned, we're getting 100% participation. from our board members on these monthly calls. So it has the Zoom, the platform has been an effective use in many ways.
20:55.266 Brandon Burton
Yeah. Now as things are kind of evolving and returning back to the office, like we're focusing our discussion on, that also opens up the opportunity for chamber events and programs. like you'd mentioned the the rally in the alley coming back this summer. have there been events that you have gone back to with an in-person attendance or that hybrid option, I guess, of online and in person? And how did that go? What was attendance like? What kind of things do you have to consider beyond the distancing and and things like that? Are there other things that people need to consider when they go back to in person?
21:35.054 Dionne Neubauer
So we took one of our events, kind of use it as our, if you will, our guinea pig, like, okay, this is the event, we're just gonna go all in, all in person. It's our business the business speed networking program. And it really is for our community meant to only hold maybe no more than 20 people. So we said, you know what, let's make this the event where it's in person, no hybrid at all. So is it and we again we're only a couple months in with that particular program, but we are starting to see some interest. And when I say interest, increased attendance with that. But but again, as we move forward, I truly believe hybrid's gonna be around for a while throughout the year. but there may come a time where we're gonna have to say, you know what, this particular event, it's meant for in-person and there's no no hybrid component to it. You know, we have one program that is co-sponsored by the state of Ohio, the Bureau of Workers' Compensation, and they've come out and said, you know what, right now it's virtual only, no in-person. So but we are seeing that attendance is a little lighter. You know, we just have to be very careful, at least in our community, because I know I'm for one, I can get a lot of Zoom meetings put on my calendar in any given day. And it's it's a little challenging to have all those Zooms and then to make that change because as you know, with Zoom you there's no travel time. Yeah. So you can go from Zoom to Zoom to Zoom, whereas at travel time typically you could decompress, you know, kind of clear your mind before you jump into a another meeting. So and not some in an essence, you know. we who manage our calendar. We need make sure we manage our calendars rather than our calendars manage us.
23:35.126 Brandon Burton
That's right. In fact, today as as we record this podcast episode, I have five episodes that I'm recording today and talking about no travel time. I mean, this is amazing for me to be able to do this because I'm talking with you in Ohio while I'm in Texas. Later today, I'm talking to somebody in Canada, talking to someone in Europe, I'm talking to somebody all over the world. And I don't need to hop on a plane to do this and we can see each other face to face and so I think, yes, I think there's there could probably be some events in the future, you know, going forward years from now that I could see being all virtual still or having that hybrid option, but just because I hear members of various chambers all the time say, you know, they they almost feel a sense of guilt because they've joined the chamber, but they never go to any of the events, they don't go to any mixers, they don't do any of the they don't take advantage of the benefits. That the chamber has to offer. So because they can't get away from work in the middle of the day or after hours or before or whatever it is, their schedule doesn't allow it. But if they can hop on Zoom and listen and not have that travel time in between and maybe even participate to some level, depending on the format of what that program is, I think there's a huge you know, value add to the membership to be able to participate and feel like they're getting more out of their membership that way.
25:01.14 Dionne Neubauer
Absolutely agree. In fact, we've seen some programs because of Zoom opportunities, just our attendance has just ballooned. For example, we have a women's mentoring program that typically takes place on a quarterly basis and it's typically in person for about 20, about 20, 30 women. But we are because of the Zoom option, we are seeing attendance. participation upwards of 95 people. And so this allows people who are not accustomed to the program to dial in, you know, to click in, if you will, into the program and learn. So we are capturing some newer interest by folks who typically wouldn't be attending because of their schedules, just because of the convenience of the technology.
25:52.748 Brandon Burton
That's right. Now in our title for this episode, we had the the word applauding. Applauding the Return to the Office. So why did we include that word in this title?
26:03.79 Dionne Neubauer
So let's talk about that, shall we? So I was sharing with you as we were preparing that, you know, hybrid, we've got in-person and that online version, but we are noticing, at least in our community, that again, we're about two, three months in that people who are coming in person, it's almost and then there's opportunities to applaud, to thank someone who's speaking, but we're finding that. there's that lack of applause. we as staff are applauding and encouraging others to join us, but there's almost that social awkwardness. So it's like we've had a year of virtual so getting everyone acclimated back in person and we're just remembering the art of applause. We are we're looking at ways to see how we can spur that on. and just remind folks, you know, this is an opportunity to. Think the speakers and it's okay to to applaud.
27:05.678 Brandon Burton
Well and getting that feedback is so key too when you're doing an in-person event. I think for like you said, for the last year we've all been, you know, forced virtual and we've all been taught the etiquette, the zoom etiquette to you know mute yourself when you're not speaking. So you know, people stop applauding, they stop giving feedback because they're they're on mute. So as we start coming back in person, it might be
27:25.262 Dionne Neubauer
Yeah, yeah.
27:30.466 Brandon Burton
that social etiquette to just remind people, you know, we've got this speaker, we've got this person here from, you know, that's prepared this program for us. Let's be sure to thank them and, you know, give them a, you know, a a big round of applause at the end or, you know, some reminder of sorts.
27:46.062 Dionne Neubauer
We know our those who are attending are very much appreciative of the speaker and their comments, what they're sharing. But again, we have all been on mute. So bringing back the art of applause, I think is something just a good reminder for all of us as we're in person for programs.
28:04.632 Brandon Burton
That's right. So I know we need to start wrapping up here. We're we're getting close to our time, but I wanted to ask you, based on our discussion today, what might be one key tip or action item that a listener can take from this discussion to help take their chamber up to the next level?
28:25.684 Dionne Neubauer
That's a great question. So my response to that would be from a mental health standpoint, we have all been through a lot. And as we talked in our session today, that many of our members, our community, they have varying levels of concern and for safety as it relates to COVID. So I think it's important for all of us to check in with our teammates, with our members. making sure it they're okay and also not forgetting about ourselves or for us in the chamber world doing that self-care making sure we're okay but also checking on our teammates and our members
29:08.674 Brandon Burton
Thank you for that. I think that is so important and maybe something that gets overlooked quite often with the the busyness of our daily activities. So very, very important. So as we look to the future of chambers of commerce, how do you see their the future and purpose of chambers going forward?
29:29.142 Dionne Neubauer
A great question, Brandon. So I was reflecting on this because our chamber is 130 years old. And so I was looking back in the history, and I think the same can be said from way back in the 1887 when our chamber was formed. Is that we are an organization that we convene people sort of about connections, resources, being an advocate. A catalyst for growth. So those elements from 1887 are certainly relevant to today and will be in the future. And I know that sounds very basic, but I think that's the strong foundation for our organization and chambers in their community is keeping that the forefront on our foundation and but also being relevant to the current needs of our community and members.
30:28.104 Brandon Burton
I I totally agree. And I think being able to be tuned in to what those needs are is is key. So I'd like to give an opportunity for anyone that's listening who would like to maybe further this discussion offline or you know kind of see dive in a little deeper as to how you guys are doing things there in Findley. what would be the best way for someone to reach out and connect with you?
30:53.134 Dionne Neubauer
Absolutely. So I am on LinkedIn. So that's Dionne Neubauer with Findlay Hancock County Chamber of Commerce. And remember Findlay is with an A, not an E, because I that happens all the time. But again, Dionne Neubauer, I'm on LinkedIn, but also you can look me up through the chambered network as well. And just look at Findlay Hancock County Chamber of Commerce for Dionne Neubauer.
31:16.664 Brandon Burton
Very good. And I will I'll get that in the show notes for this episode, which will be found at at chamberchatpodcast.com/slash episode one twenty two. But Dionne, I've enjoyed visiting with you today. I'm excited for what the future looks like, not only for your chamber, but for chambers, you know, throughout the world as they start introducing more in person events and as more people are are getting back to the office. It definitely it it deserves an applause and
31:46.24 Dionne Neubauer
It does. Shall we applause? Yes.
31:48.558 Brandon Burton
That's right. We're not on mute, right? But thank you for joining us today. I really did appreciate it.
31:51.736 Dionne Neubauer
We're not on here.
31:56.6 Dionne Neubauer
Thank you, Brandon. I appreciate the invitation.
32:00.15 Brandon Burton
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32:35.822 Brandon Burton
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