Leveraging Technology with Jason Leslie

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

Episode 125 — Leveraging Technology with Jason Leslie
Clean Speaker-Labeled Transcript
Guest: Jason Leslie
Automated QA: Passed

00:00.884 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.
00:13.774 Intro Voice
And now your h host he once quit drinking soda for over a year. He's my dad, Brandon Burton.
00:20.61 Brandon Burton
Welcome to the Chamber Chat Podcast. I am your host, Brandon Burton, and it is my goal to introduce you to people and ideas to better help you serve your chamber members and your community. Our title sponsor for this episode is Holman Brothers Membership Sales Solutions. Is your chamber struggling to drive the revenue it needs to support your initiatives? It's a common problem, and one that our new title sponsor, Holman Brothers Membership Sales Solutions, knows a lot about. Doug and Bill Holman aren't just sales consultants, they're real live chamber guys with twenty plus years of chamber leadership experience. They know how to diagnose and solve member recruiting issues faster and better than anyone else, and they're ready to put that knowledge to work for you in your chamber. Call the Holman Brothers today at six one nine eight five two one three nine one or check them out at Holman Bros. com. That's H O L M A N B R O S dot com. You're joining us today for episode number 125. And my guest for this episode is Jason Leslie. Jason is the communications manager with the Alberta Chambers of Commerce, where he leads the ACC's advocacy, market research, and skills initiatives. Jason has been with ACC coming up on six years, and prior to that was with the Edmonton Chamber, leading their policy and research. An avid fisherman, he's looking forward to some time out on the water over summer. Jason is also spearheading the ACC's Chamber Channel rollout and shop local initiatives, including chambermarket.ca, an online e-commerce marketplace designed for chambers and local communities. We're going to learn more about ACC's Chamber Channel and Shop Local Initiative today, and how the Alberta Network is integrating e-commerce. With talent recruitment and building a strong business insight community to support their post-secondary partnerships and inform advocacy efforts. Jason, I'm excited to have you with us today on Chamber Chat Podcast. You've as we've discussed, you've come highly recommended to come on the podcast. So I'm excited to have you with us today. If you would take a minute 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.
02:44.172 Jason Leslie
Well, thanks for that, Brandon. I'm I'm just so pleased to be here and I'll do my best to live live up to those expectations. yeah, something interesting about myself. well I mean, I I don't know how far you want to go, but I I've I've almost been eaten by a lion and a shark. How's that for a story? yeah. Not a lot of people have that, but yeah, no way
03:06.2 Brandon Burton
That is interesting.
03:13.014 Jason Leslie
I I did a a great tour in in South Africa and and in the same trip I almost fell in the water with great white sharks and and I caught the attention of a lion by accident who got very interested in me and my friend in the in the safari Jeep we were on. So I've I've had some some interesting times in my life, but when it comes to Chamberland, I I just love working with chambers. I I'd be now in the Chamber Network for close to nine years and I just it it's exciting every day and it is it's just a wonderful opportunity to be able to support business and and the people who really make our economy and our and our societies go around. And yeah, I I'm just so pleased to be here to to share share some some of the exciting things that we've got going on.
04:05.97 Brandon Burton
Absolutely. I love the work that chambers of commerce do and especially supporting small businesses. I mean, that's what really had me fall in love with the chamber industry is being able to be that support to those entrepreneurs and those those people that put everything out there and try to help support them and and keep them going in business. Well share with us a little bit about the Alberta Chambers of Commerce. Kind of give us some perspective to that you're coming and and bringing into our discussion today, maybe size, location, budget, staff, that sort of thing, just so we can kind of get a better idea.
04:41.912 Jason Leslie
Yeah, so the the Alberta Chambers, we've been around, we were incorporated in the late nineteen thirties. we we we think it's pretty special that we have in the province of Alberta, every community chamber in the province, there's 121, are all members of the Alberta chamber. So it it we have a very strong network. And and we in chamber, you know, in the chamber world talk about the network all the time, but we're we're pretty proud of the fact that that really close relationship between the community chambers and the Alberta chambers also allows us to to play a you know a really strong role in in the national network across Canada. we have about seven staff. we've just onboarded some some really bright young students that work with us over the summer. it's our budget's you know just about a million and half just under that and yeah we we have a lot of chambers in alberta that have been around since well over a hundred years many many many and a lot of them even just volunteer chambers that have been around for that long and I I think that's just such a special neat thing. there's not a lot of organizations or institutions around the world that have that kind of community embeddedness and it's all driven by as you know you know business community and people who are willing to step up and volunteer on behalf of of their business communities.
06:10.776 Brandon Burton
That's right. Absolutely. Well, that that does give us some perspective. That's awesome that all hundred and twenty one chambers there in province are are members of the Alberta chambers. That's that says a lot for for the work you guys are doing and the value that you provide.
06:26.604 Jason Leslie
Yeah, we we've we've just had some really tremendous leadership you know in our in our in our network and and we had some you know had and have some some really visionary leaders who did a lot of work to make to make those connections and those relationships strong. And and it really helps us also when we go to the national stage with the Canadian chamber, we make sure all of those local chambers are also members of the of the Canadian chamber. So When we get to that national stage, we love our our AGMs. We can't wait until they are back in person again. Everyone is definitely obviously those. not only for the the fun of the debates and all the business stuff, but you know, the good socializing that takes place as well. chambers are chamber folk are are great to be around. but it really allows our region to to play a really strong role in the national business advocacy agenda, and that's really important for us in particular in Alberta because we have some pretty unique industries of which I you know Texas would be very familiar with which is you know a strong oil and gas sector and and it really drives not only our provincial but our national economy. So of our network at the national stage really allows us to make sure that advocacy in the policy agenda that the chamber network puts forward you know meets all needs of primary industries in the in the country.
07:52.214 Brandon Burton
Yeah, absolutely. So we've got a fascinating topic today. At least I find it very fascinating. I I enjoy technology. I may not be as techie as as some people out there listening are, but our topic for discussion today is going to be around leveraging technology. And specifically is when I shared Jason's bio, he's spearheading a couple pretty neat initiatives. There at the Alberta Chambers. so we're we'll dive into what those initiatives are, kind of background of them, you know, what they're doing, what they try, what their targets are with these initiatives, and we will get into that discussion 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 dot 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 App MyCommunity.com/slash chamberchat now. To receive ten percent off your first year of an app my community mobile app.
09:50.03 Brandon Burton
All right, Jason, we are back. So our topic leveraging technology. in your bio, I mentioned chamber channel, the shop local and and chambermarket.ca. I know they're all kind of tied in together. Can you tell us all what is chamber channel? What how does this all work? What what is it?
10:12.078 Jason Leslie
Well, it's it's it's a value management infrastructure that we're we're rolling out with in partnership with some folks actually out of the out of the states, one of your previous guests, Boyd Stough, and as well as some partners from Canada and and a really innovative technology provider, Wisebox Solutions, actually out of the Lower Mainland, British Columbia. And and what we're doing is we're we're rolling out a proven platform that has been applied for associations. So it is it's it it it it's being tested, proven out. But it's but we're really tailoring it specifically for the chamber of commerce, you know, business needs. And and it has three kind of components with it, one being front end, which is the chamber market. And that's really enabling chambers to put the commerce into chambers of commerce. by rolling out local online e-marketplaces that then roll up to the regional and national, and we're actually hoping international. We're having some conversations with the US Chamber of Commerce as well. So we definitely see some significant scalability to that market space. But then what it does is it it you know that acts as a great funnel. You're getting local communities, not only your businesses and your vendors. Coming onto the platform, but you're getting the consumers in your local community moving through that space. And in doing so, you're really elevating the visibility of the chamber of commerce in your community. And you're giving your members and businesses an opportunity to sell and to and to conduct commerce, which is something that ironically chambers we we promote it all the time, but we we have you know, in many cases, and I'm not sure there might be spoken. That do it well, but that commerce piece is is always kind of be missing. and this really enables us to to to live up to that component of our of our brand. and in doing so, businesses are are exposed to the opportunities of the chamber network and chamber membership, and they're able to to customize their their membership rate through that platform.
12:38.38 Jason Leslie
with that high visibility and everything about the the chamber channel, i i it's very simple looking on the outside, but it's got just incredible design on the back end. And what it allows is for those members or potential members to customize everything and for all the dues management, all the value added mana partnership or affinity program partnership management is all automated on the back end. And and with that Yeah, I you know, it's so exciting for us is so much of what chambers have to do is just administration. and it's it's one of the things that that takes chamber managers out of the high value opportunities of supporting members, engaging with them, understanding their priorities, communicating those to to government or different stakeholders. and it's always such a a balance between stuff that I gotta do to make you know, keep the lights on and the, you know, and the chamber moving and and these other activities, which is what business really values. So through this process of of implementing chamber channel and the automation and activities that's going to come out of that, we're we're really expecting it's going to help chamber managers elevate their game tremendously by alleviating that administrative burden that we all have to typically deal with and have for a long time.
14:05.462 Brandon Burton
I really like the the automation aspect to it too. if you if you look at how much time is spent by chamber staff doing some of the mundane kind of things where they really could be leveraging that time to provide real value, you know, that's going to benefit those members that they're there to serve. So being able to take advantage of a platform like that to free up some time, I think is huge. where are you guys at with the adoption and rollout of chamber channels?
14:35.906 Jason Leslie
Yeah, that's a great question. So we're we're just about to launch our five beta chambers in about the next 10 days. And we have over a quarter of our network is is already lined up, ready to get onboarded. So it's we're we're positioned to scale quite quickly. we've actually also been engaged by our by the federal government, the chamber network across Canada, to promote some shop local.
14:43.992 Brandon Burton
Okay.
15:05.152 Jason Leslie
initiatives. And so we we do have some some resources coming to the table which is really going to help help us accelerate that scale up just as a bit of an example of of what that scale up looks like in in our in alberta across the chamber network we have about 24 and a half thousand businesses are members of chambers and in alberta shopify you know another e-commerce success story Shopify has 1,308 businesses listed in Alberta. So we're expecting even even just a small fraction of of the membership in in Alberta alone coming onto the platform is is you know immediately positions us as a really viable opportunity for businesses and for consumers in local communities. And the the big difference is that on Shopify or Amazon, these are great platforms and they've really done tremendous things for the world. Commerce and small business in particular. But none of them have their chamber promoting them. And that's that's the big game changer here is businesses can upload their digital marketing content right into the platform, and chambers are able to take that and just drop and drag it into their own social and promotional channels. and and that's the game changer. And that's always what's been the the difference between This is a member of members, you have your chamber behind you and in this way, we're really able to take advantage of those chamber communication networks to really amplify the opportunities for those businesses that are listed on the platform.
16:46.348 Brandon Burton
Yeah. You know, I I find it interesting and I I wish I had all the stats ready at my fingertips. But if you look at the number of even just kind of the mom and pop, you know, businesses and the amount of business they do, you know, essentially through the front door, you know, people coming in face-to-face business versus what they are able to do out the back door on online platforms and and shopping or selling globally rather than just to your local economy. And for the businesses that are not taking advantage of that yet, I mean, the potential is huge. obviously it's not a fit for every type of business, right? I mean, if you're a roofing business, you're not going to be able to do so well selling roofing services, you know, online globally. But if you're selling any kind of product, anything that can be shipped, they need to be online, you know, it have the brick and mortar, have the storefront, but you need to be online. And you really saw that when the pandemic hit. You know, those that were able to pivot and sell online accelerated during the during the COVID pandemic, where those that just had brick and mortar, a lot of them aren't around anymore. So it's just a way to kind of future proof, you know, themselves and make sure they can be around.
18:04.62 Jason Leslie
You're you're absolutely right. it it the the pandemic is certainly you know illuminated a lot of opportunities and and a lot of you know pitfalls that business has to be aware of. And you know, no one expected that the that the the lights would be turned off and the door would be shut as quickly and as broadly as as it happened. and so we're you know the timing of all this for this initiative is is is really you know valuable. you know, we're still and I think Texas actually is is probably leading the game now in terms of getting the public back to normal. But we're up here in Canada, we're still struggling a bit to get the population vaccinated and and we're still working with a lot of health restrictions on on people's movements and and so we're we're we're thinking that the timing of this is it couldn't be better. but one thing I wanted to point out that That we're really excited about with this platform. Again, on the front end, it looks so simple. on the back end, it is it is a work of genius. and it allows also for businesses that sell services to be listed on there and for automated referral activities to take place. So for you know, you might not be able to sell your your roofing services you know, into the into Europe. But what you can do is get some great exposure for your business. And and so when consumers are moving through the the marketplaces, they're able to to select services and and automatic referrals can get set up and the chamber gets notified and it allows for development of a whole new range of of partnerships with local businesses between them and their chamber.
19:52.364 Brandon Burton
So as as chambers adopt Chamber Channel, is is there a way to kind of educate the members onto you know what the features are, what the the value added benefits are to their membership by adopting chamber channel and how to get set up with their profile and social channels and all that. How does that roll out to the to the business level? How does that work?
20:20.578 Jason Leslie
Yeah, Nate, we're we're working on a wide range of of tools and resources to support that. So, you know, tutorial onboarding videos that the chambers can distribute out to their members, as well as we're through this shop local initiative in the partnership with the federal government, we're we're also able to bring on a whole range of of students for anticipating to help to help us specifically with that onboarding process. With businesses to just make it as easy as possible for them. you know, you get that kind of critical mass on there, and then you're, you know, you're just the honeypot. We're gonna see other folks come on board. So we're we're moving fast right now, and we're we're so grateful for our network is is really patient because sometimes things don't go from, you know. A to B to Z in today's kind of agile world, sometimes you got to move from A to D and to get forward and then you got to jump back to B. So we've been really focusing on on getting our our members, the business or the chambers, or the Alberta chambers, our members of the other part of the chambers. So really focusing on on them and getting them comfortable, ready for the onboarding process, and then developing our resources for the business onboarding in parallel.
21:42.806 Brandon Burton
Yeah. So I know there's a couple key integrations that you guys have into the this the platform there. if you wanna you know shine some light on what those integrations are and what they mean, you know, to to this rollout and and to your overall mission through chamber channel altogether.
22:05.698 Jason Leslie
Yeah, I know we're so excited about the the integration opportunities. And there's a few of them and and one is is platform called Alida. It's a world leading consumer insight platform. again, this is a company out of the lower mainland in in west coast of Canada. they are their typical clients are are Toyota, you know, Red Bull. GoDaddy. So they they usually work with big global brands. but they've screwed just actually, you know, typical chamber fashion through a personal relationship that senior folks over there have with with the BC chamber. they they got to thinking about how could we apply this to to the chamber world. And we've been just so blessed to be able to work with the leader. They they really re-customize their their platform to apply it to chambers because started thinking about it there chambers of commerce are unparalleled networks right down at the grassroots community level you know in Canada and I know throughout the United States and quite frankly throughout the world. So we we've been able to integrate Alida and through that we build these business inside communities. And with these business inside communities, we're able to go out on Real-time issues and get near real-time responses back from business. And it's been incredibly effective, especially through the pandemic period where health orders were coming out, governments were really struggling to try and keep on top of how to manage things. and there was a lot of implications for business with that. And we were able to go out to business in advance of government announcing things and and say, hey. Business, what does this mean for you? Here's some options they're considering. you know, what works for you, what doesn't? do you have other suggestions on on how to address one particular issue after another? We were able to able to grab that near real-time data and and send that to to government. So it's been an incredible tool to be able to really amplify the voice of the business community at a really challenging time, not only
24:25.88 Jason Leslie
business, but you know for our our communities and our society overall. So through Chamber Channel, when when when businesses get listed on the chamber market, they're actually signing up at the same time, they're completing the sign out process for our insight community. And and at the end they're able to just check a box, you know, are you interested in in contributing your insights into ACC advocacy and then policy environment, you want to be an influencer, they can tick the box and they get a you know notification email. And now they're into this insight community where we share the data so businesses are able to see what other influencers and thought leaders in the province are thinking. And we also post media coverage of the data insights in our community hub for the insight community. and so so there's a really positive feedback loop of businesses really being able to see, I said this and now I'm seeing it advocated in this way. and it's just even in our relationships with government has been just tremendous with this because the chamber network is the voice of business and to be able to tap into that so quickly is being really effective for them as well.
25:47.434 Brandon Burton
So how do they go about sharing the data if they if they enroll in the Alida program, is it access to like you send out a survey through it or is it all in the platform or are they alerted when something a new question gets posed or how does that work?
26:02.818 Jason Leslie
Yeah, you know, it's it's a bit of all of the above. so we are able to program surveys and we can send those surveys out both in a in a general link. We send that out to our network and they're able to distribute it out to their membership. and at the end of of a survey, it says, Hey, you know, do you want to participate in in Alberta Perspectives? and they're able to sign up, participate in the community. The surveys also go out directly to the inside community and the benefit of Joining for businesses, not only do they get to see that feedback loop, they don't have to keep acts answering a demographic profile, which often gets tagged onto surveys just to make the data meaningful. That's true. But really is you know, it's it's more drudgery. It's you know, every every one of those surveys you think twenty percent of it or or more is just answering the same questions you answered yesterday on some other survey. and so it really cuts that down. and but it really also allows the chambers. To segment their the participants in that community. So you can go out very, very specifically to a particular demographic, or you can go out to folks who responded a particular way to a previous survey or question. And it captures all that data over time. So it really allows also to build longitudinal data sets, which are incredibly valuable and hard to find, or you have to just pay a tremendous.
27:29.228 Brandon Burton
Yeah, I can definitely see the value in that and streamlining the process for sure. what's a one of the other integrations that you'd like to highlight?
27:41.28 Jason Leslie
Yeah, well, and so Talinity is a new value add partnership that we're bringing on with the rollout of this chambermarket.ca. and it's a hire-by-referral community, and we're really excited about it. think Uber for hiring. and so it's a referral-based platform that has some very powerful AI backend that really creates a trust-based process for. hiring the talent that you need. And and we know that skills gaps are are perennial issues for business. and there's nothing like getting a trusted referral to hire the person that you need. And this platform really allows that personal touch. it it allows to create strength-based referral reference so And you know, for example, Brandon, you know, you and I are pretty new to each other. If you were to refer me to to a potential employer, you know, it it might not rank that as high as say someone in my office that I've worked with together for the past two years who knows me intimately and well, all my my strengths and my weaknesses. but when that person was would be providing a referral to me, it would rank that extremely high. And so for that hiring manager, when you see that trust referral coming from. someone you know as well, it it it really will result in in decreased time in recruiting the people that you need. and as an example, I mean we we just hired for a position and we had the posting out for a week we had 130 applicants, which was amazing. and we definitely got the best of the bunch. our new teammate is just amazing to work with. But that was a huge amount of work to go through 130 resumes. But if a referral had come along is that it really allows you to cut through to the to the high quality candidates and get in front of them quickly. and and referred, you know, the data is pretty clear that referred people stay longer, are happier, are more productive in their roles. So it's a win-win for everyone involved.
29:57.675 Brandon Burton
So is that something that individual and businesses basically enroll in to be a part of Talinity or how does how do they get started with that?
30:07.756 Jason Leslie
Yeah, that's exactly it. And so when we're we're doing the the onboarding process for businesses into Chamber Market, we're just including the sign up process to Talinity through that as well. and if they have postings, we'll take that, we'll populate the populate the job pantry, so to speak. Talinity also has very powerful web scraping capabilities to to find postings in local communities. So as we roll out Chamber Market, they're already starting to pull those opportunities and to to stock the pantry with them. and then through chamber market, not only can you see, hey, I want to go shop in a local market, but you'll also find local jobs powered by Talinity. And so they can go in either way, but also when you're inside the chamber market and you're going through different vendors, you'll also be able to see if a vendor happens to be have a job available. So you actually get that visibility in a way that you typically wouldn't get through other kind of hiring platforms where you have to very specifically go look for those things. In this case, you're gonna passively be exposed all the time to the opportunities within your community. and so it's all integrated on the back end and and you know, we're expecting it to really leverage the the trust of chamber networks in their communities.
31:23.95 Brandon Burton
That's awesome. I mean, we've all been through the nightmares of trying to hire somebody from you know different online, you know, job postings and whatnot. And sometimes you find the needle in the haystack. And in fact, I've heard commercials for some of these hiring companies about finding the needle in the haystack. And it really is a tough job to kind of filter through. So I see this being a huge value. and I imagine there's other integrations that you can work into chamber channel over time and as different things get developed.
31:55.022 Jason Leslie
Absolutely. Yeah, go ahead.
31:57.42 Brandon Burton
No, no, no. Go ahead. I'd I'd I'd love to hear more.
32:01.006 Jason Leslie
Well, that's you know, you know, one of the most exciting things, if not the most exciting, that we see about the chamber market is it really is going to allow chambers to to standardize the value proposition to business in a consistent way. So when we're going and and and sourcing value add partnerships to bring value to business that are accessible through chamber membership, you know it's it's a It's a complicated and often difficult process where you know you sit down with a potential member and you say, Hey, here's all the things that you can benefit from from being with chamber membership. And you got to go through them. And maybe the business doesn't have time. there they've got 10 other things on the go. But in chamber market, those are all going to be propositioned right at the front end. And so businesses are going to see those opportunities in a really consistent way, which in this also allow chambers to talk about what they do and to demonstrate what they do and the value that they provide right up front in you know on businesses own time as they're inside of those those local online marketplaces and that's gonna allow us also to form really strong value add partnerships and really take advantage of the real chamber network at scale.
33:23.55 Brandon Burton
Absolutely. And as you're talking about Talinity, I was thinking how what a great impact that could have to your overall, you know, workforce development and you know, any platform even the the local chambers have as far as workforce development to be able to have that as a resource to really bring in some of the best of the best. And it seems like that integrates well into a lot of the other missions that a lot of the chambers, you know, throughout the world tend to pay attention to, such as workforce and talent development.
33:58.722 Jason Leslie
You're absolutely right. You know, chambers are are really about who you know. and and they're based on trust. and and this is what this type of platform really leverages, just like an Uber or Airbnb. You know, these are trust based apps and services and and chambers have trust in spades, typically with their business communities. And so it's really allowing us to to leverage that tremendous asset across the network.
34:27.726 Brandon Burton
That's awesome. I'm excited to to hear more as this rolls out and and see success stories, you know, across your province, there at your chamber, but also, you know, at all the other chambers that that start adopting this chamber channel platform and and the chamber chamber market as well. I think that's that's an awesome idea to be able to present an online platform to be able to sell their products and get those referrals and and really for a chamber to promote. commerce throughout their community. It just seems like a no-brainer. You know, why is it taking so long, right? Yeah. Well
35:07.648 Jason Leslie
It's it's the benefits of the Twin Century now. you know, we're just really there there are incredible technologies out there, but some good thinking and just the people that we get to work with us on this project, it's it's really special. people who are have a really shared vision and and common belief in in the power and opportunities of the chamber network and and really what can that can do for business as you know, the the world's most powerful small business resource. technology is really helping us connect the dots between those different assets and services and value and trust and pull those all together in a in a way that's that's gonna add a lot of value for business and and also you know make life a lot easier for chamber managers.
35:51.606 Brandon Burton
That's right. Well, as we start wrapping things up here, I wanted to ask you, maybe based on our discussion today, maybe one tip or action item that a listener could take advantage of to help lift their organization up to the next level.
36:08.398 Jason Leslie
Yeah, it's a it's a great question that I could have a lot of answers to. but I think one thing that we hear a lot from from from our members is is they struggle sometimes to to understand the priorities of their members and and to be able to in turn articulate those really well. So I I would really encourage chamber managers out there to to think hard about how you can engage. use technology to engage your members to really understand their priorities well and to do that in a in a really timely fashion. I think that's single most effective way to to illustrate the the benefits of of being a chamber member is to have your voice heard and and to see that in action to know that someone's speaking out on your behalf. So ways you can close that loop and strengthen it. and to to take advantage of technology to do that I think is is a real opportunity for our network going forward.
37:14.07 Brandon Burton
Yeah. So this next question I like to ask everyone I have on the podcast. and I know we've been talking kind of about the future of chambers already as we've, you know, going through this discussion today, but as we look to the future, how do you see the future of chambers of commerce and their purpose going forward?
37:33.634 Jason Leslie
You know, I so I imagine everyone in this seat is has this bias when they come to this. but I I the perspective, yes. I I you know, I've I've been drinking the Kool-Aid for a long time. I I truly believe that the chambers of commerce are are really the most powerful business resource out there. there's I'm a bit of a geek on s on on in some ways, and it this isn't deep
37:39.662 Brandon Burton
The perspective. It's not yeah.
38:03.532 Jason Leslie
research, but in in my cursory research, I haven't found another organization that is as widely populated around the world as chambers of commerce. and like I'd mentioned at the beginning, you know, we have we have volunteer chambers been around for a hundred and thirty, a hundred and fifty years. It's it's tremendous. and so I think that people today I think the pandemic is really Brought a lot of awareness to people, and not just business, but to communities as well about the importance of business in their communities and the value of business leadership. And I think that we need business thinking more than ever in our decisions that shape us all and affect us all. And I think that chambers of commerce have a really powerful opportunity to leverage technology. to leverage those relationships to to bring to bring the opportunities of of business and business thinking you know to our to our communities and to our societies overall going forwarding. I think business thinking i is really needed right now and I think it's gonna become even more relevant in in the in the coming years.
39:23.342 Brandon Burton
Absolutely. Great answer. You pass. No. Jason, I wanted to thank you for for spending time with me today here on Chamber Chat Podcast. I wanted to give you an opportunity for anyone listening who might want to reach out and connect with you or learn more about Chamber Channel and how you guys are adopting and rolling it out. What would be the best way for someone to reach out and connect with you?
39:28.171 Jason Leslie
Yeah.
39:48.462 Jason Leslie
Well, thanks for that, Brandon. It has been such a pleasure being here with you. And if I passed, hopefully someday in the future I can make my way back onto the show. That's true. yeah, but anyone is more than welcome to reach out to me. My email is J Leslie, J-L-E-S-L-I-E at abchamber.ca. and I'm happy to to help and connect with anyone who is interested to learn more. And again, thank you so much for having me here today, Brandon.
40:17.342 Brandon Burton
Absolutely. It's been my pleasure. And I will get your your email address updated in our show notes for this episode as well, which will be found at chamberchatpodcast.com slash episode of one twenty five. But again, Jason, it's been a pleasure, enjoyed this discussion, and look forward to getting this out to the masses.
40:35.992 Jason Leslie
Thanks so much.
40:37.878 Brandon Burton
If you are a Chamber Professional, please subscribe to Chamber Chat Podcast in Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or Spotify. When you subscribe to Chamber Chat Podcast, new episodes will show up in your podcast app each week as they are released. If you're finding value in this podcast, please leave us a rating and a review in iTunes. But most importantly, please share Chamber Chat Podcast with your colleagues that are in the industry.
41:13.656 Brandon Burton
Would you be interested in creating even more value from the processes that you're already doing on a daily basis? Swipe It has been one of my sponsors for ChamberTat from the beginning. Swipe It provides credit card payment solutions that will save your chamber up to 40% on your processing fees, and Swipeit can integrate your credit card processing seamlessly into your existing membership software. Swipit does not charge chambers to switch and they will make switching simple. In addition to these savings, Swipe It has an affinity program for Chambers of Commerce so you can earn more non-dues revenue to support your budget. Learn more about Swipe It by requesting your free cost savings analysis and become more profitable today by visiting Chamberchatpodcasts.com/slash CC as in credit card. Again, That's chamberchatpodcast dot com slash C C and you can join many other chambers as you begin swiping with swipe it.