2021 Chamber of the Year Introduction

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

Episode 128 — ACCE Chamber Introduction with Candace Boothby & Kelle Marsalis
Clean Speaker-Labeled Transcript
Guests: Candace Boothby and Kelle Marsalis
Editorial QA: Restored ending reviewed; mixed-speaker blocks identified without invented timestamps. Uncertain alternate Gmail spelling retained as source text; verified chamber contact is provided in show notes.

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.
00:13.866 Intro Voice
And now your host. He sharpens his public speaking game through tips and podcasts. He's my dad, Brandon Burton.
00:21.932 Brandon Burton
Welcome to the Chamber Chat Podcast. I'm your host, Brandon Burton, where it is my goal to introduce you to people and ideas to better help you serve your Chamber members and your community. You're joining us today for episode 128 of Chamber Chat Podcast. And our title sponsor for Chamber Chat Podcast 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 holmanbros.com. That's h-o-l-m-a-n-b-r-o-s.com. Our guest for this episode, we actually have two guests as we are gearing up to kick off our 2021 Chamber of the Year Finalist Series. ACCE Chamber of the Year Finalist Series, that is. And today we have the the co-chairs of ACCE's Chamber of the Year program, Candace Boothby from the Newnan Coweta Chamber in Georgia and Kelle Marsalis from the Plano Chamber in Texas. I'll share a quick bio of each of them. Candace is the president and CEO of the Newnan Coweta Chamber, a position she's held for almost 18 years. She's a certified chamber executive, one of two CCEs in Georgia. She leads a five-star accredited chamber, one of only seven in Georgia, and is the only chamber in Georgia to be named. National Chamber of the Year. Professionally, Candace received her accreditation in public relations in 2002, graduated from the Institute of Organization Management in 2005, received her Georgia Certified Chamber Executive recognition in 2007, and in 2013 obtained her national certified chamber executive designation. Candace is known for a high-energy and innovative approach to organizational management.
02:46.2 Brandon Burton / Candace Boothby
She has served on numerous community and professional boards throughout her career, including chair of the Georgia Association of Chamber of Commerce Executives from 2013 and 14, and the board of directors for ACCE from 2015 to 2020. A Texas native, Candace's career spans 34 years, 31 of them in Georgia. After graduating from Baylor University in Waco, Texas, she got her start in the in chamber work at the Greater Killeen, Texas Chamber of Commerce. She continued her chamber work after moving to Georgia and also broadened her background by working for a state technical college, a Baptist hospital, a large metro public school system, and a community not-for-profit before coming to the Newnan Coweta Chamber in September 2003. Candace and her husband John reside in Newnan with their precious morkeys, Andy and Toby. Kelle serves as the president and CEO of the Plano Chamber of Commerce in Plano, Texas. Kelle's worked in membership, talent, and economic development roles for more than 15 years, including positions at the Dallas Regional Chamber, Rockford, Illinois Chamber, and the Stillwater, Oklahoma Chamber of Commerce. Most recently, she served as vice president of strategic initiatives at the Dallas Regional Chamber, focusing on board governance, strategic plan implementation, and customer engagement. Kelle received her CCE designation in 2016. She's a 2010 graduate of the Institute of Organizational Management and currently serves on the Curriculum Committee and National Board of Trustees as vice chair. Kelle also serves as a member of the ACCE Board of Directors and formerly served as a member of the Executive Committee. In 2007, Kelle, while serving as vice president, led the Stillwater, Oklahoma Chamber of Commerce to be named Chamber of the Year by ACCE. Kelle and her husband Van reside in Plano. They have a two-year-old daughter, Tilly. So I'm excited to have both both of you on the podcast today. What Candace, why don't we start with you? Just say hello to the audience and share something interesting about yourself, and then we'll have Kelle do the same. Well, good morning or good afternoon or whatever time of the day it may be when you're listening to this. But happy to be here. yeah, so I've been in my role here for 18 years. I had the
05:13.784 Candace Boothby / Brandon Burton
pleasure of working in both two states, Texas and Georgia. And in the 18 years I've been here, it's been a phenomenal experience. And I always say if you're gonna, if you're gonna be in a community, you need to love what you do. And as long as the opportunity is there and and the magic is there, then it's still a great place to be. And so after 18 years, I am still as energized today as I was when I first started the job. And Something interesting. I recently discovered that even though I'm a native Texan and grew up there and as did my grandparents and my great-grandparents, my great-great-grandmother is actually from Coweta County, born here, and her father, which would be my great-great-great-grandfather, is buried across the street from our chamber in our historical cemetery. So who knew that I my board chair calls me a homing pigeon? That's awesome. But it was you mentioned the the energy. You still have the same energy as when you came in. Doing a little background before we got on here, I stumbled across a video on YouTube from 10 years ago. And seeing you on this Zoom call for this recording, I I can admit it's the same energy, same voice, same personality. So you're not only you're aging well and keeping the energy level as well. So good job. so Kelle, why don't you take a stab at Saying hello to everyone and and sharing something interesting about yourself.
06:43.374 Kelle Marsalis
Well, thank you. First, thank you so much for having us and for having me on the podcast. I have been here with the Plano Chamber for about two and a half years now, which seems impossible, but I guess we have lost about a year and a half of of our normal life as as we've been in the pandemic. So
07:03.478 Brandon Burton
Or extended it like three years, one way or the other. I'm not sure.
07:07.338 Kelle Marsalis
It seems like it's just been a few months. so very happy to be here. I'm kind of one of those like odd people that started working at a chamber very young and loved the industry and stayed. So most of my professional life has been in chamber work. So I'm really excited about that. I you know, I have a toddler, so I think the most, you know, interesting things about me right now are when I find five minutes to myself. But one thing that a lot of people don't know, they're always really confused when they hear me talk because I've lived in Texas for so long, but I don't think I traditionally sound Texan. but I actually grew up in Wisconsin. so I moved around a lot when I was younger, but most of the time my family's all from Wisconsin. So I'm a Midwest girl at heart and a big White Sox fan. So if there's any other White Sox fans out there, we can commiserate together.
08:04.962 Brandon Burton
That's right. Well, I appreciate that. Kelle, why don't you tell us a little bit? I I I like getting a little background from each of your chambers just so as we have our discussion, listeners can kind of relate and see kind of the perspective that you're coming from. So Kelle, w tell us a little bit about the Plano chamber, kind of size, location, budget, staff, just so we have a better idea.
08:27.534 Kelle Marsalis
Sure. So Plano is located about 20 miles north of Dallas proper. So we are, you know, considered a suburb of Dallas. Although if you've driven from Dallas to Plano recently, you know you never leave town. And we have a fairly large corporate presence here in our community. So it's it's it's kind of the It's an interesting community and that it's a little bit of the best of both worlds. We're very residential and suburban, and yet we have large corporate campuses that employ hundreds of thousands of people, which give us you know, a great business community, prosperous economy. And so we're very lucky to live where we are. our city, Plano, we have a great partnership with the city. So we have a An excellent city staff that works closely with our chamber as well. And so we're always you know, we we just got recognized as the number one community in Texas for our park system, which is a great accolade, I think, for quality of life and quality of place. And I think we were in the top 10 in the nation too. So very, very excited about what our community offers. our chamber. Has just right around a thousand members. We have a nine-member professional staff. We have a $1.2 million budget and we focus on advocacy, small business programming, and leadership programs and and and networking. So we are a traditional chamber. We have we partner with the city's economic development office and the city's tourism office. So although we are separate, we do work closely together. And we were just recently re-accredited with our five stars. And I just want to give my I just want to give my team a pat on the back for that because if you're a chamber out there that went through accreditation or reaccreditation in the middle of the pandemic, go you. It was a tough it was a tough process, but we were so happy to be reaccredited at five stars. And
10:31.085 Brandon Burton
Yeah.
10:38.646 Kelle Marsalis
Although in 2007, when the program started, I was with the Stillwater Chamber, which won Chamber of the Year that year. The Plano Chamber also won chamber of the year in 2018. so very happy to be here and love my community and love this chamber. So
10:57.61 Brandon Burton
Yes, and and I'm proud to be a neighbor of of Plano. So just down the road from me and and I can attest to the I mean, Plano is a suburb of Dallas, but everything's so connected. I it it's interesting in this part of the country where you get so many cities, you know, that border each other and you never really know when you leave one city and enter another. So I'll
11:20.502 Kelle Marsalis
And Candace is probably in the same boat, but we have about 200 chambers locally, you know, throughout the Metroplex. And so it's there's a lot of partnerships built around us.
11:33.482 Candace Boothby / Brandon Burton
Absolutely. Well, Candace, tell us about the the Newnan Coweta chamber. Well, and I'll start by answering, responding to Kelle's comments. so there are about a hundred and fifty, I think it's 159 counties in Georgia. So we are a little up until the last few years, we haven't seen what Kelle's described, where there's literally a city, I mean accounting for every city. We have county chambers for the most part. So in Georgia, you'll see like The Newnan Coweta Chamber, the LaGrange-Troup County Chamber, those can but in the last probably maybe five to 10 years, more so on the north side of Atlanta, we've seen a lot of newer chambers for cities. So our chamber is actually located about 25 miles south of Hartsfield-Jackson Airport. So we're part of the Atlanta Metropolitan Community. We like to say that we're close enough to Atlanta and its gravitational pull. to take advantage of all the amenities and the quality of life features, but we're far enough away that we enjoy a sense of place and a sense of community. So the city, the main city, the county seat in Coweta County is Newnan. And we're known as the City of Homes. And the reason for that is that during the Civil War, when Sherman marched through Atlanta in this area, he spared all of our homes and used them for hospitals. So we can also claim that we think we have the most haunted site in Georgia as well. but our chambers coming up on its 75th anniversary next year. we have about 725 members today. This is again post-COVID. We all know about pre and post, right? our budget is a little shy of the million dollars. We have six full-time staff. we do a lot of outsourcing. So I've been outsourcing since 2006, 2007 time frame. And I actually turned my office at the chamber into a conference room 15 years ago. And so when the pandemic hit, we were already uniquely prepared because we had been doing work from home, outsourcing all the tools, electronic tools that you use now that we take for granted. We've been doing that for a very long time. And if anybody's interested in that process and how you convert to that, it's a little simpler now that we've gone through COVID.
13:59.752 Candace Boothby / Brandon Burton
but again, I love this community, I love what we do. We're a very innovative community. So I was thinking, you know, again, recently we you know, we've got so many stories to tell. So the film industry in Georgia, which you know, everybody follows that, was birthed here in Coweta County back in the eighties with with with the movie production. There's a whole story if anybody ever wants to hear that. Georgia now has about 19 full production movie studios, but we were part of Creating the legislation and the tax incentives. But then the Career Academies in Georgia were also first tier in Georgia. So we created the original Career Academy model about 20 years ago. And now there are about 55 replicated sites throughout Georgia. And most recently, we just graduated our first cohort group with our German American apprenticeship program. And now there are about five school systems in Georgia that have also replicated that. We like to be innovative. We like to do things that can be used by other communities. And we do have a we're a fast-paced growing community and we have a lot of new companies like Amazon and HelloFresh and Goodyear. And so we're just after post-pandemic really working to get out there and build some new relationships because a lot of new people and people have changed and that's what keeps life interesting and fresh. That's awesome. I love having a rich history in a community like you shared. That's that's amazing. well, I was looking forward to having both of you on the podcast, like I had mentioned earlier, to really kick off our 2021 ACCE Chamber of the Year finalist series, and thought it would be a good idea to get some insight from you two as co-chairs into what the process is like, what the criteria is for for chambers that are applying, and maybe gain a perspective You know, there may be some chambers that have gone through the benchmarking survey and things like that, but maybe didn't follow it all the way through. So I'm interested to get perspective on that as well. And we will get into this 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.
16:21.41 Brandon Burton
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17:22.186 Brandon Burton
All right, we are back. And as I mentioned before the break, we're gonna dive into the kind of the process and and procedure for for chambers to apply to become a chamber of the year candidate. So let's maybe take it from a a perspective of a a chamber who has never applied, has never really entertained the idea of applying for you know national chamber of the year. share it and I I don't know who wants to field this question, but just share with me a little bit about what goes into it. Kelle, you can you can take this one. if she needs.
18:08.45 Kelle Marsalis
Loved you. Time in any time, Candace. So the Chamber of the Year process is a multi-stage process. So it all starts with the dynamic chamber benchmarking survey that ACCE sends out every year. And you know, the survey is really great. It's I I don't find it too overwhelming. I think it asks all the right questions and it really gives you a great, I mean, just what it says, benchmark to compare your organization against your peers. But what it also does is it also qualifies chambers to apply for chamber of the year. And so if you meet a certain number of criteria, you are then invited to apply for the for the award. And that stage, along with the application stage, is when chambers are really they're competing against the numbers. So it's all about how your chamber performs based on a national average. And so, you know, we were talking, we were talking about this just a little while ago before we started, and that, you know, it's such a great tool, the benchmarking survey is such a great tool to see the gaps that you have in your organization and what are some things you might, you know, be looking to work on. So just going through the process alone, I think, is just such an amazing tool for any chamber. so once that's complete and you're and the and then you get the invitation to apply, you do fill out an application. it is a it's it's really broken down into three parts. and that is your financials and kind of in you know organizational management information, the financials, your bylaws, you know, things like that. And then
20:03.064 Kelle Marsalis
There are questions, short answer questions, and opportunities to submit samples that cover your operations, your membership, and your communications. And then the final part is the synopses. And this is where you have an opportunity to just show the best of what you do. And so you choose two programs that you have worked on and completed, worked on andor completed in the last two years. two or three years, Candace. Am I is it two years? It's two years. Two years. Okay. I always forget that one. and so it's a it it's a they're they're programs that you that have been around long enough that you can show the impact that they've had, but they're not from several years ago because it's a very, you know, real-time assessment of how your chamber's doing. And these programs that that are submitted are just amazing. I mean, we've seen everything from you know, workforce development, very innovative programs, all the way up to working with non-traditional partners. And so it's really, I think, where chambers are able to tell their story through the programming that they do. And you know, the last thing I'll mention, I'll kind of turn it over to Candace to fill in, is the programs that are submitted are also it, you know, you they we really look at programming that impacts the community. So impacts your members as businesses, yes, but also has a big impact on the community and and the people that live there. So I don't know, Candace, do want to add to that process?
21:40.064 Candace Boothby / Brandon Burton
Yeah, so and Kelle and I have talked a lot about this over the years. This is a professional development tool. It's an organizational development tool, but it's also a professional development tool. So I always hate to see chambers pass up a great opportunity. So, you know, if you if you take the time to fill out the benchmarking survey, which is timely and important, and you actually meet the criteria, there is no guarantee you're going to meet that. criteria the next year because it's not always easy because it's talking about member retention dollars and member retention numbers and you know so if you know when you get that email that says you've made it and you you can apply, whether or not you know that you have the time to put into doing a great job on the application or you think you don't have time, it's worth just going through the process. Don't maybe even think of it like I'm doing it to win. You're doing it to learn about yourself. And I think that the Chamber of the Year process is aligned and dovetails and complements the accreditation process. And because both are ways in which to see where the gaps are and to give you a way in which to close the gaps. The other thing, and Kelle mentioned this just being able to qualify to apply is a braggable moment for you to share with your members in the community because it gives them. So it's just important. And you know, you you are the best of the best if you if you qualify. Absolutely. You guys hit on so many good nuggets there that I'm like not sure which way I want to go. But Candace, what what you had just shared about the braggable moments. I know I recently had Jay Byers on the on the podcast and he talked about being able to leverage rankings. And I think this is one of those things where it can be a braggable moment where you qualified for chamber of the year or your chamber was a finalist, or maybe you're you're one of the you know chambers that actually wins. I mean, those are things to to brag about and to let your membership know that look, this is this is how we compare, this is how we're working for you and how we compare it to others in the industry. And it it's a huge braggable moment.
24:00.076 Candace Boothby / Brandon Burton
Hey, Brandon, if you think about it, chambers all the time are tracking things like what Kelle shared about that amazing award for Plano, or you get a national teacher of the year or something along those lines, or superintendent of the year. This is exactly the same kind of an award or a process that goes right in the same category as you would any other community recognition. Absolutely. And I think Kelle hit on something important too about just participating in the the dynamic benchmarking survey and and how important that is to your organization, just to be able to get that feedback, to see what's what's working for other chambers, see how you rank on different things. I mean, it's so valuable. it it's a huge opportunity, I think, to to not participate in. And Brandon, let me add dynamic benchmarking survey has more functions than just applying. Chamber of the Year. So if you're a chamber that builds your program on data, that is a phenomenal way to compare yourself with other communities. It's also a great tool for chambers to use in their strategic planning process and their board retreats. I was gonna I just I just had Aaron Nelson on about making data-driven decisions and it was all about that. So go ahead, Kelle.
25:19.244 Kelle Marsalis
There's literally zero reasons not to do it. I mean, it it's not as if somebody's gonna be able to see what has changed about your chamber and use that against you or or put you in a different category. I mean, it's literally a tool for you to use to really be able to understand where you are amongst your peers and help you build strategies to change that if it's not where you want it to be. so yeah, regardless of chamber of the year, we're I think you can tell Candace and I are both huge fans of the benchmarking survey because it helps us too. I mean, the more people that fill it out helps everybody else that fills it out because there's more data to to compare to.
26:01.93 Candace Boothby / Brandon Burton
Absolutely. so that would be the starting point is participating in the the benchmarking survey. And then if they qualify, you know, meeting certain criteria, what is the I know Kelle kind of touched on that the application process. So being three parts of financials and kind of short answers and synopsis. are there is there more to the application process that people need to be prepared for, or is that? Kind of the gist of it. Are you referring to the interview if you get selected as one of I I'm I'm just talking about on the front end of the actual application. Yeah. I think Kelle did a great job walking through the steps. It's it's really the first part of the application is operational stuff, you know, communications, membership, best practices. It's the synopsis where you really get a true glance a glimmer. or glance into the heart and soul of the chamber and where they spend their time and and she mentioned community, impact and influence is what I always think about. Where are you moving the needle and helping your community to grow and be better and thrive and prosper and you know she also mentioned the two years within the past two years for the synopsis. But it could also be something you've done for a while but you've chosen to take it to a whole new level. So you're kind of reinventing it or you're you're maybe targeting an an deeper, you know, audience or, you know, adding an objective. Yeah.
27:34.102 Kelle Marsalis
And also showing how your organization can shift and move with challenges as they come up. And of course, we've all seen that the last, you know, year and a half. But even before this experience, you know, as various challenges have ebbed and flowed with with communities, it was, you know, it's always great to show how you're leading your community by being able to be relevant and in front of some of these challenges that come up. So You know, the application is really what you want it to be. I mean, yes, there's questions that you have to answer about membership and communications and you know, diversity and and things like that, but it's really the chamber's opportunity to kind of just build a showcase to show show off. and so the applications I is is always where I kind of think you can have a lot of fun with it because you kind of get to choose what you put in there. now when you get to the interview, it's a little bit different. Which we can talk about in a second, but but but yeah, that application part is really the fun part because you're building it how you want it to to come across.
28:32.942 Brandon Burton
well.
28:43.628 Candace Boothby / Brandon Burton
You can get creative on the design. There are ways to tell your story and still stay with there's word counts for certain questions. So if you when people put them in PDF documents now, so you can get creative with pull out quotes and boxes and graphs and pictures and things that lead that judge down a journey that you want them to take without having the judge have to work to find the story within. Yeah. Doing something to stand out. So I love doing the the Chamber of the Year finalist series on the podcast. I started it two years ago, and my whole thought and background behind it was these are some of the chambers that are the best of the best. they're highlighting programs that are making that community impact, that influence. And it they're a wealth of knowledge that other chambers across the country and and some you know throughout the world can even, you know, pick up on some of these lessons and not needing it it kind of ties into the benchmarking survey, right? Like you don't need to to make all the mistakes that others do. You can learn from others' experience of what works and what doesn't work and see what applies to your community and adopt what works. so I love being able to to kind of highlight those you know the synopsis that that are submitted with the application. But let's you I think you both alluded to the the interview process. Let's Let's spend a couple minutes on that and and what that's like. my goodness, Kelle. So I have to say this. Kelle was on the other side of the table when I actually interviewed. I don't was that seven years ago, something like that. So I love hearing Kelle tell about her impressions because I bought a former board chair with me who is just amazing. I always tell him he's the smartest man in the community or the world. And I love it because he's part of everything we do. And so he could tell the story as well as I could tell the story. And I think that resonated with the judges.
30:52.16 Kelle Marsalis
Yeah, that that's very true, Candace. So that is one thing I I do remember your interview specifically because your chairman blew us away with how knowledgeable he was about your organization. I mean, he could have been in there by himself. I I mean you too had amazing information to share with us, but we were all afterwards we were all talking about like, gosh, we wish we had that board chair because he could have been in here by himself and blown us away as well. So Was definitely a great part of that. But the thing about the interview, Brandon, is that this is where you get a little bit more competitive against each other. So when you're a finalist and you get to the interview stage, everybody is is and Candace and I have both served as judges in the past, and so we have experienced it on both sides of the table. but It is definitely just human nature that you're going to be comparing chambers when they come into interview. And so it gets a little bit more competitive against the finalist once you get to that stage. But it is a 45-minute interview that spans questions relating to the chambers application, what it what the most you know challenging things are going on in their community, to how they have embraced the Horizons initiative. So it's a it's a it's a very you know it's a varied group of questions. Two people from the chamber are invited to the interview. it's typically the the the the president or executive director or the highest the the highest ranking paid staff along with who they choose to bring with them. So a lot of chambers choose to bring another staff member, a senior staff member. when I did it, I was probably a junior staff member, but one of the programs that we had presented was with our young professionals. So it was kind of, you know, my my CEO at the time was had a long career. And so we kind of chose to show the the variedness between our experiences. and then just as Candace talked about, you can also bring a board member or a board chair, which
33:09.368 Kelle Marsalis
can be very successful and can not be successful sometimes too. So choose wisely all of you that that qualify for that interview. But the interviews are my favorite part. You get to see the the the enthusiasm and the life behind the, you know, you get to see the people doing the work that you've read about and the application. The The interview, I I can I can honestly say chambers have won or lost based on the interview alone because of the energy and the experience that some bring into the room. And so I think it's really fun. I think you really get to to see the personality behind the chambers. And I've learned so much through that process sitting in that room.
33:58.344 Candace Boothby / Brandon Burton
Yeah, and I will say this. So when we prepared for it, Mark and I went to dinner and we practiced answering questions. We pulled out our application, looked at the various categories, talked through everything. We really drilled down into our synopses. So I think it's important not to just walk into the interview unprepared, thinking, well, I know this. but do a little rehearsing with whomever you're there with so that the energy and the synergy the chemistry comes across. and you know, we all talk in sound bites. We're taught to do that, right? And so that pacing is very important for the interview. Know how you're gonna frame your information. And if you have certain sound bites you use all the time, weave those in there because you're also trying to paint the picture so the judges can see that with you. So you know it's a little bit of an art form, but we do that anyway every day in our jobs. So I would just You know, just be prepared and think through. Don't wing it. Yeah, don't wing it. so I know as we're recording this, you guys are going through the applications and and before we started recording, you you both had mentioned how competitive it is this year and great chambers, great applications. I know I'm looking forward to seeing who's selected as finalists and and who wins. It's always exciting and And more so for me is hearing the stories from these chambers, their communities, and the impact that they're having. is there anything else that we want to make sure that we cover for any listeners out there who might consider it's too late for 2021, but maybe 2022 to kind of throw their hot hat in the ring that they should consider? Yeah. So, you know, just like you, and I'm sure Kelle, you did this when you were preparing for accreditation, you pull that out a year or two in advance and You know, you're tracking it while you you never want to lose a star, right? So you're tracking it over your five years. So I think it's if you're really interested in doing this, then yes, it's too late for this year, but pull out the application, look at the data, benchmarking survey, maybe make a list of what are the core categories that I need to start making sure that my house is in order. Cause you do have time if you don't have
36:22.158 Candace Boothby
Two great synopses. You only have one, but you've been thinking of some other things. And you know, I like to see synopses that are always based on needs because I think the needs need to drive everything and it all needs to be aligned with where you are as an organization. And so a little strategy on the front end, even before you go through any of the process or fill anything out, I think goes a long way. Kelle, what do you think?
36:48.728 Kelle Marsalis
Totally agree. I I was gonna say, you know, while it is too late for this year, it's never too early to start for next. And so, you know, kind of having a plan of of what what programs you wanna submit for next year and and working on that is great. Involve your team if you're a chamber that has you know, a a staff of more than one or two. you know, get some of your staff members involved and get excited about it. And get your board in excited about it too. I mean, they if there's nothing like a like a like accountability to keep you on task. And so get your board excited about it and contributing to some of that as well.
37:27.128 Candace Boothby / Brandon Burton
Great advice from both of you. As we start to wrap things up here, I wanted to to see if you both could offer maybe one tip or action item that chamber champions out there listening can do to help take their organization up to the next level. Well, I would probably just say professional develop I am a huge fan of professional development. I think as a chamber exec, my recommendation and advice is always join your state association, always. And then if you can join your national association, absolutely. But I think the relationships have to start at the local level with your state association. and then accreditation. Again, when we started through accreditation and we've been accredited since the mid seventies. But there was a little bit of a gap around 2000. we we decided we wanted to go through the process again, but not to to get a star or earn it or anything, but to figure out where our gaps were. And then with the chamber of the year, again, I mentioned earlier, it's a perfect companion, those two programs. And if your state has a certification program, do that as well. I just think you learn so much. And ACCE has something called the body of knowledge that you can find on the website. And it's it's the body of knowledge you want to study if you go through the certified chamber executive process. So I think every chamber exec, if you're really serious about a career in this industry, needs to have a personal development plan for themselves, which needs to include all the things I've just mentioned, but it also needs to include looking at the certified chamber executive programs. Absolutely. Kelle, do you have some thoughts?
39:07.018 Kelle Marsalis
Yeah, I mean, ditto on everything Candace just said, I think, you know, a nice companion to that as well is spend some time to develop some relationships in the industry. I know, you know, I've gotten to know Candace through this process specifically, but I know if I ever needed anything, I could call on her and vice versa. and that's just worth so much in in it's a very small world, it turns out. You know, as as I meet more and more people that work for chambers, we have so many things in common, whether it be, you know, the training or or or some of these other programs that we work through. So I think the professional network that goes along with all of that is so great. And the other thing I would just say is there is nothing like a global pandemic to give you an excuse to change things. And I think you know, take some time. We're all kind of in various stages of coming back to in person and doing things. and it's just been, it's been so nice to be able to hit reset in some cases and be able to, you know, shift a little bit of how we did things in the past because we've always done it that way. And so I've just I've been I've been talking about that a lot lately. So I th just thought I might mention it. But it's it's been great to kind of be able to reset a little bit.
40:25.964 Brandon Burton
Yeah, absolutely. Take advantage of that to to burn some sacred cows. So I like to ask everyone I have on the podcast this question that as we look to the future of Chambers, how do you see the future of Chambers and their purpose going forward?
40:45.166 Candace Boothby
So I mentioned impact and influence earlier. And I think that chambers, in order to remain relevant, have to just own the table in their community when it comes to the big issues. And having those relationships and Kelle mentioned this very early in the podcast with your governmental officials, I don't know that there's anything more important than having those relationships with the mayor and the county commission and the city officials and all, you know, Board of Education and all of that because We as chambers need to be there for those organizations because we can't get any of our dream big stuff without the partners in those arenas. So yeah, it's great to do ribbon cuttings and membership drives and, you know, festivals and things like that. That's not where the future of this industry is. So for anybody out there who isn't focusing on the impact and the influence, I would I would that would be my biggest suggestion.
41:42.508 Kelle Marsalis
completely agree Candace. I think that's I mean that's spot on and and great great advice. I think I would add to that by saying that looking at our business models has never been more important and I don't know that we will be able to operate as a you know a members only organization forever. So I think we need to really we all need to really be looking at operationally We manage ourselves as far as what the future looks like. And then, you know, from a from a programmatic and influencer area, I think it's just so much about bringing people together. And it doesn't necessarily mean in a room, but it's bringing different types of people together, different partners together, and being a convener is where some of our strength lies in the future.
42:36.174 Brandon Burton
I love it. It's all all good tips and gems that people can walk away with as they listen to this episode. So thank you for that. I'd like to give you both an opportunity to put your contact information out there if anyone has any questions about the the the chamber of the year application process or any of the programs you guys touched on or relationships that you have that that have been discussed on this our discussion today. What would be the best ways for to reach out and connect with both of you?
43:08.75 Kelle Marsalis
Well, I love to talk about the Chamber of the Year program. And if anybody is applied or thinking about applying, please feel free to reach out to me. It's just one of my passion projects. So I love talking to people about it and helping them through the process. You can reach me just by going to the Plano Chamber website, planochamber.org, and my information's lifted under staff. My name is spelled really weird, but I will say my email is Kelle K-E-L-L-E, the letter at planochamber.org. but again, that's that's on our website, so you can find me there. And I'm also on LinkedIn and and most of the social media platforms. So if you know how to spell my name, you can find me because I'm the only one out there.
43:50.606 Candace Boothby / Brandon Burton
That's right. Yeah, and same for me. You can go to the Newnan-Coweta C O W E T A Chamber website. my email and you can either do C booth. I'm sorry, what is I know Candace
C A N D A C E at newnancowetachamber.org or just you can email me at candysmoothie at gmail dot com. I don't like to answer the phone. I don't like to talk on the phone, but if you text me, I will call you back because that then I'm okay talking to you on the phone. So you can always text me at four zero four three one two eight five two one. That's probably my preferred is texting at this point. All right. I will get
All of your contact information in our show notes for this episode, which will be found at chamber chatpodcast.com slash episode 128. And we have the next several episodes will be this 2021 chamber of the year finalist series. So I'm excited to hear about these programs and and everything that these these well respected chambers that are
being selected as finalists to hear what they have going on. So everybody stay tuned for those upcoming episodes. And I do record them all on the front end. So when I record them, I have no idea who the winner is yet. So we record them all. And then you got to just stay tuned to see who wins. But Candace, Kelle, I appreciate you both being with me today and sharing some of the background and helping to kind of kick off this 2021 Chamber of the Year finalist series. Thanks a lot.
45:30.338 Guest closing / Brandon Burton
Thank you. Thank you, Brandon. Y'all have a great day. 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
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46:10.904 Brandon Burton
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