Below is an auto-generated transcription of my conversation with Joe Henning. Because this is auto-generated there are likely some grammatical errors but it is still a useful tool to search text within this podcast episode.
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Introduction
Brandon Burton 0:00
This is the Chamber Chat Podcast, the show dedicated to chamber professionals to spark ideas and to get actionable tips and strategies to better serve your members and community.
And now your host He is disappointed that I identify as a Buffalo Bills fan. He’s my dad, Brandon Burton.
Hello Chamber Champions. Welcome to Chamber Chat Podcast. I’m your host Brandon Burton, and it is my goal here on the podcast to introduce you to people and ideas to better help you serve your Chamber members and your community.
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Kris Johnson 0:47
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Brandon Burton 1:28
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Guest Introduction
You’re joining us for another special episode in our 2022 ACCE Chamber the Year Finalist Series, and for this episode, we have Joe Henning with us. Joe is the President and CEO of the Henry County Chamber in Georgia. Joe has served as president and CEO of Henry County Chamber since 2019. Prior to that, he served 14 years as president and CEO of the aurora Regional Chamber in Illinois. Joe is a 2009 IOM graduate. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Public Relations and a master’s degree focusing on organizational development from Northern Illinois University, as well as a certificate and not for profit management from the University of Illinois at Chicago. He’s served as chair of the Midwest Board of Regents in 2012 and 2013. In 2017. He served as chair of the National Board of Trustees for the program and continues to serve as a faculty member. He’s taught on collaboration industry forecast, strong chambers for the future and marketing membership. In 2007. The Aurora chamber received its first accreditation through the US Chamber of Commerce with a four star distinction. In 2012 and 2017. Joe led the reaccreditation efforts and successfully achieved consecutive five star distinction. In 2015, the Chamber received chamber of the Year from the Illinois Association of Chamber of Commerce executives as well as the three star chamber of valor. In 2010, he received his accredited chamber executive credentials from the ice IACC II, and served as Chair of the board of directors in 2012 and 2012, he also successfully sat for and received his certified Association Executive designation from ASAE. In 2014, he was named chamber Executive of the Year by the Illinois Association of Chamber of Commerce executives. Joe completed the basic economic development course through Southern Illinois University Edwardsville in 2008. In 2013, he completed the economic development essential course through University of Oklahoma. He served on the advisory board for ACC EAS education and talent development division, and is a graduate of the US Chamber Foundation’s business leads fellowship program inaugural session. He served on workforce development boards Illinois and Georgia and was appointed by Illinois Governor Pat Quinn to serve on the Illinois 21st century Workforce Development Fund advisory committee in 2012. He supports and serves on the boards of a number of organizations that impact equity, inclusion, mental health, among others. His background includes business development, strategic planning and organizational development. If any of this sounds familiar to you, this is because we recently had Joe on chamber tap podcast back in episode 159, where we talked about some industry trends if you want to go back in the archives and check out that episode. It was a great one. But Joe, I’m excited to have you back with me on Chamber Chat Podcast, please say hello to all the Chamber Champions. And as usual, share something interesting about yourself so you can get to know you a little better.
Joe Henning 4:51
Brandon, it’s great to be back. It seems like just a few months ago, but it’s a pleasure to come back and especially with this topic. You know, I think And the interesting thing is that I think my mother is the only one that appreciates that entire bio. So if anybody else made it through it, thank you. You had mentioned the whole strategy and organizational development. And that really is my passion. And we did a couple years ago, here at Henry, we did the Clifton Strengths. And for my top five strengths were all around strategy. So I felt validated through this, this this process for timber the year really, really hits home in that strategy and organizational development process. So it’s a great opportunity to be a part of it. Yes. And
Brandon Burton 5:41
congratulations, of course, being selected as a chamber. They are finalists, great, great honors just in that and being selected.
Joe Henning 5:48
Absolutely. When I look at those peers out there in that in that category we’re in it’s it’s, it’s a tough, it’s a tough group to be in. Absolutely.
Brandon Burton 5:57
For sure. Well, tell us a little bit about the Henry County Chamber just to give us some idea, size and scope of work and staff budget, that sort of thing before we our discussion.
About the Henry County Chamber
Joe Henning 6:08
So we’re about a $1.5 million, maybe a little bit more than that. Budgets, we are comprised of both the Chamber of Commerce and the Convention and Visitor’s Bureau for Henry County. We’re located about a half hour south of Metro Atlanta, right along 75 So anybody traveling from the north down to Florida is going through Henry County. And we have for the chamber side we’re sitting at about 800 members and we have four full time employees on the chamber side and three full time employees on the CBD side
Brandon Burton 6:43
all right. That sounds good and that helps especially as we trying to release these episodes with the the appropriate categories and so consecutively so you fall right in line with with your your your companions in that in that category. But as we go through this discussion today the chamber the year finalist series what I like to do is really focus our discussion a lot on the the two programs synopsis you guys submitted on your chamber the your application, and we’ll dive into that discussion as soon as we get back from this quick break.
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Topic-Chamber of the Year Application Programs
Alright, Joe, we’re back. So what I’d like for you to do is just at a high level, tell us what the two programs are that you guys submitted on your application. And then we’ll circle back into some more detail on each of them.
Joe Henning 10:16
Sure, thank you. Our first synopsis was on advocacy and issues. And so the first one, we successfully advocated and passed two different tax referendums one in the spring one in the fall in 2021. And then the second synopsis was continuing our dei process along and working with our hospitality partners, from from hotels and accommodations to restaurant and retail, and addressing customer service and dei components within that.
Brandon Burton 10:52
Very good. That’s alright, I think I’d like to start with that one with the
Joe Henning 10:58
doesn’t everybody wants. Nobody wants to talk about ballot measures.
Brandon Burton 11:04
You’ve got a fair point there. So if we can take all of the time talking?
Joe Henning 11:10
No, that’s fine. I think, you know, for us, you know, we’re proud of the advocacy side, but this this. So back in 2019, right after I started here, the board passed a dei and inclusivity statement. And so as we were rolling into 2020, our program of work, we were looking at how we could advance inclusivity conversations with the pandemic and and the civil strife of 2020. There was a lot happening in Henry County, there was a lot happening in Georgia, and there was a lot happening throughout the country. And so we began some community dialogues, as we were still virtual. And wherever we could meet, we’d meet virtually fast forward to 2001. And we knew that we still had to do something, either virtual or hybrid, because we were still in the in the midst of the pandemic in early 2001. But we knew we had to take it another step. And so the CVB group, with the with the partner, relations manager that we had hired just at the end of 2019, began talking with our hoteliers, and other hospitality partners. And they wanted information training on customer service. And, if possible, what we could do around the DEI conversation. And so we, we really dug deep into that really looked at the needs. And we came out with a six part series, the first one on customer service, and then the last five different segments of inclusivity.
Brandon Burton 12:50
So what caught my, my ear when you mentioned what this, this program is about is a while back, I interviewed Doug Griffiths, who’s the author of 13 ways to kill your community. Yes, I know a lot of chamber professionals are familiar with that book. But towards the end of the podcast interview, I asked him about a tip or strategy for chambers and, and he had mentioned for chambers to train the employers in their community on customer service. I thought what a difference that would make you know, as people, you know, their first interaction in your community will often be at a hotel or some tourist destination, right? So what what made you guys land on that focus with hospitality, and then tying in the diversity and equity inclusion part? There
Joe Henning 13:39
were a couple of different factors there, Brandon. Right before I started in 2019, they just completed a an audience study, a segment study on the different tourists that come through Henry County, both planned to come through I just happen to stop, as I said, we’re right on 75. A lot of times people want to get through Atlanta on their way to Florida, and they’ll stop here around Henry County. And so that that study showed some some great positive pieces, but there were also some segments of, I guess, comfort. Not necessarily I don’t want to say safety, because I don’t want it to sound, you know, so so far off. But a little discomfort on whether or not they would be accepted. Okay, in the community. And I think and I think for the most part, they’re the it’s a great issue throughout the country, you know, where you can go and feel comfortable. The second part was just were asked. So, Atlanta motor speedway is is is right here in Henry County. And so we’re fortunate the last few years that we get to NASCAR races each year so hundreds of 1000s of people are traveling through here for different reasons and stopping and so we want to make sure that But whereas as inclusive as we can possibly be. And so we also, you know, taking that into account for the customer service side, looking at some of the demographics of who, who were part of the study, as well as who make up residence of Henry County now, we looked at some of the different diversity issues and components that we could look at, and looked at the impact the economic impacts that each of those demographics has on Henry County. So that’s where we fell into this six part series.
Brandon Burton 15:36
So as you kind of go through the six part series, what does that look like? How does it roll out? How does how do you incorporate it? Well,
Joe Henning 15:45
they’re primarily available out there online, through registration, they’re free to all of our hospitality partners, if they’re in, you know, the hotels, restaurant, retail, or our attractions. And we’ve had a great deal of interest from non hospitality businesses. And so we’re trying to figure out, you know, how to scale it up, that will be our big piece for that. But the first section is culture of customer service. And it is led by one of our local coffee proprietors, coffee shop proprietors here in Henry County, and very outgoing personality, very wonderful to work with. And so I believe that’s about a 45 minute video. And then there is a 10 question test if they take it, if they’re taking it remotely. But we are also able to now offer it in person. So if, you know, the manager or owner wants to do all at once we can do a small group facilitation of the program and have conversation around that. That’s step one, the other five sections, they don’t have to be, they don’t have to follow the first one on customer service, they can flip flop depending on what they are comfortable with. But the fifth one is the five part series is very exciting. It includes looking at the target visitor audiences of African American customers, Asian customers, Latino, Hispanic customers, LGBTQ customers, and the one that’s often overlooked is those with different abilities. We’ve got some attractions that are wonderful attractions, but they might have gravel driveways, or they might not have, they might have stairs and not a ramp. And so we’re trying to help many of our attractions and even our businesses to be more accommodating to that demographic as well. So those are the those are the six segments within that series.
Brandon Burton 17:43
Yeah, that sounds great. Yeah. And then the different abilities is it, it’s a big one, there’s a family that I’m really close to, they have two sons that are they’re in their late 20s Now, but they’re both wheelchair bound, and, you know, they’re very limited on even a restaurant that they can go to, the parents have to go ahead of time and kind of scope it out and see if the wheelchairs can fit through. And it’s just, it’s a lot of effort for them to get out. And the more businesses that can be aware of that and be accommodating, really welcomes people to your community. You know,
Joe Henning 18:14
it’s a, it’s a great point, because, you know, they also have a great spending capacity. And if we’re limiting them to two restaurants, and maybe one or two attractions, that that discretionary, that’s going to that, that small pot, I mean, they’re making out well, but but we’re sitting here, you know, like I said, we’ve got, we’ve got some great agriculture tourism pieces around here. But based, you know, based on their nature, it’s very difficult for wheelchair bound individuals to navigate and even even, you know, even if you’re just on a crutch, we also have the beautiful Panola mountain trip bikes and trails and that and so, you know, the, the accessibility there is limited. And so I think the more we can raise awareness, you know, the more we can make the entire county accommodating. And, you know, it just reminds me that, you know, all of the difference, you know, areas of, of the diversity, this is the one that I might not be in today, but boy, tomorrow, I might fall into that diversity category of different abilities. And I can change overnight for any of us.
Brandon Burton 19:30
Very true. Yep. And I like the idea that you have these these courses, these trainings online. And ideally, I mean, I see a company adopting that as an onboarding process for new employees and, and get their existing employees up to speed as well. So I think that’s a great way as a chamber to be leading the way in that effort.
Joe Henning 19:52
Thank you. Thank you.
Brandon Burton 19:54
So let’s, let’s switch gears over to the really exciting topic. Right admin issues. And we say that
Joe Henning 20:04
we will now
Brandon Burton 20:06
can we both understand the importance of it right. And chambers need to take that lead. So talk to us about the the two tax reforms and how this came about and how you went about doing that.
Joe Henning 20:17
So in Georgia, it’s they’ve got they’ve got legislation that’s just over a decade old, I guess, a little bit more than that. But but it allows you to take referendum back to the county residents and increase a penny, or add a penny tax in there for special purposes. And so the county in 2019, the county successfully repast is a five year limitation. So after five years, you have to ask again, we successfully passed the I believe it was the sixth, fifth, fifth or sixth class blas special purple, special purpose local option sales tax. In addition, the school districts can also pass a request as floss and those are East floss education spots. And so that came up in March. And I believe this was their sixth, and to be used for accommodations in schools, expanding some of the schools due to the demographic growth and population growth that we’re seeing here and some additional school busing, things like that. You know, we all know it’s tough, it’s tough to pass tax referendum. You know, we, you do it, you do it, because you are looking out for your community. If you’re going to be a catalytic leader, sometimes you got to make those tough decisions. And those tough take on those tough roles, and advocate for something that may not be popular. And so we, we worked with the school districts committee to get that passed in the in the spring, it passed, I believe, the kind of two to one margin. And so we were happy with that. We’ve already begun the process of what some of those project lists were on the on the east blast side. Henry County, then fast forward to the fall, Henry County had never had a transportation SPLOST. And so they were looking to do that in the fall, we had agreements with the four municipalities in Henry County, so we can go for the full Penny, it would be a five year commitment. So we took the lead and partner collaborated with Georgia transportation Alliance and a few others to help get the word out and get that passed successfully. In the fall. It was a that was probably the most tough of the three referendum that I’ve that I’ve worked on at the chamber here. Because it was new, it was an additional party, the others were renewing of the penny. And so those were a lot of the conversations. But one of the biggest, what I when I first started here, back in 2019, one of the biggest problems that I noticed and when I asked around to business leaders and employees and just community members, you know, what is our biggest issue, it’s transportation, there’s, there’s a lot of difficulty, we’re fortunate that we have the visitors traveling through on 75 and stopping to, you know, stopping at gas stations and restaurants and hotels. And we’re fortunate that we have some great warehouse and advanced manufacturing members located here in Henry County, but that also adds to additional traffic congestion that we have. And so our, our conversation with with our voters was simply that, you know, we have to get this done, we have to fix the transportation problem, it’s not going to get better if we don’t, it’s only going to get worse with the more cars the more people that we have in the county, and the more businesses you know, it’s a win win. And, and so that we passed, I believe that might have been the two to one and I think education was three to one and passage. So we were very happy, very, very fortunate with that. And so we’ve begun looking at what those projects were listed, but now we’re looking at, you know, how we’re going to roll out the conversation around that. So yeah, that that was the excitement of 2021 For me it was getting to tax refering the past
Brandon Burton 24:29
and I can see when you’re uh, you know, a school district, for example, to be able to focus on that the education tax reform, right and push that messaging out, but as a chamber when you’re looking at, you know, three different tax reforms, you’re trying to approach and tackle and show the benefits and educate voters and, you know, encourage voters to get out and participate in the process. I mean, it’s a it’s a heavy lift to take on all three of those. Did you guys hold forums or how did you go about educating the public?
Joe Henning 24:57
We did online forums. We did some Direct Mail, we did a lot through social media, kind of rolling with, you know, people, we’re still very, very much focused on, on social media in that as we were writing it through the pandemic, and that so we really relied heavily on that. You know, you’re right bread, talking about the kids and talking about the future. And it’s kind of hard to say no to little kids face. But you know, when you’re asking everybody to add a penny to every dollar that they spend, it doesn’t sound like a lot, but it can add up. And I think part of our messaging for both, and this is this is one that we’ve we started in in 19. With the regular spouse was, we’re fortunate with the amount of visitors we have to Henry County, not just tourists, but you know, people working here in Henry County that live elsewhere, and will be stopping for gas or stopping for food on their way home. And so really, you know, we’re paying about, we estimate, somewhere around half of the collections will come from Henry County residents, the other half will come from visitors from outside of Henry County is kind of our projection. And so, you know, we’re really asking others to help us pay those bills. And so that was the communications bullet points that we kind of went with was, you know, if not, if we don’t do this, we might get stuck with, you know, Henry County residents alone being asked to pay for the burden. So all right,
Brandon Burton 26:29
and I see that, you know, where you have other people helping to pay the bill, as you said, and and having everybody have some skin in the game, rather than, you know, just an increase in property tax. But exactly, exactly. Yeah. So it could be a good good solution for absolutely needs, especially when you have the like you said, people coming in that don’t live there. And so I wanted to ask you as as the chamber, the year finalist, I kind of look to you guys to all these finalists as those that are kind of setting the benchmark for other chambers right. Now, how do you view the role of the Henry County Chamber there in your community?
Joe Henning 27:15
You don’t I think in looking at the two programs that we we submitted this year. And looking over the past three years, I would say, you know, we’re convener. We like any chamber, we know we have limited resources from staff to time to financial. And so we really want to convene those leaders that can help us get something done. And in the case of this floss, we worked together and collaborated with the government with the Board of Ed with other organizations that had messaging that they could use that we could, you know, kind of that win win win win. All around. And so what, you know, We’ve convened that group to get that done. In the case of the the diversity for hospitality sections, you know, we convene the hospitality groups together, the different entities that make that up and work with work with them in partnership to provide these services, these trainings that they’re looking for. And I think, you know, the key to both of those, you know, in any success that we’ve seen here in Henry County, it’s just really looking at that need. We can, we could have put together a program on customer service, or any number of the programs that we’ve done in the past year, but if we don’t engage the targeted audiences that we want to work with on that, we don’t know, you know, we think we think we know what they want, or what they need, but we don’t and I think that’s part of that conversation and bringing them together with us and, and finding out really what the details are of how we can support them. And so that’s kind of where I feel that we fit in the game. No, I
Brandon Burton 29:05
think that makes perfect sense. So I’d like asking the question, I know I asked you this question. Last time I had you on the show, and I’m not going to hold you to your previous answer at all, but I was gonna see if you have any tip or action item for Chamber Champions that are listening who’d like to take their chamber up to the next level, what might you offer to them?
Action Item/Tip for Chamber Champions
Joe Henning 29:29
You know, I think both ACC II under their chamber of the year page and I believe the US Chamber is coming out with their their latest announcement of accredited chambers. Under their accreditation section, they have some best practices. You know, for people looking at where to begin with policies or or budgeting or even the advocacy side of it. You can find a lot of resources there. There’s There’s a huge wealthy library at ACC as well that you can just kind of search in there for topics that you might be looking for support. I think I think the key is, realize you’re not in this alone. You know, it’s I just got back from Madison last week and was teaching up there for the Midwest site for Institute for organization management. And there was, every and I love going back every year, there’s always that aha moment where you are the only chamber executive in your community. For the most part, I there’s, there might be some communities that have to but but for the most part, we’re sitting here alone, and it can feel lonely. But realize that you’ve got a great peer network of what nearly 7000 chambers of commerce around the United States and Canada, there are plenty of people out there that you can rely on. And so admit that you don’t have to do it alone, and that you’ve got people out there that want to help you succeed. And mate might have already gone through the the difficulty that you’re trying to fix, and help in your community. So there’s resources there. You know, I think that, you know, if they reached out to you, Brandon, I think any of us that have been been available, and you’ve so graciously allowed us to share our thoughts and our work. You know, I think if people reached out to us, we’d be willing to help, too. And so I think, just realize you’re not alone in this?
Brandon Burton 31:28
Absolutely. I think that’s a great piece of advice. And there is so much you can learn from others and not have to go through those growing pains yourself. Absolutely. Absolutely. Well, as we look to the future of chambers, how do you see the future of chambers of commerce and their purpose going forward?
Future of Chambers
Joe Henning 31:45
You know, I think I think 2020 2021 taught a lot of us that there was a need for refresh. And it allowed us to make some of those changes that we thought we needed to make, you know, everybody, for the most part, everybody went virtual. And so I think that allowed time for redesigning some of the different things that we were working on. And so I think that that flexibility, that adaptability is going to be the strength for the successful chambers going forward. And to be able to make those changes as they need to as their community needs are changing. And that’s the other piece is that chamber, professionals need to be very engaged with their community, because, you know, things can change in a minute, and what the needs might be, and we’ve seen some great catalytic chambers, you know, in Bowling Green this last year in Edwardsville, Illinois this past year, where tornadoes have gone through, and they’ve stepped up, and they’ve been the leaders within their communities, to help facilitate both the employers and the residents. And so I think being responsive to the community is really where our success is going to lie.
Brandon Burton 33:19
Like that being responsive and flexible and adaptive. And I think there’s probably more changes, you know, oh, yeah, up here in the next year to the suspects. Yeah. So be ready for it, you know, be ready to be flexible. And and I would say I would urge you to be forward looking and see where those trends are going, see where those business trends are, and educate yourself on those things. So you’re not caught off guard when they can?
Joe Henning 33:48
Absolutely, you know, I think we all have resources from ACCE, and ASAE. But we all have our state or regional associations that can provide us additional training, insight and information. And, you know, I think, you know, I know sometimes some budget budgets might not allow for the national groups. If you can swing it, I definitely encourage that. But if nothing else, I, you know, I implore chamber professionals to have membership in their state associations, because that is a great deal of resourceful information that’s available to them, but it’s also a great network. Absolutely.
Brandon Burton 34:31
But Joseph, we wrap up here, I wanted to give you an opportunity to share any contact information for Chamber Champions who want to reach out and connect with you and learn more about how you guys are doing things that Henry County Chamber what would be the best way for them to reach out and connect.
Connect with Joe Henning
Joe Henning 34:45
I appreciate that, Brandon. Yeah, I think if anybody wants to connect with me or my team here to get more information on any of that or any other things we’re doing, HenryCounty.com is the website that includes all of our email information as well as our phone numbers. And otherwise, we’re also on Facebook and LinkedIn. And I don’t know, several other social media platforms that are just beyond me. But I know definitely Facebook, we respond to message direct messages there quickly. And then on LinkedIn.
Brandon Burton 35:19
That’s perfect. And I’ll I’ll put links to those in the show notes for this episode. But, Joe, this has been great having you back on Chamber Chat Podcast, I joked with you, before we got on the recording that it’s always reaffirming to me to have a past guest be selected as a finalist for chamber of the year. So
Joe Henning 35:39
it feels good to be back. It feels good to have the recognition. I think, you know, it really to me, it’s not so much the, you know, it’s not me, it’s my team. And it’s my leadership volunteers that, you know, guide us through this, with the governance in that but from, you know, you asked about the future of chambers, and I think if we’re if we’re not looking at opportunities to improve our organizations, that’s where we’re not going to see them in 10 years, there’s either going to be somebody else, they’re taking up their space, or, you know, worse.
Brandon Burton 36:10
So, yeah, absolutely. Well, Joe, this has been a fun conversation. And, again, grateful to have you back with me on the podcast here and wish you guys best of luck in this chamber the year.
Joe Henning 36:23
Thank you, Brandon. I hope to be back soon to see you again. We’ll figure out another reason for you to come back. That’s right.
Brandon Burton 36:28
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