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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.
Hello, Chamber Champions. Welcome to the Chamber Chat Podcast. I’m your host, Brandon Burton. And it’s my goal to introduce you to people and ideas to better help you serve your Chamber members and your community.
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Becki Womble 1:03
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Brandon Burton 1:44
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Our guest for this episode is Whitney Diver McEvoy. Whitney has served as president and CEO of the Yountville Chamber of Commerce in California since July 2016. Previously, Whitney served as vice president of sponsorships programs and events at the San Jose Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce. She currently serves as chair elect of the WAC II, and on the board of directors for visit Napa Valley. When he graduated from Sonoma State University with a degree in political science, she lives in Napa with her husband, Matt, and their two cats, Tiger and Chateau I think those are awesome names. But Whitney, welcome to Chamber Chat Podcast, I’m excited to have you with us today. Love to give you an opportunity to say hello to all the Chamber Champions that are out there listening and share something interesting about yourself so you can get to know you a little better.
Whitney Diver McEvoy 2:51
Well, thank you, Brandon, so much for having me today. It’s it’s an honor to be here. And I appreciate the opportunity. Something interesting about me, you know, I regularly practice yoga and meditate has been a game changer for me and managing the stress level that comes with being in a leadership role at a Chamber of Commerce. So highly recommend for those folks out there.
Brandon Burton 3:15
Everybody’s shutting down right now yoga and meditation. I would recommend that that’s great. So thank you. So before we just jumped into our conversation today, I wanted to hear a little bit about the young field chamber, just give us some idea of perspective that you’re coming from as we talk about our topic today. So we know about the size of your chamber staff budget, scope of work, that sort of thing, and then we’ll we’ll dive into it.
Whitney Diver McEvoy 3:42
Yeah, absolutely. So the local Chamber of Commerce, we’re located in the heart of the Napa Valley. Our town is about 3000 people, which includes the largest and oldest veterans home in the United States. We have about 600 veteran residents there are chambers relatively small, we have a staff of three people full time, including myself. And we serve as both traditional Chamber of Commerce and the destination marketing organization for the town of Yorkville. So both that chamber and DMO side together. Right now we have about 325 business members and we have about 125 Associate members and associate members or our residents who live here in Yountville. It’s an opportunity for them to stay engaged with the work that the Chamber does in the community. It’s pretty popular program I’m in right now we have a budget of around $800,000 for the work
Brandon Burton 4:34
that we do. Very good. And I think for a lot of chambers listening, I think your demographics kind of fit in very well with them. As far as you know, a staff of three, the chamber size budget, I think fits with probably more of the majority of chambers throughout the country. So I find it to be very relevant. And that’s helpful before we get into our discussion today which will focus our thoughts and conversation addition around volunteer management. And that can mean a lot, right? There’s a lot of different volunteers that get involved at the Chamber, from your board to ambassadors to people that just volunteer to add events and different things you have going on. So we’ll dive into all of that and more as soon as we get back from this quick break.
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Brandon Burton 8:28
All right, Whitney, we are back. As I mentioned before the break, we’re talking about volunteer management today. And I would like to just get an idea from you as far as how you approach managing volunteers, because they’re not paid staff. You know, they’re they’re not in it for all the perks of being the chamber staffer. But how do you go about managing volunteers at your chamber?
Whitney Diver McEvoy 8:54
Yeah, well, like I said, we’re a staff of three. So we rely heavily on volunteers, we run the Yampa Welcome Center. And that’s fully staffed by 34 Different volunteers, and we’re open seven days a week, we couldn’t do that without our volunteers. So we’ve gotten really good at managing them. And it’s really important for our scope of work, you know, I have a number of things that I’d like to share with the group today. But you know, one of the things that I think kind of comes to the top is treating our volunteers like adults, and making sure that we’re empowering them to have the resources they need to be successful. So that’s at the top of my list, but the I have a couple of things that I’d like to share with the group today. So first of all is kind of building meaningful relationships with your volunteers, make sure you know them and they know you be flexible and accommodating. You know not everybody can volunteer at the same way at the same for the same length of time. So really kind of meeting people where they are. Be sensitive to differences. You know, everybody’s different kind of acknowledge that. And then I think another important thing is clearly outlined the purpose of volunteering, when somebody is volunteering with you, as an ambassador, board of directors or helping you operate the Welcome Center, like Brandon said, helping out and event be really clear on what that purpose is and what their role is, you know, as you, you manage them, you want to make sure that they have clear expectations so that they can either meet those expectations or miss on those expectations. But if they don’t know what those expectations are, it’s hard for them to succeed. And then one of my favorite things is communicate early and often. So make sure that you’re, you’re emailing them, you’re speaking to them, they know what’s going on, so that you know they can succeed in their volunteer role. And then a cautionary tale, as I learned very, very early on in my chamber. Career is never meet one on one with an angry volunteer, just avoid that altogether, bring a board member and other staff member into that conversation. So that you’re not meeting with them one on one. But those are kind of my high level keys to success for good volunteer management.
Brandon Burton 11:09
Yes, those are a lot of value packed in those couple minutes. Right there. So as you were given that response, I, I was thinking as far as expectation, because as people volunteer, you had mentioned being flexible, sensitive to differences. So that does come into expectations as to what you expect from the volunteer and what they can expect to actually give as a volunteer. So can you talk to us a little bit more about how you go about managing expectations on both ends from the chamber? And from the volunteer side?
Whitney Diver McEvoy 11:42
Yeah, absolutely. So I kind of grouped this into different buckets. So in terms of kind of expectations, what’s the time commitment look like? What are their duties and responsibilities? As a volunteer? Do you have any qualifications for volunteers that are going to be working with you? And of course, that looks different for the different areas in which people volunteer, as an ambassador or board member or helping set up as an event? And what’s the purpose? How do they fit into the big picture of the work of the chamber? And what does it mean when they’re volunteering with you. And then a job description, this is super critical for your board of directors or your ambassadors, or even those that are volunteering at your welcome center, we have a full packet for our welcome center volunteers that includes job description for them. And then I think kind of the the last piece of maybe the most important piece is, is it a good cultural fit for your organization? You know, do are they a good addition? Do they shake things up? And did they respect staff and other volunteers? So I think that’s super important. I always suggest an interview process, we interview all of our volunteers that come to work with us, doesn’t matter how they’re volunteering with us, but we do an interview process with them, we’re really upfront with them, that we want to make sure that it’s a good fit for them. But also, it’s a good fit for us.
Brandon Burton 13:05
Yeah, so on the interview process, like I can see, you know, a, somebody who maybe gets turned away from a volunteer opportunity and like, wasn’t good enough to volunteer at the chamber. So how does an interview process work? Do you try to find a place for them somewhere? If they’re willing to volunteer? Or what’s your thought process going into that?
Whitney Diver McEvoy 13:27
Yeah, that can be a tricky one. That’s definitely happened with us before. And I think it goes back to those clear expectations of you know, these are the expectations we have for our volunteers. You know, this is what we’re looking for in a volunteer. And if that’s all spelled out ahead of time, and they’re able to review those expectations and those guidelines, then you really have kind of a backup for your decision making. So you can really kind of point to that information and say, you know, this probably isn’t a good fit for you or for us, and that’s okay. You know, I always say clear, is kind if you’re, you know, clear with somebody that’s kinder than being not clear, and then not knowing where you stand. So I think if you’re coming from, you know, an open heart and being, you know, clear with them, you know, hopefully they’ll understand where you’re coming from.
Brandon Burton 14:17
Right. So I was kind of blown away when he said you have 34 volunteers that you’re welcome center that’s open full time. How do you go about attracting or recruiting volunteers, especially in a, an atmosphere like that at a welcome center?
Whitney Diver McEvoy 14:33
Yeah, that’s a really good question. And we’ve been very fortunate to kind of tap into some folks that are very well connected in the community. But I think when you’re starting out from zero, I’ll kind of touch on that, you know, as a place to start, you know, kind of look towards those different groups within your community. You know, quanis club, foundations or associations or even leadership programs that you can tap into folks. And then of course, looking at your general membership for volunteers, we’re very fortunate that we have a lot of retired folks here in town that are looking for volunteer opportunities. And so we’re able to tap into, you know, that group of people. But I think it really starts with kind of looking at those different groups that exist within your community, and then find somebody that can be a champion for you. In terms of your volunteer program, we have several champions within our volunteer corps at the Welcome Center, that are really our key recruiters for recruiting new volunteers. They know what we’re looking for, they understand the roles and responsibilities, so they’re able to almost vet folks before they even come to us to volunteer and, and that’s been a really, really successful strategy for us.
Brandon Burton 15:48
So in what areas besides the Welcome Center, are you utilizing volunteers.
Whitney Diver McEvoy 15:55
So we have a really strong ambassador program. And that’s been really successful for us. We also have what we call our associate member committee. And so again, that’s that associate number membership for the unfilled residents. So those volunteers are kind of like ambassadors, they welcome our new associate members to the chamber, they also help us set up that events, check people in in events, stuff like that. And then those are kind of the key pieces that we have. And then of course, our board of directors as well.
Brandon Burton 16:29
So and I think that’s really smart, having associated members, because that’s kind of a built in pool as you’re with your membership that you can go to for volunteers and, and they’re hopefully catching a better idea of the mission and vision of your chamber, to kind of get behind that and be that champion that you’re talking about.
Whitney Diver McEvoy 16:48
Absolutely. The Associate Member program. When I started here, seven years ago, we had I think, I don’t even know, like 10 people that were a part of that program. And we’ve grown it slowly over the years on purpose, because we want to make sure that, you know, we could handle that growth. And you know, we’re a business organization, but we also are, you know, a community benefit organization as well. But you’re exactly right, Brandon, they have been huge champions for us, we use them for, you know, coming before Town Council and advocating for us, we tap into them regarding public policy issues. It’s a it’s a huge resource for us. And I’m happy to share if anybody wants to get a hold of me more details about that program.
Brandon Burton 17:28
Yeah, I’m sure you’ll have people reach out and want to know more about that. So as far as managing volunteers, it’s one thing to manage staff where you can give, you know, honest feedback, there’s no salary, there’s rewards compensation. You know, as you work with volunteers, how do you go about expressing gratitude appreciation? Job well done? Or at times needing to, you know, redirect course?
Whitney Diver McEvoy 17:57
Yeah, that’s, that’s a great question. So we do a couple of ways, a couple of things to thank our volunteers, we do our annual holiday party, which anyone that volunteers chamber is included in that. And we actually do it in January now. So we have something to look forward to after the holidays. And that’s been a really big hit moving into January, we still dress up in holiday attire, but it’s just, it’s more fun in January, something to look forward to. So we have that. And then in the summer, we do another volunteer appreciation lunch. That is also we kind of bookend, you know, the year with those two things. And then we also have kind of a yearly survey that we send out to our volunteers for them to give us feedback, and then kind of based on those responses, you know, we’ll, you know, chat with our volunteers, if there’s anything that comes up, but you know, I’m a really big believer in kind of managing in the moment in terms of if there’s a teachable moment or something that like that, that needs to occur, you know, address that stuff right away, and don’t kind of leave that to, you know, an annual review or something like that with your volunteers. And, you know, I think it comes back to treating them like adults and kind of making sure that they have the information that they need to succeed. And then one other thing is that, you know, we see our volunteers all the time, but we do a monthly volunteer meeting. So we’re able to kind of celebrate them and express those, celebrate those wins with them on a monthly basis or address any type of concerns that we have at that meeting as well.
Brandon Burton 19:27
All right. So the thought hit me Are you using volunteers to put on your volunteer appreciation lunch. Just at that, it’s great.
Whitney Diver McEvoy 19:38
I love it. No, we stopped takes care of that one all by ourselves.
Brandon Burton 19:45
So you had mentioned a good key point, early on as you went through some of these points, managing volunteers and that was to never meet one on one with an upset volunteer. So I think that goes along with that kind of course correction being provide some of that feedback that, can you talk to us a little bit more about having that buffer or having another witness there with the conversation to kind of navigate some of those harder conversations?
Whitney Diver McEvoy 20:10
Yeah, I got two good stories for you on that. So my predecessor who was wonderful retired, you know, before I took this position, and she met one on one with an angry volunteer and had to fire this volunteer, and it made the front page of our newspaper, the next few days later, big headline, chamber fires volunteer, and it was all this volunteer story. And, you know, it was her word against, you know, my predecessors word, and it wasn’t good. So cautionary tale, you know, and I, I heard that firsthand from my predecessor on that. So that was always kind of in the back of my mind. And then I had a, you know, when I first started, there was a big cultural shift between the chamber before and what we are today. And I had a couple of volunteers who thought I should be at my desk all the time, and didn’t like that I wasn’t answering the phone every time it rang, because I was at a meeting, etc. So I brought in my board chair, and we had to sit down with a number of folks and kind of explain to them, you know, the business world has changed since you were in it. And, you know, we, you know, business looks different now. But that was a heated conversation. And, you know, I was thankful that my board chair was with me for that conversation. And it allowed us, I think, to get to a better resolution, because that third party was there to kind of neutralize the space. So, you know, sometimes it’s not necessarily about, you know, anything more than just kind of, you know, calming down the situation. So, you know, that’s my, those are my two examples on that, and my horror stories.
Brandon Burton 21:45
Yeah. And I think they provide great reasons as to why to have that that other person or that buffer, mediator, if you will, to kind of work through that. So I appreciate you being willing to share those as well. You had mentioned about building meaningful relationships. So I can see for sure somebody is in the in the trenches and volunteering, it’s easy to have a focus and a desire to build those meaningful relationships. Are you doing some of that before somebody formally, you know, becomes a volunteer to try to help with the recruiting, recruiting and onboarding?
Whitney Diver McEvoy 22:24
Yeah, definitely, sometimes, absolutely. So, you know, if somebody has come to our different events and programs, you know, maybe over the last year, we’ve gotten to know them a little bit. And so we know if there’ll be a good fit. And, you know, we’ll recruit them into volunteering. You know, that’s certainly the case. And I was thinking more of existing volunteers, you know, just, you know, knowing their spouse’s name, you know, did they go on a trip recently, you know, making sure that you have some sort of small connection with them, and they have a small connection with you, right, like, that’s really important, you know, so that they can, you know, be a champion for you and the work that you’re doing, you know, building that kind of mutual respect or mutual trust between, you know, individuals, I think, is really important for folks to understand kind of the work that we do and how they fit into it.
Brandon Burton 23:13
Yeah, I would say that goes a long way, just having that that little bit of a connection, just so the volunteer feels like you get me you understand that you care about me. And that goes a long ways into building that relationship and having them again, be a champion for your organization, and you personally,
Whitney Diver McEvoy 23:31
so, absolutely.
Brandon Burton 23:33
So I always like asking people that I have on the show, for a listener is out there, what tip or action item that you have, I mean, you’ve offered a lot, but for that organizations trying to maybe step up to the next level, what would you suggest for them?
Whitney Diver McEvoy 23:50
I think in terms of volunteer recruitment, I think my number one tip would be to have clear expectations, and kind of what you’re looking for in a volunteer. And that can be different for a board member and Ambassador, welcome center, event, volunteer, whatnot, but have that written down. I think that’s really important so that you can reference that. But also, you can reference that with your volunteer. And I think the second biggest tip is have volunteer job descriptions. And all of this stuff, you know, we have available in the WAC library too. So you can, you know, check that out as well. But I think those would be my top two tips for anybody that’s looking to take their volunteer programs to the next level,
Brandon Burton 24:34
like that. And hopefully everybody took a quick note of that says they can do and dive in deeper thinking about how to involve volunteers have those clear expectations and job descriptions for the volunteers? It’s awesome. So Whitney, as we look to the future of chambers of commerce, how do you see the future of chambers and their purpose going forward?
Whitney Diver McEvoy 24:57
Yeah, thank you for this question. I I think it’s really important. And, you know, I think I kind of lean into kind of this this wise adage that has been going around the industry for a little bit of time here. And, and that’s, you know, chambers are really at the intersection of helping businesses succeed and our communities thrive. And if you know, we’re doing the programmatic work of leading on issues that are critical in our community, there will always be a place for Chambers of Commerce. So for example, you know, if homelessness is a large issue in your community, how is your chamber at the table helping to solve this? You know, is tourism, your largest economic driver in your community? How is your chamber supporting your tourist facing businesses? So how is your chamber you know, really helping to promote responsible tourism, that that’s something that’s in your community. So really find what is important in your town, your city, and get yourself a seat at the table, or better get, convene the leaders around the issues and champion a solution for those issues. And I think if we’re doing that there’s always a place for a Chamber of Commerce in our communities.
Brandon Burton 26:07
I love that I love the idea of champion, championing the solution in your community. That’s a huge one right there. Well, I feel like volunteer management is extremely important, especially as a smaller size chamber three staff that you guys have there, it definitely allows you to punch well above your weight belt or your your weight class, I guess, by being able to have that. You know that that crew out there, who’s out there championing your chamber, your mission, your vision, and you’ve shared some incredible tips today. So hopefully, everybody’s taking good notes, or go back and rewind and listen again, and take those notes down. But, Whitney, is there any anything that we missed as far as volunteer management that you want to touch on before we let you go?
Whitney Diver McEvoy 26:58
I don’t think so. I think that’s I think there was a lot in there. So that was, I won’t overload you guys.
Brandon Burton 27:07
No, that’s great. If a listener wanted to reach out and connect with you to learn more about how you’re managing volunteers, they don’t feel chamber what would be the best way for them to reach out and connect with you?
Whitney Diver McEvoy 27:18
Yeah, you can find us on our website at yountvillechamber.com. Or you can reach out directly to me at whitney@yountville.com. And that’s Y-o-u-n-t-v-i-l-l-e. And my phone number and stuff is on the website, too. And that’s 707-944-8008.
Brandon Burton 27:38
Very good. And I will get those in their show notes for today to says people go back and re listen to those key points he hit on they can go back and jot down or look up in the show notes, your contact information. But when he this is great, you you touched on some very key information and an ability for chambers listening to really, really elevate to the next level by utilizing volunteers at the next level. So thank you for sharing this with us and for being with us today on Chamber Chat Podcast.
Whitney Diver McEvoy 28:09
Yeah, Brandon, thank you so much for having me. It’s been truly a pleasure. I really appreciate it.
Brandon Burton 28:14
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