COY Finalist Series 2019-Grapevine Chamber of Commerce with RaDonna Hessel

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

Episode 25 — Grapevine Chamber 2019 Chamber of the Year Finalist with RaDonna Hessel
Clean Speaker-Labeled Transcript
Guest: RaDonna Hessel
Automated QA: Passed

00:00.192 Brandon Burton
This is a special edition of Chamber Chat Podcast as I begin a series of interviewing the finalist for Chamber of the Year for 2019. I hope you enjoyed this series, but first, the intro. 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.
00:30.36 Brandon Burton
Thank you for joining us today for our second interview in our series of the 2019 ACCE Chamber of the Year finalists. This is episode 25 of Chamber Chat Podcast, and I'm Brandon Burton. It is my goal to introduce you to people and ideas so you can better serve your chamber members and your community. If you're new to Chamber Chat Podcasts, please visit Chamberchat Podcast.com/slash start to learn more about. What you can expect from the show, and you can also receive some valuable tips for some non-dues revenue ideas to use at your chamber. Again, that's chambertechpodcast.com/slash start. And before we jump into the show today, let's quick take a quick moment to learn about our sponsor for this episode. Chambers are not considered for chamber of the year without having great programs and steady streams of non-duce revenue. I want to introduce you to a great affinity program from Swipe It. In partnership with Chamber Chat Podcast, Swipeit is one of the best credit card processors in the business. With the Swipe It Affinity program, you can save up to 40% on your credit card processing fees at the Chamber and help your member partners to do the same. Chambers who take advantage of the Swipe It Affinity program can add thousands of dollars to their non-dues revenue annually. Please visit Chamberchatpodcast.com slash CC for more information and to request your complimentary cost savings analysis from the experts at Swipeit. The first twenty chambers to respond will qualify for free equipment to get set up. Again, visit chamberchatpodcast.com slash cc to start swiping with swipe it. Alright, our guest today Is RaDonna Hessel from the Grapevine Chamber of Commerce in Texas? Radonna serves as the CEO of the Grapevine Chamber of Commerce, a position held since June of 2008. She's served in five different communities around the state of Texas since 1990. Radonna completed the Institute for Organizational Management at SMU and the Oklahoma University.
02:47.18 Brandon Burton
Graduating in 1997 and received her CCE designation in 2013. The Grapevine Chamber received the designation as a five-star accredited chamber by the U.S. Chamber in 2015. Professionally, Radonna is currently serving on the executive board for the Texas Chamber of Commerce Executives Association and was the 2017 chairman of the oldest state. Chamber organization in the United States. Radonna was selected to the board of the Association of Chamber of Commerce Executives in 2015, where she continues to serve. She was the 2008 president of the North Texas Chamber of Commerce Executive Association. She currently serves on the board of the Texas Association of Business as the Vice Chair of Governance. She also serves on the interview committee and the search committee for the Texas Association of Business CEO search in 2017. Radonna serves on the Grapevine Colyville ISD Education Foundation and on the board of the Northeast Leadership Forum. In 2018, she completed the Leadership North Texas program. Rodonna also finds time to serve her community, including. as president of the Grapevine Rotary Club in 2011 through 2012, and she was the 2005-2006 centennial president for Grand Prairie Rotary Club and was a leader in the construction of the Grand Prairie Veterans Memorial. Radonna has been recognized for her professional career as well as community service by receiving the following: 2018 Marvin Hurley Award from the Texas Chamber of Commerce Executives. 2018 Rotary Pro from the Grapevine Rotary Club. In 2013 and 2010, Distinguished Service Award from the Texas Chamber of Commerce Executives. 2012-13 Grapevine Rotarian of the Year. 2003, Athena Award or Woman of the Year in Grand Prairie, Texas. In 2001, Citizen of the Year in Grand Prairie, Texas. Radonna, please say hello to the audience.
05:08.634 Brandon Burton
And share something interesting about yourself that we might not have learned about you in this bio.
05:14.622 RaDonna Hessel
hello, and I'm appreciate the opportunity to speak with you today. And I did learn that I need to shorten my bio as I listened to that. but I have been in the business for this is my 29th year, getting ready to go on my 30th year. started in the chamber business as a part-time tourism director, part-time receptionist, and have worked my way way up into now of serving as a CEO. So I've done every part of the chamber world. I tell people I grew up in the chamber business and I love it.
05:54.05 Brandon Burton
That's fantastic. Can you share with us a little bit about the size of the grapevine chamber? So those who who are listening can relate to you and your chamber a little bit better.
06:04.846 RaDonna Hessel
Sure. I've now been here 11 years. And when I started, we were at 750 members. we are now at 1100, just a little bit over 1,100 businesses that are part of our chamber. And we have about 4,500 members, which is our individual count. so when we do a mailing, we started with four employees then, we are now at seven. and we are For people that don't know, Grapevine is in the heart of Dallas Fort Worth. And we actually have all of the terminals of Dallas Fort Worth International Airport. So if you've ever landed at DFW Airport, you have actually landed in Grapevine.
06:49.9 Brandon Burton
That's right. And that takes in a huge area at D F W Airport.
06:55.618 RaDonna Hessel
Definitely. Takes a takes a large part of our our community.
06:59.574 Brandon Burton
That's right. So I have to say I am a little bit partial as we're doing this this interview series of Chamber of the Year finalists. I was excited to see that you guys were on there since since we've known each other for several years as I do the work with community matters and and work with some of the publishing with you guys. But can you just share with us a little bit about what is making Grapevine, the Grapevine Chamber, stand out to be considered as a Chamber of the Year finalist?
07:28.77 RaDonna Hessel
I think I I give a lot of credit to our board of directors and kind of how we've operated in the last maybe eight years and becoming very focused on their goals. We several years ago, the chamber board decided we wanted to be the best. and what did that mean and how do we get there? And so we have we have changed the format of how we operate. We've focused on different programs, projects to make our chamber better. We continually try to learn from other chambers. We do what we call best practice visits and we go visit other chambers to learn what they do well. And then we try to implement things that they're doing. For Chamber of the Year, you you look at, you know, they asked us for two examples of projects or things that are related to what our our chamber is doing. And I think the two projects that we used were one creating an AHP co-op, Associated Health Plan Co-op for not just grapevine, but for our entire region. And the other is a capital campaign to expand our chamber facilities to be able to offer the our businesses and our community a meeting space. And all of that was done with. very definite focus by our board of directors and staff on goals that we had for making our organization better for our businesses. And I think our businesses appreciate that.
09:05.719 Brandon Burton
So I know your board is very involved and and they're great. and I and I know these programs come about because of them and support that you get from them. Can you dive in a little bit deeper maybe on the the capital campaign and the the new building you guys did and kind of how that came to be and and the role that your board played in that?
09:27.15 RaDonna Hessel
Sure. We we have a we have a great facility. I I inherited it, a wonderful facility from you know those that came before me. but our meeting space was just our boardroom. And as our chamber has grown, our committees have grown. And so it's it we did a survey a couple of years ago, and the one of the questions, just general questions, was, you know, when how many times do you visit the chamber? And most people said, you know, maybe once a year. And the board was a little bothered by that and really started to research why that is and found that basically all of our committees have outgrown our building. So we have a senior services alliance, which is a a a committee of businesses who do products and services for senior adults. they can't meet here anymore because there's too many of them, which is a which is a wonderful. It is a great problem. We have a young professionals group. We call them ant advancing modern professionals for tomorrow, 20, you know, 21 to 39 year olds, and they can no longer meet here. and in fact we struggle with finding they want they want to have a noon meeting. And when they first started they could meet in our building and you know we could cater in lunch, but now they're having to go find locations and you know more and more restaurants are not, you know, adding meeting rooms to where people can you know meet and talk and have a speaker. And so we've and we have you know, several hotels around us and and they're very wonderful to us, but you know, better paying customers tend to get those rooms before we do. and then plus you just you don't have to pay for the room and the coffee and the, you know, and the meal. And so what our our board realized is that we just had had outgrown our facility. And you know, to be able to to make the opportunities better for our members, we really needed to focus on that. We own our property. well, actually now we own our property. Several years ago, we we had owned our building, we had leased our land. So about what the one of the first things we did when when we kind of started this conversation is we actually purchased our land. So we had an acre. We have some property. I always call it my backyard because it's out my back door. and so we're actually in the process, construction is happening now, so it's really exciting.
11:51.114 RaDonna Hessel
on our new building. So we we will maintain the 3,000 square foot building that we have and it will become our boardroom room will be turned into two more offices and a executive boardroom. And then we're building a separate building on this back in my backyard, which will be a 4,000 square foot meeting space. It will just be a meeting space. So it will have a large meeting room, about 2300 square feet of meeting space. a a catering kitchen, a serving kitchen, two, you know, two restrooms and a and s a storage room. And one of the things going back to the board and having them understand where we were going, we've been planning this and working on this for several years in to the point of putting people on the board or in position on the board to work towards this. So as an example, my chairman of the board this year Is Steve Brown, who's the owner of Esparza's, which is a wonderful Mexican restaurant. That's his plug. in downtown Grapevine. But he's a perfect person to have because his company does catering. And so we've been able to use his, you know, knowledge and information on, you know, what does that kitchen need to look like? we my immediate past chair, who's the chairman of this project. she's in real estate. My incoming chair is also in commercial real estate. so my immediate past chair prior is one of our is the general manager of Great Vine Mills Mall. You know, so we've had people in position. We have a couple of hoteliers that are on the board. So we have people in positions that have we've we've moved them into those positions. to help us specifically with this project at this time of of our chamber life. And I think that was through, you know, great planning, great focus, and just really understanding that to do it well and to do it right, we needed to have the right people in the right place at the right time.
13:58.382 Brandon Burton
So how do you go about working with your board to to have them work effectively like that? Sounds like you have people on the right responsibilities with the board, but how do you go about building those relationships, making sure they're strong and making sure people are engaged that are on the board?
14:16.428 RaDonna Hessel
We have a fascinating process. I'd love to take total responsibility for this happening, but it it really happened organically. Several years ago, we did a a wonderful board retreat with Bob Harris. We came out with, you know, that great direction of of you know board governance and where our board needed to go, but but we ended up with that that plan that no one really knew how to make it work. And so we ended up doing a second board retreat about two months later. And our our board talked about how do we move this document forward? How do we make it something that's not sitting on a shelf? How do we make it something that's you know relevant and continues to grow and doesn't you know stagnate? And what they came up with is is using a corporate concept. So in in in corporate world, you have in in a lot of organizations they have kind of three areas of focus. They have leadership, they have customers and they have profit. You know, if the customers are happy, you have good profit. You have good profit, your leaders are happy, you know, and kind of how that works. So we looked at how does that relate to chamber? Well we have a leadership, but instead customers, we have businesses who are members and we have partners, which are the city, the school district, economic development, etc. And then instead of profit, because you know, as a non-profit, you know, people kind of look funny at profit, but we look at it as having good stewardship and prosperity for not only our organizations but our businesses. So those became our three focuses. And what our board did is they basically divided themselves into what we call the three buckets of leadership, business partnerships, and stewardship and prosperity. And then those three groups of board members. looked at what that strategic plan was and found goals. So they had each of those groups have their own goals to accomplish. And they for our leadership team, one of the you know goals was to purchase you know, several years ago was to purchase the land. It took some time. There's a long story there. you know, for our stewardship and prosperity, it was making sure that we got our finances in order, making sure that we had
16:37.76 RaDonna Hessel
you know additional funding in the bank for you know that future whatever. and so each each group kind of came up with their own goals. The other thing that was interesting is that they threw out what I would call the old school agenda. We no longer have a normal agenda for our board. Our goals are our agenda. So each month at each board meeting each of those goal teams report on what they've done to accomplish their goals. And so when the building became a project at for one of the goal teams, that's what they work on, not just in the board meeting for that hour of our board meeting, but they are working on it outside of that time. And it no goal team wants to be the team that hasn't done anything, that has no report. So they they hold each other accountable for what what they're doing and You can really tell when one group has a great report one month and the other group is going, we didn't really do anything. You know, they don't they don't like that. None of them. And and I have, you know, I have CEOs and business owners and you know, city manager and school superintendent. They all are focused, they're driven, and they're competitive. And through that, they have they have held themselves accountable. for what those goals are. And and each year when when you know a lot of people do another board retreat to kind of start all over, we are basically having a retreat to say what goals have we accomplished, what goals do we need to add, and how are we going to make those happen? And board members take ownership roles of each of the goals and each sections of each of the goals and they make it happen. And it's it it's invigorating. I've had board members who have told me that, you know, this is one of the first boards they've ever been on that's not a yes board. You know, we don't really have have that kind of conversation. this is more about what you've done and and they they enjoy the opportunity to make things happen.
18:44.48 Brandon Burton
I love that. I love that it's not a yes board. They they all have accountability. They're all coming and wanting to be prepared to be able to answer to whatever they're responsible for.
18:54.796 RaDonna Hessel
Well, and you know, I'll I'll add to that. one of the things on you know, on on boards that probably you and I've served on, you know, you you might have an attendance policy, but nobody really sticks to it. I will tell you, this board does. If you miss three meetings in a row, you're off. they all are well, I would say other than, you know, if it's a health issue or something like that, but but this board is very driven and they're all leaders and they don't take excuses from others. and so if if you can't dedicate the time, they they will, you know, thank you for your service and they move on. So it's it's fascinating to watch, you know, that process. And it's it's for for my role, you know, I've been in several other chambers, you know, we've done it several other ways, but for me it's kind of amazing because I'm not the bad guy. you know, sometimes when you have issues, you know, the CEO or president becomes kind of the one that has to, you know, really push and prod and whatever. I don't have to do that. This board does it to themselves and for themselves. And and because of that, they've they've accomplished, you know, just so many awesome things.
20:09.368 Brandon Burton
Fantastic. Let's let's dive in a little bit about the association healthcare plan since that's kind of the other part of with the application on the the chamber of the year. how did that come to be and just just tell us more about that.
20:26.252 RaDonna Hessel
Well, it it's that's a that's a frustrating one at the moment. I think we we've done the right thing.
20:33.186 Brandon Burton
Whenever healthcare's involved, it's always frustrating.
20:36.154 RaDonna Hessel
It And and the federal government, that you know, those two little pieces are are bound and determined to to make your life a little crazy. we one of the areas that our board you know really does focus on, especially with our business partnership team, is looking at what can we do to help our businesses. And and as everyone knows, healthcare is a a challenge for for large corporations as well as our small businesses, but especially for our small businesses. And we we have an issue with in our community of of finding employees. I mean, if if you want a job, come to Grapevine because it is here. But you know, for a lot of our businesses, healthcare, you know, having those benefits is is a struggle. And so we had started hearing about, you know, the president had signed the executive order to allow AHPs to be done on a geographical basis. And Lubbock Chamber had taken that on immediately. They had had a health plan and They they worked with United Healthcare to create a a regional you know AHP in the panhandle or he I I'd get fussed at for that in West Texas. sorry, Eddie. and then but one of the areas on on that one is that you know it's it's straight through with the Lubbock Chamber, which is great for that region. I was a little concerned if that you know, if we had a regional AHP in this area, that one chamber might control it. So one of my members who is in the insurance industry contacted me. I asked the board if we if they were interested in working on it and they wholeheartedly said yes, see what it would take. So we worked with United Healthcare and we offered to not do it as a grapevine activity but rather tr a true regional co-op with the idea that we would invite all chambers in our region to participate now what i didn't understand at the time is longview had started something similar and lubbick had theirs there were basically 28 counties between those two so when i was talking region i was thinking four counties yeah when when all it all was said and done it became 28 counties
22:59.522 RaDonna Hessel
and in the 28 counties of North Texas, I have learned there are 128 chambers of commerce that I know of. There could be others, but 128. So the other thing, United Healthcare was wanting to get this done basically in about six to eight weeks because they wanted to get it started by the open enrollment. so that gave us less than seven days to create the co-op. a co-op has to be in existence for 30 days before you can, you know, start using it, which basically gave us so we called our goal team together for the board. they voted to proceed forward and to commit the funds. that was taken to our board basically in a 24-hour vote because we were committing about $10,000 was our estimate of making this all happen. because you have to have an attorney, you have to create the co-op. then we had to negotiate with United Healthcare, which meant more lawyers involved, to create the actual plan. then we had to contact all of the 128 chambers to ask them to consider becoming a part of the co-op, which was you know, just a fast turnaround and getting them involved. But we were able to do it. we started our health plan co-op with, I think there's 31 chambers of commerce who have signed on. And we we were able to start selling it. The the the negative, thanks to the federal government, is that there was a lawsuit by 12 states opposed to the president's executive order, and a federal judge ruled in their favor on two points. Of that lawsuit. And so now we are in a a little bit of a court battle. the US chamber thankfully has filed an appeal to that ruling. And so unfortunately, we are basically on hold. Any business who had gotten a quote or had gotten insurance prior to that are continuing, are a part of our AHP, but they are no longer able to provide any quotes to businesses until the lawsuit.
25:23.872 RaDonna Hessel
is settled. So they they have asked for an expedited ruling to try to move it forward on the appeal. I have talked to more congressmen and senators than I ever thought I would. I know more about insurance than I ever thought I would, but we are holding strong. We know this is the right thing for our businesses. Those businesses that are were able to you know get the insurance are over 2,000 people covered in just the you know, the few short weeks that we were able to operate. And we know that there are several more out there that want it and need it. And it is a benefit. So so we are continuing to work on the issue. Thankfully our board of directors appreciates the effort. And I and I do want to say on on the board's behalf and and just on as membership as a whole, one of my board members had early on, you know, almost immediately received a quote. And and it wasn't good for him. I mean, it's one of those things where probably 50% of the businesses will benefit, 50% won't. He happened to be in that 50% that didn't. But his comment to me was, I still feel it was the right thing to do for us to do this. He said it didn't benefit me, but it will benefit others. And he said, I so appreciate the chamber making the effort for small business. And I think that's all we can do. I think if we tell our members, you know, and and listen to them. and try to help them, then they appreciate. That's the ROI. For that, for that company, it it didn't work for him. It it wasn't better than what he had. But for others it is. And he appreciated the effort that that not only staff made, but the board made and the commitment that the chamber made to to try to make it work. So I I think that, you know, sometimes we get a little frustrated with people, you know, with the what's in it for me. But sometimes we have to realize You know, what's in it for them is is what we try to do. Num not always what we succeed at, but what we try to do.
27:23.53 Brandon Burton
Yeah. So I'm familiar with with Eddie McBride and what how they kinda implemented their healthcare plan out in in Lubbock. We had him on the show early on. But I'm curious, what made you want to bite off such a a big task like this with being in a a very dense metro area and looking at a a regional plan like this?
27:49.582 RaDonna Hessel
stupidity? I d I don't know. No. my concern
27:55.019 Brandon Burton
I know there's wisdom in there somewhere.
27:57.822 RaDonna Hessel
Somewhere. And I tell myself that daily. Somewhere there's there's there was a smart thing to do somewhere. no. You know, when I talked to United Healthcare, my thing was what I said to the gentleman I was speaking with, I said, you know, I it's just important to me that all chambers are able to participate. And he said, Well, you know, we're working with five other chambers in the region there in front of you. And I said, I appreciate that. and I don't, you know, I I'm Believe it or not, I'm not one of those people that have to lead it. I just want to make sure when it happens, it happens with the ability for everyone to be able to participate. And that was important to me. And I said, you know, I'm happy to work with whoever you set it up with, you know, but but please try to make that, you know, a piece of it, that that all chambers have the ability to to be a part and and to, you know, play in the sandbox together. And it was kind of funny because he called me back about I don't know, a few days later and said, Were you serious about that? that all chambers should participate. And I Yeah, you know, I I've been in the business too long. I I kind of feel like the mama chamber exec. You know, I want I want everybody to be to be able to benefit. And he said, well I'll tell you what, if you are serious about that, we've decided we're going to work with you and we're going to tell the other chambers that they need to work with you. So I don't know what the I I don't know who all the other chambers were. I don't know what the what their plans were. but for me it was really important that every chamber be able to participate e equally. I wanted, you know, my business to be able to join my chamber and, you know, a a chamber in Cedar Hill or Duncanville to be able to join their chamber and to be able to participate if their chamber chose to. And so so it was kind of me and my big mouth, I guess. Just just stating my my concern and the fact that I wanted all chambers to be able to participate and and I guess they they liked that. And it it wasn't it was kind of something I I didn't necessarily plan to do, but it was important to me that everybody be able to, you know, have the opportunity to to benefit their businesses. So
30:08.374 Brandon Burton
That's good. I know in Lubbock it it's a obviously they're out there by themselves and they've got a huge pool of several counties around them that don't have any other resource to go to. And it's it's created a great for lack of a better term, a stickiness factor, you know, as a business joins a chamber to be able to retain them as a member to to have that health care plan. And I guess there's still some of that stickiness factor. Even though it is opened up for all these a hundred and twenty-eight chambers that that could participate, it's just more locally instead of pulling in from counties all over the place to grapevine. It's gonna be almost city by city, if I understand that right. Which I mean, the the intent there of being able to get people taken care of, you know, with more affordable health care. That's the the end goal. So if we can get everybody on that or or have them have the opportunity.
30:53.462 RaDonna Hessel
Exactly. That's exactly
31:07.854 Brandon Burton
And I think the mission is accomplished. So best of luck to Yeah.
31:11.128 RaDonna Hessel
Hundred percent. You're right there. Hundred percent. You know, the opportunity is for for everyone to to benefit. whether that be the business or or the chamber, you know, it's it's not like we're gonna make millions of dollars. In fact right now we're still in the hole on this.
31:29.102 Brandon Burton
That's right.
31:31.962 RaDonna Hessel
But but you know, it it's the idea that, you know, for the business they they get, you know, hopefully a a better health plan at less cost. And for the chamber that that business is a member of that chamber and and maintains that membership to be able to maintain their insurance. So it's it's a great opportunity. I think it it ultimately will work well. I I think it's all going to work out and we're gonna stick with it. But I I you know, I think that just overall art for Great Vine, I have a great board who sees the vision of what we can be and they're willing to roll up their sleeves, invest the funds, invest the staff time, and invest their own time into making you know, our community better, our chamber better, our region better, and our state better.
32:23.854 Brandon Burton
That's great. So we're done. I know we need to start wrapping this up here, but I I wanted to ask you, based on what we've talked about today, and I guess and considering the what's gone into becoming a a finalist for Chamber of the Year, what advice would you have for chambers that are listening to help level up their chamber to the the next level?
32:48.47 RaDonna Hessel
I think it's I you know over all these years, I think it's a matter of listening to what the businesses want. listening to what they don't want. we tend to do things because they've always been done that way. and sometimes we take have to take that leadership role and and kind of steering the ship rent in a different course. or strengthen if if we're going to continue what we've always done, let's take that and make it better. I I think that you know, everything has its time and its place. And I think it's important for chambers to not just look at what we're doing, you know, today and what we did yesterday, but look at what we want to be doing 10 years from now. You know, if you have something that you're doing and you know, people are bound and determined to keep doing it, then okay, let's make it better. or you might be amazed to find that they're they're willing to let it go and to move on to something different. I think, you know, I think chambers, I'm not one of those that believes chambers will go away. I think the handshake still means a lot and I think we provide that opportunity. I just think sometimes we have to make sure that we are meeting the needs of of who we have now and planning to meet the needs of who we have in the future.
34:00.27 Brandon Burton
That's great. So I have a question that I ask everybody that I I have as a guest on the show. as we look to the future, how do you view the future of chambers of commerce and their purpose?
34:13.676 RaDonna Hessel
I think their purpose will continue to be to make communities better. I think the future is in our young people, getting our young people involved. I talked about our aunt, making sure that, you know, they're aware of what the opportunities are. I you know, everybody will say, there's so much technology, but I already see a swing happening. You know, people's inboxes are full, their text messages are full, and and everybody's inundated and the And people are going back to looking to how to make that one on one connection. And I think we need to stay focused on meeting the needs through social media, through technology, but you know, also remembering that, you know, the handshake is still extremely valuable. And if we can provide those opportunities, we will continue to be extremely relevant in the future.
35:05.26 Brandon Burton
Yeah, we can't let these young professionals lose what a face to face handshake, you know, personal contact is all about.
35:12.302 RaDonna Hessel
You know, I'm I will say I'm finding with our young professionals, we we they have their own goal teams within the young professional group. They want to do a monthly luncheon with speakers, they want to have social networking, and their other third goal team is on philanthropic efforts, which is getting their hands dirty. Yeah. So even though we talk about the young professionals and technology, when our young professionals are choosing what to do. They're doing what chambers have done for many, many years.
35:46.072 Brandon Burton
That's perfect. And hopefully they're just leveraging the technology to to be better than than what things were in the past.
35:53.387 RaDonna Hessel
Exactly. Exactly.
35:55.618 Brandon Burton
Very good. Well, Radonna, I want to thank you so much for taking some time to be with us today on Chamber Chat Podcast. And of course I want to thank everybody for being here and listening and and tuning in. The show notes for this episode can be found at Chamberchatpodcast.com/slash episode twenty-five. And Radonna, if listeners wanted to connect with you and maybe ask some more questions about how you're doing things at the Grapevine Chamber, how would they be able to Reach out to you.
36:27.394 RaDonna Hessel
They can call the Grapevine Chamber 8174811522. They can email me. It's Radonna, R A D O N N A at Grapevine Chamber dot org. Or they can call myself, nine seven two eight three nine two one two six. I can talk chamber all day long. Happy to visit with anyone.
36:49.838 Brandon Burton
That's perfect. Well, I appreciate you talking chamber with us today. Best of luck to you with the Chamber of the Year voting. And we'll look forward to seeing those results.
37:02.488 RaDonna Hessel
Thank you, Brandon.
37:07.288 Brandon Burton
Thank you for listening to this episode today. I hope that you're finding value as you listen to Chamber Chat Podcast. If you are enjoying the show, I would encourage you to tell your colleagues that are in the chamber industry. Also, please hop onto iTunes and leave us a five-star rating and review to help others find this show. Thanks again, and I look forward to chatting with you again next week.