Chamber Sponsorship Guide with Lauri Lyerla

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

Brandon Burton (00:01)
Hello, Chamber Champions. Welcome to Chamber Chat Podcast. I'm your host, Brandon Burton, and here on the show I introduce you to people and ideas to better help you serve your chamber members and your community. Our guest for this episode is Lauri Lyerla. Lauri serves as CEO of the Neosho Area Chamber of Commerce in Neosho, Missouri. A lifelong member of the Neosho community, Lauri brings experience as both a small-business owner and chamber professional to her work. She's passionate about helping businesses connect, creating meaningful community partnerships, and developing programs that generate value for chamber members. Under her leadership, the Neosho Area Chamber was recognized as the 2025 Missouri Chamber of the Year.

Lauri, I'm excited to have you with us today on Chamber Chat Podcast. I'd love to give you an opportunity to say hello to all the Chamber Champions who are listening and share something interesting about yourself so we can get to know you a little better.

Lauri Lyerla (00:59)
Thank you. I feel honored to be asked to speak. I love the chamber world. I grew up in small business, but what I love about this work is having a seat at the table in our community and being a champion for our business community and the community in general.

I've lived in Neosho my whole life, and my family had a small business here where I worked for 20 years before my chamber experience. I'm honored to be here. What I love most is learning. I love the career path of being a chamber professional, and I love the people in this industry. That has been one of my favorite things since I've been in it.

Brandon Burton (01:43)
It is fantastic to connect with others and build those relationships. What was the small business you were involved with through your family?

Lauri Lyerla (01:52)
My grandparents bought a hardware store in 1957, the Ollie Anderson Hardware Store, and started Mills Hardware and Appliance. We were on our downtown square from 1957 to 1987, when they moved a few blocks off the square into a much larger building and started selling furniture, bedding, and appliances. I grew up working alongside my grandparents, my dad, my sister, my brother, and my nephew.

We had that business until 2013, when my dad was ready to retire and we closed it. My husband also owned a heating business for about 20 years that we sold a few years ago. I currently co-own a local boutique in our community with my daughter. My daughter and her husband run it full-time.

Small business and entrepreneurship are the key to my heart. I've seen the ups, downs, ins, and outs. I think that gives me the experience to empathize with our businesses. No matter what they're going through, I may have walked through it in some way in the past. I can help guide them through it—not because I have all the answers, but because I understand what they may be going through.

Brandon Burton (03:08)
It gives you that perspective. You can empathize with them and understand where they're coming from, and you also have the chamber perspective. You may have more answers than you want to admit.

Lauri Lyerla (03:18)
I try. What chambers do best is make connections. If we don't have the answer, we probably have a connection with someone who can help. I love being that connector, learning about people, and learning what they can do for each other. That's one of the beautiful things about it.

Brandon Burton (03:38)
Tell us about the Neosho Area Chamber. Give us an idea of the size, staff, budget, scope of work, and the things you're involved with to set the stage for our discussion.

Lauri Lyerla (03:51)
We have about 530 members and a full-time staff of four. Neosho has a population of approximately 15,000, and we're the only chamber in our county. A little bit of Joplin is in our county, but we serve a large rural area around us.

It's a great place. I'm a little biased, but we have grown. I had my 12th anniversary at the chamber in May, and I have an amazing staff that believes in our community and works hard every day. We've grown from approximately 300 members in 2014 to more than 500, and we generally stay between 500 and 550. We also grew from one full-time person and one part-time person when I started to four full-time employees. Our budget is about $400,000 a year.

Brandon Burton (05:04)
I'm sure part of that growth relates to our conversation today—being able to attract sponsors and how you approach that. I'm excited to dive into how you present sponsorship offerings to members after this quick break.

Brandon Burton (05:25)
Lauri, we're back. Today we're discussing your chamber sponsorship guide. From what I understand, you put together a printed guide each year for members that includes all the available options. Tell us about it.

Lauri Lyerla (05:42)
I'll give you a little history. When I started about 12 years ago, we had regular membership based on employee counts and some non-dues revenue from things such as a golf tournament, but we didn't have another significant means of financial growth.

I came in after economic development and the chamber had separated, so we had to determine how we would sustain the chamber moving forward. One of the things I love about this profession is our conferences. The first chamber conference I attended was MAKO, before I had even been hired permanently and was serving as interim director. I started learning that chambers were making money on golf tournaments and began asking what other options existed to fund a chamber.

Over the next three or four years, we implemented sponsorships for many of our events, but we were doing it event by event. Before every event, we were trying to find a presenting sponsor, someone to sponsor lunch, and all the other pieces.

Brandon Burton (06:56)
It becomes a scramble before every event.

Lauri Lyerla (06:59)
It reached the point where it felt as though the only time we talked to members was when we were making an ask. That becomes stressful for staff, makes planning difficult, and can affect member relationships.

We started learning about other approaches, including capital campaigns, and pulled together pieces we thought would work for our chamber. One thing our members told us was, "If you had asked us when we were budgeting, we could have planned for it."

We learned when most of our businesses enter budget season. For us, that's generally in the fall before the next year. When we started coordinating sponsorship sales, we assembled everything we knew we would offer the following year and opened it all at one time.

The process has evolved every year, and people now anticipate it. We've worked with other chambers to show them how we do it, and many have used some version of our framework. That's what I love about chambers: we're not in competition with each other. Every chamber is different—if you've seen one chamber, you've seen one chamber—but there are things we can learn from each other.

Our process has grown in scale, and a smaller chamber might think it is more than they can do. However, chambers can look at it on a smaller scale. There are also many other models that work effectively.

Around the middle of the year, we start putting together the following year's sponsorship opportunities. We produce a printed guide. Originally, we sent it only to top members we thought would participate. We found, however, that the guide tells a very good story. It's available on our website and has become a valuable year-round sales tool because it talks about our work.

Brandon Burton (09:19)
People can check it out and adapt the idea.

Lauri Lyerla (09:34)
Because it includes sponsorships for everything we do, it is also a helpful piece when we're speaking to a prospective member about what the chamber is and what we do. Even if they don't participate as a sponsor, these are the programs and events businesses can attend and the ways they can see what we do in the community.

That's why we started printing it in a high-quality magazine format and mailing it directly to members. We put one in everyone's hands and print extra copies. I met with a new member yesterday, and the guide helped with that conversation. Otherwise, you can find yourself trying to verbally explain everything a chamber does. Chambers do many different things, and someone may ask, "What is a chamber, and what do you do?" The answer can depend on the day of the week. The guide has become a valuable piece we use throughout the year.

For the sponsorship sale itself, we print and mail the guides in early to mid-August. They go to all members with an announced opening date. This year, it was September 9. It's usually during the first part of September, and sponsorships go on sale at 10:00 a.m.

For the past several years, many sponsorships have been highly sought after. Part of the success is creating the feeling that members need to make a decision and act on opening day. It creates a fear of missing out and encourages them to meet with their staff and decide what they want. That sense of urgency is important because it prevents people from continually delaying their decisions, especially when they have specific opportunities they want.

One exciting addition this year was that Heather, our director of operations, put a great deal of time and energy into the reservation process. She took the book and created a complete booking website. It is available online, and she used AI tools to build it. This year's sponsorship sale worked seamlessly, and people were very happy with it because they could visit the site the day before and build a cart containing the things they wanted.

At 10:00 on Wednesday, they could submit the cart and reserve the available opportunities. Some people missed out. Two of the people who missed what they wanted were board members, but they were very good about it.

What the system did—and what we'd missed in the past—was allow us to see what people wanted but didn't get. It placed them on a wait list so that if something changes, we know who was interested.

It also gave us information that can improve future offerings. Some events have only one presenting sponsor and no other way to participate. If three or four businesses want to be the presenting sponsor, we need to consider adding tiers the following year. That gives more people an opportunity to participate instead of simply missing those sponsorship dollars.

This year was very effective. Heather shared at our board meeting that more than $100,000 in sponsorships had been booked between opening day and the meeting. We still had approximately $40,000 or $50,000 in available sponsorships.

The site gives people an easy way to see what remains available. Many presenting sponsorships may already be sold, but members can see what is open or join a wait list if they want to host a coffee or another limited opportunity.

I don't want chambers that are not close to having something like this to feel overwhelmed. I love talking with them and explaining what it could look like. Maybe a chamber has only ten sponsorships or ten events during the year. It is still valuable to identify what you have and give people an opportunity to review it all at once and budget for it. That can make the process much easier for staff, especially for a chamber with a staff of one.

If you know a year before an event who your presenting sponsors are, you can maximize the benefit for both the sponsors and the staff. It makes conversations easier because there is less pressure for the chamber to make an ask. When we speak with members, the conversation can focus more on their needs and how we can meet them instead of always looking for sponsors or donations.

Having the opportunities in writing also builds value.

Brandon Burton (15:35)
You mentioned an opening date. Is there also a closing date that adds urgency, or does it remain open throughout the year? Could someone decide six months later to purchase an opportunity if it is still available?

Lauri Lyerla (15:51)
There isn't a closing date. Major investor levels are the exception in the sense that we try to have those finalized by the end of the year so they can be included on printed materials that list major investors throughout the following year.

We would still accept an investor after materials were printed, but they would understand that they couldn't be added to something already produced.

The sponsorship website will remain available. In the past, the book was online as a flipbook, but people couldn't tell what was still available. The custom website has been amazing.

We're also using these AI tools for other things. Heather has been working on new websites where people can apply for our leadership program and the leads groups we're launching. I feel blessed to have a staff willing to learn. Heather not only created the website, but also used Canva to complete the entire layout of the publication. We're doing this work in-house.

Brandon Burton (17:25)
My mind is racing because I have a publishing and advertising background. I can see the printed guide serving as an introduction to the opportunities, while the website can provide more detail. For an annual banquet, there might be a presenting sponsor, drink sponsor, registration sponsor, or even some unusual opportunities. I've heard of chambers having a bathroom sponsor.

Lauri Lyerla (17:58)
Our annual banquet has a whole collection of sponsorships.

Another thing I would say is that having something in print makes it legitimate in the sponsor's mind. It adds value. We also use the printed guide strategically. The logos of businesses that participated at the major investment levels the previous year appear in the new guide.

Brandon Burton (18:35)
That creates some stickiness because they want to stay in the guide.

Lauri Lyerla (18:38)
Exactly. They know they want to remain in the book that everyone receives. They can also see the other banks or businesses that are participating.

Another important consideration, and something we've shared with many chambers, is determining how to cover the cost of the printed material. There may be a business or industry that benefits from reaching all your members.

For us, that's health insurance. The Missouri Chamber Federation makes insurance available to our members through the Chamber Benefit Plan, so access to that insurance is an important membership benefit. We include an advertisement for the Chamber Benefit Plan, and insurance companies that want that business participate in the ad. That advertisement pays for the entire printed piece. The guide then becomes a year-round sales tool for us.

For another chamber, it might not be insurance. It could be a healthcare organization or any business-to-business company that values exposure to every chamber member. That partner's sponsorship could pay for the publication.

Brandon Burton (20:20)
Do you offer a right of first refusal to higher-level sponsors, or is everything first come, first served?

Lauri Lyerla (20:38)
Most opportunities are first come, first served. We have a few relationships tied to events where the business helped create or initially launch the program. They've sponsored it from the beginning and continued through price increases, so we maintain a relationship with them. There are very few of those now.

There is no limit on the number of businesses that can participate at our major investment levels. Sometimes it's important to understand the different types of members you have. Some members invest at a high level not because they want the chamber to do a million things for them, but because they believe in what you do.

Our major investors receive benefits, but the package is not five pages of tasks we must complete for them. They're investing in us and in the future of the community. They understand that for the community to thrive, small businesses need support. A small business paying a starting membership investment of approximately $300 does not cover all the chamber's cost to serve it. We may spend a great deal of time helping that business.

Sometimes major investment levels are the easiest to sell because the people you're talking with already understand what you do and how valuable it is to the community's future. Many major investors also purchase individual event sponsorships. They may be a major investor and the presenting sponsor of the banquet, building a package with several opportunities.

Brandon Burton (22:58)
After the guide and website are released, what do you do when an event is approaching and sponsorships are still available? Do you proactively try to fill those spots?

Lauri Lyerla (23:19)
A few times a year, we'll send a broad communication listing the remaining unclaimed sponsorships. As an event gets closer, we have more direct conversations.

Our golf scramble is next Thursday, and we didn't have a presenting sponsor until last week. That came from a conversation I had with one of our major investors about next year. We were discussing opportunities, and I mentioned that next year's golf scrambles were already sponsored but this year's event was not. They said, "We'll do it for you."

They won't receive as much promotional value as they would have if we'd known a month earlier, but we'll go out of our way to recognize them at the event for coming on late.

Some sponsorships do remain unfilled. We do not have a full-time salesperson. None of our four employees has membership and sponsorship sales as a dedicated role. Because everyone is busy, I think there are many missed opportunities.

We've discussed how a position focused on being out in the community and talking with members could help move us to the next level. Often, filling a sponsorship comes down to a conversation rather than an email. If someone were speaking with our members more often, we believe more opportunities would be filled. The additional revenue would probably more than pay for that position.

Brandon Burton (25:02)
You've mentioned the website and Heather's work using AI to build it. Listeners may be wondering how you make online sponsorship sales happen. Membership software can handle some aspects of sales, but this sounds different. What guidance can you offer?

Lauri Lyerla (25:27)
I'll give it my best shot. We've used ChamberMaster for years. It has been an amazing tool and was one of the first tools I introduced. However, as we've tried to automate other areas, we've encountered some limitations, so we've added other tools.

For texting, a member created a custom tool for us in SOLO LINK. It supports automated contacts by sending texts and emails to members at different times based on when they joined or renewed.

The sponsorship system was built through that program using its design studio and an AI coding tool. Heather was also using Claude and ChatGPT to test it. You would need to do an entire Chamber Chat episode with her to explain the details.

Learning these tools helps us and can also help our members use similar tools in their businesses.

Brandon Burton (27:04)
Can sponsors make payment through the website, or does it reserve the space before you invoice through ChamberMaster?

Lauri Lyerla (27:14)
We don't take payment during the sponsorship sale. Because these commitments are for 2027, most are billed in December with a January due date. There may be a way to take payment through the system, but we're not using it.

The system automatically sends confirmation of what someone reserved. We also send a contract to continue holding the opportunity. We don't bill everything in January. If a sponsorship is for next year's banquet, for example, it might not be invoiced until October. At this point, the sponsor is making a commitment.

Brandon Burton (28:04)
Is there anything else chambers should consider if they want to adopt an approach like this?

Lauri Lyerla (28:15)
The most powerful thing we learned early was how much easier the ask became when businesses had time to prepare for it. They're excited about it.

As the year goes on, businesses and industries become inundated with requests from organizations, schools, and others. They grow weary of the asks, and they may have run out of money. They like being able to plan and know what they'll be able to support.

Find out when your members establish their budgets. The end of the year works well for us because we can get sponsorships into their plans. It helps everyone involved.

Brandon Burton (29:14)
For listeners who want to take their chamber to the next level, what tip or action item would you leave with them?

Lauri Lyerla (29:29)
Chambers are always evolving. To remain relevant, evaluate whether the things you're doing are still relevant and valuable to members. If not, start asking why you do them, and don't be afraid to shift.

We have to remain valuable, especially in an economy where people are cutting costs. As a small-business owner, I understand that businesses must pay employees, electricity, and water. Sometimes chamber membership falls lower on the list. How do you move higher on members' priority lists and remain important to them?

You do that by listening to their needs and trying to become what they need. The work is always evolving.

Brandon Burton (30:27)
How do you see the future of chambers and their purpose going forward?

Lauri Lyerla (30:38)
Some of that connects to what I just said. We need to remain relevant. Heather and I learning technical skills may make our work easier, but it also helps us ensure that our businesses have every tool in their toolbox to be successful.

We need to keep teaching them. We've tried to learn how to use AI and incorporate it into our work, but we also need to help small businesses and other employers learn how to use those tools to become more profitable and move forward.

The future of chambers depends on staying ahead of trends rather than sitting back and assuming someone else will figure them out. We have to be the voice of our businesses, fight for them, and support them. We remain relevant by staying alongside them.

Brandon Burton (31:45)
You mentioned relevance several times. It made me think of Matt Appenzeller's book, From Relevant to Impact. It can help chambers recognize how to make an impact in their communities rather than merely struggle for relevance—an impact their members notice.

Lauri Lyerla (31:54)
I haven't seen it, but I'll have to get it—From Relevant to Impact.

Brandon Burton (32:14)
Before I let you go, I'd like to give you an opportunity to share contact information for listeners who want to connect and learn more about your sponsorship guide or anything else we discussed.

Lauri Lyerla (32:23)
You can find me on Facebook or through neoshocc.com. My work email is lauri@neoshocc.com. You can email or call us.

We love talking with other chambers. We don't have all the answers, but we've walked through some things. If we can shorten the length of the walk for another chamber and help them benefit from what we've learned, we love doing that.

That's one of the things I love about the chamber industry. Comparing it with my furniture and retail background, I could never have called the store in the next town and said, "I saw you had a big sale. What did you do? How did you make it profitable, and how did you determine your prices?"

The chamber industry is different because we're all working for our communities. There is so much value in the relationships we have across the industry. If we can be a resource in any way, we'd love to help.

Brandon Burton (33:38)
That's a great analogy, bringing the furniture background back into it.

Lauri, this has been a great conversation. I appreciate you taking the time to share your experience and what is working for you in Neosho. Hopefully, this will help listeners present sponsorship opportunities more effectively and think ahead about how they can capitalize on available funding to keep their organizations strong. Thank you for sharing all of this with us.

Lauri Lyerla (34:05)
Thank you. I appreciate being invited.