Episode 61 · March 17, 2020

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Maureen Griffin of the Granbury Chamber discusses the value of people who enter chamber work from other industries.
About This Episode
Maureen Griffin of the Granbury Chamber discusses the value of people who enter chamber work from other industries. She reflects on local growth, young professionals, hiring for qualities and experience, and learning directly from businesses and civic partners.
What You'll Learn
- Look beyond chamber experience when hiring; learn from local industries; make space for younger professionals and partners.
About Maureen Griffin
Maureen Griffin is the director of marketing and communications at the Granbury Chamber of Commerce in Texas. She came into chamber work in 2019 after a diverse career in broadcasting, marketing, public relations, sales, and real estate, and she brings a communications-focused perspective to chamber leadership.
Episode Chapters
00:00.842 — Podcast intro and episode setup
03:27.33 — Maureen introduces Granbury and shares an unexpected story
05:50.542 — Granbury Chamber overview and local growth
08:41.526 — Why welcoming industry outsiders matters
12:19.608 — Examples of outside industries that add value
15:10.466 — Where to bring in fresh perspectives: board, volunteers, staff
20:14.042 — How Granbury is applying the idea in practice
23:12.744 — Hiring for attributes instead of chamber experience
25:56.974 — Advice: learn from other industries and train differently
30:13.646 — Future of chambers and economic development
Supported by Our Catalyst Sponsors

Swypit helps chambers of commerce turn everyday payment processing into an opportunity to reduce expenses and generate additional revenue. Swypit offers credit card payment solutions designed to save chambers up to 40% on processing fees while integrating seamlessly with existing membership software. There is no charge for chambers to switch, and Swypit helps make the transition simple. Through its chamber affinity program, participating chambers can also create an additional source of non-dues revenue. Chambers can request a free cost-savings analysis to see what Swypit could mean for their bottom line.
Resources Mentioned in This Episode
University of Arizona Institute for Organization Management (chamber school)
Mentioned as chamber school/training attended by the guest.
Link not yet available.
Clifton StrengthsFinder
Referenced as the strengths framework the guest used.
Link not yet available.
Certified Public Communicator (CPC)
Mentioned as training relevant to the guest's role.
Link not yet available.
An Idea Worth Borrowing
Hire for perspective, not just chamber tenure
Chambers can strengthen their teams and programs by welcoming professionals from education, nonprofit, retail, real estate, and other industries who bring fresh perspective, community connections, and transferable skills. Instead of only hiring for chamber experience, focus on the qualities and capabilities the role needs and learn directly from other industries’ training and meetings.
• What industries in your community have people who could bring valuable outside perspective to your chamber team or board?
• Are your job postings written to attract the right attributes, or just chamber tenure?
• What would change if your staff spent time learning inside a member industry’s training session?
Read the Full Transcript
Read the Full Transcript
This transcript has been lightly edited for readability and to correct obvious transcription errors while preserving the meaning of the original conversation.
Episode 61 — Welcoming Industry Outsiders with Maureen Griffin
Clean Speaker-Labeled Transcript
Guest: Maureen Griffin
Automated QA: Passed
00:00.842 Brandon Burton
This is the Chamber Chat Podcast, the show dedicated to chamber professionals to spark ideas and to get actionable tips and strategies to better serve your members and community.
00:14.616 Brandon Burton
Now your host. One of his favorite TV shows is the Goldbergs. He's my dad, Brandon Burton. Welcome to Chamber Chat Podcast. This is Brandon Burton and I'm here to help introduce you to people and ideas so you can better serve your chamber members and your community. This is episode 61 of Chamber Chat Podcast, and today our guest is Maureen Griffin.
Who's the director of marketing and communications at the Granbury Chamber of Commerce in Texas? And as a high-impact brand developer and storyteller, Maure finds joy in her uncanny ability to connect with people, help them realize their potential, and assist them in creating their unique path to success. Prior to joining the chamber world in 2019, Maureen had a holistically diverse
Career in broadcasting, marketing, public relations, sales, and real estate. Wow. Must be an interesting resume to look at. Maureen believes in her career path with the common thread of communications has positioned her perfectly to serve in the chamber world. In fact, she's very passionate about recruiting more seasoned corporate business professionals into the realm of serving businesses through U.S. chambers. An avid believer in playing to your strengths, Maureen decided.
in the second half of her career life to include the top five strengths of Clifton Strength Finders and positioning, which are woo, communication, belief, ideation, and individualization. She believes the Granbury Chamber of Commerce is a perfect fit to use those strengths in helping other business leaders become successful. So I'm excited to to have Maureen on the show today, and as her bio talks about, she's passionate about involving
others from other backgrounds. So our discussion for our conversate conversation today will be about welcoming industry outsiders into the chamber world. And we'll get into more of that as soon as we get back from hearing from our sponsor.
02:21.494 Brandon Burton
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Helps your chamber members be more profitable, and three provides recurring non-dues revenue to your chamber. To learn more, please visit Chamberchatpodcast.com slash C C for credit card. Again, Chamberchatpodcast.com slash C C and get swiping with swipeit. Okay Maureen, we are back.
Welcome to ChamberTap Podcast. Thank you for spending some time with us today. If you would please say hello to the audience and share something interesting about yourself so we can all get to know you a little bit better.
03:27.33 Maureen Griffin
Fantastic. Well, thank you. First of all, I want to say thank you, Brandon, for having me on here. I'm I'm very excited to get to speak with my fellow chamber folks. And I like you said, I'm from Grandbury Chamber of Commerce. And Granbury is about 40 minutes south of Fort Worth, in Fort Worth, Texas, right on the beautiful Lake Granberry. And listen, we always questions, right? What's something that you can tell people that they won't expect?
03:57.603 Brandon Burton
Yeah.
03:58.382 Maureen Griffin
I have rode in the back of a cop car many times.
04:05.198 Brandon Burton
Okay. Should you expand on that or not? No.
04:10.89 Maureen Griffin
is always the response I get. It's it's it's wide-eyed and wide-mouth, like yes, I'll I'd love to expand on that. So kind of as you mentioned in my bio, I say that my resume is holistically diverse. And there was a time in my life during college where I worked as a bank teller and as a bank branch manager. And unfortunately I worked in an area that got robbed quite often.
So when the officers would find the bank robbers, they would ask if you could please get in the back of the cop car and do a drive-by to to identify the suspect that they caught. So I have probably I have probably rode in the back of a cop car maybe 10, 15 times, but thankfully just to ID somebody else.
05:00.674 Brandon Burton
Wow. So when you said you were in college, we'd be in the back of the cop cars. I thought this is going a different direction. But
05:08.204 Maureen Griffin
that now that could really be good, huh? I should add that.
05:11.544 Brandon Burton
That's right. So that means you're robbed like fifteen times or so, right?
05:17.822 Maureen Griffin
Yes, or my tellers, like when I was a supervisor. Yeah, they they they very bold and brazen. They would walk right up and just rob them. So
05:26.072 Brandon Burton
Wow. Wow. That's crazy. Well you definitely shared something interesting about yourself. can you can you expand a little bit more about the Granbury Chamber? You mentioned kind of where it's located just outside of Fort Worth, but maybe more about the chamber and size and everything, just so listeners can relate to the perspective that you'll bring to our discussion today.
05:50.542 Maureen Griffin
Absolutely. I'd love to. So we are the Granbury Chamber of Commerce. And truly though, we really see in Hood County, we have, of course, Granbury, Crescent, Laipan, Toller, some of the you know smaller outlying cities. So as a chamber, though, we really try to present regionally because we know it's not just you know the city of Granbury. The city is actually quite small. We have about 8,200 people.
However, in Hood County, we have about 65,000. So, you know, truly the bulk of our membership and and cons residents are outside of the city. our budget is about 500,000. Hood County is actually last year was the ninth fastest growing city in the US by percentage. So we are growing leaps and bounds. a lot of folks move here because of the, well, first of all, it's beautiful on Lake Granberry.
the people are yeah yeah.
06:52.488 Brandon Burton
I can attest to that. I've been there, I've seen it, it is very beautiful.
06:55.956 Maureen Griffin
It is. And we have an an amazing, you know, downtown square that has kept its historic feel, but yet it is updated with all of the amenities that you want to enjoy. you know, we have a great on Highway 377, our business sector. And then the outlying areas more for like manufacturing and and whatnot jobs out there. So we have really like the best of all worlds, except for one thing. 75
Percent of our workforce that lives here drives 35 minutes or more to get to work each day. So as a chamber, we are heavily focused on economic development to obviously help and retain our businesses that are already here, to make them be all they can be, but then also to improve the quality of life for folks that live here so that 75% of our workforce age people do not have to leave town each day.
07:53.934 Brandon Burton
So I'm curious how that looks the other direction too. So the business owners that are there in the Granbury area, are most of them located in Granbury or are any of them coming in from outside in the Fort Worth area?
08:07.788 Maureen Griffin
Most of them are located in Granbury. You know, some of the manufacturing jobs and whatnot are out in the county lines outside of the city. And for I'd say the last three or four years, there was not a specific economic development program going on. So the chamber in connection with the city and Hood County this year, we started a partnership where we are specifically focused on economic development.
To try to help those companies who can relocate here to get here.
08:41.526 Brandon Burton
Yeah, very good. So as I alluded in the the introduction, the topic for our discussion today is around welcoming industry outsiders into the chamber world. So coming from your ho what how'd you call it holistically diverse background? Yes. Why why is this such an important topic to you to to welcome industry outsiders into the chamber world?
09:08.408 Maureen Griffin
Well, it's important to me because I realized I just got back from my first year of chamber school, out at University of Arizona through the institute. And it if anybody has not done that, they need to get there. If they're in Chamber World currently, you need to go through the institution management chamber school. It is fantastic. You get the opportunity to learn from so many, not only chamber folks, but other associations that are attending the school as well.
So it's a great opportunity to learn what has been going on in chambers and what we have the opportunity to do in the future in chambers. But one thing I saw when I was there, Brandon, I saw that chambers, a lot of our, and I have to be careful the way I say this. A lot of our you always want inclusion, right?
09:56.566 Brandon Burton
That's right. We don't want to stereotype too much, right?
09:59.854 Maureen Griffin
No, no. I will not use the term that the title companies are using. They're saying they're in a silver tsunami, meaning like all of their employees are aging out. But, you know, truly in a lot of the chamber world industries, different chambers, we kind of are. I mean, we we are looking at an opportunity now where okay, the long-term chamber employees are starting, especially leaders, are starting to age out. They get to go into retirement.
enjoy that part of their lives. So I think we have a huge opportunity to reach out to, you know, corporate professionals, nonprofit professionals, to come on over to our side and and and experience the chamber life.
10:44.748 Brandon Burton
That's right. So I think that hits on an important key though. with these, you know, some of these older, maybe I don't use I don't really like using that term either, but these lifetime seasoned seasoned lifetime kind of chamber people. they had a certain way of doing things and and the chambers worked very well for a long time that way. And what we're seeing now with with some of these more seasoned and experienced
Chamber professionals are are starting to exit as they move on to the next stage of enjoying life. it also is kind of coinciding at the same time with a shift in how chambers operate and kind of their focus and goals and and less of a networking kind of a organization and more of a workforce development and more of a you know education association where
It's just a it's a shift where it's important to bring some outside perspective to say how can we make the the chamber most effective in our community based on what our needs are. And a lot of times it's hard to do that when you have people in in positions that have been there for a very long time, it's hard to get them on board with that change. So from your your diverse background, what are some of these
Other out industry outsiders that you would look to for some of this background and experience that can help benefit chambers.
12:19.608 Maureen Griffin
Well, Brandon, you nailed what you just said, you nailed it right there. That we we could end the interview right there. Truly it But truly, I mean it is. You you mentioned, you know, not only is our you know, our chambers, you know, they're aging out, but the world is changing. The members that we're serving, their needs are changing. how we communicate is changing. The old ways of, you know, necessarily doing, you know, monthly luncheons.
12:26.072 Brandon Burton
All right, we'll see now.
12:49.362 Maureen Griffin
or you know, 30-minute you know networking breakfast before work, that may not fit everybody's needs nowadays. you asked for maybe examples of industry outsiders. when you mentioned workforce development, that's a huge piece of what the chambers can do with economic development. You know, think about bringing in folks who've worked in the education field. Maybe folks who've worked in your local school districts, maybe it's folks who have worked you know at
nearby colleges or universities, but they can be a huge source for helping you understand, okay, this is what the education system is focused on, but you're telling me this is what the employers need in our community. Let's figure out a way to, you know, for the the needs to meet the the demands and whatnot. So I like the areas of looking at folks who have worked in education. and believe it or not, also people, I think sometimes we forget about this, not for profit agencies.
You talk about somebody who can take a budget of three dollars and stretch it to three hundred. Right. You find a good nonprofit person, boy boy, you you've got, you know, somebody who's gonna work with the leanest and meanest budget and and be able to maximize it to its full potential. Plus, you know, the folks that work in in nonprofit, they are community connectors. They know everybody because they have to, because their budgets are are lean and mean.
13:53.727 Brandon Burton
That's right.
14:17.014 Maureen Griffin
So, you know, finding somebody that's worked maybe for your local United Way or, you know, other service organizations, immediately you're bringing on board somebody who is a connector in the community and can get you access to every single resource.
14:32.556 Brandon Burton
I I might add that a non profit person is also gonna be very purpose driven with what they're doing. So if they can get on board with the purpose and mission of the chamber and kind of piggyback with their resources and connections that they have, I can see that just, you know, adding fuel to the fire and just really taking off.
14:51.79 Maureen Griffin
Absolutely. Yep, you're absolutely correct on that.
14:54.35 Brandon Burton
So when you talk about adding these you know outside perspectives, are you talking about as staff? Are you talking about as committees? What what do you vision when you look at adding or welcoming industry outsiders?
15:10.466 Maureen Griffin
Well, I think we have a couple of different opportunities. I'd even start as high as the board. go ahead and take a look at your board. And you know, not that we're ever gonna out board members. We're not looking for a coup or anything here. But when you do have an opportunity, when when I I have to be careful how I say this, but when you do have an opportunity, you know, when somebody when you have a board member or two that say, you know, okay, I've enjoyed this, but I think that you know, this is my my time to step down or to step aside or whatnot.
look at the opportunity, look at your board. You know, a lot of us chambers, even Granbury Chamber, we have a young professionals program now. And, you know, the nobody thought in a town of Granbury, which is known to be the retirement community, you know, south of Fort Worth, our first Brandon, our first GYP social had 70 young professionals show up. That's And even th the I know they told me that themselves that they all looked around like, what? We didn't know we had this many.
quote young professionals in Hood County. So, you know, even starting with your board, take a look, is there a a young professional who would be excellent at serving to bring that fresh perspective? like you mentioned it also, your volunteers, your ambassadors, you know, usually the school districts are members of chambers. So reach out to somebody at the school district and and say, hey, who would make a great ambassador who would like to join as an ambassador for the chamber? You know, somebody who's a connector.
Somebody who will be honest and with us and say, hey, this is what the schools really need. you know, and of course as employees and leaders in the chamber as well. But I'd say start with your board, start with your with your volunteers. I think those are the the quickest ways to make big influence and then bring them on into the chamber.
17:01.952 Brandon Burton
Yeah. Be strategic about it. you know, something you mentioned as you're talking about the young professionals. I it just struck me maybe that these call them millennials or whatever you want to call they I know that word can be offensive to some people. So we'll just we'll say that those young professionals, I think a lot of them
They don't necessarily want to wait until retirement to live a retirement kind of lifestyle. So when you talk about Granberry being known for, you know, kind of being a retirement community, to me, it kind of makes sense that you would have such a strong young professional group because they want to be able to enjoy that lifestyle while they can still enjoy it, you know? and it it brings a different perspective that you don't always get when it's just the way things have always been done at the chamber.
So I think that's an important it they may not have that experience that they're bringing, but they're definitely bringing a different perspective that that should be addressed.
18:00.716 Maureen Griffin
You you're you're correct. You know, and it's funny because a lot of times, you know, this kind of goes with industry outsiders, but you know, a lot of times we look at mentoring programs for young professionals and we look at it from you know top down. You know, how can I, a person who has 30 some years in the workforce, how can I mentor that person? No, we need to look at it from the young professionals up. How can I be mentored by that young professional?
What do they know about technology? What do they know about pop culture? What do they know about the families' needs in our communities? You know, they I I have the opportunity. Rachel Derez is our director of events and membership, and she's a millennial. Okay. we tease her, we tease her that she's an old soul because she you know, to to everybody out there who's who puts all millennials in one box, shame on us because you know, as with as with everybody.
We don't all fit in one box. millennials have so much to offer. And, you know, her and I can sit in here and brainstorm for an hour and an hour has gone by just like that. So, you know, just because you've been in the workforce 20, 25, 30 years, don't assume that you know everything. You know, get a mentor who is a millennial. Have them teach you what they're seeing and the stuff that that we're not necessarily as in contact with as we used to be.
19:23.574 Brandon Burton
Yeah. Very good. Well and I think even platforms like podcasts are a great way to be able to learn from outsiders and from a lot of times the younger, maybe millennials that you talked about having mentors. So it's not always necessarily a a formal mentor where you say, Hey, will you mentor me and and tell me what you're seeing with technology and stuff? But you can find these people.
Whether it's online or podcasts or blogs or whatever medium that they're using to get their message out there. And you can learn a ton from them and kind of what those trends are that are up and coming throughout the world. So great point to make. Is there things that you're starting to implement there at the Granberry Chamber as far as welcoming these industry outsiders? How is that looking in practice there in Granberry?
20:14.042 Maureen Griffin
Well, we're a small staff. We boy boy, we are a staff of what six now. So we rely heavily on six people to get a lot done. But I'll I will say this. so I am on the chamber side, the newest person here. I started in July. And so I would say that most recently, prior to myself, Rachel Derez, you know, our millennial.
She she was an industry outsider and she's and she's only been here a year previous to me. So she came with an art degree, a photography degree. She'd worked in in retail management and whatnot. So she brought, you know, several different industry outsider viewpoints to the chamber. And then our CEO, Mike Scott, you know, he did the same thing in hiring me. okay. Maureen's bringing, you know, a perspective of somebody who who is, you know, leaving the real estate industry right now.
You know, so she knows land, she knows commercial development and whatnot. She's also worked in sales, marketing, broadcasting. but so you know, I will give him kudos to my boss that he was able to follow the thread and see, wow, okay, because she's worked in these different areas and because she's worked in corporate America, you know, she's gonna be able to relate to the needs of our membership. So we're I mean
21:18.957 Brandon Burton
Yeah.
21:39.862 Maureen Griffin
And and we're implementing it, I think, also through the GYPs, the young professionals. And we're really, you know, trying to bring them on as ambassadors, bringing them on in planning new events. why why do we have to show up everywhere for an event? Why can't we do a webinar? You know, I mean, those are questions we us us seasoned professionals might not have thought of, you know. So just like having committees, having you know, groups that
you are willing to reach out to and and listen to because realizing that you don't have the answer to everything.
22:15.596 Brandon Burton
That's right. And I think that's so key when you talked about the interviewing process. Yeah, so often we want people that have the exact background that we're looking for. And oftentimes the background that's gonna work best, we didn't even know we're necessarily looking for. Yeah. So and that makes it hard to find those candidates that bring that unique, you know, background from the outside. But
it also keeps us from being pigeonholed into saying we need somebody who has, you know, 10 years chamber experience or whatever it is that you're looking for. But to be able to say, you know what, this person has a background in retail or this person has a background in real estate or whatever education or any of these things that can be applied and be a a big strength for a chamber as they look for the new ways to to serve their community in a way that is maybe more relevant than it used to be in the past.
So great point.
23:12.744 Maureen Griffin
Brandon, you brought up there the hiring practice, you know, are in the hiring practice you brought up, you know, are we sh are we making sure that we do not put on, you know, when we post for a job, just like you said, are we posting, you know, should candidates should have, you know, six to eight years chamber experience? Or are we talking about the qualities and the attributes and the experience that we want of a of an employee coming into the chamber? Longevity in one area doesn't always mean that they bring what we're looking for. So
You I think you made a really good point there in, you know, in the hiring process when we're posting for these positions. Are we posting for qualities and attributes or are we posting for longevity? So I would definitely encourage all of us that are in the hiring process to sit down and take a look at the position we're hiring for. You know, what is it that I want in that candidate? Do I want somebody who, you know, knows the community? Do I want somebody who's you know comfortable and going out and speaking in in different size groups?
presenting one-on-one? Do I want somebody who maybe we're really going down the road of economic development right now and that's rocky road for us? Do I want somebody that has government relations, you know, experience? Do I want somebody that has advocacy experience? So really, you know, it's I think when you said that, it made my my mind, my mind click that, you know, we need to make sure that from the hiring standpoint, that we're looking for those attributes that we're looking for. And like you said, don't just pigeonhole the the the 10, 15
twenty year chamber person.
24:40.556 Brandon Burton
That's right. And the wording, the messaging that you put in those job posting ads are is so important. there was a I'd heard of it, I guess it was a commercial for one of these staffing agencies and it talked about just that. The word, you know, if you use words like, you know, dog friendly environment or whatever, you know, that that sends a message to the people that are applying that, this is a more casual work environment or
You know, you can't necessarily say certain things in a job posting of of exactly what it is you're looking for, but the way that you word it, the way that you put that messaging across will attract certain people that will fit what it is that you're looking for. So it's a little bit more difficult in making sure that messaging comes across the right way. You got to put it more intention into it. But in the end, the result that you get out of it is gonna be so much more impactful. So
So I know we need to kind of start wrapping things up here a little bit. So I wanted to ask, based on on this topic today that we've been discussing of welcoming industry outsiders, what is one piece of advice or action item that you could encourage the the chamber professional listening to do to help take their chamber up to the next level?
25:56.974 Maureen Griffin
Okay, I thought that was a a great question and I had to think about that here for second and probably two pieces of advice if I can.
26:06.158 Brandon Burton
Sure. I mean we'll we'll charge everyone for the second piece, but no, the first one's free.
26:12.098 Maureen Griffin
There you go. Other revenue streams, right? Other revenue streams. I okay, so this is probably the easiest to do. Take a look at your membership. Okay. What does your membership look like? Do you have a lot of retail folks? Do you have a lot of hotels? Do you have a lot of you know, manufacturing? What I would do after you take a look at your membership is attend other industries training. So let's say, you know, Granberry. We're known for, you know, we are the mo we are the number one.
historic small town in the US. And that was through US day-to-day. So that's a huge kudos. So what do you want to make a bet that we have an amazing hotel association here, right? So they are a huge driving force of our economy, big part of our membership. So what I might want to do is, huh, let's look take a look at when the hotel association has their next training session. going to a meeting is great. You know, I think that's a that's an easy baby step. But but
Go beyond just a meeting. Don't just show up with donuts and pitch why the members, you know, the chamber is great for them. Go to one of their training sessions. You know, reach out and say, hey, when is your next training? What's the topic? And ask if you can actually attend the training session. Because what you're going to get from that, when you go to another industry's training, you're looking at everything from their eyes and what what they have to deal with every day. And you're going to get like a real candid view of of what their industry goes through.
let's just say we'll use the hoteliers as an example. Say we are starting to get a lot of international travelers. So, you know, they're trying to learn different culture, different you know, ways to serve people. And and by being at that training, I would learn then some of the you know, the opportunities, the strengths, the weaknesses, and whatnot that that industry is going through. So right there, immediately it puts me looking at things through their perspective. So it it is.
Basically it's welcoming those industry outsiders by being there and and soaking in it.
28:15.788 Brandon Burton
That's huge. Does that make sense? Being able to have yes. I was the whole time you were saying that, a perspective was just screaming in my mind that it gives a different perspective, a different way to approach problems and solutions by knowing just in that one industry, that one sampling. But if you were able to to attend a couple different ones and maybe see where those similarities are and see, you know, what what aligns best with how the chamber can serve it, I think that that is a great tip. Awesome.
28:43.244 Maureen Griffin
Okay, and here's here's my other tip. And I'm not gonna charge them. You can charge what you want to, but I'm not gonna charge them. Here's my other tip. Okay, so to look look at your position, you know, look at your strengths as an individual, what you bring to the chamber and training from a different perspective. You know, yes, you want to do the chamber school, the the institute of organizational management or other chamber like training. Absolutely, because that gives us a backbone and good quality insight to what chambers are doing.
But then take a look at your role. Like, okay, for myself example, for example, you know, I looked at the CPC, the certified public communicator, and and how can that training like that, how can that help bring in an outside perspective? You know, and I'm it so it's it's it's training beyond my current level and current skill set, but using this the skills that I have each day in a different way.
29:35.926 Brandon Burton
Yeah, I like that. I like that a lot. All this is just about having different perspectives to bring to the table. it's
29:42.678 Maureen Griffin
Awesome. Absolutely. Awesome. It it really is. And and it's important because let's face it, our current and potential members, you know, all of their mindsets are different than what we drive to work and and do every single day. So we want to make sure that we're in touch with their needs.
29:59.702 Brandon Burton
Yeah, for sure. So as we wrap up, the question that I ask everyone I have on the show is as we look to the future, how do you see chambers of commerce and their purpose going forward?
30:13.646 Maureen Griffin
I think it's a great question. I think it depends on your community because every community is unique. for us, heavy, heavy emphasis on economic development. And again, to remind everybody, economic development is not about forgetting our current businesses, but it's it's making sure that how our community grows is how you know the community wants it to grow. And what are we doing to help bring in
new businesses, but also what are we doing to make sure that our current businesses are successful. So take a look at the opportunities. Kind of like we're we're doing we said, you know, welcoming industry outsiders, look outside of our current scope and see what we how we can best serve the community that we we're living in.
31:00.254 Brandon Burton
Absolutely. And that the focus on economic development is it is it's not just looking at new growth, but it is it is supporting the existing businesses as well. As you bring new life and new industry into the city, it's bringing in a stronger economy, which is going to filter through all the other businesses. So with having that focus, it's just a matter of helping the other members and the you know, everyone in the community really catch that vision of yeah, with us.
having this effort and this focus on economic development, everybody is gonna benefit. So I I think
31:36.238 Maureen Griffin
And that's one thing that we're I'm sorry, that's one thing that we're really fortunate here is that we have a great partnership, you know, with our county and with our city. we're very fortunate that we were we're all on the same game plan with that. And having those partnerships, it helps create that vision. it's so much it's so much more effective to have everybody on board.
31:55.22 Brandon Burton
Absolutely. So Maureen, it's been a pleasure having you here on ChamberTap Podcast with us today. If anyone listening wanted to connect with you and maybe pick your brain a little bit more or follow up on this discussion offline, how might they get in contact with you to do that?
32:13.986 Maureen Griffin
Several ways. you can email me at the Chamber, Maureen, M-A-U-R-E-E-N at GranburyChamber dot com. we're on all the social media platforms. You can reach out to me that way. and subscribe to your podcast because I'm subscribing there as well.
32:31.134 Brandon Burton
All right. That's awesome. Everybody should subscribe. That's great. I will I will update your contact information in the show notes page for this episode too, which will be found at chamberchatpodcast.com slash episode sixty-one. So people can can find it there and connect with you. But again, Maureen, thank you so much for for being with us today and sharing this perspective. That seems to be the word of the day.
the the your perspective on welcoming indust industry outsider.
33:01.39 Maureen Griffin
Thank you, Brandon, for the opportunity. I really appreciate it.
33:06.572 Brandon Burton
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