Injecting Good Into the Community with Molly Gebler

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

Episode 97 — Injecting Good Into the Community with Molly Gebler
Clean Speaker-Labeled Transcript
Guest: Molly Gebler
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.
00:13.73 Intro voice
And now your host. He recently built a fence that he is really proud of. He's my dad, Brandon Burton.
00:21.282 Brandon Burton
Welcome to the Chamber Chat Podcast. This is your host, Brandon Burton. And you're joining us today for episode 97 of the Chamber Chat Podcast, where I help to introduce you to people and ideas to help you better serve your chamber members and your community. And today, as we record this episode, we're early November, and I wanted to be able to have an opportunity to share some. Some good positive things that are happening out there in the chamber world. And as a guest today, I've brought Molly Gebler on. And Molly has been the executive director at the Chagrin Valley Chamber of Commerce in Ohio since 2013. She takes pride in supporting small businesses within the Chagrin Valley and enjoys spearheading events to allow her chamber members to network. She embraces her out-of-the-box thinking and uses it to create opportunities for local small businesses and groups to highlight their business. In her spare time, she has authored five children's books, recently retired as a co-host of a podcast called Best Podcast Ever to host a fun startup YouTube show, Countertop Time. And enjoys singing in the car with local friends and family on her YouTube show, That's My Jam, is the name. In 2017, she stepped into the filmmaker role and debuted her documentary, Grove Hill, a true story at the Chagrin Documentary Film Festival. She is now proud to be an award-winning director, receiving the Audience Choice Award for her film. As I have Molly with us today, I mentioned we'll be talking about some positive. experiences and stories that are happening there in the Chagrin Valley. We will get into our discussion as soon as we get back from this brief message. Every chamber is looking for new ways to increase their non-dues revenue. Has your chamber found a good affinity program? I have a great affinity program to offer your chamber that will continue to increase in revenue year after year. I want to introduce you to Swipe It for all of your credit card processing needs.
02:44.756 Brandon Burton
Swipe It has a unique affinity program that 1. Lowers your credit card processing fees at the chamber, 2 helps your chamber members be more profitable, and 3 provides recurring non-dues revenue to your chamber. To learn more, please visit chamberchatpodcast.com slash cc for credit card. Again, chamberchatpodcast.com slash cc and get swiping with swipeit. All right, Molly, welcome to the Chamber Chat Podcast. I'm glad to have you here with us today. If you would take a moment to say hello to all the chamber champions that are out there listening and share something else interesting about yourself so we can all get to know you a little bit better.
03:31.518 Molly Gebler
thanks, Brandon, for having me on Chamber Chat. This is so much fun to be on the other side of a podcast. yeah, so I'm out here in a little area called the Chagrin Valley. and our chamber services 13 different communities out here. and I we have about 570 members. we are just about 40 miles or 20 miles away from Cleveland. For those of you who are wondering where this is, we're a very Norman Rockwell-y area. and as you know, I've got a coup we've got a couple of famous people that came out of our area that we're very proud of that we like to brag about. Lee Unkrich from Pixar did all the toy stories, and Calvin and Hobbes is all written by Bill Watterson, who was from Chagrin. So all if you want to. Look to see what Chagrin looks like, you can take a look at Calvin and Hobbes books.
04:33.006 Brandon Burton
That's awesome. So you you mentioned a few things about your chamber, about the the size of your your membership and kind of where you're located. given kind of the discussion for our topic today, I'd could you share with us a little bit about what your organization looks like staff-wise, what kind of support do you have?
04:56.876 Molly Gebler
Yeah. Yeah. So we like I said, we were we service thirteen communities. we are a staff of two full time myself, and my executive assistant. And we have an amazing twenty two person well twenty person board that is very supportive and Just there for us and any decisions. You mentioned in my bio that I'm an out-of-the-box thinker. And you know, when you have that type of personality, it's good to have a board who just kind of throws their hands up in the air and say, you know what? You go do it. and that's the board that I have, just very, very supportive. and we're located in our office, is actually located in Chagrin Falls, which is one of the the 13 communities. And I would say Chagrin Falls is probably out of our 13, that is the tourist. There's a waterfall in the village. And so that's the the tourist location out of all our 13. But we are a probably a two to nine is the majority of our members. We do not have a a lot of big business. It's mom and pops. It's the owners are our neighbors or live in the in the Chagrin Valley. so I think that is kind of why our community just wraps so heavily, you know, their arms around our businesses because they know the owners. They're they're the local mom and pops, the the the the small shops, even our restaurants, We don't have chains, a lot of chains. They're they're mostly owned by local restaurant or local neighbors here.
06:58.912 Brandon Burton
I love that. And even like you said, calling it the village. And I'm like that that's such a homey kind of feel of a a village and everybody knows everybody and it it sounds like a an ideal community, a little pleasantville like.
07:13.408 Molly Gebler
Very much. Everyone knows everyone's business a hundred percent.
07:17.634 Brandon Burton
For for the the better or worse, right?
07:20.226 Molly Gebler
Yeah, exactly.
07:22.542 Brandon Burton
well our topic for discussion today that we've titled this episode Elevated Community Involvement. And Molly, I know recently you guys have had a couple of really well supported events, I'll call them, throughout your community. why don't you take us through the first one? I know maybe start with the drive-by food drive that you guys recently did. Tell us how that came to be. How it was organized, what it how things kind of played out.
07:55.712 Molly Gebler
Absolutely. So we every year award a nonprofit of the year where our chamber gives a ten thousand dollar check to a local nonprofit. And this year they were to be awarded, of course, the the day that the that Ohio shut down in March was our annual awards which we were gonna present, which happened to be our local food drive, which You know, it's all just a blessing that it worked out this way. Not that the other ones weren't worthy, but you know, during this pandemic, a food bank couldn't be more important. so they were our nonprofit of the year. And as the nonprofit, we partner with them throughout the year as kind of their angel and we do different things that could help build awareness for them. We built them a website and you know, so this food drive was just kind of all part of our nonprofit of the year. So we reached out to our chamber members. I wanted big trucks with their big logos on it. That was I I wanted to gather about 16 of those trucks that had a bed. so of course, you know, we all know in the chamber world that if you ask a business to do something that will promote their business for free, that you know, hands are raised. So there was no problem getting those 16 trucks. And then we went to the communities. We are made up of a lot of subdivisions, little neighborhoods. So they all have kind of homeowners associations, which is a big tip for any chamber that wants to get their community involved. So we went to them and said, who's your, who's your president or your secretary? You know, we wanted to get one main person from each one of those communities. So we built that spreadsheet. and people were, you know, they jumped on board, especially since it was about food and feeding our neighbors. you know, this was really wasn't a hard sell for everyone to jump on board. so we grabbed those people, we called them our little neighborhood champions. we also promised that we would give away the neighborhood of the year award.
10:20.846 Molly Gebler
so those little champions started, you know, jumping on board because they wanted their community to win. so they sent out flyers and emailed their their communities. and then we reached out for volunteers from our members and you know, said wear your logo shirt and you know, walk with us. So the we met at 10 o'clock in the morning. We asked everybody to put their food out at the end of their driveway by 10 o'clock. and our trucks and volunteers hit the road. the communities knew where we were coming, so it wasn't like we were just driving randomly. You know, they knew where we were, what communities we were coming. I think we hit about over a hundred streets, you know, beeping the horns and playing loud music. We had Santa Claus. I was privy to put the suit on this year. we had two Santa Clauses, an Easter bunny and Mrs. That just kind of drove in convertibles. We just wanted to make it a community celebration. We ended up collecting eight, over 8,000 pounds of food and over $3,000, which is the money is still coming in. So it was just a huge success. The food bank was overwhelmed in a good way. And it was just a proud, proud moment. I said if I retired that day, I would be, you know, that would be my proudest moment. And just the fact that knowing somebody was gonna go to bed and wasn't gonna be hungry because of efforts that our communities did, it just made me feel so great. And you know, the the thing that chambers, I think, sometimes shy away from doing those community things is, you know, how is it benefiting their members? And it's just so there's so many ways that that event is going to unfold and benefit far, you know, the the logo trucks driving through the the communities. you know, we listed thank yous and listed all the businesses. When businesses help community, residents then choose them to shop or support or eat at. so it's a it's a win-win, I think, for for everybody.
12:44.394 Brandon Burton
The win-win is what was standing out to me is you're talking about the partnerships with getting the businesses to jump on board with the the trucks, getting the 16 trucks to promote their business throughout the community. But then the partnership with the HOAs and coming up with the the award, the community of the year award. That that is so ingenious.
13:04.192 Molly Gebler
Yeah, and at the end, yeah, we made them a street sign at $23 or whatever it was. And that's gonna house we we went live and awarded them, and and it proudly sits in front of their entrance. And you know, maybe it'd sell a house in there. I don't know. you know, it just it gave that extra little push for that community champion to to really push it. matter of fact, the community that won. She ended up handing out little hearts that said, donated with love. And the kids colored them. So all their packages that were at the end of their driveway had these little hearts on it, which was just like, you know, tears ran when we pulled into that neighborhood.
13:51.712 Brandon Burton
I love that. So as far as the logistics of it, did you have a volunteer team? Was it your board that helped drive the trucks around or was it the businesses themselves that were driving the trucks around? How did you get the manpower?
14:06.198 Molly Gebler
Sure, sure. So it was the businesses themselves, you know, they had to not only commit their truck, but they had to commit a driver. and of course, because of COVID, we didn't want the walker volunteers to go into the trucks. so the walkers just kind of drove and met at that specific community. Each each truck had a list of where they were headed. So they knew where they were going ahead of time. and the volunteers met them there. walked alongside it a beautiful day, thank God. and walked along the truck and just, you know, the truck driver stayed in the truck and the walkers helped just kind of pick up things and put them in the bed of the truck. So it was it was I think well planned. un you know w I'm sure all the chamber people listening here, you know, our boards right now are so you know, they're trying to save their own businesses. So not that my board is not engaged, but I know where their minds are and their hearts are right now. so it was a just a two person Jess Jessica and I kind of planned it all. You know, a lot of this stuff is emails, you know, it it takes one email and and then it goes from there. So but it was well coordinated. there were some missed, I think people forgot the 10 a.m. So I think I we ended at one. But I think I got home about eight PM because people just kept texting me or sending me in boxes saying, Hey, my food's still out there. And so yeah, it was it was a great day. It was a great day.
15:51.454 Brandon Burton
So you started off in that story about how your chamber every year chooses a nonprofit to partner with as a nonprofit of the year. And I think that is such a key thing to be able to make that partnership and provide these valuable resources really for these nonprofits to be able to thrive. And I could see, I mean, this is something you guys have the contacts now for all those HOAs. You have businesses that were on board at least this time to get their name out there in the community. And I could see that being something that you could hand over to the food bank and say, here, if you want to do it again next year, it's on you. We can help, but this is it's set up for you.
16:35.202 Molly Gebler
Hundred percent. Yeah.
16:36.888 Brandon Burton
And then it it it's not something the chamber has to bear that burden every year, but you're setting them up with the tools and the the ability to continue to thrive. So I think that's awesome.
16:47.886 Molly Gebler
Sure. Yeah. Yeah. We pride ourselves on our our quote is that or our motto is that we're not your grandpa's chamber. we're very out of the box type of of chamber. and especially in this 2020, that's pretty much all you can be right now. is just keep creating and keep coming up with different unique ideas to keep everybody involved and keep those small businesses vital and and keep them on the minds of your community and your shoppers and so it's a it's an out of the box thinkers dream world actually in twenty twenty, believe it or not.
17:33.622 Brandon Burton
Yeah, it really is. I mean, the doors are wide open to to new opportunities. So let's maybe shift gears a little bit to the other event. I I'm I'm using the word event just for lack of a better term. But the I know some some chambers will hear event and they already get fatigued just by hearing that word. So so you guys really promoted the small shop small Saturday. in your community. Tell us what you did and and how that unfolded.
18:07.39 Molly Gebler
Are we talking about the gift card extravaganza? Yes. Okay. Another proud, proud moment. And we're actually doing it. We will be so we've done. Okay. So gift card extravaganza. it is years and years ago. and Brandon, this is your wheelhouse. We made a contract with the phone book. years ago when the phone book was hot.
18:10.114 Brandon Burton
Yes.
18:36.283 Molly Gebler
and we gave our logo in exchange for funds.
18:40.174 Brandon Burton
Could could you explain to everyone what a phone book is? No, I'm just kidding.
18:44.308 Molly Gebler
I explained the rotary phone. That's right. So we've, I think we had a 12, this was prior to me. we had a 12-year contract, I believe. and they paid us for our logo and our list of members, which in turn, you know, our logo was on the front page of the yellow or of the pay of the phone book, and our chambers names and addresses were listed in a special way in the phone book. And So we had some brilliant treasurers at that time that ran our books without that money. So that money got to really grow. So we're blessed in that way. So when I when I talk about the gift card extravaganza, I'll I'll talk about how we did it. But I think that there's other ways that neighbors can do it that don't have this rainy day fund. so we did this in May and we're also will be a big announcement because we haven't even announced it yet. We're doing it again on Shop Small Saturday. We are pledging last I'll I'll I'll stay with this time so I don't go back and forth with numbers. We're pledging $20,000 of the chamber money to purchase $20 thank you cards, gift cards. And then we are putting it out on at at 9 a.m on November 28th. We will have a list of participating members, shops, restaurants, hair salons. and if you go to our website and purchase a $50 gift card from any of those places, we will thank you with a $20 gift card to that exact same place. So you're gonna pay $50 and you're gonna get $70 to that business. we sold out in 15 minutes. That's why we're not even really promoting it much this time because I feel like it'll do itself. Yeah. And it was an opportunity to a sell gift cards for our small businesses. You know, we took on the credit card fees for that. and then we got to pump in last time we pumped in with the selling out of 15 minutes. We I got to buy.
21:06.126 Molly Gebler
435, I think. $43,000 back into the pockets of our members. This time we pledged a little bit more money, the $20,000, and we reduced that thank you card from twenty-five to twenty to make our money spread a little bit. But we'll be able to pump in about seventy thousand dollars into our pockets. And that's Obviously only in gift cards. You you know as well as I do that you go in with a twenty or a fifty dollar gift card. Exactly. So, you know, that will ripple into more funds. but our chamber members, they don't have to do a thing. we did ask for one fifty dollar gift card as a donation that we'll use to to promote the event or you know, do other things with it.
21:37.666 Brandon Burton
It always spend a little more.
21:59.014 Molly Gebler
just to kind of have some skin in the game for the business. Yeah. And obviously we we had 80, we had 80 businesses participate. so it was a huge success. We're super excited to host it again. And and I am honored to to to be the executive director of a chamber whose board I went and asked for another 10, and my board came back and said, we're gonna give you 20. So kudos to our board for realizing that, you know, our rainy day fun, it couldn't get any rainier right now. And it's time to use some of that money. So
22:33.774 Brandon Burton
Yeah.
22:37.378 Brandon Burton
That's right. It's there for a reason. So let's put it to use. So I think you answered some of my question as far as the gift cards. So they just as far as how it works. They purchase a gift card from one of the participating businesses and then they get a $20 gift card for that same business. So it's not like a a random, you know, Visa gift card. It's specific for that business.
23:03.018 Molly Gebler
Exactly. And I think you could, if you don't have that upfront money, I think you could go to the maybe not right now because I know a lot of the restaurants have promos right now. walking into the holiday season, the buy 50, get 10. but you know, at another time, I think you could work with your businesses and say, listen, will you donate the 10? You know, we'll sell it, we'll promote it. but will you donate the thank you 10? and I think some people would if they knew that you were gonna go out and push people buying fifty dollar gift cards, I think they would they would kick in the 10. So I think there is a way to do it without that upfront money, in my opinion.
23:48.242 Brandon Burton
So when you did this last time back in in May, you said you sold out in fifteen minutes. So how did you promote it and how do you allocate how many gift cards per participating business are available?
24:02.626 Molly Gebler
Yeah. So that was insane. I like literally, so we did it all through ChamberMaster. Am I allowed to say that? Sure. and and and if anybody has any questions at the end, I'll give my information because the way it was set up was great. Unfortunately, you can't, you know, like if it were the only way you can stop it is through guests number, right? So when you're setting up an event, you can say, okay, we can only have a hundred people to this event. So that was the only way you could shut it off. Well, we had no idea how many people were gonna come. we did have some limits, like you could only get last time when we did it, we gave $25 gift cards. So you could only get fifty dollars in thank you cards per one business. Okay, so limit it a little bit. But I Jessica and I were on the phone with each other. We had no idea how to shut it down. It was dinging and I it was I will definitely video it this time because it's insane. I ended up my my board pledged fifteen thousand for the first one and I had to go back and ask for fifteen hundred more because it it just it it's it didn't stop. and we ended up looking to see how many people had registered and we made that number the final. I've been on the phone this time with ChamberMaster asking, you know, how can we and and unfortunately there just isn't I know that everyone's gonna say the folks out there that that use ChamberMaster are gonna say, well you just have to go to the advanced tab and limit the purchase, but you can't because of where you place it, you it there isn't that option isn't available. So we are just going to stop it based on how many people we had before and then regroup for a minute. So you know if it if the site goes down for a minute, it'll be okay. And then we'll bring it back up if there's more to be sold. But yeah, that was a super we we definitely laughed afterwards. and I do want to say
26:25.762 Molly Gebler
We ended up having a drive-thru pickup to save us money from mailing them.
26:31.79 Brandon Burton
I was gonna ask you that. So they they purchase it online and then they come by, drive by to pick it up.
26:37.802 Molly Gebler
Exactly. So I we're still working from home. We have a very, very small office in Chagrin. So we are working from home and I have a horseshoe driveway. And I literally sat outside and I gave free hand sanitizer if you came and picked up. because I wanted to I partnered with our local hospital who gave me cases of hand sanitizer. Hey, right? Right?
26:53.39 Brandon Burton
Bye.
26:59.317 Brandon Burton
Gold back in the day.
27:04.044 Brandon Burton
The only thing better could have been toilet paper, right?
27:06.914 Molly Gebler
Yes, yes. Maybe I'll do that this time. and folks were more than happy to save the chamber money by picking them up. And there were some people who weren't local that we I think we ended up spending fifty dollars in the you know, get going in and getting mailing the ones that couldn't. And but there's some things we learned like definitely find a credit card that gives benefits. Yeah. because you have to figure I I spent forty three thousand dollars in one day on our debit card, which had no benefits. so you know, find I can't get a credit card that has that kind of limit, but you know, find somebody who maybe does who will be willing to give you those the cash back or whatever. Yeah.
27:56.536 Brandon Burton
So so they they purchase through your website and then you're going to these businesses to purchase the gift cards and then scheduling the pickups.
28:05.078 Molly Gebler
Okay. That was a commitment, another commitment that the business had to do if they wanted to participate. They had to drop it off at my house. Okay. I didn't want to run around 80 different places. So I would call them, I purchased over the phone, and then they I had a bin on my porch and they dropped off the gift cards at my house. until we until we got them all. So Yeah, that was very, very helpful. And everybody, you know, they were more than willing. Some of these businesses, you know, we we spent a thousand dollars with them in one shot. So yeah, restaurants were definitely more, it's gonna be interesting going into the holiday season if the stores are gonna be more prevalent for this one. I don't know. We'll see.
28:54.836 Brandon Burton
So how did you go about getting the businesses to participate? Did you have to did you just contact every restaurant and then certain other industries or did you open it up to anybody who could fit within certain parameters?
29:08.014 Molly Gebler
Yes. we did it with shops, hairdress services and retail. and then we also you had to have a shop online. You know, you had to to be able to or no, not no no, I'm thinking of something else. you had to be able to just drop them off and and those type of things. it it you know the problem was is people were like You're gonna sell gift cards for us and you're gonna spend another like the it was too good to be true almost where I ended up having to make a video because the wording just got way too crazy. Yeah. so and we're having that problem right now with either new members that were, you know, we we just divided the list and we're gonna have to call some of the people that I know are like. They'll be so mad. That's how I feel. Like you'll be so mad if you don't say yes. Like just say yes. The rest will make you understand the rest, you know? so yeah, that's a a fun. But one other thing that we are doing also that any I think anybody could do, we reached out to our restaurants. You know, I I know that we're we're struggling too as a chamber financially. To, you know, we're not having our events. We're not having our big events where we're making our our money. but yet our staff is still working, at least in in our case right now. so we did a a raffle. It's called Love Small Support Big Holiday Raffle. And I reached out to our restaurants and shops and said, Hey, would you donate a $25 gift card to us for this raffle? You know, your name would be on the raffle ticket, so on and so forth. and we got 60 plus. businesses to say yes and and and sent us a $25 gift card. So then we're selling virtually $10 tickets. We hope to sell a thousand. We're up to 300 and something now. So that's a huge profit for you know it's a hundred percent profit. You're not printing tickets. Everything's done through Canva. You know, the ticket I I have a watermark, a special watermark. So
31:24.92 Molly Gebler
Somebody buys 10 tickets. Alexa actually picks their tickets. We do 000 to 999. And then we have our own Ohio Lottery. So on November 28th, which is again Shop Small Saturday, at on the on TV, the Ohio Lottery Pick Three will actually pick our ticket number.
31:50.742 Brandon Burton
That's awesome. I saw the Grapevine Chamber in Texas is doing something similar with the as far as using the the state lottery, is they have a a calendar that has advertising for local businesses in it, but then it has a code on it. So I think they're selling the calendars. I love that. I can't remember how much they're selling them for, but they're raffling cash prizes to people to buy it matching up to the lotto. So Yeah, there's there's creative ways. There's ways to to do some fundraising for sure.
32:26.068 Molly Gebler
Sure. But yeah, that's another great way to connect with my our community. and I there will if you asked some of our members, and this isn't you know, chamber execs like to toot our horns every once in a while, and we and so deserve, but they our chamber was people didn't even know we had a chamber. but I think because I'm from the area, I love the Chagrin Valley. I'm obsessed with it, to be honest. And I think that all comes through in when I'm you know reaching out to businesses and and letting them know how we can help. And I think our community relationship, it shows. I think people come to to the chamber asking for. referrals because they see me out and about talking about small business. so I think that, you know, it it it you have to walk that civic line because we're not civic. we're not the the local rotary, but I think that there are so many benefits getting your community involved with your small business on both ends. It's just so important.
33:46.904 Brandon Burton
Well, especially during these times when you're driving business to your members, they're gonna remember that, you know, when it comes time for renewals and they remember how much business you brought to them with the gift card extravaganza and you know, all these different things that are highlighting them and and bringing them to the front of mind for those in the community.
34:07.872 Molly Gebler
It's yeah, it's so heartbreaking right now too, you know, we we've lost some shops in in our community and and it's I just want all the small businesses to know that like it's so not your fault and you didn't do the books wrong or you know, hire the wrong person or you know, just stay strong and and you know, join your local chamber and and they'll get you through it.
34:32.181 Brandon Burton
Yeah. Yeah, really, unless you had six months to a year of reserves, which is hard to do as a small business, especially if you're new. But you're absolutely right. But Molly, I know we need to start wrapping up here. So I wanted to ask you what might be one action item based on our discussion today that a chamber champion out there can do to help take their chamber up to the next level?
34:58.67 Molly Gebler
You know what I would say, listen to your members and have an open mind. I think our members can come up with great ideas. And sometimes chamber execs get caught in their box. That's just not the way we do it. And sometimes when you think out of the box, those are some of your great successes. so don't don't get stuck in the that's just not the way we do it here. do something different, especially right now, because you can blame it on COVID. That's right. Yeah. So just do it. Just do it.
35:35.916 Brandon Burton
It doesn't work. It doesn't work.
35:40.898 Brandon Burton
Yeah. So this question I've I ask everybody that I have on the podcast. And it's been interesting as I ask this, especially during these COVID times. But as we look to the future, how do you see the future of chambers of commerce and their purpose going forward?
35:57.078 Molly Gebler
You know, that's a very interesting question because I think right now it's a blank book, a blank canvas, and we really could write our own path right now. so you know, gather your board, gather some key members, and sit down or zoom together and figure out what what you want your chamber to be moving forward. because I think you can write it any way you want to write it right now. so yeah. You know, I it's a I think each individual chamber is going to have to come up with that that answer. But but do it. But do it now.
36:39.436 Brandon Burton
I know a lot of ch chambers have taken their strategic plan and kind of tossed it out the window this year and start it over. So
36:46.43 Molly Gebler
I haven't even budgeted for next year 'cause I have no idea how. Yeah.
36:50.09 Brandon Burton
Right. Well, as we wrap things up here, I did want to give you an opportunity to put your contact information out there. So anybody listening, if they wanted to continue this discussion offline or or learn more about how you made these these events so successful, what would be the best way for them to reach out and connect with you?
37:11.128 Molly Gebler
Sure, sure. I'm gonna plug, if I could, a piece of Molly's mind dot com. that is my website where you can kind of see everything that I have been doing on my off time. and you can email me at director at cvcc.org. and I'd be happy to set up a Zoom or chat with anybody If I can make another chamber even a tiny bit stronger, I am I'm up for it. So give me a call. Or give me a call, four four zero two four seven six six zero seven.
37:50.742 Brandon Burton
Until we don't call ourselves that often, right? Right, I know.
37:55.246 Molly Gebler
I don't know, just find me. Google Molly Gebler. Yeah.
37:59.702 Brandon Burton
I'll I'll put your information on our show notes for this episode, which will be at Chamberchatpodcast.com slash episode ninety-seven. But Molly, thank you so much for coming on Chamber Chat Podcast today and sharing these experiences. I think it's a great thing to to have this positive, uplifting, you know, moments that you've had there to to help buoy up all the other chamber champions out there across the country and and look for these these creative out-of-the-box ways to support your members and support your chamber at the same time. So thank you so much for that.
38:33.486 Molly Gebler
Thank you for doing what you do. this is a great resource for chamber execs to come and and hear what everyone else is doing. So thank you for your efforts.
38:43.712 Brandon Burton
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39:13.814 Brandon Burton
As a podcast listener and as a chamber leader, have you considered the benefits that podcasting could have for your chamber? This is what I like to call the podcast pivot. If you're like many chambers, you're always looking for ways to provide non-involvement value to your member investors. Many chambers are finding that podcasting is a great solution. A podcast platform becomes a media arm for your organization that builds trust in your community. Tells us stories about your members as well as your advocacy efforts and becomes a valuable, tangible asset for nondues revenue. If you'd like to see if podcasting is a good fit for your chamber, visit Chamberchatpodcast.com slash pivot to learn more and to gain access to our free chamber podcasting guide. Again, this is found at Chamberchatpodcast.com slash pivot.