I am going to start this article with a disclaimer that I realize you may have personal thoughts, concerns, or prejudices towards NTFs and cryptocurrencies. I also understand that some of these terms may be completely foriegn to you. In this article, I will try to explain some of these trending technologies in terms that are easy to understand. I also want to encourage you to read this article with an open mind to maybe gain a better view of the direction the business world may be heading.
Over the past five year or so, I have been learning more about Bitcoin, crypto currencies, and more recently NFTs or non-fungible tokens. As I started this education, I have learned a lot and my thoughts on these technologies have evolved over time and will likely continue to evolve along with these associated ecosystems. I will also mention that the ideas that I will share in this article are very much to help you prepare for the future, not that you have to run and do anything about it today.
My Introduction to Bitcoin
So, let me backup my story to around 2010 when Bitcoin first hit my radar. I remember sitting in my car in Seguin, TX listening to the radio and the radio host was talking about how someone had just bought a Papa John’s pizza, just a large pizza for 10,000 Bitcoin. That was a news headline that day because it is the first time that we saw a real utility for Bitcoin. Still at the time, the guy at the pizza shop probably paid for the pizza out of his pocket and kept the Bitcoin because nobody really understood what Bitcoin was or what it could do. Fast forward to today’s price for Bitcoin, that was about a $300,000,000 pizza! Compare that to the previous high for Bitcoin, that price tag would have been $690,000,000! I guess that’s why they say hindsight is 20/20.
My next exposure to Bitcoin I believe was around 2014 when I was listening to a podcast about investing and the current price of Bitcoin was mentioned to be around $4,000. I was in shock. I could not believe anyone would pay that much for a digital coin that didn’t have any real utility. This did peak my interest though so I started to learn more about Bitcoin and why people would pay so much to own it.
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The more I learned, the more it intrigued me. I learned that the creator of Bitcoin is anonymous and once Bitcoin was launched, he/she/they disappeared. This means that Bitcoin is a decentralized monetary system. There is no company headquarters. There is no person to be subpoenaed if someone has a grievance. Instead, there are 1) Bitcoin miners who are competing with other miners by completing complicated mathematical problems to then be rewarded with Bitcoin, 2) individual nodes on the Bitcoin network which validate transactions on the open blockchain ledger. I also learned that in the code for Bitcoin, there will only ever be 21 million in circulation. This is done through programming and the rewards to miners. So there is a fixed supply, and nobody has the authority or ability to create more.
Because of these traits, Bitcoin is often referred to as digital gold as a store of value or a hedge against inflation. However, unlike gold, Bitcoin is easily sent to the other side of the world almost instantaneously. Bitcoin also established what is known as the blockchain which is the technology that all other crypto currencies operate with.
Many other crypto currencies have since spun off from the initial creation of Bitcoin, each with different purposes and utilities. One of the most popular is Etherium which is known for it’s smart contract feature. However there are others such as Solana.
I mention these other crypto currencies because they are often used to transact NFTs.
What is an NFT?
An NFT is a non-fungible token. This means that it is a digital token with unique characteristics that cannot be duplicated, thus giving unique rights of ownership. If you think of a dollar bill, they are essentially all the same. If I asked you to hand me a dollar bill, I don’t care if it is the one in the front of your wallet, or the one in the back, or the one in your pocket, or from your junk drawer, they are all the same and carry the same value. An NFT, there is only one of a kind, each with a unique value.
In an effort to show utility for NFTs, the early adoption was with digital art. A creator or artist can publish or “mint” their art as an NFT and whoever purchases the NFT would be the authentic owner of that art. For me, there were too many holes with this example for me to grasp onto and I quickly dismissed the value of an NFT utility. Then I heard of some examples that caught my interest much like Bitcoin did back in 2014. Think of the title of your home, there is only one, and you are the owner of it. That could easily become an NFT and rather than purchasing title insurance, the owner of the NFT is verified on the blockchain network. I know, as I explain this, that seems like it is really far in the future, and maybe it is but it is coming. The same is true for a drivers license or any government issued ID. They could be issued as an NFT that you keep in your crypto wallet.
As I continued to digest what I was learning about NFTs, I was looking for other ways an NFT could be applied. I heard of Gary Vaynerchuk. Gary is a podcaster, wine seller, and social media influencer. During the pandemic, Gary started an NFT project called VeeFriends. The way it works is Gary minted over 10,000 doodles of different animals such as Passionate Parrot. Each NFT in addition to the art (which was not very special) you also gained access to Gary. Some of the NFTs also gave you 30 minutes of business consulting with Gary, dinner with Gary, or a game of chess with Gary. Gary also promised to hold an annual conference for the holders of his NFT and the NFT serves as your ticket to the conference.
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Since launching VeeFriends, Gary has continued to “airdrop” more assets and value to his NFT holders. There is also a healthy aftermarket for NFTs and because they are bought and sold within the Etherium smart contract network, Gary earns a 10% royalty on every resale of his NFTs.
How NFTs Can Be Utilized
When I heard about VeeFriends, my mind began to wonder and to explore other NFT uses. I was working on a Chamber Podcast Course at the time I learned about VeeFriends. I had the thought of launching my course as an NFT essentially to give access to the course. My thought was if I only had 10 NFTs for my course, once a chamber took the course and learned how to podcast, they no longer have a need for it. Why not allow them to resell the course to another chamber. This would allow for the first chamber to recover their investment after they got the value they needed, and then they would have motivation to resell and essentially market the course to other chambers and I could get a royalty for the ongoing resells of the course. Great idea right? I think it was a great idea, a couple years too early…
That led me to think about chambers in general. As a membership organization, it is all about providing access to information, events, opportunities, products, etc. Why not bundle these offerings into a tiered dues type of NFT project? Because they are based on smart contracts, if a business were to move, they could sell their membership and you would get a commission or royalty. Your ambassadors could purchase multiple NFTs and sell them to other businesses. The NFT would be their ticket to your annual meeting, luncheons, trainings, etc. Businesses could purchase multiple NFTs for other staff members. You could set the terms within the smart contract for how long the NFT was good for, 1 year, 2 years, etc. I hope this is giving you some ideas.
As the idea of NFTs for membership continues to evolve, we could see a time where a DAO could be set up. A DAO is a decentralized autonomous organization. Essentially, this DAO could function as a board of directors. The options are limitless. However, timing is everything. At this stage, I believe education is key. Do what you can to learn about crypto currency, Bitcoin, and NFTs. Play with some “live ammo” or in other words make some small purchases to see how these things work so you know how to educate your members as the time comes.
Again, the purpose of this article is not for you to stop the way you are doing things and to make a hard pivot, but rather as Wayne Gretsky says skate to where the puck is headed rather than where it is.
If you would like to start playing in the crypto world, I do have an affiliate link for Coinbase which would give you and I both $10 worth of Bitcoin if you use the link provided.
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I recently interviewed Bill Sisson on the Chamber Chat Podcast and in our discussion, he mentioned something as we were wrapping up the interview which caught my attention. It was off of the planned topic that we were discussing, but he mentioned that entrepreneurship attracts diversity. I had never thought about entrepreneurship in those terms before. We ended that podcast recording and I continued to ponder that statement over the next couple of weeks.
Entrepreneurship Programs
I realize that for a long time, Chambers of Commerce did not have a unique selling proposition for entrepreneurs. Chambers did not have the toolset to dedicate to such a small segment of their business population. Besides, an overwhelming percentage of entrepreneurs fail or are forced to close their business within the first two years. Why should a chamber pay much attention to a small business who is here today and potentially gone tomorrow?
If we have learned anything over the past couple of years through the COVID pandemic, we should apply those lessons going forward. One phenomenon that we witnessed has been titled ‘the great resignation’. During the pandemic, for a variety of reasons, employees of many industries decided to call it quits. At least that is how the news is presented to us. As you drive around town, you are likely to see help wanted or now hiring signs in store and restaurant windows. Chambers have been a great resource to help find this needed workforce, but what about the people who resigned?
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Great Resignation
One of the influences which led to the great resignation is that the federal government issued very large stimulus checks while at the same time, people were not traveling for work or leisure and their overall expenses went down significantly during the pandemic. Some of these newly unemployed individuals were now seeing their situation as a great opportunity to take their newfound free time and seed money to make their dreams come true by starting their own business.
I am staging this article in this way to stress the influx of new entrepreneurs in your community. If it is true that most new businesses fail within the first two years, then shouldn’t your chamber do something to help these businesses overcome those odds so they can build something of value to your community, be a part of your organization, and employ more individuals?
Who Are Entrepreneurs?
As we take a closer look at some of the people who decide to go out on their own often do so out of necessity. I have heard some entrepreneurs joke about starting their own business because they were unemployable themselves. This necessity may be due to a handicap. Maybe the entrepreneur is a single mom who needed more flexible hours to still be there for her children. These entrepreneurs could be people who have felt marginalized throughout their employment history and were tired of being looked over for a promotion or even to get hired. Some entrepreneurs don’t have the “needed experience” to get a traditional job.
As we consider the reasons why someone may have taken the entrepreneurial journey, we find out that they are disabled veterans, they are young professionals, they are within the LBGTQ community, they are of minority races, they are women owned businesses. Each of these entrepreneurs fit into any chamber’s diversity, equity, and inclusion outreach programs.
Possible Direction
So, what can you do with this information? First, I would encourage you to ponder this idea and to look deeper into your community. Reach out to a half dozen entrepreneurs in your community and ask them questions about why they decided to go the entrepreneurial route. Then, once you have more specific data for your community, I would encourage you to research what some other chambers have done to build strong entrepreneurial programs.
One example that comes to mind is Greater Fort Wayne, Inc. I interviewed John Urbahns in 2020 and 2021 as an ACCE Chamber of the Year Finalist. One of the programs that he highlighted in our interview as their entrepreneurial bridge program. This program took applicants to both be mentors and mentees. In other words, a more established business owner would essentially sponsor an entrepreneur in their community, not for just a year or two, they would make a 5 year commitment to mentor their entrepreneur to help them succeed.
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I could go on and on trying to explain how this program works and why I think it is so great, but it might do the program better justice if you check out the interview and learn about it directly from John.
By using the example of this entrepreneurial bridge program, if you were to introduce 10 entrepreneurs to a program like this each year, by the 5 year mark, you would have 50 entrepreneurs learning the ins and outs of business from a successful business owner in your community. Do you think a program like this could help to break down some barriers? Do you think the success rate of these entrepreneurs would go up or down if they were part of a program like this? Overall would your community be better or worse off by implementing a bridge program?
More than anything, I want us to learn from the lessons that were presented to us through the pandemic and the subsequent movements around race and inequality. I know your chamber has probably already taken a deep look into your organization to see what changes can or should be made. I just want to present ideas for you to conduct your own R&D (ripoff & duplicate) because I believe a stronger, more influential chamber leads to a stronger community.
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Below is an auto-generated transcription of my conversation with Chris Russell. Because this is auto-generated there are likely some grammatical errors but it is still a useful tool to search text within this podcast episode.
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Brandon Burton 0:00 This is the Chamber Chat Podcast, the show dedicated to chamber professionals to spark ideas and to get actionable tips and strategies to better serve your members and community.
Unknown Speaker 0:14 And now your host, the rich of his podcast has far exceeded what he ever imagined.
Voiceover Talent 0:20 He’s my dad Brandon Burton.
Brandon Burton 0:22 Hello, Chamber Champions. Welcome to the Chamber Chat Podcast. I’m your host, Brandon Burton, and it’s my goal to introduce you to people and ideas to better help you serve your Chamber members and your community.
Diann Rogers 0:46 As a medium sized chamber, we recognize that it’s absolutely critical to have a well qualified and well trained membership development person. Holman Brothers trained that person, recruited that person then they even trained me on how to manage that person. We’re grateful for the support we got.
Brandon Burton 1:00 You can learn more about Holman Brothers Membership Sales Solutions by visiting holmanbros.com.
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Guest Introduction
Our guest for this episode is Chris Russell. Chris joined the Nixa Chamber as the president and CEO and that’s Nixa, Missouri. He joined as the president CEO in March of 2018. Prior to his role, he spent several years in the real estate world with Keller Williams as a trainer, business coach and Team Leader of local ever local office. Chris also spent six years serving on Nixa city council, in addition to his many years volunteering at various capacities in his community, including 25 years as a high school football announcer. Currently, he not only serves the chamber, he serves on many other boards in the next area, the next chamber was a struggling chamber that really needed a boost. When he took over they had around 325 members and now have over 550 members and I’ve increased the annual budget by over $200,000. The Nixa chamber hosts on average about 110 various events from ribbon cuttings, groundbreaking ceremonies and luncheons are actually shows her thinks that luncheons are boring networking events, and they took over the town’s annual festival, that in 2018 was on the brink of being cancelled to now an averaging over 25,000 people in 2019, and even more in 2021. They also hold an annual business expo called Nick’s bow, which brought close to 4000 in just last month, and last year, they brought back the town’s firework show that had been gone for nearly 10 years. His latest thing he’s working on now is to bring the chamber world into the VR world, which sounds very interesting. Chris, welcome to Chamber Champions is share something interesting,
Chris Russell 2:51 Right and thank you so much. Well, here’s an interesting fact talking about Nixa. We’re the only Nixa in the entire world. Located right here to southwest Missouri. So if you know where Branson Missouri is, or Springfield, Missouri, we’re actually about 10 minutes south of Springfield and about 20 minutes nor I actually probably 3035 minutes north of Branson, but there’s parts of Brandon and get to pretty quick. So we sit right here in the center of the Southwest Missouri hub and glad to be here on the show with you today. Brandon only mix in the world. And another fun fact, we’re the home of Jason Bourne actually in high school. His name was David Webb. So if you ever watched the Bourne Supremacy, movies, all that kind of stuff, they say, Jason, whenever your front name was David Webb, you’re from Nixon, Missouri, so Yeah, fun fact.
Brandon Burton 3:29 I didn’t know that. Yeah, that’s
Chris Russell 3:31 yeah. The movie theater, watch the movies. He goes, You’re from Nixa, Missouri. When I went. I was like, What the heck? You know, that’s kind of crazy. I
Brandon Burton 3:38 know where that is. Well, tell us a little bit about the Nixa chamber. Yeah, besides being the only Nixon in the world, maybe sighs. You mentioned budget staff.
About the Nixa Chamber
Chris Russell 3:50 Yeah. So I have a staff of for two full timers and one part timer. We have a retired person. She’s also serves on the city council, but she comes in and covers lunches. So we can go do various events and activities and those kinds of things. And then I have an Events Coordinator, which she’s frantically preparing our big, huge Secretary music arts and crafts festival coming up in two weeks. And then we have our operations and membership director, which is at Christiana, and she course takes care of all membership related stuff, making sure our sponsors get taken care of those kinds of things. And then of course, my job is to kind of be that logistics guy, the big thinker guy, I’m in all the economic development meetings, planning meetings, of course, I’ll step in and meet with members and kind of puff them up a little bit. And then, you know, really, I love to sit down with our businesses and have one on one discussions. I had a new business startup come in here yesterday, we did a coaching session for about an hour about all the things that she needs to be doing to get prepared. So that’s kind of my role and kind of kept keep keep the ship moving forward, if that makes sense. Yeah, we have right at 557 Members, I think is what it was last week at our board meeting. We’re growing. We’ve actually continued to grow through the last two years, I think in the year of COVID we to 2020 122 new members As, and we have about a 91% attrition rate or mean, retention, retention rate, I don’t want to do
Brandon Burton 5:06 anything, you don’t want to brag about what you
Chris Russell 5:08 were there. And you know why? And here’s the thing, right? And it’s not me. I mean, yeah, we have some energy. And I bring a lot of fun ideas. But, man, I tell you what, I’m just really proud of the way that our community rallies upon around our chamber. And it’s all of our great board members are ambassadors, and we work with them, we do fun things for them, we encourage them and, and that is something that I’ve found that is really the lifeblood of our chambers growth is creating those great big fans out there and giving them a chance to be leaders to be seen to be to to listen to them to take their ideas and implement them and and make it one big family because that’s that’s where chambers really grow is when you have great support from the members and the community.
Brandon Burton 5:51 Absolutely. And I think that is a perfect segue into what our topic for today is, which is, chambers all over get asked the question whether to their face or behind their back of what is the chamber do? So the point of our discussion today, you guys are very active with events and activities. So the topic that we settled on is eliminating the question of what is your chamber do so we’ll get into that discussion as soon as we get back from this quick break.
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All right, Chris, we’re back. So as I teased with the topic for this discussion, eliminating the question of what is your chamber do? When was the last time you were asked? What is the next chamber? Do?
Topic-Eliminate the Question of “What does Your Chamber Do?”
Chris Russell 8:34 You know we still get it? Um, the lady who came in yesterday just to pop in she wanted to know what a chamber does, right? I mean, but they she was new, and she was new to entrepreneur, one wants to open up a juice bar here in town and really wanted to know what the next chamber was. The funny thing was, is that her food supplier, which is like us foods or something, they told her that she needed to come to the next chamber. And so I thought, well, that’s the first time that’s happened. You know, not a lot of times we get referrals from other Chamber members, but from a national distributor saying you really need to go in and I hear great things about the next chamber. And that that made me smile that made me happy. So So we still get that question, but we tried to eliminate that, you know, one of the things that I think we were already moving in this direction of really being not only business to business, that’s a big part of what chambers do, right? We create those networking opportunities. We create those training opportunities, we create those you know, the luncheons or whatever and those type of events, ribbon cuttings, of course, and that’s a lot of that business to business and we need to still do that. That’s that’s good old fashioned chamber one on one right there. What I noticed is that especially in a town like Nixa so we’re our population here in the city limits about 25,000 people. We look in the zip code, we’re about 32,000. But we’re tucked right up next to Springfield, which is 180,000 people and their chambers about 1300 people members and we’re we’re about 550 and what we noticed is that when you’re when you’re in a town this size, and we’re really in that suburb of Springfield, we have a lot of that service sector businesses we don’t have that many businesses that that actually attract people from around the area to come in here we have a handful, right? What I mean is that I’m not passing this franchise in Springfield to come to the franchise and Nixa. Does that make sense? Yeah. I’m not passing that dentist in Springfield to come to the dentist in Nixa. We do have a few Nick’s of hardware, it’s kind of renowned that they’re they track regionally, a lot of people that come in. So we started taking on this idea that if we’re going to help our small businesses grow, then we need to create an avenue or a platform that also connects to our community. So if I’m, so if I’m a small business, and I’m a, my, my primary customers or clients are coming from the next a proper, I don’t I can’t afford to go spend on advertising on radio or TV that you’re paying to hit a reasonable reach. Does that make sense? So I’m paying a lot of money, but I’m also going to be reaching out to a 60 or 70 or 80 mile radius. I don’t need that my customers are coming from right here Nixa. So that’s where, when we decided to take over the town festival, when we decided to take over the printing of our directory, our printed directory right here in our chambers of outsourcing it. When we added the firework show when we decided to take our business expo to a new level that was so that we’re creating a way that our businesses have a resource right here we become the media for them to reach the clients or reach our citizens. And that that really was a game changer for me. And we saw our revenues go up because they saw that as a valid resource. I think that’s one way that we’ve kind of answered that question on what are the Chamber’s do well, we create them a platform, through our events through our activities through our new experience Nick’s app, which is this a city wide garage so we can an extent we’ve been utilizing the app to do scavenger hunts with that for people, we made this big, long list, Brandon, of all these crazy things you might find at a garage sale, and find it was actually kind of fun making the list. But oh, yeah, I remember those. And they The goal is for people to go out with a garage selling to take a picture of it, upload it to the app, and then they’ll have a chance to win some prizes on Monday. Well, that’s another
Brandon Burton 12:06 word chambers providing the prizes to engage families in the
Chris Russell 12:10 that’s people shopping out there. Right. So. So that’s one of the ways that we’ve done that. And I know that a lot of times you see, what’s that? What’s that comment parades, or whatever, you know, it’s which one do the
Brandon Burton 12:23 three P chambers and pancakes and parades and pancakes, right?
Chris Russell 12:26 And here’s the thing is that, I think, especially in our community, when we’re so close to a major metropolitan area well, and Springfield is not even that big when compared to like St. Louis, Kansas City or Tulsa. But it’s still that in our scale of things, that’s that’s how we look at it, we have got to be that resource that is also giving our citizens and a chance to connect with our businesses. And that has been the game changer, which means a little bit more work. But honestly, it’s it’s fun. I mean, yeah, it’s a lot of work to do a town festival, it’s a lot of extra work to do an app and, and to create those resources for our businesses to connect to our community. But man, they appreciate it so much.
Brandon Burton 13:04 Yeah, that’s the end, you got to know your community. So I mean, it doesn’t work necessarily for every community, but understand your community. I think the example you gave the proximity of where you are to Springfield, and what’s going to draw people into your community, you need to have those events, those things that draw people in, and then once they’re there, you’re engaging with them, you’re providing great, whether it’s entertainment, like a show or a luncheon type show or so share with us maybe some of these things that you’re doing. You mentioned the app, which I think is fantastic. And and I imagine you can get creative with that too, with even plugging in some member restaurants or something, you know, find these things and scavenger hunt and eat lunch or whatever. And but what are some of these other activities or events that you guys put
Chris Russell 13:51 on? So let’s look at let’s look at this get back to the basis of a chamber right so a couple of things that we do. One of them is you know, the Chamber luncheon, right? Everybody has a lot of people have a chamber luncheon as well. luncheons to me are boring. I mean, you listen, let’s just let’s just play this out. And I’m not saying anything about about those who had the traditional luncheon because they they are normally very informative. But they’re very, they’re very scripted, if you will. So you walk in the network for about 20 minutes, and they sit down. And then you already have your cheesecake or the chocolate cake there and you get your salad plate there. And somebody stands up and they say thank you for coming. Thank you to our sponsors. Hey, we’re back in about 20 minutes with a guest speaker today. Enjoy your meal. You sit there with your table, eat for a little bit. And then finally here comes a speaker and let’s pray together good, right? And then you’re there for 45 minutes listening to them talk about a topic that you may or may not be interested in. And then you get up and as fast as possible. Can you leave that’s that’s the typical lunch. That’s the format that we’re all used to. Well, I like it and there’s there’s a time in place for that. Absolutely. But we decided that and of course a little bits of all my personality. You heard my bio that I’ve been doing, you know football games for 25 years. I mean when you when you’re a high school football announcer any kind of an announcer MC, there’s an element of a show that goes into that. So I decided that let’s let’s change this, let’s engage as many people as we possibly can at a luncheon and let’s do it in a talk show format. So I literally if you watch like the Late Show with Jimmy Fallon or any of those late shows, you know, What’s he do? He comes on? He has his opening monologue. Well, those are jokes. We call it. Good news Nixa. So I have a segment in there sponsored actually by expose marketing here Nixa, they sponsor that segment. And I tell about good news stories, I might play a video I might tell something that happened at city council meeting, I just was at a meeting went yesterday, one of our nonprofits kind of $35,000 grant from Delta Dental to help provide additional dental services to at risk kids. So that’s a good news story. So we’ll tell that for about 10 or 15 minutes. So that’s the opening monologue. And then we usually have our sponsor break, you gotta have a spotlight sponsor. But even then, unless that person’s a rockstar speaker, I will do q&a with them with a few slides, and I engage in them. And I’ll ask questions, and I’ll talk to them and have a conversation. And they see that so much more relevant than just getting up there and having to sit there make sure that they have their seven minute time, walked out perfectly with all these slides. And that has been more powerful. And that’s why those sellout each and every year, because they feel less pressure to have to do a presentation when it’s more about me doing an interview. And then of course, we get into some other segments where will we always have a transitional video. So when we go from one element to the next, I play video, because our school system is really good about making school videos, I will go grab one of their videos and we’ll play it right there like something that’s that happened at Nexus schools or something the city of Nixa did, or I’ll make a recap video of a chamber luncheon that we did a ribbon cutting that we did, and we do all of our ribbon cuttings on Facebook Live. And so it gives us a lot of content. And then after that we get into the sponsors, then finally, we’ll get into the actual meat of the subject. You know whether it’s last month it was I had, we did some grants for one of our Community Foundation. Well, that was fun. We were giving out free money at the Chamber luncheon. The month before we did an update with what the county’s master plan is for the next five years. Well, again, me and the county commissioner doing a q&a talking about it talking about the impact that is more of a show than it is a luncheon. And it involves so many people that they feel like they’re engaged, and we sell out each and every month. That’s just one of the things that we do differently.
Brandon Burton 17:18 That’s awesome. And that sounds a lot like a podcast to me. Now the way you do the interviews. Yeah, transitions. Yeah. I mean, you’ve got the all the elements that you’re selling tickets to you’re filling a room and you’re creating a great experience.
Chris Russell 17:31 And when you walk in, we’ve got it we got pumped up music plan we’ve got normally when you walk in, it’s not that hard to make videos, you know, these days to throw a bunch of pictures of your last month, until a little loop video. And we’re walking in there’s there’s energetic music, it’s fun, they’re dancing, we actually have somebody who announces the names and when they walk in. So my main sponsor of the annual sponsor, the lunches is GenCon, CPA and Kailyn. She’ll go And now ladies and gentlemen, welcome from the chamber podcast. It’s Brianna. And then we have our ambassadors are there with pom poms, and they’re cheering them on. There’s applause when everybody walks in, it’s like you’re walking up to bat at a major league baseball game. That’s awesome element that’s different. And it’s exciting. And it brings energy and people love it.
Brandon Burton 18:18 And it breaks down some of those, you know, resistances and barriers that people might have at a typical networking type function where you’re just sitting at the table trying to small talk with the people there, like you’re having a common experience and building upon it. So I love that. You
Chris Russell 18:32 know how a lot of a lot of chambers will do like raffle drawings at a chamber event. And they usually wait to the very end, they do the raffle drawings and nobody leaves. No, we do it. First. We want to get people excited right off the bat plus, it’s a nice transition to get everybody into their seats. And as you start the raffle drawing, so that was an element that we changed as well. And that was kind of a cool thing. So there I have an ambassador comes up, she gives out the raffles. And that kind of gets everybody ready. And then all of a sudden here come to the show and bring energy and it’s just a different way of doing it. But however, I see it working Brandon and people like to be there. Our chamber luncheon next week is I told Christiane, our operations that you might want to send a reminder email and she goes, Well, we’re almost full. Are you sure we need to? So we’re selling these things out? Well in advance and people and we do season passes, too. But so that’s that’s the excitement that we bring with that event, because we do have so many cool announcements that goes on during that chamber show, not the luncheon.
Brandon Burton 19:26 spend just a minute talking about the the annual pass. I think that’s yeah,
Chris Russell 19:30 no. So yeah, yeah, it’s really been a Well, I think we had 60 Some of them sold so you can buy your annual passes. Now, the way that we do our funding, Brandon, is that we do the total resource campaign model. And that was another big game changer for us. I know a lot of chambers use that. They also use like different campaign styles. By us having 30 to 40 volunteers go out each and every year and sell our inventory for us on non dues revenue. Those are 30 to 40 Cheerleaders that are out there talking about the Nixa chamber and saying here Here’s why you as a business need to be engaged. Well, we introduced with that the season passes so that they can buy an annual pass. Businesses don’t want to have to worry about logging in each and every week or month, I’m sorry, and making sure they have their ticket for the monthly luncheon or chamber show. And so they they’re more than happy to spend a couple 100 bucks and just buy that season pass at the beginning of the year. And then that way, they know they have a ticket each and every month. We do that with our working women and Nixa, our networking group, and then also our chamber show, and I think we’ve got, I think it’s 60 or 70, I’d have to go ask my operations, exactly how many we sold last year, but we have a guaranteed built in base each and every month because they just buy them. And if they can’t make it, they’re able to take their QR code and give it to one of their colleagues in our office.
Brandon Burton 20:43 Okay, that’s all right. Great idea. So you had mentioned at the beginning about the 91% retention rate, which is great feedback, you guys are providing value, your members see the value, they understand what you do, what are their feedback, so you get back from these returning members as they renew where they see in the most value from your chamber.
Chris Russell 21:03 You know, my favorite chamber member is not necessarily the one that we see all the time. My favorite chamber member that tells you as a chamber that you’re doing a good job is that company or corporation that you hardly ever see, because they see the value, but you never see them. So they know they want they read the emails, they see the Facebook posts, maybe they check the website, occasionally, maybe they’ve downloaded the experience next app, or they’re seeing the activities that we’re doing. And each and every year, they continue to write that check for six or $700 for them to be a member of the chamber, depending on their level, our lowest is 225. And our highest I think is 700. We do that we do that Fair, fair market value model with a mix of tears. So it’s kind of a combo. It’s a hybrid model. And that that that right there tells me that your chambers healthy when they’re not worried about what they get out of the chamber. And that’s a compliment. And I love to see those windows. I love to see the renewals of those who are engaged as well. Don’t get me wrong, there’s there’s value to that too. And as new members come in, and they get engaged in the chamber, that that’s new energy, it’s new blood is new volunteers. It’s new ambassadors. But again, when you have those members who say, hey, Nixa chamber, we see what you’re doing. Thank you so much. Here’s your annual check, no questions asked. That to me tells you that you’re doing something right. Does that make sense? Brandon?
Brandon Burton 22:16 Yeah, that’s another form of feedback that speaks volumes for sure.
Chris Russell 22:21 It does. And occasionally, you’ll see them show up to something big that we’re having, which is great. We had a groundbreaking for a $4 million new business coming into downtown Nixa a few weeks ago. And that brings out people that you don’t normally see. So that was fun. But that that to me, tells us that we’re doing the right things. You know, I think I think most people know that in my community that that I’m pretty engaged. I mean, I have I grew up here, Brandon, I went to high school. If you can’t see it, we’re on video here. But we’re not on video on the podcast. But right behind me. That’s my football helmet, you know, football helmets right back there. I played quarterback for the Knicks eagles. I’ve announced the games. My dad was a fire chief in town. For many, many years. I served on city council, I volunteer a lot and a lot of areas. So this is this is my bread and butter. There’s no doubt about it. However, you still have to maintain that this doesn’t mean you get a free pass, you still have to go out there and earn the respect. And they see that I’m at the city council meetings, they see that I’m I’m in these these these committees like the Nixon Community Foundation, the downtown revitalization group, they see me emceeing events promoting our community. And I think there’s a lot of that said that, that that’s another reason they want to get behind what the Chamber’s doing, not necessarily because of me, but because they see the overall efforts. And then I see how I engage and bring people up to be leaders. And that’s that’s what’s really been powerful for us is that finding those ambassadors, finding those board members that we are highlighting and showcasing and showing the community that it’s not just about the chamber, that we’re actually giving opportunities for other people in our community, to be seen and to have the spotlight and to take ownership of whatever they’re doing. You know, I mean, like our secretary music arts and crafts festival, we have 13 different nonprofits that we work with for that event. I have organizations running the dog show for the love of canines. I got the local FFA. That’s one of the the petting zoo. I’ve got the Arts Council that’s running the art show. I mean, so we engage a lot of different groups that they get ownership of that and therefore they get the highlight and the spotlight and it makes them feel good. And then they want to be a part of our chamber.
Brandon Burton 24:23 Yeah. So you’ve mentioned soccer days a few times for those people that are not from Nixa was a soccer days is. Yeah, it’s
Chris Russell 24:31 funny is that back in the 1950s. I mean, literally the entire town. I got to there’s a poster over here my wall that shows that it’s our history panel we used on our kiosks. But anyway, it talks about how the towns close going fishing or something like that. And the 1950s I mean, they would all go down to the river and sucker fish is a native, well, they’re sacrificial all across the world, but it’s one of those Ozarks traditions that they spawn in the fall or the spring and the town will go down and try to catch a bunch of sucker fish and they would actually A camp and celebrated the river. Well, in 1957, they brought the tradition back to Nixon started an annual fish fry. And with an annual fish fry, it kind of grew from there. And in 2018, the event was ran by the traditional good ol boys group that that held the festival. And it really had taken a turn where just wasn’t, it wasn’t very good. And people actually made fun of it. And they were they were going to shut it down. And I was at a breakfast with me and the committee and the mayor. And I was like, Guys, just let me think on this, just hold on. I grew up the Saturdays, this is my hometown. And I went back to my board of directors and said, I’m going to take over Saturdays I said, we as a chamber, I said, they went wack in at that time, I was fairly new. So I joined in March 2018. Sucker days in 2018, was May, I made the decision in June, so March, April, May, June, three months into the role and I’m going we’re taking it over. And the board was like, Are you sure I said, guys, I said I got a model. And I think we can do this. And it’s going to create an opportunity for more of our businesses to be exposed to our community. And it’s actually been pretty powerful and it’s really wonderful. It’s a wonderful event in a bring 25 to 30,000 people in downtown Nixa for three days and it’s a little downtown block. It’s not even that big and it’s just fun and it’s like a Hallmark Channel event. Like a Hallmark Channel movie right and so we have the Little Miss Main Street pageant. We have the Secretary King and Queen and we do all these fun things. We’ve been doing a new thing this year, the sucker day dog king and queen we got these cute little crowns today. So you know it’s just really really engages our community and my goal was to create as many opportunities for exposure for Nixa and we have several high school groups that are engaged. We have the marching band, we have the theater department, we have the art club, we have the FFA we talked about we have the JROTC so we have all these different groups of the high school kids that are getting engaged, and to be a part of it. So it’s really, it’s really become a cool thing. It is a lot more work. And we have to dedicate a lot of time to it. We do have a great committee, but in the end, it comes down to what happens here behind the scenes to make it happen. But it’ll generate 50 to 75. Probably I think I looked at the p&l the other day, I think we’re up to depending on weather, of course, right? We know whether an outdoor festivals, if we have a great weekend and we do a lot of ride tickets, then we should generate somewhere around 70 to $75,000 in revenue.
Chris Russell 27:24 So it’s a big no. Our next, our next boat generated our business expo generate about 40,000 revenue this year. And that was 108 booths for six hours and our high school that we did our business expo. And I think the the it was 38,000. And something I had the p&l here the other
Chris Russell 27:44 We were sold out event. And again, the traffic was just unbelievable. That day, it was just nonstop traffic all day. And our businesses really liked that event. Yeah.
Brandon Burton 27:53 Well, I wanted to ask you is if you have any tip or action item for listeners to Yeah, they can do to make sure that they stay relevant. Make sure their members know what their chamber does. What would you suggest?
Action Item/Tip for Chamber Champions
Chris Russell 28:06 I’ll give you a couple of things here. First of all, unlimited thinking. I see as I talk to a lot of chambers at conferences and on some of the panels especially, you know, 2000 22,021 as we’re all kind of figuring out what was next I unlimited possibility unlimited thinking, you know, one of the very first things that we did when we found out that the city of Nixa was going to more than likely locked down the town like all of us went through, the very first thing that I did was I pulled in my staff and we re re rebuilt our master plan. We went straight to the drawing board and said, Okay, this is going to happen. How do we become more relevant? Now? The good news is, is that the next chamber I’m kind of techie, and that’s an advantage. I don’t disagree. I really am. We were already in the video world at a high level, doing Facebook Live videos with graphic overlays. And that was kind of fun things. And but we decided that it was time to take that to the next level that we weren’t going to let a lock down to slow us down. And we got creative on certain ways that we did things drive in chamber luncheons, right. I mean, we literally had everybody drive into a parking lot. And we had everybody even the cars were six feet apart. I mean, come on. But you know, the funny thing was, that was June of 2020. The funny thing was because we’re in the Midwest and southwest Missouri, and it’s a little little different than other parts of the country. So I respect that. I remember we were parking all these cars six feet apart. We had people out there with poles, making sure the cars were six feet apart. And we had our volunteers and we had box lunches were in basically hazmat suits to hand them out in June of 2020. And then what happened was as soon as they got there, you know what they did? They jumped out of the car and went jumped in with their friends. I mean, it is what it is. But it’s always thinking outside the box. What can we be doing different, right? And that’s like, you know, you and I were talking off camera before the podcast about Andre from Bentonville. And I hope you do get him on here. I look forward to that podcast. The guy was at it. We were at Mako conference and he brought up the VR headset. And I’m like, dude, I got to talk to you because I’m already there horizon worlds and meta is spinning billions upon billions of dollars creating this metaverse. And if we as chambers, don’t figure out how to grasp on or get ahead of that and get there now before everybody else does. We have local churches in southwest Missouri that have already built, already built their Metaverse church. And in addition to that, Wendy’s just spent like tons of money to build the first virtual reality world, Wendy’s, and there’s other companies that are following suit. And I’ve actually been talking to some other industry leaders don’t Hey, how do we capitalize on that I actually built within and learn how to build the world because it’s all user created content. I built one of our local parks and after Saturday’s, we’re having a virtual reality world meet up for all those who have headsets in the community. Then see the Facebook post and the invites to come in and check it out. Because we find that you can actually connect with the community easier in the VR world, you’re you have less boundaries, and how can we create that next step to connect with with Nixa. So that’s something that we’re doing. But the other thing too is, is that my other big tip is what’s been a game changer for us too, is what I call a video on the go live video on the go with graphic overlays good audio, I have taught this class to chambers all across the country, I’ve done one on one conversations, I’ve been on webinars done on the conferences, if you need help really, truly learning how to make professional looking videos, within 20 minutes when rolling up and a live ribbon cutting, I highly encourage you to reach out to me, I’d be happy to show you what we do. You go and check out Nick’s at chambers Facebook page, go to our video section, you’ll see what I’m talking about. We’re talking about rolling into a mower shop the other day, getting some quick B roll and then making a professional looking video within about 20 minutes. And so that’s something that I really think can be a game changer for your community is figuring out how to capitalize on Facebook Live video and not just a just holding up a camera and hitting record. That that has been a big game changer for us as well.
Brandon Burton 31:51 That’s awesome. So I asked everyone I have on the podcast this question and you’ve kind of been addressing it already throughout this interview. But as we look to the future of chambers, how do you see the future chambers and their purpose going forward?
Future of Chambers
Chris Russell 32:04 Well, that’s a weighted question. You know, I think you know, you’ve been talked about that a little bit of Mako and I know I had that conversation. Again, what’s that common saying that you hear when you see in one chamber, you’ve seen one? Right? I think the biggest thing is understanding your position in your community. I think that’s step number one. I’m I also know that a chamber of commerce needs to have solid relationships with all entities in your community. And I’ve talked to so many chambers who don’t have a great relationship with their city or their school system, you need to fix that you got to fix that that’s, that has to be cured that there has to be something that you focus on and making sure that those relationships are solid. But the other one is you you know we have in our mission statement to be the premier business organization and it goes on and on, will be the premier business organization. If that means you need to have events for your community than have them. And that means you need to have networking events that have them. That means that you need to be techie. And you need to be the leading edge when it comes to showcasing because you are the example that a small business who moves into your town or start does a start up in your town. They’re looking at the chamber and how they function. And if we’re not functioning that that way, then how are they expected to function that way? I have the same conversation with businesses each and every month. I say, when I’m doing coaching, I say do you close out your your books each month? And they’re like No, I said, well guess what chambers? Do we have to close out our books each month and give our p&l statements right or our current budget statements to our board for review? Well, why businesses don’t operate like that? Well, if you’re not operating like that, and you’re not doing it at a high level, then how can you expect a business to do that? So I think the future of chambers understanding where you’re at in your town, and then being the most premier business that you can, and being techie, I think you’ve got to be techie. And you got to be innovative and figure out a way to connect with your audience. All right, that makes sense. That was a lot, dude, I just don’t, that was a big break.
Brandon Burton 33:52 It’s a podcast that can hit that backup, 30 seconds button a couple times this
Chris Russell 33:56 slow down button to you know, on the podcast, you can either speed it up, you don’t need to speed up my podcast, I
Brandon Burton 34:01 was thinking, you know, I usually stick to about 30 minutes on these podcasts. But these people, their listeners are getting about 60 minutes worth of value as they listen to you.
Chris Russell 34:11 I love helping I love I love what I do. And I looked and I love to help other chambers and I think that we only get stronger. I mean, I’ve had powerful conversations with like April Bragg and Georgia and some of these other chamber pros and when I go to these conferences, I’m there to learn. And when I find people are doing things at a high level like Bentonville, Arkansas, man I become a I become a sponge. I mean he he gave us some of those tech tips. We’ve already implemented three of them, right we’re slack, there’s slack in the right now I mean there it is right there I just got another message sitting here we’re already implementing other things that we can learn from each other. If we can help each other grow with our through leadership that was another thing great about Mako was a lot of leadership portions. We all go to these these these conferences and economic development Workforce Development what to do about childcare. I don’t take care of your members. No, we need more leadership opportunities to grow as people. That’s, that’s my, that’s what I love to do is help people grow. And that’s that’s and we do it for our businesses and we should be doing it internally as well.
Brandon Burton 35:12 Absolutely. So Chris, I wanted to give you a chance to put any contact information out there for anyone that wants to reach out and connect and ask him more questions about how you’re doing things. Absolutely.
Connect with Chris Russell
Chris Russell 35:20 I’m on MySpace. MySpace is my favorite place to go to MySpace. Yeah, we’re still there. No, I’m kidding. Literally, find me on Facebook. Look up. Chris Russell Nixa, Missouri. Of course, my phone number you want to text me Call me? 417-773-7678? I’d love to talk to you. Of course, we can do. email chrisrussell@nixachamber.com, actually, probably not on the email me email sucks. I hate that platform. It’s terrible. It really is. I mean, we’ve got to figure out a way to get past email. I mean, it really is becoming a burden. I think for all of us. Would you not agree, Brandon? memb. Yeah, me emailed me the other day about the bio and I didn’t even see it. And it took you a reminder email for me to go in and type the bio out. Yeah, yeah. It’s just not a great connect. So call me or text me, that’s probably the best thing.
Brandon Burton 36:07 Okay. I’ll get that in the show notes for this episode. So people can check that out and connect with Chris and he’s got lots of ideas, lots of energy, and he loves to share these ideas too. So do reach out and connect with him. Learn from him, let him learn from you. And, you know, make everybody better.
Chris Russell 36:25 I want to learn from you too, man. I want to find out what you’re doing. That’s, that’s the main thing. You just never know what you’re gonna learn. That’s right.
Brandon Burton 36:31 Well, Chris, this has been great, great discussion. I appreciate you being with me today on Chamber Chat Podcast and provided a ton of value. Appreciate it.
Chris Russell 36:40 Oh, thank you for having me, Brian. Appreciate it. Great job on your show too. It’s awesome.
Brandon Burton 36:43 If you are a chamber professional, please subscribe to Chamber Chat Podcast in Apple podcast, Google podcasts or Spotify. When you subscribe to Chamber Chat Podcast new episodes will show up in your podcast app each week as they are released. If you’re finding value in this podcast, please leave us a rating and a review in iTunes. But most importantly, please share Chamber Chat Podcast with your colleagues that are in the industry.
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Below is an auto-generated transcription of my conversation with Bill Sisson. Because this is auto-generated there are likely some grammatical errors but it is still a useful tool to search text within this podcast episode.
Feel free to join our Chamber Chat Champions Facebook Group to discuss this episode and to share your own experiences and tips with other Chamber Champions.
Brandon Burton 0:00 This is the Chamber Chat Podcast, the show dedicated to chamber professionals to spark ideas and to get actionable tips and strategies to better serve your members and community.
Voiceover Talent 0:14 And now your host he is excited that his new home gym is now complete. Here’s my dad Brandon Burton.
Brandon Burton 0:20 Hello Chamber Champions. Welcome to the Chamber Chat Podcast. I’m your host Brandon Burton, where it’s my goal to introduce you to people and ideas to better help you serve your members and your community.
Tony Felker 0:43 One of the key benefits that we’ve realized from Holman Brothers it’s actually happened many years after we started using them. We just completed our new strategic plan and understanding those subtle differences between transactional benefits and transformational benefits. The companies that knew what they expect has been a key part in our strategic plan. And we really want to thank Holman Brothers for that.
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Guest Introduction
Our guests for this episode is Bill Sisson. Bill is the president and CEO of William B Sisson and Associates, an economic and community development consulting business located in the Atlanta Georgia area. Prior to starting his business, he served as the president and CEO of the Mobile Area Chamber of Commerce and Mobile, Alabama, from 2013 through 2021. Bill also served as executive director for the Mobile Alabama airport authority from 2008 through 2013. In that position, he was responsible for the mobile Regional Airport at Bakersfield and the Brookley industrial complex near downtown Mobile, the two airfields combined to make up more than 3700 acres of prime industrial development property in the central Gulf Coast region. Before joining the airport authority bill served as vice president of economic development at the Mobile Area Chamber of Commerce and as Vice President of Business Development at the Birmingham Alabama Regional Chamber of Commerce. his professional career includes positions held at the University of Southern Mississippi and at Dominion Bank shares and first Virginia bank in Roanoke, Virginia. Bill earned his MBA from the University of Alabama and a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from James Madison University in Harrisburg, Virginia. He also holds a diploma from the Institute of organizational management. He is a member of Rotary International and has served on the boards of various local community organizations. He has also served on the board of directors for ACCE the committee of 100 of the US Chamber of Commerce and the Business Council of Alabama, and is a past chairman of the Chamber of Commerce association of Alabama. Bill, I’m excited to have you with me today here on chamber tap podcast, I’d like for you just to take a moment to say hello to all the Chamber Champions out there listening and share something interesting about yourself so you can get to know you a little bit better.
Bill Sisson 3:11 Well, Greetings, everyone. It’s a pleasure to be with you this morning, Brian, and thank you so much for the invitation to join you. You’re asked to share something interesting. And you sort of covered that in the bio in that, although I have worked in economic change or development really for most of my career over 30 years. And I did have that stint at the mobile airport authority. And that was decidedly different than anything that I had done before. It probably makes more sense if I explained that a lot of economic development was taking place at the at the mobile airport authority because of, as you mentioned, the Brookley aeroplanes, which is the largest industrial, you know, site in the in the mid the mid Gulf Coast. So that’s where Airbus located a number of years ago, and they just recently announced an expansion there as a matter of fact, so that was a different world going into aviation. I’m not a pilot. And in fact, when the board of directors came to me to ask me to take the position as executive director there, I was at the Chamber of Commerce at the time doing economic development. My first response was, Well, I don’t know anything about running an airport. So you can learn that and, and actually, it did end up being a great experience. So that’s a sort of a outlier part of my career, but it was certainly good for me during the process.
Brandon Burton 4:40 I could see where that could be a little bit overwhelming jumping into a field that you’re totally unfamiliar with, but I see a lot of parallels with economic development, as he had mentioned. Absolutely. So well share with us I know I shared in your bio, but I’d like for you to share maybe a little bit more background on your background working at chamber and economic development work just to kind of help set the table for our discussion today. And, and it may help just to give some perspective to the size of those organizations you
Bill Sisson 5:09 worked with as well. Yeah, I’d be happy to do that. While I was in graduate school at the University of Alabama, I’m actually did an assistantship there, I worked for the Alabama Productivity Center, and there was an executive on loan from Alabama Power, who introduced me to a job that was coming up at the Birmingham Regional Chamber. So people often wonder how people get into the chamber. That’s how I fell into it. I’ve always been interested in chambers of commerce, you know, even growing up, I was interested in what they did. You know, business developments always been something that I have observed and watched and wanted to be involved in. So it’s actually a really good fit for me. And as they say, the rest is history. I was involved in business development at the Chamber in Birmingham, which scale was a very large chamber. They had, I think, 55 on staff, or 4000. Members. And that’s where I first got involved in economic development. It’s when I went to chamber Institute learned more about the profession, we were working hand in hand with the separate economic development organization in Birmingham called the Metropolitan development board. But we still had a very strong role in economic development, which I can go into a little bit more as we continue this discussion. But we were basically responsible for ancillary economic development, you know, retail development, working with smaller prospects, providing research to the economic development, organization, and so forth. I left there to go work at the University of Southern Miss, and I worked there and they’re ran their community, their Center for Community and Economic Development, their people can get their their master’s degree in economic development in Southern Miss. And so that was, you know, a great learning experience for me to understand a little bit more how universities tick, because they have a huge role in economic development, as we all know. And then, of course, the research side of that, you know, that that was a great experience, I was recruited to come back to Alabama to be the economic developer, the Vice President of economic development for the mobile area Chamber of Commerce. And, you know, I did that stint for, you know, five, almost six years before, as I mentioned, going to the airport authority, and then was brought back to the chamber immobile to be the president and CEO, which I was in that role until very recently. That chamber also has a large chamber, they affording on staff, about a $6 million annual budget, little over 2000. Members. So I have primarily worked in larger, larger chambers, but I’m certainly a partner with smaller chambers, all along that, you know, along that road.
Brandon Burton 8:06 Yeah, I think that really helps is, we haven’t mentioned yet what our topic is today, but people may have seen from their podcast player, the topic being the economic development role of every chamber, so not just the big chambers that have that that task and responsibility of economic development. But even some of these smaller more local chambers, they have a role as well. So I’m excited to dive into this discussion with you as you’ve had experience with that direct responsibility and not so much directly. So to get your perspective on that as soon as we get back from this quick break.
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Topic-The Economic Development Role of Every Chamber
All right, Bill, we are back. And as I mentioned before the break our topic of the role of economic development for every chamber. So obviously, you’ve had a vast experience with economic development, whether it was something that you were tasked with directly or you were helping to support the economic development agency in your area, all the way to being the Director of Economic Development. So you’ve seen the the wide spectrum. So I’d love for you just to share from your experience. Maybe first of all, let’s let’s talk about some of the smaller chambers. What what role could a smaller local chamber have in economic development, if they’re surrounded by, you know, the 800 pound gorillas in the region that really run away with with economic development?
Bill Sisson 12:12 Well, I think that I’m very bullish on the fact that all chambers no matter the size, no matter whether they have direct role in economic development, or not, that they should be involved in that process. So I think as a director or vice president of a chamber, you really ought to be pushing to have a seat at the table. And here’s why really, um, as we all know, you know, chambers are different in every community, they take on the character of the community in which they’re located. This is true, but sometimes I hear small chambers say, Well, I don’t really do economic development, but but really, they are involved in economic development, if nothing more than on the existing business side of that side of the equation. I think that a smaller local chamber has an extremely important role in helping business prospects, businesses that are and individuals that are moving to the community, relocating to the community, helping them to connect with existing businesses that are there, and then is a very, very important role. As new businesses relocate, especially if they’re coming from overseas, they really want to know, hey, the water’s fine here. A chamber even if they’re not directly involved in the economic development process, the chamber can certainly set up those meetings, and help that company to understand the experience, hopefully positive one that existing businesses have had and are having in the community. And I think maybe most importantly, the chamber can illustrate that it is a pro business environment in which a business can grow, be happy, healthy, and continue to expand and add additional jobs as as time goes on. So that’s one very important role, and there are others. But that one, certainly in my opinion, sort of rises to the surface of what any chamber can
Brandon Burton 14:12 do. So as you mentioned, the role of connecting these businesses that are looking to relocate to a certain area and connecting them with existing businesses and showing them you know, how great the community is, would you suggest maybe connecting them with other businesses of a similar size, maybe different industry that similar size or maybe supportive type businesses who could develop a long term relationship with them? Should they make the move what what would be your thinking behind that?
Bill Sisson 14:41 So my thinking would be all of that, really, I mean, I think some, you know, of course meetings with similarly sized organization in similar sectors, but I think also hearing from other sectors and other sized businesses is helpful, as well. And of course, the site if there’s a site selector involved in this process, they would, of course, help direct that they would, they would ask you to, you know, find those existing businesses that are appropriate for those for those interviews, but being the facilitator and the convener of that, really nobody else that can do that quite like a chamber, or they are the members of the organization. So, you know, and in most existing businesses want to help, they want to help and they want to, you know, the sing the praises of the community, from the rooftops, so to speak. So, it’s a pivotal role in the process.
Brandon Burton 15:33 Yeah. What about any kind of, for lack of a better term on the call it marketing material from a smaller chambers perspective to maybe as packages are getting put together, I come from the publishing, industry, chamber publishing. So I think in terms of a media kit, right, somebody wants to do some advertising and send them some samples, media kits, I would anticipate with economic development, there’s some sort of package, it’s probably done more digitally now. But maybe there are some physical items, you send, magazines, brochures, maps, you know, things that have the area, are there things that come to mind, again, from the smaller chamber perspective that maybe they ought to be mindful of to try to include in these type of packets that go out to these businesses,
Bill Sisson 16:24 I’m really glad that you brought that up, Brandon, because I don’t think anything has changed as much as that since I’ve been in this business, you know, used to be you put those physical packages together, right, that you sent out to the business prospects, everything’s digital now. Which means that it has to be the, it has to be up to date, it has to be very current, there’s no forgiving of, you know, research or information with whiskers on it, that this is not going to work. And I think that it’s important for, for chambers to realize that they are the gateway to the community in many cases. So there may be some research that is going on way before anybody locally, or at the state levels, even contacted by the business or the site selector, where they’re doing some pre, you know, work some some research. So if they have bad information on their, on their website, that is going to get the community eliminated pretty quickly. So it’s really important for the chamber, regardless of whether they think they had that role or not to have information digitally, completely up to date, as if they’re on display display, you know, at any given moment, which they could be. So that’s an, I’m so glad you brought that up, because I think a lot of communities miss the mark, because of because of that,
Brandon Burton 17:46 I had actually just come across a chamber probably a month ago, that really was talking about their relocation guide that they, you know, their chamber directory relocation guide. And their economic development director said, you know, we use these in our packets that we send out for, you know, trying to recruit businesses to the area, because it’s a great snapshot of what our community is about, it gives a feel of the vibe and the community layout and all that. And that’s a great idea to include something like that, as you try to attract business to your area. So having something you’re proud of, to showcase and have have good articles and information in there that can help guide a decision. So
Bill Sisson 18:25 it also, you know, the service after the sale is so important in this work. And a lot of times I see that get I see that sort of fall through the cracks, but communities that do that, well, you know, really are going to be successful. And what I mean by that is, you know, helping the company assimilate into the community in a positive way. I’ll be honest with you, I have seen, particularly international companies relocate and do it very well. And I’ve seen them do it poorly. And, you know, their success in the community has to do with how well they assimilate into the, into the community. So wherever the chamber can help with that, to help, you know, connect them help them to understand what’s important in the community, whether it’s United Way or or what other, you know, whatever organization is integral to the community, but also helping individuals families to settle in smoothly, particularly with international prospects, because there’s, there’s families are moving here and know very little of how things really work. You know, how to get a cell phone, checking account, you know, just so many things that we just sort of, you know, sort of do in our sleep. They’ve got to start fresh and do it in a different way. So anyway, one of the things we did to iMobile chamber which I was quite proud of is develop a program called mobiel Connect, which was all about helping families that were moving to the area to I’m connect with, you know, movie Aliens into, to sort of develop those friendships quickly. So that those folks can be ambassadors and help them get get used to the community and to feel a part of the community as quickly as possible.
Brandon Burton 20:14 So I’m glad you brought that up. Because I think that is a key part of making a move easier, right, to be able to welcome those employees, that company with open arms, help them become part of the community. What are some examples with mobile connect that, you know, some tangible items that people can maybe get some of those ideas? And again, we can implement something like that in our community?
Bill Sisson 20:38 Where do you see success? I’m happy to share that. Yeah, um, you know, we did bimonthly, every other month sessions, where we would have a topic about the community, whether it’s the history of the history of the community, you know, the arcs in the community, certainly, you know, we did an economic development, you know, section of that as well to help them understand how economic development, you know, works in the community. But it also provided a social environment, because we always, you know, had heavy hors d’oeuvres and encouraged people to invite the newcomers out to dinner afterwards, to, you know, make those connections as quickly as possible, but giving them sort of a an overview of the community. I kind of, you know, I explain it, it’s sort of like a leadership class, except for the newcomers, so that they can learn more about the community quickly, and it was wildly successful, I was sort of surprised at how appreciative they were, the newcomers were to learn about the community and to understand a little bit more about the arts, fabric, and, and so forth. So, you know, I would highly recommend people look at that, maybe just some simple way, maybe one session, you know, but do something like that, to help people to connect quickly.
Brandon Burton 22:01 So, as you were explaining about that, it made me think, Yeah, I’ve seen before where a big corporation moves to a city, and they get a lot of attention from the city from the chamber, economic development. And you’re always going to have a handful of those Chamber members that feel slighted. Like you’re getting all the attention to the big corporation that just moved here, they can have a role in helping to welcome them, helping them to integrate into the community, I can see where that really strengthens the relationship, even with those existing members to say, look, you’ve got a new customer base, if you’re making new connections here. You’ve I mean, it just supports everything. So I think that is such a key part to not Shun, you know, the your existing members, but make them be a part of welcoming these new companies into town.
Bill Sisson 22:51 Yeah, Brandon, you’ve actually cracked the code there. No, seriously. We saw it as a way to not only help the new business coming, and certainly the families coming, but as a way to thank our investors, who were so involved in the process and helping us help them to make those connections, because, you know, the bonuses is that in many cases, they develop those relationships, and they end up being able to do business with, you know, some of those businesses that are that are coming to the area. So we saw it as a membership retention tool, as well.
Brandon Burton 23:27 Yeah, absolutely. So, maybe share with us some some thoughts from the larger chamber perspective. They are tasked with external economic development, they may have dedicated staff, you know, a number of staff dedicated towards economic development. I think some of this is becomes a little bit obvious because especially those listening, they’re kind of in the trenches, and they’re, they’ve been trained and they go to seminars and everything they certifications, they know, kind of the ins and outs. But I’m curious, from a larger chamber perspective, how can they work together with some of those smaller chambers within their region, to really boost economic development as a whole?
Bill Sisson 24:11 I think one of the main ways that the to sort of be a regional approach with all the regional chambers involved would be in the tradeshow arena. You know, I’m a big believer in when you’re showcasing your community at say, like the Paris Air Show, for example, that you have a regional push. And that means involving the other economic development organizations in the region, maybe throughout the state, but certainly the chambers of commerce in that area, invite them to come along, be a part of the booth, be a part of the process because I think whenever you can show that your community is united, and that it will be sort of a one stop shop for the business if they really relocate to the area. It is a huge positive for the community. So that’s one, you know, easy way to, to have that regional push that’s so important in this in this business.
Brandon Burton 25:11 So talent attraction, workforce development, they’re hot topics in the chamber world economic development as well. So they’re very closely related to economic development. It’s kind of a chicken or an egg. Kind of a thing, though, as I see it, you either have the workforce to support that company, or you’re trying to attract the company, and then hope with the promise that you can deliver the workforce. How do you think a community goes about workforce and talent attraction?
Bill Sisson 25:43 I think really focusing on why people rooms, I think, is incredibly important these days to sort of like I was talking about with that mobile Connect program, to have similar programs that are geared towards college graduates or about to be college graduates to help them connect with businesses in the local community, if your community is fortunate enough to have a university, there should be a lot of effort and helping those students to stay in your community, and to end up with a job in your community. So programs to help make those connections to to help the businesses to connect with those seem to be graduates, it’s golden. And again, I see a lot of communities sort of forgetting to do that. And if you just rely on businesses to reach out to those local graduates, you’re probably going to be disappointed. As we all know, they will often complain that they can’t find our workforce, but they’re not necessarily going to have a an organized program for reaching out to the local university graduates. So that’s where the chamber can come in. And, I mean, we’re the best conveners out there. Right. And so that’s an example of convening and bringing together those, that that workforce with business in the local area.
Brandon Burton 27:10 And I think being that that convener, that facilitator of setting up some internships, you know, in a sophomore and junior year of a college student is so critical for them to see I can stay here I love, you know, going to school here, why wouldn’t I develop the built my my life here after graduation?
Bill Sisson 27:27 Exactly. And then, you know, of course, that same program can be used to attract college graduates from outside of the the region as well. So, if a chamber does not have such a program, they need to get to work on developing that kind of program. Because as it’s almost cliche to say, but the workforce today they move where they want to move. They’re not necessarily just moving to where you know, the industry is or the businesses, they’re gonna pick their location. So chambers may be involved in helping sell the community that hey, this is a great place to live, work and eventually raise a family brass?
Brandon Burton 28:08 Absolutely. Well, as we start to wrap things up here, I wanted to ask you, if you might have one tip or an action item for Chamber Champions listening that they might be able to do to lift their organization up to the next level.
Action Item/Tip for Chamber Champions
Bill Sisson 28:22 You know, plain and simple I, you know, if you’re not already involved in your state, chamber Association, I’m a big believer in ACCE. I’m also a big believer in education through podcasts, like like, like the you facilitate Brandon, those ways to continue to learn and to network. And I just look back on my career. And I think that where I grew the most and learned the most were in those associations where I can meet with people that were dealing with the same things that that I was dealing with. And maybe I could not make the mistake that they made. Maybe I could share a mistake that I made, you know, it’s just a great way to learn and to continue to grow. The other thing is, and I had a professor years ago, you know, because I’m an old guy now, but years ago, he said, one piece of advice is to not be tied down to a house or community too much. It’s very easy to be comfortable wherever you know, you’re located. But in many cases in the chamber of business, if you’re going to advance, you have to be willing to make some moves. Now, having said that, I completely respect if somebody wants to sort of stay in place while their kids are in those formative years and in middle and high school or, or whatever. But I think the willingness to move to advance the career, it’s not bad advice
Brandon Burton 29:57 at all. Yeah, and Add them may be a tough one for somebody to swallow you get so committed in your community to then uproot and start over at a new community that can be so well, I like asking everyone that I have on the show this question is, as we look to the future of chambers of commerce, how do you see the future of chambers and their purpose going forward?
Future of Chambers
Bill Sisson 30:23 I think that chambers must get more and more involved in entrepreneurial activity. And that has been a big change since I first got into this business. Now, I think, you know, the entrepreneurial side is overshadowing everything else. And I really like it because it enables a framework for so much more diversity, equity and inclusion than typical economic development. And, you know, it leads to the business community beginning to look more like the demographics of the community in which the chamber is located. What I mean by that is, you know, we started an incubator at the mobile chamber while I was there, we were fortunate to get an EDA grant. It has exceeded every expectation we had as it relates to diversity, equity inclusion in that over 60% of the businesses are either minority or women that have started up out of that out of that incubator. That’s more that’s more like that’s more like the true face of the community. So I see that certainly as the future. And I think that the convening role that I talked about earlier, that’s the future we will continue to be a great convener organization in any community, I’ve always joked that, you know, being in the chamber business ensures that your conservative friends will swear that that you know, the chamber and you are, you know, wildly liberal. And your liberal friends think that the chamber is all about corporate greed and such, right, yeah. So I guess that the the true testament of that is that we’re in the same middle, which, you know, that’s a very strong position to be in as far as being able to convene all parties and bring all parties to the table. So I hope that doesn’t change. But I think that will continue into the future.
Brandon Burton 32:24 Yeah. And I think that need is so much more right now, to be able to do that, that same middle, that same center to bring together both sides and say, Yeah, we are working towards a common goal here.
Bill Sisson 32:35 So absolutely,
Brandon Burton 32:36 yeah. I love your response about entrepreneurship. At the chamber, I’ve not heard that response and the tie to entrepreneurship and diversity, equity inclusion, I think that’s so spot on. And I see that I see that as, as you embrace the the entrepreneurs in your community, you’re gonna see more of that reflection of the demographic and your community. Absolutely,
Bill Sisson 33:00 I would just add one thing, bring it in. And that would be you know, you can’t recruit your way to mirroring the demographics of your community isn’t very difficult to do, but you can begin to develop it from within. And that’s the beauty of that entrepreneurial, you know, economic development.
Brandon Burton 33:18 I love that. Hopefully, everybody took a note of that and start putting together a plan. But, Bill, this has been great having you on the podcast, I wanted to give you a chance to share any contact information. I know you’ve you’ve recently retired, so you might be a little harder to find than you were in the past. So what would be the best way for listener to reach out and connect with you?
Connect with Bill Sisson
Bill Sisson 33:40 Yeah, I retired from the chamber business, so to speak. But I’ve started my own consulting company. And, you know, I’m gathering clients. As we speak, I will be doing international economic development, kind of I talked about earlier, helping businesses that are relocating to the United States to understand and easily assimilate into the community in which they’re located. So if anybody needs any help with that, certainly reach out to me. It’s williambsisson@gmail.com, William B. Sisson and Associates, I’m on LinkedIn. And I would love to connect and partner and do whatever that could come out of potential relationships with folks related to consulting. So I appreciate your allowing me to, to be with you today. And certainly to provide that contact information. Thank you, Brandon.
Brandon Burton 34:29 Absolutely. And we’ll get that contact information in our show notes as well. So if somebody’s walking the dog or driving in the car and can’t write it down, just go to the show notes, and you’ll find it in there. But Bill, this has been great, great discussion and appreciate you spending time with me today here on timbertech podcast providing great value to the listeners. This has been a wonderful discussion. So thanks a lot.
Bill Sisson 34:50 Thank you, Brandon. Thank you for what you do.
Brandon Burton 34:53 If you are a chamber professional, please subscribe to Chamber Chat Podcast in Apple podcast, Google podcasts or Spotify. When you subscribe to Chamber Chat Podcast new episodes will show up in your podcast app each week as they are released. If you’re finding value in this podcast, please leave us a rating and a review in iTunes. But most importantly, please share Chamber Chat Podcast with your colleagues that are in the industry.
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Below is an auto-generated transcription of my conversation with Julie Henry. Because this is auto-generated there are likely some grammatical errors but it is still a useful tool to search text within this podcast episode.
Feel free to join our Chamber Chat Champions Facebook Group to discuss this episode and to share your own experiences and tips with other Chamber Champions.
Brandon Burton 0:00 This is the Chamber Chat Podcast, the show dedicated to chamber professionals to spark ideas and to get actionable tips and strategies to better serve your members and community.
And now, your host, he’s always intrigued when he sees a snake in the wild. He’s my dad, Brandon Burton.
Hello Chamber Champions. Welcome to Chamber Chat Podcast. It’s my goal here on the podcast to introduce you to people and ideas to better help you serve your Chamber members and your community.
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Brandon Burton 1:06
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Guest Introduction
Our guest for this episode is Julie Henry. Julie is president of finish line leadership and author of wisdom from the wild the nine unbreakable Laws of Leadership from the animal kingdom. Former Zoo and Aquarium senior leader, Julie has worked with over 55 organizations across corporate nonprofit government association and community sectors. She holds a Bachelors of Science degrees in both zoology and education and Masters of Arts and Communication and an executive program certificate in sustainable business leadership. She is dedicated to helping people deal with change lead teams and build resilience using insights from wildlife and wild places. Julie has presented over a million people across 32 states and six countries in settings ranging from auditoriums and ballrooms to boats, beaches, forests, theaters, boardrooms, and even underwater while feeding sharks and moray eels. She lives in Sarasota, Florida with her two children whom she lovingly describes as her zoo animal and her wild animal due to each one’s natural inclination towards life. Julie, I’m happy to have you with me today on Chamber Chat Podcast, if you would take a moment to say hello to all the Chamber Champions and share something interesting about yourself so you can get to know you a little bit better.
About Julie Henry
Julie Henry 3:06 Oh, it’s so great to be here. Thank you so much for the invitation. I love talking all things, wildlife and wild places, and especially if you can help somebody think about something a little bit different. I’m happy to do that. And something interesting about me is if you ask me what my favorite animal is, it’s not actually in the book. It is a giant squid. And I think giant squid are fascinating because, um, you know, they get in battles with sperm whales. And we didn’t even know that we didn’t see one alive for a long time out until like, the past 10 years alive in his natural habitat. So it was a it was a conundrum, you know, an animal of legend that we kept searching for. And I love that.
Brandon Burton 3:41 Right. Wow, that is a good insight. There might be another chapter in you somewhere about.
Well, I’d like for you to take a moment to share a little bit about your background about your organization Finish Line leadership and and your relationship with chambers of commerce throughout your work just to kind of show the relevance to why we’re having you on Chamber Chat Podcast today.
Julie Henry 4:10 Yeah, thanks. I appreciate that. You know, when I spent the first 10 years working for organizations working for other people in nonprofit and corporate settings, and then when I launched my business in 2008, my sister in law actually said to me, you need to join the Chamber of Commerce. And I said, Well, why I don’t understand I just never had really been involved in chambers of commerce. And she said, Well, you need to it’s, you know, community, it’s its growth, it’s networking. It’s everything, and especially if you’re going to run your own business, and I said, Well, okay, and, and so I checked it out and immediately, I was really interested to get involved in many as many ways as possible. So that was putting my hand up and saying, Yeah, I want to join this committee, and then it was sure I’ll serve on the board and then it was, yeah, run this committee for green business. leadership because to me, Chambers of Commerce are such a necessary part of our community to provide a gathering space, a convenient space for people to talk about things that are hard and challenging and business as well as to support each other. And then over time, they became my clients hired to help them with facilitation to find new executive directors, I’ve been helping recently with the leadership programs that many of them have in the local area. So I’ve, I’ve been on both sides or every side of the coin, and I continue to think that they provide a very valuable and necessary role in our communities.
Brandon Burton 5:38 Absolutely. I appreciate you sharing that background. And it is very fitting to you to have that such close contact with chambers of commerce and several communities. And to be able to integrate that with the lessons that you share in your book today, which is going to be the topic that we’ll cover is diving into a little bit more of your book of Wisdom from the Wild, which is the nine unbreakable Laws of Leadership from the animal kingdom. And we’ll dive into this discussion as soon as they get back from this quick break.
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All right, Julie, we are back. You know, I’d like to say that it would be an understatement to say you hit a homerun with this book, you know, a lot of people, they, they talk about writing a book, and then when it comes down to it, they balk, you know, then they never actually do it. And sometimes, you know, if they’ve already put out information about it, they kind of find themselves in a pickle, you know, because they they’re not going forward with what they said they would do. And I’m saying all these things on purpose to dry out these these metaphors, these analogies there throughout life. All right, as we talk about hitting that home run or boxing or being in a pickle, a lot of these analogies are sports related. A lot of them are baseball related, I would say that wisdom from the wild, it covers a lot of the blocking and tackling of leadership. So there’s a football analogy there. But we don’t see a ton of analogies from nature in our everyday lexicon and conversations. However, I will say my oldest, my oldest child, he’s about a year and a half he’ll be leaving the nest and spreading his wings. So he’ll he’ll be getting out there in the world. But we could uh, we could either stick our head in the sand and pretend like these. These laws of nature don’t exist in leadership and have those parallels. Or we could talk to Julie and we could read her book and see some of these parallels. So Julie, I’d like to hand it over to you and share maybe what was your driving force behind writing this book writing wisdom to the Wild and drying out these lessons that you’ve noticed in the wild in creating those parallels to leadership?
Julie Henry 10:08 Yeah, you know, and I’ll the first thing I’ll say is that I find nature the great equalizer, because it doesn’t matter if you live in downtown Tokyo or rural Oklahoma, or if you have a Harvard MBA or if you’re 16 years old, and you haven’t graduated high school yet, you can walk outside and think about, hmm, I wonder why that’s happening. Or let me learn more about that. And you don’t have to pose in nature, you can just be yourself. In fact, nature demands that your yourself doesn’t let you
Brandon Burton 10:38 be natural. Yeah.
Julie Henry 10:41 Like it’s gonna call you out. If you try to hike a mountain in high heels, you’re not going to go very far. And so I think nature is a way for people to have leadership conversations that strips away the need to know the answers already, because nature is about being curious and asking questions. And that’s really what life is about, let alone leadership. And I also will say that when I was in college, you know, my dad was a leadership development guy, he ran his own business, my mom was a teacher, and I was a science kid. So somehow, it’s going to stitch them all together. And my college professor gave me a project and said, teach people about coral reefs. That was my project. And I thought, well, not everybody’s going to be interested in coral reefs, what if I use the analogy of a business and talk about how coral reefs operate together, just like a business does with different departments, etc. And that was in 1996. So it’s only grown since then. So when I worked in zoos, and aquariums, I would always invite companies in, like, come to a retreat here, this is an interesting place. And let me help you think about your communication challenges through the eyes of you know, a pelican rather than, like the top 10, you know, communication laws. And then when I flipped it, and I was working as a consultant, I would be, you know, literally 1500 feet underground in a limestone mine, working with people that work in shift work, and it’s 11 o’clock at night, and they’ve been there for 42 years, if I can tell them stories about, you know, a sea turtle, then suddenly I’ve got their attention. And that’s important. So it was for all of those reasons. And we learn everything else from nature, architecture, our medicine, music, everything, why not leadership?
Brandon Burton 12:18 Yeah, I love that. And I’m hoping after you, after people hearing this discussion, and and chamber leaders reading your book, hopefully, they can come out of it and say, I really need some coral reef time, or, you know, through this pandemic, you know, I was, I was quite the sea cucumber, you know. So, these things will make more sense as we get on with our conversation here. But you have your book broken up into three main sections. So you talk about change, teamwork, and resilience. So I think for the chamber for chamber professionals listening, change, teamwork and real resilience are three areas that they need to be hyper aware of all the time, because starting with change, you know, those changes always happening. But I’d like to focus on maybe one of these topics of change, where we you talked about not being distracted by fear? What lessons did you learn from nature that correlate to leadership revolving around fear?
Julie Henry 13:20 I’m glad you picked that one. Because I think change, of course, is ubiquitous, right? In every part of our life, let alone as a leader, but also, it’s your great calling. And as a leader, if you’re not leading change, then I don’t know what you’re doing. You can’t just No, no leader that I’ve ever talked to, I said, I just kind of want to manage the status quo, like, do you? Or do you want to innovate and serve your community better? I think it’s the latter. But in order to do that, you are going to be confronted by either your fear of the unknown, or people around you who have, you know, I don’t know, maybe brainstormed many, many times on giant post, it notes, all their ideas, and then they never get taken. So they’re afraid to do it again. Or they’re new at the organization, and they don’t want to commit their ideas. Or maybe you’re trying to change the membership structure of your chamber. Oh, my gosh, that’s so hard. I’ve been in those conversations, like, how do we restructure to better serve our members? And how do we price it and how do we market it? I mean, your listeners know exactly what I’m talking about. I know they do. And there’s innate fear, both on oh my gosh, are people going to like not join again? Because we’ve changed the membership structure. And who do we make more angry? Right, right. So think about the animals that scare us. Universally, right? Snakes, and spiders. Those are the animals that come to mind. And the thing about spiders is, I love spiders, love spiders. I find them totally fascinating, but even me, I can still be startled if I turn on the light and there’s a giant spider the size of my hand next to the light switch as has happened before. That still startles me So even if you’re totally comfortable with leading change, and you’ve been down that road, you can still be startled by fear. And it’s important to understand and recognize that fear is just a part of being a human. And you’ve got to validate that and call that out, and you cannot ignore it or sleep, sweep it under the table, if you want your change to actually stick when you’re on the other side of it.
Brandon Burton 15:21 I love that. And I think, you know, nature for us fear is something It’s a survival mechanism. You know, we have that fear for a reason, and it’s to survive. So when you see that, that spider or snake for me, I like snakes, I’ve had pet snakes, I’m fascinated by snakes. But if I’m out for a run, and there’s a stick in the road that kind of looks like a snake that catches me off guard, I’m going to stop, because I don’t know what kind of snake it is. But then I get curious, sometimes it’s a stick, sometimes it’s a snake, and I’ll stop and watch it for a bit. But it goes back to being curious. So don’t let the fear stop you from being curious. kind of lean into it and see what you can learn from it is what I understood.
Julie Henry 16:04 I love that. Yep, I call it fear is nature’s yellow light. Just slow down.
Brandon Burton 16:09 Yes, absolutely. So you talked a lot about teamwork. And there’s a I want to move on to the teamwork section. Because there’s a couple topics on this that I wanted to have you highlight and talk more about, but one of them is the the chapter is titled, there’s no one size fits all approach to teamwork. And in the chamber world, everyone has heard the saying that if you’ve seen one chamber, you’ve seen one chamber, meaning that no two chambers are alike. Talk to us a little bit about this and how that relates to leadership and specifically with chambers.
Julie Henry 16:46 Yes, I think that chambers are one of the most unique organizations that I’ve been involved with and worked with. And sometimes that’s a great thing. And sometimes that’s a challenging thing, especially when it comes to communicating, you know, your relevance, or why should people should get involved sometimes, like I did, I had, I didn’t understand it, you know, long time ago when I was first getting involved. And there are some animals that from the outside look a little unusual. In fact, one of my favorite animals about this is naked mole rats, and naked mole rats, when we first discovered them, literally, the people thought they were mutations because they’re super funky looking. And they have big teeth, and they look basically naked. They’re hairless, almost mammals, they live underground, they live together. And we just ignored them for a while until we rediscovered them in the 50s. And then came to understand that oh my gosh, they actually live in colonies like bees. And they’re super effective at how they’ve divided all of the labor, if you will, between these animals. And they’re basically blind, but they communicate by your trails of urine and stack up together, keep their body temperature regulated, even though they’re mammals, I mean, so, you know, I love naked mole rats, and I champion them. And I tell people, when your team seems a little unusual from the outside, or your organization does, I want you to lean into that and champion your naked mole rat team, you don’t own explanation, anybody and you’re probably super highly functional, even though you may look kind of strange from the outside, but embrace that and own it. And don’t ever shy away from it. That’s why I love that you call your listeners chamber champions, because I want them to champion the fact that they are also naked mole rats,
Brandon Burton 18:28 yes. Love that. can bring it full circle, I love it. And I think that’s so true that as we look at, you know, especially working with maybe people on a committee, you know, they might bring an idea or an approach. It’s like, man, that’s really weird, you know, and you can kind of put it aside and say, That’s weird, and stay away from it. Or you can, again, be curious and lean into it and say, Well, what, what is there that we can learn from this? And are there things that we can implement and become stronger for it and maybe attract other people to come along our mission with us? So I’d love the lessons from the naked mole rats. So the other chapter that I wanted to touch on under Teamwork was, especially I think, important during these times were in chambers all over focusing on diversity, equity and inclusion. And you have a chapter titled, surround yourself with people who are not like you. And you talk specifically about a termite meeting giraffe and giraffe meet the termite. And I’d love for you to share more about that story and maybe, you know, make those correlations to what we see in the real life today.
Julie Henry 19:43 Yeah, you know, if you thought about a termite giraffe, they may not even seem like they even live in the same habitat, let alone need each other but they do because you know, the Africans van it’s pretty hard place to survive. There’s not a lot of water out there and you’ve got to work together and so they while they’re not actively Working together, they’re participating in helping each other survive. So the termite is breaking down vegetation as they’re, you know, chewing it up, basically. And, and that is attracting the giraffes to come over and basically eat that vegetation. And then they’re laying their own feces and urine. If you Well, there’s a lot of conversation about this on this podcast, I apologize, hopefully.
Brandon Burton 20:24 We’re not advocating for chambers here. Just to be clear, right? Now, we’re not
Julie Henry 20:30 gonna remember this, because we’re talking about it. You know, so, you know, for me, I remember the first board I was ever involved in, I remember, in this giant, long, giant board, it was 40 people long meeting, it was eight hours long. And I remember thinking, Oh, my gosh, this is super stressful. And I don’t know, really how I’m participating, etcetera. And the formative thing for me was the fact that I think towards the end of this meeting, one person basically said one sentence and summarize the entire eight hours, we call the meeting to order, we took a vote and we finished it. And that is not how I operate. As you can tell, I have a lot to say, and I communicate with my words all the time. And immediately, I thought, oh, my gosh, he’s different than me. And I need to be with him on all of these projects, because we’re going to be better together, and the outcome is going to be even stronger. And that’s an uncomfortable thing, too, though, right? Because I’m like, What are you thinking? You’re not talking? I’m talking all the time? And what are you thinking, but I had to lean into that. So that’s, that’s, that’s one way of looking at it. And then the diversity, equity inclusion is, of course, the other part of that, because, you know, people who are not like us are, sometimes they scare us, because it makes us try to think differently, or just acknowledge that we don’t know all the answers. But remember nature’s about curiosity. And if the termites and drafts need each other, then you need also a termite to your giraffe.
Brandon Burton 21:55 Absolutely. And one thing that came to mind is you were giving your response there is, so there’s the diversity, equity inclusion, part of it of, you know, trying to figure out those people in your community that you may have not even noticed before, you might not have noticed that they were part of your community, you might not have noticed that they had a business in your community, because of whatever the type of business it is, or the person that’s running it, their background, or whatever it may be. There, I can guarantee their segments in any community where you have not noticed certain people or certain types of businesses. And if you can kind of open your eyes as a giraffe, like what purposes is giraffe have to look way down on the ground, there’s a little termites that are going around feces and stuff down there. Whereas, you know, in the chamber world to be able to look a little deeper within your community. And on the Diversity Equity inclusion topic, we always talk about who’s missing. And rather than just who’s missing, I would say, Who Have you not noticed, and try to notice a little bit more. And then I think there’s another part of it when it comes to networking, I mean, chambers, editorials for having networking events, and you’re making introductions, and if we can help certain businesses, see other businesses that they may not realize they’re connected, but to be able to help build, you know, build that bridge between their two businesses and say, here’s why you need each other, here’s how you can be stronger together, and help form those solid relationships. I think really reemphasizes that a whole story of the termite giraffe. So So as we move on to the resilience section, there’s a couple in this as well, that I wanted to touch on. So especially coming through this COVID pandemic, resilience has been a key topic of how do you, you know, first of all stay relevant, how do you adapt to that change? But then how do you thrive through it? And I think that boils down to resiliency. And your chapter titled you’re wired not just to survive, but to thrive. And you talk about sea cucumbers. Help us make that connection there.
Julie Henry 24:14 So before I answer that question, I just want to say that the reason why I’m so passionate about everything in this book, and everything we’re talking about is because I didn’t just think of these examples, and suggest to your listeners that maybe they should consider this. Everything we’re talking about is absolutely true. That’s why I call them unbreakable laws, like termites and drafts, they need each other spiders are needed and sea cucumbers are wired to when they are threatened. Ie they’re living on the bottom of the ocean floor. Here comes this predator are about to get eaten. Their mechanism to survive is literally to eat visceral, which means to throw up their own guts, right? That’s Crazy, this animal that is trying to eat the sea cucumber will either swim away or potentially eat the guts of the sea cucumber. Now, if that happens, this sea cucumber, which basically looks like a sausage on the ocean floor, it doesn’t actually look like it’s capable of much. However, it is related to sea stars. So probably most people listening know that a sea star can regrow its arm if it gets cut off, or eaten or whatever. Same thing with a sea cucumber, it can regrow its own guts, that is a biological fact and absolute certainty. That’s how it’s wired to survive, but also to thrive. So if a relatively innocuous animal on the ocean floor can survive a huge threat literally within inches of its life. Those times when you are afraid of change, or leading your team down a road, that you’re just really not sure if it’s even the right road to go. But someone’s got to make a decision. And that’s you. And you literally feel sick to your stomach. The awareness and the recognition that you’re wired to get through. This brings not only great comfort, but also should build your confidence and let you lean in a little more and totally erase it pastures is syndrome, anything else that we talk about, like, it’s your biological fact that you’re gonna get through this and you’re gonna thrive on the other side, it’s going to be uncomfortable, I can’t imagine what it feels like to regrow your guts, but you’re going to do it
Brandon Burton 26:31 just that image of regrowing your guts. So, I see the parallel to again, through the pandemic is you know, initially when everything shut down there was that kind of wait and see phase where chambers and businesses just kind of like okay, let’s let’s take the temperature, let’s see what’s going on here. And once we realize this is gonna go on longer than what we expected. It’s not just two weeks, this is gonna go on much longer. He saw businesses he said chambers that had to do layoffs. He said chambers that had to tap into their reserves that they’ve you know, saved up for decades, possibly those reserve funds. You said chamber offices that had to shut down their physical location and everybody was working remotely from home. And I don’t know that looks a lot like you know, getting rid of your your insides and in still figuring out how to pull it back together, how to regenerate how to get back into the office, how to rehire how to get your funding backup, all while at the same time remaining relevant and serving their their membership base that that needed them so badly at that time. So I think that is a an excellent parallel to the sea cucumbers. It probably one of my favorite chapters was was the last chapter the book, as you talked about resilience, and it’s titled even cheetahs slow down. I know. Well, I’m gonna, I’m gonna let you talk about that before I share any of my thoughts, because I think we may touch on some of the same things.
Julie Henry 28:16 This is the last chapter of the book. But the pivotal moment when I realized after 25 years of having the idea in college was time to write the book. Because I had talked to so many people at that point and felt that way myself, that it is again, a biological fact and unbreakable law that even cheetahs slow down. But if I were to ask your listeners to think in their head, when I say the word cheetah, what do you think of? Now? Chances are, you’re thinking about the fact that it’s the fastest land animal. And if you were to Google cheetah, you’re pulling up all of these images about how fast they run. And that’s what they’re talking about. Okay, well naive. How many of you have ever been to a zoo or even been to Africa and seeing the cheetah running? Probably not many people actually seeing the cheetah running unless the zoo has, you know, structured it for an event or for you know, interaction? Most of the time, they are hanging out and resting and relaxing. And they are not, I think overthinking when they’re resting and relaxing, right? So we glorify the idea of being busy with effective leader in our culture. And that’s why we are so fascinated by how fast this cheetah goes. But that cheetah goes for what less than a minute, and then they rest. And they don’t think about oh my gosh, I wish I would have jogged left instead of jogged right. And I don’t know if I can do it next time. And I’m not sure I have the courage and maybe I should ask somebody else what they think no, they just rest. Okay, what do we do? Well, I will rest on the weekend or everybody else leave at five. I’m going to stay and do the event tonight. Okay, well, first of all people are watching you. You can’t Don’t just burn yourself out and expect everyone else not to do the same thing. But the thing is, nature’s going to slow you down one way or the other, you have a choice, you’re going to be proactive and say, Nope, here’s what I need. Here’s how I manage my energy. resilience to me is about managing my energy. It’s not false positivity. It’s not Yeah, I’m good. I can totally do those three events on Friday night, and I’ll just bop around, can you No, you cannot, okay. And it’s also going to happen to one way or the other. So reactivity, proactivity, completely your choice. But you need to slow down, if you want to lead and have the impact you’re designed to have. And if you want to have other people around, you also do the same thing.
Brandon Burton 30:43 I love that. And I think for chamber leaders all over, I see them running constantly, whether it’s just in the office or at an event, but even after hours, you know, if they go out to eat with their family, they’re seeing people in the community and they’re constantly thinking work, they’re thinking the connections are, you know, trying to further the mission of the chamber, which it’s all you know, they good and honorable desires. But to avoid that burnout, and to really perform at your highest capacity, we need that that downtime, that respite time. And that’s, you know, for leaders, specifically, as you’re talking about in this book, but I’m thinking even your your membership salespeople, you know, they, they need that, because if they have any kind of commission structure, to their to memberships there, I mean, I’m a salesperson, you I understand sales, like you run, you run, you run. And I had this discussion this week, because of this book with with a sales rep that I said, you know, what, you’re running constantly, and you need to, you need to rest. And sometimes I think resting it, maybe you talked about not thinking about second guessing and everything. But I think some of that resting can come in the form of planning to some degree, not, not the big strategic plans, but maybe planning out your next day, or what you’re doing next week. Kind of on, let’s say lower level, brain power, but it’s not the high stress kind of brain power that you need to rest and to be able to perform it that the best of your ability. So I love that chapter. And, and especially, I think that was fitting to be the last chapter in the book, because you read through it, and you get all these great ideas about being a leader and like what you need to do to be like a sea cucumber, or a pelican or coral reef, or all these different things, I am gonna hit the ground running, and cycling hit, but I also need to rest. So it’s a good reminder.
Julie Henry 32:44 I’m still getting, you know, think of it like a bell curve. We spent all this time preparing and thinking and strategizing. And then we’re doing doing doing doing and then we just fall off a cliff. But it’s really a bell curve, like how do we ramp down? Like, are you checking your email, right, exactly. Soon after we get off this podcast like? Or can you take five minutes and like write down what you learned and reflect on it? Like you need to have a bell curve of your energy management, and then you’ll go back up. But it’s not a cliff. It’s a bell.
Brandon Burton 33:10 I love that those emails will wait for five minutes, they will I promise, they’ll still be there in five minutes. So take that time and jot down some notes. I love it. So Julie, as we start wrapping things up here, I wanted to ask you, if you might have maybe one tip or action item that you could share with chamber champions to help take their organization up to the next level.
Action Item/Tip for Chamber Champions
Julie Henry 33:34 You know, the one thing I would say to chamber champions is to pick one part, whether from well, you know, from this whole conversation or when they’re looking out, we tend to have all of these ideas and visions. And as you’re saying they are unique, because most of the time if not all of the time they’re living in the community that they are supporting. So they’re always on right. But what’s one action item that you can stop doing one action item that you can do a little more of and one action item, you can start completely in the next quarter. I like quarters because I think that’s a doable timeframe. Because you can see and measure progress. And the key to this is not only do you write down your goals, but just like I talked about with a mangrove method of change, you need to write where you are right now. So for example, if you want to stop checking emails immediately after every meeting that you get out of and you want to spend five minutes just thinking and decompressing before you check emails, then you need to write down. Alright, now I’m checking emails after I know it sounds silly, but I’m not kidding. Like if you want to run a marathon faster, the first thing you do is time how fast your mile is right now. If you want to lose 10 pounds, the first thing you do is get on a scale and see how much you actually weigh. So when we try to measure change in our personal leadership style, we go at it like that. I want to become a better leader. I want to become a better chamber professional. Oh my goodness, what does that actually mean? We have got to get specific and measurable. And it’s deeply personal. It’s deeply personal. And so pick achievable goals for you that makes sense to you. And maybe you won’t even end up on your annual review. And that is okay, is your personal journey.
Brandon Burton 35:19 That’s right. I love that. So one thing to stop one thing to do a little more of, and one thing to start brand new. I love that, too. So I know, chambers are always looking to the future says, as you look to the future of chambers of commerce, how do you see their future and purpose going forward?
Future of Chambers
Julie Henry 35:37 I would love chambers to continue to champion to use your word here. Their integral role of being a neutral place for people to convene, and have conversations that need to happen. So my analogy for this is when I used to run the Green Business Leadership Council, which was a committee of our local chamber was really important for me to create a space in which businesses felt safe, not necessarily comfortable. That’s always my marching order, right? But safe to come to the chamber and say, Gosh, I’m really struggling with how to do sustainability, my business right now, or I’m not sure if I should make this investment in, you know, the change in my restaurant or operations. But I know it’s better for my customers. But it’s not better for the bottom line right now. What are you doing? So how can people work together to affect change in the community, collectively? And I think chambers are unique in that position, because where else can businesses go and not feel like they’re either baring their soul or they’re going to get, you know, called on the carpet by somebody else? And maybe they don’t want to tell their customers yet or their stakeholders or even their employees, yet, they just need to have some thinking time first. And chambers are a convenient space. From my experience, in my opinion, it’s such a needed one. And so look to the future, what are the big things happening in your community, that you can step up and say, yeah, come talk at our place, like literally, here’s the space, or here’s a, here’s a neutral facilitator, or here’s a neutral listening person like that is so needed in order to continue advancing the communities, especially from diversity, equity, access inclusion, you all have these big hard topics that are happening. chambers have a unique role. And I know you can do it even better than you’re doing it now.
Brandon Burton 37:23 Absolutely. I love that, that look of the future. So Julie, I want to do to give you an opportunity to share any contact information with chamber champions, anyone who might want to reach out and connect with you or find your book. What’s the best way for them to reach out and connect?
Connect with Julie Henry
Julie Henry 37:41 Yeah, my website is JulieCHenry.com They can get on there shoot me an email. My email is also Julie@JulieCHenry.com It’s not all that creative, maybe. Yeah, you know, they can get my book anywhere their favorite local bookstore can order it if they don’t already have it. Or an Amazon has been in some airport bookstores with their you know, traveling again, and having some fun that might see it there as well. I’m on Instagram and LinkedIn both that Julie C Henry, and I would just love to you know, hear about what you’re doing and hear your plans for the future. Because it’s all exciting to me.
Brandon Burton 38:17 I love it. And we’ll get your contact information in our show notes for this episode as well. But I will say as you mentioned, finding the book in some airports and things like that it so it’s a leadership book, but it doesn’t feel like a leadership book, you know, says you read it the stories that you’re reading, they’re they’re real stories, they’re real parallels to life. And and that’s what I love about these analogies that I talked about at the beginning is the more familiar you are with them. You don’t need an in depth explanation to understand that an ostrich ostrich sticks its head in the sand to understand that metaphor, right? So the more familiar you are with these stories and the examples that Julie shares in this book, I think the better the leader you will be and being able to make those parallels in your life. So thank you, Julie. It’s been great having you on chamber chat podcast today that you provided a lot of value for the listeners and I hope everyone picks up your book and, and learns more about being a great leader from these laws of nature. Thank you.
Julie Henry 39:21 Thank you. It’s an honor to be on. And I hope everybody takes five minutes and goes outside today and asks a new question that you’ve never asked about nature and how that can help you be a better leader.
Brandon Burton 39:31 If you are a chamber professional, please subscribe to Chamber Chat Podcast in Apple podcast, Google podcasts or Spotify. When you subscribe to Chamber Chat Podcast new episodes will show up in your podcast app each week as they are released. If you’re finding value in this podcast, please leave us a rating and a review in iTunes. But most importantly, please share Chamber Chat Podcast with your colleagues that are in the industry.
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Below is an auto-generated transcription of my conversation with Karen Riordan. Because this is auto-generated there are likely some grammatical errors but it is still a useful tool to search text within this podcast episode.
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Brandon Burton 0:00 This is the Chamber Chat Podcast, the show dedicated to chamber professionals to spark ideas and to get actionable tips and strategies to better serve your members and community.
And now your host she believes imagination brings the future into the present, he’s my dad, Brandon Burton.
Hello, Chamber Champions. Welcome to Chamber Chat Podcast. I’m your host Brandon Burton, and it’s my goal here on the podcast to introduce you to people and ideas to better help you serve your Chamber members and your community.
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Brandon Burton 1:29
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Guest Introduction
Our guest for this episode is Karen Riordan. Karen serves as the President and CEO of the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber in South Carolina, where she spends her time working with the business community and driving tourism. Karen brings 30 plus years of marketing and business management experience working as CEO for the greater Williamsburg chamber and Tourism Alliance, as well as at top marketing firms in Washington, DC and Boston. Over the course of her career, Karen has led marketing programs for leading brands and tourism including visit Williamsburg, the hub the Bahamas, Ministry of Tourism, Royal Caribbean International Amtrak Choice Hotels, international and Celebrity Cruises. Karen graduated from Boston College with a BA in speech communications and English. She was recognized in March 2021 is the first female president and CEO of the chamber at the city of Myrtle Beach’s celebration of Women’s History Month. In 2018, she was named chamber Executive of the Year by the Virginia association of Chamber of Commerce executives. She is the 2013 recipient of the American advertising Federation Silver Medal Award for service to the community and a 2012 honoree of the Washington Business Journal’s women who mean business when not working on branding Karen’s passions include traveling animal welfare, walking the beach, and all things made of chocolate. I think we could be best friends. No. I’m glad to have you with me today. Karen here on chamber tap podcast. I’d love for you to say hello to all the chamber champions and you hear something interesting?
Karen Riordan 3:18 Yeah. Hello to everyone and chamber world Chamber Champions. As you just heard, I do have a few core passions. I need to do all that walking on the beach to break even with all the chocolate that I eat. So that that other obsession right now and I feel like I absolutely have the dream job because it’s such a great honor to work in a tourism destination doing community work via the chamber. When I’ve had such a personal passion for travel my whole life. Ever since I was a little kid I’ve always wanted to see the country and see the world and I’ve been very fortunate to take my grandmother’s sage advice when I was young and tried to do that every chance I get so to again get to do this for a living his dream. So I feel very very fortunate to be able to promote beautiful Myrtle Beach South Carolina and get paid to do that.
Brandon Burton 4:16 That’s right it it is beautiful. I love Myrtle Beach. It’s an awesome place. Share with us a little bit about the Myrtle Beach chamber and its size, the staff budget kind of scope of work just to set the table for our discussion. Yeah, so
About the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber
Karen Riordan 4:30 the reason we have area in our name is Myrtle Beach area is that we are considered a Regional Chamber we actually have a pretty large trading area all the way from the northern part of our state that need is just a setting there underneath the North Carolina border up in Little River all the way down to beautiful Pawleys Island and then the entire west of the waterway as we like to call it which is Conway into Loris and Aner which encompasses Our entire county or county, so it’s a large trading area, we have about 2300 businesses, the 78% of the businesses that are part of our chamber are small business with 50 or less employees. So people think of Myrtle Beach and they think of tourism and they think of big companies. And yes, we do have some of those big companies as our members. But they said most of them are small. And a lot of them really are mom and pop. We have a lot of independent companies. Here in Myrtle Beach, it’s kind of part of our DNA. To serve those 2300 members, we’ve got 39 full time employees. And then we have five part time employees that work in our visitor centers. So we have a visitor center out at our airport, we have another visitor center located at our chamber. And then we have a mobile Visitor Center, which is a really awesome van that travels around the whole trading area, especially during event season popping in and giving away great Myrtle Beach swag to tourists and residents alike. So it’s a, it’s again, it’s a big chamber, it is a hybrid, in that we are both at Chamber of Commerce, and we’re also the Convention and Visitor’s Bureau. So with that we have a huge responsibility to spend the public money that we do receive from our state and our county and our city’s well to you know, bring folks here to come and visit. So our total budget is about $65 million this year. So we do have a large budget to work with, which is a blessing.
Brandon Burton 6:34 Yeah, that is uh, I had no idea your chamber was so large 35 full time or 39 full time employees in the five part time in the the mobile visitor center. That is that’s creative. That’s something I haven’t seen before. Very productive, I’m sure to getting out to these different events currently. So we’ll be focusing our our topic for discussion today around one of those topics that really is core, I believe, for chambers of commerce, which is around community building. And that’s really how chambers got their start and kind of the reason why chambers exists throughout the country and really throughout the world. But I’m excited to get in this discussion with you as soon as I get back from this quick break.
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All right, Karen, we are back. So as far as community building is concerned, how is the Myrtle Beach area Chamber approaching the task of community building?
Topic-Community Building
Karen Riordan 10:13 Great question. We’ve done a couple of different things in the last few years that actually began during the pandemic, or a little bit before. And even though it was more challenging to do community building, when we were quarantining, I really think that it makes a lot of sense that we continue to be as engaged as we possibly can with all of our stakeholders. So we actually have an official committee of our chamber, that’s called community engagement. And we have a several board members, that chair and vice chair that committee, and then we have lots of volunteers. So in addition to sort of a classic role as an ambassador that many chambers have, we have these additional volunteers that do have name tags that identify them as community engagement Council folks, and we go to neighborhood meetings. So we go to Hoa meetings, we go to city meetings and county meetings and civic meetings, and are constantly trying to engage with the business community, but also the residents. And that’s really, really important in our minds, because we do have a number of people now that have moved to Myrtle Beach in the last 10 years or so, that are retirees. Many of them are great captains of industry that have a lot to offer through programs like score and mentorship. But they’re not actively working in the business community anymore. So many of them are not Chamber members anymore. And we feel it’s really important to stay connected to them and have them be really educated and informed about what we’re doing at the chamber. And just things that are happening because Myrtle Beach is changing rapidly. And it’s hard to keep up with it if you don’t, you know, have sort of some constant communication. So the community engagement Council has been really important for us, as have our strategic efforts in diversity, equity inclusion, so we’re really looking to be able to reach out to more members of our community to make sure that our chamber board or chamber staff, our chamber membership really reflects the diversity that is here in the Myrtle Beach area. So those are those are two sort of things that I think most chambers would agree are important, and that they’re working on. Where we really kind of taken it beyond though, is to launch a new Chamber of Commerce Foundation. And we are calling that foundation partnership Grand Strand. One of the reasons we chose partnership, no surprise is because when we started doing feasibility interviews and community needs assessment interviews, the number one word that kept coming up in our interviews was, you know, we need to be better partners, we need to collaborate more, we need to make sure that, again, our governmental entities, like our city council’s and our County Council’s, even our state delegation, is really connected to the private sector and what the business community is thinking and feeling, as well as the resident community. So this has been a year and a half in the making. Or as they said, we started with a lot of research in serving and interviewing and focus groups, then we decided that we needed to do a feasibility study to see, you know, is this really something that the Chamber of Commerce should take on? Or is this better done, and led, say, for instance, by our economic development corporation here in the county, and overwhelmingly, we saw last fall when the results came in that people trusted the Chamber of Commerce. They believe that we had the right group of individuals here on our board in our membership to really make a go of it. So our board of directors voted in the fall of 2021, to proceed. And then we immediately started working on marketing materials and prospect lists and all those kinds of things and embarked on a quiet phase of a capital campaign to fund that foundation. We’ve just come out of the quiet phase and on a big public kickoff, with our goal of raising $3 million to fund five years worth of activity in the foundation. So very, very exciting. This is new territory for our chamber, we really leaned into what other chambers across the country have been doing in this area, and really did see that some of the most cutting edge and progressive chambers in our country, we’re really starting to move in this direction, to raise funds to do some of those projects that don’t ever seem to quite get done on our chamber repertoire because we’re so busy doing educational seminars and networking and legislative advocacy. And so we’re super super excited about this new chapter of community building.
Brandon Burton 15:04 Yeah. So I love I’m gonna take a step back just a little bit there. I love how you talked about involving the retirees in your community, a lot of people moving to Myrtle Beach as they retire. And for anyone who’s read on if you’ve read the book 13 ways to kill your community. And it was popular among chamber professionals. But one of those ways that communities and killed themselves is they ignore their seniors. And in the book, it talks about, you know, these seniors, they often have the time to volunteer, they they have an interest in the community they have experienced, they often will have money that they can help contribute to some of the causes and things you have going on. So I’d love to hear that. I mean, a lot of chambers are doing the D and I work, but to have that focus on the the retiree segment of the population, I think is huge. So I didn’t want to didn’t want to brush that over.
Karen Riordan 15:58 Yeah, no, I think that’s a great point. And the last thing I would add to that is that they both are very committed to the political process, and they do vote. And so they really do have the power to start to shape who are elected leaders are at the city level, the county level and the statewide level, which is really important. We want to make sure that folks that are you know, voting for different candidates, that those candidates are business friendly, that they are pro business, they, again, growth is a big issue in our area, just like it is in so many parts of our country, or a county has been named the second fastest growing county in the US. So with that growth comes a lot of opportunities, but also a lot of challenges. And so we do need to be all looking at ways to work together to make sure that the growth we have is manageable, and that our infrastructure can keep up with the growth that we’re experiencing right now. So yes, we absolutely ignore seniors at our peril, because they can also be such a force multiplier here. As you said, our local SCORE chapter, helping entrepreneurs start new businesses, you know, their whole mission is to recruit retirees that have run their own businesses, and teach that next generation of entrepreneurs, how to write a business plan, how to you know, how to set up how to get incorporated, how to hire folks. So I think we need to lean into the expertise that is in that community,
Brandon Burton 17:33 for sure. So I also wanted to touch on when you were talking about the foundation, and coming up with the name, partnership Grand Strand, you had done these surveys and got feedback and everything. And I can tell you have a marketing background because you use the language right that they were using in the surveys to help them resonate. So as you roll out the foundation, partnership, Grand Strand, you’re using their language, so resonates with them. And I think that’s a good lesson for chambers, you know, whatever programs or initiatives you’re trying to roll out, get feedback from people and use their language, when you go about launching it, whether it’s officially part of the name or just part of the material marketing.
Karen Riordan 18:14 You’re absolutely right, because that’s a way for them to to understand that they’ve been listened to that we’ve heard them. And that we also agree in this particular case, that partnership is a critical component. We, our community in years past has been accused of not being unified in sometimes not being able to progress the way we want to because, you know, one city squabbling with, you know, with a neighboring city, and we really are 14 communities along the coast. Many people who’ve never been here are shocked that we actually have 60 miles of coastline. And again, those 14 communities, which means I have 14 mayors to get to know and 14 city councils to attend and so forth, in addition to a county council, so it is a lot of work. But putting the time into building those relationships and understanding where they’re coming from and what they’re looking to do, and then trying to convene. I’m just a huge believer that a critical role in Chamber Leadership is to be a convener, to be able to bring different people together who may not agree on much, but try to find common ground on something. Sometimes we start with just the love of the beach, right? We all live here at the beach, we love the beach. We may disagree on taxes, or we may agree, disagree on this bill or this program, but we can start there with our love for the beach, and then try to move on and find some more common ground.
Brandon Burton 19:37 You’re making the other 90% of the country that doesn’t live at the beach, very jealous, right.
Karen Riordan 19:45 It is a perfect place to live and work.
Brandon Burton 19:48 So the thought that came to me is we focus our discussion on community building. You know, you could argue we’re much more of a global community now the internet is kind of taken down A lot of those barriers that we had and communities of the past, we’re not divided so much, you know, by geography or anything like that. So why is it important for a chamber of commerce still to focus on building strong communities?
Karen Riordan 20:16 Again, I think it’s just so critical, I happen to also believe that, you know, all politics is local. And again, we can’t really be getting the kinds of things done in Washington, DC, or at our state houses, if we’re not first and foremost, paying attention to what the folks on the ground in our local communities care about. And so it’s just again, building from the inside out, I have that same philosophy when it comes to enacting any kind of program, I want to do it first, internally, like Dee and I, I want to make sure that our staff is all bought in that we’re all rowing in the rowboat in the same direction. And then of course, have our board of directors be aligned, and then it just makes the job so much easier to go out into the local community. And again, find those points where people are in agreement and work, you know, from that position of strength, instead of, I believe, too often people are focusing on what sets us apart, or what makes us different, or what we don’t agree on. And that’s a very, very short conversation. And, you know, once those happen, it’s very hard to move forward and get any progress. So I just think, again, doing that work, it’s not maybe glamorous, but it is really, really important to also be be in touch with the community. So part of my style here as CEO, is to walk the halls a lot in the building, but also be walking in the community. Today, we did an Artwalk. And we were downtown, seeing all the murals and the public art that’s out there. And talking about that, and using that for additional social media content that we’ll share out with the local community. So if the residents don’t know about a great new mural, they just went up on Ninth Ave. And, you know, part of our job is to make them aware of it and hopefully activate that and have them come down and check it out. So I just again, think working from the inside out, creating that alignment. Getting people on the same page is a big part of what chambers at their best are trying to do.
Brandon Burton 22:24 Absolutely. So I know you guys have a focus as you do your community building efforts and work. Take us through what those those four pillars are of your your area of work.
Karen Riordan 22:37 Yeah, well, not surprising. In the end, this won’t be unique. I’m sure there’s many communities and many chambers that are grappling with some of these, what gets unique is sort of the secret sauce of the the nuance of the community. But I mean, the first thing that we really saw here in our destination is that we have too many of our eggs in our tourism basket. And I can I can say that also running the DMO. And no, that may sound crazy for people to hear us say that. But right now we have 74% of our economy is somewhat tied to the tourism and hospitality industry. And we saw with a pandemic and also with Hurricane Florence, which we experienced in 2018. That we’re putting our economy at tremendous risk, having so many eggs in that tourism basket. And so we really believe that a first pillar in this community building effort is to use the strength of a chamber our chamber, to go out and try to help diversify the economy, we have target sectors that we want to go after. And we’re going to be talking to those micro businesses, we are not doing the economic development work that our authority does. That group is really going and you know, talking to site selectors and investors and bringing people into the Myrtle Beach area. Those tend to be you know, bigger projects that could bring in 200 or 300 jobs at a time, what we’re really talking about is going to talk to those amazing entrepreneurs maybe that are working out of their home right now. Because they can, they can do that remote work. But they aspire to be the next Google and they’ve got a business plan to do that. And they may only have two employees now. But in a year, they want to have five employees and five years from now they want to be 100 person, you know, technology company or whatever the the industry may be. So part of our job will be to really focus on working with those companies understanding what’s holding them back. Do they need better ordinances in town so that, you know business licenses are more affordable, or do they need resources to find space for their business to grow? Is it talent that is holding them back because they can’t find the right people for critical positions they need. So that’s the first pillar, of course, to diversify the economy I just mentioned we need talent. The whole A World Needs talent. Right now we’ve all talked about and read about, you know, not just the great resignation. But for us in our economy, too. We’re also seeing the great retirement, we’re seeing 55 year olds that, you know, bully for them have done amazing things in their, their career, and they’re ready to retire now, and they have the financial wherewithal to do that. And they decide to retire here in the Myrtle Beach area. Could we again, convince them to come and be a mentor to other entrepreneurs who want to start a business? Could we have the mentor talent that wants to move from middle management into senior management. So we’re going to get really, really creative on talent, working with the K through 12 system, but also our educational institutions, to grow the talent we need, but also, if necessary, recruit the talent outside of South Carolina to come here to the coast. So we can’t really accomplish everything that we want to do with our economy, if we don’t have those critical, you know, pipelines established in terms of talent, so, so that that’s another really, really big pillar for us.
Brandon Burton 26:09 Absolutely. And I know that’s a focus for a lot of chambers is growing and recruiting talent to their area. But I like the approach you again, tying in the seniors, the retirees, I’m thinking of a young entrepreneur in your area, how lucky are they to be able to have so many options for mentors in your community, and to be able to market that and show these people were successful, great careers, they’ve got their full of knowledge they can share with you. So I mean, for our whole discussion to focus on retirees, but there’s
Karen Riordan 26:46 a lot of it again, it’s using the assets we have, we do have a great four year institution here. You know, again, graduating wonderful people, but like so many other communities, we have brain drain, a lot of those folks think, well, I’ve got to go work in Atlanta, I’ve got to go work in Charlotte, I’ve got to go work in, you know, bright lights big city. And, you know, part of our job is to convince them that we do have great opportunities here for them to either work in an existing business and grow their career or start a business. And part of that too, and especially attracting that 20 Something group is we have to give them a great place to live if the quality of life is not here. If our downtown is not vibrant. If we don’t have new fun clubs and bars and restaurants and things for them to do, they are going to pass us by and choose, you know, other communities that they think are more vibrant. So we’ve been in a situation where we’ve really built to the west and to the north, in terms of entertainment complexes, sports complexes, things to do, and they’ve been really thriving for the last 10 years. But unfortunately, we’ve done that at the expense of our core downtown. And so it really has suffered from benign neglect, where so many businesses left that area and went to some of these other you know, quote unquote, cooler places in the Myrtle Beach area, like the market common or some of our other sectors. And so we really do need to work very hard to bring that downtown back, it is our front porch to the world. We do welcome close to 20 million visitors a year and they come downtown Myrtle Beach, they walk the boardwalk and we want to have the right assortment of shops and businesses and restaurants and retail there. So we are very fortunate that our city has just entered into a public private partnership with an entity that is called the Myrtle Beach downtown Alliance. And so the downtown Alliance, his job really is to completely revitalize downtown if that means new landscaping and lighting and, of course, economic development, attracting new investment there. So the Chamber’s job really is to get out of the way and not duplicate efforts there. But really once again, amplify and support what the downtown alliance is doing. A good example is last week, we had a new business that came decided to locate downtown. They have their corporate headquarters in Charleston, South Carolina, we’re all excited to welcome them here. And we did a joint grand opening and ribbon cutting and mixer with the downtown Alliance and the Chamber of Commerce and we had over 100 people come see this space, you know, meet the partners of the new firm. And not only were we showcasing that firm and welcoming them to the community, but we’re also showcasing downtown and sending a message through our media outlets that downtown is coming back and look at look at this wave of this is you know the fifth new company that’s that’s come in since the end of last year. So it’s it’s creating some momentum and that’s again where The chamber’s knowledge of the community, our relationships with the businesses already in downtown. And our marketing ability allows us to tell some of those stories and really help the downtown, hopefully go further faster. With this redevelopment, we’re hoping it’s going to be really, really quite robust in the next three to five years.
Brandon Burton 30:21 Yeah. That sounds great. Is there anything that we’re missing as far as community building wise that that you want to make sure you share?
Karen Riordan 30:32 Well, yeah, the last pillar that’s connected to these three is infrastructure. So I’ll just talk about that briefly. You know, we can’t attract great people to come to our community, we can’t diversify the economy. And we can’t create a great place to live unless we have the right infrastructure. And specifically, we need transportation infrastructure, we need to be advocating for the roads that we have to be repaired to be widened to be improved. We are advocating for new interstate, that would come from the beach and go all the way up to the North Carolina border. And then on Interstate 7374, actually goes through six states, all the way to the Canada Border. So that’s a big, big project we’re working on. But again, we’ve got to have the roads, the bridges, the walkability and bikeability, that makes a good place a great place. And so that’s the last pillar of community building that we’re working on.
Brandon Burton 31:27 Yeah. And I think the way it is, is that road comes from North Carolina down into the South Carolina beaches right now, right off the off, it doesn’t go out and comes in, right.
Karen Riordan 31:40 From Rockingham, but it’s a critical highway, because we don’t have it now. And with evacuation, should we get another bad storm on the Carolina coast, which, unfortunately, is one downside of living in the Carolinas. You know, on any given day in July, we could have literally hundreds of 1000s of people that we need to evacuate both residents as well as visitors. And so having something like that to speed up the evacuation route would be much needed and appreciated.
Brandon Burton 32:12 Yeah, I was I was out there and South Carolina for Hurricane Floyd in, I guess it was 1989. And that’s a real thing need to be able to get out of town in a hurry. So
Karen Riordan 32:25 clearly, when a governor makes that, that announcement and says you’ve got you know, 48 hours to evacuate, you really need to do it. And the last thing people want to do is sit in a traffic jam for six hours. Especially with the price of gas right now. Right? You know, it’s just the whole thing is a little scary. And so we as a chamber are always advocating for people to leave the coast and get to safety, stay with friends and family and so forth inland. So that’s another important reason that we get the transportation infrastructure that we need.
Brandon Burton 32:56 Yeah, for sure. Well, what would be maybe one tip or action item that you could share with Chamber Champions listening that they could do to help take their chamber up to the next level?
Action Item/Tip for Chamber Champions
Karen Riordan 33:07 You know that that’s a great question, I would continue to say connect with the wider community. I know, we’ve touched on this already. And it does seem like an emerging theme, do not ignore your residents, particularly your seniors, but also your youth. Go out of your way to talk to people that are not members of your chamber right now. When I came into the chamber world, the best piece of advice I got from my mentor was that every business that you meet is a potential chamber member. So even if they’re not members today, if you treat them with kindness, and you show concern and interest in their business, chances are very good that as they get to know your chamber, and all the great things you’re doing for the community, they will want to be a part of that. So it’s like, you know, never met a stranger. It’s like, well, I’ve never met a non member right, at some point. Hopefully, they will, you know, they will join us. But that just being in the community like that hearing their issues is totally invaluable. If we understand what they need, what they’re looking for, we can be a better chamber. So I’m just very big on that and think that it can be hard to do because we’re all in our lane and our heads are down and we’re looking at the 50 things we’ve got to get done this week. And of course, we have to take care of our member investors. You know, they pay our dues, they pay our bills, but it is it’s kind of refreshing to lift your head up and and get to know some people that are not yet members and hear what their concerns are and also what their ideas are. They could have an amazing idea that we want to adopt. We just haven’t listened. So I think that’s really important right now.
Brandon Burton 34:52 Yeah, great tip. So I’d like asking everyone I have on the show as we look to the future of chambers of commerce how to use See the future of chambers and their purpose going forward?
Future of Chambers
Karen Riordan 35:02 You know, I think the chambers are more important than they’ve ever been. In my entire business life, I’ve always belonged to a chamber. But I have to say that particularly in the last two years, going through what we’ve all gone through with, with the pandemic, I believe our team, and I’ve heard this from so many other chambers here in South Carolina, we are more mission driven than ever before. Because when the business community is hurting, and they’re looking for information, and they’re concerned about whether their business is going to be viable, and all of these things really did happen in all of our communities, and 20 and 2021, you have a renewed sense of purpose to help because you realize, oh, my gosh, they’re turning to you at the chamber. And they do expect that if you don’t have the answer, you’re going to go call your congressman and get the answer or your get, you know, you’re going to find out about that bill, are you going to find out about why their PPP loan, you know, didn’t go through, and you know, and talk to folks in the banking community, whatever it may be, I mean, our phones rang off the hook during 2020 and 2021, with people saying Help, my business needs help. And I think as a result of that, we just feel such a strong sense of what we do matters, it really matters, it really helps a lot of businesses. And when we help a business community, we are lifting the tide for the entire community. So I think the future for chambers is very, very bright, as long as we stay very mission driven, and very focused and never forget, again, the businesses that we’re here to serve. So I feel very optimistic about that. Right.
Brandon Burton 36:42 I appreciate that, that response and that perspective, for sure. I wanted to give you an opportunity to share any contact information. So if there’s listeners out there who’d like to reach out and connect and learn more about your efforts of community building and things you’ve shared with us today, what would be the best way for him to reach out and connect with
Connect with Karen Riordan
Karen Riordan 37:02 You can reach out to me at Karen.Riordan@VisitMyrtleBeach.com. And that’s my my email address. You can also check out our chamber website, MyrtleBeachAreaChamber.com. But I always welcome talking to other colleagues and hearing their stories. And if I can offer a bit of advice or fill in more detail as to what we’re doing in community building. I’m happy to do that.
Brandon Burton 37:36 Awesome. I appreciate that. I’ll get your contact information in our show notes for this episode, which will be found at chamberchatpodcast.com/episode171. But Karen, I appreciate you being with us today and sharing your examples and and perspective as to how you guys are going about community building and, and especially in those important segments that you touched on as well. So I think it provided a lot of value for our listeners. Thank you.
Karen Riordan 38:03 Thank you. Thanks for the opportunity. I appreciate it.
Brandon Burton 38:07 If you are a chamber professional, please subscribe to Chamber Chat Podcast in Apple podcast, Google podcasts or Spotify. When you subscribe to Chamber Chat Podcast new episodes will show up in your podcast app each week as they are released. If you’re finding value in this podcast, please leave us a rating and a review in iTunes. But most importantly, please share Chamber Chat Podcast with your colleagues that are in the industry.
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Have you had any formal training on how to develop a strong, diverse, effective chamber board? My guess is that most chamber executives who are reading this blog post have not been trained on board development. Many find themselves in the chamber industry by happy accident. What makes a chamber board effective anyway? While I am by no means an expert on board development or management, I will share what I have learned from experienced chamber professionals and non-profit board experts.
When it occurred to me how many chamber leaders find their career in chamber work by accident, it prompted me to do a survey to ask chamber leaders about their experience working with boards before starting with the chamber. The results were interesting. Only 27% of chamber leaders surveyed had worked with a board previous to entering the chamber world. 37% had no experience working with a board at all while another 37% had served on a nonprofit board. I think we could all agree how the perspective changes from serving on a board to being on the other side as the chamber executive.
To start, it may be helpful to understand what an effective board is. I would argue that an effective board is one that will engage in meaningful discussion which leads to action. These outcomes of these actions should support the mission of your organization and further build your community.
Chamber Board Selection
As I recently attended the MAKO (Missouri, Arkansas, Kansas, Oklahoma) Chamber Conference, Dave Adkission was one of the speakers. Of the many topics that he covered in his talk, he spent some time talking about the unique qualities of a Chamber leader. He shared how you are often the only person in your city or town who does what you do. You may have colleagues in neighboring towns but you are typically the only Chamber Director/President/CEO in your community.
Dave also talked about how as a Chamber Executive you have a new boss each year, of course referencing your board chair. With this understanding, it is not very common in the workplace to have a say about who your next boss will be. However, in the chamber world, you can be intentional about building your board of directors with people who share a similar vision for your community.
When it comes to board selection, you may be tempted to look to those business leaders who can be a strong source of revenue. You probably want people on your board who are well connected. Oftentimes the people who make up a chamber board are some of the most influential business people in your community. This can lend more credibility and influence to your organization as a result.
On the flip side, by having your board filled with high level business leaders, there is a good chance that their time and resources will be stretched thin. They are probably serving on other boards in your community. They are most likely being asked for money from other organizations. They will likely notice that they are being asked to participate on various boards because they are well connected and have access to money which can change their perception of your organization.
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You want to be very intentional about recruiting for board service as you build relationships with other leaders in your community. Be mindful of what mindsets and skillsets are missing or underrepresented on your current board. Have discussions with some of these leaders who you think would be a good addition to your board to plant the seed or idea in their mind about the value or perspective they can provide.
Developing Board Diversity
In the past, at least in the United States, most chamber boards were composed of older, white males. As demographics change, as social justice and awareness are more front of mind, it is important that chamber boards reflect the makeup of the community which they serve.
With chambers having a sharper focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion, we are starting to see more of this shift in board seats. As there are more women owned businesses, having the voice and perspective of women on your board is important. As you develop your chamber board, notice if your community tends to have a younger demographic, you may want to recruit board members who represent your younger business owners. Your community may have a larger makeup of hispanic, African-American, Asian, or Pacific Islanders. This should be reflected on your board.
As a chamber leader, you are expected to know your community and to have a pulse on what is important to them. Should you focus on having more veterans on your board or people from the LGBTQ+ community? Although the development of your chamber board should be very intentional, you should be careful not to recruit board members simply because the check a box. Each board member should bring specific skillsets to make your board whole.
It is important as you recruit new board members to work towards filling seats with the people who can help move your community forward and not just who has the money and influence. Ultimately your chamber should carry the influence in your community that you are looking for. You should be leading the way in showing what is important to building a stronger community and why each segment of your population is vital to this vision.
A while back, I had Matt Morrow on the Chamber Chat Podcast. Matt is the President and CEO of the Springfield Area Chamber in Missouri. Matt talked about the lessons he learned from a book titled “The Wisdom of Crowds”. The main takeaway message was that more often than not, a diverse crowd of people can, together, come up with the most correct answer to problems than any one person or any one demographic can on their own. This is because the diversity brings different perspectives which help point to the most correct answers.
Setting Clear Expectations
Communication and expectations are key to a functional board. It may be tempting to complain about an underperforming board member. You might get frustrated when the ball gets dropped on certain action items that come out of a board meeting. Are certain members always late to your board meetings or not engaged? These board members may not clearly understand what is expected of them and how important their role really is.
From their perspective, they may be complaining to themselves, a spouse, another board member or a co-worker about how unorganized and unproductive the chamber board meetings are. They may not have clearly expressed what their expectations were from you as a chamber leader.
Either way, if the dysfunction is coming from the chamber side or from the board side, this will quickly result in a disengaged board. Have open and honest communication about expectations. Be intentional with the onboarding process for new board members so they clearly understand the importance of their role. While in your board meetings, try to spend the bulk of your time in discussion about things that really matter for your community. You will likely have some of the most influential leaders of your community in the same room so don’t waste their time. Find out how your board members prefer their communications. Do they want detailed drafts for each meeting or a simple outline? By defining expectations up front will save you a lot of frustration later.
Along with clear expectations, always be mindful of your board member’s time. These are often busy people who live by a schedule. Be as concise, yet thorough with communications and meetings to keep up the level of engagement. As soon as you notice any disengagement, have an open conversation to assess the load your board member is carrying and encourage adjustments with assignments as needed.
Board Unity
It is not abnormal to have very strong personalities among a group of business and community leaders. This is not a bad thing at all. Oftentimes, these strong personalities are what land these individuals in the positions of influence where they currently reside. However, some personalities can be like oil and water as they repel each other.
Be intentional about creating opportunities for board members to break down barriers and to get past personalities. This could be done by providing opportunities for these individuals to serve directly with each other and to learn from each other’s experiences and skillset. This is often facilitated through board retreats and training.
If you can build buffer time around your board meetings to allow for your board members to socialize for a few minutes before or after board meetings, you will see more ideas generated once they are outside of the formal setting of a meeting. A good signal of board unity is when you see several board members linger after a meeting to continue discussion ideas or even just getting to know each other better.
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Continue Your Chamber Board Development
As I stated at the beginning of this post, I am not an expert on nonprofit or chamber board development. However, I have learned a lot as I have worked with chambers over the past 15+ years and as I have been interviewing chamber leaders on Chamber Chat Podcast for over 3 years now.
One of the best people I have interviewed on the podcast about this topic is Hardy Smith, author of “Stop the Nonprofit Board Blame Game”. I would encourage every chamber executive to read this book. You will learn key insights about managing your board that you have never thought of.
I would also encourage you to continue learning from others, whether that is through conferences, regional chamber meetings, listening to podcasts, reading blogs, or by reaching out to others directly who you admire and feel like you can learn from.
Chamber service and board development is a continual iteration as our tools become more refined and as the world continues to evolve.
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Below is an auto-generated transcription of my conversation with Heath Taylor. Because this is auto-generated there are likely some grammatical errors but it is still a useful tool to search text within this podcast episode.
Feel free to join our Chamber Chat Champions Facebook Group to discuss this episode and to share your own experiences and tips with other Chamber Champions.
Brandon Burton 0:00 This is the Chamber Chat Podcast, the show dedicated to chamber professionals to spark ideas and to get actionable tips and strategies to better serve your members and community.
Voiceover Talent 0:14 And now your host he believes our ability to make choices are one of our greatest gifts. Here’s my dad Brandon Burton.
Brandon Burton 0:21 Hello Chamber Champions. Welcome to Chamber Chat Podcast. I’m your host Brandon Burton, where it is my goal here on the podcast to introduce you to people and ideas to better help you serve your Chamber members and your community.
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Brandon Burton 1:05
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Guest Introduction
Our guest for this episode is he Taylor Heath is the president and CEO of the Dublin-Laurens County Chamber of Commerce. Heath is a native of Augusta, Georgia. He served as the Vice President of Business and Community Development at the Aiken Chamber of Commerce and as a vice president at the Columbia County Chamber of Commerce in Evans, Georgia. He’s a graduate of the US Chamber of Commerce Institute through the University of Georgia and currently serves on the Board of Regents for the US Institute of organizational management, the Georgia Chamber Federation Advisory Council, the Georgia rural prosperity Council, the Georgia Chamber of Commerce executives board, Middle Georgia Easter Seals, board of directors and the Robins Regional Museum of aviation board of directors. Heath has served as community lay director for the Georgia Lena walk to Emmaus and currently serves as pastor of go Baptist Church. Heath is married to Tammy and has three children, Trent Camden and Kayla. Heath, I’m excited to have you with me today on Chamber Chat Podcast, I’d love for you to take a moment to say hello to all the Chamber Champions and share something you find interesting about yourself so we can all get to know you a little better.
Heath Taylor 3:01 Well, thank you, Brandon. Appreciate the opportunity today. And I want to say thank you to all the folks out there that are in chamber world that understand what we do, how we do and why we do and really appreciate your efforts and the impact that you’re making in your communities. I don’t know how interesting. It may be two people but I get asked this a lot as president CEO at the chamber. Yes, this is a full time job. And I do this much more than 40 hours a week. And some people ask Well, are you a bi vocational pastor, I’m also a full time pastor. And so sometimes that involves 40 plus hours a week, it just depends on what’s going on. But what I really appreciate and enjoy the two jobs that I have complement one another. And I was telling someone this morning even I confuse people sometimes in the morning because I’m getting my coffee at a local restaurant here and they say What are you so happy about? And I tell them because I’m going to work. And I’m one of those people. I don’t have to go to work, I get to go to work. And I think that’s important for us, though. I love what we do.
Brandon Burton 4:07 Yeah. Now that mindset makes all the difference for sure of getting to go to work. But I found it interesting to your pastor as well, because you like he said the two different the two jobs do complement each other. And I don’t know maybe you’ll touch on that in our discussion today. Kind of some of that crossover. But why don’t you take a moment to tell us a little bit about your chamber, kind of the size budget staff just to kind of set the table for our discussion.
About the Dublin-Laurens County Chamber
Heath Taylor 4:35 Okay, fantastic. And I think it’s important to start but I’ve been here six years. When I came to Dublin Laurens County. We’re a rural community in the middle of Georgia. And this chamber had just over 400 members and an annual budget of almost $300,000 And as in a lot of rural communities, there was a lot of mentality. Some people call it cave mentality the citizens against her everything. But but a lot of people that have been here a long way a long time, and they’re used to doing things a particular way. So when I first came and we started talking about events and programs and sponsorships, Ambassador programs and different things, there was a lot of pushback. And I even had a few of my board members I remember laughed, actually laughed out loud in a board meeting, even at the mention of a $5,000 sponsor for our program. And they said, You know, I don’t know about where you come from, and Columbia County or Augusta. But we don’t do that here. So which I had to reply, we will start or I won’t be here very long. But to their credit, they’ve gotten behind our chamber supported our chamber today. We’re close to 600 members, and we’re closer to 650,000 on our annual budget, so we’ve doubled our annual budget, and grown about 150. Net, and our membership. So it’s been a great community to work with. And I believe that support builds support, momentum builds momentum. And more importantly, I think we’re starting to even work more regionally, because that’s so important as well for rural communities, especially in the state of Georgia. Yeah,
Brandon Burton 6:14 I think we could go down a whole rabbit hole of regional cooperation with with other chambers, especially when it comes to things like economic development and advocacy and things like that. But we’ll focus our discussion, our topic for discussion today, around Ambassador programs and in really understanding where your chamber fits in in your community, kind of what your role is. And we’ll get into that discussion as soon as we get back from this quick break.
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Alright, Heath, we’re back. So as I mentioned before the break we’re we’ll be talking about Ambassador programs, and it’s my understanding you have kind of a robust, I’ll say, Ambassador Program. So I’d love to have you share with us how you approach working with ambassadors, onboarding ambassadors, just your overall program and how you engage with them.
Topic-Ambassador Programs
Heath Taylor 9:21 So probably one of the programs I’m most proud of and most near and dear to my heart is the ambassador program here at the double Marins chamber. So we do have a program sponsor, and I mentioned that to a lot of folks in chambers because a lot of folks don’t have a sponsor. We have a really really great sponsor here and it just so happens to be bass physical therapy, which if you break down the word ambassador, right in the middle of it is bass so so that was a God thing for us here. To have bass physical therapy come on board with us. Something else that kind of shocked people Brandon when I first met you To them, because all of our ambassadors do pay $150 a year to participate in our program, I would tell you, I’ve not had one ambassador to date complaining about the $150, when they see the value of the program, this program was a big win for us, as well as the folks that participate. So they are interviewed anyone that’s in our chamber ambassador program, if I don’t know you personally, you have to come in just like you would for a job interview. And I got to know why you would want to be in this program, what you can bring to this program, if your supervisor or your owner is allowing you to participate, and we look for a particular type of person to fit into this program. Once they are accepted into the program, we have a full day of training that you must attend, in addition to be a part of the program, and that’s a that’s a day of training. It’s kind of chamber one to one. But it’s everything that we are in everything that we are not. So our ambassadors can answer the question, you know, when people say what you get out of it, what you put into it, but they get the right answer, you know, kind of a trick question asked him, sometimes they’ll be a membership. A lot of times they start off telling you about the programs and events, and I’m backing them up and stop them right there. Who are you talking to, you always have to know who you’re talking to. Because some things that we do are important to some people that are not important to others. So I would say pretty rigorous training for our ambassadors. And then they represent us in the community, we break up our entire membership among our ambassadors. So they get just over 20 contacts the piece. And again, they’re trained and coached on how to call how to email and how to make personal visits to those businesses. They meet together monthly for lunch. We have the mayor come in city council, we’ve had Arthur’s books, police chief different people come in to share information with them that other folks in the community or even in the businesses are not privy to. So they get firsthand knowledge on a lot of things there. They meet together monthly, have lunch together and build their network. Additionally, you know, they build networks and friendships and relationships with the people that are their personal contacts. That’s a kind of a, a real quick overview of of that program.
Brandon Burton 12:28 Yeah. So I think you’ve hit on several important highlights. So do you have like an open enrollment period for chamber ambassadors? Or is it as people are interested? How do you approach that?
Heath Taylor 12:42 So November is usually when we send out applications for the upcoming year. Training always takes place the last week of January. And because you are an ambassador, this year does not guarantee you a position on the team next year. Through doing that we’ve actually really created a lot of demand interest in the program. Whether it be good or bad, I do tell people and I want people to know we have way more applications than we have positions on our ambassador team. So it is a select elite group of folks. And it’s two words we’d like they used to be an ambassador here his privilege and responsibility. But I’m glad to know that people are applying and they’re interested, sometimes Brandon is just not a good fit. I’m honored to say, you know, we’ve had presidency, who at the hospital, inquire about the ambassador program and being on that team. And pets just not a good fit for the CEO in the hospital. Not that it’s beneath them. But this person’s busy. And they don’t have time to do the meetings and the networking and the ribbon cuttings and all the different things that we require of our ambassadors, right.
Brandon Burton 13:51 I think the similar thing could be said about a board position as well, trying to recruit for a board, it kind of falls in the same category, it’s got to be a good fit. absolutely make sure that the time is there and expectations are well known, which I wanted to touch on the expectations like through the interview process and through the required training that you provide. It really does help to set those expectations of this is what we expect of you to do this is what an ambassador role is and giving them those resources to go do it. I’m curious, how did this start? Like how did you come up with the ambassador program? And how would a chamber listening? Who thinks man he has really got it going on there? Like how would I get started?
Heath Taylor 14:38 Yeah, I think one of the most important things a couple of things go into that Brandon and first and foremost is when we have any networking event, whether it be first Friday of in a business after hours of women in business, a golf event, whatever it is, I’m looking for those people that walk up to people and introduce themselves, always willing to smile, shake a hand They’re friendly, and they’re outgoing. You know, and then the the people that that’s your job to be out in the community to build your network and build your alliances and friendships and things, those are the people that make a good fit for this program. So, pretty strategic in who I will tell you a majority 75% of the folks that are in my program, I stopped them out personally. Okay, the other 25% are probably people that applied that, that I’ve had the pleasure of getting to know over a period of time with that your ambassador chair is of utmost importance. And we are blessed here, the guy that’s our ambassador chair, he does say in the chamber of drinks, the Kool Aid, he believes 100% and the Chamber mission and the purpose. He’s our cheerleader, he keeps the the men and women involved. He has contest for them constantly. Gift Certificates at lunch for different things that he has them. So we have a fun group. It’s a personable, very personable group. We pray together, we laugh together, we’ve cried together, we’ve lost members of our ambassador team, for different reasons over the years. But our ambassadors are there for one another. It’s almost much more than a team. It’s it’s a extension of family.
Brandon Burton 16:22 Yeah, that that is great. Can you talk to us a little bit more about the spot the program sponsor for the Yeah. Yeah,
Heath Taylor 16:34 right. And people ask me because we have a $5,000 sponsor here, which is a lot more than I thought originally that we would have. And if I can tell you real quick how that happened. I don’t mind sharing, and they’re, they’re still happy and fun with this. But when I talked about our ambassador program, to our sponsor, I mentioned all of the things that we do as a team. And then I mentioned to them, you know, when we do our training, your company name, your logo, everything is on the notebook, we actually have notebooks for training for our ambassadors. You will also have a person on this team, which worked out well again with bass because my chair actually works for bass physical therapy, okay. We do quarterly awards, and we do those that are our monthly breakfast. So best physical therapy comes up and introduces that person and gives that award. On our website. If you go to the website, anything you read with ambassadors best physical therapy has their name and their logo. And probably the biggest thing is our annual award for Ambassador of the year is presented at the Chamber’s annual dinner. And of course, the folks from physical therapy come on stage and present that award as well. Anytime we have ribbon cuttings, we always recognize and thank our sponsor, and give them a minute to welcome the business and speak at the ribbon cuttings as well. So that’s part of that sponsorship. $5,000 How do we get $5,000? That’s what people asked me. My goal was 2500. But when I was in, I love to talk about negotiating. And maybe that’s another story another day. Yeah. But I like to sit down and ask my program sponsors. What what, what does this look like to you? What do you want out of this? Here’s what I’m offering. But what do you need? And we work together until I get them to ask me. Well, how much is how much do you want for this? To which I always reply, I would say Brandon, what’s it worth it worth to? Yeah, well, when Mr. Bass said, I don’t know, $5,000. I’m overwhelmed inside and bumbling, but how to keep a straight face and stay calm. And that’s not exactly the number I had in mind. Let me ask you this, if you’re committed to two years, I’ll do 5000. And so they said absolutely put us down. That was six years ago. They’ve stayed with us, they see the value in the program. And it’s awesome. Very fortunate there. Now some people do ask sometimes what if he would have said 2000? And that’s another story, like I said, on another day to negotiate.
Brandon Burton 19:05 Yeah. And even that even that example you shared, that’s a good example of negotiating, showing the value. Yeah, and it’s all having the discussion, right, and seeing what the value is what they need from it, what’s it worth to them, right? And make sure that things align, make sure those expectations are met.
Heath Taylor 19:25 I do I think too many times in the chamber world, people come in with their sheet are their flyer and they’re giving you here’s what you get and the sponsorship. When you know there’s two or three things on that list. It’s not even important to the person that you’re trying to build this sponsorship with. So I think we need to get their input, get their buying and you know, then yeah, they’ll pay for it.
Brandon Burton 19:48 Yeah, that’s good advice right there. So I’m wondering for a chamber who has a typical ambassador program, taking whatever volunteers will will sign up and show up but ribbon cuttings or whatever it may be, whatever their program looks like, how would you suggest if they wanted to go more this direction, having paid Ambassador ambassadors pay into the program, having a program sponsor, just changing the whole outlook of the program and really making it more of a program? Maybe your suggestion, yeah,
Heath Taylor 20:22 I’ve been all over the southeast, I would dare say almost 100 chambers that I’ve worked with own ambassador programs. And let me be clear to say the number one reason some of them fail, is they don’t charge for the program. And when you charge even $150, and you can explain that by saying we eat a catered lunch every month, and that’s where your money goes, even though I get a lot of lunches sponsored. That’s buying in, that has some skin in the game, you know, a volunteer program a lot of times and there’s no charge, well, they show up if they won’t do and they don’t. Back to what you mentioned earlier, a lot of them have people, Hey, whoever we can get to show up whenever we can get him to show up, we’ll take anybody we can get. Yeah, I don’t care if you only have three ambassadors have the three best ambassadors that believe in what you’re doing and how you’re doing and you will grow your program. But it’s be clear that it’s not for any and everybody to participate, train your ambassadors, equip them and make it to where, like I said, $450, this is a steal the training that you’re getting the networking, the connections that you’re making, the people that you have access to. So it’s all in building the program, and then presenting it to the folks that you want to be in the program.
Brandon Burton 21:40 And for those listening, figure out your own price point, it doesn’t have to be that 5200 300 could be 50, you know, just have some skin in the game is the point. And
Heath Taylor 21:49 the same with the sponsorship, whether it’s a $500 sponsorship, but that whatever it is, but you can actually turn so our our ambassador program here generates about $3,500 a year for us in revenue, after everything’s paid for. And we spend a lot of money on our ambassadors, and we invest in our ambassadors. We do bowling parties with them and numerous things to thank them and appreciate them for all the hard work that they’re doing. But at the end of the day, that’s a revenue generator.
Brandon Burton 22:17 That’s right. So talk to me about, you’d mentioned each ambassador has about 20 businesses that they’re kind of assigned to how does how do you figure out which businesses are assigned to who what kind of methodology goes into that,
Heath Taylor 22:31 you gotta love this. So at the beginning of every year, even if you’ve been an ambassador for five years, you get new context, okay. And so we start with the letter A, and those businesses, and if I’ve got, you know, 35 Ambassadors, then I put out 35 sheets of paper, and then I go back and stack on top up. So they are randomly assigned. Now, if you have somebody that you just are adamant, you want to have that person and keep that person, we work with you to do that. The other thing we allow is on that first day of training, it’s almost like kids trading bubblegum cards, but if there’s a company that you’ve really been trying to get your foot in the door, and you just haven’t been able to, and you want that company, if you can get the person that has that company to trade a company with you, we allow that trading to take place. Then as the year goes on, you know, 10 or 12 new members a month, we’ve got a great membership salesperson here, and we haven’t 10 or 12, sometimes 14 new members per month at the monthly luncheon was this is a real strategic process. So I’ve got 14 new member packets here. When I call out a new business, the first hand that goes up, that’s who gets that business. Okay. That’s how they’re assigned after the initial startup of
Brandon Burton 23:49 the program. Yeah. So each year, though, are their contacts changed up? Is that what I understood?
Heath Taylor 23:54 Each year they get a new list of contacts, because you’ve had 12 months in most cases to build a relationship, right? If you did, and they understand that a 20 to 23 contacts, you’re not gonna build 23 brand new friendships, relationships, partnerships, but if you get six or eight, is that not worth 150 bucks? Yeah. And most of the time, they’re probably average that six or eight, and then next year, you get a new book of business, and you got new opportunities to meet more people. Yeah, I love it. And, and probably about a quarter turnover. I like to have about 25% turnover in the program every year to have a few new people in and give some folks a chance to that might not have had a chance prior.
Brandon Burton 24:38 Yeah. So how do you manage that as you bring in new ones and let them out of the program? Is it I mean, they’re they’re doing the interview process application process each year.
Heath Taylor 24:51 And you know, at the beginning of the year in training, every ambassador is told, you know, prior service doesn’t guarantee you a spot on the team next year. So in November, you’re going to get one of two emails from me. One email says thank you for your service in the ambassador program, and we wish you well in your future endeavors. And one says We sure hope you’re planning to reapply for the program next year. Okay, and if you get an email saying we wish you well, if you do have any discrepancies, or you think you should have come back and give me a call, we’ll have a discussion about it.
Brandon Burton 25:26 Okay. I like that. It’s a good approach. So how about trying to figure out the role of your chamber in your community? What are your thoughts on that? And how does that? How do you How does the chamber go about finding where they fit?
Heath Taylor 25:44 I think Brandon, you mentioned in my bio, so I was in Aiken with 1000 members on a million dollar budget, Columbia County, same thing. 1000 members, million dollar budget, both five star credit chambers. And then I come to a little small chamber in Dublin, Georgia. You really have to look around in your community and find yourself and find out what does my community need that I can help solve? To me, that’s what we’re here for the Chamber’s your problem solver in the community, and we want people to come to us for solutions. But where can we really make an impact? And that’s as a board. I think we have to work together in every community. You know, I work with a lot of communities around me that are just poverty stricken communities, and they look at what we’re doing here. And they say, Wow, we see what you’re doing. We see what Dublin’s doing, and how do we do that. And I tell them, Don’t do Dublin, do your community and be the best chamber, you can be for your community what find a need or two, that you can address that you can make some progress with that you can toot your horn and say, Look what we did, and then grow that momentum. From there. That didn’t always happen. I think people reach for the stars sometimes too early. Yeah. You know, find some wins, get some wins for your chamber. Some things that you can say, hey, look what we did together, and then you can grow that momentum and grow your influence in your community.
Brandon Burton 27:12 I love that. Fact. That’s one of the next questions I was going to ask you as far as like a tip or an action item for a chamber to sing to help take them up to the next level. Do you have any other suggestions that you’d put out there to?
Action Item/Tip for Chamber Champions
Heath Taylor 27:28 Well, I do look at your larger chambers. And I’m fortunate because I worked at two of those chambers. And again, they were five store credit and chambers. So I’ve brought a lot of the things that we did in those chambers to this community. But as you mentioned earlier, I’ve had to tweak some of those things. You know, I had $8,000 table sponsors at my annual dinner when I was in Aiken. Here, I have $2,500 table sponsors. You know, some of the programs are the same program, but they get a new twist or a new look. But But look at greatness. And look at what greatness looks like so that you can become great. Sometimes we don’t know when a small community what greatness looks like, because we haven’t seen it. So that would be my advice, look at some successful chambers, some of your successful peers and find out what they’re doing and how they’re doing it. And then learn how you can adapt that to make it be successful in your community.
Brandon Burton 28:24 I love it to look at greatness, it makes me think of you know, when you have a limiting beliefs, you know, we can’t get a, you know, $5,000 Ambassador sponsor, you know, that could be a limiting belief, are you sure, but if you look to greatness, you know, for people listening, look to Heath and be like, Hey, you did it there in Dublin, right? I can’t I scale it for the size chamber, I have bigger or smaller, and to see something, you know, relative?
Heath Taylor 28:51 Yeah, great. I have to throw a scripture in their brain. And I do believe you know, Philippians 413, all things are possible. And we do work here. And we pray weekly, in our staff meetings here. You know, we want our work to be pleasing to the Lord. That’s important to us.
Brandon Burton 29:07 That’s great. So I like asking everybody this question that I have on the show, as we look to the future of chambers, how do you see the future chambers and their purpose going forward?
Future of Chambers
Heath Taylor 29:18 I think that back to what we talked about a few minutes ago, you know, Chambers of Commerce should never embrace change, they should lead change. And I think we better realize how we need to do that in our communities. I love at the Chamber Institute where I get to serve on the Board of Regents one of my favorite courses there is called innovate or not. And that’s what I believe for our chambers. We better be change agents and innovative and leading our communities or we’re going to be irrelevant. And again, whatever that is to your particular community, whatever that change in that innovation needs to look like.
Brandon Burton 29:57 Yeah, and I know whenever we think Innovation, I’ve, I always get a little bit hesitant just because you know, it’s easy to chase those shiny objects, you know, it’s easy to chase the the next, you know, attractive thing. And it may not be aligned with your mission and may not be aligned with the direction that your chamber really should be going. So as you look to lead change, make sure it’s something that your chamber should be leading that change for, so that it aligns well.
Heath Taylor 30:30 And just a pet peeve for me, Brandon, the fact that throw it in there. But if you’re a chamber of commerce, listening or watching this that don’t do fundraisers, execute your program of work, everything that you do in your chamber should fall into your program of work. You’re not doing a fundraiser, you’re executing a program of work. And yes, we have to have money to operate just like any other business does. And we need to run our chamber that way.
Brandon Burton 30:59 Another great point. Yeah, I think of, you know, my daughter right now, playing middle school sports and basketball, volleyball. Every year, they’re tasked with a fundraiser, and they’re supposed to get 20 email addresses and basically spam these email addresses for any amount of donation. And that’s all it is. It’s a fundraiser, you’re asking for donations. And that really, if a chamber is just going after fundraisers, and donations, it really devalues what the chamber has to offer. So keeping it within your body of work is such an important point.
Heath Taylor 31:35 Absolutely, should fit with our program of work everything that we do.
Brandon Burton 31:39 That’s right. Well, he I appreciate you being with us today, you’ve shared a ton of value and and I think some good stuff for people to kind of mull over and see what they might need to change at their chamber, how they might be able to apply and scale some of these things we’ve talked about. But if a listener wanted to reach out and connect with you about your ambassador program, or anything else you’ve touched on, what would be the best way for them to reach out and connect,
Connect with Heath Taylor
Heath Taylor 32:06 I’ll give you an email and a phone number, if that’s okay to do. Sure. 706-414-0014. And my email is htaylor@dublin-georgia.com. And if anybody is indifferent to anything I’ve talked about today, or, you know, has something different or better, I would love to talk with them to better ourselves and what we do here. Yeah,
Brandon Burton 32:43 and I’ll get your contact information in our show notes for this episode, which will be found at chamberchatpodcast.com/episode170. But again, this has been a great discussion, and I think one that has probably opened the eyes of some chambers listening as new opportunities. So thanks again for for being with us and sharing this insight.
Heath Taylor 33:05 Thank you for the opportunity.
Brandon Burton 33:08 If you are a chamber professional, please subscribe to Chamber Chat Podcast in Apple podcast, Google podcasts or Spotify. When you subscribe to Chamber Chat Podcast new episodes will show up in your podcast app each week as they are released. If you’re finding value in this podcast, please leave us a rating and a review in iTunes. But most importantly, please share Chamber Chat Podcast with your colleagues that are in the industry.
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Below is an auto-generated transcription of my conversation with Betty Capestany. Because this is auto-generated there are likely some grammatical errors but it is still a useful tool to search text within this podcast episode.
Feel free to join our Chamber Chat Champions Facebook Group to discuss this episode and to share your own experiences and tips with other Chamber Champions.
Brandon Burton 0:00 This is the Chamber Chat Podcast, the show dedicated to chamber professionals to spark ideas and to get actionable tips and strategies to better serve your members and community.
Voiceover Talent 0:14 And now, your host. He recently started blogging about chamber stuff on regular basis. He’s my dad, Brandon Burton.
Brandon Burton 0:21 Hello, Chamber Champions. Thank you for joining us for Chamber Chat Podcast. I am your host, Brandon Burton, and it is my goal to introduce you to people and ideas to better help you serve your Chamber members and your community.
As a medium sized chamber, we recognize that it’s absolutely critical to have a well qualified and well trained membership development person. Holman Brothers trained that person, recruited that person then they even trained me on how to manage that person. We’re grateful for the support we got.
Brandon Burton 1:02
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Guest Introduction
Our guest for this episode is Betty Capestany. Betty serves as the Director of Economic Development for Pierce County. Her department focuses on retaining growing and bringing new jobs to Pierce County. Last year they delivered $46.5 million of cares funding to small businesses in Pierce County. Currently she’s overseeing $40 million dollars of American rescue plan economic stabilization and recovery funds to help Pierce County businesses receive resources during the pandemic. One of those programs includes a Pierce County accelerator. The accelerator is an entrepreneurial program that is focused on bipoc startups and micro businesses that his career has focused on building communities with the knowledge that successful supported businesses help the community thrive. But his work has been dedicated to having a deep understanding of how each community functions, its synergies, its quirks, its strengths and leveraging those to the advantage of the businesses she serves. That he thrives on pushing the envelope being the first to try out a new technology brings her joy and has her quick thinking ways it could be applied to the advancement of business. Prior to coming to Pierce County that is Betty served as CEO of the Bellevue Chamber of Commerce for 17 years and prior to that, the city of Renton economic development director, Brendan Chamber of Commerce CEO and Assistant Director for the Kent Chamber of Commerce, Betty and her husband, George have a blended family of four boys to lovable labs and to BlackBerry eating coats. For fun. Betty runs marathons. She’s done all the world majors except Tokyo, she loves to travel, read entertain family and friends. Her civic involvement includes 30 plus years as Rotarian and Paul Harris fellow, she serves on the executive committee for Washington Economic Development Association. And as a past chair of ACC.
Betty, I’m excited to have you with me today on chamber tap podcast, I’d love for you to take a moment to say hello to all the Chamber Champions who are listening and share something else interesting about yourself so you can get to know you a little bit better.
Betty Capestany 3:54 Well, hello to all my favorite people across the country. The chamber industry is amazing and has amazing leaders. And it really is the heart and soul. And I’m just delighted to be able to share some conversations and I look forward to seeing everyone in person, hopefully sometime soon, like maybe an ACC II conference. So maybe something exciting about me. We all stumbled into the chamber world in unique ways. And my unique way was I was filling out a college application. And I didn’t know what to say, I was gonna do. I was trying to get a scholarship. And my grandmother said, Put down that you want to work for a chamber of commerce, because you love people and I don’t want you to be a social worker because it’s going to kill you and your grandpa’s a member of a chamber so just put it down. Well, I put it down, didn’t think anything about it. And fast forwarded after graduation. I was working at a CPA office and the chairman of the chamber happened to come by and said we’re looking for someone for the Chamber of Commerce and then that’s kind of the rest of the story. So it’s kind of a unique way to get there. But I truly love the industry.
About Pierce County Economic Development
Brandon Burton 5:07 Wow, that is a neat story. I’m sure there’s more details to it that you could expand on. But that’s that is awesome. So I shared some of your background in the chamber industry as I went through your bio, but you’re now working in economic development with Pierce County. But take a moment to maybe expand a little bit on your background. What I mean by that, is that the chambers he served with your current situation with economic development, what is the scope, and maybe like the size of the chambers he worked with, just to kind of give everybody perspective as we get into our discussion?
Betty Capestany 5:45 Sure, I’ve worked with chambers of all different sizes, and I’ve always figured it doesn’t really matter how large or small you are. But if you figure out from your current state, how do you make it better. So obviously, the written chamber was a lot smaller. It was a one and a half person job to start with, and a lot of parent involvement helping do things. And then it grew to the Bellevue chamber that had nine staff members. So I think, budgets you, but just show the reflection of how well you’ve done a job in the community, because you can grow those income streams and people accordingly, at Pierce County, actually, I’m an economic development director, and I have the pleasure to work for a county executive that is a third generation business person. And top of being a county executive. And also for our county council. Our department is a smallest department in the county, we don’t even have a tab in the budget book. So before care’s and the rescue plan, before the pandemic, I might have had three, four or $500,000 of discretionary money every year to invest in different programs and resources. And most of our work was done leveraging through Chambers of Commerce for advocacy, economic development boards for recruitment, retention of businesses, larger companies. And so I really didn’t have a lot of dollars, but it was always about connecting people to solve solutions. And then the pandemic changed all that. And I have a really big budget. And I kind of chuckled during cares, because at the Chamber, I would stay up late at night trying to figure out how I was going to make my budget and, and how, you know, how do I hold my paycheck and all those things that you worry about as a business person, and then all of a sudden to have all this money to give away? Oh, my gosh, I thought I just got into heaven. Even though it was a very stressful process, but it was it’s just the other end of the spectrum, I guess you’d say?
Brandon Burton 7:57 Yeah, no, that really does help set the table and give that perspective. background that you have, you know, coming into our discussion, I really love what you had said about the reflection of budget at a chamber, you’ve been a reflection of the the value that you’re providing to the community, I think that is a great perspective to to look at that. And not that if you have a smaller budget, it’s not dollar for dollar, you know, reflection, but it’s the size of your community and everything like that, that factors into it. But I thought that was a good way of looking at it. And if you can grow your budget, grow those revenue streams, then you can see the impact you’re making in your community. So our topic for discussion today is going to be around industry innovation, which I know it’s kind of a broad topic, but that’s something that as chambers are always trying to remain relevant and move forward. It’s it’s something that I think it’ll pick up the ears of a lot of listeners. But we’ll get into this discussion as soon as we get back from this quick break.
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All right, Becky, we’re back. So as we talk about industry innovation, you’ve had some experience in the chamber world, as we’ve talked about leading up to this. What are some of those innovations that are top of mind for you? I know, you’re specifically from your economic development role. There’s some some unique nuances. I guess we can call those. But just from your career in the chamber to Now what kind of innovations have you seen, and then we can talk about kind of right now going forward?
Topic-Chamber Innovations
Betty Capestany 11:48 Well, it’s a topic I love so so thank you very much for that. And I truly feel like the Chamber’s of the future, needs to make sure they’re innovative. And so just a couple of bookends as we work into the conversation, part of that innovation is to surround yourself with amazing people in your kitchen cabinets, and your kitchen cabinets sometimes maybe should be people from across the country. I mean, my kitchen cabinet has chamber people across the country. And when I was told, at three o’clock in the afternoon that I had until the next morning to come up with how would I spend that that time $30 million of cares funds, and I had to come up with a plan. I sent it out to 10 of my best chamber pals across the country. And they so when I send it out eight o’clock at night, my time, many of them, that’s 11 o’clock their time, they all responded, I put the proposal together, we actually delivered all those and even more programs, but was based on that network. So I always think you don’t have to have all of the answers. But if you use good people around you, and that could be your board leaders and focusing on what what are they doing to be successful, because whatever got you to your current state won’t get you to the future state. And I also strongly believe in you have to focus on solutions, not the problem, because everybody wants to talk about the problem. And our communities, I would say probably all of us have really big community problems. So chambers moving from a transactional Chamber of which many times that’s how we started. And we’ve kind of that space has been taken by others. It may be Google, it may be Amazon, it may be other people that are serving a lot of that transactional pieces. And if we move to more being transformational, how can we innovate and bring unique people together to solve those really big problems? And your really big problem could be infrastructure, it could be workforce upscaling rescaling. It could be how do you serve underserved populations? Could be broadband, homelessness, housing, I mean, the list goes on and on. But how do you do it differently? And that’s a piece that I always challenged people to dare to be different. And not everyone. I mean, if you if you stumble, you just get back up and you do it again, also use a lot of trends. So we had a ACC A while back, Robert towbar, and he talks about future trends and he talks about key industries. I always use that to figure out is that a is there a cluster that’s growing that we don’t know about that we can we have the talent that we can bring to our community or the 3d printing tiny homes can we do that for homelessness is so trying to figure out how you take applications that others have and put that into your community to to really make it beneficial.
Brandon Burton 14:56 Yes, I love that so much good stuff to unpack there. So at that the idea of focusing on solutions and not the problems. And I had heard of a company, I’m sure several companies have a similar policy where you can’t just go to the boss and say, we got a problem. You got to come and say, here’s a solution to this problem. Or here’s a possible way we can address this problem, instead of just dropping the problem on your boss’s desk, like you got to be part of the solution. And I think chambers can approach that same kind of perspective of, okay, yeah, there is a problem. But let’s not focus on the problem, let’s look at some possible solutions, because there’s always a way, right, right. And I also like the idea of looking at going from the transactional to transformational type of work, you would come to me as a reference from Casey Steinbacher. And we know we’ve got she’s got her great book from relevant to essential. And she talks about chambers becoming more of an influencer in their communities. And I think that comes along with creating that transformation, doing things in a better way, having the community look to you, as that influencer of change as that influencer of positive movement of the community going forward. So I think that it’s kind of a broad scope for a chamber to look at, but to get away from the transactional stuff, and become more of that, you know, solution, problem solver. And influencer in the community. So great, great perspective. So let’s, let’s look at things now. I know you’re, you’re tasked with the American rescue plan funds to dispersing and congratulations, I understand you guys just won an award. Maybe pat yourself on the back and tell a little bit about what that is, but then how that how you’re planning on dispersing some of those funds, and how that can relate back to to Chambers as well.
Betty Capestany 17:00 Sure, actually, a lot of it relates back to chambers. But let me just do a tiny step back on the Cares Act. So we for that $46.5 million, it went across eight different programs, and all of those programs, and we did cradle to grave of pretty much from our department here. And we had to break all sorts of systems inside the county to make them happened because there was a real tight timeframe to do that. But part of those we did in partnership with the chamber, so So I think that’s the piece of from chambers, making sure you’re looking at other entities that may have resources and how you may be the best person to actually do that. So the government per se doesn’t have to go breaks some of those elements. So on the rescue plan, our focus has been on how can we lead the world differently? And how can we make it because the cares was more trying to patch things together and keep us all going and Washington State was pretty much locked down. So we had a lot of bumps on that piece. So how to change it differently. During cares. We also our department looked at 5000 balance sheets and profit and loss statements for businesses in the process. And we saw many times people couldn’t fill them out. So we had to help them do that. But we also saw there were a lot of people that were left out, or there was a big difference between the haves and have nots. And while our cares resources over 40% went to diverse populations, and 70% went to women owned businesses, we knew we could do better. So with a rescue plan, the focus was on how can we make big changes. And the changes really we wanted to be was in that bipoc Arena. So which is black, brown, indigenous people of color veteran and women owned businesses and focusing on the really small businesses, or entrepreneurship since startups were kind of left out of any kind of funding in that process also. So we actually worked with I guess you could say through the cares process, we develop great relationships with like our Korean Women’s Association, our Asia Pacific Cultural Center, the black collective, the Urban League, the NAACP, me centro, so just a wide network, because we learned if you go to those networks, then they can go to their networks were trusted sources. The thing we also learned was most of those networks never focused on business. Because all the resources they got were actually around, usually a social service kind of program or resources, because in our state government never gave money to businesses. So that was an anomaly. This whole academic resources have been an anomaly to what we’ve normally done. So with that, we’re able to actually do a navigator program through our community. So we’re hiring Business Outreach Specialist. Each of these entities will be hiring them. And they have a dashed line to us. And we’re going to teach them how to network with their business community. And then when we find out what resources we need, we’ll plug them into things. So like professional services, there’s a lot of different innovation grants that we have things that we can help them grow their business. The project, we actually won Innovation Award for the state was our Pierce County business accelerator. And this is one that we’ve leveraged with our chamber of commerce as our administrator of the program. And this program, there’s probably lots of business accelerators around this program is focused, most specifically on bipoc veteran and women on businesses, they have to be really small. So under 325,000, gross revenue in 2019, or a startup business, and just having them go through the training is huge. But the training is on people that look like them, training them. So they’re see those groups and heavy peer groups. So the chamber does that. And in addition to that, we’ve actually hired in Kiva, I’m not sure if people have heard of the Kiva platform. It’s kind of one step above a GoFundMe. But it’s a platform that people all over the world can give resources to just have businesses for startups, and they help fund up to $15,000 for a business. But we basically have that platform available for the whole community. And we also have specialists that help people get ready for that platform. And these are all housed to the chamber. And then in addition to that, once someone raises $10,000 of capital that’s gone through the accelerator program, the county will match that capital. So that way, we’re truly helping them take their company to the next level, we also have paid for
about $5,000 of professional services. So if someone needs bookkeeping help, that could be 50 or 60 hours of bookkeeping help if they need legal help, but maybe 20 hours of legal help. So trying to make sure how do we remove those obstacles, and then the most important one, that the Chamber does a fabulous job at his mentorship. So matching them with a mentor for over a year. And then the last kind of cool piece is we do a rent reimbursement, up to $500 a month for a year. So trying to really take all those things that businesses have challenges and struggles with, and most particularly our bipoc businesses have challenges and struggles with and really help them figure out how to help grow wealth, so they can then pass that on to the next generation. Wow. Sorry, I get so excited.
Brandon Burton 23:02 No, so Okay, so the business outreach specialist, so I want to circle back to that it sounds like each of these kind of partner organizations. Is that person that’s being hired? Is that being? Or are they being paid through these funds? Is that how that’s working?
Betty Capestany 23:20 So we’re gonna reimburse them. So the Korean Women’s Association will hire the first. And they’re, they’re a big association for our state. They started small, they’re big. And they’re focused in Pierce County, but they will have a person on their staff that we help train that connects in with Us Weekly for all the data. And the goal is we’re going to go out to 3500 to 5000 additional businesses in our underrepresented communities. So we just make sure we touch base, let them know, figure out and connect them to resources. So it’s a reimbursement. So it’s a two year program, and we help with the job interview. Just getting them on board, because that’s that’s teaching them that skill set.
Brandon Burton 24:06 Yeah. So for somebody listening, chamber champion, listening, if they’re sitting there in their hometown, there’s their local chamber and think, gee, I wish our county or economic development had a program like this how, like you’re sitting at economic development, helping to figure out where these funds go, if you’re on the other end of it. How would you encourage that? I mean, some of the funds may be already spent right in some of these communities. How would you encourage them to kind of navigate these waters to try to adopt some of these programs that you’re talking about?
Betty Capestany 24:43 But they can always call me. But the thing is, and I’ve worked with many different communities, trying to help them do the same thing. The rescue plans, probably they’re there. They’re easier to access because there’s a little longer time for deployment. So So I think coming up with the story addigy Have what they’re trying to solve and that rescue plan. So whether it’s broadband, whether it’s something like this, which I think ties perfectly to value add so so this contract for just the navigate on the accelerator program is a $5 million contract from the county. And then we have one of our cities that added more money to it, because they saw it was very successful. For us to implement the chamber, it gets about 2.2 million to put that program together. The other monies go to the capital and the rent reimbursement and the professional services. So So I think there’s a way to leverage what chambers do really well. And I’d be glad to talk to any of them. And they may come up with different ways to make it even better. And I think it’s also making sure chambers connect into the fabric. So whether it’s tribal partners, whether whether it’s their diverse populations, just bringing different people to the table as part of the solution, and trying to figure out how you tailor it because it’s not one stop, fits all. It’s we have to meet people where they’re at. So are Korean, Vietnamese and Cambodian, a cohort, they wanted to be at eight o’clock in the morning. And they wanted to be connected to a government. They want everybody to know they were existing. And we actually did that it was translated every class into Korean and Vietnamese, now are a black population, they did not want to meet in government. They want a night time. And they didn’t want anyone that looked like me, which I’m a white lady to be in the room, because they just wanted to work amongst themselves. So but now we’re starting to have the next cohort be more blended. And so I think it’s just trying to understand what’s important to them. And now they realize, oh, I can’t, you know, have you showcased me? Or before they weren’t comfortable with that. So it’s just understanding chambers to understand those populations and bring them in because they want to help partner on these programs.
Brandon Burton 27:18 Yeah, for sure. So the thought that comes to me is we I mean, this is a lot of money that we’re talking about, you know, that the federal government’s put out a ton of money into the the economy. And I think on the surface, it’s easy for the average person to look at and be like, this is going to, you know, throw inflation through the roof, which we are seeing some inflation from it. But I think, on a local level to be able to help, you know, combat some of that inflation is where are those underserved people in the community, these bipoc business owners, because if we’re able to help them to get started, get their business, you know, to be more profitable to be more successful, employing more people that money’s being put to work. And I’m not an economist, but I think that would help keep inflation lower. It’s not a pie where the money’s just gone, you know, it’s going to generate more value and continue to move your community forward. The problem is when the money just gets spent and disappears and goes away, and you don’t have anything to show for it. That’s where we see the real damage of inflation. But if we can put that money to work, like you’re talking about, I think it can help combat inflation to some degree. And I think
Betty Capestany 28:33 along that line, maybe to pieces because I do agree with everything that you just said. I think sometimes that the groups that we’re trying to serve and reach, they don’t use a traditional chamber network. So trying to also connect them to the network. But we recently had the when they the undercover billionaire, Monique islet bat dropped into our community, and she didn’t go to the chamber, she went to a church. And because her mother had passed her, she went to a downtown urban church, and she’s a black lady. So she went, That’s where she went. And she went to the Urban League, she went, she went to different paths to and she’s established her business within that period of time without using those resources. So I think trying to bring those non traditional resources into the chamber fabric, because it’s just changing how you operate as being more transformational for your community.
Brandon Burton 29:35 Yeah, that that’s interesting. She was able to do that and goes a different a different avenue. And
Betty Capestany 29:43 she didn’t even think about chamber commerce. She just never and she’s, you know, relatively young. Very, I mean, a real live very connected lady and a very sharp business lady, but she’s done all that through her real life, that she wouldn’t Ever, she didn’t even, you know, move that into this opportunity.
Brandon Burton 30:04 So it shows the power in those other networks as well. And if you can connect them and leverage, you know, the the connections, it’s just going to make for a better community all together. So I wanted to ask that you’ve covered a ton of great information in our discussion here, I wanted to see if you might have one tip or action item for listeners to, to help take their chamber up to the next level to help elevate their community, what would what would you suggest for them?
Action Item/Tip for Chamber Champions
Betty Capestany 30:32 I would suggest them, I think what we started with the focus on a solution that they want to work on, so but work on that solution and to think differently, to expand their kitchen cabinet, if that’s what you want to call it, to people that might not be connected the chamber to figure out how to make things happen in their community.
Brandon Burton 31:00 So I love that response. Just hearing you say kitchen cabinet, again, I have to ask you to expand on that. How did that term come up? What do you what do you mean by that, just as listeners can can relate.
Betty Capestany 31:12 So what I mean by that, I know Casey calls it her tribe, I’ve always called it my kitchen cabinet. So I have people throughout my whole career that I used to benchmark things by so I have people across the chamber industry, I have a few past chairs from from different. You know, my, throughout my career, I have just successful business people that may or may not have been connected to the chamber that I just used to benchmark things by because I know I can’t solve everything by myself, I’m not smart enough. But if I use looking through their lenses, I could come up with solutions that that may work at this this period of time. And so that’s what I think has helped us as a county be innovative. I think it’s helped me throughout my whole career, just having those cabinet of people. And they’re all ages, all ranges, everything diverse everything. And I love it. And I just I love people. And that’s that’s what helps me be more visionary.
Brandon Burton 32:19 I think the term kitchen cabinet is awesome, too. So I just wanted to hear more about that.
Betty Capestany 32:24 I still have a dining room table sounds smart. It’s probably this food to table stuff. I should I should say my kitchen table there,
Brandon Burton 32:30 though. No, I like the kitchen I think of because it’s got that dual meaning right, your people you talk to while you’re in your kitchen, you got cabinets in your kitchen, but like a presidential cabinet, you got your people that support you and give you that feedback and insight. So I love it. So as we look to the future of chambers of commerce, how do you see the future of chambers and their purpose going forward?
Future of Chambers
Betty Capestany 32:53 I think this is a fabulous time to be in the chamber industry. And I think they’re the future is very bright. Because of these these huge issues going on to communities and the chambers are the ones that can really make a difference and bring people together. And it just making making chambers essential. Yeah, very relevant.
Brandon Burton 33:18 I love the answer. I love it. Well, you had mentioned as you’re giving responses, and telling how you guys are helping to disburse funds and helping to solidify some of these networks and resources for chambers, that people could reach out and connect with you what would be the best way for someone to reach out and connect with you and figure out what’s the best way to apply some of these strategies in their community.
Connect with Betty Capestany
Betty Capestany 33:42 Probably the best way would be via email. And I don’t know if you want to just put that up on the screen at the end. Since my name is a hard one to fill.
Brandon Burton 33:52 Put it in the show notes for this episode. Yeah. So
Betty Capestany 33:55 that’s probably the best way to reach out via email (betty.capestany@piercecountywa.gov). And glad to connect in I will be an ACCE this summer. So that’s also another way to connect in. And I just appreciate everything that chamber industry does. I love the industry. They’re amazing people and they’re doing amazing things.
Brandon Burton 34:15 You and I both totally agree on that. But they thank you so much for joining us today on Chamber Chat, challenge Chamber Chat Podcast, gonna be able to say the name mount show, right. This is great. I’ve enjoyed the discussion and it’s got me pumped up to see the opportunities that are further leveraging resources and communities and beyond the money though to those connections with other organizations. And I think you’ve provided a ton of value for Chamber Champions today. Thank you for that.
Thank you.
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