A Podcast for Chamber Professionals Posts

Below is an auto-generated transcription of my conversation with Jaime Henning. 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.

Introduction

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 prefers running outdoors versus a treadmill, he’s my dad Brandon Burton.

Brandon Burton 0:21
Hello, Chamber Champions. Welcome to Chamber Chat Podcast. I’m your host, Brandon Burton, and 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.

Our title sponsor for this episode is Holman Brothers Membership Sales Solutions. Is your chamber struggling to drive the revenue it needs to support your initiatives? It’s a common problem and one that our new title Holman Brothers Membership Sales Solutions knows a lot about Doug and Bill Holman aren’t just sales consultants. They’re real life chamber guys with 20 plus years of chamber leadership experience. They know how to diagnose and solve member recruiting issues faster and better than anyone else. And they’re ready to put that knowledge to work for you and your chamber. Call the Harmon Brothers today at 61985 to 1391. Or check them out at HolmanBros.com. That’s holmanbros.com.

Guest Introduction

Our guest for this episode is Jaime Henning from the Greeley Area Chamber of Commerce in Colorado. Jamie is the president and CEO of the Greeley Area Chamber of Commerce, visit Greeley and the Greeley area Chamber Foundation. She has been a leading voice on energy infrastructure and other issues important to the region. She’s been in Greeley for just under two years that has already made a big impact bolstering the Greeley business community. During the pandemic. The chamber led a public private partnership creating the Greeley area recovery fundraising funds to help businesses and CO created a safe place to the Five Star certification program with the city created a business response Task Force and common grounds virtual chamber coffee to connect businesses and elected officials. She is honored to represent Greeley helping steward 100 year organization and its next chapter in championing business. Jamie is one of over 500 in the US to earn the distinguished CCE certification. She sits on and has served on boards including the American Chamber of Commerce executives and the US Chamber of Commerce most recently, the CCE commission and chair of the newly formed events division. Among her most proud accomplishments, she has helped to train hundreds of other chamber executives helped found and direct Lincoln’s young professional group that grew over 1800 members, one of the largest in the country while serving as a senior director overseeing brand campaigns airshows Startup Week advocacy work, helping to found new initiatives and a successful Guinness World Record attempt. Jamie is a native of Nebraska a corn Husker from Fairbury have a small farming community of 4000. That’s known for its red hot dog sold in Memorial Stadium. She grew up on a farm where her grandfather owned a local gas station and elevator. Her mom was a business owner. And so as her dad who farmed so she comes by it naturally, she earned her degree in Corporate Communications and Public Relations. Jamie, I’m excited to have you with me today on Chamber Chat Podcast , please take a moment to say hello to all the Chamber Champions and share something interesting about yourself so we can all get to know you a little bit better.

Something Interesting About Jaime

Jaime Henning 3:48
Yeah, wonderful. Thanks so much. I’m so excited to be on. And we have such an incredible profession. And we’re really lucky and leadership’s a gift. And so it’s been incredible to join the team here in Greeley, Colorado. And you know, from an interesting perspective, I’ve helped organize co organized several air shows, and I’m a little nerdy about watching them fly around or traveling to them. So this weekend in Loveland, Colorado is an air show with the Blue Angels. I’ve coordinated them before I will be sitting out on the road, likely getting a view of their early runs that they’re going to make. But I’m just passionate about the people that serve our country. And it was amazing to work with them so and air shows have turned into a hobby, but they were something that started out professionally for me really to drive interest in our local Air National Guard Base and its connectivity. It was one of our largest employers, so they were a lot of fun to run and great chance to connect with community so I’m excited to see one here in Colorado.

Brandon Burton 4:48
Yeah, who doesn’t love a good air show? Hey, they’re, they’re fun.

Jaime Henning 4:52
Absolutely they are.

Brandon Burton 4:53
I love that connection to bring it back to the community and National Guard. It’s great to be able to to have that perspective. Speaking of perspective, why don’t you tell us a little bit about the Greeley area chambers to give us an idea on the size and staff and budget and so forth so we can know where you’re coming from before we dive into our discussion.

About the Greeley Chamber

Jaime Henning 5:15
Yeah, wonderful. You know, Greeley, Colorado, was recently named in the last three weeks, the fastest growing city in northern Colorado. So they’re expecting by 2050, to nearly double the growth of the city, which is pretty exciting. So it gives us an incredible opportunity. And the community itself is heavily based in a lot of heavy industry. So energy development, agriculture, it’s the seventh largest ag producing county in the country. It is the largest oil and gas producing county in the country. So so many different large industries that drive here, but a lot of our membership, the chamber is still made up of small businesses predominantly just like the rest of you listening today. And so in terms of Greeley, and so much growth happening here, northern Colorado is really special. And that Loveland Fort Collins, in Greeley, work on a lot of our work together. So there’s truly this regional tilt to the work we do. And when I came here and put a poster above my desk, just to remind myself, my team and others, collaboration over competition, that you know, the new way, the old way might have been to compete the new ways to work together. So we really have a lot of that going on in northern Colorado, and I think it’s how we’ll win. So I’m so pleased to be here. And, um, you know, Greeley has, again, tremendous opportunity to grow and evolve in the next couple of years here.

Brandon Burton 6:38
That’s awesome. So I’m at a curiosity, what is it that’s fueling the growth there in Greeley?

Jaime Henning 6:43
Well, you know, Colorado is a pretty amazing place to live. I have a lot of hometown pride for Nebraska, I grew up there my whole life. But there’s a lot of beauty here that can be accessed. So a lot of interested outdoors, people enjoy coming here, I can tell you on any given Saturday morning, you might find me driving up the Big Thompson Canyon to Rocky Mountain. And I can be there in 45 minutes to go for a hike on a Saturday morning. So that’s pretty incredible. Even though release kind of here on the plains. That’s actually what’s kind of fueling the growth too, is there’s just so much weight, so much place to expand. And so release got a lot of land. And it’s also been acquiring some pretty innovative water practice, and waters gold where there’s a lot of people coming here, and it’s pretty tough to do development or more expensive. So I’m really also the least expensive in northern Colorado for housing prices. So a lot of that is just driving it and then interesting coming to this really beautiful state.

Brandon Burton 7:40
So yeah, that’s awesome. So as far as the chamber itself, what is staff size? What does that look like for you guys? Yeah,

Jaime Henning 7:48
well, we’re growing to, um, you know, during the recession, or during the recent COVID component, and everything economically that came with it, we have to attract a little bit. And, you know, our tourism operation specifically was probably the hardest industry in the country. So each tourism organization had to kind of pivot figure that out. But we’re about five FTEs. Right now, we’re hoping to grow to about seven. And we have a director of our tourism program, and I direct all activities at the chamber. And then we have a very active foundation that you mentioned earlier, we helped 280 small businesses with rent with about 600,000 Initially, and eventually a million dollars that went through our foundation to help local business in the first 10 days after the pandemic started. So pretty impressive group of people who just raised that locally and came around it so I work with some pretty amazing leaders here who who did that work. So yeah, they’re about seven FTE is hopefully as we grow here, five now and then we’re a midsize chamber so um, you know, we have 700 investors here at the chamber and and growing all the time, you know, our penetration in the business community, so many people belong, but there’s a lot of opportunity to grow so we had someone who’s doing a lot of business interaction and development for us and that’s been reaping rewards. So

Brandon Burton 9:12
that’s awesome. I think that helps to paint the picture for us for sure. As far as where you’re coming from as we get into our topic today which from what I understand you have a maybe an interesting background as you’ve gotten into the chamber industry and kind of moved up the ladder so we titled this episode transition up the ladder as you share your journey and what that’s look like because I know a lot of people have gotten into the the chamber industry by accident, they say so we’ll learn more about your journey and dive into that as soon as they get back from this quick break.

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Topic-Transition Up the Ladder

Alright, Jamie, we are back. So as we talk about your transition up the ladder, your development and growth in the chamber industry? Why don’t you start at the beginning? Tell us how did you get into chamber work in the first place? What was your happy accident? And we can kind of go from there. Yeah, I

Jaime Henning 11:23
think about everyone who works in our industry and stuff. They’re in really interesting ways, you know, whether it’s private business or otherwise. In my case, I went to college for communications and PR. And when I got out of college, I thought for sure I’d work in an advertising agency or I had all kinds of ideas about what I might do. I ended up working at a state park. And I’ve always had an outdoorsy interest. So I work with a bunch of businesses out there coordinating events. And one day someone stopped me and kind of grabbed me by the arm and said, you know, you’d be great at the Chamber of Commerce. And I said, What’s that? And they said, Well, there’s one in Lincoln, you should go visit with them. So we had some time we had to take off mandatorily in the summer. And so during that month off my first day, I was so bored. So I I’m just like a go getter and I couldn’t stand it. So I called the chamber. And I continued to call the chamber the next day when I called I said, Hey, can I talk to the President, and I told the front desk assistant, I’ll just wait on the phone until you can have her pop on. And so at first, I can only imagine her thoughts like who is this person demanding to talk to me. But we had a really great conversation. She’s like, can you come in today, I said, in fact, I’m free. So I tried to grab, you know, my nicest looking anything I had in my closet at the time as a college student or right after college, and went in to talk to her. While I was we had great conversation. I hadn’t heard back. So I called again. And I said, Hey, I’m going to my aunt’s in Oregon, I’m going to leave you her phone number, this was all pre cell phone. And I said just in case you want to call me back about that job. And I think really they offered because they said if I could be you know that attentive to the follow up that I could be with their investors. And you know, you and I talked a little before the podcast today about connectivity to investors, and it matters, the follow up matters. So that was kind of how I found my way into the chamber industry.

Brandon Burton 13:18
So maybe let’s let’s stop there for just a second. What What was that driving force about the chamber that made you want to be a part of it so much. Honestly, I

Jaime Henning 13:27
enjoyed those business owners, I got to know, in that hospitality job I was doing, I would coordinate their events. And they would I would sit in the room and listen to them talk about how they were growing and doing innovative things. And I thought, Wow, if I could be around them all the time. Like I’m just a true Creative At Heart. I thought this would be really interesting. Like I’ll grow in there if I’m around these people all the time. So it was a little bit that honestly. And now I’ve had that opportunity for over 20 years. So

Brandon Burton 13:54
that’s awesome. So I didn’t mean to cut you off with Santa like yet and kind of a next step. But yeah. So after you finally were offered the job, right?

Jaime Henning 14:05
Yeah, they didn’t have the job I wanted. I wanted to be the event professional. And they said, we already have someone doing that. But if you want to be the President’s assistant, you could do that. And I said, Okay, I’ve no idea how to do that. But I’ll do anything you want. So I started and from there, I served in about every position you could serve in at that chamber. So I was the President’s assistant toward the end I was managing communications investor relations. And you know, you name it, I was probably you know how to touch with it. So what an incredible opportunity as a leader to learn everyone’s role from the inside out. I think it has made me a much better leader from a perspective of how my people that work for me engage with our investors and what they might be feeling and needing and so it’s helped me in the job crafting because there’s almost nothing I haven’t gotten to touch a little bit so

Brandon Burton 14:59
you Yeah, I can see how that would pay off for sure by just kind of not even just dabbling in. But you’ve you’ve like, been immersed in all these different aspects of how a chamber operates. And and what a great opportunity to start as the President’s Assistant, I’m sure they just created that position for you because of your tenacity and your, your stick to itiveness. And not wanting to take no for an answer or nothing for an answer. Right? Well, ironically,

Jaime Henning 15:26
the the woman that interviewed me was not the president, she was the Executive Vice President, the President was in Ireland. So she hired me sight unseen for him. And I said, When am I going to meet this person? And I said, you know, what’s he like, what will be working with him? And her comment to me, I still remember it was basically, hey, you know, I want to leave here for a long time. And if you just stick with me, let’s let’s do this. I’ll teach you everything I know. And I worked for that person for all 20 years that who actually is just recently retiring from the industry. So um, yeah, it was she meant what she said. And I followed up on that. So

Brandon Burton 16:05
yeah. Awesome. So as you say, and now being President CEO of a chamber, as you kind of reflect back on your, your time and your experiences developing in the chamber industry? Are there moments that you look back on that you think I’m glad that happened to me at that point, or you’re able to make some correlations from the past to your current position?

Jaime Henning 16:30
You know, no one is in this job, I don’t think who doesn’t want to serve and give back. So, um, you know, this week, one of the team members I have I elevated to go to winter Institute. And, you know, the friends I made at winter Institute are people I talked to weekly, still, I do business with them, I consult with them. They are my personal board of directors, and their chamber presidents from all over the country and leaders. And so for me to be able to do that for my team, she just got a scholarship to go to winter Institute. She’s not even sure what I got her into. But she trusts I think that if I said it was the best thing I ever did, that’ll be good for her. So you know, the givebacks a big deal. But the connections we make in this industry are what cement us to it. That’s my feeling. I’m sure a lot of people feel that way. So absolutely,

Brandon Burton 17:17
in fact that the next area I wanted to kind of cover was the kind of a mentorship if you will, I mean, not everybody that’s in the chamber industry has had the same path as you did. Everybody’s had their own type of accident to get into the cheaper world. But yours is definitely unique. But taking that perspective that you have, what could you maybe suggest for others in the industry already that they can do to help mentor and bring up the future of chambers?

Jaime Henning 17:51
Yeah. So I think, you know, part of mentorship is just being a good team member. And when you talk about transitioning up the ladder, and making sure your team knows they can count on you being generous with your time, and ensuring they can come to you is a big deal. So I think from a mentorship perspective, being an accessible team member, puts you in a position to lead and influence other people. And so I don’t know how intentional I was about that I was intentional about wanting to supervise people, I thought that you know, if you talked about any leader in the country, they’ll tell you, being a leader is about having followers, you know, having people who want to move the direction you’re moving and embrace the ideas and the big vision, your casting, nothing can be more permanent, and what I’m doing right now, and so just learning to work with people and then learning to help influence them in positive ways and help them grow. I think that’s all of our jobs. But it starts with being a good team member. And if you don’t have any credibility, and respect and trust, you really can’t move from there.

Brandon Burton 18:57
So that’s right. And I can imagine as you’ve hired people, and maybe seeing the potential in them as you hire them, and, and hopefully, you know, you’re seeing them as somebody who will be around in the industry for a long time, and not just a fleeting, you know, a year thing, you know, just passing by or whatever, but to be able to really help grow them and develop them and give them you know, that experiences and maybe in different fields within the chamber to be able to to help them move along. I mean, I’m making some assumptions here. I see your head nodding. But I think that’s, that’s what I would take from your experience, at least.

Jaime Henning 19:36
Well, I don’t want to Pollyanna this moment and saying chambers don’t have their challenges there. And, you know, Chambers of Commerce are struggling with workforce the same way. Our industries are right. And we’re connected to every one of those industries. So there’s a high propensity that people that you hire, might want to jump out and in and that happens all the time. So the best thing you can do is just grow into them, offer them opportunities. He is starting to be innovative as a chamber and don’t rely too much on the past mean of COVID taught us anything, we can’t be who we once were, we need to also innovate and show up. And so that’s the best way to keep your best and brightest is to do that and listen a lot, so and then act on those things.

Brandon Burton 20:16
Yeah, when we see it all the time, where some of the best, some of your best employees are the ones that get poached by some of your members, they see the good work that they do, and, and they can usually pay them more. So that’s, that’s where it comes down to

Jaime Henning 20:32
worthy consideration of benefits and perks. You know, chambers, the best thing I offer I hear from my employees is flexibility. And you know, not every, you know, other business can offer that necessarily. So we just have to identify what are the things we excel at, right? And then do those, right. So

Brandon Burton 20:49
that’s right. So I wanted to maybe pick your brain just a little bit and see what maybe tips or action items you would have for people that are listening that they could maybe implement in their organization to help lift them up to the next level.

Action Item/Tip for Chamber Champions

Jaime Henning 21:07
Yeah, one of the things my mentor said, when I was listening to a class she was speaking to on the number one thing she looks for is confidence in someone. So I would say, you know, you don’t want a lot of bravado, you want to retain your humility. But leadership requires a certain level of, hey, let’s go this way. And so I think having a level of competence, and then saying yes to a lot of things, you know, when physicians would transition in our organization, I sought to be a global thinker, you know, not to just pay attention to the silo in front of me. Or if I was the event coordinator, that’s all I was gonna pay attention to, I start to really help others in the organization and learn. So I think truly that saying yes to more things, eventually have to focus, right? You can’t say yes to everything by being open to that option, and to learning and to being vulnerable enough to say, I don’t know, but for me in coach is pretty important. So

Brandon Burton 22:04
I like that idea of being able to say yes to it, maybe it’s not necessarily saying yes, but it’s, like you said, being open to the possibility exploring the possibility instead of just being siloed. And shut down. And nope, this is all I do, all I do is the marketing or all I do is, you know, remember, retention. But being open to the idea to broaden your experience. Because you’re right, you can’t say yes to everything, because then you just get bogged down, you don’t have the bandwidth, and you become, you know, no good to anyone, if when you say yes to everything, but entertain it, be open minded, and see what can what can be beneficial, not only for you with your personal development, but also in those who you serve. So I think that’s a great piece of advice.

Jaime Henning 22:53
I think, as you’re, you know, trying to remain your activity as a lifelong learner. And in that you establish some credibility. And so, you know, I think if you can become the resident expert, people will look to you and you will inherently grow your leadership skill, because working with people’s when it’s all about, there is no more important piece to this than that. And so, you know, I’ll honestly say I had to work a lot of my feedback loops, sometimes that’s tough. I’m kind of a perfectionist. And so I’d love nothing more than someone to come to me and say, Oh, wow, great job, I wouldn’t change a thing that doesn’t happen. When you work with investors, you’re working with this huge idea pool of leaders who want to go all kinds of directions. So you have to really find ways to hone in on that.

Brandon Burton 23:39
That’s right, those personal connections, I think sometimes get overlooked and forgotten about in the digital age that we live in. But it is so key. And I think there’s a hybrid there, you know, the digital, but the personal touch has to be there to build those relationships and that trust. Not everything can be done by a computer, although you’re getting better at that.

Jaime Henning 24:00
Exactly, exactly.

Brandon Burton 24:03
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

Jaime Henning 24:12
You know, it’s interesting, because I’ve heard people say, the Chamber of Commerce is reinventing itself. And maybe I even said that earlier, you know, and in ways we are. But really, I think the message chair, investor ship, if you’re the leader, needs to be that we’re getting back to where we started. And you know, I had another visit with someone in the chamber industry. And Chris Mead, who actually wrote the book on chambers, so to speak. And I was visiting with him. And we were talking about our energy sector and the way it’s evolving. And the truth is, we’re getting back to why we were created. We were created as an industry, a community, a collective voice, for business survival. I mean, what could be more poignant than the moment we just went through, and we helped businesses survive this not closed, have resources have connectivity, so I think really, we’re starting to turn around the original Genesis for why we were created. I think for smaller chambers, especially, sometimes we can get into the thought process that our ROI all comes from networking or events. And really, there is such a broader purpose to the chamber, and you know, coalescing around important issues, making sure your local community knows who your candidates are, who care about what we stand for. And so it’s an interesting time, if you can frame it that way, I think,

Brandon Burton 25:30
yeah. And I think networking, it’s, it has its place, for sure. I mean, we talked about the personal connection. But I’d like to give the example of a call to yellow highlighter tool, right. So if you if you were to print out your whole membership list and pull out the highlighter, and start marking up your list of the members that engage with your chamber on a regular basis. And I think most chambers, if they were to do that, that percentage is going to be pretty small, it’d be if they’re, me, every chamber is different. But if if their primary focus is networking, that percentage that shows up for these networking events, and that’s their primary way to engage with the Chamber is going to be a very small percentage of their entire membership. So are you really serving all your members by just having this networking event available? Maybe I mean, it’s, it’s there, but is there things that you can do that really do serve the entire business community, or 80% of them or, you know, a much higher percentage than the little bit to show up to the networking? So I think, I think it’s important to, to stay relevant looking at that, and and realizing why, why, you know, getting back to the basics, this is

Jaime Henning 26:48
the person who has championed events my whole life. I mean, that is where I am the resident expert. That is what my old team thinks of me as, but I’ve had to grow into this leadership position. And maybe before where I highlighted networking, as the only now I am personally involved in the policy work. I love it. I mean, that is where so much good happens for your chamber. I think a lot of small chambers also don’t believe they can do that work. They absolutely can. I mean, we ran candidate forums last week, where I simply had a conversation as three questions posed by my leadership to those candidates about why they’re running, any chamber president could run something like that, right. And the community appreciated it because they don’t know everyone, you know, it wasn’t meant to lobby or advocate, it was truly meant as a get to know you. And in the long haul chambers work with those folks every day. And that’s how they get things done, or these private public collaboration. So it’s been an interesting perspective for

Brandon Burton 27:44
me, for sure. So in the long run, when the majority of the people that you represent are small businesses, or businesses and the business community, it’s important when there’s elections coming up, that it’s good to have those candidate forums and to be able to hear their platforms, but need to have some pro business candidates, you know, let your members know which candidate is pro business and is going to be able to help their business succeed and thrive. So I think that’s a important thing that you hit on right there.

Jaime Henning 28:16
And then on the networking side, just reinventing what you do. And it’s not that we should get away from the things we do. We’re still doing business after hours. I’m not sure many chambers, you know, or not, but we’re expanding into mourning smaller collaborative events where maybe the COVID impact isn’t as much and, and other things. So I just think we’re forced to think about that change all the time. And it’s probably a healthy thing.

Brandon Burton 28:38
So yes, absolutely. Be flexible. Be flexible, but know your mission, your purpose. So absolutely. Jamie, it’s been fun having you with me on the podcast, I’d like to give you an opportunity to share any contact information for anybody who might want to reach out and get to know you better connect with you about anything you had to share on the show today. What would be the best way for someone to reach out and connect?

Connect with Jaime Henning

Jaime Henning 29:06
Yeah, absolutely. So feel free to email me jaime@greeleychamber.com , just Greeleychamber.com You can reach me there. And also I’m on about every social media platform, you can think of Facebook, Insta, Twitter. And we also have a great YouTube channel. So if you’re just looking for ideas, and kind of how we’re connecting to our investor ship, there’s a lot of video content content out there. And the Hello really morning minutes we do in our newsletter to kind of our chamber coffee, common ground. So a lot of ways you can dig in. I’m going to end today too by just saying if you’re not watching Ted Lasso and you’re a leader, you probably should be. I know there are lovers and haters, but I love this quote. And essentially it was about teamwork. I think that you might be so sure you’re one in a million that sometimes you forget that out there. You’re just one of 11 and you’re nowhere without followers and your team and investors So, yeah, you might have the opportunity to lead and it’s a gift but wow, leadership lessons on Ted Lasso I watch it religiously.

Brandon Burton 30:07
Right Ted Lasso and Michael Scott some of the best leaders. Truly, truly appreciate it. Jamie. This is like I said, this has been a lot of fun. I appreciate you coming on and spending some time with me today on Chamber Chat Podcast, and we can stay connected as we as they go forward in the future.

Jaime Henning 30:25
Thank you. So nice to meet you.

Brandon Burton 30:28
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Below is an auto-generated transcription of my conversation with John Beaman. Because this transcript is auto-generated there are likely some grammatical errors but it is still a useful tool to search text within this podcast episode.

Introduction

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 appreciates on automation software, he’s my dad Brandon Burton.

Brandon Burton 0:20
Hello Chamber Champions. Welcome to the Chamber Chat Podcast. I’m 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.

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Guest Introduction

Our guests for this episode is John Beeman. John attended Liberty University for college where he studied Business Economics earned an MBA afterwards and later earned a graduate certificate from Yale. Professionally, John started his career in a family owned private equity company, where he successfully started built and sold one of the holdings of the firm. The goal was to flip the business in two years, but they did so in one and a half years while earning a five star rating on home advisor. John currently has ownership in a small business and manages The McGraw Council, which functions as a nonprofit consulting firm to help small businesses achieve their American Dream by implementing proper structure and good management. In less than a year, he helped service 700 clients and delivered resources to over 1500 small businesses nationwide. John, I’m excited to have you with me today on the chamber chat podcast, we would take a moment to say hello to all the chamber champions that are out there listening and share something interesting about yourself so we can I get to know you a little better.

Something Interesting About John

John Beaman 2:25
Oh, absolutely. Thank you first and foremost for having me on. This is the type of stuff that we’d love to do talking with other local businesses, small businesses kind of about their passion, their why and so forth. A little interesting tip, I’ll give you one that not everyone knows I serve on city council for a small town in Texas and heat. And I’m actually the youngest elected city council in their history. So there’s just a little fun tidbit for them to take where they’re I enjoy giving back. I enjoy serving audits. It’s one way for me to do so. Can tell. So

Brandon Burton 2:53
I know all the Chamber Champions listening is they’ve got their own interactions, the city council members in their city and and I’m here to vouch for you that you’re one of the good ones. Thank you very much, bro business city councilman. Yeah, exactly, exactly. Well, take a minute and tell us a little bit about your organization, the McGraw Council, tell us what you guys do. Specifically, why I’m having you speak to my audience here on chamber tech podcasts and how it’s applicable.

About the McGraw Council

John Beaman 3:25
Great question. Thank you for opening up with that. So in a nutshell, the McGraw Council is kind of a legacy project for our founder. What we do is consult on the managerial structure side with small businesses. Funny story. When we started, we thought we’re gonna really be focusing on the strategy side of things. But as we started onboarding small businesses, and just for clarity, we define a small business, less than 10 million in revenue, fewer than 20 employees. That’s really who we like to target. Even though the IRS lets you go up to 500 employees, we don’t go that far, there are a lot of really good mid tier consulting firms that work in that realm. But what we saw a lack of supply that really pertain to that small business demographic in that target market that I just mentioned, especially in the service industry. Now we’ve got a total team of about 12. Obviously, it changed a little bit between employees to 99, volunteer, so on and so forth. But what’s interesting is that we are a 100% virtual company. So we actually started during COVID 2020, the summer of 2020. And we use a virtual officing solution called for Bella so it’s like you download this application to computer to your computer and you go into like this virtual campus auditoriums, Expo halls and conference rooms and Office suites. So we literally have a whole office for and one of the buildings and we have our clients come on in there is where we meet with them. It’s where we do our consulting. So our consulting mission pertains like, as I was talking earlier, management structure what we found, the vast majority of small businesses don’t have any manageable systems or structures. It’s very much like the book E Myth Revisited by Michael Gerber. You have an individual who’s really good at the operations, but they’re not as familiar with the business side. And so they use, I’ll give an example, you see an H back, I gotta tell you what, I’ve been working HVac for 15 years, I’m gonna start HVac business. And we’re like, Heck, yeah, that’s awesome. But before you do that, how are you financing the business? How much do you need? What’s the plan, what’s your marketing niche, what differentiates you from the competition, so on and so forth, that the ideas, we can help them build a tangible asset, something they can liquidate later on, pass along to a family member, and in a perfect world, help them fund their retirement through that now real quick, because when people hear that they think financial advising, we’re not financial advisors, I am not a CPA. That’s not what we focus on, we focus on building the business, the core management structure of the business, that’s kind of how it started and how it’s going. We’re having a great time, it’s a lot of long days, but it is so rewarding to be able to provide to provide a need to provide a service for a knee to fill a gap, so to speak.

Brandon Burton 6:03
Absolutely. And, and I see where that need falls. You know, amongst a lot of these small businesses, like the example you’re saying, with the HVac person, I always think of the dentist, you know, you spend all their money, you go to dental school, you learn how to be a great dentist, you maybe work at somebody else’s practice for a few years and decide to go hang your own shingle. And you know how to drill in teeth and do fillings and everything great. But they don’t have any idea how to run a business necessarily, because they don’t teach that in dental school. So it’s there’s a huge need. And it’s

John Beaman 6:33
so true. And that’s where we love partnering with chambers of commerce, because we have so many resources that we can donate for absolutely no cost, including consulting hours, and exactly what you’re talking about. You see someone who’s really good at what they do, perhaps even the best in the industry, but they don’t understand what it means to run a business. And it’s the reason why a huge portion of small businesses still go on today. I know you’ve heard the statistic about 80% of businesses go under in the first five years, we want to flip that ratio. Once we can say 80% of businesses survive and succeed, then we can kick back and launcher the sweet tea and say you know what we did our duty but until then, it’s full steam ahead.

Brandon Burton 7:10
Absolutely. So the the topic for discussion today is we’ll be focusing around customer journey mapping. And I can see several applications to this one for chamber champions listening, how they can kind of take their members along a customer journey of sorts, but also to help them to help their business members with the journey mapping as well. So I’m excited to get into that discussion with you as soon as we get back from this quick break.

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Topic-Customer Journey Mapping

Alright, John, we’re back. And as I teased before the break where we’re talking about customer journey mapping, so I’d like to get into this and see kind of what your thoughts are maybe first of all, from a chamber of commerce perspective, as they deal with Chamber members and kind of in May I’m sure there’s a lot of overlap to with how a chamber would approach this versus how a small business would approach the customer journey mapping. But let me hand the mic over to you.

John Beaman 9:20
Oh, thank you. Thank you. Thanks. So cut me off if I start going too long here cuz I love talking about this stuff. customer journey mapping is commonly used in the corporate world and in very large firms. They’ll what they find is that I’ll give you a prime example. A lot of auto stores like GE Chevrolet, Ford, a lot of their customer journeys. For people that buy a car, it’s often a couple year process. Small businesses need to take that same rationale the same approach to their business because then they can use it to enhance their forecasting, refocusing on the actual journey. What you’ll find is are generally five steps in that customer journey, you’ll have awareness initial consideration active consideration, purchase decision and then loyalty loop. And each stage is unique each stage is important. But before we go through each individual stage, I want to start off with something that you’re tying, how does this relate to chamber so on so forth. The most common mistake we see in small business is failing to build the customer avatar, I’ll give you a prime example of what that looks like, you’ll have a small business and let’s use a chat business. And those someone’s trying to help them as they tell you what I want to refer you, I know you, I like you, I trust you. Till you press referral, and say anyone with an H back unit goes right over the head of everyone’s mind goes blank, it’s like well, wait, that’s not very much. There, you need to be specific in your target, not necessarily who you serve, you can serve a wide variety. But when you’re investing marketing dollars, you’re investing your time for networking getting involved in your chamber, you need to know your perfect customer, the one that you enjoy working with most, and the one that also makes you the most money, that’s the ideal customer. And as you break that down, you can go into their age, their beliefs, their values, their area of geographic living their area of geographic work, if they’re different. I’ll give you a prime example. I live in Heath, a lot of people in the heath area, live in Heath, but work in Dallas. So knowing that helps us, you know, taught us our target audience and customer avatar to focus in during the day in Dallas, especially in the digital space. And then at night, a little more local. Those are some of the things that you can do to target there. But the other thing real quick, I want to bring up for a chamber of commerce, you probably have multiple customer avatars, let me explain. You’re going to have your traditional small business, your mom and pop business, that’s going to be one client one, customer avatar, you’re also going to have your big corporate sponsors, that’s going to be your bank, your big manufacturer, your big distributor, and they’re going to need different things in the small business. And then they’re also going to be your community leaders, your city council, your county leadership, maybe even your state representation, they all have unique needs. So Chamber of Commerce probably has at least three customer avatars. And it’s not bad if you have 10. But knowing what to present to that customer avatar and who that customer avatar is, what they like, what they need, what they want, that will help you deliver the right solution to them to walk them through that customer journey.

Brandon Burton 12:24
I really liked what you had to say about with creating that customer avatar with focusing on who you enjoy working with. Because we all know that customer that chamber member that we deal with that they are they just don’t fit that ideal avatar that you don’t enjoy working with that one. But you can serve us and still for sure, but you don’t want a whole chamber membership or businesses like that necessarily.

John Beaman 12:49
Exactly. You want to have a diversified portfolio. And then once you kind of have that customer avatar built, then you can walk them through those five steps, you know, building awareness. And that’s really the stage where you go from. I never even heard of that. What is that to? Oh, cool. Yeah, I know you exist. It’s that first impression. And you know, as the old saying goes, you only get one chance to make a first impression. But it’s true for having a good plant execute, to create that first impression through Ambassador programs, online digital marketing, you know, like it’s some type of welcomed community to new businesses or new residents, there’s another avatar for your residents. It will help you generate that positive first impression that awareness campaigns. And then it moves them to initial consideration where they’re kind of feel free to cut me off your first search and you’re good to pass, then you move into that initial consideration phase and they go, Okay, I know who you are. And I like you. I want to learn, I know kind of what you do. But tell me more. If you play that right again, pitching the solution to their needs to their problem, you can move into active consideration in this stage, they’re going okay, I know that I’ve got something I need to fix, I know you have a solution for it, what I’m trying to verify is that you’re the right person to do it. This is where you kind of want to insert that testimonial that guarantee, so to speak, say hey, we’ve done it before we know what we’re doing. And if that goes successfully, then you move them to the purchase decision. They like you, they know you, they trust you. They need one little push to get them across the finish line. If it’s a small ticket item, like a like a restaurant, for example, a small coupon can go a long way. If it’s a large ticket item like a mortgage, it’s probably going to be more about the ease of working with you. Um, if you’re constantly putting up barriers I need this document now I need this document. Now I need this document, it starts stacking up and you can kill it right there. However, if you can make an easy process if you can show your credible, if you can show your trustworthy, you can push them across that finish line and get the transaction to complete. However, this is probably the second biggest mistake people make most small businesses make. They see the cash move from bank to bank and they say I’m done. successful sale that just begins the resale process that begins the loyalty loop. And this is why it’s so important, it’s seven times more expensive to acquire a new customer than it is to retain an existing one. If you can successfully complete the loyalty loop, you cut out the first two to three stages of the customer journey maps. Remember how we had awareness, initial consideration, active consideration, purchase decision and loyalty loop? With a successful loyalty loop? You cut out awareness, you certainly cut out initial consideration. And sometimes you can even cut up active consideration and bring them right back in to that purchase decision. I think a prime example is like insurance renewals. If you’re doing it, right, that baby just keeps renewing and renewing and renew. And there’s really no consideration. That’s the perfect loyalty loop model. And any company can focus on this. Mortgage lenders. H fac, dentists, there needs to be a very clear and distinct strategy, though, to move people from one time purchaser to loyal advocate. And I think I’ll give a prime example here of what a loyal advocate looks like. How about a chamber ambassador, they’re members of that Chamber of Commerce for years, year after year after year. And not only are they paying customer for the chamber, but they’re also a voice for them. They’re a mouthpiece, they’re out there advocating for the chamber that is perfect execution of the loyalty loop model. And again, any business Regardless of industry can get such an advocate for them, it might take a little while, like we were talking earlier, it might take a couple years depends on your business model. That’s not inherently a bad thing. As long as you plan for it and account for it in your budgeting in your forecasts in your marketing planning, then it’s just data that you can work with to build that consistent model.

Brandon Burton 16:49
So and I think you hit on a lot of great points, especially as you as you move through that customer journey, those five points. I think for the most part, chambers are pretty good, at least those first four, you know, the building the awareness, initial consideration, active consideration, and even the purchase decision. Can we maybe talk a little bit more about building that loyalty loop from a chamber of commerce perspective? I mean, I have I have a few ideas. But I’m curious to have you riff on it a little bit about how a chamber can go about building that, that loyalty loop with their members, once you’ve already done the hard work of identifying your avatar doing that marketing and getting feet on the ground getting your ambassadors there, they finally join the chamber, how do you retain them for the life of the business?

John Beaman 17:38
You know, we’re actually a part of several Chambers of Commerce nationally, and what we’ve seen with chambers that are really growing quickly, they become the advocate for their members, they are their mouthpiece, so to speak. When a chamber of commerce acquires a member, and they start getting them year after year, after year after year, they’re really engaging with them, they’re really bringing them in. And I think that’s something that chambers of commerce that are really successful and growing, that they’re really able to hone in on, they’re able to focus on the vision of their organization, what they ultimately want to be for most Chambers of Commerce. That’s, in essence, in a nutshell, oversimplified, it’s probably a community bridge, they want to be that community connected, they want to connect people with business with government in all different ways. That’s probably the overlying vision. And so continually pursuing that, and then that increasing and adding value to that value proposition so to speak. That’s really where it can tie into the chamber membership, because our economy is changing. If you rewind about 50 years, we don’t really have any type of digital content, digital media or anything like that. Everyone would immediately goes, Hey, here’s our customer journey map, we go to the chamber, the customer journey map has changed words, let’s go online and look for it. However, I can tell you firsthand experience. If you go to the chamber in person, you’re still going to get way more information than you can find online. But what chambers really, I think need to focus on based on what we’ve seen in working with them, meeting people where they are providing those different connectors to different parts of the community. And really getting in front of the, you know, the popular question that people that chambers always know, what does the chamber do for me? Well, first and foremost, they build community, they build those connections, that’s what they’re there for. They can give you the keys and the roadmap to the end destination where you want to go, they can’t walk the journey for you. But the chamber will walk the journey with you every step of the way. And I think that’s the messaging and the kind of value proposition that chambers can focus on to say, hey, here’s what we do for you. Here’s why it’s important. Oh, and by the way, here are testimonials, people that have been with us for 30 years, you know, 20 years of 10 years. Here’s, you know, small business that joined last year and they close, you know, four deals, they’ve got ROI on their investment by about 5x. That’s how you can consistently build that loyalty loop. And then to your point earlier about, you know, not taking the foot off the gas pedal Once the transaction takes place, always working with them engaging with them, checking in on them, Hey, how are you doing? How are things going? What can we do to serve you? Or I’ll give you a local, you know, local issue being on council, maybe it’s a road bond or a school bond. Hey, what are your thoughts on this? Is there something in here that impacts your business? If so, what does that look like? Because then as that community connector, the chamber can take it back to local government say, hey, our business community is saying these things, we probably need to consider it. That’s how you generate that loyalty where they’ll, when it comes time for renewal, they won’t even say how much you’ll be. Here’s my credit card. Yeah, that’s the goal. This is not about the money, it’s about the value.

Brandon Burton 20:44
Absolutely. And you hit on a lot of things that I was thinking of. So my background and chamber publishing, I get to be kind of the bartender, you know, I get to meet all the Chamber members and hear their stories and what they love about the chamber and what their frustrations are. And I hear from some, you know, I gave the chamber my money to join, and then I never heard from them. Well, that’s a problem, you know, exactly. Got it, you got to stay in that connection, you got to show them the value of the chamber. But I think also being clear on what the expectations are. So when a person joins a business joins a chamber, here’s what you can expect from the chamber, and then lead them through that. So they see where they’re having that expert expectation being delivered upon. And then be active about telling the story of how the chamber is servicing the business community, how they’re building the community. And I’ve seen chambers do this successfully when they send out the renewal notices. And they’ll include the the customer testimonials in the renewal notice, and or they’ll leave a voicemail for somebody and you know, here’s what, you know how the chamber served XYZ business, Sir, here’s how we served you through the pandemic or sent you know, real life examples they can relate to,

John Beaman 21:56
I think something you touched on, which is absolutely paramount, concrete deliverables. I’ll give you one example for our organization, we’re often confused. With coaching, technically, we’re different. And there’s a very distinct difference. We really prefer the term consulting, because we have key concrete deliverables. And so again, when we started, we were self admittedly, we were a little soft, a little qualitative on our value proposition. When we reevaluate it with focus groups, with studies done internally with our existing membership and our existing clients, we tweaked it to where we have key deliverables at specified points in time. And that’s what we started to see the exponential growth, a very clear value proposition with stated delivery, you know, talk about setting the expectations, you do this, this is what this happens after this is when it happens. It’s that type of controlling the narrative, saying, here’s what’s going to happen, and then backing it up to where it’s predictable, sustainable, measurable, these are all critical components in that value proposition and the chambers that are able to do that are the ones that are really able to take their chamber to the next level.

Brandon Burton 23:03
So I’d like to get your thoughts on creating some of those deliverables on the front end, I know, some chambers will get into an email campaign or email marketing campaign, somebody joins, and then they have a automated email series, maybe right first three, three to six months, maybe the first year of their membership to kind of lead that chamber member along. What are your thoughts on something like that, where it’s digital and automated versus the in person? And I know you can only spread yourself so thin. But I’m just curious kind of some of the pros and cons to both approaches.

John Beaman 23:43
You I think the this is a prime example. A lot of times it’s so easy to get pulled into an either or, and the answer is both. You can never replace in person interaction. Even though we are a 100% virtual company, and I absolutely love it, I will also be the first one to tell you there’s nothing like shaking someone’s hand and looking them directly in the eye, you need to have that type of community connection. That being said, you also need to harness digital technology, we have an entire bull, actually, we have a 90 day program was six different courses. And one of those courses is dedicated solely to customer journey mapping. But one of the things we touch on, we are in a digital economy. If you look at the value of digital transactions and such, it’s about it’s a little under two trillion with a T as n tree and T type is a huge, huge economy. We are in the digital world. If you look at customers journeys, over two thirds of them complete their entire journey online from awareness all the way through loyalty purchase. If McKinsey This is a fascinating one, because this study was actually conducted right before COVID started. In 2020 McKinsey and Company found that 75% of consumers purchase their goods and services on the line. So we know for a fact we are enabling Digital Economy, you need to have those automated emails, you need to have those digital service offerings, those digital product offerings. And with chambers, it gets a little complex because you know, being community connected in person interaction is huge. However, there are things you can do to harness digital technology, kind of like what we did at the McGraw Council, where we use virtual office space virtual office sharing, we can connect with people on the other end of the country, we can connect with people in different spots of our region. I’ll give you a prime example that helped us in the DFW area. There were times last year when Rockwall County was open, and Dallas County was shut. And so that we can say, tell you what, rather than worrying about where we’re going to meet who’s open, who’s not just jumping over to office space. So to answer your question, you need both you need to have in person interaction, but you need to harness and leverage those digital technologies, they will make you more effective, they will make you more efficient, and they will increase your value proposition.

Brandon Burton 25:55
Absolutely. I know most chambers that are listening, have some sort of a CRM, some kind of management software. And if you can schedule, you know, a member joins and you schedule a you know, a trickle decane of emails, but then schedule in there and in person visit you know scheduling a phone call, make sure they’re getting your emails, I mean, the worst thing would be a year later you go back to him for renewal. And they’ve never gotten a single email because it all ended up in their spam folder. For some reason. You are preaching

John Beaman 26:21
to the choir, a good written process, standard operating procedures. At month one we do this month two we do this month three we do this, we asked this question at the first meeting, we asked this question at the second meeting. That’s something that’s predictable, it’s sustainable, it’s measurable. And you can write it out in a job description, which helps you grow your organization say, Hey, we’re looking to fill someone or hire someone to fill these roles and duties, you are preaching to the choir, my friend.

Brandon Burton 26:51
And then of course, there’s the storytelling aspect, you know, what a chamber, how they can go about telling how they’re servicing the members in their community. I think every chamber out there is embrace Facebook, you know, they all are doing that, because it’s easy and free. For the most part. YouTube, you know, a lot of jumping on that some are jumping on podcasting. But there’s various channels out there to be able to tell the story. So you have that automated or scheduled, you know, campaign to be able to retain your members and onboard them more or less, but then have some content available that if they want to learn more they can they can freely find it and engage with your chamber.

John Beaman 27:31
Absolutely, absolutely. Providing opportunities to engage making it easy to engage that also, for lack of a better term, make it fun. If people don’t enjoy it, they’re probably not going to come back. Yes. Where it being in business, you need to earn a profit. If you’re not earning a profit, you’re going to eventually have to close doors. However, making up earning a profit having fun are not mutually exclusive things you can do both. That’s the whole idea why a lot of people start with, hey, I want to have fun and want to make money. Awesome, good combination, making it a good fun experience. It’s also profitable. That’s the goal.

Brandon Burton 28:06
Absolutely. Well, John, this is been a blast to visit with you about this, I wanted to get your thoughts on maybe a tip or an action item that a chamber champion listening could do to help lift their organization up to the next level.

Action Item/Tip for Chamber Champions

John Beaman 28:20
Oh, I love action items it takes it takes theory and applies it to the real world. So it’s no longer just theory knowledge, its application, my action item would be this. We get this kind of like perverse secret sauce. So listen closely, or identify three of your favorite clients, and then interview them and ask them questions about those five stages of the customer journey map. How did you first hear about us? What made you talk to us? What made you consider us? Why don’t you buy from us? And then lastly, why do you love us so much that you keep coming back each and every year? As you go through that process? You’re going to be able to build a system for selling that is predictable, that is sustainable. That is measurable. And that is the key to your scalability.

Brandon Burton 29:08
Absolutely. I love that idea. Hopefully in those interviews, it’s not you know, you’re hopefully you’re not getting the answers of I just love the chamber president. You know, we’re good friends, you know, I’ve been friends forever. Well, is that helpful? I mean, it is in that in that process.

John Beaman 29:23
It’s not it’s not sustainable. And that’s exactly you hit the nail on the head, it will tell you what you’re doing well, it’ll also show show you some of the shortcomings that you need to tweak and change. And I’ll stop there because I can talk about this for another entire day. But you know, you hit the nail on the head.

Brandon Burton 29:39
But John, what would be a I like to ask everyone this question 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

John Beaman 29:48
Now granted, I’m a little biased because I work with chambers. We’re members of chambers actually serve on the board for one chambers? Well, I think one of the things that Chambers of Commerce need to do there are a couple of things. Number one, they need to continually digitized not at the expense of in person, but adding it to, they need to really control and focus the narrative on being the connector and their community, the bridge builder. And they need to find a way to increase the value proposition. Granted, again, that’s all admit that I’m biased here, adding a tear of consulting to the small businesses that are really mom and pops. That is very powerful, because the mid to large sized companies get the importance of the chamber, and they want to give back, it’s like a dual approach there. For a small business where 100 bucks is a really big deal and can kill them make or break their monthly budget, you need to have immediate pragmatic solutions that can be applied right off the bat, that the results can be seen almost immediately, you need to have something like that. And it might even pertain to some of the things that you do with publishing, you might have a special package, you know, for small business today with his complements of your chamber membership. And you can build all these things into the pricing. But what you want to have is clear deliverables that they can taste, touch and feel so to speak. Right after they sign up. That is a critical component. In my opinion,

Brandon Burton 31:13
I would agree had given them those quick wins. So they can say, Oh, I’m getting a return already on this investment that I made the chamber. I’ll give you a quick northern

John Beaman 31:21
example. It’s because I’m originally from Wisconsin got down here 10 years ago moved here as fast as I could. It’s kind of like building a snowman. It starts off with just a little snowball, but you start rolling that baby and keep going, it becomes a huge 50 pounds snowball. That’s a beast to move. And but it can also become the rock or the foundation. And it’s those little wins early on that build that momentum momentum builds whether it’s good or bad. So started off with a few good things to your point, those few quick easy wins, build the momentum, and it will start to build from there.

Brandon Burton 31:51
I love that momentum builds whether it’s good or bad. Amen, brother. Well, John, before we sign off here, I wanted to give you an opportunity to put out some contact information for you maybe get a little bit more specific on the services you offer for chambers so they can if there’s chambers out there interested they could reach out and connect with you and and see how you can help serve their Chamber members to give some of those quick wins and build that good momentum.

Connect with John

John Beaman 32:13
Oh, fabulous. Some of the things that we can do for chambers is deliver no cost resources to their membership, including donating consulting hours, donated products and services, donated ebooks, the list goes on and on. There are a lot of resources that we can provide at no cost to their membership. In terms of getting in touch with us, obviously, we have our website, we have Facebook page, Instagram, YouTube, we have podcast channels, very much like what you’re doing here, where we talk about the journey of small business owners. In terms of reaching out to us, you can send us a Facebook message, you can send an email, I’m gonna give you two emails, we have a company email, which is info@mcgrawcouncil.com. But if someone wanted to reach out to me personally, I’ll give my email as well. That’s going to be john.beaman@mcgrawcouncil.com. Shoot me an email, I’ll tell you what, I’ll get you access to a virtual office space or private space. And we can we can have a little bit of a virtual cup of coffee sometime. guarantee you’ll get a kick out of the experience.

Brandon Burton 33:09
That is awesome. Do you want to put the name of your podcast out there too, and we can get that

John Beaman 33:14
fabulous? Thank you the name of the podcast is called Real Small Business with The McGraw Council. If you were actually on our podcast a couple of weeks ago, and one of the things we love about it. It’s all about being real and authentic. It’s showing what business ownership is really like the good, the bad, the ugly, the up the down. I think there are a lot of people who have misconceptions about small business, they’re like I’m going to be profitable at month three. No, statistically it’s going to be two years but hang in there. Or oh, you must have tons of spare time on your hands as a business owner. Yeah, I’m actually getting less sleep than my corporate job right it’s just things like that, but it’s we have a good time.

Brandon Burton 33:50
So it could go either way. If you’re not in business yet you may you may want to listen to see the reality or you may not want to keep the blinders on so

John Beaman 33:58
Exactly. So true.

Brandon Burton 34:01
Well, I will get that and your your contact information updated in our show notes for this episode, which will be found at chamberchatpodcast.com/episode 147. But John, I appreciate having you with me today on chamber chat podcast and thank you for spending time with us.

John Beaman 34:16
Thank you so much for having me, Brandon, the honor was mine.

Brandon Burton 34:19
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.

Izzy West 34:51
Hey, this is Izzy, publisher of the Chamber Pros Planner, a weekly monthly planner that you can get on Amazon or Etsy. I wanted to give a shout out to Diane Sawyer of the Reidsville Chamber who emailed me saying I am loving this stuff my admin assistant bought me the planner for Christmas before I could purchase it for myself. The responses and feedback I get from my fellow Chamber Pros are a big deal to me and in fact the updates I make each year if you like physical planners, please check out the 2022 Chamber Post Planner at theizzywest.com That’s theizzywst.com.

Below is an auto-generated transcription of my conversation with Holly Allen. 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.

Introduction

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 would love for you to connect with him on LinkedIn. He’s my dad, Brandon Burton.

Hello Chamber Champions. Welcome to Chamber Chat Podcast. I’m 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.

Our title sponsor for this episode is Holman Brothers Membership Sales Solutions. Is your chamber struggling to drive the revenue it needs to support your initiatives? It’s a common problem and one that our new title Holman Brothers Membership Sales Solutions knows a lot about Doug and Bill Holman aren’t just sales consultants. They’re real life chamber guys with 20 plus years of chamber leadership experience. They know how to diagnose and solve member recruiting issues faster and better than anyone else. And they’re ready to put that knowledge to work for you and your chamber. Call the Harmon Brothers today at 61985 to 1391. Or check them out at HolmanBros.com. That’s holmanbros.com.

Guest Introduction

Our guest for this episode is Holly Allen Holly is the Vice President of Marketing and Communications at the Dayton Area Chamber of Commerce in Ohio. As Vice President of Marketing and Communications, Holly oversees the overall branding of the chamber and its programs as well as the communication with its members and beyond. In addition, Holly leads the promotion of the chamber events and initiatives and works closely with local media outlets to ensure the Dayton region’s business community has a voice. Holly came to the chamber from WDT N TV in October 2014. There she served as anchor of two news today and reported on Dayton area news stories, earning an enterprise reporting and to broadcast writing awards from the Associated Press in 2011. In 2012, Holly was named one of Dayton Business Journal’s 40 under 40. In 2015, she earned her BA in telecommunications with a news focus at Ball State University. I’m excited to have Holly with us today here on chamber tech podcast, Holly Welcome to the show, if you would take a moment to say hello to all the chamber champions that are out there listening and share something interesting about yourself. So

Something Interesting About Holly

Holly Allen 2:41
that’s not so easy to do this year, something interesting. Well, first of all, hello, Brandon, and all the listeners. And thank you so much for thinking of me and having me on the podcast today. I’m really excited about the conversation today. And how cool is it to be able to talk purely chamber matters, because it seems like Chambers of Commerce are so unique, that it’s only people who have been in it who understand what it’s like to work for a Chamber of Commerce. So I appreciate this podcast quite a bit. Um, so when I think about what’s interesting about me probably the most, you know, you mentioned my background in journalism. So that gives you an idea of what my skill set was coming into the chamber. But one of the things most recently that was interesting was that my family and I were living in China at the start of the COVID 19 pandemic. For my husband’s job, we had moved there. And I was continuing to work part time for the chamber from the other side of the globe until we started to get word of this little virus that was spreading around China and and made it back to Dayton, Ohio. So that was quite an experience and something that I will always remember.

Brandon Burton 3:54
I bet that would be quite a unique experience and to be there on the front lines, so to speak. Yes,

Holly Allen 4:01
yeah. Who would have guessed it would turn into what it is now. So

Brandon Burton 4:05
absolutely. Here we are. Wow. Well, share with us a little bit about the Dayton chamber just so we can get to know a little bit of perspective as we get into our discussion today and kind of let us know about the size staff budget, that sort of thing to kind of set the table for our discussion.

About the Dayton Area Chamber

Holly Allen 4:23
Sure. Yeah. So the Dayton area Chamber of Commerce is the Regional Chamber in Dayton, Ohio, which is in southwest Ohio. We’re about an hour from the Indiana line and where we are pretty close, our metro area butts up to Cincinnati, their metro area and where we’ve got some areas that both of us cover in between the two the two Metro regions. So our chamber is one of the oldest in the country. It was founded in 1907. We’ve been around for a really long time. So we have a well established brand in the Dayton region. We serve 2200 members currently nine counties. So that surrounding the Dayton metro area. Our budget is about 3 million annually. Although we do have a foundation that works, you know, kind of in tandem on some of our initiatives here at the chamber. It’s called the education Public Education Improvement Fund. Don’t quote me, it’s EPI, that’s what we call it. We call it API. So very well established Chamber of Commerce. And you know, we’ve we, we have initiatives, it especially in diversity, equity inclusion, we do a lot of work and workforce. And kind of from an internal perspective, we’re going through some transitions, because we had the same president and CEO for 26 years, and he retired last August. So we are welcoming a new leader. He’s been with our chamber for about 1616 years. I think that’s right. His name’s Chris Kirschner. So he’s been around, but he is new to the position of president and CEO. And, you know, when you’ve had someone in charge for so, so long, who was so well known in the community and had really set his path for our chamber? It’s it’s a whole new day at the Dayton area Chamber of Commerce. So that gives you a little bit background on who we are and what we do.

Brandon Burton 6:19
Yeah, absolutely. At least it’s good to know that Chris has some longevity there at the Chamber too. So that seems to be the trend.

Holly Allen 6:26
Yeah, yeah, we it was we were really pleasantly surprised when he got got the position, you know, he fully earned it. He has a really great vision for where he wants our organization to go and how He wants us to support the business community. So it’s been it’s been fantastic. But as you can imagine, it’s a lot of change when we weren’t used to change so.

Brandon Burton 6:49
Well, I’m excited to get into our topic of discussion today around marketing thought leadership, as we kind of had some back and forth before leading up to the podcast to this recording. I thought this is a really interesting topic. So I’m excited to dive into it and get a little bit more of the meat meaning behind that and how you guys are marketing thought leadership there at the Dayton chamber. And we’ll get into this discussion as soon as we get back from this quick break.

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Topic-Marketing Thought Leadership

Alright, Holly, we’re back. As I mentioned before the break, we’re talking today about marketing thought leadership. So at that, I’d hand it over to you and share with us what you guys were doing there. Well, I I know a little bit about what you’re talking about. But yeah, tell us what that means, from your perspective. And, you know, from the marketing, you know, specifically there your chamber how you’re using that thought leadership to really showcase your members,

Holly Allen 8:58
sir. Yeah. Well, Brandon, when you and I talked about this, this is something that I took on early on, when I started you talked a little bit about my history. So coming into my position with you know, 10 plus years as a journalist behind me, I felt like a fish out of water. You know, the the whole like I said, the Chamber of Commerce universe is so is so different than anything I had experienced. And so when I took a look at what our strategy was, I said, Okay, initially, where can I plug in my skill set as a storyteller what you know, where can we plug that into the needs of our members and what we’re doing as a chamber. So when you say thought leadership, my take on that was in public relations, what you want to do is position your organization as an expert in whatever field, right and so as a chamber of commerce, we have access to experts in in every business topic you can think of and one of the things We can do for our members is serve as a reliable source of information that they can use in their businesses. And so the idea is to marry the two, the need and the access we have as a chamber. And so we redid our website, this was back in 2016 2017. And one of the things I did was add kind of a new, we call it a news section, you can call it whatever but and we wanted to use that space for original content. We, at our chamber, my team, there are three of us in the Marketing and Communications Department. And knowing that we have limited resources, we can’t be creating all of that content for our members. So it was about tapping into the experts we have available, and asking them to provide articles, blog posts, whatever you want to call them on topics that our members could then take information away and put it to use. And it turned into over the years, it is a member benefit. Now it was woven into the tiers of our membership, where we say to our members, if you want to submit one of these articles on whatever topic it is that you find your you have experts, and then that is that is part of the upper level tears because they’re getting exposure out of it, or members are getting useful information. And we are the hub that’s connecting it all together.

Brandon Burton 11:27
I love that. And this parallels so well. So obviously, with the podcast, I’ve had several chambers to do. That’s right. That’s what I do in your taking with your knowledge and your background and playing it there at the chamber. But especially since the pandemic I’ve had chambers reaching out to me about podcasting, you know, they see that as a valuable way of being able to tell stories, and but they get overwhelmed with the idea of coming up with content. And it’s like, you know, you don’t need to create all the content, you have valuable resources throughout your community. Interview, your members tell their stories tell how the Chamber’s benefited them as a business. But then you can monetize it like you are with the membership tier, you know, make that be a level and your membership. And absolutely, and maybe not to start off, but once it gets some feet and it starts to grow and go, absolutely you can make that you can monetize that in multiple different ways.

Holly Allen 12:24
Right. You can attest, I mean, you know, putting together a podcast is a heck of a lot of work so so anything you can take off your plate. But I do want to you, you kind of made me think about when you mentioned the pandemic, because this was something that it was eye opening for us when we went into COVID, that we started hearing from our members that they were, you know, a time of such uncertainty, things were changing. So quickly put yourself in the shoes of a business owner, and they didn’t know where to turn for reliable information. And we started hearing more and more from our members that they were so thankful that we were providing information quickly, readily available. And that was really us acting as a curator of content. We weren’t creating everything we put out there. We were curating it from our partners from our members, it became really important for us to tap into attorneys CPAs, you know, other than, you know, of course, we were in contact with the SBA and that sort of thing, but getting that information and putting it together. I wasn’t writing it all, they were submitting some of that information. And we found that it was a really valuable member benefit that I don’t think we realized or we didn’t maximize it before.

Brandon Burton 13:43
Absolutely. So can you share some examples with this? So you mentioned through the pandemic of getting contact with CPAs and attorneys, and obviously SBA may be more normal times what would be you know, some examples of stories that were highlighted or types of businesses maybe that you reached out to that added value to your membership? And just kind of how you go about that with creating, curating the content.

Holly Allen 14:14
Yeah, sure. So normal times, let’s hope that we get to experience normal times again. I think it’s about knowing your membership first and foremost. So I can tell you from our membership that you know quite a bit of them are small to medium sized businesses and so they do not have one of them don’t have a marketing professional on staff. So we know that when we address marketing topics on a you know, small scale for smaller businesses, marketing topics, it’s always a hit, because business owners are interested in knowing how to promote their business, but it’s not necessarily their area of expertise. So we have we’ve partnered this is easy pickings. By the way, if you partner with some of your marketing firms, For your public relations agencies because they know how to do this, they know how to write an article that isn’t salesy, and that’s key. You don’t want it to be salesy or no one’s going to read it. So they know how to write. Basically, it’s native content, it’s advertising. And so they’ll put together topics about, you know, how can you effectively tell a story using video on your social media account, or you know, things, little tips and tricks or tools you can use, that are free or have very little cost associated with them. So that’s easy. And like I said, you know, turning to your attorneys, employment law is always something easy. And a lot of those larger firms, they have market, someone in marketing and their department who’s already writing these pieces, just ask their permission to post it to your chamber website and share with your members. They love it. They get exposure.

Brandon Burton 15:52
Yeah, absolutely. So you had mentioned when you started there at the Chamber, he has added the news page under the website. Since we are on an audio format, can you kind of explain what how that page functions? How are you going about sharing these stories? Is it all video based? Is it articles? Sounds? Like? Do you have some articles as well? So how do you go about sharing these stories?

Holly Allen 16:17
Sure. So it’s mostly in article form, there are a couple of tools out there actually, where you can turn your articles, your blog posts, into videos. So that’s one of the ways we can do it. So we post it in its in its original form, it’s an article and in most cases, it’s posted to the website, and then they’re tagged by topic so that our members can search. And that’s just using WordPress, they have, you know, you can use those tools to do that. And then from there, we share it on our different communication platform. So our E newsletter goes out to our membership, and we’ll tag will include it there. We’ve We’ve found that sharing on LinkedIn, which is our best social media platform has been useful. And then like I said, sometimes you can turn it into another format. So we’ll either turn it into one of those videos, where it’s images, and it has, you know, text that you can post to social media, or we’ll go out and interview the member and add a little video element to share on social media. But that’s the beauty of it, you can take the kernel of an idea and turn it into a bunch of different mediums to tell the story and share it in different ways and get some extra traction from it. Yeah,

Brandon Burton 17:36
I love being able to repurpose content. Always write it, what do you think about you know, some people might be hesitant on repurposing content. But everybody, you know, they digest content so differently, some are gonna strictly do social media, some are gonna read your articles, some are sitting on YouTube, you know, and that’s their, their main source. Some are podcasts. So it’s just there’s no shame in repurposing content at all, or even just snippets to kind of pick that that interest. So they kind of click through and see the rest of the content.

Holly Allen 18:13
I think you’re absolutely right. I honestly believe you’re doing yourself a disservice if you don’t tell the same story in different ways in different formats, because like you said, you’re not reaching the same audience with every communication channel you use. So I think there’s opportunity and you really should be repurposing it. And then cross promoting, you know, you could use your social media posts to be just a tease. Or, you know, we have a quarterly magazine, so I’ll do longer form articles in that print magazine. And I’ll do a shorter version of it on the website as an article or blog posts. So I think you’re absolutely right, you’re doing yourself a disservice if you think that you can’t repurpose content.

Brandon Burton 18:54
Absolutely. I don’t mean to put you on the spot. But it sounds like from the article forum you had mentioned going to the video format do know the name of the tool, it sounded like maybe it’s an more automated kind of thing where you can take the text does something. Oh, my goodness. That’s I didn’t mean Yeah,

Holly Allen 19:13
I know. But I shouldn’t I shouldn’t have even brought it up if I couldn’t tell you which, what the name of it is. Let me figure that out. And I will

Brandon Burton 19:24
you know what, we will put it in the show notes for this episode. So anybody listening? That look? link it in the show notes.

Holly Allen 19:32
I will look at it. I couldn’t remember we use so many tools. I couldn’t remember off the top of my head. But um, I if you don’t follow her name is my nerdy BFF. Is that are you familiar with her? That’s Z. Yep. Yes, yes. Yes, she’s fantastic. And she’s actually how I was turned on to that tool and it will automatically take your blog post from your website and turn it into a video now you can edit it, and there’s a free version so I don’t even pay for it. And then you can post it to social and link back to your website. So you’re driving traffic to the site. So awesome. If Yeah, that’s a good tip get on her newsletter because she’s fantastic.

Lumen5 is a tool to automatically repurpose your blog posts into videos to share on social media.

Brandon Burton 20:07
Yeah. In fact, she she was a guest on the podcast way back when I first started, she was somewhere in the top 10 of the interviews I did I when I started, I kind of had the top 10 people I wanted just as they started off, mainly people that I knew. Yeah, she was one of them. And she came up with a good script. So yeah. I love that. She’s great. So we’ll we’ll figure out what that is. And put it in the show notes for this. I’ll

Holly Allen 20:32
find it. I promise.

Brandon Burton 20:33
Look that up. So I love it. So the the repurposing the content, the automated tools? What kind of feedback are you getting from members as you’re tapping into their stories? What are you? What are you hearing? What are you seeing? What are the?

Holly Allen 20:53
Well, I would say it’s twofold. So on the side of the members, I was really struggling. I don’t know if other chamber professionals deal with this. But I was really struggling when I first started with members who wanted to meet with me, and expected me to do their marketing for them. And at first, I was really frustrated by it, because I was trying to draw that line of No, I work with the chamber, I market, the chamber, and I will give you, you know, I’m happy to meet with you and give you tools and tips. But then I realized why are they asking me to do that. And and I saw that there was an opportunity to provide more marketing and promotional and exposure opportunities through the chamber for those members who didn’t have the tools internally to do so. And so that’s when we started weaving these things into our membership tiers. And I will tell you, those requests have all been stopped. I don’t get asked to market for our members any longer. Because when they need help marketing, I have a whole kit of member benefits, I can hand to them. This is one of them submit an article, it doesn’t it’s not a lot of effort. And I will give you examples to show you how to do it well. So the feedback from our members who are looking for exposure has been fantastic. And it’s taken a load off of me personally. And then the feedback from our members who are receiving the information has been great because we’re we’re not pigeon holing ourselves to the kind of content we can we can provide them. And I think that’s us letting go of, I don’t have to create every nugget that goes out there. And it’s really been, like I said, it’s it’s a thought change from we are not just content creators, we are also content curators, and it’s okay to share things that are useful to our members that we didn’t create.

Brandon Burton 22:42
Yeah, absolutely. I love that whole concept of going from a one to one marketing service. And as you’re given that explanation, I was thinking that is why companies have the FAQ page on their on their websites. And this frequently asked questions, is a fun barded with the same question over and over. So let’s put them all in one place, you get asked a question. You can direct somebody to that, that resource. So you’re creating a whole suite of resources. With it’s a much nicer form of a FAQ. So

Holly Allen 23:17
Oh, you’re absolutely right. And and we did create a page on our website. I know a lot of chambers do this. And but we didn’t we did not have a page on our site that was strictly How can you promote your business through the chamber? So we put a page on the website and did it by membership tier. So I could meet with a member and say, Well, what are your goals? And then say, Here are the options I suggest for you. So it’s it’s I like the way you put it. It’s not a one to one, it’s a one to many, and I’ve given them the tools to do it themselves. Yes.

Brandon Burton 23:47
Yeah. So I’m curious on your, your content schedule. Are you doing something weekly, daily, monthly, just as it comes up ahead? How do you go about putting the content out there?

Holly Allen 24:01
You’re making me tired just asking that question. It’s so hard. Anyone who does marketing and communications for a chamber I’m sure understands it is so hard to keep up with the schedule. We never are digging for content it we are drinking from a firehose, and I think it’s once you start that mindset that you’re always looking for a story idea. They’re everywhere. So our calendar for social media, I’ve shifted some of the roles of our staff, I have someone who is pretty much full time on social media, he does some other things, but so he’s posting multiple times a day to different platforms. As far as these articles, we’ve actually branded them voice of business. Those are as they come in, and I would say it’s, you know, maybe once a month that we’re posting for a member that’s kind of these expert articles. But we’re just we’re constantly creating and repurposing content and plugging it into the different vehicles we have available to us.

Brandon Burton 25:05
Yeah. So you had mentioned the different platforms? Not that I need you to go through all the platforms that you use, if you have a different thought process on what goes where, as far as you know, what goes on LinkedIn versus Facebook versus a blog? What’s your thoughts behind that? Just I see a lot of people just, you know, they produce one piece of content, they put it out everywhere in the same format. Oh, good or bad. So I’m just curious to get your, your input on that. Yeah. So

Holly Allen 25:36
I use, I would say a couple of different thoughts. First is you have to understand who the audience is on each communication channel. So a good example of that is like Twitter, we don’t use Twitter a whole lot. But I’ll tell you why we keep Twitter it’s because that’s where our political audience basis. And we do have an advocacy team here, we have three lobbyists on staff. So when we do anything advocacy related, I make sure we post it to Twitter, and those are quick little bites. And then the flip side of that is think about what is the best way to tell that story. I don’t have to tell it in every single way. I know how to tell a story. But if it’s something that’s more feature in long form, then I’ll do a longer form article with images and put it in our magazine, if it’s something that’s very visual, and you know, there are moving parts and it’s more exciting, like our generation Dayton day when our young professionals go out and do service projects. Well, I’ll do that in a video probably because it’s it’s more visual, and we can tell the story better in that way. So I would say it’s two parts, know your audience, so you know, where you’re sending it out, and then think about the story. And what’s the best way to tell it? And that’s when I can tap into my journalism background a little bit.

Brandon Burton 26:53
Yeah, I love that answer, knowing knowing who the audience is in those different platforms. And and I think, maybe, maybe it’s related or maybe another step further, is think about when they’re using it, too. Oh, yeah. Because if if they’re using it at a time where they are distracted, or they’re just using whatever the social platform is, maybe as a distraction, are they really in a place to engage with what the writer has to put out? So that’s just something to think about? Maybe it is more of a bite size, you know, generate interest, kind of a nugget, then. Yeah, as you try to explore those, those avenues.

Holly Allen 27:28
You’re right. And, and we I’m a big data person, so use the data to guide you. And that’s why I wanted someone who was spending more time on social because I didn’t want to just be throwing spaghetti at the wall and hope it sticks. So he’s pulling those analytics, and he’s really digging into them and looking at what’s working and what’s not. And we do some experimentation, to see what’s gonna grab the most attention, and what’s going to get that engagement that we’re looking for.

Brandon Burton 27:54
Right? And as soon as you find something that works, it’ll change again next month.

Holly Allen 27:58
Or the way they measure i Don’t you just love I mean, Facebook is probably the worst, they’re constantly changing the way they measure things. So that’s hard to keep up with.

Brandon Burton 28:08
Well, Holly, I would like to ask if you might have one tip or action item that we can suggest for chamber champions listening that they can take and maybe implemented their chamber to help take them up to the next level?

Action Item/Tip for Chamber Champions

Holly Allen 28:22
Sure, well, I would say for anyone who, you know, you think about telling stories, not everyone has that experience of being a journalist and looking for story ideas. And so I would say the biggest takeaway is to listen to your members, I make a point to go out and meet with them. And I really listen to what they have to say. And I try to walk out of there and say, What are one or two things that I can take away from that conversation of what our member is dealing with or facing that I can turn into a nugget of information? Who can I tap into to provide information to help our fellow members who are in that position? And that’s a story idea. That’s a content, you know, a little piece of content. So I think it’s all about just consciously listening, when you talk to your members,

Brandon Burton 29:11
especially if there’s a trend in those responses that you’re getting that tells you that there’s a need for whatever you’re talking about.

Holly Allen 29:19
It’s something that’s something we’re focusing on with our new leadership is remaining nimble. We don’t have to do things just because we’ve always done them. We need to constantly ask ourselves, when we hear things from members, if we’re hearing a trend, are we addressing it? Do we need to drop something so that we can get on whatever issue they’re facing? Yeah, that’s become more more apparent to us with the pandemic going on?

Brandon Burton 29:43
Absolutely. Yeah. So I’d like to ask everyone I have on the show this question is we’re all curious and interested in the future. How do you see the future of chambers of commerce and their purpose going forward?

Future of Chambers

Holly Allen 29:57
It’s a great question. I I would say that we have become more of a business concierge. I think the chambers of old, where you join, just to join are a thing of the past, I think that we have to be really responsive to the needs of our business members. And here is our chamber that has translated into more of an old school approach, we are making it a priority that we are visible and being meeting with our members and listening to them and then trying to solve their problems for them, because that’s part of what we do as a Chamber of Commerce. So I think we’re going back to that business concierge model.

Brandon Burton 30:45
I love it. I think that’s a good, good response. I did my best. Well, I wanted to give you an opportunity to put out any contact information for anyone listening who might want to connect with you or see how you guys are doing things or at the Dayton chamber. What would be the best way for someone to reach out and connect with you,

Connect with Holly Allen

Holly Allen 31:07
sir? Well, emails probably best. And so my email address is hallen@dacc.org. So that’s like Dayton Area Chamber of commerce.org.

Brandon Burton 31:25
And I will get that in our show notes for this episode, as well as the tool to create the automated (Lumen5)

Holly Allen 31:31
Yes, I do find that tool. Yeah. Great. So I’ll find

Brandon Burton 31:36
it. So the show notes will be at chamberchatpodcast.com/episode 146. But Holly, thank you so much for spending time with me today here on Chamber Chat Podcast, I think you’ve provided a lot of value and given a lot of fodder for those listening to think about and see how they might maybe readdress the way that they are doing their their marketing communication approach. Thank you.

Holly Allen 32:00
I hope so thank you so much for having me. And I look forward to I hope I hear from other chamber experts out there because I would love to hear what they’re doing as well. So thanks for this opportunity. This has been fun.

Brandon Burton 32:13
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Below is an auto-generated transcription of my conversation with Stéphanie Vieilledent and Léa Puteaux from the International Chamber of Commerce. Because this is auto-generated there are likely some grammatical errors but still a useful tool to search text within this podcast episode.

Introduction

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. Now your host enjoys learning by innovation coming from Chambers of Commerce is my dad Brandon Burton. Hello chamber champions. Welcome to chamber chat podcast. I’m 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.

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Guest Introduction

I’m excited for this episode today as it is one of those episodes where you will be introduced to some people and ideas that can definitely bring a lot of value to to your chamber and to your community. Today we have Stéphanie Vieilledent and Léa Puteaux , with us from the International Chamber of Commerce, and I am sure that I butchered both of their names, but I can let them correct me as well as we get through this, this recording here. But Stéphanie is the Head of Chamber Relations at the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) headquartered in Paris, has been with ICC since 2006. First an assistant in the Events Department, she rose quickly through the ranks and has now spearheaded the organization of the past 6 editions of the World Chambers of Congress – which took place in Kuala Lumpur, Mexico, Doha, Torino, Sydney and most recently Rio de Janeiro. When she began her career, working as an Assistant for the Cannes Film Festival, she never quite thought she would end up working for what is commonly known as “the world’s largest business organization”, but she soon found that she greatly enjoyed the work of bringing people together in an atmosphere conducive to cooperation and problem solving. As if she didn’t already have enough to do, Ms. Vieilledent is also a wife, mother of three young children, and an accredited Yogi teacher.

Léa is the World Chambers Congress Project Manager at the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), the world’s business organization. She is charged with managing ICC’s largest global event from A to Z, which includes building intellectual content for the program, selecting speakers, communications and marketing and more. Lea is also responsible for organizing the World Chambers Competition, which run in conjunction of the Congress, and liaises with transnational chambers. She has been working on organizing the World Chambers Congress for last three years. Before joining ICC, Lea had the opportunity to work at the French-Peruvian Chamber of Commerce in Lima, Peru, as well as at the commercial bureau of the French Embassy in Colombia, and  Brazil. She speaks English, Spanish, Portuguese and French, and is a Latin dance lover, specifically salsa and bachata. For those of you who can’t see her on the Zoom, she just did a little dance move for us. But out I’d like to have you both say hello to all the chamber champions that are out there listening and share something interesting about yourselves. I’d love to get to know you both a little bit better. Léa, why don’t we start with you?

Something Interesting About Léa and Stéphanie

Léa Puteaux  4:07 

Okay, well, I not only dance, but I also dive because I’m a scuba diver. And I could dive up to 40 meters. So I have visited a shipwreck at the bottom of the sea. And just so you know, my middle name is Oceana, which is a reference to the ocean.

Brandon Burton  4:25 

Very nice. I I’d love to dive too. So maybe offline. I’ll have to find out where your favorite dive spot is. In France. Stephanie, how about yourself?

Stéphanie Vieilledent  4:38 

Yeah, thank you, Brandon, and hello to all of the Chamber Champions. Well, as you you rightly mentioned, yes. I’m also a yoga teacher. And what I want to share actually with you today is I don’t really separate you know, my work at ACC and what I do as a yogi, I try to actually put my yoga practice into action every day at work, working with colleagues working with members, and working with partners as well. And I think that way, I really find the right balance, I think between, you know, this personal aspect of myself and also the professional side of myself. So yeah, that’s why I wanted to share with you,

Brandon Burton  5:24 

I think that is neat to be able to inject the balance, like he said, and kind of bring in that proper flow into the workspace. So I think that’s great. Stephanie, why don’t you tell us a little bit more about the International Chamber of Commerce, I’m thinking specifically for a chamber listener who is not involved with the International Chamber, just to give them an idea of the kind of the size and scope and what you guys are all about. And then if you miss anything, Léa can kind of fill in some gaps.

About the International Chamber of Commerce

Yes, sure, Brandon. So actually, so we’re called the International Chamber of Commerce. But we are not a chamber of commerce per se. So that’s very important, because this is a usually sometimes they people think we are. So ICC is, in fact, a well, business organization. And we are here to enable business to secure peace, prosperity and opportunity for all. We are a nonprofit institution, with observer status at the United Nations. Just a little bit of history, because it’s really interesting how actually ICC, you know, was born. So ICC was funded in the aftermath of the First World War in Paris, when actually no world system or rules govern trade, investment, finance, or commercial relations. So without waiting for governments to fill the gap, ISIS is funders acted on their conviction that the private sector is best qualified to set global standards for business. And they call themselves the merchants of peace. So now, we are an institutional representative of more than 45 million companies in over 100 countries with a mission to make business work for everyone everyday everywhere. So through a unique mix of advocacy solutions and standard setting will promote international trade, responsible business conduct and a global approach to regulation. In addition to providing market leading dispute resolution services, our members include many of the world’s leading companies, but also SMEs, business associations, and of course, local chambers of commerce as well. So today, we’re still based in Paris. Our headquarters are located next to the Eiffel Tower. Actually, I can see the Eiffel Tower of my desk. And we are around 200 staff. And we also have offices in Geneva, in Brussels in Singapore, Abu Dhabi, Sao Paulo, Hong Kong and New York. And we also have a representations in 90 plus countries, we call them our national committees.

Stéphanie Vieilledent  5:58 

Brandon Burton  8:25 

That is very impressive, a great background and really give some perspective to kind of the founding and the work that you do. And Léa, do you have anything you’d like to add to what Stephanie shared? Yes, absolutely.

Léa Puteaux  8:38 

So just before that, I wanted to share a fun fact, because I’m sure that some people of your audience, they might not know it, but the oldest Chamber of Commerce in the world is French. And that’s where we had our first world chambers Congress 22 years ago. And I think, Stephanie, please correct me if I’m wrong, but I think that the chamber is fine. over 400 years old, something like that.

Stéphanie Vieilledent  9:02 

Yeah, that’s right. More than 400 years old.

Léa Puteaux  9:04 

Yeah. Yeah. And what I wanted to share with you also, Brandon, is that we have within ICC body which is called the world chambers Federation. So it’s nice to see body dedicated to chambers worldwide. And really, it’s a unique formulating the network of local, regional, national, bilateral and transnational chambers and their business community. When I said transnational chambers, I mean, for example, ACC, but also a sham Junior Chamber International, or the Confederation of Asia Pacific Chamber of Commerce, the Association of Mediterranean Chamber of Commerce and Industry, really all those big transnational chambers, and our members. They really come from all continents sell all sizes, and include both public and private law chambers. We work very closely with Chambers from across the world from Colombia to Australia. Germany it Nigeria, really all of the countries. And so really the way we see it is that the washroom is Federation is the backbone of the worldwide gender community. And we provide a platform for German leaders to communicate and collaborate with each other. And so it’s also key to ICC in connecting SMEs sorry, IC to SMEs worldwide and promoting the important role SMEs play in the global economy.

Brandon Burton  10:27 

Very good. That adds a lot more context. I appreciate that. So just a little side note, I recently had listened to a podcast that was talking about the history of the Olympics. And when the modern day Olympics were started, and kind of comparing that to when ICC was formed around the time of World War One, it wasn’t too far off that the modern day Olympics were formed as well. And just the, the struggles or the the hurdles, I guess, of trying to communicate on a global scale. And you think, you know, now we’ve got email and video calls and things like this, that really make things much easier telephones, and at the time, they were writing letters and sending them, you know, through the post and on ships, and it would take several months to get information and find out who could participate. So it’s amazing to see traditions like this that have been around for so long institutions that can be founded in time like that and carry on through today. So that’s very impressive. But our topic for our discussion today is going to be based on the world chambers Congress. And we’re going to take a quick break but as soon as we get back we’ll we’ll have you to dive into to tell us what the world chambers Congress is all about. And how that relates to the world that chambers Federation as well. But we’ll we’ll get into that as soon as we get back from this quick break.

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Topic-World Chambers Congress

All right we are back. As I teased before the break, We’re going to be talking about the World Chambers Congress which I know this year is going to be happening in Dubai. Léa, I know this is kind of right up in your field house of what you focus on. Let me hand the mic over to you. And have you share with us what the what the world chambers Congress is all about. And that connection with the world chamber Federation? Sure.

Léa Puteaux  13:41 

So the world chambers Congress is ICC flagship events, ICC WTF flagship event, actually. So it’s the no BNL events, a three day event that brings together chamber and business heads as well as a representative for international organization and governments. And each year, we have a different co organizer. So this your co organizer is Dubai chamber. And the key features of the conference include the interactive and knowledge tech section, an area of networking opportunities, exciting social events. And last but not least, the world chambers competition. And this year, we are super excited to introduce a new feature called the work scenes, which we’re excited to share that with our delegates, that maybe Stephanie can say a few more words about the history of the Congress.

Brandon Burton  14:31 

Yeah,

Stéphanie Vieilledent  14:32 

yes, sure. It seems that I’m the one oh is talking about history. So yes, well, you know, the Congress starting in 1999. And it started in my say Eisley, I mentioned earlier with, you know, the oldest chamber in the world. And at that time, you know, we were I think, not a lot of people I think was around maybe 200 300 delegates, but somehow, you know that the magic, you know, happened. We were all there, I wasn’t there. Actually, I say we because I feel I was there actually. But people were really, really interested into networking into talking, you know, to each other. Because, well, even if you’re a private CIMR, or a public low chamber, even if you come from the US or Nigeria, or you know, Asia, at the end of the day, you still have, you know, common interests, common topic and things you need to share with your peers. So during that moment, in my fade, people got really excited. And in my say, we already received a bid to co organize the next editions of the Congress. So after my smile, say well to seal and then Quebec City, Durban, Istanbul, Kuala Lumpur, Mexico, Doha to Reno, Sydney, Rio, and now Dubai. So, yeah, it was a very successful event. And each every two years, we’re getting more and more delegates, people also returning to the Congress. So while in a way, I think they really appreciate it. And the first reason for them to still attend event is the networking opportunity.

Brandon Burton  16:33 

Very good. I yeah, I can see where the networking would really come into play, especially as you have Chambers from all different backgrounds throughout the world coming together and being able to learn from each other and see how things are done in different parts of the world. And it gets kind of the base of this, this podcast is to learn how other chambers do things and take those things that make sense, or that you want to try out and implement them at your own chamber to try to improve the quality of your own community. So it’s neat to see the history. So and it is it’s every two years, correct that, that you come together for the Congress? Yes, yes. Very good.

Léa Puteaux  17:14 

Actually, Brendan, what you just said, many wants to say a few more words about the world from this competition, because really the world’s strongest competition, it’s like the awards, or the Oscars, for chambers worldwide. And it’s about people sharing their ideas, presenting them and then adding more people inspired by what they will present on stage. And it’s really about inspiring your peers. And maybe it’s not maybe but it for sure, some people that presented interesting initiative during the wall chambers competition in the audience, other chambers that were so interested by what they shared that they replicate the replicated the project within their own countries. So really, it’s not only talks, but it’s also really concrete action, and things to take back home, in your own country.

Brandon Burton  18:06 

So I would love for you to share more with us about the competition. What’s involved with that? What kind of entries or winners have you seen in the in past Congresses? I’m very intrigued by by the competition, maybe I’ve got a little bit of a competitive nature in myself. But I like seeing the innovation that comes out of things like this. So Leo, why don’t you share with us some of these things that you’ve seen come out of the competition?

Léa Puteaux  18:33 

Sure. So well, basically, for each work chambers competition, we have around three to four categories. So this year, they are the best climate action projects, best resilience projects, best unconventional projects, and best digital projects. So Chambers from all around the world are invited to submit projects within one of those four categories. And then the project are being reviewed by a panel of international, an international panel of chambers of commerce executive, which vote for their favorite projects, and that for their favorite projects. And the finalists are traveling to Dubai to pitch their project live in front of the audience in plenary session. So it’s really a something that is extremely excited because people are really rooting for the chambers for their favorite projects. It’s creating a lot of excitement. And we have seen some amazing projects for each of the World Service competition. And one that I would like to mention is from rijo Actually, we had the CEO of Afghan sorry, Afghanistan woman of chamber Chamber of Commerce, and she shared the project of her chamber which was actually to create a chamber dedicated to women in Afghanistan to encourage local entrepreneurship from women because in some countries is access to entrepreneurship and to? Well, the business field is a little bit more complicated than in others. And so she created this Chamber of Commerce for a woman in Afghanistan to support her community. And she won a prize in Rio. And I think that the speech she gave was so emotional, it was so inspiring. And it’s really resonates. To me, especially getting what’s happening in the recent days in Afghanistan. So it is it’s one of the projects that has been key, but we have so many interesting projects that I could spend hours talking about them.

Brandon Burton  20:34 

But you could. Stephanie, do you have anything to add on the as far as the competition goes? And maybe a project or entry that stood out to you over the years?

Stéphanie Vieilledent  20:45 

Yes, sure. Well, first of all, these are always very happy to actually see more projects than we had two years ago. And we were not sure about that. Because we know that chambers have been, you know, experiencing a very difficult time recently, and so we were not sure about, you know, how much time they will be able to, you know, give to these competitions. So that’s first thing I want to highlight. And thank all of these chambers again, and when which are always in my mind is one project, which was actually about disaster preparedness toolkit. And that project actually, has been replicated, I mean, other chambers around the world, they took it, and they actually transform it for their own country. Unfortunately, you know, disasters are still happening. And, but that toolkit was very useful. So again, something very concrete, very useful for all the chambers. And this is when we actually like to see in the competition,

Brandon Burton  21:59 

and say that those are the kinds of things that I like to see is, is actionable tools, you can as a chamber, you can sit back and say, Wow, that is really impressive how they’ve implemented that at their chamber, let me try it out of my chamber, or if nothing else, to connect with whoever that presenter is, and with their organization, and to learn more about what went into that specific project and things to consider if you were to try to implement it at your own organization. So this year, obviously COVID-19 has kind of thrown a wrench in the whole world. Right? So I’m curious, Have you shared this year with this happening in Dubai, the Congress been in Dubai this year? Is this say something? Obviously, having a physical location there? Are people coming to attend? In person? Is there is that the only way to attend? Are there virtual options? How if somebody listening wanted to participate and be a part of this, what’s the best way for them to, to get connected with that?

Stéphanie Vieilledent  23:05 

Well, so actually, this year, we are organizing a hybrid event. Yes. So for the first time, actually, will have, of course, the in person format, in Dubai, but we’ll also provide a digital platform for people who are not able to travel to Dubai. So we’re very happy about that. Because, you know, that way, they everyone has a chance, you know, to participate, and to join us. So it’s actually, you know, very new for us. So, in a way, I’m also curious to see how it’s how it’s gonna be. But look, come in, we have a fantastic organizer. We’ve seen, of course, the digital platform, and really what we wanted to create is actually a real virtual experience and not just okay. And behind my screen a night login, no really wanted to have an experience also for virtual delegates. So we look forward to seeing all of that acts actually taking place.

Brandon Burton  24:17 

That is great. I like the idea of being able to have it be a hybrid layer where you have

Léa Puteaux  24:22 

to add, yeah, and we are also very excited to share that we have as of today, 80 countries registered to our in person events so far. So at this stage of the organization of the events, because all delegates usually register very less minutes. For COVID. It was always the case. But now we are super proud to have those 80 countries that have registered, and really we were not sure we we were not sure so happy to see that people are really getting excited about getting together and people are writing to us all the time. Right. It’s funny that like I can’t wait to be in Dubai. I can’t wait to meet match them up as again. And we really feel that chambers are dying to get together again. So we can’t wait to be there.

Brandon Burton  25:08 

I’m glad to hear that that’s a worldwide phenomenon about chambers waiting and procrastinating until the last minute, because I see that for sure in the United States, that chambers will wait till the very last minute. So that’s a trend worldwide, for sure, for sure. Well, I wanted to see your what else would you two want to share about whether it’s the the world chambers Congress or International Chamber world chambers Federation, just in general, for listeners to know more about or to get involved? Stephanie, let me hand it over to you to respond to that.

Stéphanie Vieilledent  25:52 

Yes, sure. Thank you Brendon. One last thing I wanted to share about the Congress, I smell Léa just mentioned the number of countries we have registered to date. And I’d like to earn the line, also. A special program that I’ve been made available by the Dubai chamber, which is a program who is actually sponsoring some chambers, from the least developed countries. And this year, this program has been extremely successful. We have 32 registered Chambers from these developed countries. And it’s actually the first time we have so many. They are a total of 46 LDCs in the world. So 32 is a very good number. And I’d like also to use this occasion to thank one of our partners, CPC caf, they are an assembly for Francophone African chambers, and they helped us a lot securing this chamber to the Congress. And you know, I think this is very important, actually twice and twice as easy to be inclusive to really have as many countries as possible and make this Congress available to all type of chambers. So that’s something I wanted to highlight as well in this podcast.

Brandon Burton  27:21 

That’s very good. Léa, what would you like to add that we haven’t covered that you think would be relevant to this conversation?

Léa Puteaux  27:28 

Well, I would like to say that this year, we have been really innovative in the way we shape our program, we have worked with specialized design thinking, even designer for to help us to read those innovation and release this format. The format that we’re going to have for this edition of the Congress is going to be much more interactive than it was before. So we have very exciting format that we really can’t wait to have people experience because really, we are super proud about them. And also I wanted to share that we are going to tell a story to delegates during the three days of the events. So basically on the first day, we are going to welcome them and to discuss about all this your theme which is janisch generation next chamber 4.0. We are going to talk a lot about digitalization of chambers. Chamber business model innovation. So chamber model innovation. Also that chamber 4.0 in the further details, and then the day two is going to focus more on resilience on the future on sustainability. And finally, the last day is going to be on concrete actions and on building action plans for chambers to take back home in their respective countries. So it’s not only attending attending 20 events listening to it. But it’s also really processing some contents exchanging with your federal champion participant, timber delegates, and then working together to produce concrete action plans. And really, people are going to have a real book while a real booklet where they’re going to write to work together to be together on table of six persons. And at the end, they are going to have to produce something. So this way, if someone is being asked, What have you done at the Congress, where you just enjoying or going to the amazing social events that are going to take place? No, people are going to work and are going to think and it’s not even tourists. So really something I wanted to share.

Brandon Burton  29:31 

It’s not just a social event, but you’re going to come out of this with some high quality value that you can take back to Yeah,

Léa Puteaux  29:37 

people people are going to work a lot but they’re going to have a lot of fun also because we have nice social events and one of them is taking place at the Armani hotel at Busch Khalifa which is if I’m not mistaken, the biggest the highest store in the world. And we are going to have a very nice cocktail with the traditional American in here it souk with the interactive booths and magic different activities. And also we are going to facilitate the access to delegates to Expo 2020, which is the first World Expo taking place in the MENA region. So a lot of exciting elements in the Congress and outside and really, we can’t wait to be there.

Brandon Burton  30:18 

Yes, absolutely. So for everybody listening, what is the date for the world chambers Congress.

Stéphanie Vieilledent  30:28 

So the dates are from the third to the 25th of November. So, okay, I have to mention that we know it’s during Thanksgiving, as us. And so we were a bit of for tonight with dates. Initially, the Congress was to take place in February this year, we had to postpone and many times. So here are the dates. But as we mentioned, it’s a hybrid event. We would love to welcome a Chambers from the US virtually because we know Thanksgiving is very important. Families are important. Can say the contrary, as you heard our family, three kids, but we yeah, we, we really would like to also have Chambers from the US at this event as well. We do have speakers actually from the US, and some of them have decided to actually spend Thanksgiving with us. Which Yeah, if this is a possibility for your chamber champions, or Brendan will welcome them, of course, virtually to the event.

Brandon Burton  31:41 

Can you give a teaser for some of these speakers are for people listening? Are you allowed to do that?

Stéphanie Vieilledent  31:49 

Yeah, it’s not secret layout. You want to say a few names? Yeah, it’s

Léa Puteaux  31:54 

not secret. Everything is available on our website. But we have the head of retail at Google. We’re expecting also some stickers from Facebook, from Microsoft from PWC. And we also have international organizations such as the WTO. And the International Trade Center. And of course, we have chamber leaders from all around the world.

Brandon Burton  32:20 

Very good. Stephanie would look like you have something else to add. Yeah, yeah, no, it’s just to add that

Stéphanie Vieilledent  32:26 

takes hooter actually had a retail at Google easel, so part of the Chicagoland chamber, so a chamber from the US.

Action Item/Tip for Chamber Champions

Brandon Burton  32:36 

Very good. That is awesome. So as we start to wrap things up here, I wanted to ask both of you, I’d like to get input from both of you have one tip or action item that a listener could do to help elevate their chamber up step to the next level? Léa, why don’t we start with you?

Léa Puteaux  33:00 

Well, my tip is to join us at the Congress in Dubai auditorally, I think it will really be the perfect opportunity to everything about chamber for Portal and chamber model innovation, and to learn from your peers from all around the world.

Brandon Burton  33:20 

Very good. Stephanie, what would your tip or piece of advice be?

Stéphanie Vieilledent  33:25 

Well, it’s a nice layer. But if I’m able to add one thing, we have a community platform called chambers connect. So I think that will help, you know, chamber executive chamber leaders a lot. It’s basically a platform, for chambers. It’s 100%, dedicated to chambers. And that way, you know, you don’t have to wait for the Congress actually to meet network and learn. And, you know, take up to the next level, you can do that already. Thanks to the platform, connect with your peers from all around the world. So I’ll be happy to invite all of your chamber champions to chambers connect our community platform.

Brandon Burton  34:12 

Yeah. So how do where’s that? Is that through your website? Or how do you? How do you find that platform?

Stéphanie Vieilledent  34:20 

So actually, just email us because we’ll need to send a chamber executives and leaders in invitation and the link to register as it’s a closed community. Okay. You need to register so just email us.

Future of Chambers

Brandon Burton  34:39 

And we’ll we’ll get your contact information in our show notes as well. But I like to ask everyone that I have on the show. As we look to the future of chambers of commerce, how do you both see the future of chambers and their purpose going forward? Stephanie, would you like to take a stab at that first?

Stéphanie Vieilledent  35:00 

Yes, sure. Well, I think chambers for us, you know, are really the a trusted entity. And we’ve seen that even more during this difficult time we all had with COVID. And I’m sure that in the future chambers will still be this trusted partner, you know, businesses are going to. At the same time, I think chambers will still have to adapt, you know, their services, what they do how they do, to make sure they’re still relevant for the members. So this is how I see chambers, you know, in the near future, and, and of course, as ICC and the world chambers Federation, will be with them to to actually continue their work and remain relevant to their members. We will usually widly very often with Léa, we say that we see them as lighthouses to make business work for people and planet. So for us, chambers are here to lead, connect and inspire.

Brandon Burton  36:23 

Love that lead, connect and inspire. Léa, what what is your what is your crystal ball say about the future of chambers?

Léa Puteaux  36:32 

Well, I think that chambers need to talk to each other to better connect to exchange to network, because sometimes we just don’t need to reinvent the wheel and someone is doing something that is amazing and working very well. And that we just should learn from the experience of the others. But if I should, if I if I had to mention some long term changes that chambers have to to implement, I would say that really, companies need to accelerate their digital transformation. So that’s why this your theme for the Congress is Generation X number 4.2. We think that this is key, that timber go through this process of digital transformation and in the right way and without suffering too much. And we also think that chamber should have the access to CT to to international business opportunity. Well, that’s why well, the International Chamber of Commerce, I guess, and also to integrate sustainable business development into business models. So again, something that we are going to cover during the wealth chambers Congress. So join us.

Brandon Burton  37:40 

Yeah, so I think that digital transformation piece is very important. And there’s a lot of Chamber members who may be the older generation who might resist a little bit to technology transformation. But then there’s the whole new, you know, younger generation that’s getting into the workforce and business ownership, that that’s absolutely what they want. So for a while, I think chambers will have a kind of a hybrid type of a situation where to be able to address the needs of both type of demographics. I think that is a key part of the of chambers moving forward. But I wanted to give you both an opportunity to share any contact information for listeners who would like to reach out and connect or to join chambers connect or to get registered for the world chambers Congress, what would be the best way for them to reach out and connect with you? Leo, why don’t we have you go first, and then we’ll get Stephanie’s contact information?

Connect with Léa and Stéphanie

Léa Puteaux  38:40 

Well, I’m not sure everyone will understand my contact details. But I’m Lea.puteaux@iccwbo.org. And our website is worldchamberscongress.org. So well. If you need more information about the Congress, please feel free to email me or visit our websites.

Brandon Burton  39:02 

All right, and Stephanie, I bet yours.

Stéphanie Vieilledent  39:07 

Yes. Luckily, I have a short version of my email address without my last name. So I’m going to use that one. So it’s stephanie.vieilledent@iccwbo.org.

Brandon Burton  39:24 

That is perfect. And I will get your contact information in our show notes for this episode. So really, hopefully the spelling and everything won’t be an issue because people can just go to chamberchatpodcast.com/episode145 and click on your email there or click on the website to learn more about the world chambers congress and to get involved there and to reach out and email you both to be able to get involved with chambers connect. I think that’s a great resource as well. But I appreciate you both spending time with me today here on Chamber Chat Podcast, I think you guys are doing great work there at the ICC. And, and I look forward to hearing specifically about these competitions this year and see what those outcomes are. So thank you for being with me today.

Below is an auto-generated transcription of my conversation with Robert Goltz. 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.

Introduction

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 enjoys spending time with good friends. He’s my dad Brandon Burton. Hello chamber champions. Welcome to chamber chat podcast. I’m 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.

Our title sponsor for this episode is Holman Brothers Membership Sales Solutions. Is your chamber struggling to drive the revenue it needs to support your initiatives? It’s a common problem and one that our new title Holman Brothers Membership Sales Solutions knows a lot about Doug and Bill Holman aren’t just sales consultants. They’re real life chamber guys with 20 plus years of chamber leadership experience. They know how to diagnose and solve member recruiting issues faster and better than anyone else. And they’re ready to put that knowledge to work for you and your chamber. Call the Harmon Brothers today at 61985 to 1391. Or check them out at HolmanBros.com. That’s holmanbros.com.

Guest Introduction

Our guest for this episode is Robert Goltz, who’s the executive vice president at the Key West Chamber of Commerce in Florida. For the past 21 years, Robert has proven to be an energetic force in the chamber of commerce and nonprofit industries, approaching challenges with transformative thinking, candidly delivering solutions and a big dose of humor that puts all of it into perspective. This style has served the organizations he’s led as a senior executive well with the accomplishments that range from increasing active membership counts by over 100% to obtaining four star accreditation by the US Chamber of Commerce and stabilizing organization finances into the black, creating a cash flow positive status. gratifying as these nuts and bolts accomplishments are. Robert has always focused on the bigger picture, bringing people together to create thriving communities of involvement and inclusion. He believes that when chambers approach the ever changing business landscape with forward thinking measures and smart risk taking, they advanced the entire industry focused on being a force for good within the Chamber of Commerce community. Robert is a fun and engaging public speaker that uses his contagious enthusiasm to not only inform but to create connections that are beneficial to all. He is so driven about being a part of this growth that he likens his work to a marriage saying I then get quote, I’ve been on the longest honeymoon and it’s been with my career close quote. Robert holds a BA from Central Michigan University and is a graduate from the Chamber of Commerce Institute of organizational management, and has continued to expand his knowledge with various industry relevant certifications that include becoming a disk certified trainer. He is currently the executive vice president of the greater keywest Chamber of Commerce. Should you ever stop by for a friendly Hello, you’ll be intrigued by the display of tasteful and artistic skulls displayed in his office. When not working Robert enjoys visiting other chambers. That may seem like just more work, but when you love your job the way he does, you never work a day in your life. He brings a big sense of humor and larger than life personality with him wherever he goes. And along with his wife, Melissa enjoys watching their two daughters Lily and Jessica grow with a bit of mischievious nature. He enjoys rocking the boat in life and on whitewater rafting vacations. Robert thank you for joining me today here on chamber tap podcast if you will take a moment to say hello to all the chamber champions that are out there listening and share something interesting about yourself that we might not have learned about you and your bio.

Something Interesting About Robert

Robert Goltz 4:04
Yeah, thank you, Brandon for having me on today. You know, I know a lot of my colleagues are out there and they are sometimes sometimes very amused by what I bring to the table, what I do and how I do it. So it’s exciting always to speak it’s always exciting to share and be able to get more information from a great providers like this podcast of information to help our industry and I want to thank you on behalf of the industry for taking the time out of your busy schedule to be able to do these podcasts for us as we go on. Something that we didn’t mention a bio we you know, we mentioned so much I’ve got a look at that bio. It’s very long. Um, you know, I guess the biggest thing is, is that I just want to have fun, and some people in the industry over the years have called me, the chamber guy and I’ve kind of embraced that before. It was That chamber guy, I think it was derogatory. But I’ve kind of embraced that I’ve got my own logo with it and kind of excited about it. Because I do things a little bit different at times than others in the industry. And I’m proud of that. And, and it’s a lot of fun to be able to share that information.

Brandon Burton 5:18
That’s right. It is a good transition to go from that chamber guy to the chamber guy that that means you’re you’re making some some statements there.

Robert Goltz 5:28
Yeah, I’m hoping one day, I’ll get to the right now, just that that

About the Key West Chamber

Brandon Burton 5:32
that. Well, to share with us a little bit about your chamber, just so we can get some idea on perspective that you’re bringing to this conversation kind of size and budget and so forth. Yes. So

Robert Goltz 5:44
we are located in beautiful Key West Florida, the southern most chamber of the United States, I have been here only six months, I just moved down here during COVID. We have just over 500 members serving the community we work in not only as a chamber, but also in the do work in the tourism industry, welcoming, welcoming visitors to our area. With a budget of about a half a million dollars.

Brandon Burton 6:15
I can imagine the tourism side is is busy there in the Key West area, at least in traditional times. And being in Florida, maybe hopefully it is picked up again. Yeah,

Robert Goltz 6:25
even today, we are busy seeing visitors come and enjoy our beautiful community. So it’s been a pleasure since I’ve been down here in that aspect that we have been very lucky and blessed in the aspect of having people come down here to the southern Caribbean island of the United States.

Brandon Burton 6:46
Yeah, that’s awesome. So our topic for discussion today is going to be focused around and you just mentioned if you’ve been in your new role there in the US Chamber for six months. So you’ve you’ve had a few different chamber jobs throughout your career. So we’ll focus our conversation today around changing chamber, chamber jobs, and some other risky moves. I understand you’re one in the industry who doesn’t only rock the boat on the whitewater, but you’d like to rock the boat a little bit in life as well.

Robert Goltz 7:20
So true. So yes, you know, I’ve been This is my fourth main chamber that I’ve worked for over the last 20 to 23 years. And even with that I have done consulting and assisting in about three or four other chambers in that process. And one thing you know, in our chamber industry, Brandon, you’ve heard this said to our members, when you’ve seen one chamber, you’ve seen one chamber. And I will also say that is very true for chamber execs, when they look at different chambers and go to different chambers. They are very different in their shape, their format, how they operate. Each one in each community I’ve gone to has been a new endeavor, with me having to put on new, a new view of how a board of directors works and operates.

Brandon Burton 8:12
Very good. But I’m excited to get into this discussion with you. And we’re going to take a quick break to hear from our sponsor and we’ll be right back.

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Topic-Changing Chamber Jobs and Other Risky Moves

All right, Robert, we are back. And as we we teased a little bit before this break. We’ll be talking a bit about your chamber job. So you’ve your with your fourth chamber about 23 years, as you just mentioned and consulting with the several others along the way as well. Talk to us a little bit about some of those differences that you see from one chamber to the next and how can it chamber professionals, specifically, maybe an executive kind of prepare for some of those moves.

Robert Goltz 10:05
You know, I think in the preparation is probably the first place I’d like to start. And that’s conversation because I think preparation and changing chamber jobs is essential, especially now during COVID. And everything going on, you know, there’s been articles out there about how the chamber industry is losing a lot of its key players, people that have been in the industry for years, or going to the private sector, or deciding finally to retire. And there’s a lot of opportunities out there in our in our industry today, find the next job that you’re really looking for. But a lot of that really comes down to how you look at yourself, and really analyzing yourself first, what types of personality do you bring to the table? What skill set, and what are you willing to do or not do for, for the next organization you work for. And I think those are really the first major steps one has to take because again, for many of us, it’s about uprooting our family. And making sure that we understand that communities are different, the job just doesn’t, you know, there are some core things that we all bring, and have learned through the institute program, ACC or state conventions and stuff like that, that are very transferable. But sometimes when you’re looking at communities, it’s best about knowing yourself, so you know, you’re a good fit for that community that you’re going into. Otherwise, I’ve seen over the past three to five years. A good, a good, I would say 10% of the people that I’ve seen switch jobs, and losing their jobs or crashing and burning at those chambers that they’ve gone to now not any fault of their own. But mostly the fault that they were not the right match for that chamber. And so that’s that’s the hard thing to look at. Sometimes, when you see these great opportunities that you believe are out there, and you don’t, one know yourself. And two, you don’t know the community and the board, you’re going to go work for.

Brandon Burton 12:19
Absolutely, and I know I mean, these boards do the hiring, they do a lot of due diligence to make sure they’ve got the right person. And as a potential candidate, hopefully you’re doing that due diligence on your end to make sure you’re going to be a good fit for that community.

Robert Goltz 12:34
And I’ve had that situation where I have gone in I have taken over the executive position at a chamber of commerce. And three months into it after that first 90 days, I’m automatically going to my chair person, and I told them, I think you hired the wrong person. There’s things that you said you wanted, but really you were not ready for. And that’s something that we have to look at, when we’re going into that that next job. Because I’ve gone to Assam chambers, I’m not going to mention anything specifically, but some chambers that have hired me, and has said, I want you to be to do the successes that you’ve done in the past, we’re going to give you an hand over the keys to this organization to climb a mountain. And when you start doing it, all of a sudden you do things as you’ve done in the past, and you get your hand slapped the first time. And then the next time and after each time they go, Oh no, we want you to make change. And you’re like going every time I’m making a change or doing things that I’ve done that were successful before. It doesn’t fit this community, right.

Brandon Burton 13:48
Yeah, I need a condition to pull back. Yeah,

Robert Goltz 13:52
exactly. You start holding back. And sometimes it’s about educating. And sometimes it is that that community wasn’t the right community for you. And I’ve seen I have a good friend who just switched over, ended up taking a job. I thought it was going to be the ideal job, great pay, great. Community went into COVID hit as he as he started, he worked hard. Got them through most of COVID. You know, and just as things started getting back to normal, the board said, You know what, I don’t think you fit here. Wow. Oh my gosh, now I got to find another job. And you don’t really want to be in that situation. You really want to know who you’re going to work with and for ahead of time, and really do a little bit more of a deeper dive of, hey, it’s just another job. We as chamber execs are not transferable. like normal people in a community. Yeah, if I was working in the hospital, hospitality industry, could I move back and forth to different jobs. Absolutely. But you got to, folks, we have to remember, we are one special person, typically in a community, we’re the only one that holds that job in our city or county, usually. That’s right. So we have to, we have to bring our skills and know our skills, because it is definitely a different game to go out there.

Brandon Burton 15:20
So you’d mentioned that the opportunities that are out there, and I see you know, quite often, especially in the last year or so, you know, chamber folks that are leaving the industry that like you mentioned, private sector or retiring. And whenever I see that a little part of me hurts a little bit to see good people leave the chamber industry and then a little part of me, you know, when they’re retiring, and they’re they’ve served a great career, I think good for you job well done. But the the opportunities are there. And I wanted to maybe have you touch a little bit more you talked about when you’re looking at a new community for a possible move, to consider what you’re willing to do. I think that’s there’s probably a lot packed into that if you can kind of dive into that a little bit more, you know,

Robert Goltz 16:07
for each for each person, it’s a little different. I’ve gone to some of the chambers that I’ve worked for, I have a set plan of action of work that I do in my first 90 days, but are you willing to give up some of your family life, you know, and for me to move to another chamber, I tell my family right off the bat, 90 days, you may not see me, children wife, you may not see me in those 90 days, I go into a deep dive when I come into the community, I want to know people I want to be involved, I want to go places, and watch so I can see if I where I need to go and who are the movers and shakers in that community. I don’t trust board members to do that for me.

Brandon Burton 16:53
So especially when you’re brand new there,

Robert Goltz 16:56
especially when I’m brand new, you just don’t know. And then especially if you’re moving right now during COVID know, in some communities, no one wants to go out and see and meet someone. They’re doing everything via zoom, and online. And so there is no personal connection there for for some of that interaction that you need to know your community. So that is one of the biggest points for me is, you know, What, are you good? Are you willing to give up time with your family? Because people want your time at that beginning portion? The other aspect is, where do they sit financially? Are you an individual like me, now I like going in to an organization that’s broken, or has a mass of potential. That’s what I’m looking for. I’m looking for when I’m in my when I’m going through an interview. The words I like to hear and this works for me is we want change, we want to take it to go to the next level, we want to be accredited things of that nature, when people start talking about those things, or talking about, hey, we need to get out of out of our financial red tape to be in the black and grow. Those are the things I strive for. I know what what kinds of chambers I’m looking for. And so that makes a big difference. I don’t want to go to a chamber that’s already well established. And doing and the board is saying, Hey, we just want to keep on going. That’s not me. In fact, when I when I go through the interview process, they asked me typically always tell us a little bit about your personality. And I go well here, I’m going to send you my disc profile first. And I’m very high off the chart D. And by the way, I’m a bull in the china shop, if you don’t want people calling and giving controvert verschil viewpoints of me, I’m not the guy you want to hire because someone’s going to complain about me, it’s gonna happen quick. It’s not gonna it’s not gonna wait for a long time, it’s gonna happen quick. And you just need to be ready for that. And I am going to tell you exactly how I think of things. And give you my honest opinion, whether you like it or not, I work for you. At the end of the day, when you make a vote, I’m going to follow what your vote is. But I’m going to be honest with you ahead of time to say, you know what, that I don’t think that’s in the best interest of the organization. And sometimes we don’t want to do that, as executives, we want to, you know, be that employee. You’re not an employee in my in my world, as the chief executive officer of a chamber of commerce, you are the person who needs to stand and make decisions and be able to stand behind those decisions that you and your board make. And so, you know, you’re the one who has the target.

Brandon Burton 19:57
Absolutely. So I know sometimes is you whether you’re just trying to climb up the the transitional ladder within the same organization or looking to switch organizations, it can be pretty vulnerable. And some would say risky to kind of put your cards on the table and say, here’s what I want to do. And there’s a time and a place and an order for doing that. Would you mind just kind of addressing that and kind of when the right time is and how to go about initiating that change.

Robert Goltz 20:28
So I would say, and I’ll use my last chamber, Miramar Pembroke Pines as a pure example for this one, when I went there, they were going, this community was changing, growing, the chamber was starting to grow also. And we were looking at certain things. And over the last probably, let’s say, eight to 10 years, our industry has really, I believe, our industry is changing. Again, it’s kind of swinging back to an advocacy model being a little bit more into that government affairs aspect. And so as I see things, I bring him up in my board meeting, so it was probably two years in maybe three years. And at Miramar, I brought up that we needed to have a path. And you would have thought that again. What are you talking about Robert? And I said, This is what we need to do. And I think our largest corporations were telling me, why would they join the chamber when I get all the benefits that you have through our corporate structure? Yeah. You know, what are you doing for me? Well, we they, and they were very honest, we’re looking for somebody to fight for us. So in our community and the local, state and federal level, can you be that guy? Yeah. And your organization be an organization that has our voice? And so I said, Sure we can. So I brought it up to the board. And I originally it was so funny, we had the meeting, I couldn’t visualize it. The retreat right now. People stopped today, the board member asked me the question, I told them the answer. And oh, no, we can’t do that. That’s going to ruffle feathers with our the cities that we serve. And next thing I know, they said, You know what, we understand what you’re saying. And you know, we’ll have an issues pack only. Okay, it’s gonna take me probably a year to figure out what we’re doing in that and getting our agenda ready and stuff like that. And so we started going into that process. When the process probably about six months in, we had a commissioner from one of our communities, not like the chamber, and start fighting against the chamber. And actually went on a war attack towards me. wanted me fire. And my board says, look at the metrics, and I’m a metrics person. Yeah, you know what you keep me because I’m bringing in more money. I’m bringing in more members, I’m taking you to different areas. I don’t care if you like my personality or not. I’m a business guy. And business is designed by metrics. And so if I’m bringing the metrics, that’s what I’m that’s my job to do. And in the process, they started fighting for me, but just before we launched the pack, they said, You know what? We have to add in that we’re going to endorse candidates, because we want good candidates that are pro business, see, and all the sudden, whole different door opened up. Yeah, we started endorsing candidates. Some candidates really enjoyed that. Others got a little bit leery. But again, you have to look what works for your community. There’s other communities that I’ve been in that I would have never thought about starting a packet. Yeah, just wasn’t needed for that community at that time. That’s what was a necessity from what the business community said. And from what we were experiencing. From the elected officials.

Brandon Burton 24:11
Yeah. In fact, the the previous episode on the podcast, I had Brad hits on and it was talking all about ag advocacy, and specifically getting pro business people elected. And that’s one of the best ways that you can fight for your business community is to have pro business candidates in office. And again, it all goes back to your community and some communities of work some communities, maybe not so much, but you got to be willing to take the risk. Exactly. And I

Robert Goltz 24:45
left I left when these come these conversations come up, because most of our chambers across the country only get a minimum membership from their city or county, right? They’re not flooding in dollars. What do you lose? We’re losing anything, folks. And so those are the things that you you have to look at. And the thing is, at the end of the day, what are we really? Are we? what’s considered that three p chamber parties pageants? Or are you looking at making a change in your community? Are you a three c chamber convener or catalyst? And champion of your community? Make up your mind which way you want to go? Yeah. And and what works? And for some teamster, chambers, it doesn’t always work. And again, each one of my chambers was very different. in that aspect,

Brandon Burton 25:36
yeah. So that’s a good example, setting up a pack could be very risky, you became the target, in many ways. Share with us, what are what are some of these other risks that you’ve taken in the chamber world?

Robert Goltz 25:51
So I look at the chambers of business. I mean, I’ve mentioned that already. So we’ve done a lot of things in the chamber industry that I just don’t agree with. And it’s, I don’t agree with, and you know what, for each one of your chambers, it’s different. Your personality is different than mine. So over the years, some of the things that I that I’ve been criticized for some of my chambers, I announced to our members, if a chamber member drops, I announced and I put it in the newsletter, that, hey, these businesses drop, please stop all chamber discounts to these individuals, and I will put them listed by name. Yeah, for some of you, you’re going oh, my gosh, it’s gonna hurt you. I will tell you that I’ve typically got a 10 to 15% return of members from that. And what do I owe on non members? They’re not paying my salary. Yep. I don’t know him anything, folks. And if they’re not going to be a customer, they’re not going to be a customer. I’m not bashing them that they’re a bad business. I’m just saying, the fact of the matter is, they’re not a chamber member, because this is what happens in our chambers. And what I found out, it takes usually three years for someone to realize that a business is no longer a chamber member. Yeah, that’s true. I’m doing business with you as a thinking that you’re a member all these years. And I made a decision that I was only going to do business with chamber members, because I’m loyal to the organization that builds the community. And then I find out that, Oh, my gosh, you haven’t been a member for years. So we have it my chambers. I have seen members watch for the who’s dropping, and it will go if I don’t send it out every month, they’ll go, I need to know. So I want to check before this. I had a board, two boards now, at two different chambers that made it a made it a mandatory aspect that they would only do business with chamber members. Why would they said on the board? It wasn’t a requirement. This is what you’re going to do. Unless we don’t have a business. It doesn’t. This is the way it is yeah. Membership group. And it wasn’t me that said that it was them in the boards that I worked with, with some of these ideas of giving back to the back to the organization and stepping it up a level in commitment to that organization have I’ve been very lucky to have much stronger boards that worked for the organization.

Brandon Burton 28:28
So with the membership, how did that translate as you started announcing drop numbers. Did you see less businesses dropping their membership? Did you see any any difference on retention?

Robert Goltz 28:39
We saw it We definitely saw a different difference on retention. Retention went up. No one wanted to have their name out there. I will tell you at first people were shocked. And I my one board would go I can’t believe you did this. I said watch what happens. We did a couple more months and then I said hey, this Oh, this person rejoined. Yeah. shamed him into coming back.

Brandon Burton 29:05
Yeah, absolutely. So

Robert Goltz 29:09
and you know what, this can’t comes back from when I started in the chamber industry. I had a great boss and often I’ll put a shout out there to Michelle Dougan. I was a membership salesperson, and she would go Robert, I want you to go out and collect membership plaques and scrape window sticker. And guess what? I’m gonna give you money for those that you get. Wow. And so on a Friday if it was a slow Friday afternoon and I needed a little extra cash in my pocket. who dropped her membership in the last two years that I’m going to be driving around by and I go and I go Hey, how’s it going scrape. Okay, got that one. Let me pull up. Can I have your plaque and we put notices on the plaque after that saying this. The plaque is the property of the chamber DataView, where we give it to you to show that you are a member, but when you drop your membership, we want our plaque back. Yeah. And and you know what, for some people, it’s more important that they have that plaque in their window or on their wall. And I had many people when I would go into grab their plaque, we would rejoin the chamber. Yeah, it was always it was always, I didn’t realize we dropped our membership. Right? Right. Okay, well, if you want, we can get you joined up right now. And I’m not gonna say happen every time. But 10 to 15%, maybe 20% of the time, that was what was going on? Yeah.

Brandon Burton 30:40
As you’re sharing this, it reminds me of a story. So my background is in chamber publishing. And I was working with the chamber and of this going around, you know, selling advertising on these publications. And there was a glass company who’d advertised with this for years, and, and I went in to renew their ad. And he’s like, yep, I’m always going to renew. And he tells me the story of the several years earlier, there was there’s a big truck manufacturer in this town. And the one of the executives at this trucking company, was a board member the chamber, and they sent out renewal notices, and this glass company, they were just really slow on sending in their, their renewal. And so this board member gave him a call and said, you know, we use your glass and all of our trucks, and I’d hate to have to look for a different vendor for a glass. He’s like, I forgot to do yeah, it’s in the mail today, you know, the same kind of thing. And it’s, uh, I know, some people will be uncomfortable doing that. But the reality of it is, I mean, there’s benefits to membership and, and, and things that the chamber does for members and discounts and connections and all sorts of stuff.

Robert Goltz 31:58
The thing that most people have to think about, if you were a private business, would you allow the things that happen at your chamber to occur? Would you give up, if you were running a restaurant, would you give free food to people every day, for 90 days, or a year, if they hadn’t paid for the meal ahead of time, you wouldn’t get crazy. But yet, we all provide services. And and, and I can’t say that all chambers provide services, because each one of us is very different. But if you’re good tell the chamber you’re providing information and in a wealth of opportunities to business on a regular basis. And that’s what they pay for. And it’s for what, two bucks, three bucks a day is that membership fee. And yet you’re feeding people on and on. And I’ve seen chambers where, you know, a year later, when I typically when I go into a chamber, it’s cleaning house, my they’ll say oh, we have 450 500 members, and I’ll go walking, I’ll go, you have members that haven’t paid for over a year. And it drops down to 300 or something like that. Yeah. And then we’re starting to do the cleanup. And the big thing is always he’s a major pillar in the community. Robert, we can’t drop that membership. He’s a major pillar in the community but hasn’t paid his dues in years. What does that say about the chamber? Yeah, it says that we call who to cower down to people power, we should be the power in our community, we should be able to have the credibility to stand behind what we do. And so I’m very big in that aspect.

Action Item/Tip for Chamber Champions

Brandon Burton 33:48
Absolutely. I think that is a great takeaway. Robert, as we start to wrap things up here, I wanted to ask you what might be one tip or action item that another chamber champion out there could could hear from you and take to elevate their organization up to the next level?

Robert Goltz 34:04
You know, I think the the key is to have a great foundation. And so if you are a current in a current chamber position, not going anywhere, or you’re looking at a new chamber, look and see and do two things. There’s, I’m gonna give a shameless plug out there. There’s a gentleman out there that most of us know by the name of Bob Harris, and he has a book out there that is an association audit book. And it tells you step by step, what you should be looking for, for in your organization, the paperwork and everything of that nature. I go through that with every chamber, I walk into making sure that I have all the paperwork, legal paperwork, things set. Then he taught me one other piece that there’s some certain books I have to have in my arsenal to run a chamber properly. One is a board policy manual. An employee handbook, a style guide for the chamber. Most chambers don’t have that. And you’ll know who you are, if you start looking around, and you have five different fonts with your chamber name on it, yeah, those are the top three and a disaster book. And that disaster book tells me everything and keeps I keep that with my car at all times. It has our insurance papers and all of my important information, that if something were to happen to this building, or to my community, that I know how to be up and running within 24 hours, those are the things that I think are the main foundation for every chamber, you get that down, and then put your personality and let you let your personality shine. That’s the other thing that a board needs to look at when they’re hiring is what’s the personality of the chamber. That’s the type of person they should be hiring, because I will tell you, every chamber I’ve been to, the personality who’s at the head of the organization, will flood the rest of the organization with how they are. And they can change very quickly in two to three years from what it was to that because of who you are, and what you bring to the table. And you need to realize that and be able to let that board know, this is the movement we’re going into.

Future of Chambers

Brandon Burton 36:26
That’s right, get advice like 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?

Robert Goltz 36:37
I think we’re already in the move on the advocacy issue that we already talked about. But I had, you know, a gentleman that I think has his thumb on on the game, Mark Wilson from the state, Florida chamber, state, Florida Chamber of Commerce, said at a convention just a couple of weeks ago, I think we’re going into the communication aspect. That we are that a chamber can be that voice of reason, and sharing information that’s factual, not opinionated, to our community, specifically, our business community. And I made a mention of that at the convention, and it’s something that I was already working on. But now I’m kind of looking going well, I need to really work on this. So that I’m not considered the News, the news media of the day. And then people will come and just say, Hey, give me the facts of what this reads like. Without your opinion, I can give you that if you want my opinion, I have an opinion. But these are the facts that are in legislation. These are the facts that we’re seeing in our research. These are the facts that make our community right now, as I say, keep it by facts, I think we’re going to that for me for this chamber, it’s going to be solid for us.

Brandon Burton 38:01
I like that, you know, the other day is somewhat related, I was watching a college football game, and during the commercials that it came up with a PSA for getting the vaccination, you know, the COVID shot. And I know chambers across the country have been big advocates for you know, wearing masks to keep businesses open, take the vaccine to keep businesses open all in the effort of keeping businesses open. And yet it still seems to be something that’s very controversial throughout the country. And I thought, you know, there’s a lot of money behind these PSAs. And, you know, pharmaceutical companies putting these out there, there’s money behind it. Nobody’s out there advocating for the sun, you know, and just saying, Have you gone for a 30 minute walk today and enjoyed some sunshine? Have you eaten something green today, you know, to improve your overall health and have better chances against COVID. So I think sharing information, sharing some facts is very important. And there’s some things that just totally get looked over because of where money is,

Robert Goltz 39:06
in COVID is a prime example. You know, for me, it’s about giving information, not telling my business community or the community at large that you have to wear a mask or not, that’s not my decision to make. I will tell you our facts, the facts say this. And, you know, we live in the United States and we have so many contradictions of information and and some people want to you know, some people for whatever reasons they have may not want to take vaccination, get the vaccination. What am I to tell them that they are right or wrong? You know what in these past 18 months, the story has shifted many times. All I know right now is that I am vaccinated and I feel a little bit better being vaccinated and sometimes I will mask sometimes I don’t Yeah, it depends on how I feel but I’m not gonna fight I’m not fighting with people and something that I think some of the world has lost right now is it sometimes we just have to be considerate of other people. So if I go to a place and I see everybody wearing a mask I throw on my mask now because I want to not because I have to, but because it makes everybody else in the room feel comfortable enough to be with me. Yeah. And so I’m trying to keep us together instead of splitting us apart everywhere.

Connect with Robert Goltz

Email: Robert@KeyWestChamber.com

Cell: 908-343-1717

Brandon Burton
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Below is an auto-generated transcription of my conversation with Brad Hicks. Because this is auto-generated there are likely some grammatical errors but I thought it could still be useful to search text within this podcast episode.

Introduction

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
Now your host, his favorite chewy candies are Swedish Fish. Here’s my dad Brandon Burton

Brandon Burton 0:21
Hello Chamber Champions. Welcome to 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.

Our title sponsor for this episode is Holman Brothers Membership Sales Solutions. Is your chamber struggling to drive the revenue it needs to support your initiatives? It’s a common problem and one that our new title Holman Brothers Membership Sales Solutions knows a lot about Doug and Bill Holman aren’t just sales consultants. They’re real life chamber guys with 20 plus years of chamber leadership experience. They know how to diagnose and solve member recruiting issues faster and better than anyone else. And they’re ready to put that knowledge to work for you and your chamber. Call the Harmon Brothers today at 61985 to 1391. Or check them out at HolmanBros.com. That’s holmanbros.com.

Guest Introduction

Our guest for this episode is Brad Hicks. Brad is the newly retired or rewired president and CEO of the Chamber of Medford Jackson County in Oregon, a position he held since the end of 1999. Brad began his career at the chamber in 1993. He has been called and with good reason Southern Oregon’s business leader. Under his direction, the chamber has embraced a new era of business leadership that blends the best of traditional chamber with today’s necessity for top notch and powerful business advocacy. During his tenure at the helm, the chamber has grown into one of Oregon’s largest and longest standing statewide business associations. Brad is often sought out for his perspective on business and political issues, and has been featured on the CBS Early Show, Fox News, the Los Angeles Times San Francisco Chronicle, fortune, Wall Street Journal, Forbes, and he can now add the chamber chat podcast to this impressive list. Today as a result of Brad’s leadership, the chamber continues to support pro business policies that will provide enduring benefits for the state economy and as a member of the US Chamber of Commerce Committee of 100. He is widely regarded as one of the top influencers in the Oregon political landscape and the chamber industry in the United States. Brad recently completed a successful term as chairman of the board for WACE Brad enjoys travel and investing his time in Southern Oregon. He and his wife Kimberly have one son Jonathan. Well Brad I’m excited to have you with me today on the chamber chat podcast you’ve come highly recommended by a couple different people but I would take take a few moments to say hello to all the chamber champions that are out there listening and share something interesting about yourself so we can all get to know you.

Something Interesting about Brad

Brad Hicks 3:28
Something interesting well Brandon, first thank you and and you’re gonna have to pick better friends if they’re recommending me for your podcast. Some poor judgment out there apparently. And Happy, Happy Constitution Day. Not a lot of people think about that or celebrate that. But you know, what was it 234 years ago today? A few few folks got together and signed I think now the longest lasting constitution in human history. So it’s, it’s being ignored, but it’s still standing. So happy times. today. Um, maybe that’s something interesting. Well, I don’t know if that’s interesting or not gonna say maybe that’s something interesting about myself as I’m, I’m kind of a junkie on board. political history, but, um, let’s see, what would what would be a thing. Well, you can see some of the stuff behind me one of the things just out of view for you. Brandon is a really old, tattered baseball. And it’s a homerun ball that I hit at a Pittsburgh Pirates mini camp or try out off of their number one draft

Brandon Burton 4:50
pick. Nice. That is pretty cool.

Brad Hicks 4:53
Yeah, that was that was my 15 seconds of fame. I guess.

Brandon Burton 4:59
You must Have some kind of a background in baseball? I would assume.

Brad Hicks 5:04
No, I picked the wrong parking lot. And I just walked out there and grabbed a bat. And No, I’m kidding. Yeah, baseball was, was one of my early interests and spent spent a lot of time on and around baseball diamonds. And and I hope to I hope to get to do some more of that in the future.

Brandon Burton 5:26
Watching. They’re watching and well, at this point, I’d like for you to share a little bit about the chamber that you just recently retired from, I understand you’re still doing quite a bit of close work with. And I’d like to just get some perspective as to the type of size staff, that sort of thing. And we’ll go to that point.

About The Chamber of Medford/Jackson County

Brad Hicks 5:52
Yeah, well, some of this, you know, might be repeat for a lot of my friends after 30 years in the industry, I’ve got a lot of friends in the chamber biz around the country, but so many of them know, but I suppose Many don’t. My background before coming to the chamber was in the legislative arena. I had run a house office and two senate offices in the state legislature and then worked for one of our members of Congress, and was pretty active in the campaign. On the campaign circuit, I always say everything from dog catcher to President of the United States. I’ve been on or run campaigns and a lot of levels. But I wanted to move home to Southern Oregon, my mother was in poor health, and I wanted to be closer to my family. And, and I thought, well, I’ll go home and see what somebody my age and limited experience can do in Southern Oregon. So I drove around, I was joking, I drove around looking for buildings with domes on them, because that’s all I’d ever worked in. And I couldn’t find once I dropped, dropped a resume off at the chamber. And the rest is history I I was familiar with our specific chamber, because I was the staff person on the other end of the line setting up legislative hotlines for chamber member or for our legislative members with this chamber. And so I knew that there was a high degree of interest in issue advocacy at our chamber, and I thought well, maybe, you know, maybe that’s someplace I could play my trade. And you know, here we are almost 30 years later, just putting a period or maybe an exclamation point on the end of it.

Brandon Burton 7:58
You’ve been doing since retiring, but what do you been up to?

Brad Hicks 8:05
Well, I remember my dad making a statement, and I thought it was the silliest thing I’ve ever heard. But after he retired to continue to care for my mother. He said, I don’t know how I ever had time to work. And I’m finding I’m finding that he was right. There seems to be so much to do. In fact, sometimes I kind of wish I had to go to the office. Because there seems to be so many things to do that I was previously unaware of, that are now on my calendar and my to do list. But you know, you mentioned this at the top of the show. I am I set up a consultancy called RBI I had to get a baseball reference in there. That’s right. Because we all know business and in politics, if you don’t score runs, you don’t win. And so I chose RBI because I think, you know RBI is runs batted in are one of the under some statistics and baseball people like to talk about diving catches and Grand Slam home runs. But again, you’ve got to you’ve got to knock some runs across the plate to win. But RBI also stands for representing business issues. And you know, that was something that years ago came out of the WAC tool, toolkit work that we did. And it was, it was one of the most important things that chamber members said they want their chambers to do for them represent business issues, through lobbying, issue advocacy, and political action. Candidate work, right recruiting, financing and electing pro business candidates and I hope we get to talk a little bit more about Because that’s the real passion. And and if I could just quickly circling back, you asked me to kind of recap my time at the history, what I didn’t say was, when I started at the chamber, we had just about 1000 members. And we mean, that had been a number that we have maintained for a pretty long period of time, we had been just under just over 1000 members for a long time. And even through my first, you know, six or seven years as a staff person at the chamber, we were a basically 1000 member chamber. I knew if we were going to gain clout in the political arena, from my days working in the legislature, you know, is typically the 800 pound gorillas that that get the most attention. So you’ve either got to be really big or have a lot of money, I knew we wouldn’t have a lot of money. So I set out to make our chamber larger. And over about a six year period of time, we went from about 1000 members to over 1700 members, which made us one of the eight largest chambers on the west coast. And certainly the largest chamber in the state of Oregon, even larger than our state association at the time. So suddenly, when you pick up the phone, and you call the governor’s office, or you know, some representatives office, if they’re paying attention to how many folks you represent, they take the call they take the meeting.

Brandon Burton 11:34
Yeah, there’s a lot more clout for sure. Yep. And talk about runs batted in. 1000 to 1700 members, those are a lot of runs coming in,

Brad Hicks 11:45
that we pushed a lot of runs across the plate over that period of time. And and that was a real, it was a real fun time to be part of our chambers history. Because not only were we growing, but we were really getting a lot of things done. And and then of course, nobody needs to be reminded that, you know, then we went headlong into a great recession, lifted our heads up for a little bit and then went, you know, headlong into a global pandemic and in our region, catastrophic wildfires. So there, there have been a lot of things beyond our control that you know, that have torn, torn down a lot of the work, a lot of things that we built, have been knocked over, but I’m confident in our community and our members and our chamber and the people that are on the team now that they’ll be able to rebuild that in time.

Brandon Burton 12:48
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Topic-Running into the Fires of Advocacy

So you happen to mention the the wildfires there in Oregon and throughout the West Coast really and we’ll kind of use that to segue into our topic for running into the fire of advocacy in our band for all you had mentioned to me that during this time especially that you’re running away from the opportunity that they have to really shine yeah I and and a few that are running into the fire so tell us what you mean. Yeah,

Brad Hicks 14:37
yeah, well, you know, you talk to you live in the Pacific Northwest, you talk to a lot of firefighters and BLM folks and forestry folks over the course of a career and and you know, there’s this this idea of, you know, those who run away from the fire and those who run into the fire and and I was thinking about that as a metaphor for chambers and Their approach to Well, sometimes even issue advocate advocacy, but certainly the area of political action, recruiting candidates, pro business candidates who are going to do well, or they’re going to do good by our members as opposed to doing harm. You know, in our industry, we are regularly pulled, what’s the most important issue in your community? What do you think’s the most important member of issue to your members? Who knows? I mean, at the end of the day, who knows, here’s what I do know, there’s nothing more important than who decides on those issues. I mean, at the end of the day, those issues are those issues, and they’re going to confront our, our communities. Whether we like it or not, issues of land use and issues of wildfire and issues of homelessness and issues of, of poverty and, and education or lack thereof. You know, we’re all tackling really difficult issues. And our individual chambers are not always going to be the lead voice on those issues. In fact, quite often, not the lead voice, just a contributor in the choir, to that overall voice. But where we can make a big difference is helping choose who gets to decide who decides in your, on your city council, who decides your Board of Commissioners in your state legislature, what the best thing is on those, you know, the best direction on those policy issues. So we took this approach, I remember the day we actually got our board to approve because the first time I proposed it, it failed. And that was the formation of our political action committee. But I think when I said this in the second go around, I think it resonated with people, if you want to change the policy, you’ve got to change the people. And and the point that I made that I think resonated with our own board was this for 100 years prior to the time I made that statement and pitched a pack to our organization. Our organization had a long and successful record of issue advocacy. I mean, I found records going back 100 years where we were arguing about wildfire, you know, forest management issues and transportation. And so we have this long, rich history of being pretty good on the issue advocacy side, but never played on the candidate side of the ledger. And, and I, you know, finally occurred to me, all of our best issue advocacy efforts are being frustrated by the wrong people getting elected.

Brandon Burton 18:14
Yeah, so that really stood out to me when you want to change the policy need to change the people. I’m thinking I can’t pinpoint many, many times where I’ve seen a politician have. If you need the policy to change, you need to change the people. Right? I’m curious, right? I’m curious in your area, I mean, you guys worked hard to become big to become a chamber that has impact to be heard by some of these people in government on the some of these issues. And with that, so you’ve got a lot of power is a responsibility, right to represent those businesses as business issues as RBI is? In today’s world, things have obviously become very polar, divisive when it comes to politics. So as a chamber, as a chamber, how do you try to balance that, by I know, some would have a fear of maybe losing membership losing some support, when overall you can see the path? And yeah, it may have some collateral damage. I mean, what has how do you go about that in your mind?

Brad Hicks 19:28
Well, I grew up in a family, a small business family, my parents were small town grocers, and I watched them go bankrupt in the recession of the early 80s. And a lot of that fueled my passion and my heart for small business people in the issues that they face. And I think that’s ultimately how I wound up at the chamber and why I had so much passion and energy for the issues that help businesses succeed and and the issues that They kill business and thwart business and thwart free enterprise. So I always you know, when I walked in the door I my attitude was I am never going to apologize for defending our members and for defending free enterprise I’m just not going to do it there’s there’s a lot of negotiables but I’m not going to apologize for standing up for the issues that make our members successful. The you know, any of my friends that are listening to this know that I’m kind of a keeper of quotes. And I particularly love Winston Churchill and and he said there’s no greater thrill than being shot at to no effect. So, so what you have to know is, this is this is who I am, this is who my organization is, this is the mission of the organization unapologetically. This is the mission of my organization. And we are going to go out and we’re going to say and do things that benefit the people that pay the freight. Whether other people like it or not, and it isn’t that you go out and, and endeavor or purpose to make enemies. If you can do that in a collaborative and a friendly way. Great. But you’re exactly right. It’s it is a road full of bumps and potholes. You know, what’s the other quote john wayne said courage is being afraid but saddling up anyway. Yeah, you know, organizationally, we spent sometimes weeks talking about whether or not we were even the right organization to carry a message. like is this Are we going to marginalize this message because it’s got the Chamber’s name attached to it? Or you know, here we are in the middle of a membership or a fundraising development campaign and we’re going to take an issue on our position on the most controversial issue in our whole state do we or don’t we and I’m so proud of our you know, board over the last 30 years and our staff and to say you know, whenever we were faced with those situations every time without fail we walked into the fire

Brandon Burton 22:30
I love that and I think this is one of those topics that a chamber can really if they’re listening they can really get some value out of to really what is best for their businesses for their members to really see like you said having those pro business candidates elected support them. Yeah, make a stance and see how your members support you. I mean, for those for those chambers that hear members say I don’t know what my chamber for something that’s going to support these businesses that are your members, they’ll remember that when the time comes around.

Brad Hicks 23:09
Well Brandon, you are exactly right. And you know, to put it in different terms, instead of walking into a running away from the fire art stuff. I could probably just simplify it by say by saying it’s easy to look at things from our own perspective in defense of your chamber safety, what’s easier, what’s harder, and all those sorts of our members want us to be proactive? Right? And silence equals indifference. So you might be sitting at your chamber saying there is no way we’re going to endorse candidates because it’s risky it’s scary What if the wrong person gets elected and they hate me and they kill our budget? Are they take away our contract? Or you know, and what I don’t hear people asking when we have these conversations you know, what if what if I lost my contract with the city but 500 businesses in my community join the chamber as a result of of actually finally meaning something to them? What if I didn’t need that contract anymore? Or what if what if standing up for you know a principle that got you in a fight over your contract and you win it or you lose it you know, I think chambers have to remember that it’s probably more important to be respected than to be liked when it comes to these types of issues and and doing the right thing is you know, it’s gonna get you’re gonna at least get you’re respected.

Brandon Burton 24:52
So it takes a lot of courage, a lot of faith, I would say to step up Something anything to have that integrity? How would you suggest a chamber? And I don’t know how you just grow integrity like that. But how do you step up to that challenge against the, you know, the headwinds that come atcha?

Brad Hicks 25:19
Well, I think you’re right. And I want to be careful not to sound like I’m patting myself on the back, I would just, I think, to try to objectively answer your question, I, I don’t know that you gain that on the job, I think you bring it with you. Right? So it’s probably up to boards to make sure they’re hiring people who have courage, who have integrity, who aren’t afraid to, you know, run into the fire, and then turn them loose and let them do the right thing. So I’d like to think that in my case, those were traits or characteristics that I brought with me, you know, it wasn’t like one day I just said, Hey, this integrity thing seems I you know, I listen to john wooden and this integrity thing seems pretty cool. I gotta get me one of those. It just, you know, for me, defending business. And, and helping people like my folks, but not go bankrupt, was kind of a true north for me. And, and I guess I didn’t waver. And I’m proud of that. So, and I’m proud of our organization, because you have to, you’ve got to have a staff and you got to have a board who are all in. And so, you know, I don’t know, you know, you asked about how you how you get the integrity to do that. You know, that those, those are characteristics people have to bring to the table, what you really need first, to get started as guts. And you have to know you’re, you’re going to get punched in the teeth every once in a while and be willing to take it. What it might usually quote Mike Tyson, but you know, what, if you say everybody’s got a fight plan to get punched in the mouth or something, right? You know, and so your board and your staff has to say, we’re going to go into the ring, we’re going to, we’re going to throw a few and we’re going to take a few and when we take one, we can’t go in the corner and curl up and suck our thumb, we got to go back out and answer the bell.

Brandon Burton 27:50
That’s right. You know, I had heard a quote one time that said, If you want to change policy, you got to, personally that that might have to apply to chambers, too. So if you don’t have that integrity, if you can’t summon up those guts, and watch out, you know,

Brad Hicks 28:05
oh, you know, this is something that good friends of mine, like the late Mike McLaren and, and Dave Kilby, who is still living. And I have been saying for years, and it’s really a page we store up stole out of good degrade. And that is you got to have the right butts in the seats. Right? So you think about this bus, and people are on the bus, and people are off the bus. And people ought to get off the bus, you know, that are on it, and cetera, et cetera. But at the end of the day, you’ve got to have you know, if you have a board, for example, that’s made up of, you know, half your board is made up of bureaucrats and city officials or county officials. And then suddenly, you want to be bold and take on the city and the county, it’s going to be tough. And if you’re the CEO, you might actually be the, the victim of, of that newfound boldness. So you got to make sure that you’ve got so you got to be bold, but you’ve got to you’ve got to get the right players on the team or in the clubhouse or on the bus, however you want to put it.

Brandon Burton 29:24
Absolutely. So I know we’re we’re starting to get a little bit short on time, but I wanted to ask a couple of these questions that I like to ask everyone that I have on the show. What would be maybe one tip or action item based on our discussion today, that edge chamber champion could do to help elevate their organization up to the next level.

Action Item/Tip for Chamber Champions

Brad Hicks 29:52
You know, we have a tendency I think in the chamber of business to think if we’re not planting a flag on the moon, we didn’t do something big Right, I hear it a lot. And you know, we weren’t always a big chamber, maybe we were a medium sized chamber. But I have always had such great admiration for the small chambers in our country. And I tell my friends that run small chambers, I appreciate them, and sometimes envied them. Especially once we became a large chamber, because they do it all right, they have to, they have to do it all they play every role that wherever we have, they’ve got to be much more creative sometimes than those of us that have a little bit more in the way of resources or people. But, you know, if you think about what Tip O’Neill said, all politics is local. So you’re asking me like, what’s the thing? What’s some thing that that a chamber could do to make a difference? Don’t think that you have to be like the Medford, Jackson County Chamber or the Sacramento chamber or the Seattle chamber, the Vegas chamber, cetera, et cetera. Maybe you have a great city council and a bad mayor. And the chamber says, You know what, we’re, we’re going to go out and recruit one of our past chairs, to run for mayor, we’re going to help her win, we’re going to raise the money, and we’re going to create a team. And we’re going to get a good mayor who actually cares about the business people. That one thing could be the biggest thing that happens in a particular community. And they didn’t have to elect somebody, President of the United States or to Congress or land somebody on the moon. They simply changed one of the most important positions in their community. And quite frankly, on a relative scale that might be more important than some of the work we do.

Brandon Burton 31:56
Right? Yeah, absolutely. We’re,

Brad Hicks 31:58
we’re, you know, historically, we’re usually in 10, or 12. legislative races, every election cycle. And we have probably, I’m trying to be conservative here, but I bet our success rate, it’s, it’s 95% Plus, it might be 97, or 98. I’m just gonna say 95. To be conservative. You know, we always seem to lose one. Every, every cycle. And that’s because we’ve got a couple of districts that just don’t don’t benefit pro business candidates. But we give them hell in those do, right? We we don’t stop we don’t let that stop us from recruiting candidates and, and raising money. In fact, I know we’re running out of time, but I want to share this because it’s an example I use almost every time some other you know, fellow chamber exec asked me what what happens when you lose longtime incumbent senator, not a friend of the chambers, not a friend of local business, but continue to get elected and one of these districts I referred to, so we recruited somebody, and we raised over 100,000 bucks, and we lost by about 280 votes, 260 bucks, something like that. And everybody said, Oh, man, grab, you know, grab your grab your hats and hang on because it’s, it’s gonna be a bumpy ride. We never had a better relationship with that, Senator. Until we did that, because he knew we had the we had the the guts, and the capacity to almost take them out for change. Yeah, for change. And if he continued to be that bad, we were going to continue to take another stab at and we did. I mean, we got friendlier and friendlier, but we still try to take him out every time. But the point is, the relationship got better, not worse. Yeah. He he had, he had, I guess you could say, maybe a little bit of a healthy fear of of the chamber and it made him think about his policy decisions more than he ever had prior to that.

The Future of Chambers

Brandon Burton 34:26
That’s good. That’s a really good example. All right, yeah. So as we look to the future of chambers, how do you see their their purpose going forward?

Brad Hicks 34:39
Well, you know, I think you actually said this at the beginning of the show, and it was some It was kind of a mantra for me with our staff and our board. At the beginning of this pandemic. I truly believe that was and still is a time for chambers to shine. There is so much the new And and a lot of people are standing around looking for for someone to do it right? Which way do we go and fingers are pointing and you know 15 different directions What a great time. I don’t like the confusion. I don’t like the uncertainty I know business markets don’t like uncertainty, but what a great time for chambers chamber boards chamber CEOs to step in and provide the kind of leadership that people are looking for not just chamber members of business, businesses in general and communities in general. We we established a policy during the pandemic we were not going to turn anybody away we’re a membership organization we do things for members historically, during the pandemic I told our team you know don’t don’t play the you’re not a member game. Somebody comes to us in the middle of the night who needs help and they’re ready to close our businesses help them and we we probably got more complimentary phone calls emails and text messages from non members when you know when things started to subside and ease up a little bit we had so many small business people say I would not have made it had it not been for the information the chamber shared about getting my PPP money or you know where to go for this resource or how to find FEMA during the wildfires etc. And that was a real rewarding feeling so you know do the right thing and and I suppose Good, good things will follow.

Brandon Burton 36:44
Like I do the right thing that’s kind of been a bowl episode, right? Yeah. Yeah. So portunity for anybody listening that wanted to reach out and connect with you learn a little bit more from you what would be the best way for them to reach out and connect?

Connect with Brad Hicks

Brad Hicks 37:03
Well as a as I mentioned, my new companies name is RBI or representing business issues. My website still under development, but I can be reached at Brad@representingbusinessissues.com or at 541-210-3334. And always, always have happy to help a fellow chamber exact I obviously this industry is coursing through my veins and I’ll always be a part of it in some capacity and would welcome any any of those phone calls or emails.

Brandon Burton 37:49
Awesome. Well, I will get that in our show notes. But Brad, I’ve enjoyed this conversation with you. I appreciate your integrity and the guts that you’ve shown throughout your career and the family shares he’s shared with us today. And just thank you so much for joining us.

Brad Hicks 38:08
Well thanks for your thanks for what you’re doing to this is it’s fun and I’ve enjoyed watching you interview friends of mine and and was was glad for it to finally be my turn in the barrel.

Brandon Burton 38:24
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Alex Sonifrank, Affinity & Partnership Manager of the American World Trade Chamber of Commerce joins me for this episode to share how the AWTCC can help local Chambers process certificates of origin.

The AWTCC is a special interest Chamber with satellite offices across the country.

Alex shares why it is so important for local Chambers to have the ability to process certificates of origin to support their local manufacturing and export businesses. He explains how Chambers are uniquely qualified to create certificates of origin. Alex tells how the AWTCC can help certify local Chambers to do this on their own or a Chamber can partner with the AWTCC as an affiliate and actually earn non-dues revenue.

The affinity payments made by the AWTCC to partner Chambers has grown from $30,000 to $300,000.

Alex shares some of the pros and cons of doing this type of work in-house vs. utilizing a partnership like the AWTCC.

If you would like to connect with Alex about anything he discussed in this episode you can see his contact information below:

• 202-844-2641
• asonifrank@awtcc.org

FREE resources to help you better serve your Chamber members and your community.

As you focus on your Chamber’s mission and purpose, you will find that your publications say a lot about your organization. Community Matters, Inc. is an award-winning Chamber publisher that would like to help your Chamber with your next Chamber Directory, Guide, or Map. Community Matters has a turn-key program that is very simple. In the end, your Chamber has a great looking printed & digital publication that will represent your Chamber very well while providing a smooth source of non-dues revenue. Click here to learn more.

Derek Miller, President & CEO of the Salt Lake Chamber joins us for this episode in our 2021 ACCE Chamber of the Year Finalist Series.

Derek is a return guest. He joined us on the podcast two years ago for episode 32 as a Chamber of the Year Finalist in 2019.

In our discussion, Derek shares details about the two program synopsis that were submitted with their Chamber of the Year application.

The first program that Derek shared was their Stay Safe to Stay Open campaign. They created in partnership with the Utah Department of Health, 7 guidelines for employees and staff to inject confidence with their protocols through the COVID pandemic. They ended up with over 10,000 businesses talking a pledge to stay safe to stay open. This program was promoted via social media as well as earned media as the program gained momentum.

The second program that Derek discussed was Workforce Resilience which is part of their foundation. This program focuses on mental fitness. It brings awareness for employers and employees to understand available resources to address mental health, some of which are covered through their existing healthcare plans. The program also aimed to remove the stigma that often clouds mental health concerns.

Derek encourages listeners to learn from others in the Chamber industry. Find out what is working for others.

If you would like to connect with Derek about anything he discussed in this episode you can see his contact information below:

• slchamber.com
• dmiller@slchamber.com

FREE resources to help you better serve your Chamber members and your community.

As you focus on your Chamber’s mission and purpose, you will find that your publications say a lot about your organization. Community Matters, Inc. is an award-winning Chamber publisher that would like to help your Chamber with your next Chamber Directory, Guide, or Map. Community Matters has a turn-key program that is very simple. In the end, your Chamber has a great looking printed & digital publication that will represent your Chamber very well while providing a smooth source of non-dues revenue. Click here to learn more.

Michael Huber, President & CEO of the Indy Chamber joins us for this episode in our 2021 ACCE Chamber of the Year Finalist Series.

As this episode goes live, the Chamber of the Year winners have been announced and the Indy Chamber was named the Category 4 ACCE Chamber of the Year Winner!

Michael was also a previous guest on the podcast as he joined us for episode 99 when we discussed Your Chamber as a Unifying Force.

In our discussion, Michael shares details about the two program synopsis that were submitted with their Chamber of the Year application.

The first program that Michael shared was about their Rapid Response Hub. At the onset of COVID in mid-March 2020, they made a bet that small businesses would be effected the most with hospitality being hit first. They moved fast to train all of their employees on small business service. The Rapid Response Hub was established to share resources. They raised $10 million for relief funds from donors. Through this program, they also partnered with local lending organizations to facilitate $21.5 million in small business relief compared to less than $1 million from 2019.

The second program that Michael shared was their Inclusive Economic Development Incentives. He was clear that you don’t need a specific economic development responsibility to lead a program like this at your organization. Michael noticed that both the left and the right side of this discussion both wanted more which is usually a good sign when you are able to meet in the middle.

Michael encourages listeners to be inclusive with your economic growth strategies. Also, don’t limit yourself to the current tools within your organization. Look at partnerships as an extension of your Chamber.

If you would like to connect with Michael about anything he discussed in this episode you can see his contact information below:

• mhuber@indychamber.com
• Michael Loves Indy Podcast

FREE resources to help you better serve your Chamber members and your community.

As you focus on your Chamber’s mission and purpose, you will find that your publications say a lot about your organization. Community Matters, Inc. is an award-winning Chamber publisher that would like to help your Chamber with your next Chamber Directory, Guide, or Map. Community Matters has a turn-key program that is very simple. In the end, your Chamber has a great looking printed & digital publication that will represent your Chamber very well while providing a smooth source of non-dues revenue. Click here to learn more.