Chamber of Commerce Daily News

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Wednesday, July 23, 2014

Best Chamber Practices - Sun Prairie, Wisconsin Chamber of Commerce: Top Ten Reasons to join your Chamber of Commerce; U.S. Chamber Foundation: Quad Cities, Hiring Our Heroes hosts workshop, job fair; Main Street, Beatrice Chamber, NGage team up for small business resource session; Famous Chamber of Commerce Quotations: (Attitude): Colin Powell

Top 10 Reasons to be a Chamber Member

We Promote, Connect, and Advocate for our Members

Year around promotion and networking are at the top of the list
The Chamber of Commerce is a private, non-profit membership association with 391 members comprised of 10,946 employees. We are volunteer driven with a Board of Directors, three full time staff, and thirteen volunteer committees who help implement the Chamber business plan.
These are just a sampling of the programs and opportunities the Sun Prairie Chamber of Commerce offers. The Chamber's mission is to promote our community, businesses and a strong economy and a high quality of life. The following benefits assist in fulfilling our mission and providing valuable benefits to Chamber members.
Sun Prairie Chamber Mission Statement: To foster, promote and protect the business interest of our members and to create a positive economic, political, educational and social climate in Sun Prairie.
View "The Value of Chamber Membership" - a study conducted by The Schapiro Group, Inc and Market Street Services interviewed 2000 people nationwide; click here
Networking:
Luncheons and Mixers are offered monthly September through May. The annual Golf outing offers an informal opportunity for networking. Attend these opportunities and people will get to know and support you as a business partner, customer or client.
Promotion, Advertising: Website promotion includes a member database online with a location map, contact information, descriptive copy and promotional space for a special offer. FREE website links are provided to members! Our website receives nearly 2 million hits per year. Members are promoted in print publications and newspaper features. Advertising open only to members includes the annual Community Guide (distribution 18,000 annually) and Community Map. Newsletter inserts are available to members for targeted marketing. Members participating in the Gift Certificate or Key Tag program receive free advertising benefits.
Sponsorships—stretch your marketing dollars: The annual Sweet Corn Festival will put your business in front of 100,000 people. Member luncheons, the Annual Meeting, Golf Outing, Groundhog Day celebration and more—give you the opportunity to target your marketing to a specific audience and require minimal staff costs on your part—thus minimizing your costs but maximizing your reach. Chamber staff coordinate ad plans, signage and logo placement for your investment and camera ready art. Sponsors are included in website promotion as well. Events bring visitors to Sun Prairie; visitors spend $ in our stores, restaurants, hotels and more.
Services: The Chamber Care Health Insurance program is open only to Members. Member and Business mailing labels and lists are available at a nominal fee or free to members, while non-members pay a substantial fee. Free listings in the Community Guide and Chamber website. Access to business information via Chamber from sources such as Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce, Small Business Administration and more.
Referrals: Chamber staff receive thousands of calls annually about Sun Prairie. Staff refer ONLY chamber members to inquiries. Businesses gain credibility via their membership with the Chamber.
Members support Members: Chamber members make it a point to support fellow members whenever possible.
Publications: Annual Community Guide features a listing of all Chamber members free of charge. The monthly newsletter keeps members informed of Chamber news, current events, pertinent issues and more.
Stronger voice in government: A collective voice via Chamber membership enables your business to make a greater impact on government issues affecting businesses.
Community Improvement: Membership in the Chamber of Commerce is an investment in your community. The Chamber works with various community organizations such as the Business Improvement District, The Downtowners Association, Business & Education Partnership, Sun Prairie Schools, City of Sun Prairie and more to help effect positive change for our community. Your membership provides the resources to continue these partnerships and positions you as a company/organization who gives back to the community.
Education—support of:
The Chamber is a member of and supports the Business & Education partnership in Sun Prairie and offers educational seminars to Members. Helping to create a strong, well-educated workforce is a Chamber goal.
Programs/Projects include:

monthly member luncheons for networking and keeping current on community issues
educational seminars
member mixers
annual Community Guide and bi-annual Community Map production
government affairs newspage, "How to Run for Public Office" workshop and business advocacy
Ambassador visits to new & expanding businesses, and ribbon cuttings
Halloween Business Spooktacular
Keytag program
Online Coupon promotion
Business to Business Services program
Restaurant Week Promotion
CEO Roundtables in cooperation with three Dane Co. Chambers
Gift Certificate Program
Annual meeting and silent auction
Leadership Sun Prairie adult education program
Golf outing
Bowling Tourney
Sweet Corn Festival - attracts visitors nationwide
Taste of the Arts Fair - community event
Member orientations
additional programs and events per our member's needs and requests

Members are encouraged to display information at the Chamber office. Member employees are encouraged to attend and participate at whatever level they are able to in order to gain the most out of membership.
Thanks to our current members for their support. If you'd like to become a member, check out our site and the "Contact Us" navigation to inquire about membership, or, just call our office at 837-4547 or e-mail at spchamber(at)frontier.com.
Sun Prairie Chamber of Commerce - working to promote Sun Prairie.
We promote our members and the community, connect members to other members via networking opportunities, educate our members via business seminars and member luncheons and advocate for our members.
We are not part of city government. We are not funded with city tax dollars. The Chamber budget is generated by the Chamber via fundraising events such as Corn Fest, the Golf Outing, the raffle fundraiser, member dues and products such as the community guide. We pay property taxes, personal property taxes and taxes to the Business Improvement District.

Source: Sun Prairie, Wisconsin Chamber of Commerce

U.S. Chamber Foundation: Quad Cities, Hiring Our Heroes hosts workshop, job fair

It is an effort everyone seems to agree on: helping veterans find employment.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation, the National Association of Manufacturers, IowaWORKS, and Home Base Iowa, along with lead sponsor Alcoa Foundation, will host Hiring Our Heroes – Quad-Cities, a hiring fair for veterans and military spouses. It will be held 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Thursday at the RiverCenter North, Davenport.
Prior to that, Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad will host a veterans roundtable there from 8:30 to 9:45 a.m.
He will announce that Iowa will become the third state to join the Get Skills to Work coalition, a group of colleges and manufacturers dedicated to training and hiring veterans in advanced manufacturing careers. Alcoa, GE, Boeing, and Lockheed Martin founded Get Skills to Work in October 2012 with The Manufacturing Institute and a goal to reach 100,000 veterans by 2015. Read more: Quad City Times

Main Street, Beatrice Chamber, NGage team up for small business resource session
Main Street Beatrice, the Beatrice Area Chamber of Commerce and NGage plan to lend a helping hand to current and potential business owners during an informative session Thursday.

The 90-minute teleconference session will provide attendees the chance to speak with resource professionals from the Nebraska Small Business Collaborative.

“They’ll talk about what they do, what they have to offer,” NGage Executive Director Glennis McClure said. “They are good resource providers in that they can assist with existing businesses or folks that are looking to start businesses... We always try to connect with them, as needed, when folks need help with small business resources.”

Main Street Executive Director Michael Sothan hopes local entrepreneurs use this opportunity to take advantage of the network of resources available to them. Read more: Beatrice Daily Sun

Famous Chamber of Commerce Quotations: (Attitude):

I think whether you're having setbacks or not, the role of a leader is to always display a winning attitude.

- Colin Powell