#BestChamber Practices: Muncie-Delaware County Chamber - Member Testimonials in chamber communications
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| Rich Spisak |
The Muncie- Delaware County Chamber of Commerce under the leadership of Jay Julian and his team of professionals has proven to be a driving force in our community. Until I became a board member I was not aware of all the things the chamber did to make Muncie and Delaware County a better place to live. The benefits of joining the chamber far exceed the cost for any business or organization. They are without a doubt one of our biggest assets.
Rich Spisak,
Ball Brothers Foundation
#BestChamber practices: The Plainfield Area (Illinois) Chamber --- The Ambassador Program --- 7 Touches to Success Membership Retention Plan --- Number three of seven touches in first year
Ambassador Script for 2 month call:
Good Morning/Afternoon, my name is: __________ your name , with __________________ your company. I am also a Plainfield Area Chamber Ambassador and would like to welcome you to the Chamber!
Have you scheduled your ribbon cutting yet? ______________________________________
· This is a great way to market your business for FREE! It also allows other chamber members to see where you are located and all the things you have to offer. Don’t have a store front, we can do a ribbon cutting at the PACC Office.
· If not, may I ask why? __________________________________________________
Have you taken advantage of the many offerings of the Chamber? ______________________
· If so, great, which event did you attend? _____________________________________
· If no, I would like to extend an invitation to you to attend our next event, during business hours: ____________________________________ after business hours.
I will gladly meet you there and introduce you to several other members.
Do you have any questions and/or comments about any programs or anything relating to the Chamber?
I would like to thank you for your time and give you my contact information should you have any further questions in the future…….,
Ambassador Name: ____________________________________________________________
Ambassador Business: __________________________________________________________
Ambassador Contact Number: ____________________________________________________
New Member Contacted: ________________________________________________________
Date Contacted: _______________________________________________________________
Comments: ___________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
Verified By: ______________________________ Points Received: ____________________
More information: Tasha Kitson, Executive Director 815-436-4431
Mississippi Gulf Coast Chamber interest: USM shows off its benefits to the Coast
University of Southern Mississippi officials believe attracting more high-tech businesses to the Coast is just one way to ramp up enrollment at the Gulf Park campus in Long Beach.
School officials joined the Mississippi Gulf Coast Chamber of Commerce on Thursday at a seminar at the Knight Nonprofit Center on Seaway Road to detail the economic benefits of USM to the state Coast and outline plans for the Gulf Park campus.
USM Gulf Park Vice President Steve Miller offered statistics showing the university’s economic contributions to the Coast. In fiscal year 2015, USM Gulf Coast directly generated $115.6 million, supported 1,283 jobs and generated $6.5 million in tax revenue. For the entire university, the number jumps to $603 million, Miller said. The main campus is in Hattiesburg.
“It’s no mistake that the university benefits financially from our focus on research and education,” Miller said. “It’s our bread and butter. It’s what sets us apart from other universities. A great portion of that takes place right here in the bottom three counties.”
Shannon Campbell, director of the Trent Lott National Center for Excellence in Economic Development and Entrepreneurship at USM, said the Mississippi Development Authority has been working with the university.
“We work with MDA to determine what the jobs needs are in the community. And these are high-paying jobs like in the aviation industry or computer programming and software jobs,” she said. “We make sure we are producing the kind of students industry needs.” Read more: Sun Herald
Cary Grove Area Chamber of Commerce 2016 Community Map
The Cary Grove Area Chamber of Commerce 2016 Community Map is available at the Cary Grove Chamber today! Thanks to Lynn Caccavallo and the chamber team for their help and direction putting this together!
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| Cary Grove Area Chamber map |
Town SquarePublications (www.townsquarepublications.com) can help you accomplish your chamber's gloss map, directory, community guide or publication needs at no expense to the chamber. Please email John Dussman at jdussman@tspubs.com or call (847)-427-4633.
Chamber Ribbon-Cutting: Queen Esther’s Closet expands in Farmville
Wanda Joyner started Queen Esther’s Closet from the trunk of her car. Now just shy of its five-year anniversary, her business is expanding in downtown Farmville.
“I wanted to start small and gain some experience of managing a boutique,” Joyner said during the boutique’s ribbon-cutting ceremony in the former Curves location at 3729-1 W. Wilson St.
Joyner sold jewelry and accessories from the trunk of her car and her home for two years.
“My husband got tired of people coming to the house and noticed that my clientele was growing,” she said.
Taking a leap of faith, Joyner approached her former classmate, Patrick Hobbs, who owns the Duke building on Wilson Street, regarding a vacant storefront. Joyner opened her boutique in an 800-square-foot space in 2011, and her clientele continued to grow.
“It blossomed at the end of 2015 like it never had before, and I knew it was time to expand,” Joyner said. “I have gone from the trunk to the storefront and want to thank the customers who have been with me since the beginning.”
Queen Esther’s Closet carries a variety of items, including handbags, jewelry and ladies’ apparel. The boutique offers Tre’ska, Zenzii, Nicole Lee USA and Punch Studio items and caters to the plus-sized woman.
“I have lost a hundred pounds, but I am still a plus-size girl at heart and know that it is an everyday struggle,” Joyner said.
Elected officials appreciate Joyner’s commitment to Farmville.
“It is a rare occasion to celebrate an expansion, which says you are doing something right, and I know you will be successful beyond this,” Farmville Mayor Bobby Evans said.
Judy Gidley, the director of the Farmville Chamber of Commerce, has been a frequent shopper at Queen Esther’s Closet for years and is thrilled at the boutique’s success.
“They have grown and have the most awesome items,” Gidley said. “We are blessed to have Wanda as a merchant in this beautiful location.” Read more: Reflector.com
Midland Area Chamber supports MISD tax rate hike
The Midland Chamber of Commerce’s annual meeting took place Wednesday at the Horseshoe Pavilion, an uncommon venue for the event.
“This is a nice place, but it sure will be great to get the Midland Center back because it’s just right across the street from my office,” federal Judge Robert Junell joked before leading the oath of office ceremony for the chamber’s new directors and new board chairman Taylor Mayne.
Midland’s downtown convention center is undergoing a $42.84 million reconstruction, with demolition set for November and construction expected to begin in February, according to Mayne’s keynote presentation offering an outlook on the chamber’s projects and goals.
Outgoing board chairman Cory Edmondson, who opened the keynote session with an updates presentation, said the chamber supports the upcoming tax ratification election, in which Midland ISD is seeking to raise the school tax rate from $1.04 per $100 valuation to $1.09. An election is necessary per state law for school tax rate increases above $1.04 per $100 valuation (for maintenance and operations). The district considers the tax rate increase a necessary step because it has a $50-plus million check to write to Austin this year.
MISD faces a $25 million deficit brought on through the “recapture” process mandated by the state’s so-called Robin Hood plan, where wealthier school districts must pay a certain amount of revenues back to the state for redistribution to poorer school districts.
Edmondson said the chamber is taking action to reverse recapture but also wants to see the school district get an increased tax rate. “If we don’t have an educated workforce, then you can’t compete as a business,” he told the crowd of businesspeople and elected officials. The Scharbauer Foundation recently committed $10 million to help mitigate the school district’s deficit.
Edmondson also said the chamber supports repurposing the type 4B sales tax, but Mayne said the chamber would only support the tax if the city presents a specific purpose for it. Type 4B is a quarter-cent sales tax that the city of Midland uses to pay off the construction debt of the Scharbauer Sports Complex. Voters approved 4B in 1999, and after refinancing, the earliest date the complex could have been paid off without penalty was March of this year. The city has opted to not pay off the complex, thus keeping the sales tax in place until, at least, the election to repurposing the tax, possibly in May 2017. Read more: Midland Daily News
Fish Creek Civic Association: Inside/Outside Sale is a Big Deal
The last weekend in September is a big deal in Fish Creek, Wisconsin. (Actually, it's a lot of big deals!) Merchants slash prices on everything from apparel to home accents, gifts, gadgets and everything in between. This makes for an exciting weekend of shopping at businesses throughout town.
Fish Creek's annual Inside/Outside Sale provides visitors with Door County's best shopping experience at unbeatable prices.
Shopping enthusiasts of all kinds are sure to find the treasure they have been waiting for among hundreds of business' indoor and outdoor sale displays.
The annual sale is sponsored by the Fish Creek Civic Association (FCCA), the nonprofit, member-driven organization dedicated to promoting a healthy business economy in the Town of Gibraltar. The Inside/Outside Sale not only provides visitors with a unique retail experience, but also gives the members of the association valuable exposure.
"Many visitors come to Door County specifically for this weekend." says local expert and Visitor Information Center manager Digger DeGroot. "All weekend thousands of people find excellent deals, many times at stores they have never been to, or never knew existed."
Fish Creek's numerous unique, individually-owned and operated retail stores form the nucleus of a retail experience rarely found in a small town. Named one of the state's "Best Small-Town Shopping Experiences Fish Creek's shopping culture is truly one-of-a-kind. Read more: Green Bay Press Gazette
Kentucky Chamber: The Bottom Line - New federal education law gives Kentucky rare opportunities, U.S. Sen. Alexander says
As Kentucky works to comply with a new federal education law that seeks to return power over testing and accountability back to the states, U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tennessee) came to Kentucky to describe the opportunities for state-level education that come with the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA).
In his testimony to the Interim Joint Committee on Education meeting Monday, Alexander said ESSA presents rare opportunities for Kentucky and other states including the ability for Kentuckians to come up with a plan on how they spend the education dollars the state receives from the federal government.
Alexander, one of the key architects of the new law, noted that ESSA maintains the federally required testing from 3rd-11th grades but returns the power of how those tests are used back to the state. The law, he said, also allows states to come up with their own plan for how they decide which schools have the most need and how they can be addressed.
In seeking to comply with the new education law, Kentucky Education Commissioner Stephen Pruitt has put together an accountability task force of experts from many different fields — including the business community — to come up with an accountability model.
In an interview with The Bottom Line, Alexander said that is the correct approach to take.
“I think Commissioner Pruitt is doing exactly the right thing. Instead of going out and saying ‘we are going to go out and do it exactly the way I want to do it, he is asking the teachers and the school board members what they think,” Alexander said. “You might get some good advice. And second, they are more likely to do it if the result is something they have some participation in.”
Alexander continued to say that he believes Kentucky is off to a good start and stated he had a meeting with Gov. Matt Bevin on Monday to discuss education.
“Had a good visit with the governor today, he is very interested, he knows it’s his top priority. So if you have a governor, and Senator Stivers and Representative Graham, Senator Wilson, so many different people of different parties are working together, you’re likely to get a good result,” Alexander said.
In the committee meeting, Alexander suggested that Kentucky go ahead and get its plan together and submit it to the federal government by March of next year and get the ball rolling on a new system.
In terms of what role the U.S. Department of Education could play in this process, Alexander discussed the potential regulations the department has proposed, of which he says he has concerns and is working with the department and president to get them in line with the new law. Read more: Lane Report
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Friday: 157 Rules for Executive Success in Organization Management (and your Chamber of Commerce) by Patrick McGaughey
RULE
#29 Condense executive presentations
at board meetings.
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