#BestChamber practices: Skokie Chamber: Multi-Chamber Networking Program
Speed Networking Events offer you a wonderful opportunity to meet many people form other chambers of Commerce in quick succession. But sometimes they can be overwhelming. In order for these events to be successful, for you, follow the rules, follow the script and be concise without going over your three minute limit per person. Thank you and happy networking!
How this works… (6 to 10 People at each table)
1. Each person has a name tag with their table rotation listed.
2. We have tried to separate you so industries are not duplicated at each table, however due to the numbers present at today’s function, please understand if there is an occasional duplication. - Remember in the chamber world, we are all colleagues, not competitors.
3. The moderator will announce each rotation, please proceed to the table number printed on your name tag.
4. Once at your table, assign a time keeper.
5. Each participant will have three minutes to introduce themselves. We have provided a script for your convenience. You do not need a script if it does not reflect the needs of you or your company.
6. The moderator will give a five minute warning before each table rotation.
7. There will be a five minute passing period in between each rotation
8. There will be (X) table rotations for today’s program (Three table rotations would be a good meeting’s worth.)
9. Please feel free to stay at the conclusion of the speed networking program so you can continue to make conections!
Introductions
Your Name
Name of Your Company
What is Your Position With Your Company
What Does Your Company Do…
What makes You or Your Company Unique
You Should Do Business With Me Because…
Chamber Member (X) Recommends Me
A Good Business Lead For Me Is…
More information: Skokie Chamber
U.S. Chamber Small
Business of Year Award Finalists
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, in collaboration with MetLife, is pleased to announce the finalists of the 2017 Dream Big Small Business of the Year Awards program. Awards finalists have been selected for the Dream Big Small Business of the Year Award and Business Achievement Award categories.
This year's finalists for the Dream Big Small Business of the Year Awards program include...
Small Business of Year
Award Finalists
- 3
Daughters Brewing – St. Petersburg, FL
- Beau
and Belle Littles – Loveland, CO
- Brandhoot
– Rochester, MN
- Charter
School Business Management – New York, NY
- Cope
Company Salt – Lancaster, PA
- DHD
Films – Dallas, TX
- Ecolink,
Inc. – Tucker, GA
- GCC
Technologies – Oakland, MD
- Golden
Openings, Inc. – Urbandale, HI
- Mid-Atlantic
Maritime Academy – Norfolk, VA
- Nightlight
Pediatric Urgent Care – Sugarland, TX
- ProjectXYZ,
Inc. – Huntsville, AL
- Sage
Restoration – Overland Park, KS
- Tar
Heel Basement Systems – Winston-Salem, NC
- TerraCycle,
Inc. – Trenton, NJ
- Valsatech
Corporation – Ellicott, MD
- Xylo
Technologies – Rochester, MN
Award winners will be
announced at the Dream Big Awards Celebration on Tuesday, September 12
in Washington, D.C. as part of the 2017 Small Business Summit.
The awards celebration will take place at the Omni Shoreham Hotel. In addition
to the awards presentation, the evening will feature dinner, live
entertainment, and dancing.
#FamousChamber of Commerce Quotation: (Know the GOAL!)
From Alice in Wonderland
“Alice: "Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?"
The Cheshire Cat: "That depends a good deal on where you want to get to."
Alice: "I don't much care where."
The Cheshire Cat: "Then it doesn't much matter which way you go."
Birmingham Bloomfield 2016-2017 Membership Directory and Community Resource Guide
The Birmingham-Bloomfield 2016-2017 Membership Directory and Community Resource Guide is available at the Birmingham-Bloomfield Chamber of Commerce today! Thank you to Joe Bauman and the Chamber team for their help and direction putting this together!
Town Square Publications (www.townsquarepublications.com) can help you accomplish your chamber's gloss map, directory, community profile or publication needs at no expense to the chamber. Please email John Dussman at jdussman@tspubs.com or call (847)-427-4633.
Saginaw County Chamber partnership: House Action Creates Vital Job Attraction Tool for Large-Scale Projects in Communities Across the State
Helps grow good-paying jobs now; ensures Michigan isn’t left on the sidelines
The Saginaw County Chamber of Commerce, Saginaw Future Inc, and the Great Lakes Bay Regional Alliance were part of the Good Jobs for Michigan Coalition working to pass legislation critical for attracting new businesses or for existing companies with large scale expansions and job creation in Michigan.
The bipartisan bills, called Good Jobs for Michigan legislative package passed the Michigan House and now awaits a signature by Governor Rick Snyder, who supported this common sense, transparent bill package.
Bob VanDeventer, President and CEO of the Saginaw County Chamber of Commerce expressed his thanks to the Michigan Legislature, especially several members of the Great Lakes Bay Regional Legislative Delegation which include Senators Jim Stamas, who was a bill sponsor and Senator Ken Horn as well as Representatives Vanessa Guerra, Ben Frederick and Brian Elder, who were strong drivers of the bill package.
“The Saginaw County Chamber of Commerce was hard at work advocating for this bill package in order to put Michigan on a more even playing field with surrounding states in terms of business attraction. We have a competitive tax policy, fresh water and great work force. This legislation just provides a stronger business case for choosing Michigan.”
JoAnn Crary, President and CEO of Saginaw Future Inc. issued the following statement.
"On behalf of the economic development leaders and the diverse 65+ local, regional and statewide community, business and labor organizations comprising the Good Jobs for Michigan Coalition, we thank the Michigan House of Representatives today for passing this crucial economic development tool to attract thousands of good-paying jobs to our regions and state,” Crary said.
Both Crary and VanDeventer also thanked the Senate for their leadership in sponsoring the package, Senate concurrence, and the Governor signing the bills into law and implementing this tool that ensures Michigan can compete and build a strong economy that works for current and future generations.
Matt Felan, President and CEO of the Great Lakes Bay Regional Alliance added that "The Great Lakes Bay Regional Alliance is committed to bringing jobs to our region. This legislation gives us a much needed tool to compete for and ultimately win projects for the Great Lakes Bay Region."
For Additional Information Contact: Veronica Horn, Senior Director Government Affairs
989-450-4750 - veronica@saginawchamber.org
Hilton Head-Bluffton Chamber awarded for membership retention
The City of Hobart Celebrates Independence and Unity with Annual Independence Day Parade
The 4th of July is no doubt the largest celebration that is observed nationwide, but for the City of Hobart, the Independence Day Parade is an event that holds special importance that is a year in the making. Each year the parade carries a different theme and this year, “America the Beautiful” was displayed proudly.
“We start planning for this parade in February,” said Lisa Winstead, Executive Director of the Hobart Chamber of Commerce. “It’s a huge group effort from the city, the city special events, the police station and the fire station and our military groups. They are all involved in planning the parade.”
The parade requires extensive planning which the Hobart Chamber of Commerce, along with dedicated volunteers, take part in to ensure the each year’s parade is greater than the last. But this year, a sense of unity and pride was expressed through the strong military presence that was seen at the parade.
“Our Grand Marshal is a WWII veteran that has done so much to make America beautiful,” said Winstead. “You will notice also that we have a strong military presence this year.”
Military men and women walked side by side carrying the American flag as crowds on either side of the street cheered, and expressed their gratitude for their service. As important as the parade is to the City of Hobart, it is a community event that brings people from all over Northwest Indiana- even the country- together to celebrate the nation’s birthday. Read more: Portage Life
Senator Tim Kaine (D-Va) spoke on his personal lessons in leadership to the Loudoun County Chamber of Commerce at the National Conference Center on Monday, addressing key policy issues like health care and national defense.
As the event opened, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce awarded Sen. Kaine the Spirit of Enterprise Award in recognition of his support for economic growth with a high rate of pro-business voting in Congress.
In his subsequent Lessons in Leadership address, Sen. Kaine emphasized that leadership centers around clear goals and leverage of relationships, noting that the nation requires clear goals for health care legislation and open deliberations to build relationships between parties and with the public.
“We’re being rushed in the Senate to have a vote on a bill with no hearings,” Sen. Kaine said. “The health committee that I sit on, when the Affordable Care Act was being debated in the Senate, had 50 hearings. Even though it was a partisan vote at the end of the day, there were 145 Republican amendments that were made and accepted to the bill before it was passed. If that wasn’t bipartisan enough, doing it with no hearings and no meaningful amendment process is certainly guaranteed to be sub-optimal.”
“I think the right thing to do, take this proposal, put it in the two relevant committees, Health and Finance, and let us have hearings and let us propose amendments,” he said later.
Kaine explained how the proposed Senate health care bill could threaten local health care and the economy.
“Local hospitals have a lot at stake,” Kaine said. “If we take that much money out of the Medicaid funds, it’s going to impact individuals a lot, but it’s also going to impact health care providers. And the health care sector is the largest sector of the American economy, and it is a very large sector right here in Loudoun.” Read more: Loudoun Times Mirror
Leadership Kenosha Accepting Applications for their 19th Year!
Exile to play at this year’s NIBROC Festival
The 2017 NIBROC Festival will open to the chart-topping sounds of legendary band Exile, and organizers say more announcements about musical entertainment for the festival can be expected in the near future.
Born in Richmond, KY in 1967, Exile has an impressive string of country and pop/rock hits — 17 top 20 hits on the country music charts (11 No. ones) and 15 songs that hit the pop/rock singles charts. The band’s most well known hit, “Kiss You All Over,” released in 1978, was a No. 1 single and sold over five million copies.
The band has released 17 albums, the first a self-titled effort in 1973. Exile’s most recent releases include a Christmas album from 2015 and a live performance from Franklin Theatre issued in 2014. Members J.P. Pennington and Les Taylor have also released solo albums.
“Exile features almost the entire original lineup of musicians and they never fail to deliver when it comes to their live performances,” said Bruce Carpenter, Executive Director of the Southern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce. The chamber plans the NIBROC Festival.
“I think this will be a great way to kick off our festival this year. We are proud to have Exile coming to perform at NIBROC.”
Exile got its “big break” in 1967 when they served as the opening and backing band for the popular “Dick Clark Caravan of Stars” show. The “American Idol” of its time, the exposure and experience they gained doing the 15 minute opening slot backing the likes of Freddy Cannon, Bryan Hyland and B. J. Thomas was wrapped in the package of great advice, dispensed by Clark himself. After several shows Clark recognized the potential and boiled it down to the primary essence.
Band member J.P. Pennington said it seems like yesterday Clark delivered his cogent career advice.
“We had just finished a blazing show and were beside ourselves. We thought we’d done about as good a job could be done when Dick came over and gathered us around him. He looked us all right in the eye and said, ‘boys, you aren’t out here to entertain yourselves; it’s about the people who bought the tickets. Never forget your audience.’”
It’s the band’s mantra to this day. Read more: News Journal
Tupelo Young Professionals mix and mingle
Tupelo’s Young Professionals crowded Mitchell Distributing in Shannon on Thursday.
Greeted by a band, the group mingled at the kick-off event for the program, put on by the Community Development Foundation.
Molly Lovorn, director of programs and member engagement for CDF, said the group is in place to help connect, develop and serve the young professionals of Tupelo.
“We revamped TYP to be more than a social club,” Lovorn said.
She said there will be six programs available this year including two service projects and potentially some pop-up events.
Lovorn said this was the second event like this for TYP.
“It’s about having that mentor, mentee mentality,” Lovorn said.
Josh Walker, a Texas Roadhouse managing partner, said his community is passionate about connecting with the community through events like this.
“I think community involvement is important all around,” Walker said.
His coworker and local store marketing specialist for Texas Roadhouse Austin Haynie, agreed the event is a good way to connect and learn about other young professionals.
“We deal with a lot of young people at our jobs,” Haynie said.
Marley Jamison, from Mississippi Radio Group, said the events help her build relationships with potential and existing clients. Read more: Daily Journal
Friday: 157 Rules for Executive Success in Organization Management (and your Chamber of Commerce) by Patrick McGaughey (Chamber Mentor)
#FamousChamber of Commerce Quotation: (Know the GOAL!)
From Alice in Wonderland
“Alice: "Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?"
The Cheshire Cat: "That depends a good deal on where you want to get to."
Alice: "I don't much care where."
The Cheshire Cat: "Then it doesn't much matter which way you go."
Birmingham Bloomfield 2016-2017 Membership Directory and Community Resource Guide
The Birmingham-Bloomfield 2016-2017 Membership Directory and Community Resource Guide is available at the Birmingham-Bloomfield Chamber of Commerce today! Thank you to Joe Bauman and the Chamber team for their help and direction putting this together!
Town Square Publications (www.townsquarepublications.com) can help you accomplish your chamber's gloss map, directory, community profile or publication needs at no expense to the chamber. Please email John Dussman at jdussman@tspubs.com or call (847)-427-4633.
Saginaw County Chamber partnership: House Action Creates Vital Job Attraction Tool for Large-Scale Projects in Communities Across the State
Helps grow good-paying jobs now; ensures Michigan isn’t left on the sidelines
The Saginaw County Chamber of Commerce, Saginaw Future Inc, and the Great Lakes Bay Regional Alliance were part of the Good Jobs for Michigan Coalition working to pass legislation critical for attracting new businesses or for existing companies with large scale expansions and job creation in Michigan.
The bipartisan bills, called Good Jobs for Michigan legislative package passed the Michigan House and now awaits a signature by Governor Rick Snyder, who supported this common sense, transparent bill package.
Bob VanDeventer, President and CEO of the Saginaw County Chamber of Commerce expressed his thanks to the Michigan Legislature, especially several members of the Great Lakes Bay Regional Legislative Delegation which include Senators Jim Stamas, who was a bill sponsor and Senator Ken Horn as well as Representatives Vanessa Guerra, Ben Frederick and Brian Elder, who were strong drivers of the bill package.
“The Saginaw County Chamber of Commerce was hard at work advocating for this bill package in order to put Michigan on a more even playing field with surrounding states in terms of business attraction. We have a competitive tax policy, fresh water and great work force. This legislation just provides a stronger business case for choosing Michigan.”
JoAnn Crary, President and CEO of Saginaw Future Inc. issued the following statement.
"On behalf of the economic development leaders and the diverse 65+ local, regional and statewide community, business and labor organizations comprising the Good Jobs for Michigan Coalition, we thank the Michigan House of Representatives today for passing this crucial economic development tool to attract thousands of good-paying jobs to our regions and state,” Crary said.
Both Crary and VanDeventer also thanked the Senate for their leadership in sponsoring the package, Senate concurrence, and the Governor signing the bills into law and implementing this tool that ensures Michigan can compete and build a strong economy that works for current and future generations.
Matt Felan, President and CEO of the Great Lakes Bay Regional Alliance added that "The Great Lakes Bay Regional Alliance is committed to bringing jobs to our region. This legislation gives us a much needed tool to compete for and ultimately win projects for the Great Lakes Bay Region."
For Additional Information Contact: Veronica Horn, Senior Director Government Affairs
989-450-4750 - veronica@saginawchamber.org
Hilton Head-Bluffton Chamber awarded for membership retention
The Hilton Head Island-Bluffton Chamber of Commerce has won Membership Achievement Awards from the Association of Chamber of Commerce Executives.
The chamber is among the top 10 in the country for its member retention and new member retention, ranked alongside metropolitan chambers such as the Georgia Chamber of Commerce, Louisville, Ky., Cincinnati, Ohio, and Omaha, Neb. Read more: Bluffton Today
The City of Hobart Celebrates Independence and Unity with Annual Independence Day Parade
The 4th of July is no doubt the largest celebration that is observed nationwide, but for the City of Hobart, the Independence Day Parade is an event that holds special importance that is a year in the making. Each year the parade carries a different theme and this year, “America the Beautiful” was displayed proudly.
“We start planning for this parade in February,” said Lisa Winstead, Executive Director of the Hobart Chamber of Commerce. “It’s a huge group effort from the city, the city special events, the police station and the fire station and our military groups. They are all involved in planning the parade.”
The parade requires extensive planning which the Hobart Chamber of Commerce, along with dedicated volunteers, take part in to ensure the each year’s parade is greater than the last. But this year, a sense of unity and pride was expressed through the strong military presence that was seen at the parade.
“Our Grand Marshal is a WWII veteran that has done so much to make America beautiful,” said Winstead. “You will notice also that we have a strong military presence this year.”
Military men and women walked side by side carrying the American flag as crowds on either side of the street cheered, and expressed their gratitude for their service. As important as the parade is to the City of Hobart, it is a community event that brings people from all over Northwest Indiana- even the country- together to celebrate the nation’s birthday. Read more: Portage Life
Senator Tim Kaine headlines Loudoun Chamber of Commerce event, highlights health care and defense spending
Senator Tim Kaine (D-Va) spoke on his personal lessons in leadership to the Loudoun County Chamber of Commerce at the National Conference Center on Monday, addressing key policy issues like health care and national defense.
As the event opened, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce awarded Sen. Kaine the Spirit of Enterprise Award in recognition of his support for economic growth with a high rate of pro-business voting in Congress.
In his subsequent Lessons in Leadership address, Sen. Kaine emphasized that leadership centers around clear goals and leverage of relationships, noting that the nation requires clear goals for health care legislation and open deliberations to build relationships between parties and with the public.
“We’re being rushed in the Senate to have a vote on a bill with no hearings,” Sen. Kaine said. “The health committee that I sit on, when the Affordable Care Act was being debated in the Senate, had 50 hearings. Even though it was a partisan vote at the end of the day, there were 145 Republican amendments that were made and accepted to the bill before it was passed. If that wasn’t bipartisan enough, doing it with no hearings and no meaningful amendment process is certainly guaranteed to be sub-optimal.”
“I think the right thing to do, take this proposal, put it in the two relevant committees, Health and Finance, and let us have hearings and let us propose amendments,” he said later.
Kaine explained how the proposed Senate health care bill could threaten local health care and the economy.
“Local hospitals have a lot at stake,” Kaine said. “If we take that much money out of the Medicaid funds, it’s going to impact individuals a lot, but it’s also going to impact health care providers. And the health care sector is the largest sector of the American economy, and it is a very large sector right here in Loudoun.” Read more: Loudoun Times Mirror
Leadership Kenosha Accepting Applications for their 19th Year!
Develop your greatest potential! Grow as a person, a leader, and as a strong role model for the greater Kenosha community!
Leadership Kenosha enhances the leadership skills of emerging and existing leaders and focuses on personal and interpersonal skills, team building, conflict management, and communication and presentation skills. The program addresses economic, social, educational, and governmental concerns, and provides a unique view of how the county works.
Learn how to cultivate positive change in our community. Join the 2017-18 Class and start making a difference! Visit our Leadership Kenosha page to download an application or learn more about the program. Read more: Kenosha Chamber
Exile to play at this year’s NIBROC Festival
The 2017 NIBROC Festival will open to the chart-topping sounds of legendary band Exile, and organizers say more announcements about musical entertainment for the festival can be expected in the near future.
Born in Richmond, KY in 1967, Exile has an impressive string of country and pop/rock hits — 17 top 20 hits on the country music charts (11 No. ones) and 15 songs that hit the pop/rock singles charts. The band’s most well known hit, “Kiss You All Over,” released in 1978, was a No. 1 single and sold over five million copies.
The band has released 17 albums, the first a self-titled effort in 1973. Exile’s most recent releases include a Christmas album from 2015 and a live performance from Franklin Theatre issued in 2014. Members J.P. Pennington and Les Taylor have also released solo albums.
“Exile features almost the entire original lineup of musicians and they never fail to deliver when it comes to their live performances,” said Bruce Carpenter, Executive Director of the Southern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce. The chamber plans the NIBROC Festival.
“I think this will be a great way to kick off our festival this year. We are proud to have Exile coming to perform at NIBROC.”
Exile got its “big break” in 1967 when they served as the opening and backing band for the popular “Dick Clark Caravan of Stars” show. The “American Idol” of its time, the exposure and experience they gained doing the 15 minute opening slot backing the likes of Freddy Cannon, Bryan Hyland and B. J. Thomas was wrapped in the package of great advice, dispensed by Clark himself. After several shows Clark recognized the potential and boiled it down to the primary essence.
Band member J.P. Pennington said it seems like yesterday Clark delivered his cogent career advice.
“We had just finished a blazing show and were beside ourselves. We thought we’d done about as good a job could be done when Dick came over and gathered us around him. He looked us all right in the eye and said, ‘boys, you aren’t out here to entertain yourselves; it’s about the people who bought the tickets. Never forget your audience.’”
It’s the band’s mantra to this day. Read more: News Journal
Tupelo Young Professionals mix and mingle
Tupelo’s Young Professionals crowded Mitchell Distributing in Shannon on Thursday.
Greeted by a band, the group mingled at the kick-off event for the program, put on by the Community Development Foundation.
Molly Lovorn, director of programs and member engagement for CDF, said the group is in place to help connect, develop and serve the young professionals of Tupelo.
“We revamped TYP to be more than a social club,” Lovorn said.
She said there will be six programs available this year including two service projects and potentially some pop-up events.
Lovorn said this was the second event like this for TYP.
“It’s about having that mentor, mentee mentality,” Lovorn said.
Josh Walker, a Texas Roadhouse managing partner, said his community is passionate about connecting with the community through events like this.
“I think community involvement is important all around,” Walker said.
His coworker and local store marketing specialist for Texas Roadhouse Austin Haynie, agreed the event is a good way to connect and learn about other young professionals.
“We deal with a lot of young people at our jobs,” Haynie said.
Marley Jamison, from Mississippi Radio Group, said the events help her build relationships with potential and existing clients. Read more: Daily Journal
Town Square Publications Chamber Membership Directories and Community Profiles: The best in the U.S.
Town Square Publications, a division of the Daily Herald Media Group, is a national chamber custom publishing group that specializes in developing partnerships by producing high-quality print and digitally integrated publications along with other added value programs dedicated to creating relevancy for local chambers of commerce and other membership focused organizations interested in raising non-dues revenues.
Town Square Publications parent company, Paddock Publications, has over 100 years’ experience of print product development and dedicated customer service in communities throughout the Midwest. Our experience allows Town Square Publications to offer you attractive royalty and non-dues revenue share streams, provide direct distribution of your custom designed printed publications, including digital and mobile integration, and all with the quickest turn-around times available in the industry. Town Square also offers multi-media maps in both print and online formats, both with our No-Cost guarantee. More information: Town Square Publications
Chambers of Commerce and member focused organizations serve as a valuable resource in the local marketplace. The networking opportunities and representation with a wide variety of diverse businesses in your community is the catalyst of a successful organization. For further information about Town Square's publishing partnership with chambers of commerce and our No-Cost guarantee and Earned Revenue Share Program, To request your chamber publication or map proposal, contact Town Square Chamber Proposal
Friday: 157 Rules for Executive Success in Organization Management (and your Chamber of Commerce) by Patrick McGaughey (Chamber Mentor)
RULE
#66 Price everything with today’s
utility rates.
