YGM Total Resource Campaigns

Spooky suggestions for your Chamber this Halloween

October 17 2019 admin Blog, Chambers 0 comments

It’s finally Fall, y’all. It’s the time of pumpkin spice everything and jackets and Halloween decorations. It’s also the perfect time to start planning how to make the scary (or not-so-scary) holiday work for you and your Chamber.

We have two ideas to share with you, one which focuses on your volunteers and one which focuses on your community. Use either – or both – and share your stories with us on our Facebook page. We love to see how you are making things work in your chambers.

Halloween Volunteer Appreciation

This is an easy one. Whether you are in the midst of a TRC right now or not, it’s important to let your volunteers know you appreciate them. If you have a bakery in town that is a Chamber member, order Halloween (or Fall) themed cookies from them and ask that the cookies be individually wrapped.

Have stickers made with fun sayings such as “Our community is Boo-tiful because of you.” Have your staff deliver the treats to your volunteers on Halloween. When possible, have your staff take selfies with your volunteers at their places of employment and post those on your social media, tagging both the business and volunteer.

Community Fair

If your chamber building is large enough, consider hosting a Community Fair on Halloween evening to provide a safe, secure place for children in your area to trick or treat. Offer member businesses the opportunity to set up booths and give away candy and/or promotional items.

See if there is a business in town that would donate a larger item to raffle. Have a popcorn or cotton candy machine and have fun with it. Pull out all the stops with your decorations – go spooky or fun. Give prizes for the best costumes.

Play!

Whatever you do, don’t forget to have fun. Tap into that childlike enthusiasm for the holiday and make it special for everyone. And be sure to share with us what you decide to do. We want to hear your stories and see your photos.

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60 (actually 45) sponsorship ideas for your Chamber

July 26 2019 admin Blog, Chambers, Sponsor development, TRC, Uncategorized, YGM 0 comments

We hope all of you who attended the ACCE annual convention were at the 60 Sponsorship Ideas in 60 Minutes session we sponsored. I know it’s likely been a whirlwind since you returned home, so we’ve gathered together a list of the ideas that were presented at the session. As always, take the ones of these that best fit your chamber and tweak them to make them your own. We’d love to hear how you integrate these ideas.

Pints & Porters – This was held at a local brewery and was geared toward small businesses.
Digital Billboards – Purchase a board and create a co-op for small businesses to share.
Sponsorship Book – Combine all sponsorship opportunities into a bound book.
Podcast – Feature a live podcast at your CEO Summit. If you have a regular podcasts, offer those as sponsorable opportunities.
Lip-sync video – Write a song about your Chamber/community & have sponsors pay to appear in and sponsor 6-8 seconds of the video.
Office Collaborative Workspace – Many of you may already sell sponsorships of your boardrooms or office spaces, but offer your larger spaces as collaborative workspaces for longer periods (think 3-5 years). The business that purchases the sponsorship also receives complementary rentals of the room.
Collaborations with local restaurants – Have local restaurants host your New Member Orientations each month.
Create a retail shopping card – Encourage the community to shop local.
Holiday Open House – Invite your local caterers and small business owners to supply the holiday open house. It is a great way to show off their skills.
Mayor Calls – Work with the mayor, city manager, and Chamber representatives to visit community business leaders each week to discuss concerns and needs of small businesses.
Create new levels – Consider your existing events such as a golf tournament and review the sponsorship levels. Are there ways to change them or update them?
Roast and Toast – As the outgoing Board chair prepares to leave, plan a roast for him or her.
Sponsorship Book Ad – Sell ads for your annual sponsorship book.
Highlight Small Businesses – Create a sponsorship level (for all events) just for businesses with 10 employees or less.
Raffle Tickets – Sell raffle tickets for businesses to have the opportunity to be the spotlight sponsor of a community night at a local sporting event.
Flash Drives – Instead of making paper new member packets, put all of the necessary documents on a flash drive and sell branding rights for the flash drives.
Windshield Bus Patrol – Highlight your community to residents.
Surprise Patrol – Purchase small treats and deliver them to local businesses. Video the deliveries and post them on social media.
Back to School Buzz – If there is a business that expresses that they are having difficulty, ask how you can help. For example: a craft brewery was having trouble getting the community to visit them more often, so the chamber sponsored a school supply drive. It brought people to the brewery and benefited those in need.
5K – Be sure to share the charity which receives the proceeds on social media.
Non-profit Business After Hours – Once a quarter, focus your After Hours on local non-profits. Let them tell about the work they do in the community.
Sponsorship Bundles – Offer a discount to those businesses which purchase several sponsorships.
Chamber Casual Friday – Local businesses have the option of purchasing a Friday during the year for $100 and providing branded tee shirts for the chamber staff to wear on that day. It allows for chamber staff to have a casual day & for businesses to have additional exposure.
Fancy “Potty” Sponsor – Take photos of your chamber staff and leadership according to your annual meeting theme and post them in the bathrooms. Don’t post the same photos in each bathroom. Have all of the photos sponsored.
Federal Opportunity Zone Education event – Tap into what is important in your area and help explain it to those in your community.
Community Table – Bring your community together to share a meal and ideas.
Restaurant Week – Highlight the restaurants in your area.
YP Awards Video Program – Consider how the videos could market by the awards and the businesses.
Christmas Parade – If your chamber has the capabilities, consider streaming the parade or having it broadcast.
Banner Display – Create a logo banner and display it prominently in the chamber window.
Report Card – Repackage your reports and distribute with a sponsor logo
Digital Signboards – Co-brand with the chamber and a sponsor business
Embrace the Unexpected – Ask member businesses for bids and quotes. You might be surprised when one offers to sponsor the job.
Networking – Offer networking opportunities and panel discussions for non-profits which might not have those opportunities as often as more traditional businesses.
When Pigs Fly – Purchase small, plastic squeaker pigs that can be used in driving competitions for golf tournaments.
Women’s Conference – Remember to tell your potential sponsors and vendors that women have tremendous purchasing power.
Thank You – If you send Thank You mentions to people after events, offer sponsorship of the cards/notes.
Pulse on Policy – Focus on advocacy sponsorship.
Social Media Sponsorship – Sell the sponsorship of social media during each event. Consider unique hashtags.
Business Expo – Consider having tailgate sponsors at each end of the expo.
Themed Annual Meetings
Valet Sponsor – Sponsor the valet stations at your events
Coat Check Sponsors at signature events
Parking Sponsor – In addition, consider branded air fresheners from the sponsors.
Valet Sponsor for Business Expo – Assist vendors in bringing in and removing their booth materials.

I hope you are able to glean some helpful options from these ideas.

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What’s Your Perception?

June 30 2019 admin TRC, Uncategorized, YGM 0 comments

Perception.

So much of the way each of our lives are arranged is based upon perception – our perception of the world around us, our perception of ourselves, the perception of the people around us.

Perception, though, is not always reality. That’s why you rarely see the ‘real life’ of anyone through the photos on Facebook and Instagram. Take a moment… how often do you see a photo of someone not looking his or her best?

Recently, I was in a hotel and took the photo above depicting a beautiful, tranquil view of a stunning sunset. The actual photo is below – see all the bird poop out there? Did I utilize the balcony? No. But I easily could have edited this photo to make it seem like the photo I described above.

When my social media contacts saw the photos, they would have seen what I wanted them to see. Their perception of the photo would have created a new reality of the scene.

Your business members are no different from my social media contacts. They have perceptions of your Chamber and the value your Chamber provides to their businesses.

When you think of your sponsorships, think of the perceived value of them, not the actual value. Think of it another way… consider the perception of your sponsorship, not the actual cost of the sponsorship.

For a majority of your sponsorships, the perceived value of your top-level sponsorships should be much higher in the value of deliverable benefits.

In contrast, the sponsorship for the table decorations at the annual meeting will likely not sell for what it costs you to purchase the centerpieces. The perceived value on this particular sponsorship is simply much lower than others.

Does that mean you don’t offer that as a sponsorship? Of course not! You’re just going to price it with the sponsor in mind. The flowers might cost you $2,500. Your sponsorship will probably only be priced at $500… perception is at play here.

Chambers often over-give benefits to validate the cost of a sponsorship when what they need to do is properly evaluate the perceived value. You’ll go bankrupt trying to “make the sponsorship worth the cost.” Instead, do an honest evaluation of what the perception of the sponsorship really is and base both the level and the price on that.

Perceived value is the tactic businesses use to price their goods, products, and services. Supply and demand are influenced by perceived value. Starting pricing your Chamber’s goods with perceived value in mind.

When you begin pricing sponsorships with perceived value in mind, you’ll begin to serve your Chamber better.

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Earth Day Community Opportunities

April 04 2019 admin Uncategorized 0 comments

We are always thinking about ways that our clients can make a difference for their members and their communities. We love it when we have ideas that allow chambers to do both at once.

Earth Day on April 22 allows chambers so many opportunities to think creatively about ways to bring members and communities together for the betterment of the planet. It’s really a win-win for everyone.

One of the easiest ways for chambers to get involved with Earth Day is to sponsor a Shred Day. So many businesses – especially small businesses – only have access to small, personal-type shredders. If your chamber office doesn’t already have or lease a large, industrial shredder, rent one for the day or the week and advertise the event.

Have all of your members bring in their shredding and allow them to have it done for free. Take photos and promote your member businesses on your social media platforms with Earth Day hashtags.

This is also a good opportunity to work with local ‘big box’ businesses in town. Consider partnering with a shredding company by having them bring their industrial shredder to your location for use during your shred day. Or work with a business such as Best Buy to hold an e-recycle day to recycle used electronics such as fax machines or older electronics local businesses no longer use in their daily activities.

Buy either seeds or small sapplings (depending on the size of your chamber and your budget). Invite your member businesses to send a representative to your offices to pick up either packs of seeds or a small tree/plant and take it back to their office area and plant it. Reforestation can take many forms, and adding plants on Earth Day is a wonderful way to start. Encourage them to take photos of their staff doing the planting and watering and to post those on their social media and to take your chamber with your chosen Earth Day hashtags.

Clean-up Days are great ways to get people together and having fun while also accomplishing a lot for a community. Select areas of your community that need a bit of refreshing and ask member businesses to allow employees to volunteer a few hours on Earth Day to clean up those areas. Have chamber reps drop by those areas with snacks and drinks for volunteers. As always… photos and hashtags!

With all of these ideas, as you share photos on social media, include statistics about Earth Day and why caring for our environment matters. Be sure to tag your member businesses and the individuals in your posts. They and their friends will see and share the posts, thus increasing your visibility.

With just a little planning, you can take Earth Day and make it special for your members and your community. And help the earth in the process!

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Support Your Local Teachers

May 04 2018 admin Blog, Chambers 0 comments

One of my greatest joys in working with YGM clients is the sheer joy and “aha” moments from chamber executives when I’m able to share new, innovative programs and events with them. The brainstorming sessions of sponsorship inventory are some of my most enjoyable moments with Chambers.

Some new sponsorship opportunities are discovered in the Chamber’s current program of work. Looking at the same inventory in a different way allows Chambers to increase sponsorships on events they’ve been conducting for years. But, some chambers want more. They desire to know what’s working for other communities and how they can see a similar program or initiative enacted in their community.

A couple of years ago, Senior Vice President of ACCE Chris Mead asked me to share national sponsorship trends at the annual conference. One of the trends was that education programs, initiatives, and events was on the rise. The same is true today.

As we prepare for Teacher Appreciation Week (May 7-11) next week, I am sharing three innovative programs YGM has found across the nation. We’ll review them in order of the least amount of planning and preparation to the most.

Teacher Appreciation Cookies

Who doesn’t love a little something sweet in the middle of the day? Grimes (IA) Chamber of Commerce has been delivering cookies and coffee to each of their local schools for a number of years.

But, these are not just ordinary cookies; they are decorated with the logo of sponsoring businesses. Due to sponsorship levels created in their 2017 inaugural TRC, Grimes Chamber was able to increase revenue by several thousand dollars.

Educator Appreciation Expo

While attending a breakout session during the Carolinas Association of Chamber of Commerce Executives conference in 2017, I learned of this spectacular option to reinvigorate a Chamber’s Business Expo.

A Chamber had restructured their annual business-to-business expo into an expo specifically designed to market to educators. Held during the educators’ orientation week prior to the first day of school, local chamber members who provide an educator discount and/or services which would appeal to educators gather to market to educators.

The Chamber has partnered with the school district and superintendent to make sure this event is part of the orientation agenda, thus solidifying the attendance of most district educators. Chamber members are providing extremely positive feedback regarding the target market they are able to reach now as compared to the generic business expo.

After initial research, we found that a number of other chambers across the nation have created the same model.

Educator Externship Program

Springfield (MO) Chamber of Commerce shared this program with me as we were developing their inaugural TRC a couple of years ago. Each summer, teachers are offered a PAID externship program. The Teacher Externship Program aims to connect business and education allowing teachers to better prepares their students for ever-changing workforce needs.

Teachers spend a week learning about the business world and workplace outside of the classroom by attending an orientation day and industry field trip, spending three days in a local business, and then coming back together for a day of strategic planning.

Teacher participants report an enhanced learning of skill sets and common business practices while being able to impart first-hand knowledge of the corporate world to their students. These newly acquired lessons are received favorably as most educators are typically in the education field all their life.

Hopefully, any or all of these programs have gotten your creative juices following. As with any sponsorship question, feel free to reach out to us if you would like more information on any of these programs or contact information of the Chambers implementing them.

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Give Motivated Volunteers a Chance

April 12 2018 admin Blog, Chambers, TRC, Volunteers 0 comments Tags: total resource campaign, TRC, volunteers

Do your Vice Chairs or Team Captains ever ask what type of people make the best volunteers?

As expected, we have tips of all sorts, but sometimes the best tip is to remind your Vice Chairs and Team Captains that anyone with a wide range of business contacts can succeed in a Total Resource Campaign. Never discount someone’s motives or professional drive.

One of my favorite volunteer stories comes from a top performer who surprised everyone with her success. She was not recruited by anyone to be on a team, in fact. She volunteered. She requested that her boss, the TRC Chair, assign her to a team.

As we were doing our wrap up sessions, we asked this volunteer why she wanted to be a part of the TRC. With no hesitation she said, “I was pissed.”

After the group stopped laughing, I asked her to explain.

“I was pissed because no one asked me to join a team. I am the executive assistant to the CEO of one of the largest companies in town, but no one saw me as capable,” she explained. “And I wanted the opportunity to prove them wrong.”

Prove them wrong is exactly what she did. Each week, she was one of the top three performers in the TRC.

She took the knowledge she had gained of the business community through her job and systematically paired businesses with sponsorships that would work well for them. She was highlighting how the sponsorships were going to benefit both the Chamber and the business and, in the process, she was strengthening her own personal business contacts.

At the first few Rally Sessions, you could hear people asking about her and how she was doing so well. By the third or fourth, everyone knew she was one of the ones to emulate.

She proved to her boss and to the others who passed her by initially that she was more than capable. She showed that Vice Chairs and Team Captains need to be relentless in their search of people who have a vast business contact base… that employees can make the TRC work for them… that they can be a success in the TRC with the right mindset.

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Who is the Best TRC Chair for your Campaign?

March 21 2018 admin Uncategorized, Volunteers, YGM 0 comments Tags: chair, total resource campaign, TRC, volunteers

If you have ever conducted a Total Resource Campaign, you know that in many ways, they become synonymous with their chairs. When I begin to discuss a TRC with a Chamber and to strategize for it, thinking of who would be an ideal chair is one of the first things we bring into focus.

As with most things in a TRC, there is no cookie cutter answer to the question,

“Who would be a good Chair?”

You have to consider various factors. And you have to consider them every single year. A TRC is ever-changing, and if you want it to be ever-successful, you have to change with it. Let’s look at some of the factors you should consider when selecting the individual to lead your campaign and to serve as the public face of the endeavor.

This person should be high-profile in the community. You want people in your community talking about the TRC. Having a CEO or influential business leader whom people know and respect will stir conversations and get that chatter about the TRC going. It will also lend instant credibility to the Campaign simply because of the character of the chair.

This person should have enough contacts in the community to be able to easily select a team of vice chairs or team captains. Your chair will need to have a broad reach of contacts within the community so that he or she can select additional campaign leaders from a variety of business communities. The greater the reach the campaign has, the more successful it will be. Be sure to encourage new chairs each year. Going to the same people each year will yield the same results each year. Growth is always the goal.

Ideally, your chair will come from a business which will be able to field a volunteer team in the TRC. A potential chair who cannot bring a full team of volunteers suggests to me that this individual does not have enough personal business contacts of his or her own to successfully lead a TRC. Consider the sphere of influence.

Is this your first TRC or your third? If you are on your third or fourth annual campaign, you may notice a stagnation in your volunteers and in your success if you aren’t shaking things up. If all of your volunteers stay the same from year to year, and if you simply move a Vice Chair to Chair each year, you aren’t injecting the Campaign with new blood. Thus, no new businesses will be reached, and no growth will be achieved.

A Chamber I have worked with for years came to me as they were beginning their 4th year campaign. The staff leadership approached me with the idea of asking the CEO of a construction company, someone who had never been involved in the campaign.

I pointed out that this individual had been involved as he and his company had purchased multiple sponsorships in many of their prior TRCs and had been quite supportive of their endeavors. He also had the potential to open doors to both volunteers and sponsors in a variety of new businesses that this chamber had not tapped previously.

As I listed the array of potential businesses that might become sponsors, members, and volunteers because of the involvement of this one individual – who did meet the above criteria – the staff quickly became excited about their own idea.

Look beyond the pool of volunteers and executives you work with already. Don’t be afraid to shake things up. Without new voices, there cannot be new growth.

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Don’t forget to show the love to your volunteers this Valentine’s Day

February 12 2018 admin People, TRC, Volunteers, YGM 0 comments

As I spent some time this weekend thinking about Valentine’s Day, I was reminded of a post I wrote a couple years ago about showing love for our volunteers – at Valentine’s and throughout the years.

When I went back and read the post again, I found that all of the tips I gave still hold true. Volunteers are the backbone of a Total Resource Campaign (TRC) and, really, of any good endeavor.

I do have a few new ideas that I would like to share with you.

Sometimes we roll our eyes at suggestions and ideas that we deem “cheesy” or “corny,” but those are often the simplest to execute and the best received ideas.

Today, run out to a local market and buy a box of Valentine cards – you know the ones… you have likely purchased them for your children. Buy a box or two – or 10 – and think of the volunteers to whom you would like to send an unexpected surprise.

Sign the cards “We love our TRC Volunteers,” or “We love what you do for our TRC,” or “We love the support you give our Chamber.” Customize it for your volunteers. Add a piece or a tiny bag of Valentine candy & you have a wonderful surprise. Spend tomorrow and Wednesday dropping these gifts off at their offices around town. Without a doubt you will start to see little thank yous start to show up on social media from grateful volunteers.

Speaking of social media, don’t forget to use these handy tools. You should have gotten your volunteers’ social media information and can post photos and congrats/words of appreciate on your social media, linking to each volunteer’s personal accounts. Everyone enjoys kind words of appreciation and recognition. Feature not just your campaign’s top three producers but all of those volunteers who make your chamber’s events and programs special.

While Valentine’s Day is an easy tie-in to sharing some love for your volunteers, don’t stop there. The very best TRCs are done by organizations that support and encourage their volunteers throughout the year. Diane Poole of the Trussville (Ala.) Area Chamber of Commerce sent sparklers to their volunteers on the 4th of July with notes saying, “You make us sparkle and shine! Thanks for all you do for the Chamber and our TRC!”

With volunteers and TRCs, little things mean a lot. The work done throughout the year can pay big dividends during the TRC itself.

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It’s never too late to keep your resolutions

February 07 2018 admin Blog, TRC, YGM 0 comments

It’s now early February, and we are well into 2018.

When you and your staff began planning 2018 last year, did you approach it with a wish list of desired accomplishments? Did you and your Board conduct strategic planning meetings and lay out a plan for what you hoped 2018 would bring?

Now that January has concluded and we are a week in February, do some of those goals and plans feel more like New Year’s resolutions than actual goals – excellent ideas but difficult to set into motion?

Like resolutions, goals should always be approached with the mindset that it is never too late to start over… or to simply start.

When you and your staff and your Board began to make your goals for 2018, was a Total Resource Campaign (TRC) on your list? Was adding more members, improving your volunteer base, finding innovative programs, or improving attendance at current events on your list?

A TRC is not simply about the end results of financial stability, though that is certainly nice. A TRC provides more than just financial resources for your organization.
• A TRC engages more members than ever before into your program of work.
• A TRC draws more new volunteers into your organization.
• A TRC creates a grassroots marketing campaign for your organization in your community.

Despite all of these benefits, one of the best advantages of a TRC is that it serves as a strategic planning tool and an organizational checklist for you and your organization as you plan for your campaign. While laying the ground work for your campaign, you have the opportunity to take a hard look at your organization and see your strengths and to see places where improvements can be made.

Before the campaign ever begins its public phase, the detailed work of strategically reviewing your organization’s events, programs and possibilities begins. It is during this time that you can begin to see new opportunities and can also begin to see places where changes can be made. Growth is often experienced during this planning phase.

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Get Creative with your Team Motivation

December 20 2017 admin Blog, Chambers, TRC, Volunteers, YGM 0 comments Tags: total resource campaign, TRC, volunteers

We talk a lot about how important it is to motivate our volunteers, both during the Total Resource Campaign and following the campaign. But it can be challenging to find ways to motivate those volunteers. Finding creative ways can be even more challenging.

Even if it sounds cheesy – or worse, lazy – take the opportunity to use obvious things and holidays around you. People love cheesy, and it makes for great entertainment and motivation.

At a recent Rally Session at the Ozark Chamber, the keynote speaker was Harold Phillips of Ozark Bank. He presented the following poem to the group. (Many thanks to Mr. Phillips for allowing us to use his creation.)

An Adaptation of the Night Before Christmas

By Clement C. Moore

Twas the month before Christmas and all through the town
You could hear the teams stirring both uphill and down
The goals had been set and summed up with great care
The Total Resource Campaign finally was there

The teams had been chosen with captains as heads
With visions and strategies their teams they led
Some days they wore kerchiefs and sometimes a cap
They talked TRC and they’re closing the gap

For out on the street you can hear all the clatter
The Chamber is working for those things that matter
They found business sponsors for trade goods or cash
They all hit the streets and it spread like a flash

Their message was fresh as the new fallen snow
Did their work for the Chamber they’re still on the go
And what are they selling? You ask without fear
They’re selling the future for those who live here

They were cheered by their leader in high heels and britches
You all know her name yes she’s Andrea Sitzes
More rapid than eagles these coursers they came
If you’ll give me a second, I’ll tell you each name

There is an Angel and Griffin, Jadonna and Abbye
Tenye and Lisa, Amanda and Cathi
Heather, Joy, Jenna, Mike, Lisa, and Jane,
Melanie, Cindy, Michaela, and Shane,
Marrhya and Joshua, Stacy and John
Sometimes it seems lists of names just go on

To the top of the list to the top of the Wall!
You’re doing great work said Campaign Chair Jane Paul

And then in a twinkling I heard their successes
The way that they work – well it really impresses
So out to each business those coursers they flew
With sponsorships, spotlights and vendor booths too

Their eyes how they twinkled their voices how merry
The work that they’re doing is great! Oh yes very!
They’re wrapping the Resource Campaign in a week
And just let me say their performance is sleek!

If that jolly old elf who each year in December
Were standing here now he would say please remember
With a wink of his eye and a “Twist” of his head
He would tell you that you have not one thing to dread

For the teams sprang to action and took to their work
They are getting so close to the goal! Go berserk!
Then laying his finger aside of his nose
Watch the total he’d say and see how high it goes

Then he’d spring to his sleigh to his team give a whistle
And away they would fly like the down of a thistle
You would hear him exclaim as he drove out of sight
Total Resource Campaigns a success! Now Good Night!

Be creative with your volunteers. Motivate them. Appreciate them.

Merry Christmas from YGM.

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