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The Best Engagement Plans Start Close to Home

February 07 2020 admin Blog 0 comments Tags: Engagement, TRC

If you have been involved in a Total Resource Campaign with YGM, then you know that we talk a lot about engagement.

Everyone in the chamber world (the business world in general) knows that we all work with and engage with a wide arrange of people and constituent groups. And while the benefits of this are great, the challenges can also sometimes be great.

I think about the following quote a lot when I think about how we interact with those constituent groups.

“It all came down to employee engagement. It all came down to recognition. It all came down to leadership, which led to every sailor feeling ownership and accountability for the results. You can ask a team to accomplish a mission but you can’t order excellence.” –Mike Abrashoff, Commander USS Benfold (retired)

Real engagement is necessary to be successful whether we are in a chamber or in a small business or in a megacorp. And in all of those places, that real engagement begins at home, with our own employees, our own team members.

At YGM, we like to think of ourselves as being on the same team because a team works together. We succeed together, and we pick one another up when we fail together. Much like Commander Abrashoff suggested, all of the sailors have a sense of ownership in the process and thus, give their very best.

We recently hired Michele Trice as YGM’s first Director of Engagement. She will be working directly with clients to assist them in engaging their volunteers, members, and communities in new and innovative ways.

I have known Michele personally and professionally for more than 20 years. Some of you may know her from YGM as she has worked with us some for years. She has a background in communications, both in corporate and non-profit environments.

As each of us think about our own environments, whether chamber or business, this quote speaks to what we need to focus on first.

“Engaged employees are in the game for the sake of the game; they believe in the cause of the organization.” – Paul Marciano, PhD

Michele has believed in YGM for years, and we are all going to benefit from her talents. Take a moment today to spend some time thinking about those in your organization who are really engaged. Do they believe in the mission of your cause? Are they fully engaged? Do you recognize them for that engagement?

As a leader, do you encourage them to have a sense of ownership in your organization? Are you a team?

If not, how do you change that? It’s an old adage, but it’s true – teamwork makes the dream work.

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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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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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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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After the Campaign

April 09 2016 admin Blog, Volunteers 0 comments Tags: sponsor development, TRC

Your Chamber staff and volunteers have completed your Total Resource Campaign (TRC) or sponsorship campaign and are pleased with the results. Thank you letters have been sent. Your upcoming year is looking good.

Now What?

After you’ve taken a moment to thank your staff for all of their hard work, you need to begin working on a new plan. This plan is far less rigid and organized than the plan you had for your TRC but in some ways, this plan is just as important.

You need a plan to follow up with your sponsor members throughout the year. You want to remind those businesses that they are valuable to you all the time, not just at TRC time. Those businesses and what they mean to the community are why you wanted them to sponsor through the TRC.

Following up with them throughout the year will reinforce that with them, so that next year when your volunteers ask them to sponsor again, they won’t feel like they are only important to you when you need a check.

How Do You Make that Happen?

In order to make your sponsors feel valued, you are going to want to use many of the same approaches you used to make your volunteers feel valued. After all, your sponsors are individuals within businesses, just like your volunteers. And making people feel valued is all about understanding people.

Here are a few tips to get you started.

Don’t Get Overwhelmed.

I’m not suggested you send each sponsor a card on his or her birthday – though if you do, good for you! – or make contact with each one every month.

Make a General Plan.

Do you want to recognize individuals and businesses who receive mention in your local newspaper, magazine or on tv? If a sponsor business receives an award, do you want to send an acknowledgement of that? Mention it on your social media platforms?

Decide at the beginning what you want to do so that as the year progresses, you already have a plan in place. This will save you lots of headaches down the line and will make the entire process easier.

Pick your Parties.

Who will be watching for the information you will need? Will all of your staff be on the lookout for news about sponsor businesses? If so, who will be the staffer that they will report that information to when it is discovered? Or will that responsibility rotate from one individual to another each month? Who will be responsible for posting the information on your Chamber website or for posting it in your newsletter? Again, deciding this early will make things easier later.

Go old school.

Just like with your volunteers, sometimes it’s best to just pick up the telephone and call someone. There is something really wonderful about hearing a friendly voice on the other end of the line. And if that voice is calling to say “congratulations!” it is even better.

Make a Connection.

Just like with your volunteers, you have to connect with your sponsor businesses. Treat them well throughout the year so that they know they are important to you not just for the sponsorship dollars they bring to the table.

If you can do that and do it well, those members will not only continue to sponsor for years to come but they will increase their sponsorships and will encourage other businesses to sponsor as well.

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