HAPPY NEW YEAR!
As I look back on 2019 I can say that it has been an amazing year here at both the Chamber and the Visitor Center. It seemed overwhelming at times, having lost our executive director in the Fall of 2018, but we persevered with a lot of help and will continue to seek balance between what we would
like to accomplish and what may be more realistic as we move forward.
Having said this, I would like to thank all those in our community and beyond who have come forward to help us get through this past year with suggestions and
all matters of support. We truly could not have done it without you.
For me, the year started out with a hard look a finances and dwindling chamber membership. What were the costs associated with running the Chamber and Visitor Center, why were we losing members, and what were the benefits our members and community were receiving or should be receiving for their support?
The answers to these questions took me on a wild and enlightening ride of discovery and challenges, and consumed most of my chamber life for the first few months in 2019 as we reorganized. I was elected board president in February, so it seemed the only way around this situation was through it. Full speed ahead!
It came to my attention this past January that LSCC had been losing members at an alarming rate beginning in the Summer of 2018. I began reaching out to former members and discovered that one reason was a huge hike in member dues that some could not afford, and a second reason was that some weren't seeing the benefits of chamber membership.
I started researching member dues for other local chambers and proposed a rate correction to our LSCC board.
We did the number crunching and determined we could do this if we didn't replace the ED position at this time. The board voted to adopt a new rate structure that would be in line with other local chambers and still be able to sustain our Chamber.
I also discovered many inconsistencies in our membership classification levels during this process, and corrected those with the rate conversion. All of our members should have received a rate adjustment beginning in January 2019. If you paid your membership dues ahead of time at the 2018 rate, you should have been issued a credit if you were in the proper membership classification. If you have any questions regarding billing or your membership classification, please give us a call at the office. We want to work with you and we want you to be comfortable with your support of the Chamber.
We also took time this year to evaluate things we did well as your Chamber of Commerce, and areas where we could improve and grow. The core mission of the LSCC is providing support to our local business community. One way we do this is to try to ensure our local businesses flourish by helping our community members understand the importance of supporting those who support them.
Every five or six weeks LSCC writes a "Chamber Update" on the business page at Feather Publishing with just this in mind. It is one way we create more visibility. The column allows us to reach out to the extended community and promote our members' activities and events. This is where we also promote special business events like Shop Small® Saturday.
Another way we support our members is by distributing their printed information like rack cards, business cards and brochures. We welcome hundreds of visitors each year interested in what services, activities, events and retail businesses are available in the area. We promote our members heavily, and put together visitor bags and relocation bags stuffed full of helpful, targeted information for vacationers and those considering relocating to our area.
We also send out e-blasts and newsletters which cross-promote our members to each other.
We post member events and flyers on our public events calendar on our website. People routinely search chamber websites to learn about activities and services in communities they are or will be visiting. We have noted over the past year that the Chamber event calendar-posting is much underutilized. If you have an event at your business, we can post it on our event calendar and in our windows improving your exposure. If you would like to take advantage of this, give us a shout! We will walk you through it.
When we do fundraisers for the Chamber or the Visitor Center and we have prize drawings, we advertise businesses who support those events at the event and through the newspaper. Businesses recognized as chamber supporters often rate higher in public opinion than those that are not. On that note, if you do not have a LSCC Member window sticker in your place of business, please let us know and we will get one to you.
Where we feel we have been less than stellar in our performance this past year is providing enough business-to-business networking opportunities to our members. We hosted one LSCC member meeting in the Spring which was well attended, and partnered with Quincy Chamber of Commerce in hosting another mixer at Greenhorn Ranch later in the year. A BIG thank you to Quincy Chamber for including us in your mixer event! The event was a great success and many of our members attended. We realize though, if we are to fulfill our mission of generating more business activity for the community, we must up our game in 2020.
One of our directors has taken on the challenge in this area by creating more opportunities to mingle with other business folks at mixers. LSCC would
like to have one every month, but we are shooting for one per quarter with the first one in February. Johna Berg is looking for businesses to host or co-host a "Business Connections" event (LSCC's version of chamber mixers.) If you would like to host one, please email us at epcc@psln.com or give us a call at 836-6811. If we don't hear from you, you will probably hear from us. If you cannot host one this year, please plan to attend as many of these B2B events as possible. Not only will you make important connections with your fellow businesspeople, you may also rub elbows with local politicians and other community leaders, and catch up on important issues that may affect you as a small business owner.
Another opportunity for achieving higher business networking is when members serve on one of our boards or committees. We have two separate governing boards comprised of several business owners and community supporters: one for Lost Sierra Chamber, and one for the Lost Sierra Foundation–a 501(c)(3) corporation, newly-formed to help secure funding opportunities for the Lost Sierra Visitor Center.
(More about the Lost Sierra Foundation in future newsletters.)
We covet enthusiastic members who could join one of our boards and share your ideas and energy. We also need more chamber members to help us with evaluating, planning and executing events. Want to get involved? Pick a board, committee or event where you can make a difference that will help both your business and the community at large thrive in 2020. We start planning meetings this month, so please give us a call.
We have two part-time employees who do much of the work here at the Chamber and the Visitor Center. We must rely heavily on volunteers to fill in the gaps in staffing each office during business hours, and also help us with events. We plan eight major fundraising events throughout the year to help keep our doors open (and are always looking for more) including hosting bars for the Mule Deer Foundation and Friends of the NRA events; The Grizzly Scramble golf tournament; the Fourth of July Fun Run; the Portola Concerts in the Park; the Graeagle Park Fine Art & Craft Fair; the Graeagle Antique & Collectibles Fair; and Christmas in Old Town. Nowhere is the saying "it takes a village" more true than making the Chamber, the Visitor Center and these events successful.
One opportunity that arose recently was a chance to attend the Bay Area Travel and Adventure Show with other regional chambers in March. We were not able to pull it off this year as finances are still tight, but we are shooting for next year. It is an amazing show. Thousands of visitors attend each year looking for new "adventure." I've been to this show and can say it is well worth the investment. We see several new visitors to the area that will tell us they discovered us at this show. If we generate enough interest (and sponsorship) from members this year, we will reserve a spot for 2021. Please let us know if you are interested and can help.
In the Meantime...Happy New Year!