Chambres of Commerce

[Blacktalon]

I'm contemplating joining the Chambre of Commerce of the town I soon will be moving to. The town's population is roughly 120,000 and is next to Oshawa, the GM stronghold in Southern Ontario.

Just curious to see if any of you have had positive experiences with joining a Chambre or a Board of Trade regarding extra business.

Your feedback is greatly appreciated.

[vangogh]

I joined one Chamber and explored another for my last business. Neither did all that much, though I think it was as much to do with me than anything else. A year after I did get a client from the Chamber I had joined. I wasn't a member any more, but for some reason my contact info was still there. That person is still a client.

My impression is that your success will depend to a degree on your particular Chamber and what you put into it. One good thing is you should get a listing on their site with a link or two back to your site. Some people consider that alone worth the price of admission since it's generally seen as a trusted link from a local authority.

[Patrysha]

It's been great for me. I live in a town of just under 10,000.

I joined as soon as I went official last June. I did step up into leadership in January when I was voted in as Promotions Director.

I was ticked in January when my bid for website redesign was passed over in favor of the dude who said he'd do it for $500. Um yeah, it's now near the end of May and nothing has been touched.

But despite that...it has led to other business...and a fair bit of recognition in the established business community. For instance, last week I was asked at the last minute to introduce a guest speaker and the MP for our area...kind of cool :-)

My investment...a few hours a month of time and $80 a year.

[SteveC]

Only join the chamber if you want to get involved and can easily mix... you basically get out what you are prepared to put in, if you get involved and help others, you'll get lots of business... if you simply turn up to the odd event, don't expect any business.

[Blacktalon]

Obviously I'd be contributing and showing up for sessions. That's one of the prime reasons I want to join up in the first place.

But SteveGogh, the link concept I believe happens by default. Each organization that signs up automatically gets an online profile which is displayed on their member's list. The proceeding link that gets posted on that organization's site (for example: that BlacktalonSolutions is a member of the Whitby Chambre of Commerce) gets displayed at the site owners' discretion. Most notably I'd put something like that near the top so that people can see it's a trusted establishment.

But from the feedback here it seems as though joining either a BoT or a CoC is definitely worth it.

I appreciate your feedback.

[vangogh]

Sean my point with the link was that some people consider it worth the price so even if you never got anything else out of the Chamber it might still be worth joining for the link. I'm not suggesting you should join solely for the link of course, but know that some people would consider it enough to justify the price of membership.

I think as long as you're active in the Chamber and go in with the right attitude you'll get something back from it. Sounds like you are going in with the right attitude. I'd also say that worst case is you pay for a year and discover it's not worth the money. In that case you're not our all that much. Seems like a worthwhile risk.

[Blacktalon]

The link helps, definitely. Any form of exposure like that is a boon in and of itself. But joining merely for the link seems like a waste. Why sign on to get 25% of the benefits when you're wasting the other 75%?

Why not make the most of it on all aspects? I fully plan on taking advantage of it as much as I can. Members have the option to put on presentations, or "lunch and learn" sessions, so that right there is an added bonus, and one of the reasons why I want to sign up.

Patrysha: Who's your MP in your riding? Dan McTeague is ours for Pickering-Scarborough East. I believe Jim Flaherty is the one for Whitby-Oshawa.

[vangogh]

I think you should make the most of your efforts. I'm not suggesting you grab the link and move on. It's just that given that links can be hard to come by a link from your Chamber could be worth the price of membership. It's not all that different from buying a directory listing in the Yahoo directory.

But I agree if you're going to join you should put more into it and get more back from it.

[Patrysha]

Rob Merrifield is the MP for here. He was here to make some funding announcements and decided to drop in to the session

[Blacktalon]

I shook Jean Chrétien's hand in '92 when the Liberals swept the Tories.

Short little guy. But I'm going to join. Probably in June.

I'm planning an "official" launch even though I have a good deal of clients at the moment.