About a month ago I decided to join the Urbandale Chamber. I’d been “dating” chambers for the past three years, trying to decide which one included the types of businesses I work with and my matched well with my own personal brand.
I landed on the Urbandale Chamber because of the two reasons above as well as the fact that they’re extremely active and offer a lot of benefits to its membership. There are so many opportunities to get involved morning, noon and night!
As with all marketing tactics, I’ve developed my strategy to get the most out of my investment:
genYP (monthly) – The Young Professionals group within the Urbandale Chamber. A LOT of their events take place at sporting venues this year. I’m not sure that’s the best situation to make business connections. There are a few professional meetings scheduled which I’ll definitely attend.
Morning Mingle Mixer (monthly) – Strategically connect with attendees at this event from 7:30 a.m.-8:30 a.m. At 8 a.m. a whistle will blow and everyone is to connect with someone they don’t know. Both parties make introductions for 2 minutes before the whistle will blow again. The same format will repeat five times. They force you to talk to people you don’t know!!!
Membership Luncheon (monthly) – I feel that sometimes networking is limited when people take a seat at a table during a breakfast, lunch or dinner networking event, so my strategy with these luncheons is to plan to arrive early and stay late to get the most out of my time there.
AM Exchange (monthly) – From 7:30 – 7:45 a.m. everyone networks. At 7:45 a.m., attendees form a circle. Chamber members introduce themselves and provide a 30-second commercial on their business/service. GREAT way to hear what everybody in the room does and then take a few minutes at the end of the group introductions to focus in on who you want to talk with a bit more and/or schedule a coffee with.
These are just some of the monthly networking opportunities I’m now exposed to. The Urbandale Chamber also offers smaller, more intimate groups for networking and business mentorship that I’m on the wait list for and look forward to being involved with.
Are you a member of a chamber? How are you maximizing your member benefits?
About a month ago I decided to join the Urbandale Chamber. I’d been “dating” chambers for the past three years, trying to decide which one included the types of businesses I work with and my matched well with my own personal brand.
I landed on the Urbandale Chamber because of the two reasons above as well as the fact that they’re extremely active and offer a lot of benefits to its membership. There are so many opportunities to get involved morning, noon and night!
As with all marketing tactics, I’ve developed my strategy to get the most out of my investment:
genYP (monthly) – The Young Professionals group within the Urbandale Chamber. A LOT of their events take place at sporting venues this year. I’m not sure that’s the best situation to make business connections. There are a few professional meetings scheduled which I’ll definitely attend.
Morning Mingle Mixer (monthly) – Strategically connect with attendees at this event from 7:30 a.m.-8:30 a.m. At 8 a.m. a whistle will blow and everyone is to connect with someone they don’t know. Both parties make introductions for 2 minutes before the whistle will blow again. The same format will repeat five times. They force you to talk to people you don’t know!!!
Membership Luncheon (monthly) – I feel that sometimes networking is limited when people take a seat at a table during a breakfast, lunch or dinner networking event, so my strategy with these luncheons is to plan to arrive early and stay late to get the most out of my time there.
AM Exchange (monthly) – From 7:30 – 7:45 a.m. everyone networks. At 7:45 a.m., attendees form a circle. Chamber members introduce themselves and provide a 30-second commercial on their business/service. GREAT way to hear what everybody in the room does and then take a few minutes at the end of the group introductions to focus in on who you want to talk with a bit more and/or schedule a coffee with.
These are just some of the monthly networking opportunities I’m now exposed to. The Urbandale Chamber also offers smaller, more intimate groups for networking and business mentorship that I’m on the wait list for and look forward to being involved with.
Are you a member of a chamber? How are you maximizing your member benefits?
