As the Executive Director of the Southern Midcoast Maine Chamber, I attend 40-75 business events every year to connect with other business leaders, legislators, educators and citizens. It’s the only way for me to do my job effectively, by building relationships with those working on similar issues and finding out what the needs are of our citizens in our communities. But beyond what I attend, we also facilitate numerous events annually too, and we would like to invite more business leaders so they can help build their networks and coalitions too.
For those that don’t fully know what a chamber of commerce is, essentially we are supported by a network of businesses and organizations that pay dues to be members of our group. In turn for the dues, we create programming, events and marketing to help their businesses grow and thrive. This help can take many different forms.
As just one example, say a business needs more customers, we try to help with exposure. That can range from listing them on our website or in a business directory travel guide to promoting them on social media or connecting them directly with other businesses looking for their services. Other businesses need more workforce; some businesses want their employees to build their own relationships; some businesses want to change laws or seek approval for large infrastructure projects but need legislative support- all of these issues we can work on. For a chamber to stay relevant to its members we need to work on whatever they need- so we do.
A major way we help business leaders is through our annual events. Some chambers of commerce only allow member businesses to participate in chamber-based events- meaning if you don’t work for a member business you cannot attend. With that, it’s important to know that every chamber of commerce in the state (and there are 58 or so active local and regional chambers) are run individually by their own Board of Directors. Which is to say, there is no ‘standard’ by which all chamber are required to operate. Personally, I have never found wisdom in the exclusivity of chamber-only events. Whatever gains a chamber gets from the exclusivity of attendance at events, there is a potential loss for every business leader they have not met who is not allowed to attend.
Therefore, our chamber events are open to any business leader in the communities we serve. Will some people take advantage and attend chamber events and never become a member? Probably. But that’s about them, and not about me, and holding resentment about that only hurts me, so I let it go. Plus the vast majority of people end up joining anyway, once they meet the members, see the value and hear about the other benefits beyond just attendance at events.
What all of this means is- if you’re curious about the chamber, and want to meet dozens of regional business leaders, then put some of these newly-released dates in your calendar for Chamber events.
SMMC Annual Awards Dinner- March 6, 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. This is our one night a year to celebrate businesses and individuals as nominated and selected by the membership. We will hold the dinner and awards presentations at St. John’s Community Center (43 Pleasant St., Brunswick) for our second consecutive year. The night will include a networking social hour, a wonderful dinner, a recap of Chamber successes last year and a highlight of what’s to come- plus eight deserving recipients will be honored. Look for profiles of our winners in forthcoming weekly columns leading up to the event which is one month away.
Last year we had over 150 attendees representing over three dozen businesses. Tickets on sale online at www.midcoastmaine.com
8th Annual Hackers Ball Golf Tournament- May 8 We are finalizing if we’re having a 9 a.m. tee off, or a 1 p.m. tee off, and once decided we will have the registration forms ready to go. We try and be the first golf tournament of the season, so we don’t take ourselves to seriously. Brunswick Golf Club does a great job working with us and setting up our numerous side games including closest to the pins, long drives, and the ever-popular air cannon. 15-24 foursomes play annually with great networking before, during and after tournament play.
2nd Annual Midcoast Tree Festival, Nov. 20-22 and Nov. 27-29 Our most popular annual event, comes back for year two at the St. John’s Community Center in Brunswick. A collaboration between Spectrum Generations’ Meals on Wheels and St. John’s (All Saints Parish), this fundraiser helped bring a holiday surprise to 35 families who won the business-sponsored trees/gifts in our raffle. It is festive. It is family fun. It’s everything the holidays should be about. We’re expecting at least 50 tree spots in 2020 and other surprises too.
Chamber After Hours- Monthly We have a great open-house style mixer called Chamber After Hours, and all you need to attend is a business card. These events run 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. and are hosted at different businesses monthly. There are always door prizes, food & drink and 50-85 business leaders in attendance. Actually 2019 was a banner year for the program as we went over 100 attendees in five separate months. Around 6 p.m. we stop the conversations to allow the host to introduce their employees and special guests, the chamber will give updates, the door prizes will be drawn and we even have time for member updates before returning to more mingling for the final 45 minutes. Here are the next Chamber After Hours: Wednesday, February 12 at Pat’s Pizza, Brunswick Wednesday, March 25 at Sea Dog Brewing, Topsham (co-hosted by REMAX/Riverside) Wednesday, April 29 at Thornton Oaks, Brunswick Wednesday, May 27 at Main Street Bath Wednesday, June 10 at Sebasco Harbor Report, Phippsburg For more information or to register for these events contact the SMMC office at 725-8797 or log onto www.midcoastmaine.com
Cory King is the executive director of the Southern Midcoast Maine Chamber.
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