WCCE News
Wyoming Chamber of Commerce Executives 

October 2007

Newsletter

PO Box 301 , Wheatland , Wyoming 82201
Phone/Fax: 307-322-3977
wcce@wyomingwireless.com

From  WCCE’s President:

Mike Willard, Worland-Ten Sleep Chamber of Commerce

The simplest questions are the most profound.
Where were you born? Where is your home? Where are you going?

What are you doing?
Think about these once in a while, and watch your answers change.

(Richard Bach, Illusions)                        

From time to time one needs to look and see just where they are in life; these four questions can be applied to many facets of life, personal, professional, public, and spiritual or to a business, an organization, a Chamber of Commerce, a community, a state or even a country. 

Hello and welcome to the first of a number of weird but very strange articles from the new WCCE President. I was looking over Lori and Peggy’s articles in the archives and must say bravo girls, you have successfully used up every straight forward idea I could ever come up with, so with no further ado, an article that comes with a very bent slant to it.

Where were you born? Me? In the Washakie County Library, in the fiction section, (at the time it was a hospital, or so they say.)

Chambers were born from an idea, an idea that businesses working together for the greater good. When competitors sit together and work towards a common goal, both prosper, their business increases because of the competition not in spite of it. Some Chambers are born from earlier organizations, like the Alfalfa Commercial Club here in Worland, a group of entrepreneurs working for the greater good of their community.

WCCE was born from a need, a need of training, shared information and for the knowledge that you are not alone in the world of Chamber work.

Where is your home? 1051 Road 11? Worland?? Wyoming??? Depending upon the circumstance or where in the country I may be standing at any time any of these might be my answer.

As a Chamber your “home” may be a town, a county or an area, many Chamber Directors move into a community for the job and (I hope) work to make that community their home. That sense of community, the feeling people get from you that you care about how the businesses are doing. If you don’t have it very soon they will know, a mistake is easily forgotten, but cross a small town and your days are numbered, and in Wyoming, we are all small town.

WCCE has a home or perhaps is a home. Candy lives in Wheatland, I in Worland, but neither is the home of WCCE. When we meet, twice a year, the home arrives to house us, to comfort us, to protect and serve us (had to get that one in, the old cop in me I guess).  We sit in a group or in a bar, gathering information from our brethren (and sisteren???) from afar.

Where are you going? To heck! If I don’t change my ways! 

Does you Chamber have a direction? If your steering the boat and have no heading, how you gonna get there? We all can use the excuse that the board sets the direction and decides where we are going this year and to that I say “HOGWASH!” Boards change year to year and sometimes someone gets in that has their own specific agenda, but in general the Executive or President (whatever you’re calling the CEO) has their hand on the wheel and will steer towards their north star, so do you know where your port is?

For the last several years WCCE has struggled with our identity, our main heading is towards the training of our members, but when we returned home we felt as though perhaps the state and or others might not understand what we do. So recently there has been a shift towards producing more information on what is going on with our state legislators, this small shift will wield great results if properly handled. Our members become better informed and we can better represent the interests of business.

What are you doing? Staring blankly at a computer screen.

Know, see, do, if you know where you are coming from, can see where you need to go, then do the things it takes to get there. What have you done recently that helps with your goals? One step closer to obtaining the next goal you have for your organization. Have you gathered information from the IDEA EXPO or some other resource that you need to distribute to your members? Have you optimized your web site so that members, tourists or someone looking to relocate can find you or more importantly the information you possess. Do you and those around you understand the key role Chambers fill in community development?

The WCCE has formed a group to assess our legislators and the bills we need to support, Candy will be putting together the information on how who voted so you can take it back to them and discuss if you feel it was good or bad for business. We will not be telling you how to use the information that is your business.  But do use the information to discuss the future of your community, your area, your state and the businesses in them.

This is our home, ultimately we live here, we represent the businesses that create the wealth that Wyoming Government relies upon, it is our duty, our jobs, to watch and let our members know so that they too can better see what their answers are.

So Think about these once in a while, and watch your answers change.

WYOMING CHAMBER EXECUTIVE – UPDATE!!

NEW DIRECTORS!!

Terrie Swift, Sublette County Chamber of Commerce

307-367-2242

Summer Meagher, Evanston Chamber of Commerce

307-783-0370

Rolinda Sample Earns

Certified Chamber Executive Certification

(press release provided by The American Chamber of Commerce Executives)

The American Chamber of Commerce Executives (ACCE) (www.acce.org) has designated Rolinda Sample, vice-president of member programs at the Greater Cheyenne Chamber of Commerce, Certified Chamber Executive (CCE).  The CCE is the only national certification for chamber professionals.

“The CCE program is designed to assess the applicant’s knowledge of the core chamber management areas – leadership, planning, development and finance, and administration,” says Mike Neal, CCE, CCD, president and CEO of Tulsa (OK) Metro Chamber and CCE commission chairman.  “The applicants who are designated CCEs rightfully earn

this outstanding recognition through hard work, countless hours of dedication to their field, and leadership of their staffs and chambers.  We are proud to have this year’s class join a long tradition of professional excellence.”

Sample was one of 10 chamber executives who earned the CCE designation during the ACCE Annual Convention last week in Sacramento, California.

As vice president of member programs, Sample is responsible for establishing and coordinating member programs for the Greater Cheyenne Chamber of Commerce.  Since 2003, she has focused the membership programs on creating a strong local economy, promoting the community, providing networking opportunities, and representing the voice of business to government.  Previously, Sample worked as executive director of the Laramie Area Chamber of Commerce where she worked with the City, University and County, as well as a number of private economic development organizations, to build the community of Laramie.

She is a member of the Wyoming Chamber of Commerce Executives board of directors and assists the United Way and Cheyenne rotary Club on several committees.  Sample holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Peru State College. She is a graduate of Leadership Norfolk and Leadership Wyoming.  She is a graduate of Institute of Organizational Management at the University of Oklahoma.

Established in 1914, ACCE is the only national association uniquely serving the professional development needs of individuals managing chambers of commerce throughout the United States and Canada.  Representing more than 7,500 chamber professionals, ACCE enhances the knowledge, leadership skills, and management effectiveness of chamber executives and their staffs through education, trend analysis, benchmarking, and best practices.  ACCE promotes the highest standards of professional excellence and integrity within the chamber profession.

###

From the Wyoming Business Council

       Brandon Marshall, Entrepreneurship Program Manager

Wyospace.com Idea Expo in the Books

The Wyospace.com Idea Expo is officially in the books for 2007!  Thanks to everyone who attended, organized, spoke and exhibited.  The combination of everyone's efforts made this the most successful Idea Expo ever!  Ok, so it was the only Idea Expo ever, but we're still declaring success, in fact, great success.  Look for the 2008 Idea Expo to burst on the scene sometime late next summer or early fall!

Thursday the 27^th of September was designated as Chamber Day at the Idea Expo. The day offered chamber members from all over the state the opportunity to join the other attendees for Thursday at a discounted rate.  Thursday was designed as the most “meaty” day of the expo.  The day began with welcome speeches by both Mark Willis of the WBC and Bill Gern from UW.  They talked jointly about the special relationship the WBC and UW have developed over the years and how it works to benefit Wyoming’s business community.  After the initial welcome the break-out sessions began with sessions focusing on every aspect of business at every level.  The lunch keynote was provided by Michael Benidt and Sheryl Kay of Golden Compass.com.  The presentation offered the attendees fantastic “real world” information on finding their customers on the internet.  The presentation was widely praised for its practical value for attendees.

Friday was kicked off with additional break-out sessions in the morning followed by a lunch keynote by Kevin Schaff, CEO of Thought Equity Motion.  Thought Equity Motion digitizes and licenses motion content and are at the forefront of the industry owning the rights to NCAA events as well as newly acquired National Geographic film rights.  The company is based in Denver, and has the majority of their operations in Laramie.  Kevin focused his presentation on how his company grew and changed from his days as an entrepreneurial UW student selling flyers to advertise bar specials to one of the premier companies in their field.  The presentation was truly inspirational and showed attendees that you can truly do anything from Wyoming.  

WBC Purchases New Business Survey System

For several years the Wyoming Business Council has purchased a software system called Synchronist in order to perform business retention surveys throughout the state.  The system is a desktop based application which requires partners to survey companies in Wyoming, then forward paper copies to the WBC for entry in the database. 

This year Synchronist offered Wyoming the opportunity to upgrade to an online based system that would actually cost less than in the past and would offer us the ability to offer more value to our partners in their surveying efforts.  The new system, e-Synchronist, will allow us to designate as many users as we need at no additional cost to anyone.  This means you can now be a user of the WBC Synchronist Survey tool at no cost to your Chamber of Commerce.

With this new system we are encouraging Chambers and ED’s alike to use the system for member and investor surveys.  The tool is highly valuable to any business retention and expansion effort in any community, offering reports on companies at risk in your community and alerting you to problems that may need addressed as well as offering you the opportunity to assist growing companies in your community.  You will also gain invaluable relationships with your business community as a whole because of the face-to-face required filling out a survey.

The WBC has in the past paid Chambers of Commerce for their time in collecting surveys that we need for our statewide study.  We do still intend to offer the financial incentive in addition to the organic incentives of being in contact with your business community.  The payment will be $40 per survey  for the 100 companies statewide that make up our sample.  We would, again, encourage the use of this software system for all of your surveying though, beyond our needed sample of 100.

If you would like more information on the system or getting in on this opportunity, please call Brandon Marshall at 307.777.2820 or email at Brandon.marshall@wybusiness.org.  General information on the Synchronist Software System can be found at www.synchronist.com.

The organization shall be organized to advance Chamber of Commerce management in all areas; to advance standards of ethical and efficient operation; to provide assistance to members in the conduct of their responsibilities; to coordinate information on all matters relating to Chambers of Commerce and similar organizations; to be a clearinghouse for interchange of ideas and information among Chambers which may provide a basis for action on matters of statewide importance; and to provide a medium for effective cooperation with organizations performing specialized functions related to Chamber of Commerce.

WCCE Reminders:

• Send your newsletter to WCCE and to other Wyoming chambers.  We can all learn by what others are doing!! 
• November 15-16, 2007:

Wyoming Heritage Society’s Education:  Wyoming’s Choice – Casper, Wyoming

• February 25, 2008:      WCCE Winter Conference

Leadership Dinner

• February 26, 2008:      Business Day at the Legislature          

WEDA/WCCE Legislative Reception

BRAVO! Banquet

• February 27, 2008:      WEDA Winter Conference

• WCCE Board Conference Calls are on the third Tuesday of every month at 10 a.m. – if you are interested in being on these calls you must let the WCCE office know so you will receive call-in information.

WCCE Board of Directors

2006-2007

Mike Willard, President                                                       Rolinda Sample (2008)

Worland-Tensleep Chamber of Commerce                                                   Greater Cheyenne Chamber of Commerce

120 N 10^th Street                                                                                                  One Depot Square              

Worland, WY 82401                                                                                           121 West 15^th Street Suite 204

307-347-3226                                                                                                      Cheyenne, WY 82001

Fax: 307-347-3025                                                                                             307-638-3388

wtschamber@rtconnect.net                                                                              Fax 307-778-1407

                                                                                                                                rolindas@cheyennechamber.org

Lori Becker, Past President                                                 Julie Simon (2009)

Casper Area Chamber of Commerce                                                              Campbell County Chamber of Commerce

PO Box 399                                                                                                          314 S Gillette Avenue

Casper, WY 82602                                                                                              Gillette, WY 82716

307-234-5311                                                                                                      307-682-3673     

Fax 307-265-2643                                                                                              Fax: 307-682-0538

lorib@casperwyoming.org                                                                                 julies@gillettechamber.com

Jackie Bredthauer, President-Elect                                     Tim O’Donoghue,

Niobrara Chamber of Commerce                                                   Secretary/Treasurer (2009) 

PO Box 457                                                                                                          Jackson Hole Chamber of Commerce

Lusk, WY 82225                                                                                                 PO Box 550

307-334-2950                                                                                                      Jackson, WY 83001

Fax 307-334-2951                                                                                              307-733-3316

luskchamberofcommerce@yahoo.com                                                         Fax: 307-733-5585

tim@jacksonholechamber.com

WCCE 2007 Members:

Buffalo Chamber of Commerce

Campbell County Chamber of Commerce

Casper Area Chamber of Commerce

Cody Country Chamber of Commerce

Douglas Area Chamber of Commerce

Evanston Chamber of Commerce

Glenrock Chamber of Commerce

Greater Cheyenne Chamber of Commerce

Green River Chamber of Commerce

Jackson Hole Chamber of Commerce

Kemmerer/Diamondville Chamber of Commerce

Lander Chamber of Commerce

Laramie Area Chamber of Commerce

Newcastle Area Chamber of Commerce

Niobrara Chamber of Commerce

Platte County Chamber of Commerce

Powell Valley Chamber of Commerce

Ringle, Dan

Riverton Chamber of Commerce

Rock Springs Chamber of Commerce

Saratoga/Platte Valley Chamber of Commerce

Sheridan County Chamber of Commerce

Star Valley Chamber of Commerce

Sublette County Chamber of Commerce

Thermopolis/Hot Springs Chamber of Commerce

US Chamber of Commerce

Wyoming Business Council

Wyoming Economic Development Association

Worland/Tensleep Chamber of Commerce

Wright Area Chamber of Commerce

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