Frank J. Kenny's Chamber of Commerce Industry Blog

If you work for a smaller staff chamber and/or you’re very good at what you do, you may be plagued by thoughts of how your chamber would get along without you. What would happen if you weren’t available? Could you take a sick day? Go on vacation for a week? Could you take a longer […]

Business advocacy is important because any lobbyist will tell you that business is inextricably tied to government. The candidates who are elected–and the laws that are passed–directly impact the business environment locally, across the state and the nation. But just how involved should a chamber of commerce be? At what point is involvement helpful to […]

Do you have a blog on your chamber website? Are you wracking your brain for ideas on what to post? And are you dreading that day (or days) you’ve set aside to generate content? Chamber blogging doesn’t have to be a pain. If you can create a process and figure out where and how to […]

When someone leaves, it’s natural to want to know why. No matter what the relationship, leaving hurts. If you’ve lost a member (or more) this year, your chamber of commerce board may be asking you to conduct exit interviews of members who quit. With COVID, the why behind the departure may be more important than […]

We often get asked for ideas for increasing non-dues revenue. While there are many ways to create additional revenue streams for your chamber, we’re going to focus on non-dues revenue event ideas in this article. And not just any events. We’ve compiled the types of events that will get people talking. Fun, creative, unique and […]

As a chamber professional, your chamber board members can be lifesavers to you or they can make you feel like you’re drowning in problems.  Whether you inherited your board when you came on as president or you worked to recruit them, you need a high-functioning board to do your best. The first step is to […]

Your chamber events, especially the networking ones, are only as good as your “crop” of attendees. If your chamber represents a smaller town with a non-transient population, attendees may feel like it’s been the same faces since the 1990s. True or not, it can be hard to convince people your events are worth their time […]

Ready to start a coworking space? It can be profitable and certainly needed these days. With many people working from home and launching businesses, there is a big demand for both quiet spaces and professional locations. But can it be a lucrative form of non-dues revenue for the chamber? It can, but it all comes […]