New activities and programs
At the February Breakfast, we outlined the new activities and proposed initiatives and programs of the SHBC for the next 18 months. We also asked all attendees to submit their questions about the Chamber’s plans. You can read the questions and answers below.
At our General Meeting on March 24 (via Zoom) we updated everyone on our progress so far on these key areas.
You can view the General Meeting and Member Update on the video here.
Welcome to our new program sponsors
In April, we welcomed the following Chamber Program Sponsors:
Findex as our new MyEnterprise Program Sponsor. The Chamber’s MyEnterprise program connects businesses of 15-50 employees through monthly small-group meetings. MyEnterprise is designed to encourage deeper business connections, dissemination of information and education, as well as enabling feedback and collection of business support requirements.
Mulpha as our Enews Program Sponsor. The SHBC Enews Program is designed to provide information to our members and the wider business community about upcoming events and activities, as well as articles and news relevant to businesses.
Want to become a Chamber Sponsor? Contact [email protected] today.
May events
All our events are on the Chamber’s website to enable you to add them to your calendar:
- May 12 – Celebrating Women In Business with Helen Cattell (Cleverpak), hosted by BOQ Specialist Banking.
- May 26 – Business After Five, hosted By Streamlined Organising.
- June 9 – Business Breakfast, hosted at the new BMW Castle Hill showroom.
Get your tickets for these great events!
Member Questions Answered
Could we get a list of attendees earlier and then ask to sit beside specific people? Can we nominate who we’d like to connect to?
In response to COVID restrictions, the Chamber has adapted event processes and timelines to enable venues to plan for attendee seating and numbers. On the Monday before each event, the Chamber team finalises the seating allocations. The event Connector list is distributed to members on the same day. If you review your Connector list and identify someone you’d like to be seated with, we will do our best to accommodate this. Connectors are also available at the event to help you meet new people. So even if you aren’t at the table of a connection you’d like to make, you can ask a Connector to help you.
Can we have a FB/LinkedIn Group that allows businesses to share marketing posts on one day a week?
Members of our SHBC Linkedin Group can share content at any time, however we discourage marketing posts. Group members do not want to be sold to, they want to stay connected to the Chamber’s activities, share ideas and be educated by other members on topics that are relevant to their business. Marketplace-style posts do not grow your business, rather they diminish the value of the overall group in the eyes of participants. The Chamber is exploring a Members Only Facebook Group, which we may release later in 2021.
Would live webinars be excluded from the new Education Marketplace?
Live webinars will not be included in the first phase of our Member Education Marketplace. This is because we want to ensure that all content promoted by the Chamber meets a set criteria of quality and professionalism. Live delivery makes that vetting process unachievable.
Other content formats will be considered in future phases of this program.
Can we opt in for specific benefits and related communications, so the messaging is targeted for my business?
Relevance is a big driver for our activities in 2021. The systems needed to enable targeted communications to our members are currently being scoped. We expect to be able to tailor our communications to member preferences and specific segments/groups in the second half of 2021.
For connecting at events, could we have a swipe left/right app that has attendees listed with their logo/image and description of their business? The app then sends invites to connect?
Great idea! As part of our new systems project, members will use an app to interface with the Chamber’s activities. We’ll consider this idea for the app.
Member experience – could it include business/site visits?
Yes, our first on-site visit is the June Breakfast at BMW Castle Hill. We would love to do more of these in 2021-22 now that COVID restrictions have lifted. If you’d like to host an on-site event at your business, contact Richard Holland (Membership Manager) to discuss.
Can we have a structure for MyBoard, MyEnterprise and MyCorporate interactions with each other? Allowing smaller businesses to engage and connect with larger ones and vice versa.
We’re currently reviewing each of these individual programs to make sure that they are working well. In the later half of 2021, we’ll be introducing Industry Clusters and interconnection activities to allow purposeful interaction between the MyCommunity programs.
See you at an event soon!
About the author:
Kerrie Sheaves, Chairman, Sydney Hills Business Chamber.