The Estevan Chamber of Commerce’s Coffee Talks proved to be a success, attracting both members of the chamber and people from the community. The future of the regular event, introduced by the chamber about a year ago, was discussed at the last Coffee Talk meeting on Dec. 4.
“The talk went well. There were some great ideas that came forward and great participation,” said Jackie Wall, who is the executive director of the Estevan Chamber of Commerce.
About 30 people gathered for the Coffee Talk last time to discuss the chamber in 2020 and what they want to see from it moving forward into the new year.
“There was a resounding ‘yes’ when we asked them if they wanted to continue with the Coffee Talk,” said Wall. “So I’m happy to say that we’ll be continuing with that in 2020.”
Coffee Talks are focused dialogues, which usually start with a brief speech on a particular designated topic from a presenter that is followed by open discussions between the members of the community in attendance.
The potential topics for upcoming talks were discussed during the last gathering.
“We are going to piece that together… at the board meeting (this) week. We probably will be looking at some public consultations on different aspects of Estevan. Potentially we might do one talk about the ECS (Estevan Comprehensive School) and the future there. There will be quite a few different things coming forward. Some ideas that we have to flush out or perhaps find the right people to do a short presentation,” said Wall.
When the chamber introduced the idea of the Coffee Talk they thought that it would attract some business people who would gather in their boardroom, but already at the very first one, they had over 30 people showing up. Ever since then, they had anywhere from 30 to 70 people attending each talk depending on the topic and timing.
“We’ve been overwhelmed by the success of the Coffee Talk. And we’ve been hearing that from not only our members,” said Wall, noting that representatives of the city and the economic development committee often attend to find some insightful information as well.
Not only can people hear and present some ideas there, but it’s also a great opportunity for networking and collaborating.
Coffee Talks are open to the entire community, encouraging collaboration and pro-active thinking.
“The more people we can have come out, and the more ideas and conversations we can have, the better,” said Wall.
Participation is free of charge, but the chamber asks people planning to attend, to phone in and register in advance, so they could have the room set up and have enough coffee for everybody.
Those who made it last Wednesday also talked about the economic development, cleared some information up about how the funding for communities is coming down from the federal government through the western diversification fund and addressed general comments as to within Estevan.
The chamber members also discussed the possibility of turning their annual general meeting into an evening event as opposed to a lunchtime gathering. The plan is to make it more like a pub night, more informal and casual to get more people out.
All the ideas will be discussed at the chamber’s board meeting this week and then will be formalized for the new year.
The topics for the upcoming Coffee Talks, as well as other chamber events are announced on their website and social media pages.
“Coffee Talks have been very successful and it led to a lot of other conversations and collaborations that even I’m sometimes not aware of, so we are very, very pleased to be able to bring it forward into the new year again,” said Wall.
