The Estevan Chamber of Commerce has released a new four-point strategic plan that it expects will guide them through the next three years.
Executive director Jackie Wall, speaking at the Dec. 9 meeting of the chamber, said they want to see results in the areas of member engagement, key relationships, lobbying/advocacy and internal operations. Each of those categories has several criteria the chamber will use to evaluate success.
In terms of member engagement, the chamber would like to see their membership swell by 10 per cent each of the next three years. They currently have close to 340 members.
“Since I have come on board, we have had one to four new memberships per month,” said Wall.
She believes the 10 per cent growth rate is a realistic target.
Retention is also critical. Wall said the chamber wants to hear ideas from local businesses on how they think their chamber membership would be more beneficial.
“I have been in the business community for a long time, and I know how important a chamber is to a community,” said Wall. “I really want to make sure the members and the non-members know the benefits; for example, being able to get health plan benefits as soon as you’re a member.”
The chamber also wants to effectively represent the businesses who are members by providing access to member workshops, luncheons and webinars; relaying information from conferences and meetings they attend; and providing communication.
Their annual business directory is being scrapped in favour of quarterly newsletters.
“It’s been a yearly directory, and it’s been a great resource, but all of this information is available online,” said Wall. “It’s also a situation with the business climate changing so quickly, and new members coming on board, by the time it was printed, it was already out of date.”
The chamber will continue to send out its monthly electronic bulletins to members, and the quarterly newsletter will be sent to all businesses in the Estevan area. It will include contact information for all chamber members.
As for key relationships, Wall wants to see the chamber work closely with local schools, the Southeast College, the City and the Rural Municipality of Estevan, other chambers of commerce, and other key partners, including those across Canada and in the U.S.
“The success measure there that we determined is to develop and maintain active relationships through regular communication and meetings, and just having an open door policy,” said Wall.
Lobbying and advocacy will happen at various levels, and Wall maintains a lot of people are not aware of the influence a local chamber can have. They have access to politicians, policy mandates and administrations.
Chamber staff and board members will attend conferences; attend city council meetings; take an active approach with the city’s budget and bylaws; and research, develop and present policy positions on local and regional issues.
“The success measure is to track and report the impact of the chambers on the various levels of government, and to ensure regular surveys, meetings and focus groups are conducted to document the areas of interest from our membership,” said Wall.
Finally, in terms of internal operations, they want to consolidate and update materials, including an operations handbook.
“If something happens to myself or Meagan (executive assistant Meagan O’Flanagan) … a board member could step in and say ‘This is what I need, and I can continue with the chamber’s activities,” said Wall.
They are also reviewing the policy manual, the job descriptions and the budget. A job description review is necessary, since their staffing has been reduced from four to two people, and fiscal responsibility will be imperative now that the chamber doesn’t receive funding for economic development and tourism from the city.
All of these will be reviewed on a regular basis.
“Our fiscal responsibility will be reflected in the budget for 2016, and it will be closely scrutinized throughout the year to ensure we’re adjusting appropriately,”
said Wall.
Member service will be critical, she said, amid the tough economic times in the southeast. People want to see the value for their expenses, so it’s important to stress the benefits of chamber membership.
As part of the strategic plan, the chamber has also reviewed their events. They will continue to attend conferences, such as the Saskatchewan Trade Export Partnership convention in Saskatoon which was held earlier this month.
They will also continue to host events locally in 2016. Some will be events they organize, such as their annual general meeting at a March luncheon, the Networking on the Green golf tournament in July, their chamber luncheons and all-candidates’ forums for elections. They are also looking to have a member appreciation barbecue in June and evening socials for members.
The chamber will also continue to partner with others to host the Farmers’ Appreciation Evening and the Estevan Showcase Business Expo.
And while they won’t organize events such as the Beach Bash at Boundary Dam or the Moonlight Madness Christmas shopping promotion in downtown Estevan, Wall said the chamber will be willing to help out with those events if necessary.
