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» Over the Center Field Fence
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Over the Center Field Fence
If you host it, they will come.
The April 25 Business After Hours wasn't exactly Field of Dreams -- no cornfields, no baseball legends from a bygone era, not even the ghost of Kevin Costner's movie career -- but The Field Restaurant & Bar hosted it, and "they" did come. Lots and lots of "them."
Members, new members, prospective members, member guests -- over 100 of them in all, and we were turning away people who called at the last minute. (Moral of the story: Don't call at the last minute.)
So, what did you last-minute folks miss? Incredible food that just kept coming all evening long. A noisy, happy crowd of businesspeople who stayed well past "closing" time. (Some of them never left -- they just moved the party over to the bar.) Two massage chairs that were always full, courtesy of Sabita Holistic Center. And the first drink was free! It was another great BAH, another one knocked out of the park -- our networking events just get bigger and better. If they get much bigger than this, we'll have to build our own field.
As always, Greg Beno has the highlights in his dotPhoto slideshow.
Next month we're at The Watermark at 3030 Park on May 30. Remember what we said about waiting till the last minute? Don't.
Welcoming 78 Newly Minted Members
For three days in April, our Membership Drive teams manned the phones at Sacred Heart University's Trumbull campus, spreading the word about the Chamber's mission and showing area businesses how to take advantage of it. And many of our volunteers were busy well before the phonethon, thumbing through their rolodexes for prospects. All told, we brought 78 new members into the fold. Good work, folks.
We're also hopeful that other prospective members who didn't get their applications to us by the April 12 cutoff will trickle in. They may have missed out on the special Member Drive incentives package, but it's never too late to get the full benefit of Chamber membership.
Some recognition is in order for the volunteers and teams that did the most to make the drive a success. Wayne Savard was far and away the individual who single-handedly brought in the most new members, followed by Arianna Hudson and Rose Corr in a tie for second place. Also of worthy of note are Joanne Gelfand, Kathi Eigenrauch and Fran Lichtenberg.
The team that collectively had the biggest impact was Kathi's "Business Builders," with Victoria Ferrara's "Eager Beavers" getting close enough to gnaw on their ankles (metaphorically speaking).
Arianna's "Bulldozers" and Sue Delco's "Two by Fours" also made a good showing. Jason Hyde's "Hard Hats" had a tougher time, perhaps because Sue's team was having too much fun whacking them over the head. ("If they're wearing head protection, it's OK to beat them senseless, right? Cool.") And let us not overlook the nameless honorary Eager Beaver who showed up at SHU a week early.
Prizes (and head protection) will be awarded to the winners, and state troopers have been dispatched to recover the 2×4s from Sue's team before they get into real trouble. We'll be publishing the complete list of our newest members after the board of directors certifies them on April 19.
And finally, let us extend our warmest welcome to those 78 new members, no hard hats required.
Well ... maybe it would be best to have one on hand anyway. Just in case we have any 2×4s still roaming the streets. And watch out for ankle biters.
Free Notary Services for Members ... on a Saturday?
Ernie Piscitelli, manager of Madison Jewelers, called the ChamberWorks newsroom to put the word out: free notary services for Chamber members, Tuesday through Saturday.
Yes, Saturday.
Our own Linda Matthews is a Notary Public, and the Town Clerk's office has several of them on staff. But you won't find any of them around on a Saturday. (Well, sometimes Linda sneaks into the office, but that's just between you and me, OK?)
Madison Jewelers' location in the Old Navy shopping center on Black Rock Turnpike offers a convenient alternative for members who aren't in the downtown area, another plus.
Ernie suggests that you call ahead (334-4250) to make sure he's in the store, particularly in the summer months when he could be traveling. But you can generally count on him to be there just about any day -- excepting Sundays and Mondays, of course.
Hey! This Web Site Ain't Chopped Liver
Somehow, we don't think you're paying enough attention to our web site. Follow along with me as I explain why you should.
Fact is, there are certain things that we know and you don't. Some of these things are things that you should know, because they could help your business.
One of the things we know is what people are doing when they come to our web site. Our trained staff of internet statisticians can learn a lot from reading the newspapers in between coffee breaks. And when they get bored they look at our web site traffic reports, too.
One thing they've noticed is that the most popular Member Category is Restaurants. It's a monster. Even though it accounts for just 6% of our total site traffic, it ranks No. 2 on the charts -- only the home page gets more visitors. (ChamberWorks places a respectable if distant 5th.)
So what does this mean in concrete terms? Well, if you run a restaurant and haven't joined the Chamber, you ain't on that list. The Restaurants category has been eyeballed nearly 14,000 times in the past 12 months. But you were there when those people stampeded through, right?
Other top categories like Real Estate and Hair Salons (food, shelter and a great hair stylist -- what more do you need?) aren't operating on that same stratospheric level. But the same rule applies: If you're not on our web site, several thousand people didn't see you. Couldn't see you.
We can also observe hundreds of people jumping over to our members' web sites using the link included with every member listing. If you have a web site, make sure that we have it in our directory so we can shovel people your way.
OK, that's all for now. In our next installment, we'll show you how a FREE Member Profile is almost as good as having a web site of your own -- even if you do have a web site of your own.
DIY PR for Small Businesses
Due to a small miscommunication, our Apr. 4 educational seminar started a tad late. But once underway, our guest speaker Jessica Bram (of Jessica Bram Communications) spent an hour talking about public relations for small businesses. It was partly material her audience sorta knew, partly information they didn't know they knew, and partly things they didn't know they needed to know (but now they do).
Good nuts 'n bolts stuff: the three different kinds of press releases and how to do them right; why you should rely on the Associated Press style guide; how to cultivate relationships with members of the press -- and know the right people to talk to; even a list of current issues and trends that might be relevant to your business and to the media audience. Her handounts included a sample press release to put it all in context.
Some of the 25 or so people gathered at the Westport Inn that morning had heard her speak before and are already using her advice, but it never hurts to have a refresher course in the ways and means of garnering press coverage -- the good kind of press coverage.
