BEING REMARKABLE - 2019 Conference

This pre-conference session (to be held at the Champaign County Chamber - 1 block from the hotel) is a special opportunity to learn from Jane Clark, President, West Coast (MI) Chamber of Commerce. Jane presented these two sessions at ACCE in 2018 and 2019. This session will be held TUESDAY NOVEMBER 5, 2019 and is $69. Part 1: The EOS® Journey: Going Faster and Further Together Imagine it: your entire team is on the same page with the direction your chamber is going, and how you plan to get there. An organization with focus, discipline and accountability throughout, enabling everyone on your team to execute the same vision every day. Discover how the Michigan West Coast Chamber of Commerce uses the Entrepreneurial Operation System (EOS®), a complete set of simple concepts and practical tools, to support cohesive and functional team dynamics, and achieve powerful results. Part II: Better Decision-Making with Data: How to Become a Data Convert Have you ever had to make a strategic decision and persuade your team and stakeholders to agree? Then this is the session for you! Representatives from the 2018 Michigan Chamber of the Year will give you plans and tools for making those decisions confidently and efficiently by using data. Learn how using data to determine your key performance indicators in areas of sales, retention, marketing, events, and even in managing your staff to help you make better decisions, faster. Understand the difference between a vanity metric and a valuable metric and leave with a framework for building your own data dashboards. Here's what people are saying after hearing from the West Coast Chamber: “I officially am announcing my Chamber Crush for my friends at the West Coast Chamber.” Kathy Blank, McKinney (TX) Chamber “If you’re struggling with accountability, metrics or an endless amount of “squirrels” keeping you from strategic focus this is the answer you’re looking for!” Charlie Moore, McClean County Chamber (IL) “Packed house as the 2018 Michigan Chamber of the Year give us plans and tools for making decisions confidently and efficiently by using data.” Brad Phillips, Rogers (AR) Chamber “This team is awesome. Thanks so much for presenting.” Susan Mcguire, ACCE “Such a great session! Could have listened to you guys all day!!” Michelle Masica, Medina (OH) Chamber

This complementary session is helpful for new chamber leaders, but seasoned executives also find it informative to brush up on best practices, specifically in the areas of governance, finance and advocacy. Several examples and handouts will be available, and Desiree will be available for additional discussion for the duration of conference. This session is also helpful for your team members, especially recent hires, to help acclimate them to the profession.

Join this foundational workshop after taking the assessment online prior to conference and learn what your custom profile assessment says about your engagement style - both in and outside of the workplace. It is commonplace for organizations to confuse personality and behavioral assessments, and to try to use them interchangeably. In contrast to personality tests, behavioral assessments don't reveal core personality types. Instead, it reveals how an employee acts in an environment. Personality makes up one half of the equation; the other half is how the personality responds to a particular situation in a workplace setting. Personality and situations interact and produce thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. Assessments that characterize personality types are only useful if people have a practical way to apply the information from the results to the work environment. A popular personality test is the Myers-Briggs Type indicator. In comparison, DISC is a validated Behavioral Assessment used by over 60% of fortune 500 companies. You can discover personality types through tests. However, changing them is another story. The good news is that a behavioral assessment will show how individuals adapt to their surroundings - how they work within situations. Companies gain both culturally and financially from understanding how a person adapts and how their particular behaviors will fit within a particular job and environment. Additionally, you will be able to ask other to provide 3rd party feedback. Why is 3rd-Party Feedback Important? It’s an important tool that helps you better understand your relationship with others. Seeing how other people view your behavior can help you identify "Blind-Spots" in your behavior. Your self-perception can be skewed to reflect how you would like to believe you act but gathering feedback from others can confirm or contradict your self-perception. DISCflex’s unique 3rd-Party Feedback component allows you can take a step back and try to understand why others might see your behaviors the way they do. You likely have NOT done this exercise in past assessments. How it works- Your 3rd-Party Assessors are asked to answer a brief set of assessment questions about your behavior. It has NOTHING to do with your personality. The information on the 3rd-Party Pages is based on the feedback provided by your assessors. You will see the aggregate of their responses. The 3rd-Party Results paint a picture of how people perceive you that will get clearer with more people's feedback (up to five). The important thing is to use this feedback to "look in the mirror" and see if other people perceive you the way you want to be perceived and taking steps to adjust your behavior when there are discrepancies. You will have the option to mark each assessor as a Co-worker, Family, or Friend. Do the 3rd-Party Assessments affect my whole DISCflex Report? No. The feedback we gather from 3rd-Party Assessors will only affect the 3rd-Party Pages of this report. The rest of this report is based solely on your self-assessment results.

Humor is a superpower. But unlike flying and x-ray vision, it’s a skill we can learn. Why do organizations invest in humor? Because in today’s overworked, under-appreciated, stress-filled, sleep-deprived world, humor isn’t a nice-to-have, it’s a must-have. Humor is proven to make us more productive and better at thinking, executing, and communicating. Using humor builds relationships, enhances problem solving, reduces turnover, and strengthens leadership. Plus people who use humor get promoted, make more money, and get more done. When we’re funnier, we’re happier and effective-er. In this fun, fast-paced, and engaging session, you’ll learn: Why use humor: the 30 business benefits of humor in the workplace. What is humor: developing a humor mindset. How to use humor: The Humor MAP (Medium, Audience, Purpose). Effectiveness at work: the 5 Super Skills and Humor Strategies that enhance them. We all have something we want to achieve. Whether you want to lead better, execute faster, or just enjoy your work more, humor will help you get there. You’ll gain specific ideas and tips to put to use immediately that will help you achieve better results (and have more fun along the way)!

Concerned about new member retention? Improvement hinges on recruiting businesses with a higher probability of gaining value from your chamber. Discover how the services and programs you already offer can help business prospects solve their problems. Learn how to develop targeted membership profiles that empower your membership team to recruit ideal business prospects. And, gain an appreciation for the long-term value of walking away when a prospective member isn’t a good fit. This session will benefit chambers of every size with concepts and strategies that apply to attendees at every level of their organization – from the front line all the way to the top!

Video will represent 82% of all internet traffic by 2021. But, how can you powerfully make your own mark using this effective marketing tool? Kelsey Litchfield of the Galesburg Area Chamber of Commerce will lead you through this storytelling workshop and how to create strategy, impact, and community using video. No complicated tech talk here – Kelsey will also demonstrate how to use your smartphone and feature other tools that will fit into your budget. Join in on the fun and learn how to captivate an audience utilizing video!

Employee engagement surveys have been around for 25 years. Consistently, these surveys illustrate employee engagement of approximately 32%.  This workshop speaks to the “why” of that percentage. Millennials and the even younger Gen Z groups make up a large segment of today’s workforce. Research proves the employee’s experience with their employer is a major predictor toward positive engagement, loyalty and retention. A positive employee experience must occur, however, to net these vital goals. Seems simple right? Think again! This workshop will define EX – Employee Experience, look at the research and current “best practices” and illustrate several easy applicable concepts to put into practice within your organization.

This session will discuss building ethical standards and expectations in our organizations - where do we begin, what are our goals and how do we set the standards for our communities. Join the conversation!

Shuttle will depart from the door near the registration desk

The Moose Lodge is a not-for-profit fraternal membership-based organization who understood that they could not attract the emerging generation the same way that they always have. So, taking a leap of faith, Moose reinvented itself. They opened the first prototype inclusive co-working, 24/7 childcare, onsite restaurant here in Champaign. Their second one is in the works in Madison. Scott will discuss the process of how they thought outside of the box and how they are attempting to meet the needs of their current members and recruit new ones. We will have a tour of Lodgic after Scott speaks.This is a success story of a membership organization looking forward and adapting.

Lodgic Everyday Community is the new, all-encompassing destination with offices, coworking space, drop-in childcare, and all-day dining options. Take some time to see for yourself!

Join us at this historic theatre for drinks and hors d'oeuvres.

Young Professionals - this is a time to gather and talk. https://www.collectivepour.com/

Part I Chamber Value & Relevance - Now and Into the Future As membership and revenue generation structures change, how are innovative chambers defining their value proposition? Hear about forward-leaning and mission-driven work being conducted at chambers of all sizes, plus how many are adjusting their revenue generation to focus more on non-dues revenue opportunities. Part II Chambers of the Future: Telling Our Story Sheree Anne will discuss the latest trends in visual storytelling for chambers. This powerful communication technique can be used in every part of chamber management from membership communications to sales pitches, advocacy strategies, website content and more. Learn best practices from innovators across the leadership spectrum, whether metro city chambers, Fortune 100 companies, and major trade and business associations. Walk away with practical and proven tactics that you can apply to your own chamber work to improve communications with millennial audiences, diverse prospective members, community leaders and other key stakeholders.

Choose a group!

Join this fast paced session whereby each speaker presents 20 slides and speaks for 20 seconds per slide.

Being good isn’t enough these days. If you want to thrive, if you want to make an impact and if you want to achieve results then you need to be remarkable. But achieving remarkability is no easy task these days—the pace of change and disruption is making it harder and harder to stay at the front of the pack. Adam will share with you the framework—the three pillars of Purpose, People and Platform—for achieving remarkability so that you can take your organization to the top of its game. Rooted in twenty years of leadership experience he will share the realities, challenges and benefits of achieving remarkability and the transformation journey. Participants will come away with: • Full understanding of the remarkability framework and its component elements • The assessments to use in determining your remarkability score • The benefits of remarkability • The process to achieving remarkability, including common barriers and how to overcome them • A framework for staying remarkable

To win, and win big, chambers must prepare their membership team to succeed. Membership reps need and deserve a structured learning platform with proven steps that are easy to follow and help them successfully guide prospects through the recruiting cycle. In this interactive session, attendees will learn and understand the critical steps to implement a repeatable, scalable recruiting process that drives sustainable new member revenue results. This session will benefit chambers of every size with concepts and strategies that apply to attendees at every level of their organization – from the front line all the way to the top!

The success of your chamber depends on your ability to target the right audience. Learn how to expand your reach with a targeted, affordable digital marketing plan to promote your programs and services.

This workshop will provide participants with the how-to’s of creating an Industrial Round Table that engages all stakeholders in meaningful dialog and programming. We will explore how to identify stakeholders, how to facilitate the meetings, how to create sustainability and foster partnerships and collaborations.

Faced with unprecedented skills gaps, businesses, non-profits, and governments are pursuing alternative pathways to recruit and develop new talent – apprenticeships being one compelling pathway. Such efforts require leadership and a willingness to partner from a number of stakeholders, both internal and external. The Chicago Apprenticeship Network– now entering its third year, continues to be an evolving model on how companies individually and collectively identify the tools needed to build successful and rewarding apprenticeship programs in collaboration with non-profits, city colleges, and local and state governments.

What does member experience really mean? It isn’t enough that your chamber performs important work. In this day of automated communications, nurturing relationships with your members has never been more important. Chambers need to take personal steps to continually create, provide, and demonstrate their value to members. In this fast-paced program, Doug Holman will use humor, short stories, and anecdotes to illustrate the keys to exceptional member relations. This session will benefit chambers of every size with concepts and strategies that apply to attendees at every level of their organization – from the front line all the way to the top!

"Because we've always done it that way," won't cut it in today's cutthroat event space. Your board's expectations are high and events can be demanding on your association’s resources. To be successful, you need to think about where your organization is headed and fully assess if your events are meeting the needs of your chamber. In this session, community events expert Melissa Lagowski will discuss four strategic questions all chamber professionals need to ask to keep their events, and subsequently, their organization, relevant.

Strategic planning can address a number of issues in an organization: refining mission and vision, identifying core values, setting organizational priorities, creating new culture, or charting a new direction, among others. Discerning what you want to accomplish in the process helps ensure that you get the results you need. In this session, you’ll have the opportunity to think about what pieces of a strategic planning process are most important for your organization and how you can best approach the process for optimal results.

Faced with unprecedented skills gaps, businesses, non-profits, and governments are pursuing alternative pathways to recruit and develop new talent – apprenticeships being one compelling pathway. Such efforts require leadership and a willingness to partner from a number of stakeholders, both internal and external. The Chicago Apprenticeship Network– now entering its third year, continues to be an evolving model on how companies individually and collectively identify the tools needed to build successful and rewarding apprenticeship programs in collaboration with non-profits, city colleges, and local and state governments.

Building an effective volunteer force is critical to the success of your chamber programs, services and mission. Learn how to build a strong team by recruiting the right people, setting clear expectations and offering rewards that lead to greater performance. Key insights on how to retire volunteers will also be included.

Finding the right talent is becoming increasingly difficult for every business, and local manufacturers are feeling the brunt of that challenge. In the face of a shrinking workforce and an uncertain economy, what options are available – and how will the world of work adjust to unending technological advancements in the years ahead?

An organization is more effective and impactful when its Board functions at a high level. In this session, you’ll learn how to coach Board members to lead on issues of governance, policy and fundraising, which are the core functions of a Board. You’ll walk away with a better understanding of the duties of care, loyalty and obedience that are the bedrock responsibilities of a Board, in addition to fiduciary oversight. We’ll talk about Board accountability, consent agendas, generative and strategic discussions and more!

In this interactive session, community event expert Melissa Lagowski dives into the topic of what it takes to properly evaluate your events. She'll discuss best practices and field questions to help you decide if reinvention is possible or if a fresh start is the best prescription.

This session will share the “nuts and bolts” of the new not-for-profit/501c6 reporting model that went into effect last year including the new revenue recognition model. New/different considerations for management as a result of the new NFP reporting model will be discussed. Additionally, Nathan will discuss financial best practices for chambers including cash vs. accrual accounting, internal controls, 990 updates, and recommendations for small offices.

Leaders face countless forces of change, disruption and uncertainty. Knowing what changes will affect their organization, and how to handle them, are becoming some of the largest pressures for leaders and executives. No one can know it all, and no one will get it all right. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be working to make sure your organization is agile and prepared. But what about how different trends are intersecting to create disruptions you may not have even thought of? What will you do when something comes out of left field? After a process of extensive research and connecting of dots, Adam believes that there are three major societal and economic disruptions that will be more significant than anything you are currently thinking about. He will break those down for you, frame the questions to address these disruptions, and share with you the leadership approaches to thrive amongst these, or any, disruptions and changes. Participants will come away with: •A thought provoking and insightful picture of three major disruptions presented to them in a unique way for the first time •An appreciation for the mindset that leaders must cultivate to stay nimble, flexible and ready for change •Implications of change and disruption on their organization •Perspectives on leadership and survival in challenging and disruptive times •A framework of leadership practices to ensure you thrive amidst change and disruption

2020 Fall Conference Announcement Passport Drawing Closing Remarks