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huggytree
12-05-2009, 05:35 PM
we went to our local towns christmas parade today...it was put on by the chamber of commerce(which i belong)

everyone lines up to see work trucks and vans/pickups with company logo's throwing candy out for the kids....1 marching band, 3 fire trucks and santa at the end....i dont get it on any level

other than santa and a few company vans pulling something christmas related it wasnt much of a parade to see......it cant generate much work for the companies in the parade...some handed out fliers and i saw people crumple them up...i didnt see where businesses will get anything out of it..

my kids only liked the bag of candy and the fire trucks...

it was just a bad parade which focused 90% on business and 10% on christmas...i dont see why any business would pay to be in this parade and i dont see why ill go next year.

anyone had any luck being in chamber parades?

im dumping my chamber membership for next year. I dont see how the chamber survives.

Patrysha
12-05-2009, 06:14 PM
Ours is pretty much the same way...

I am not sure what benefit the Chamber serves on our local level. I thought I knew and then I tried to get involved and it definitely was not what I thought it was going to be about.

The thing about parade appearances is that they are branding activity and have nothing to do with really bringing customers in now (maybe if with the candy they were giving away gift certificates or coupons or something...big flyers just don't make sense for that sort of situation)

I think sponsoring hot chocolate and a bonfire after the parade would make more sense than being in a parade that only brings out parents of young children...

We had all sorts of things going on around town today including sleigh rides and the parade a bit later (they do it at dusk because it's a light parade...half of the floats look dog ugly unless they're under the cover of darkness) but I skipped them cuz it's cold out and I don't feel like being sociable.

Steve B
12-05-2009, 09:09 PM
Perhaps it was just to do something nice for the kids?

Dan Furman
12-05-2009, 09:32 PM
I'm a member of the local chamber, and while I think it can be useful (putting you and the bank president in the same room over drinks), I do see it as more "corporate" than I really like. I think the bigger your business and the more upscale you appear, the more you get out of it.

As far as your parade, Huggy, I doubt very much it's meant as a "get business now" thing.

huggytree
12-06-2009, 10:35 AM
if its not to get business right now why do they hand out thousands of fliers to people who dont want them?

its good for name recognition..but thats it

the kids didnt really enjoy it besides the candy....id rather go to the food store and buy them a candybar than sit in the cold for 1.5 hours....the kids would be happier too..

parades should be 100% for the kids and christmas...not 10%...

other than 1 marching band , fire trucks and santa it had nothing...the parade could have been 2 minutes long.

ive been in the chamber for 2 years now....i give them magnets for the welcome wagon...until i found that they dont even deliver it...your new to the comunity means you have to go the chamber to get your welcome wagon gift bag....never got 1 call in 2 years....i have gotten 2 jobs from other chamber members which paid for my membership each year, but now they dont have events anymore...so i dont meet new people...i never found the people at the events to be good networkers either...

dynocat
12-06-2009, 12:00 PM
Something a community activity where business toss out candy, coupons or samples is simply a matter of giving something back to the community. You may get some name recognition and goodwill from it. Not everything is about getting immediate business.

Patrysha
12-06-2009, 12:22 PM
The problem I have with the Chamber here is it doesn't seem to have any connection to bringing in business for anyone.

I don't see how throwing candy out to some kids is a way of building community...hosting a meal or donating to a soup kitchen, lighting up a tree to raise money or decorating it with mittens for charity, sponsoring a sport or an activity like a dance that keeps kids off the streets in a safe environment...those are (to my mind) community builders...parades are "look at me! I care so much about the community that I'll spend a $100 on candy but I can't be bothered to actually take the time to decorate my vehicle and expect my staff to volunteer to go out in the cold while I schmooze with other muckety mucks in the VIP area"

KristineS
12-07-2009, 10:49 AM
I think most Chambers of Commerce tend to go where the money is and the money tends to be with the bigger companies. Often the organizations that do more for local businesses are the more regional (so to speak) ones. We have a Chamber, but we also have organizations like the Downtown Development Authority. That group, which is made up of businesses that are in our downtown district, has down a lot to revitalize and bring business back to our downtown area. It is made up primarily of business owners from the area, and has minimal outside staff. The DDA seems to be successful because the people it effects are directly involved in making the decisions about how things will run.

Our Chamber, on the other hand, is mostly staffed by people who were hired to work at the Chamber. There's much more focus on making the Chamber successful and profitable and much less on making local businesses successful and profitable. I think a lot of problems start when the Chamber becomes a business, not a service for community businesses.