Blogs

A performance by Tony Orlando, cheerleaders, prize giveaways, a bacon mascot, trapeze artists, and a chamber president singing “You Belong To Me”: this was the Greater Lehigh Valley (PA) Chamber’s recent annual meeting and awards luncheon held earlier this month. The chamber team led by President/CEO Tony Iannelli bills the event as “the most infotaining event of the year.” It always sells out with more than 1,000 members attending.

Recognized as “not your typical annual meeting,” the chamber event is definitely fun. According to an article in The Morning Call, Tony Iannelli’s “entrance was a little more subdued than last year's, when he landed on the stage in a spacesuit to the sounds of the classic David Bowie tune ‘Space Oddity.’”

Watch highlights from this year’s annual meeting: https://vimeo.com/144896476. If you think it’s pretty awesome, the chamber’s COO & EVP of Member Relations Frank Facchiano says, “Wait till you see the gala!”

Tags: annual meeting, Awards, events

As summer marches on, events requiring great networking skills seem to culminate. With chamber's summertime programs and events, as well as professional networking through events like ACCE's Annual Convention, not a day goes by without some kind of networking opportunity.

Even if you're a star networker, or perhaps want to learn to be a better one, we can all pick up some great yet simple tips from this fun, quirky, retro-style video with key points on how to effectively network. (If anything, the amusing graphics and music will make you smile and tap your foot, at least!) Watch the Forbes Etiquette Guide: How To Work A Room (2.23 min) and start applying these points to your own networking style. This was originally posted on ACCE's LinkedIn general discussion group in the thread on How to Work a Room- Get the Most out of Real-Life Networking.

More networking ideas are listed on ACCE's Chamberpedia pages for Networking Events and Networking Icebreakers, available in our Events and Programs main section.

Questions, thoughts, comments? We enjoy hearing from you! Email us at HERO@acce.org.

Tags: Convention, events, icebreakers, Networking

ACCE's Chamberpedia section on Events and Programs is being expanded. Here you will find numerous resources to address event planning and programming at your chamber.

Chamber event planners will find ACCE's chapter on Community Events to be helpful in gaining new awareness for successful programming options. This chapter comes from the ACCE Chamber Revenue Model Whitepaper (published December 2013).

Just getting started with event planning? Visit our new page on General Resources for Events and Programs to find online guides and resources, articles, books, whitepapers and research, and event planning samples.

Another good place to start is with the free event planning e-Book 14 Leys to Hosting Events Your Members Will Love (PDF), a guide for Association professionals from WebLink International (provider of Association Database Management Software and Chamber of Commerce Software for Member-Based Organizations).

Want to know how other chambers are handling events and to see what's most successful? See our Chamber Events QuickPoll - Provides stats on number and type of events, seasonal data, marketing events, attendance, and revenue from events from 264 poll participants, compiled June 2012.

Need a quick guide for event planning? See 15 Tips for Running Successful Community Events - From ACCE's whitepaper on Chamber Revenue Models, Events chapter.

Have a few minutes to read a great article? Check out EVENTS, by Katherine House, Chamber Executive magazine (Spring 2014). From community-wide local festivals to a caucus room on Capitol Hill, chambers are creative promoters and producers of profitable events.

To get specific, here are individual pages for specific types of events.

• Annual Meetings
• Breakfast Series
• Business Advancement Events
• Celebrations
• DC Fly-Ins
• Festivals, Parades, and Pageants
• Golf Tournaments
• Government Relations Events
• Health Care Programs & Summits
• Leadership Development Programs
• Lemonade Day
• Membership Orientation
• Networking Events
• Training and Seminars
• Technology Related Events

Event planners can bookmark these pages for resources to help get the job done. Or get the show on the road.

• Awards and Contests
• Evaluating Programs
• Event Calendars & Programming
• Networking Icebreakers
• Non-Member Event Attendance
• Program Agendas and Scripts
• Resources for Chamber Event Planners
• Sponsorships
• Technology for Events (using tech for events)

Chamberpedia pages like these are constantly updated. Have a program resource, sample, or event you'd like to share? Have a question or need help? Let us know. Email: HERO@acce.org.

Tags: HERO, events, Events and Programs

How do you entertain a room full of 30-something Iowan transplants on a Thursday evening in Washington, D.C.? For the Greater Des Moines Partnership, the answer is simple: fresh pie, the Nadas and Templeton Rye. 

Last Thursday night I had the pleasure of joining a group of young professionals from all walks of life in a neighborhood in Northeast D.C. Most arrived as strangers but they shared a common link: Iowa. Granted, there were a few native Minnesotans and Nebraskans thrown in, but even they were Iowa-educated. 

They were drawn together by the Greater Des Moines Partnership-sponsored East Coast Living Room tour by the Nadas, a talented Des Moines-based rock band that has been a staple of the Midwest university scene since the mid ‘90s. The pie and rye (Templeton is distilled in Iowa) were gravy for the guests.

This is the second such Nadas tour the Greater Des Moines Partnership has helped throw. Last spring they did a West Coast train tour that inlcuded stops in Portland, Seattle and Spokane. Their goal: stanch talent drain by reminding native sons and daughters about the great professional and personal opportunities back home. For a talent-hungry region with low unemployment, is there any better strategy than luring returnees? Iowa housing prices alone would perk the ears of anyone living inside the beltway.

So what’s this North Carolinian's Iowa link?  I never turn down an invitation for drinks with Jay Byers.

Tags: Des Moines, events, Jay Byers, talent, workforce