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2011 Membership Campaign Update
In my last newsletter I let you know we were just over 100 new members and were fast approaching our goal. We recently completed the week long membership drive which grossed over 140 new members to the Chamber of Commerce and just under $40,000 pledged investments.
These numbers well surpassed my personal goals as well as the goals we set out for the campaign.
Through these new members' investments, we will be able to grow awareness for what is happening in our community and support our businesses with a host of programs and offerings. Each time we are able to provide avenues of growth and learning opportunities for our businesses, we provide an opportunity for exposure to develop their business and customer base.
Crucial to the success of this campaign was the benefit of having professional consultant services. Paul and Diane Oliver of Chamber of Commerce Consultants of Fort Worth, Texas returned to Laurel for the third time since 1993 to lead the membership campaign. Each year they have been in Laurel they have gained more and more members for our organization. Through their leadership and proven techniques, our volunteers were able to learn skills that not only made this drive a success but will help them in their daily business.
In addition to great leadership, I can not say enough about how motivated and determined our volunteers are. Every organization claims to have the best volunteers. I can truly say we have some spectacular volunteers who are dedicated to making Jones County a better place. This week that dedication was contagious as our volunteers were able to help others understand from their personal experience and commitment how important an investment in the Chamber of Commerce is to the betterment of quality of life and creation of jobs in Jones County!
As a reward for our top producing volunteers, we wanted to show our appreciation in a special way. Our state has so many great attractions that are within short drives from Jones County and we wanted to allow our winners an opportunity to experience some of the world class hospitality found right here at home.
When we set out to create interest and prizes for our top producing volunteers, we knew we didn't want to send our winners out of state. Times are hard on all of us right now (and gas is expensive). We knew it would be hard to get our members to take a trip to an out of state destination, even if it was free, but beyond that, it wouldn't help our state.
The Laurel Blues Marker is about to be unveiled next week in downtown Laurel. We thought it would be cool to tie our winner's trip in with that experience. We contacted the Mississippi Development Authority's Tourism Division and they were able to put us in contact with the Greenwood Convention and Visitors Bureau, Viking Range, Viking Hospitality Group, The B.B. King Museum and a host of others who really came through for us and help develop a stellar prize package. In addition, MDA's Tourism group helped us with several giveaways of their own to help us really energize our volunteers and it paid off big.
It's opportunities like these where we can work together on a local, regional and statewide level that allow Mississippi to "raise the bar" in terms of economic and community development. More than that, it's just good hospitality.
I can't say enough to thank our friends and partners around the state and MDA. Without the dedication of our volunteers and our support group of friends and family throughout the state and especially here in Jones County, this campaign would not have been as successful as it was. Thank you.
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