“So, when does the Chamber meet?”

Having been asked this by prospective or brand-new members rather frequently over two plus years at the Chamber, it became pretty clear after my second Annual Meeting last year that these eager new friends deserved a good answer.

Chamber members have always been invited to attend our –their! -- Annual Meeting. However I guess the election of our board members and installation of new officers hasn’t been enough of a draw. So these January early mornings have been rather quiet affairs. From all indications we surely could do better.

Putting finger to keyboard we drafted a three-part plan for an Annual Meeting that just might make showing up at 7:30 a.m. at the Retreat’s Educational Conference Center worthwhile — eggs and bacon notwithstanding.

For part one, the Chamber board divvied up the list of the 90 or so members who’d signed on last year and personally invited them to join us. We were delighted that about a third chose to do so.

In our plan’s part two, the board identified a number of member businesses and organizations who’d earned special recognition this year for a variety of reasons, including celebrating big anniversaries. We came up with ten, who were invited to receive their applause in person.

Thus was the “Class of 2007” formed – made up of 90 freshmen members, and the ten senior members who’d demonstrated, each in their own way, that they’re indeed “class acts” in the Brattleboro community.

And thus did an Annual Meeting that had been over the years a rather quiet affair, emerge, alive with a new spirit of Chamber membership. Thirty new members, 15 board directors, 10 honorees, a goodly group of tried and true members, and a couple of us from the Chamber staff and – hey, we’re having a party!

And that’s just what it was: welcoming, acknowledging, social, delicious, even stimulating (this is part three of the plan!) – thanks to Jeff Lewis, Executive Director of BDCC who spoke to us about our Vermont brand.

The editor of the Reformer, on hand to cover the meeting, thought so highly of Jeff’s remarks that he asked him to prepare it for publication on the op-ed page. “Vermont Prospects” appeared in a mid-February issue. I commend it to you. So there you have it.

The first Annual Meeting in what the Chamber intends will be a long tradition of inclusive, interesting, worth-attending gatherings. Now, when asked by inquisitive new or prospective members, “So, when does the Chamber meet?,” all of us at the Chamber take pride in answering, “The third Tuesday in January. Mark your calendars!”

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