Earlier this month, employees of the Nassau County Chamber of Commerce attended a conference they said will help them implement new ideas and practices within the community.
On May 7-8, the county’s Chamber of Commerce was represented at The Florida Association of Chamber Professionals Spring Conference. The conference was held at Hyatt Place-Vilano Beach in St. Augustine.
The chamber sent two employees to the conference, Hailie Mason, administrative assistant, and Allyson Myrick, projects and events coordinator.
Mason said the conference has been going on for a long time, and she estimated around 150 people were in attendance.
The conference is meant “to provide professional development specifically for those working in the chamber industry,” Mason said.
Mason, who also attended the conference last year, said some of my key takeaways from this year’s conference “included nurturing our members, building deeper relationships with them, understanding national chamber statistics, engaging with public policy and developing multidimensional leadership.”
Mason said meeting the chamber’s member’s expectations and developing a comprehensive retention plan is big on her list of ways to implement what was learned at the conference.
Myrick, who attended the conference for the first time this year, said “… It offered multiple informational sessions on how we can improve the various components of our chamber — retention, sales, events, pretty much everything that kind of encompasses our chamber and what we offer our members.”
Myrick and Mason both agreed that the conference helped grow their understanding and advanced their skill sets beyond just their positions and they said it will help them to implement changes in the community that will benefit, not only the chamber members, but Nassau County residents, as well.
“The chamber improves our community by supporting local businesses and fostering those connections. We collaborate with businesses, leaders and individuals to create a welcoming environment where new and established businesses can thrive,” Mason said.
Myrick said the chamber not only supports local businesses but also visitors and residents who are looking for information about the county. The West Nassau Discovery Map the chamber is working on rolling out is one such example. Myrick said this map is in conjunction with the Amelia Island Discovery Map the chamber publishes annually. The West Nassau map will allow the chamber to highlight business in Callahan and Hilliard.
“It’s definitely member-focused, but we are reaching out to nonmembers, as well. We kind of just want to highlight any businesses that would like to be on the map,” Myrick said.
“Our Discover Map for Amelia Island has been huge and a go-to for tourists and visitors, so being able to kind of duplicate that map, but for the west side will be great,” Mason said. “It will show boat ramps, state parks and the hot spots and all the things. If members and nonmembers want to advertise, we’re allowing them that opportunity but also still showing the state parks and boat ramps and things to that nature.”
Mason and Myrick said the chamber actively collaborates with the county and city officials in several initiatives.
“Our workforce housing initiative is a huge thing that we’ve been collaborating with them (on) as well as transportation,” Mason said.
Mason said a huge difficulty the chamber is seeing has to do with affordable housing for the workforce.
“One of the huge difficulties that not only the chamber is facing, with our businesses, our members, but the community as a whole, is really the shortage of workforce housing,” Mason said. “This is causing businesses in the community, not just our members, to lose valuable employees and are forced to leave the area due to a lack of affordable living options … It’s a struggle for our workforce, especially those in hospitality, teaching and first responders.”
She said the chamber is actively working on a Community Land Trust initiative to gain funding and land to help mitigate the issues it is seeing with affordable housing.
“Finding developers that are willing to work with us is a huge part of it, as well,” Mason said.
Myrick said the chamber has seen a decline of attendance at certain chamber events and is looking at holding only events that their members truly find worthwhile to attend.
Myrick mentioned the chamber is coordinating a candidate open forum for members to attend, allowing a “nonpartisan” environment for a forum.
The chamber’s website states a forum will be held on June 5, from 8-11 a.m., and will be moderated by Sean McGill with candidates running for Fernandina Beach government seats 1, 2 and 3. It is open to members only, and attendees must register ahead of time.
Mason said another initiative the chamber is working on rolling out is for members and nonmembers called Size Up Nassau. She said it “provides local businesses with top tier market research and data insights.”
For more information on SizeUpNassau, visit https://www.islandchamber.com/size-up-nassau/.
Myrick said to stay up to date with chamber updates, you can check out the chamber’s website or Facebook page. You can visit the chamber website at www.islandchamber.com and the Facebook page at www.facebook.com/NassauCountyFLChamberofCommerce/.
achandler@fbnewsleader.com