Trending
One of the most important aspects of joining a chamber of commerce is the opportunity to network with people from the business community.
A good reminder of that came Tuesday, when the Weirton Area Chamber of Commerce held its 86th-annual Membership Meeting and Awards Banquet. With the pandemic mostly behind us, about 200 chamber members and their guests from across the Tri-State Area were able to enjoy time talking with one another, and recognizing a few individuals and local businesses along the way.
Among the reasons to celebrate, according to President Brenda Mull, were the nearly 40 new businesses that have joined the chamber during the past year.
"All of the new businesses coming to our area have been nothing but positive," Mull said while speaking in the Undo's banquet hall inside the Holiday Inn of the Weirton-Steubenville Area. "And, we realize that with all the overhead businesses have nowadays, we truly appreciate that you include the chamber as something that you want to belong to."
When it comes to deciding to join an organization like the chamber, an individual business likely will be looking at a variety of aspects before making the decision to invest. That's not lost on the chamber leadership, either.
"You're in business to be successful, and we're in business to help you do just that -- that's our priority," Mull said. "Our goal is to bring great value to your membership, whether it's by networking, advertising, promotional ideas or just having some fun."
It's not surprising that that's something the region's chambers of commerce -- including the Jefferson County and Follansbee chambers -- do very well.
In fact, it's something that happens all over the country. According to the Association of Chamber of Commerce Executives and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, there are 4,000 chambers of commerce across the United States that have at least one full-time staff person. And that's in addition to several thousand more that area staffed through the work of volunteers.
Area programs cover a wide variety of activities, from the annual Christmas in July Golf Scramble -- this year's will be held July 20 at Mountaineer's Woodview Golf Course -- to the third-annual sidewalk sale, to the youth and adult leadership programs to the annual Dr. Barbara A. Matey High School Business Symposium.
"We've invited 120 high school juniors to participate in this year's program," Mull said. "We've been doing this for more than 30 years. It's a one-day session for them to learn all about business.
"It's a different kind of day," she continued. "It gives them the opportunity to learn about budgeting, how to start a business and how to do the marketing."
Mull also pointed to the chamber's "Cash Mobs" events, which have been held at several locations.
"This is something new that we started to help small businesses," she said. "We get 10 or 15 people, and we come to your business and we shop for an hour. We're in, we're out, we carry signs, we put it live on Facebook. We give you a sign that says you have been cash-mobbed.
"It's a lot of fun -- we started it to promote businesses," she added. "Most of the places we've been to tell us that they have done more business in that one day. We tell the people that we take that all they have to do is spend $5 or $10 -- that's all we ask. Depending on the type of business that it is, it can be a $300 hour for those people."
Bringing one of the mobs to a business is good for everyone involved, she added.
"We feel that we're giving something back and you're having fun doing it -- it's a win-win," Mull added.
That sense of cooperation is important, she said, and it's something seen in the work being done to ensure Weirton's Christmas light displays are kept fresh and in working order. That includes assistance from the city, volunteers and even Steubenville-based Local 246 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.
"Apprentices there were willing and available to help us out," Mull said.
"I'm a believer that you can get a lot more done when you work together," she added. "That's how I choose to work."
(Gallabrese, a resident of Steubenville, is executive editor of the Herald-Star and The Weirton Daily Times.)