Social Media, the proverbial Pandora’s box. When used for good, a great resource to broadcast information and events and keep up with friends and family. When used for bad, an easy screen blind to be negative, attack individuals and just be out right mean. Yet, like all good soap operas, we keep tuning in and opening the app to look.
This morning, my Facebook memories had the picture of the chamber business card with me being listed as the executive director, which was five years ago. Wow, five years. When I took the helm of the chamber, I was in over my head trying to catch up. Membership was down and moral low. Moral within the business community did not improve quickly. September with the hospital closing and October with Shaw Industries moving out of town. But with the support of the chamber board, we continued.
Now, businesses are opening across the county, federal grants are being awarded to work on projects, and chamber membership is growing. The chamber has worked hard to create programming for our community needs and what businesses have requested. We partner with other organizations to host a wide array of events all year long. I thought about some of the top programs and events that the chamber has started in the past five years. Here are my top five in no particular order:
Partnerships to host events and programs: From job fairs, Festival of Lights, Hometown Christmas, Spooktacular, The Crossroads exhibit, PC Leadership, and multiple projects with Patrick County Tourism, just to name a few.
The Community Resource Guide: A print and digital (on our website) listing of organizations and businesses that the county does have to assist our residents.
Lunch & Learn programming: Grant writing, social media marketing, historic tax credits, and more, we run the gambit of quick information programming.
Community Beautification Programs: The pocket park in downtown Stuart and the LOVEworks sign in Meadows of Dan, and the Pickup Patrick litter prevention campaigns.
The Patrick County Magazine: A great informational and marketing tool for residents and tourists alike.
July was the month of meetings and gearing up for the busy fall season to come. It takes months of planning for an event, even the ones that only last a few hours like Stuart Spooktacular.
We helped host the ribbon cutting for the new Fab Lab in Stuart and look forward to seeing how that can and will benefit our business community and residents alike. They are offering classes for the general public, so check it out.
If the chamber can help you in any way, feel free to contact us at (276) 694-6012 or visit www.patrickchamber.com, and let us all try to use social media for good.