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Grow your chamber and yourself. Here are some resources specifically for chamber professionals.
Jump To:
- Trainings with Credentials
- Other niche trainings
- Board & Strategic Help
- Other Blogs
- Podcasts
- Chamber Networking
Accreditations for Chamber Professionals
- The US Chamber’s Institute for Organization Management (IOM) is basically chamber college, and highly recommended.
- Not to be confused with the accreditation for your organization
- Certified Association Executive, from The Center for Association Leadership
- Certified Chamber Executive, from the Association of Chamber of Commerce Executives
- Certified Economic Developer, from the International Economic Development Council
- Certified Meeting Professional , from the Events Industry Council
- Professional Community and Economic Developer, from the Community Development Institute
Recommended: Common Acronyms at Chambers of Commerce
Other Niche Trainings for Chamber Pros
- The Association of Chamber of Commerce Executives (ACCE) provides many samples, ideas, webinars, and more
- Also look for a state or regional chambers. I love CACCE’s conferences!
- Marketing
- Self-plug: How to Create a Communication Calendar
- I usually prefer to wait for a sale, but I recommend & have various certifications from Digital Marketer
- Chamber Pros Education – Frank J Kenny
- Look at the softwares you use. Companies like Constant Contact & ChamberMaster have valuable recorded trainings & live webinars that can make you more efficient.
Help for Board Development & Consultants
- If you don’t know who Bob Harris, CAE is you need to.
- Frank J Kenny – facilitating board retreats & strategic planning, staff training, executive coaching, digital marketing consulting, ambassador training, conference keynotes, etc.
- Louder NonProfit Strategies, LLC – Offering consulting, mentoring and strategic planning services for small and mid-sized chambers of commerce, associations, and other nonprofit organizations.
- Alysia Cook, Opportunities Strategies LLC – Offers multi-year strategic plans, one-year work plans, organization management, operations audits, community planning, economic development planning, and more.
- David K. Aaker – keynote presentations
- Pat McGaughey / Activating People – Professional Planning for Your Organization, board training, sales training, etc.
- Cathi Hight – speaker services & strategic direction
- Anyone else who has taught at IOM
- Chris Mead / Magicians of Main Street – speaker, strategy consultant, revenue consultant, marketing assistance, and board retreats
- HBG Consulting – run by a fellow chamber exec, he’s created a variety of strategic planning & relationship building tools.
- Board Source – Empowering Boards & Inspiring Leadership
Blogs
- US Chamber – Above the Fold
- Again, also check your state or regional chamber.
- Sustainability Education 4 Nonprofits – Enhancing Nonprofit Sustainability Through Fiscal, Financial, Legal, and Governance Education.
- Frank J Kenny
- YGM Total Resource Campaign
- Louder NonProfit Strategies, LLC
- Hight Performance Group
- Scott Oser Associates
- Magicians of Main Street
- Membership Services, Inc / Robert Skrob
- Chamber Marketing Partners
- Chamber Master
- Accrisoft
- Kathy Jacobs
- Not 100% Chamber-specific, but still relevant:
- ASAE – American Society of Association Executives
- Association Benchmarking
- Association Laboratory
- Smooth the Path
- Nonprofits are Messy
- Shop Small Strategies
- While not for chambers, I found it interesting that Momentum – The Business Growth Agency focuses on helping businesses take advantage of their chamber membership.
Podcasts
- Chamber Chat Podcast – This is a show for Chamber professionals to get ideas so they can better serve their members and community.
- W.A.C.E.’s Chamber Leadership Podcast – Inspiring chamber of commerce executives, staff and volunteers through best practices and interviews with industry leaders.
- More Non-Dues Revenue is a semi-monthly Zoominar series interviewing chamber leaders to share their creative, entrepreneurial non-dues revenue ideas for chambers of commerce and associations.
- Nonprofits are Messy
Chamber Networking
Again, join your national and/or state associations as noted in above resources. In addition to those, I recommend
- Facebook Groups
- Chamber of Commerce Professionals (via Frank Kenny)
- ACCE Events Division (or any other groups they start)
- ChamberMaster User Group (or look for groups with the other top software you use)
- Small Chambers with < 300 Members (this is a smaller group currently, but you never know)
If I missed your resource, please email [email protected] with relevant information. Please limit requested promotion to one sentence & link.
Next: Chamber Book List
