What a Great Time to be a Part of Cheyenne

By Dale Steenbergen, President and CEO
Greater Cheyenne Chamber of Commerce
November 2007

What a great time to be a part of Cheyenne and your Greater Cheyenne Chamber of Commerce. This is a very exciting and busy time for the chamber and its guiding board. We would first like to welcome our newest board members to the chamber. We have elected five new members that will take their position in January to help guide the future of our chamber. This year for the first time we used electronic voting to elect our board and the result was very exciting. The electronic voting increased participation in the process by more than 400%. The chamber needs to be about openness and participation and from the response to the election we certainly made a great step toward that end. October also means board planning, budget creation, new board members and a host of events. It is exciting to think about the possibilities of what the future holds for the chamber and what we can do to make our members more profitable. It is often asked by our members "what is the return on my investment to the chamber?" If you are a member that doesn’t ask this question I would encourage you to ask us annually what our value to you as a member and to the community at large entails. I thought I would take a few paragraphs and discuss the value proposition that we offer from the chamber of commerce and discuss how we measure success for these areas.

In the chamber world we address our success by dividing our work into five core competencies. These are: creating a strong local economy, promoting the community, providing networking opportunities, representing the needs of business to government and political action. While these core priorities play different roles of importance in different community environments they are all ultimately the responsibility of the chamber and its resources.

The first of the core competencies is "Creating a strong local economy." The chamber works tirelessly to equip our members to be able to make money in our economic climate. We facilitate new business startup, recruit businesses that are within segments with demonstrated tax leak problems, offer seminars relating to business issues, publish timely information relating to the economy, work with schools, colleges and state agencies to accomplish progress on workforce issues and many other events and activities that directly affect the economy of individuals and the group. We work for a better standard of living, encouraging arts and cultural activities to make our community a more conducive place to do business. We work with elected officials to promote community planning for infrastructure and transportation needs. Our work to create a strong local economy encompasses much but the essence of our work is aimed at making you more money.

The second core competency is "Promoting the community." The chamber uses all forms of media including print media, web, and various broadcast media to promote the community of Cheyenne. We work constantly to improve the community through quality of life projects so that our marketing product continues to grow in stature. The other implication of our efforts, and arguably the most important result of the effort, is that people have abundant pride in the community they call home. Promoting Cheyenne is about building a feeling of belonging and place for the people that live here and making our community a great place for people of all ages to live.

The third core competency by which we measure success is "Providing networking opportunities." Business success is largely associated with the extent of our network. All businesses big and small rely on their counterparts in the business community for advice, services, problem solving, business leads and a host of other issues. It is our desire to create a climate that let’s the business community interact in an environment that promotes profitability and good will in our community. We provide luncheons, business after hours, BIZlink (leads group) and many other unique opportunities for you to meet the colleagues that can help you create a more profitable business.

The fourth core competency is "Representing the needs of business to government." Daily, the chamber attends council meetings, board meetings, committee meetings, hearings and planning meetings on your behalf. We constantly work to make sure that the voice of business is heard at all levels of government. We work to ensure that our community, our state, and our nation provide an environment that encourages prosperity.

The fifth and last core competency is "Political action." It is our belief that to inspire your participation in our democratic process must be a priority for us. The Cheyenne chamber works to educate you on the issues that are important to your business. There is nothing more valuable to a chamber and a community than stakeholders who know all sides of an issue and are prepared to make an informed decision. There will be times when the chamber will find it in the best interest of the business community to take a position but our most important role regarding political action is that of educator and facilitator.

The chamber is working diligently to achieve proficiency in all of the five core competencies. Our discussions with you indicate that we do quite well in achieving the goals of a number of the competencies and yet we also realize that there are a couple of areas that need significant improvement. The board and staff of the chamber are committed to achieving excellence in all five of these competencies. We are diligently working daily to have measurable goals that achieve the results that our members aspire to.