Vermont Chamber of CommerceYear in Review

2013

The Vermont ChamberConnects Businesses

• The Vermont Business & Industry EXPO• The Taste of Vermont Legislative Reception• The Vermont Hospitality Gala• The Citizen of the Year Award Dinner• Legislative Leadership Luncheon• Vermont Manufacturing Trade Show• The Legislative Roadshow Series• Newsletters• Manufacturing Supply Chain Events• Webinars • Action Network

“I made more strategic

marketing connections

at my EXPO booth in

one day than I have in

the previous year

combined.”

~ Scott Lowe, A la

Carte Web Marketing

• Transformed four member lodging establishments into engaging settings for productive networking events.

• Worked with over 50 member businesses on event sponsorship opportunities for highlighted visibility.

• Connected over 3,000 businesses resulting in one-on-one qualified networking experiences.

• Enhanced the Vermont Chamber’s visibility by adding freshly branded materials consistently showcased at each event.

Six Prestigious Awards

Citizen of the Year: Antonio Pomerleau

Deane C. Davis Outstanding Business of the Year: GW Plastics

Borden E. Avery Innkeeper of the Year: Beth Kennett, Liberty Hill Farm

Allied Member of the Year: Todd Paton, Rock of Ages

Restaurateurs of the Year: The Farmhouse Group (Jed Davis, Rob Downey, Paul Sayler, Chef Phillip Clayton)

Chef of the Year: Chef Robert Barral, Café Provence

Connecting Vermont’s Manufacturing Industry

• Organized the first-ever Manufacturing Trade Show attended by over 500 decision makers, resulting in feature stories in VTDigger and the Burlington Free Press.

• Promoted Bennington as a economic center for carbon composites. • Highlighted Vermont’s emerging medical device manufacturing industry. • Promoted the Burlington International Airport as a state asset and

regional economic driver.

"You're amazing. You did a fantastic job with this event!I was quite impressed." ~ Penny Guy, Intertek

Vermont Chamber’s Tourism Network Connects Tour Operators and Visitors with Member Companies

• Conducted more than 350 tour operator appointments at shows like American Bus Association, the National Tour Association and the Ontario Motorcoach Association.

• Connected with more than 600 group leaders at regional shows hosted by tour operators.

• Hosted a group travel sales mission to Ottawa and Montréal.• Hosted the ABA Top 100 Committee meeting and FAM

The Vermont Chamber created four new electronic newsletters to communicate with members on business, tourism, manufacturing and legislative issues.

• Commerce Connection, the semi-monthly newsletter, is sent to over 7,000 people with an average open rate of 22 percent.

• The legislative update, State to Main, is sent weekly over to over 3,000 readers.

• Two quarterly newsletters dig deeper into issues of particular importance to the tourism (Tips & Gratuities) and manufacturing (Horizons) industries.

Members Learn through Webinars

• 28 webinars presented by member businesses to 200 attendees.

• Topics included social media, tax info, education, health care reform, security , energy efficiency, marketing, regulations and business trends.

“The Vermont Chamber has effectively promoted UVM to Vermont’s statewide business community with business development efforts, including the Webinar series.” ~ Joe Speidel, University of Vermont

• 4 ServSafe® Food Safety Classes• 92% attendee pass rate • 49 Vermonters certified as ServSafe® Food

Protection Managers

Members Learn through the ServSafe® Program, a partnership with the National Restaurant Association

Members Learn About Health Care• Secured the largest statewide Navigator organization grant from the State

of Vermont to help small businesses transition to the new health care marketplace, Vermont Health Connect.

• Held 25 informational forums for the business community across the state with a total of nearly 500 attendees to educate employers about health care reform and their options for 2014.

“Thank you for your thoughtful presentation this morning at the Brattleboro Chamber of Commerce breakfast meeting. For such a long journey, you deserve our heartfelt gratitude.” ~ Joan Bowman, Brattleboro Memorial Hospital

Members Learn About Legislative Issues

• The Vermont Chamber’s lobbying team presented the Business Agenda to over 1,000 businesses in the Issues Preview Road Show Series.

• 100 businesses attended the 2013 Legislative Luncheon.

• The weekly legislative update State to Main is emailed to 3,000 business people each Friday morning to educate them on issues impacting their businesses.

“Thank you for all your work on behalf of Vermont Distilleries. Your advocacy is helpful as we grow as an industry and employ more people.” ~ Todd Hardie, Caledonia Spirits

Additional Learning at the EXPOMomentum Center

• Introduced the Momentum Center at EXPO sponsored by Blue Cross and Blue Shield Vermont

• 14 member companies gave ten-minute presentations to small groups of business people

• Over 100 participated in the Momentum Center

• Distributed 400,000 copies of tourism publications nationally and internationally.

• Increased annual page views on VisitVT.com to

200,000, a 25% increase.

• Achieved over 2,500 VisitVT Facebook fans with an average weekly fan engagement of over 1,500 individuals.

Tourism Marketing Means Business Growth for Members

“Since joining the Vermont Chamber and enhancing our web listing on VisitVT.com, we’ve seen an increase in traffic from interested parties both as visitors to our website and to the Meadery itself .” ~ Kelly Klein, Groenfell Meadery

Vermont Chamber Members Grow Internationally

• Vermont Chamber members attended the 50th Paris Air Show featuring 2,100 exhibitors and 151,000 attendees from around the world.

• The marketing effort at the Paris Air Show resulted in $3.3M in sales for member companies that participated in the Best of New England Booth.

• Trade discussions with Aéro Montréal resulted in an agreement to be signed at the Aerospace Innovation Forum in December, supporting the vision to enhance joint supply chain opportunities.

• Achieved a budget balanced on existing revenues, rather than new and increased taxes.

• Secured a first-in-nation proposal that included patent and intellectual property protections for small businesses.

• Allowed employers flexibility when managing employees and avoiding prescriptive legislation that would mandate flexible work arrangements to be approved by all employers.

Helping Members GrowThrough Advocacy

• Protected the tourism budget to promote travel, recreation and cultural attractions.

• Retained the production deduction exemption for Vermont's manufacturing community.

• Preserved the capital gains exemption maintaining it as a small business development incentive.

• Promoted an effective approach to protect Vermont's primary agricultural soil that allows development to occur where growth and infrastructure improvements have been planned.

“It was a real pleasure working with you and your team.” ~ Kelly Colling, Burlington International Airport

“As we celebrate 50 years in business, we wish to thank the Vermont Chamber of Commerce for its support during our many years of membership. They’ve been an integral part of our success and have helped us achieve this milestone.” ~ Herb Hillman, Golden Eagle Resort