Exciting things are happening at the Thomson-McDuffie County Chamber of Commerce.
We have a new staff and several items of business that will vastly improve our service to our members.
Kim Thomas is the new office manager. She prides herself on providing excellent customer service to every person who walks into the chamber, and she offers hospitality with a smile if you cross her path in the community. She is a mother of three, a veteran of the Air Force and the founder of an organization created for mentoring and guiding young girls on the path to success. If you need assistance, she is more than willing to help you.
My name is Tish Chase, and I am the new executive director of the chamber. I am an Augusta native, but have spent the past decade in Perry, Ga., as the executive director of the Perry Downtown Development Authority. I have worked in economic and community development for 26 years. I moved back to Augusta in November to be closer to my family. I have one daughter still living at home. She is a junior in high school. I am an artist, writer, avid kayaker, and a full-time college student.
A major change for the chamber is that we are moving to annual invoicing in order to become more efficient and more business-oriented. This means we will send out membership invoices every January for all of our membership, freeing up the staff to focus on the membership the rest of the year. We know some of you will have questions based on when your anniversary invoice was paid, and we will be happy to discuss that on an individual basis.
The chamber’s annual meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 31, at Belle Meade Country Club. Our featured speaker is Jeb Blount, a Thomson native who founded www.Salesgravy.com in 2006 as a portal for all thing sales, an information source and job-posting board for the sales industry. Jeb is the author of five books including his bestseller People Buy You: The Real Secret to What Matters Most in Business, and his newest release, People Follow You: The Real Secret to What Matters Most in Leadership.
Jeb is a speaker and corporate consultant who reaches thousands of business professionals each year through speeches, books, articles and audio programs. He has done extensive work turning around and righting troubled organizations, teams and their leaders. Please plan to attend the annual meeting.
We would like to hear from our membership on annual sponsorships. A common feeling about chambers is, “We only see the chamber coming when they want something.” It is vital to any chamber function or event to have sponsors, and to prevent us from constantly seeking sponsors, we would like to propose that our members be offered the opportunity to become sponsors on an annual basis. This means that in exchange for your planned and budgeted sponsorship, your company receives credit for sponsorship for every event that the chamber has throughout the year. One proposal brought forth is for a Platinum Sponsor at $5,000; Gold Sponsor at $3,000; Silver Sponsor at $2,000; and Bronze Sponsor at $1,000. Please e-mail, call or stop in to let us know what you think about annual sponsorships.
Also in January, the chamber and the tourism office are partnering to create a Thomson-McDuffie County wall calendar, featuring scenes and photographs of local events. We are looking for sponsors for the calendar, and we have six available spots at $250 each. Sponsors will have their logo exclusively on one page of the calendar. In addition to each chamber member receiving the calendar, these will be placed at the welcome centers on the I-20 corridor. This is a great opportunity to get your business name out there.
We’ve had a little fun the past few weeks with Rudy, the chamber’s Christmas gnome. Rudy is a mischievous little guy, and he has rambled around town. If you missed his debut, he was spotted at The Thomson Depot during the Thomson Rotary Club meeting, the historic Bowden-Johnson House for Business After Hours, and he’s been hanging out on the rooftop of the McDuffie County Museum. The chamber has had a contest going on the Thomson-McDuffie County Chamber of Commerce Facebook page, and everyone who has spotted Rudy and commented on Facebook has been entered into a drawing to win a set of commemorative plates. The winner will be announced next week.
We are looking forward to meeting and working with our chamber members in the upcoming year, and eager to have every business join the Chamber of Commerce. We are here to serve the needs of our membership to advance the interest of economic development and enhance the quality of life for McDuffie County, and we need you to help us make that happen. Call the Chamber today at (706) 597-1000, e-mail us at kim.thomas@thomson-mcduffie.net and tish.chase@thomson-mcduffie.net, stop in to see us, or call us to come see you!
