If you are in the market for a new or used car, you care about the environment and you want unmatched quality and service then you won’t beat Caldwell Toyota.  I can’t say enough about the guys.  They built Arkansas’s only LEED Gold Certified retail facility.  In fact, it’s one of the only Gold Certified LEED buildings in Arkansas.  They did this because Toyota is committed to environmentally responsible vehicles and the guys at Caldwell thought they should be too.

Five of us spent the day yesterday driving Toyota vehicles. I drove the Tacoma, @chamberchad drove the Sienna (the Swagger Wagon), @chamberkathy drove the Avalon, @chambermary and @chamberwhitney drove the new 4Runner and Scion.  In short, great vehicles across the board.  It’s been a while since this guy has driven a new car much less a tricked out truck.  @chamberchad’s car has like 800,000 miles on it, so I know he enjoyed the break.

Toyota is a cool company.  Caldwell Toyota is a family owned business committed to unmatched service and quality.  They are an asset to our community and the Chamber.  Give them a chance to earn your business.  You won’t regret it.

The topping out ceremony is when they hang the final steel for a major project.  It’s a milestone in the construction process. Sometimes you see a tree mounted on top.  In the interest of preservation, we all just signed the beam.

Some Facts

-  100k square feet

-  Approx $25 million facility

-  Will support up to 450 employees

-  GOLD LEED certified.  That is a pretty serious commitment to sustainability.

Did you know you can burn 140 calories per hour bowling!

In lieu of witty prose, I’m cutting to the chase.  Bowling for Business. New business networking event. July 9th. Conway Family Bowl.  Not convinced?  Read below. 

1. Golf tournaments are not good business networking events. At Bowling for Business you will be in position to network with 240 local businessfolk.

2. July is too hot to do anything fun outside (in the daytime).

3. Bowling is air conditioned, fun, affordable and good for you. *see caption above

4. The Chamber that bowls together, stays together.

5. For only $200, you can get a team of 5 entered into Conway’s newest business networking event. This includes two games and lunch for your team!

6. This event will accomodate 48 teams. It will sell out.

7. Two “flights” for your convenience. 10am-12pm or 1pm-3pm. We will all eat lunch together.

8. This is a great opportunity for the folks in your office who don’t golf or don’t have 6 hours to “spare” networking.

9. There are sponsorships remaining for businesses of every size. It’s a great way to advertise your business. Email chad@conwayarkansas.org or jamie@conwayarkansas.org  for info.

10. Individual bowlers are of course welcome. $50. We will assign you to a team full of fun people.

Bowling for Business is presented by US CosmeCeuticals. They will have skin care products and professionals on hand at the event. Seriously.

If you or your business are ready to participate in Conway’s most fun filled business networking event please email mary@conwayarkansas.org

Til then, TheChamberLife abides.

By special request from @chambermary

I just want to take a moment and thank my friend and our Chamber President Brad Lacy for being a great boss and a great sport.  Because he always has a good sense of humor about the things we do to torment him daily.  Like the following:

Over 900 folks (a record and sell out crowd) came together to celebrate our local economy.  The UCA HPER center provided an awesome setting.  Our in-house design superstar @chamberjamie transformed the gym into a really classy setting.  Our keynote speaker was Johnelle Hunt, co-founder of trucking industry giant JB Hunt.  We’ve never had a better speaker.  She was honest, funny and thoughtful.  We took a look back at some of the exciting things that took place during 2009: Kris Allen, building the HP facility, our biggest business expo ever, launching the Conway2025 process and of course…starting TheChamberLife.com

We also took time to honor some standout businesses and individuals.  Our Good Neighbor Award went to lifetime servant, do-gooder and business owner Mary Acklin.  Our Distinguished Service Award went to First Security President Johnny Adams for a host of reasons.  One big reason was his work as the “architect” of the financing package for HP.  Our Business Executive(s) of the Year were Mike Coats and Mike Kraft for changing permanantly the evening scene in downtown Conway with Mike’s Place and Michelangelo’s. 

The Chamber’s Annual Meeting seriously gets better every year.  It sold out in record time this year.  The speakers have been world class.  Very soon, we will start working on next year’s event.  I would love to hear some suggestions on speakers.  Til then, enjoy this video that shows the transformation and hard work that took place getting ready for the event.

I thought I was better than this. I was wrong.

It can be a little awkward when you tell someone that you’re gonna call, meet up, write, or blog and then you don’t for a couple months. Let me apologize. TheChamberLife has not set the standard in dependability. Sure, we’re still cute. But that only lasts so long.

In what is truly a case of cruel irony, when we have the most stuff going on over here, we don’t have time to blog about it. Terrible. It needs a remedy. I’m really beginning to worry that only solution is hard work. Unless someone has any other ideas, that will have to do for now. I promise I will do my best to catch everyone up on some of the cool stuff we have been up to this spring. Fun filled posts coming soon! We cool?

We made enough money this year to get cordless phones for the 2012 Membership Event.

It’s the third and final day of the biennial Conway Chamber Membership Event.  Over the last two days we have added more than 200 new members.  We are now the 3rd largest chamber in Arkansas (approx 1,500 members).  Today is dedicated mainly to gathering checks and celebrating our volunteers. 

For the second time we hired Your Chamber Connection to help us orchestrate the event. They bring a unique model and energy to this event.  However, the backbone of this event is a group of committed volunteers who get their friends and co-workers to join them in some intense and competitive phone banking.

We can’t write any more without thanking the event chairs who worked to make this event successful: Amy Reed, Richard Henley, Lori Ross, Jay Bernard, Pam McDowell, Aaron Beard, Jeff Standridge, David Druey and Preston Scroggin.  These folks all recruited several volunteer salesman to help us beef up Chamber rolls and revenue.  They did more than they know to help us keep the lights on and the copier full of toner.

If I have to give you the reasons why you should join the Chamber, you are obviously new to this website.  I invite you to take a look around and see what we’ve been up to.  There’s no better way to advertise your business, grow our local economy or develop the contacts and resources you need to succeed. You can always call us at 501.327.7788 or email at getsmart@conwayarkansas.org. We will hook you up. Operators are standing by.

Last year's annual meeting led to a wholesale revision of the Chamber staff dress code

The Chamber Annual Meeting is almost here.  Boy am I nervous/excited.  In case you didn’t notice,  this is almost like prom for your business.  By definition, annual meetings only come once a year.  You miss it.  Tough luck. You can’t unmiss it.  Trust me, the last thing you want to happen at work Friday, March 5th is for everyone to talk about how great annual meeting was and you have nothing to say.  So let me be clear.  Your competition and the rest of the cool kids will be there. You want someone to ask you to come? I’m asking. “Will you please come to annual meeting with me?” Good.  It’s a date. (dutch though)

——–DETAILS——–

Thursday – March 4th – 6:30 – UCA HPER Facility

Conway Area Chamber of Commerce Annual Meeting featuring “A Conversation with Johnelle Hunt”

Johnelle Hunt will talk about her time at then ASTC (now UCA) and helping her husband Johnnie Bryan Hunt grow J.B. Hunt into one of the country’s largest transportation and logistics companies.  The Chamber will celebrate 2009 accomplishments, recognize outstanding businesses and individuals and look forward to an exciting 2010.

Tickets are $50.  Reserved tables of 8 are $500.  For more information or to make your reservation call 501.327.7788 or email getsmart@conwayarkansas.org.  Act now.  This event will sell out.

The Chamber staff's passion will not be ignored!

@chambergates, @chamberbrad, @chambertj and @chamberkathy recently had the pleasure of jetting up to Washington DC to advocate for a handful of projects important to Conway.  Sticking to our strength in numbers philosophy, we took with us Mayor Tab Townsell, County Judge Preston Scroggin, Chamber Board Chair Lori Ross, CDC Board Chair Bill Adkisson, Chamber Board member Andy Miller and current Speaker of the House @robbiewills. 

We try to go to DC every other year just to make the case in person for federal investment in our city and county.  This year the focus was on three projects: increased funding for the new southern interchange, the relocation of Highway 25 and the relocation of the airport.  Here are the highlights of our visit:

Monday – We hosted a reception for the staff of our two senators (Pryor, Lincoln) and our representative (Snyder).  We had approximately 40 staffers show up.  These are those 20somethings running the country you always hear about.  It was a great turnout and a good opportunity to meet in person a lot of the folks we work on the phone with during the year.

Tuesday - We met with our two Senators and appropriations staff.  Most of these folks are very familiar with Conway and these projects.  This year we were definitely in the right place at the right time.  Its the beginning of the budget process. Now is the time to carve out a place for our projects.  Tuesday night we had a dinner with our Senate Chiefs of Staff and had some real quality time talking about Conway in general.  This dinner was extra special because we got to recognize Sen. Pryor’s brand new Chief of Staff, Conway native, Andy York.  We had a number of other DC folks with Arkansas connections join us and it was really just a great event.  That quality time can save you a lot of work as we negotitate the budget/appropriations process.

Wednesday – We added a stop to our trip this year and met with Congressman Mike Ross and his staff.  Congressman Ross represents the AR-4 (south Arkansas).  In a year with so much turnover politically, we thought it was important to build relationships wherever we can.  Historically, Arkansas’ delegation has worked across district lines and having another set of eyes and ears in DC is a good thing.  Congressman Ross wanted to see all of our projects and hear our sales pitch.  He will be a resource for us in the future.  Our final stop before flying home was with Congressman Vic Snyder.  As you may know, Vic is calling it quits.  We joked that he has one year left to see some of these projects really bear fruit.  He and his staff have worked on several of them (western loop, airport) with us for years. 

This really was an effective trip to DC.  Most of this work is done over the phone, but DC has a ton of turnover so sometimes its necessary to go up there and re-introduce yourself in person.  Just like everything else we do, our secret weapon is our cooperation.  The Chamber, CDC, city and county make a very convincing case when we are all in the room together saying the same things.  That does not happen everywhere.  When it does, it stands out.

The Chamber has officially grabbed 2010 by the horns.  It looks pretty good.  Here is a real time* look at where we stand with some of our 2010 events. It is by no means a comprehensive list.

January: Like many of you, we are spending January finishing a lot of December’s work.  We are also finishing plans for annual meeting (see March), collecting back dues, building business plans for our events and breaking New Years resolutions.

Februry: February is marked by our 2nd ever Membership Drive.  During this event in 2008, the Conway Chamber added 388 members to its rolls. The best time to join the Chamber is immediately. The second best time is during this event.  We need volunteers to help with this almost awkwardly fun event.  Contact @chamberwes if you’re interested. (wes@conwayarkansas.org) 

March: Our annual meeting will be the first week of March.  Annual meeting is typically a whale of an event. This one will be no exception.  We’ve got some high profile details to wrap up before making any formal announcements, but I promise, it will be our biggest, best, annual meeting ever.

April: Although the entire first half of the year will be spent working on the Conway2025 planning process (www.Conway2025.com), it will be in full swing in the spring.  Our “sector groups” will be busy preparing action plans to present to the City Council this summer.  @chamberkathy is in charge of herding our volunteers and coordinating this historic process.

May: May means Toad Suck Daze.  It’s all hands on deck around here.  It is a huge event.  It takes almost a year of planning and hundreds of volunteers.  Last year was a soaking wet mess.  This year is going to be all about redemption and delivering the best festival we have ever had. This festival focuses on education and has raised over $1 million in scholarships for Faulkner County students.

June: Looks like June will be spent on continuing education, recovering from Toad Suck and family vacations. 

July: A new event will make its debut in July. “Bowling for Business” replaces our annual golf tournament. (Golf tourneys are soooo pre-recession)  This event is going to put a premium on networking, access, and fun.  Expect a post later this year on Bowling vs. Golf for business events.  I will obviously be coming down on the side of bowling.  My arguments will primarily be built around air conditioning and access to nachos. 

August: Any college town worth its salt recognizes the impact of students returning in the fall.  Our job at the Chamber is to help our members harness the economic power of those students and their parents credit cards.  Seriously, we are looking at ways to improve our already successful “freshman bag” promotion and act as matchmaker for student and local businesses.

September: Are you ready for some football!? Paint the Town Purple kicks off in September.  We have a goal of establishing Conway as THE destination in the Southland Conference.  If you aren’t familiar, there are some great towns in this conference and some fans that travel pretty well.  We are going to try and capitalize on that.  Also, we want to recognize and promote all of the businesses in town that have great…..wait for it……Bearaphenalia for sale.

October: Business Expo/Taste of Conway.  Last year was our most successful Biz Expo ever.  We combined it with Taste of Conway and everything went great.  We had good participation at our breakout sessions and, most importantly, our exhibitors did some business.  The only change I expect this year is a new location.  There is a good chance we will be holding Expo at the City’s new special events facility at our new fairgrounds.  @chambermary has our footprint and setup down to a science, so it should be fun to watch her start from scratch on a new plan.

November/December: If you were a good Chamber member or volunteer all year then you get to take part in one of our many holiday season events thanking the folks who make our work possible.  The Chairman’s Dinner is for our event sponsors and the volunteer appreciation luncheon should pretty much be self-explanatory.

If you or your business want to get involved with one or more of these events as a volunteer or $pon$or email  jamie@conwayarkansas.org or chad@conwayarkansas.org. 

*editors note (I assume y’all know that when I say “real time” it pretty much means work in progress. Some would even say unreliable.  But, that’s the internets for you.)

Budgeting Inspiration