anniversary celebration - anniversary celebration anniversary celebration human resources bill...

JUNE 2011 Vol. XlVI ISSUE VI T h E

CoNNECTINg pEoplE aNd poSSIbIlITIES IN WEST ChESTEr aNd lIbErTy ToWNShIpS aNd ThE I-75 groWTh CorrIdor

ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION

ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION

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Chair Chris Worrell – Graydon Head ViCe Chair Karen Mueller - Horan seCretary Char Mason - Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Liberty Campus past Chair rondi tsChopp – Five Visual Communication & Design steVe behler – Kemba Credit Union deborah brenneMan – Thompson Hine LLP eriC harMon - Cincy Magazine Joe hinson – West Chester < Liberty Chamber alliance toM holding – Lincoln Financial advisors Jason Kreul – Cincinnati Marriott north Christine MataCiC – Liberty Township Trustee ron rohlfing – West Chester Hospital brett sMith – Butler Technology and Career Development Schools toM urban – Mercy Hospital Fairfield

West Chester < Liberty Chamber Alliance 2011 SuStAining SponSorS

The West Chester < Liberty Chamber Alliance salutes our Sustaining Sponsors. We acknowledge the following members and thank them for their support of the Chamber, its programs, events and services

provided to the businesses and organizations of this area.

As of 5/18/11

35th anniVersary sponsor Mercy Hospital Fairfield

diaMond Butler Technology and Career Development Schools

UC Health – West Chester Hospital

gold The Pulse-Journal

Thompson Hine LLP West Chester Township

super silVer Clark Schaefer Hackett

HORAN Kemba Credit Union

SEBALY SHILLITO + DYER

silVer Amylin Ohio, LLC

Chaco Credit Union, Inc. Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Liberty Campus

Fifth Third Bank First Financial Bank

Liberty Township Taco Bell/Uno Chicago Grill

super bronze Atrium Medical Center

Clark-Theders Insurance Agency, Inc. Graydon Head

Orthopedic & Sports Medicine Consultants, Inc. The Matrix Companies

UnitedHealthcare

bronze Alternative Computer Technology, Inc.

Amica Insurance Antonelli College – West Chester

Duke Energy Edward Jones Investments; Bill Lendl

Flagel, Huber, Flagel & Co. Focused Capitol Solutions, LLC

Four Bridges Country Club Frost Brown Todd LLC

Halcomb Benefits Agency, Inc. Huntington Bank

Kehoe Financial Advisors Managepoint

North Side Bank & Trust Company Northwestern Mutual—West Chester

Park National Bank Planes Companies

PNC Bank Schumacher Dugan Construction, LLC

SCORE TriHealth Corporate Health

US Bank Xavier University - Williams College of Business

Stop by the Chamber office to see our Sustaining Sponsorship Sign donated by Hightech Signs - 513.874.5223

West Chester < Liberty Chamber Alliance Executive Board 2011

on the Cover

Chamber Staff & Associates Joe hinson, IoM, President & CEo jahinson@TheChamberalliance.com

Marge WiMMer, administrative Coordinator mwimmer@TheChamberalliance.com MiKe poWell, Finance Director mpowell@TheChamberalliance.com

Kendra Wilburn, Leadership Development Director kwilburn@TheChamberalliance.com

Kathy raMbo, Vice President/Special Events ktrambo@TheChamberalliance.com alison MiuCCio, Marketing Director amiuccio@TheChamberalliance.com paMela gruber, Marketing & Special Events Coordinator pgruber@TheChamberalliance.com

Kenni blaChé, Membership Services Director kjblache@TheChamberalliance.com Jay d’arCy, Senior Membership account Executive jhdarcy@TheChamberalliance.com lynn trau, Membership account Executive ltrau@TheChamberalliance.com

bob WiWi, Small Business advocate bwiwi@TheChamberalliance.com george gloVer, Government relations glover@focusedcapitolsolutions.com

Kathy KlinK, associate Vice President, Butler Tech online klinkk@butlertech.org MiChelle healey, administrative Coordinator, Butler Tech online healeym@butlertech.org

exeCutiVe

leadership deVelopMent

speCial eVents & MarKeting

MeMbership

business adVoCaCy

adMinistration

WorKforCe deVelopMent

The 2011 May Monthly Luncheon and Business Expo at Skatetown USA on May 10th.

Java w /Joe

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Call Jo e Hins

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C e l e b r a t i n g � 3 5 � y e a r s � i n � 2 0 1 1 ! ThE

3 From the desk of

Joe Hinson, IOM – President & CEO

Chamber survey results In February our Chamber’s Business action Team along with assistance from our Government Issues Team, developed and sent out a ten question internet based survey to our membership contacts. our members were given a week to complete the online survey. The response was nearly 15% which is considered very good and qualified as a valid response rate.

Chamber member Chrissann ruehle of Complete business strategies performed several statistical tests on the data to ensure its validity. Based on the results of that analysis, it was concluded that the data provided a valid representation of the West Chester ß Liberty Chamber alliance.

Some key information about the West Chester ß Liberty Chamber alliance and our business climate: • 80% of our members are 1 to 12 employees, primarily from service

type organizations • Both West Chester and Liberty are very transient communities and are

still developing • West Chester has an emerging Central Business District while Liberty is

anxiously waiting to announce their development plans • The recent trend of future member interest is coming from the Dayton area • For the most part, business has slowly picked up for our members and

in isolated cases more significantly compared to last year at this time The initial survey questions focused on how the Chamber was performing, what services, programs, etc. are most beneficial, what else would our members like the Chamber to be doing and how likely are our members to recommend the Chamber to other businesses.

The survey reported that 84% of our members are satisfied with the Chamber, and 86% would recommend our Chamber to other businesses (45% to 55% is considered good). What is even more impressive is that our member response has stayed consistent from our last survey (84% in 2006), especially in this tough economy. The analysis stated, “overall, the Chamber provides very high quality programs and truly focuses on meeting the needs of its membership.”

the top five benefits for our members: 1. networking opportunities (68%) 2. Building relationships in the community (52%) 3. Chamber Luncheons (48%) 4. association with the West Chester ß Liberty Chamber alliance (36%) 5. The opportunity to be involved (25%)

The analysis stated that building relationships is viewed to be beneficial and four of the top five indicators prove that point. a key takeaway is that our members are looking to the Chamber to help build meaningful working relationships with other Chamber members. We will continue to support those opportunities.

The feedback we received on what other products and services the Chamber should be concentrating on was valuable. Most of what our

members wanted to see were products and services we already provide. This tells us that we need to do a better job of marketing and explaining what is available to our members.

overall, it is important to get our members involved in the Chamber and keep them engaged. In order to obtain value in the Chamber and receive a return on investment, our members need to be actively involved.

We also asked questions pertaining to education and continuous learning. 62% of our members surveyed indicated that continuous education was important to the health and vitality of their business. This was not as high as we expected and is most likely the result of the current economic conditions – small businesses are currently not in a growth mode.

next, we asked our members to rank in order four areas of interest. The cost of healthcare at 51% outdistanced worker’s compensation and transportation with pension reform/collective bargaining the lowest priority. The interest in healthcare is consistent with our survey results from 2006. We will continue to look for opportunities to develop future educational initiatives for our member’s two top priorities, healthcare and worker’s compensation, but also open to other pertinent topics of interest.

We rounded out the survey by asking: what is the best way for the Chamber to share information with our members? 88% answered email, followed by The Voice and our website, www.TheChamberalliance.com. Considering this was an online survey, the response was not a surprise. We will continue to utilize all of our resources to effectively communicate with our members.

The final analysis stated; “The West Chester ß Liberty Chamber alliance has done a good job of cultivating a positive brand image in the region. This is indicative of their high quality events and services and professionalism of the Chamber staff.”

In conclusion, the Chamber has received valid data that will help us improve our overall performance; how and what we communicate, increasing member connections throughout the year, focusing on topics that are most important to our members and designing every Chamber activity to help