The forces shaping the next decade of chambers

Sheree Anne Kelly: So trust is really high in chambers. 81% of US adults believe chambers are a trusted resource and partner for business. But also nine in 10 US adults see chambers playing a role in growing the local economy. They see chambers playing a role in growing local businesses. The one statistic that I tend to bring up a lot is that 88% of US adults see chambers playing a huge role in addressing community challenges. This gets at that community impact piece where we're being asked to weigh in on some of those big issues that maybe historically we hadn't weighed in on before like mental health and child care and housing, homelessness, right? These areas that really impact our entire community.

Something about the data that's always worth mentioning is the role of awareness. So when people are familiar with their local chamber, 86% of US adults are satisfied with what their chamber is doing. But there is this sort of lack of awareness of what the chamber does, who they serve, programs that they offer, success stories of things that they've done well. So, we want to make sure we're really focusing on that awareness. Are we communicating about our chamber to our key stakeholders?

Ted Wind: Hi, I'm Ted and I build software for chambers of commerce. For the past decade, chamber tools were all built the same way. One clunky system for every chamber. But if I've learned one thing, it's that no two chambers are alike. That's why on this show, we go beyond the ribbon cut with top chamber leaders to share the unique programs, processes, and what makes their chamber work, and to give you new ideas you can take back to your chamber. This is Beyond the Ribbon Cut.

Welcome back to Beyond the Ribbon Cut, the podcast for chamber leaders. I'm your host, Ted Wind from Diagonal for Chambers, and welcome to season 2. We could not have asked for a better guest to open it up. My guest today is the one and only Sheree Anne Kelly, president and CEO of the Association of Chamber of Commerce Executives. Sheree Anne, thank you so much for joining us today.

Sheree Anne Kelly: Ted, thanks so much for having me. I'm thrilled to be here.

Ted Wind: Well, we're thrilled to have you. So for those listening at home, today's episode is obviously going to be a little bit different. We're going to spend today at a high level talking about some of the trends that you've seen and what works and doesn't from your bird's eye view of leading ACCE. But before we get into all that, let's start off by learning a bit more about you, Sheree Anne. Can you tell us the story of how you got involved with the chamber world?

Sheree Anne Kelly: Sure. Sure. I love this story. My first job in DC was actually at the US Chamber of Commerce. So coming here to the association that gets to support chambers everywhere is just such a full circle moment for me. But my career kind of meandered around at the US Chamber. I was doing sort of high dollar donor fundraising, corporate development, corporate relations. And that job made me realize that I wanted to get a little bit closer down to kind of the grassroots level and engage a little bit more at the community level.

Um I went on to do government affairs at a major trade association. I worked at a place called the Public Affairs Council for about 16 years. Um and that's where I was supporting organizations in their CSR work, communications, public affairs, government relations. Um, so it's kind of a external affairs centric role and I came here about nine years ago and I often just refer to this as being like the perfect ripple effect cuz I'm a very mission-driven person.

So we get to help chambers of commerce be stronger at what they do. They're making their communities better. So we're literally watching the world become a better place in real time and we're a part of that work. So that's why I love what I do. um getting to really just help make those changes that are going to make communities stronger in the long run and seeing that happen across the board. So, I sort of have the best job out there and and I love it.

Ted Wind: I love that and universal theme with all the guests we've had in the show, of course, you know, falling in love with the chamber work. Was there a specific moment or kind of story from the from the early days or when you got involved with this work that you it really clicked and you realized like being involved with the chamber is is really what I want to be doing?

Sheree Anne Kelly: You know, I absolutely knew what chambers of commerce did when I took this job. What I didn't know were sort of those like caveats and the projects and initiatives that are outside of the scope of what everybody expects a chamber to do. That was the biggest surprise for me and that's what made me fall in love with chambers.

Even early on, 9 years ago, I was watching chambers put their dip their toes in the water for areas that chambers had not historically engaged in places like mental health, the opioid epidemic. They were chambers were just starting to get engaged in issues like that. And now, of course, we've seen a big shift in the community where chambers are engaging on community impact issues. So recognizing the power that the chamber's voice brings and talking about the business impacts of those types of issues. I think that was a point when I realized, oh wow, there's so much underleveraged power in this community and there's a chance to really harness that to make some big changes um in our markets.

What's been great is helping to shape some of that, watching chambers move in that direction and then watching their power, their influence, their leadership role grow. So, it's just that great chance to affect some real change that's making a difference in communities, but it's also elevating and expanding the brand of chambers of commerce. So watching all of that from kind of the earliest days and now seeing it come to fruition in a much bigger splashier way, I think that's that kind of sums up what gets the passion going in me.

Ted Wind: I love that. I love that. And obviously from your role at ACCE, you get a really high level vantage point across hundreds of chambers every single year from the biggest metros to those smaller one-person shops. What does the industry look like from that seat in 2026?

Sheree Anne Kelly: You know, it's really interesting that chambers are often at crossroads. This happens frequently in this industry. We really saw this during the pandemic where chambers became that trusted source of information. They were the go-to for finding PPE equipment and funding resources and, you know, just you name it. Chambers were that trusted entity. They were bringing people together. They weren't just elevating their businesses. They were elevating the entire community, right? Trying to keep that community together through really challenging times.

So now we're at this next crossroads of, okay, we've got all of these big disruptive forces in our world right now. How are chambers going to shift and innovate and change to continue to drive real change for their businesses and for their communities? So, what I really love is seeing how chambers are innovating right now and stepping up to say we're not just going to keep doing what we've always done or how we've always done things. We want to make sure we're driving the most impact and the strongest outcomes that we can for our market and what are the opportunities for us to be catalytic leaders and influence in new and different ways.

Um so that really requires some bravery, some really strong strategy on how to deliver in those ways. It means partnering, you know, so that chambers aren't always trying to do this work on their own. So, I love seeing the creative partnerships that are taking place out in the community. And I'm seeing this in chambers of all sizes, right? This is happening at teeny-tiny chambers that have just part-time staff all the way through to some of the largest chambers in the country. It's rethinking how we do what we do and delivering in a way that has a more outsized impact. That's kind of part of the the fun of what I'm seeing right now and what's shaping the shift in our market.

I mean, ACCE has been around for over a hundred years. So, there's a lot of data that we've got about how our industry sort of faces these moments of crossroads and opportunities. And chambers just have a way of always being steady and staying the course and always being present in their communities. But now, we're watching chambers amplify that. We don't just want to be here tomorrow. We want to get through uncertainty and come out stronger on the other side. So that's that's kind of the fun of what I'm seeing right now with chambers across the board is how they're reimagining some of the things that they're doing.

Ted Wind: I love that. And something that obviously came up recently was the ACCE annual conference in New Orleans. What was something you saw this summer at the convention that maybe you wouldn't have seen 5 years ago?

Sheree Anne Kelly: It's an interesting question. Something I wouldn't have seen 5 years ago. I would say leveraging technological tools in better and smarter ways. Obviously AI is a big one that you know I'm watching chambers think about how do we use this tool to drive better resources and outcomes for our members. So that's a big shift. A lot of innovation in business models. I think that's a big one. I'm again I'm seeing a lot more of this innovation in midsized to smaller chambers. It's a lot easier to innovate when you're sort of a smaller, more nimble organization. So, that's a big thing.

Something I talked about at the convention, which I think is a huge priority, and I'm grateful that I'm seeing more chambers embrace this, is the idea of resilience. It's a one of the latest influences that we've added to our Horizon research at ACCE, but the importance of resilience for individuals, for your chamber itself, but also for your community. So watching chambers embrace how they can, you know, really take advantage of that resilience um and take advantage of things like technology so that it can automate those repetitive tasks or things that don't require much strategic insight so that we can actually be more human in our jobs, right? technology isn't replacing us, but leveraging that technology so that we can take our completely unique strengths and really maximize their their role in the organization. Those are some of the things that I'm seeing now that I think are different.

Ted Wind: Yeah, that's that's really interesting. And also, I mean, from your role, you get to see what the top quartile of chambers is actually doing on a day-to-day. You talked about resilience there, technology, those are some interesting habits that I think, you know, a lot of chambers are innovating on. Could you share maybe some more habits that smaller chambers could copy from that top 25% cream of the crop chambers?

Sheree Anne Kelly: Yeah, you know, one thing I'll a habit that I really love around resilience is thinking about places where you are most vulnerable. It's something we don't do very well as a whole as an industry of taking you know even if it's 20 minutes every other Friday to sit down and say where is this organization really vulnerable and let's give some thought to what can we do to decrease that vulnerability right whether it's a program that's very heavily focused on one sponsor right that's a vulnerability if that sponsor disappeared what happens to this program what do they need to be thinking about in order to consider a different path forward. Is it a pipeline for other sponsors that could take over for that? Is it diversifying the sponsorship pool so that you've got a little bit more wiggle room? Is it rethinking the program because it's far too tied to one sponsor? Just thinking through those types of vulnerabilities. That's a a nice easy habit to get into that helps to build organizational resilience.

Um same thing with innovation. I think making innovation a habit in your organization, taking a breath and saying, "Hey, is there another way for us to do this? Have we considered some new approach or a new tactic or can we pilot and try something on a really small scale to see if this is going to resonate with our audience?" And again, it doesn't have to be that we throw out everything we've done before and we have to be you these, you know, Elon Musk style innovators on everything that we do. It's how do we test something out, test small, tweak it small, fail small, see what works, and then decide if we want to scale it up again.

So having innovation be one of those types of habits that you just incorporate into your day-to-day. I think those are things that any chamber of any size can do. Again, it's just carving out the time, right? I want to take 20 minutes, the first Monday of every month. I've carved it out on my schedule to sit down and think about places where we could try something different.

Ted Wind: Yeah, I love that. And something you briefly touched on earlier, which we're going to get into, is Horizon 2035, which is the ACCE initiative that names the forces shaping the next decade of the chamber world. We touched on a few of them. Tell us about those forces. Tell us about Horizon 2035. And for the small to midsize chamber listening, which two or three do you think matter the most right now?

Sheree Anne Kelly: Sure. Sure. So, originally we actually conducted this exact research about a decade ago as well. What we originally set out to do, we said we'd like to help chambers figure out what is a chamber of commerce going to look like 10 years down the road so that everybody can be prepared for that. And we realized pretty quickly we can't do that because there's too much unique differentiation between a chamber and the community that it's in. Chambers don't always look and act the same. So what we ultimately ended up developing were the major influences that are going to shape, as you'd mentioned, chambers over the next decade. What we've realized though is that these influences also apply to businesses and they apply to our communities. So they're influences that are shaping all of our major stakeholders over the upcoming decade.

What's great about using this resource is that if you can figure out what's our community going to look like 10 years from now and how do we best prepare ourselves to be ready for that future, that positions you in a great place to be a catalytic leader. Because if you're spending too much of your time reacting to the things that are happening around you, you're probably not spending enough time in the catalytic leadership category. That's where you're shaping the future that you want to see. You're the reason that changes are happening and other people have to react to you.

So, a lot of chambers of commerce of all sizes use the Horizon Initiative as a backdrop for their strategic planning. Um, and frankly, if your business faces an issue 5 years from now that they didn't see coming, but you saw it coming in advance and you've already got resources ready to support your members in that area. That's sort of the best value proposition that you could offer as an organization. We were ahead of the curve. We thought of that challenge and we already have a solution for you. So it's thinking in those types of terms instead of always feeling like you're kind of doggy paddling to keep up with the changes around you.

So you'd asked a really good question about smaller chambers. What are the sort of largest influences that are most prominent or maybe most relevant to a smaller chamber? Um I'd mentioned resilience. I mean absolutely I would double down on that. I think resilience is critical. You want to make sure that your organization is stable and steady enough that it can weather a storm and you don't have to be scrambling so much to try to keep the ship afloat as they say when something really difficult happens because you've built in some of that resilience into your strategy.

I'd also say business models, you know, that we have to rethink how we fund our work. We have to rethink how we serve our members. You know, our mission may stay the same, but how we deliver on that work might change. So, for example, with funding right now, the average chamber of commerce, 62% of their revenue comes from non-dues. A decade ago, those numbers were completely flip-flopped and the majority of revenue came from membership. So that doesn't mean that membership is dead, but it means that if you want to grow as a chamber of commerce, you really want to amplify that non-dues revenue segment. And having diversified revenue streams, that's also going to help increase your resilience because you have a lot of different places that you can tap into. If one of your streams of revenue starts to have a challenge, you've got other places that you can go. Um, it's also, you know, looking at your business model. are you serving the right segments of your community? Are you meeting their needs? Um, and so it's just rethinking again how we do the work that we do.

And the third influence that I think is probably most critical, which I alluded to at the start of this question, was catalytic leadership, right? Are we the catalysts for change around us? If we can be futurists for our regions, there's no other organization that's better suited to do that than a chamber of commerce. And it's not a crowded space, right? People are very reactive. They are trying to deal with the issues that are right in front of them. And I understand this is part of what we do too, right? We react to the issues in front of us. But if you can be that leader that is thinking about the future, that's bringing your stakeholders in your community together to try to co-create what that future looks like. It's not a crowded space. It's one that's really critical and it's going to help set up your chamber and your region for a stronger future. So I think for me those are the three that are are most the the biggest opportunities really for smaller chambers to be able to have an outsized impact with a very small lean team.

Ted Wind: Yeah, exactly. And of those three, right, we have resilience, business models, catalytic leadership. Those are kind of the three that we circled in on here. I want to bring it down and try to make it more tactical for the small chambers that are listening. Could we maybe try to turn those into a to-do list? So for each one, what does acting on it look like for a chamber with again two to three staff over the next year?

Sheree Anne Kelly: Sure. So with resilience, you can't have a strong resilient organization if you don't have resilient staff. So I would think about how do we cultivate resilience within our team? And there are lots of good ways to to do that. One is around emotional intelligence. So there's a great book called Emotional Intelligence 2.0. That's a wonderful starting point. Have your staff go through that. Have it like a book club. Read emotional intelligence 2.0. Talk about how can we elevate our own emotional intelligence.

Resilience is also about professional development. So making sure your staff has access to personal and professional development resources. I mean, at ACCE, if you're a member of ours, we've got lots of resources online, but there's a ton of great information out there. There's free online training, LinkedIn Learning, right? Lots of places to to do that. Get the whole team working on development plans for themselves. Um, and kind of cultivating that curiosity mindset, getting people to go talk to another chamber and and get some best practices, getting them a little bit outside of their comfort zone, focusing on solutions. That's another place to really cultivate resilience. It's easy to complain about problems. How do we change the dialogue to get to a solutions focus? Um, and really cultivating that kind of dynamic in the office. So for resilience, I would say it's this personal and professional development, having that woven into the calendar so it's consistent, really starting to build up the skills that help grow individual resilience.

On the business model piece, I would say one of the things we have the hardest time doing, especially in smaller chambers, is saying no or stopping doing something because we've always done it. So, one of the easiest ways to start would be to take a look at your programs, your existing programs, and do a full program assessment. What's being done now? Who does it serve? You know, does it still align with our core mission with where the chamber wants to go? What's the total net profit of this program? And when you calculate that, factor in the staff time. You know, if you're not doing cost accounting, at least give a rough estimate of how many hours of staff from a program team, the marketing team, the senior management team, whoever. Even if it's all in one person, how many hours did it take and what's your pay plus benefits and calculate that amount because you'd be surprised how many programs end up being upside down when you actually factor in all of those costs, right?

So that's an easy place to start to say where can we make room for innovation for doubling down on our existing programs. What are the programs where if we grew this if we added more sponsors or deepened or rich into the content that this is a place where we could take something we have and grow it versus always adding on one more new thing. So where can we stop doing things so that we make room for innovation? Where can AI automate some of those repetitive tasks that we automatically are doing that are taking up staff time?

With catalytic leadership, I feel like the Horizon Initiative was developed for this. Can we take time as a staff to look at the Horizon Initiative and say, what are the influences where we could have the most impact? Where can we best prepare our businesses to be ready for the future? where do we think we want to make sure we're weaving this into our strategic plan? So maybe it's going, you know, once a month having staff look at we've got videos that outline the basics. They're really short, less than 5 minutes each. The videos that outline the basics for each influence. Maybe each month you watch the video. We actually have some questions online that are teed up to get some discussion going about each influence. You could pose those questions at the staff meeting. Um, we even have a section on the Horizon Initiative for each influence that talks about what are small chambers doing around that influence. So you can click there and look at the ideas so you can see how some other smaller chambers are approaching this work. So I think it again it's just making it part of the routine, baking things into your weekly or monthly agendas and just carving out a really small amount of space to think focus on those really big impactful things.

Ted Wind: Mhm. And one of the pieces in the guide for small chambers says to pick out two or three specific influences like we just talked about and go for early wins. What's an early win that actually builds credibility with a board because nobody wants to kick the dreaded board hornets nest especially when it comes to doing new and innovative things.

Sheree Anne Kelly: Here's a great example. Let's say membership models, business models. You want to reimagine your business model. Maybe you want to reimagine your membership model and you've been intrigued by things like subscriptions. Some chambers offer membership subscriptions for either all their members or subsets of their members. Can you create an early win where you offer a subscription model to a subset of membership that you have very low penetration within right now?

So let's say for example your chamber does not have a lot of restaurant members. you've got lots of other brick-and-mortar, but restaurants have not been a strong suit. Can you pilot test a membership subscription model that's at a very achievable price point for them? So, that might be, you know, I don't know, $39 a month that they get access to chamber membership for $39 a month. And it's kind of like your gym membership, right? You put it on your credit card, it rolls month-to-month. But you're testing this idea on a small scale with a segment of membership that you don't have much engagement from. Right? Now, you don't even have to roll it out broadly or loudly, right? You just test it quietly with that audience.

There are a couple things that are going to happen. One, you're pretty likely to sell it to at least a couple of folks. So, there's going to be more dollars coming in than there were before. Even if it's not successful, you can learn from it. Right? here's what we learned restaurant members really need that we don't currently provide or here's what we learned about the subscription model why it would or would not work for the rest of our membership.

So an early win may not be a full-blown success but an early win might be hey we tried it on this market but what we realized is this is going to be even better for solopreneurs. So, we tried it out on the restaurant market. Now, we're going to test it with solopreneurs and see if it works. Right? So, you're you're getting into this habit of innovation, but you're trying out an early win because likely, like I said, if you haven't had much success with that audience, offering something new, you're probably going to see some uptick, some engagement, some real success from that. Even if it's not big scale, you're probably going to see something and you're at least going to get good data.

Ted Wind: Yeah, exactly. That's exactly what I was going to say. At least you're going to get good data out of it. And also this kind of revenue model, right, where it's like, oh, we're going after we're testing something out with a small group. That's really powerful. But I'd also love to touch a little bit on, you know, how do we sustain those revenue models as the chamber continues to grow, as our member base grows, and as the types of members also grow there. What are the chambers who are getting this tricky problem right around revenue models doing beyond just traditional dues?

Sheree Anne Kelly: Yeah. No, it's a great question. Um, as I mentioned, non-dues revenue is the avenue that you want to be focused on for growth. What I'm seeing chambers that have a 501c3 foundation, this is one of the easiest and best ways to amplify non-dues revenue within your chamber. It does take a little bit of work. So, it's not an easy button. It's not something that you can just, you know, set up and it feeds itself, right? It does require some effort. And you want to make sure you've got good structure in place, good governance, bylaws, right? You want to make sure that foundation is really strong.

But a 501c3 foundation can bring in revenue from sources that the chamber alone can't really take advantage of. So there are local, state, and federal grants that are available that serve all of the areas that your chamber's already working on. Whether it's programmatic work, small business support, policy initiatives, basically a foundation can do everything that your chamber can do except for direct advocacy. So you can have grant dollars coming in to support nearly everything that your chamber does.

Another untapped resource that a foundation can take advantage of are high-net-worth individuals. So, every community has a number of retirees or wealthy folks who are looking to leave their name on something that becomes a legacy project. So, what better way to do that than to partner with the chamber in whatever they're trying to accomplish and have your name attached to that work.

So, foundations are a big one. I'm seeing chambers try things around fee for service. Um, this is where you take existing expertise and you charge a fee for it. So, some chambers can offer support on things like event planning for maybe their local nonprofits. Now, this can be a tricky area, right? If you're already a lean organization and you have a lean team, it's difficult to take on more work. But if you look at your market and realize there's an opportunity where people aren't being served, so it might mean you have a lot of local nonprofits who could use help planning events for their work. Um, and there's just no one else who can do that work at a cost structure that makes sense for them. Is this a place where you can start to have your staff supporting those organizations for a fee where you might get to the point where you can get enough money in the door that you can grow your staff which I have seen a number of smaller chambers take advantage of this opportunity. You just have to plan for it a little bit.

Then I've seen some very creative non-dues revenue ideas out there. Things like chambers trying to create sources of data. There are a lot of great data resources out there that look at things within your community, whether it's demographics, economic data, workforce and talent data. Can you curate some sort of dashboard using AI that your members can take advantage of? So, you may charge different fees for members and non-members to use that data. I've seen a number of smaller chambers take advantage of this opportunity because you don't even have to create new sets of data. you can just find a way to take the existing data and make it easier to use and all in one place. So again, it's just thinking differently about the role that you play and how you generate revenue from.

Ted Wind: I love that and you're teeing me up really nicely for the the next question here, which is around that data and around digital transformation. That's another one of Horizon 2035's timeless influences. When you look at these best-run chambers, how are they using technology AI and their member data differently from everyone else and especially where do you see most chambers maybe underinvesting or settling for tools that hold them back?

Sheree Anne Kelly: Yeah, that's a great question. I'm seeing a lot of settling in some markets and that's what AI can sort of crack wide open. you are using a database where you're really frustrated with what's coming out of that database and what it can do for you. Can you easily create an AI tool that can deliver that where your database cannot? And the answer is usually yes, absolutely this is possible.

So whether it's customized communication, right? How can we customize our messages so that people are only receiving things that are most relevant to them? Um that's a you know a great place to try to leverage AI you know predictive membership retention right how do we track engagement with our members so that we can better predict which are the members that need to hear from us which are the ones that are pretty likely to continue to stay within our membership and don't need as much care and feeding you know how can you make your data really work for you can we again automate those processes that are repetitive the membership dues and invoicing conversation the membership onboarding touch points.

You know, a really great example, how do we use this for our members too, the Urban Chamber, they did something really creative where they created an AI powered adaptive learning portal for small businesses. They used AI to create these training modules that train small businesses on the areas that are most sort of relevant for them. So it might be social media marketing or how do you become a guru at using Canva, right? These are AI generated tools that are helping address the biggest challenges that their small businesses are facing and the chamber can make revenue on that, but the staff input is very low. So, it's thinking about how do we leverage these tools in ways that make sense so that we're reducing how much time our team has to spend creating these things, but we're again meeting those challenges and opportunities that our members face.

So, yeah, I think there's no shortage of places where chambers can really play around with the tools that are out there. You don't have to have a tech guru on staff, but if you don't know where to start, who's the person who's maybe the most tech-savvy, have them play around and then have your team come together and ask each other questions about what's the most repetitive tasks that we do. What are the questions that we always seem to answer over and over again? How can we turn that into an AI generated video or a frequently asked questions document or an automated process? Can we create a chatbot that focuses in on all the different areas that we operate?

I've seen some chambers use chat bots in different contexts. So, you create a persona. So maybe there's a chatbot that supports um really small businesses and their top questions and you populate that with the information you have to serve that audience. Maybe there's a chatbot that talks about, you know, your events and your sponsorship opportunities so that somebody could come in and quickly ask, hey, what's available? What kinds of benefits do you get? Right? Places where you're automatically pulling people to a human, right? You're saying this is the way that you can get to a human. But for folks at 8:00 p.m. on a Thursday night, if they have a quick question, can you have AI get them that touch point quickly and then push them off to another human? So, lots of creative ways to think about the role that technology can play.

Ted Wind: I love that. And we had um back in season one, we had Jodi Owczarski from the Michigan West Coast Chamber on, and you talked a little bit about like predictive member tools and things like that. the member health score that they had built at their chamber was like a perfect example of that and something we went into a lot of detail on. Obviously at Diagonal building software like we're very we're very excited about all this stuff and the way data can unlock new and exciting avenues for chambers. It's always so interesting for me especially through this show getting to have guests on and getting to learn more about these interesting creative ways they're utilizing technology for their chamber. And this is the thing too, especially for small chambers, the amount of resources and time that it can unlock for you and your staff or if it's just a staff of one just for you by leaning into some of these tools that are out there is really really powerful. So I think that's really really interesting to hear your perspective on that. Another piece though that's obviously kind of a hot topic right now around AI is what are the right guard rails that should be in place, right? Because you know in Horizon 2035 it talks a little bit about ethical use and trustworthy information filtering especially when it comes to your data. What's the guard rail chambers need when they think about AI?

Sheree Anne Kelly: Well I love when a chamber has an AI policy. Um we have an AI policy. I've seen lots of chambers put those out on their website or in their other sort of staff operating manuals. You guidance for both your team members but also your members as well. you know, you want to make sure you're not putting any information into, you know, an AI platform that's that's confidential or sensitive. You don't want to include anything that's sort of your secret sauce at your chamber. So, a lot of chambers are creating a kind of a walled off AI system where you they kind of create their own kind of pool where they can allow for their own data to live in an internal AI versus putting it right into say ChatGPT online. Um, so you just want to be cognizant of what you're putting into the system.

My favorite guidance and advice has been just to treat anything that comes out of AI as if it's come from a very green, very inexperienced intern. Right? So, you want to make sure you are triple-checking it for accuracy. Anything I put into AI, I say, "Send me a link to the source of where you got that information." and then I go and click on that link because I have put requests into different AI platforms. They've given me an answer. I click on that link and the link doesn't exist anymore, right? So, you really want to make sure you're checking it. You always want human oversight into any outputs.

You also want to make sure that the output it speaks the language of your chamber, right? You want to make sure it's got your tone, your messaging, and that it kind of aligns with how the chamber has always been, right? If you have a very comfortable, casual nature as a chamber, but suddenly you're putting out reports that are very technical and cold and streamlined, it's just not going to feel very authentic. And the vast majority of things that come out of AI don't feel authentic. They need that human lens. So, I think that's just another sort of tip and tool. There are lots of folks out there who are experts in AI who can give you a whole lot more good input than I can, but those are some of the guard rails and considerations that I think have gone a long way.

Ted Wind: 100%. Yeah. I I just think that's so interesting. And I think going back to what you said earlier about having these kind of like walled gardens for your AI and having systems in place where it is more like an all-in-one for your specific chamber, one specific presence for your chamber to manage things. I think that's really really important there. I want to touch also a little bit more on the strategic planning piece as well. You facilitate board retreats, these strategic planning initiatives across the country with lots of chambers. What does it take to lead a chamber in today's times that it didn't take 10 years ago when we did the last Horizon initiative?

Sheree Anne Kelly: Yeah. No, I love doing strategic planning because it gets me on the ground hearing what are the challenges and opportunities locally and really helping to problem solve with boards. What does it take now? That's that was different. It's a lot harder. It is a lot harder to run a chamber now. It's more complex. It's more nuanced. You have to be able to lead through uncertainty. Uncertainty is not going anywhere. I mean, that's why I'm such a firm believer in resilience and really cultivating personal resilience because it's essential.

How to lead through extreme polarization. I always get very excited to talk to people about our Horizon Initiative around the influence around being unifiers that I absolutely see chambers as a force that can help break down some of this polarization and partisanship that we see in our communities. So I get excited about that piece.

You we can't make everybody happy. I think one of the things the hard lessons that a lot of chamber leaders have learned is that we have to focus on our top priorities. focus on our biggest differentiators and let some of the other stuff go cuz it's just there are too many things and too many opportunities that are happening around us right now that we can't take advantage of cuz we're too busy still putting on that program because we've put it on for the last 40 years. So, you know, making room for that innovative thinking, making room for new ideas, saying no, and just making sure that we're building that strength and resilience within our leadership team.

I there's a chamber CEO who recently took over in a market and he had been the head of a major organization and he said I have led multinational companies with you know hundreds and thousands of employees this is really tough work and that's the truth right chamber work is really really difficult so it requires a different kind of leadership style

Ted Wind: I I love the first thing you said though about unification we had uh Brad Lacy on. He was the final episode of season 1, so right before this episode comes out. And one of the core things he talked about was that idea of chambers as a unifying force and as a way to kind of combat polarization in local communities. I think that's also something that's really interesting from your bird's eye level is perception of how people view chambers and what people view chambers as. In addition to the Horizon Initiative, you guys also do public opinion polling which kind of dives a little bit into these questions. What does the data say that would surprise chamber leaders and how should they use it when it comes to perception?

Sheree Anne Kelly: Sure. So, uh, we partnered with the Harris Poll, one of the country's leading polling firms to look at trust in chambers of commerce and it's great data. It's all on our website, um, acce.org/poll.

Ted Wind: We'll have the link in the description, don't worry.

Sheree Anne Kelly: Perfect. Um, so trust is really high in chambers. 81% of US adults believe chambers are a trusted resource and partner for business. But also nine in 10 US adults see chambers playing a role in growing the local economy. They see chambers playing a role in growing local businesses. The one statistic that I tend to bring up a lot is that 88% of US adults see chambers playing a huge role in addressing community challenges. This gets at that community impact piece where we're being asked to weigh in on some of those big issues that maybe historically we hadn't weighed in on before like mental health and child care and housing, homelessness, right? These areas that really impact our entire community.

Something about the data that's always worth mentioning is the role of awareness. So when people are familiar with their local chamber, 86% of US adults are satisfied with what their chamber is doing. But there is this sort of lack of awareness of what the chamber does, who they serve, programs that they offer, success stories of things that they've done well. So we want to make sure we're really focusing on that awareness. are we communicating about our chamber to our key stakeholders?

Um the data also demonstrates that if you are a member of a chamber that your sort of reputation is improved. It shows that businesses that are chamber members are seen as more reputable. That people who know they are a chamber member are more likely to purchase goods and services from that business because they're a chamber member. They're more likely to recommend that business to others. Right? So there's just a lot to that data, not just for chambers, but that can support why businesses should join your chamber.

So we have chambers that are using that data on their membership collateral, on their sponsorship materials, putting it on their website, sharing it on social media, sharing it with local media contacts because it just reinforces the value that a chamber brings. So on our website, we've got infographs. The data is open to anyone. Um, but if you're an ACCE member, we have an asset library. So, you can just drop your logo into some good visuals that we've created so you can share that information.

Ted Wind: I love that. I love that. And I want to go and dive in onto one of the first things you said there though about awareness because it's something that both you and I are very passionate about, especially when it comes to awareness. There's a group that I'm a part of and we constantly hear from chambers that they're struggling to engage most with those business owners under 40, especially when it comes to awareness. That group also is the most likely to not know that the chamber exists, what the chamber does. Where have you seen chambers actually get the next generation in the door and keep them engaged?

Sheree Anne Kelly: It's a great question. I think the first thing to do is to kind of look at your chamber when you're thinking about the next generation. It is so important to prioritize bringing that next generation into the fold, getting them active and engaged and making sure that your benefits align to them. You know, for example, what does that next generation really need, right? Are you addressing their greatest value propositions? They're not just looking to get involved with the chamber because it's the right thing to do. They want to see return on investment. Are you talking about impacts? Are you talking about outcomes, right? It's not just that we're, you know, doing having business measures. They want to see what are you actually driving change around.

So, it's not just that we hosted seven events and we had this many attendees, but how are you moving the dial? How are our businesses getting stronger because of the work that you're doing? What can you do that helps their business tomorrow? How is our community a better place? So, those are some of the kind of questions to ask yourself, but look at your own chamber, right? Are you does your board have members that are, you know, under the age of 45, right? How many when you look at pictures of your events, is it the same old folks that are always attending or is it something different?

I think chambers really have to rethink their events to make sure that they're speaking to that next generation, too. Are you throwing everyone in a room and hoping that the person on this side of the building finds the business card or the person on that side of the building? Right? That doesn't speak to how to actually drive outcomes for people. Curated networking where someone tells you what they're looking for and you help bring those connections to them for a fee, right? That's very different than just having an open-house networking type of event.

The next generation's also looking for experiential events. You know, can you leave a program with a framework of a plan for whatever you were talking about? So, if you're, let's say you're offering small businesses a marketing, professional development program, can they walk out the door with a framework of a plan that they can apply in their business that same day?

An example of experiential events that I love, the Hawaii Chamber has a young professionals program. They did something brilliant where they brought them together for what they referred to as a cost of living summit. It's very expensive to live in Hawaii. So they had young professionals brainstorming on how can we change things here to make this affordability challenge less of a hurdle for young professionals. But they didn't just stop there. They then took the young professionals to the policy makers locally and said, "Okay, now you have to advocate your position in front of policy makers." So, what's brilliant about this is it's getting people moving from complaining about a problem to being focused on solutions for that problem, but then it's getting them the experiential practice of voicing their opinion in front of policy makers. So, they're learning to be advocates all under the chamber umbrella. Right? So you're teeing these folks up to be advocates down the road.

I'd mentioned are you solving your businesses and your community's greatest challenges? Those are the types of value propositions that resonate and how are you reaching that next generation. You know historically as chambers we've been these top down power models where the chamber has told its members what they are going to do. Next generation wants a bottom up power model. They want to be a part of the decision-making. They want to help shape the strategy. So you thinking about how you engage your members is one piece, but then also how are you communicating with them? Are you on the platforms that they are on? Are you leveraging the right kinds of trusted resources to reach that audience? I think leveraging influencers, for example, to get your chamber's message out there is a great way to reach audiences that you may not have reached otherwise.

So lots of different ways to think about it, but are you sort of walking the talk? Are you engaging them in a way that they feel like they're a part of the process? Are you, you know, hosting events that speak to them? Events where you can't get this information or this experience anywhere else. There's some sort of wow factor to it. And are you talking to them through the platforms and the media that they're using right now? So hopefully that gives you a a kind of quick overview of what I've seen with some other chambers.

Ted Wind: I love that. And it it's obviously it's a huge topic, but I think yeah, the core piece is there of meeting them where they're at, showing and delivering that ROI. I love that piece about the intentional matchmaking, bringing members together potentially as a, you know, that could be a net new offering. The chamber provides the Hawaii program, like all those pieces. So, so interesting and insightful there. We got one more question for the show. You know, it's coming Sheree Anne. And we ask everyone, every guest who comes on the show, what's one final piece of advice you'd give to the chamber leader at home listening in?

Sheree Anne Kelly: Yeah. I, you know, I thought about this because I wanted to, to give a really good last answer, and I'm going to cheat and I'm going to give three short things um because I couldn't pick one.

So, my three short things. One is do less, focus on the most important and impactful things that you can deliver on, and get rid of some of the other stuff. And you'll do that for number two so that you can make some space for innovation and step into that space. Make yourself a little bit uncomfortable with trying out new things. That's how we grow. We grow the most when we're in an uncomfortable space. And I think that's a place where we can really make a big difference.

And then the third thing, which is another area where I feel like many chambers don't always excel in, it's tell your story. Right? People make decisions based on emotion and not fact. I'm a big nerd for neuroscience. I read voraciously and that is the truth. Right? We always want to win an argument with numbers and statistics and we've got the research, but that's not how it works. telling your story, reminding people of the value that you bring, the successes that you've had. Talk about the real impacts that the chamber has brought to small businesses in your community. Use those small businesses as spokespeople telling how the chamber made a difference. Those little actions really grow and amplify your brand and they show the value of what you're providing.

So those are sort of the big key takeaways that I would say for chambers in general. And then just for the individuals listening, take care of yourself. Um it's easy to get swept up in trying to be all things to all people and taking on the weight of a community and the weight of all the businesses that you serve. Make sure you take a breath. Know what refuels you take time off where you're really off. You know, give yourself some grace. um because it's really hard work and we need you. We need you out there doing these incredible things.

Ted Wind: It's a hard job, but a very rewarding one. I think that's the the through line with everyone we've had on the show is just there is something so deeply fulfilling about the work and about being involved in your community in a way that only a chamber really can. So, couldn't agree more. Sheree Anne, thank you so much for coming on today. I I don't think there's anybody better to set the table for our second season of Beyond the Ribbon Cut.

Now, at Diagonal, we've been lucky enough to have partnered with Sheree Anne and the incredible ACCE team in the past. So, we know just how awesome the organization is. But for those who don't, before we wrap today, do you want to quickly share where chambers can learn more about ACCE and get involved?

Sheree Anne Kelly: Sure. Absolutely. So, our website has more information than you could ever consume quickly, but it's acce.org. We are on every social media platform that you are on. Um you can find us at ACCE HQ for headquarters. We're on TikTok, YouTube, Facebook, LinkedIn, you know, name it. X, we're everywhere. Just feel free to Insta as well. Find us there. And of course, my team, they are incredible folks that just do great work and they'd love to connect with you, too. So don't hesitate to reach out to one of my team members. You can find them on our website. They would love to connect with you as well.

Ted Wind: Love it. And truthfully, honestly, I can say that almost every chamber we've worked with at Diagonal who has got involved with ACCE has had nothing but an incredible experience. So, if you haven't already, you should definitely check out more about ACCE. We have all their info below in the description. So, definitely check that out. We have links to Sheree Anne, ACCE, Horizon 2035. All the stuff we talked about on the episode will be down below.

And to everyone listening in, welcome to season 2 of Beyond the Ribbon Cut. We'll catch you on the next episode.