Heart of Wisconsin Chamber of Commerce

Welcome everybody to midday magazine for this December 29th 2023 have your host James J.

Male off here at 330. We're going to welcome in Melissa leaders

We're going to talk about the Wayne Wilson benefit coming up on New Year's Eve looking forward to talk on Melissa about that right now in studio

We have from the heart of Wisconsin chamber commerce promise back in promise my senior last name, right?

It's back and back and thank you very much

I will try to get that right from now on promises first time she's been in with us today

And she is the marketing communications director over at our heart of Wisconsin chamber commerce promise good to see you

Good to see you too. Thanks a lot for being here

I have seen your name and I've heard your name mentioned a many many times from our chamber members and other community members

And it's nice to have you in studio and get to meet you. This is fun. Oh, yeah. Thank you

Appreciate what you guys do for our community so much and looking forward to talking with you guys more and more about new years and

Next year and so many great events that our chamber has for now

Can we get into some of the upcoming community events? We have to look forward to

Yeah, one of our bigger events that we are getting ready for here is our annual meeting and awards banquet

dinner that is going to be on March

six

Okay, and so at that event we like to recognize

Investors that had made impacts in within our community

Throughout the year we will be holding holding this one at

The ridges

We do have nomination forms out right now too

So if you would like to nominate your favorite business or a business that you think is deserving to receive an award

Our categories are large business of the year

Innovative business of the year

Entrepreneur or small business of the year

community impact of the year

Professional executive of the year and

Those forms can be found on when you go on to you know harder Wisconsin Chamber of Commerce on our landing page there

Those the deadline for that is January 13th

So we highly encourage everybody to get their nominations and sooner rather than later. Yeah, yeah

I have a feeling as you're saying that promise that a lot of people had names or businesses pop in their head

And no time like the present get it in right now, especially while it's fresh in your mind

We all know how it is in the beginning of the new year and a billion things going on and before you know it that date deadline comes up

Oh, I didn't nominate the person. Yeah, you want to get that in yeah

This is also one of our favorite events. We love this event in this area

This is not only a fun event to hang out with the chamber to be over at the ridges

You know our fate one of our favorite places to be but it's also a chance for us to

Celebrate our community celebrate our community members

It's one of those things to where I feel nominee now being nominated is is such an honor just that let alone winning anything

It's such a nice opportunity to put a spotlight on not only businesses, but people individuals

We don't always get a chance to right right I agree with that

Thank you very much for bringing that up. We'll talk more about that

I'm sure as we get closer and closer to it and again you can go to Wisconsin Rapids Chamber dot com to find that

Form to fill out go to Wisconsin Rapids Chamber dot com and you'll be able to find that form

I want to also encourage people to check out the events page on the chamber's website

It's a great way to keep up on all the things that promise and I are gonna be talking about today

I go right there again Wisconsin Rapids Chamber dot com

Got another great one coming up promise

Encouraging the public we're gonna be oh yes, of course, so I'm not I'm not sure if

People are aware that they can buy chamber gift certificates and these gift certificates

Once you purchase them you can redeem them or use them at any of the businesses that are chamber members

So there's we have over 400 members right now

So if you're not sure, you know what your spouse would like or what your son-in-law would like or you know

Buy a chamber gift certificate and then they can use it anywhere in town here as so as so long as they're you know on that list of chamber investors

We do see a huge influx of people buying them like over the holiday season

So if you if you wanted to buy them for say you own a business and you wanted to buy them as like an employee gift

You know, you can you know stop in and you know get those

For your employees

But it's great to use them throughout the year as well kind of help circulate, you know money throughout town

It helps small businesses. It helps our economy in town

It's just a really great way of and it's easy too is I have a hard time

Figuring out what to buy people I hear you yeah birthdays and anniversaries

Go ahead and ask your mom or dad what they want for Christmas good luck with that

Yeah, I don't need anything. Oh, I don't want anything you're stuck and you're trying to figure out what to do

Now there are a lot of options for gift cards nowadays, but there are there's only one that really

Features and puts back into our community right specifically us and where we are able to keep the money right here in town

We're able to invest in our all local businesses getting a gift card from the chamber

Carries a different way to it

I also believe that it shows when you're using that card throughout town

You're showing you're investing in your community that you're backing your community

So I think it goes a little bit farther than most gift cards do right?

Yeah, just a little more to it I with that and certainly

The flexibility with that too you mentioned so many businesses are a part of the chamber that you'll be able to use this card at

Which it really helps with you know not just we're past Christmas right we get we made it through Christmas and everything

But there are birthdays there are certainly as you mentioned

You know celebrating your employees at businesses. There's a lot of times where gift cards are gonna come up in the next year

Yeah, think of our chamber. Yes, it's great opportunity and promise if if people want to know more or they want to you know

Get a gift card. Do they just go to the website should they call you guys up?

I would highly suggest they call

We do not have a feature on our website as of right now where you can order

certificates, so just call the office and

Let them know that you're wanting to buy a gift certificate and we'll get it ready for you very cool

Appreciate that we're promise. We're in December here and as as we're wrapping up December

We we have some things to look forward to going in the next month into the new year

We have the community leadership and team leadership that we wanted to discuss a little bit with you

Yeah, so the the I'm gonna start off with the team leadership

so this program is designed to

grow

and strengthen skills in

Teens that we see that have potential in

Advancing in certain areas of their life, so it's basically I

Was hoping to put my daughter through it, but

To kind of grow like communication skills leadership skills

Organization skills, you know the thought process of how to you know start

Organizing an event per se or how to get a certain project started and launched and all those pieces put together

So the the

Teen leadership program is we kind of it's like an entry, you know, like kind of start exposing them to different areas in town that they might not be aware

Exists, so the idea is to start, you know, exposing them to these areas where they could work start giving them skills that they could start utilizing and then

Hope that after college that they see potential in the community and you know return to the community and invest in in the community in the future

But

Speaking of which, you know the the they are going to be focusing on

Information technology, which is huge right now, especially with how advanced or we're growing in terms of technology

I think it's really important that they understand the

Importance of you know information technology and I can use that to develop

Their careers the more comfortable they are with the tech world the more that it's going to benefit them going forward

We're not going backwards with technology. We're only going more and more forward with it the more that they understand the better that they're going to be able to do

These jobs or do some of these things with with the leadership program. I'm curious and I don't want to pry

But you I wish the audience could have seen that the look on promises face when you said you wanted your daughter to join it

Because it's a great look. That's a as apparent. I felt that look

But

Why was it that you wanted your daughter to be a part of it?

And I don't need to get specifics necessarily, but what is it about the leadership program that you thought would benefit her and kids like her?

I thought it would have been a great opportunity

Oh, so the reason why she wasn't able to do it is because she

Moved in with her father so out of town, but anyways if she was here. I thought it would have been a great opportunity for her to

Get out of her bubble a little bit. She kind of has like a set of friends that she hangs out with enough that they're

You know bad influences. It's just

Additional exposure in other areas of life so that she's not so

Close-minded with you know the potential of this town. Yes. Yeah, well, it's such a great point

And it's something that I I think that not only myself, but others out there listening were that kid were like that

So many especially in small towns, you know, it's this idea of oh, I got to see the big world

I got to get out I got to do these things

And the idea of coming back may not always seem like an option

Maybe they are gonna leave, but the you mentioned something really in key to this I think about them coming back

I myself I've got at least off the top of my head two or three friends

And I know they move back to this area

After some years or what have you and in part of the reason I did was the perspective the idea of some of the things that I

Remembered from when I was young we just don't know what this might spark

They're a part of the leadership program. They learn and see things that maybe we don't see the the benefits of

Immediately, but down the line they do and brings them back to this area

I I got to tell you promise every month I talk with our mayor blazer

I speak with the mayor over on point and was saw I keep in good communication with all of them and everybody has the same

Concern keeping community members here bringing new people here

It's it's a real key part to the survival of our rural areas

And one of the biggest things in ways of doing that is not having a this tax break or this big business or that kind of thing

It's getting to people and speaking to them about community letting them see different things in the community that are going to bring them back

That seldomly isn't or that they very rarely is a certain one event or a certain one thing

It's a feeling right it's it's a it's the people

It's it's a lot of that that continues to bring people back when these kids are a part of the leadership program

They meet people the maybe they don't who's talked to you mentioned being in a bubble

I think all of us in high school getting the bubbles and and this branches you out of that a little bit more

Not only building more relationships but finding out more things that you can enjoy and love about your neck of the woods

Right, yeah, it's a really cool thing to be able to offer to kids this leadership program

Yeah, I also think it gives them the opportunity to get like a step-of-head. Yes, from their careers

You know you you they're going to high school. They're thinking about where they're going to go to college

But like what about what's going on in town now that could benefit your future and I think this program is a huge benefit for

You know teens that are willing to explore other areas that they don't necessarily get with their standard curriculum in high school

So strong point I I also like the idea of whenever we can create opportunities for young people to take pride in their area and

And and take a little self-worth from that as well because I don't know about others

But I know growing up I took a lot of pride in my city where I was from and and that ended up building a little confidence in me

Even being from there and stuff and I think that any opportunity to build kids self-confidence and self-worth is a is a positive as well

So you you have a twofold here of by building love of your community also building them up

It in and there's there's no downside to building these guys up to building these kids up and everything they they are the future

Seems like a good idea that you have them feeling pretty good about going into the future. Yeah

We also so the before wrap up there is also the community leadership program as well

There's the teen one and then the community with leadership program. So the community leadership program is more designed for adults that are already in a career

Themselves I myself did the community leadership program last year

And I found it

It opened a lot of doors for me, you know, and I've lived in this area my entire life

And there's some things that you know throughout the program that I was like oh, I didn't know that existed

That's like, you know, it's it just it was eye-opening for me and I learned a lot from it

I learned a lot about you know my skills and you know how I communicate and what are my strengths where and it's really helped me

Be aware of those things from you know day-to-day

Right now they are they're they're focusing on community service

And that it goes in line with you know

What what is their available in town for us to you know do community service?

Is there volunteer options? You know where can we participate? What companies in town are you know looking to expand on community service?

Things in that area. Yeah, yeah different there's there's investing in your community by purchasing and buying products

And then there's volunteering and investing in that way

It's nice to always see the you know the great themes in the different ways the leadership program approaches year-in-year out with what they're doing

With something like that. That's really key to this

You're not only getting a chance to maybe see and hear about businesses. You don't always get a chance to which I like you

I've been in this area for I've been always from this area

But been in this area for over 20 years and every once in a while I'll hear from something

I'm like I didn't know that was around or I haven't seen this person

So it isn't just businesses that you can connect with that you might normally put people in the connections you make there

Right. Yep. One of my favorite stories about the leadership program is the the couple that met through the leadership

I ended up getting married and everything

That's maybe a little far fetch maybe that's not gonna happen every time

But it does speak to the relationships that can be built outside of the business world and that you know

Friendships and different things that could be made that can bleed into the business work

Yeah, yeah

I definitely stay in touch with some of the people that were in my group from last year

And it's nice to see them around town and one of them you know works for a print company in town here

And it's like hey, how are you? It's great to see you and another one works for you know the CVB and I see them frequently

So it's really nice to have made a connection with them prior to having to engage with like work with them, you know

Right right

And it's interesting. I've talked to people for at least a last couple of years when it comes to the leadership program

Anytime we're talking about it one of the first things to come up is that is loving running into fellow leadership members

And it reminds me so much of I don't know if you ever done a play if you ever acted before done theater

Okay

When you're lucky you get in the show and you feel like a family and these are and people that even years and years later

When you run into them and you've been in the play with them you're like oh, hey, so and so and you're happy to see them and everything

It reminds me of that in many ways. It's a fun program to be a part of and encourage businesses out there to think of getting your people involved in this

Leadership is one of the I front to me. It's just my opinion. I believe that everybody has a leader in them

And and what that means to you

Figuring that out finding that out programs like this can help you do that help not only embrace what that leadership is

But what it is to be a leader right? Yeah, one of the things I encourage is if you're if you're a business in town

And you have an employee that you think has potential to grow

This is a great program to put them and it'll help them grow in so many, you know

Areas of their career that you know that'll help grow them I don't with the programs like with something like this

Just like we were saying with the teen leadership program. There is no downside. There is no negative to this

There's only but positives to it and a great things that can happen from it for you and your employees

The roundtable revitalization that was something else I wanted to touch on with you

So our roundtable revitalization. So

um

Laura is working on

Changing these up a little bit. So they're more suited for what our

businesses in town need

So one of them is the hr roundtable. We are changing that to the

Network exchange for hr professionals. So this group is going to focus on talking about those sensitive hr subjects

You know, and it's going to be a close group

It's going to be you know confident

Confidentiality is going to be very significant, but it's an opportunity for hr for professionals to gather together to talk about topics that are coming up for them right now

And they don't know how to approach them address them

Resolve them or put a policy in place and it's kind of like hey, what did you do in your company? Well, we tried this and you know

Somebody else might chip in and say that they've tried this and it didn't work very well for a

And so this is an opportunity to talk about those

hr subjects with other hr professionals that understand

what it's like to

Face certain challenges in that profession

So the second roundtable revamp here is going to be the safety

The network exchange for safety professionals. So this is another area where

Um

It's it's hard to

It can be hard to implement safety measures, you know across the board in terms of

You know anywhere from working in the kitchen

Construction site to what do you do with bloodborne path, you know pathogens, you know things like that

If you're a small business and you want to develop, you know, you're your safety policies. This is a great group to get into

We do have quite a few different people in this group from different businesses that discuss, you know, upcoming safety challenges or

Share ideas on how to address certain safety issues

um, I think it's really great to kind of hear

what

A similar company might be doing where you can take bits and pieces from their their policies and implement them, you know

In your business as well, so

Those two groups there that's a one of the the more fantastic ideas I have heard in quite some time

I think this is awesome uh and and one of the and I know that from the first roundtable discussion

I've heard some great feedback from that so I know doubt the second one will be just as impactful

We um, we have no blueprint for 2024. There's no outline

There's no way of handling certain things we there's so many things that are growing or evolving

We just talked about the tech world a little bit ago and how much that is growing

There's different things and different concerns for employers and employees than there's never been before

So there's no blueprint on any of this. We're kind of figuring this out as we go

The more data you can get the more hey this worked for us this didn't work for us

It's not to say maybe it will or won't for you

But at least it's daddy you didn't have before and something you can build on when we're

When we're building the boat on the water here

It could be a little difficult

You need all the feedback you can get all the data you can get and

And being able to share it and do it in a a a positive environment a friendly environment

I think goes a long way too where there's not the judgment or any of these things

It's hey, there are no bad ideas. What are you guys trying? Let's you know, maybe put our heads together

See wing figure out

Yeah, and the great thing about that too is that yeah, you're

Collaborating with trusted professionals in the area. So it's it's great to get together and bounce ideas off of each other

Especially if you don't have another person in your business to be like hey, what should we do about this?

Oh, no, right. Yeah, go to this group. Yeah, you know, it can be it's something I don't think we think about very often

But it can be lonely being at the top it could be you know as a business as an owner of a small business or a big one

And having again people to rely to lean on to talk to about this stuff is gonna go that much farther with us

Getting that blueprint set for you know, what we do going forward with a lot of these changes

Right, it's a really good one. We're speaking with promises. Bucking yep. Yeah, I got it

My marketing communications director with the heart of Wisconsin Chamber of Commerce and we've got a switch

Do we wanted to touch about coming up? Yeah, so we have a

event that is currently named off the clock and this event is

designed to bring

Chamber investors together so that they can have the opportunity to network we do it once a month

We usually find a chamber investor or member to host the event

One of the great things this year is that we are changing off the clock to networking at night

I like that

So with networking at night

We are going to change the time to five to seven except for the first one because it was a prior commitment

And so the next the very first networking at night is going to be hosted by

The spot my Jacoby custom cues nice in Nacusa on January 15th is going to happen from five to seven PM. We're going to have some great

Editions to it so not only will you get the opportunity to network with other business professionals in town

We're gonna start implementing

More information more opportunities to network

It's it's gonna be fun. I'm excited about it. There's we're gonna have like little mixers and Q and A's and I don't know

It's I'm excited about it because I think that the opportunity to change it from off the clock to networking at night

Really provides people the opportunity to like okay. This is my time for networking. I need to set this night aside because it's

Networking at night

I'm I'm with you on this you got me just as excited as you and the team are over there for this

I love that name. I think that's great. I also think that it's

Nothing against off the clock in the name of that

But I think it's very like you I hear that and I know what it's about

I know what this is for and and like you said there kind of sets your brain for okay

This is a chance for me to network

There's a chance for me to run into people whether you work in marketing or sales or whatever your business is

This is a good opportunity for you to get out there in the public and meet some people

Maybe some people that you don't always get a chance to run into yep

So the the event itself we have one host every every month

And it's you it's a business member or a member of the chamber and with that

We are now

We are now scheduling into 2025

So if you're interested in hosting and networking at

At night you gotta get on our waiting list and get on there soon and you know the year rolls really fast. So yeah

I still thought it was June when I came into work today. I mean it just goes my really quick

That's awesome. What a great opportunity not only for us as as community members and us to network

But for these businesses to be highlighted and have a chance to host these things. Yeah

That's always a nice opportunity

That also is one of those things where oh, I haven't been here before yeah

I'm gonna go there for this networking and night. That sounds like a fun time. That's great

As a host too, you have the opportunity to speak about your business

You know what's coming up for the year and and it's not just speaking to

What would you say like an audience that might not?

Yeah, they might not always have a chance to see or yeah, you know

But getting a chance to open up to a whole new group of people

And and you're having them come to you

You're not even having to go out there to the public or anything. It's just a really cool opportunity

I could see why you guys are filling up really quick. Oh, that's good. I'm looking forward to talking about that and many many more things next year

Promise you did it. We're done great work

You get your first one down. I told you that too bad you good at this you're very good at this

Please say hi to everybody at the chamber for us

Thank you to you and the staff there for everything you do for our community and put into our community

We appreciate you have a great new years. You too. Thank you

We'll have come back with more mid-day magazine right here on WFHR locally grown radio