Strategic Planning Minutes, May 6, 2010

 

Attending:    Deb Taylor, Chair; Marcy Birch; Rich McCaffery; Devin Morgan; Mike Otis

 

The meeting was called to order at 8:30 am, Wilber Bank, Rt 28 Branch, Cooperstown

 

Discussion of implementation/assessment of the Strategic Plan to date:

 

The Strategic Plan intends to drive Chamber activities from the committee level, a “ground-up” philosophy, to accomplish goals set forth by each chamber committee and incorporated into the StraPl in 2009. The goal of the StraPlan was to have a system/flow to encourage committees to stay focused and moving forward;

     Lack of feedback from individual committees (members of whom are liaisons to all Chamber committees) indicates that the plan and its process are not working as intended, for the following reasons.

  • Volunteer committee members are stretched to accomplishing month-to-month activities.
  • Committee goals set forth by the StraPl are too broad, not do-able, for a number of reasons:

      - Membership: Tasks of member approval, complaints, membership dinners/activities, take up all the time at monthly meetings;

      - Tourism: Great ideas about promoting the “value” of the tourism industry, haven’t met in months;

      - Board Development: Bi-annual;

      - Marketing: Area Guide is complete.

 

Conclusions related to StraPl:

·         The Board of Directors, as leaders of the Chamber, should direct committees with one or two achievable goals/activities that benefit the overall mission of the Chamber.

            - Volunteer committees should be responsible for accomplishable goals as directed by the Chamber BOD;

·         Avoid duplication of committee activities, especially the tourism committees (Cooperstown and Otsego County Chambers). It was suggested that tourism-related businesses should be driven to the county Tourism Program’s “Partner Program,” which works in conjunction with an advertising agency and is well-versed in tourism marketing;

·          Board Retreat to “re-group” on overall committee system;

·         Consider consolidation of committees to better reflect/focus on Chamber mission and scope;

·         Overall leadership/coordination of committee system is lacking.

 

Respectfully submitted, Deb Taylor, Chairperson, StraPl