This is a continuation of last week’s column, in which I described how the Bath-Brunswick Regional Chamber has evolved over the past nine years and how our next evolution of growth depends on you. For the BBRC to thrive, our next step needs to be expanding our committee structures to include many more members and having the committees’ chairpersons be non-staff personnel. There are other pieces to the next phase, too, but none of that can happen until we free up staff time by having engaged members take on committee roles.

There are many positive aspects for employers in having their employees volunteer. First off, every business should be looking at succession, as many employers may begin transitioning away from day-to-day management within the next five years. Identifying the individuals you want leading your company over the next several decades is imperative. Even employers not looking to retire should be identifying which employees would make good managers and supervisors as they grow in your company.

Having your employees volunteer for organizations like the chamber is great for network building. They will have pride knowing that their employer is excited to have them be the face of the organization in the community, and they’ll be able to learn valuable skills of collaboration, compromise, event planning and more. Over the last decade, we’ve seen a decrease in real-life interpersonal communication as we navigated the pandemic. An employee can gain lots of skill development by engaging as a community volunteer and, in-doing so, will bring that increased skill set back to your organization.

There are numerous opportunities in our organization alone and, honestly, with many of our local community organizations, too. Here is just a sampling of volunteer opportunities within the Bath-Brunswick Regional Chamber:

Community events

The BBRC took our three major events, which used to be separate committees, and have combined them into one team, as many volunteers wanted to help with all three events. Community Events Committee volunteers meet many businesses and citizens while also learning how to work as a team and are our most visible volunteers.

The three events are the BBRC Annual Awards Dinner, the Hacker’s Ball and the Midcoast Tree Festival. The dinner happens annually in early March, and the event includes planning the one-evening event that highlights six to nine chamber businesses. The Hacker’s Ball is the chamber golf tournament in early May, and meetings ramp up in February. Finally, the Midcoast Tree Festival, which we are in the midst of planning now, happens over two weekends in November.

Beyond the three major events, the committee also helps with Chamber After Hours promotion/attendance, 12 @ 12 promotion/attendance and will help with any new events in 2025 (there are currently two under consideration).  The Community Events Committee meets monthly, unless more frequent meetings are needed as we approach specific event dates.

Ambassadors team

This great group of humans plays three primary roles, and each ambassador is only expected to fill the roles they feel they have capacity for. The roles are business visitations of potential and existing member businesses, ribbon-cutting attendees, and name tag distribution at our networking events.  We have breakfast once per month to discuss our visits. This committee is ideal for those that want to meet business leaders.

Marketing team

Websites, brand building, chamber guides, chamber marketing materials — all of this falls under the Marketing Committee. This group meets monthly and is a project-driven team that takes on specific tasks until they are finished. Currently, the team is evaluating websites of other chambers and comparing it to our brand-new website at midcoastmaine.com to see what pieces we want to add to promote our region and members even more. Those with an eye for what looks good are helpful, but having experts who know marketing would be a plus.

Government liaisons

The chamber’s policy team is ramping up for the next session of the Maine Legislature and will be getting together this fall to review how last session ended and to discuss the topics we expect to see this session. Steadily, our chamber has taken an increased role in policy work and our voices are heard by our legislators. We know next session will include PFAS, housing, workforce development and much more. We look forward to continuing our unique approach of taking each issue one by one rather than having pre-written policy stances like many chambers. Our unique consideration of topics has reflected the wishes of our diverse membership and, I think, aligns better with our particular business mix of owners and citizens. If you are interested in policy or have expertise on certain topics, we would love to connect.

WILL Power and Midcoast Edge

Our Women In Local Leadership team has held several great social gatherings in 2024. This is leading to more social events but also discussions on what other programming they could look forward to doing in the winter and into 2025. The best way to get involved with WILL Power is to attend their fall events, which will be announced soon.

As for the Midcoast Edge, our young professionals’ group is being resurrected by a half-dozen energetic leaders as they want to be doing their first event in 2025, if not earlier. If you are an under-40 young professional who wants to get engaged, now is the time to join this newly re-energized group to start planning some activities.

Overall, there really is something for everyone when it comes to opportunities to engage, and I think many employers will see the benefits of encouraging their employees to get involved. I bet most employers can identify one or two people in their organization right now as they read this. Connect them with me at cory@midcoastmaine.com and I can meet with them to see where they would fit. Or if you’re already convinced you know how you want to be a part of chamber committees, email anthony@midcoastmaine.com and he can get you on the right distribution list.

Cory King is executive director of the Bath-Brunswick Regional Chamber of Commerce.