6
January 2014
Emporia Area Chamber of Commerce and Convention & Visitors Bureau
Chairman’s Corner
Greetings and Happy New Year to all. I hope your holiday season was
everything you hoped for (and more). I first want to thank you all for the
opportunity to serve as your Chamber Chair for 2014 and assure you that I will
give this position everything I have.
Ron Thomas
Chairman of the Board
Your Chamber Board and staff had a very good retreat in October (thanks to Bill
Barnes for facilitating) and came away with a positive list of short-term and longterm goals which include in part, improving the branding and marketing of the
Chamber through better utilization of technology. Yes, this means a new look to
our web site and the way the monthly newsletter is delivered both of which will give
the Chamber more opportunities to highlight your business and enhance efforts to
recruit new members. Other goals involve the utilization of the ValuNet Smart Room
(which has already seen good traffic), strengthening our relationship with Emporia
Main Street and continuing community visioning efforts.
I am also very excited about a partnership with Emporia State’s Department of
Business and Flint Hills Technical College on a new program that will involve an
entrepreneurship competition that will start soon. Stay tuned for details.
Our Chamber is very fortunate to have tremendous membership, a great board
that is very engaged and a staff that is second to none. With these components in
place, I see a fine future.
In closing, I want to thank outgoing