Chamber of Commerce Duties Travel to Mexico

In my last post, you learned about my profession, a funeral director. Today I am going to bring you up to speed with another aspect of my life, being the President of the Medford Chamber of Commerce. I was elected president in December 2009 to a two-year term. I had previously served as a board member for the Chamber of Commerce.

You may be asking yourself, what exactly is a chamber of commerce? The best way to describe a chamber of commerce is by looking to Wikipedia:

A chamber of commerce is a form of business network, e.g., a local organization of businesses whose goal is to further the interests of businesses. Business owners in towns and cities form these local societies to advocate on behalf of the business community. Local businesses are members, and they elect a board of directors or executive council to set policy for the chamber.

Residents of a community can belong to a Civic Association, but Chambers of Commerce are reserved for the businesses within a community. For example, in my neighborhood, the North Brookhaven Chamber of Commerce covers the area that the Miller Place-Rocky Point Patch covers. While I live in Rocky Point, my job is located in Medford, where the focus of my business is. That is why I am involved in the Medford Chamber of Commerce.

Chambers of Commerce strive to build business within the community. We try to bring as much business to each of our members locations as possible. I believe in the idea of shopping local and building a feeling for people to buy and shop locally and, more importantly, to sell locally.

I also feel that a business sets a tone for the community. If the storefront is appealing, clean and neat, people will shop there. If the staff is friendly and courteous and, most importantly, friendly and knowledgable, then that business will thrive.

These are some of the many things I strive to bring to the community of Medford in hopes that Medford becomes a destination instead of a pathway between Port Jefferson and Patchogue.

The last two weeks took me out of the country on vacation to Mexico. My wife's family has a fractional for the month of May and every year we go to relax and enjoy the sandy beaches and the delicious food of the Mexican Rivera just south of Playa del Carmen.

While I did find time to relax, most evenings were spent huddled over my laptop trying to pull a few events together for the Medford Chamber of Commerce. While on vacation we had a general meeting that I was unable to attend, however, my worthy First Vice President,Tom Kelly filled in nicely. To prepare for the meeting though, notices had to be sent out. So while the condo was asleep, I prepared the email blasts, posted to Facebook and sent out tweets for a whole week before the meeting. From what I hear, it was one of the best meetings of the year. (Maybe because I was not there.)

While sipping on margarita's I was able to finalize Medford Chamber of Commerce First Mini-Golf Networking Event being held on June 8 at Country Fair in Medford. I worked out the PayPal details, looked over e-mail layouts and responded to many questions from those who would like to attend or are attending. I am really looking forward to this event!