2024 off to a running start!

When do you set goals? For yourself personally, for the business you represent, for the organizations you are active in? Do you even set any? These are things that each person does differently, there is no right way, no wrong way, no standard way. Do you reward yourself when you reach a goal? How do you celebrate? A celebratory dinner, a gift for yourself? Do hold yourself accountable when you don’t meet that goal? Reflect and reset, a swift kick in the rear to maybe hustle a little harder or shrug your shoulders and keep plugging along?

For me I have no set time when I sit and set goals, sometimes I do it based on projects, sometimes its an end goal broken down in parts. My goals are typically done as lists. I make lots of lists, I love lists. Lists in notebooks, lists on my phone, lists in my daily planner or my absolute favorite medium, post it notes! Lists on Post-It notes are what I consider everyday executable tasks, the things that are easily checked off. Maybe there are 5 tasks on that Post-It, but once I have checked off all those tasks and can throw that completed list away its like wiping the slate clean. What a great feeling!

For the Chamber, setting goals is a team effort. Our strategic planning committee offered some goals that they feel are beneficial to the chamber, members discussed them and we are working together to see how we can accomplish them. Each of the other committee have goals that are pertinent to their projects that they bring to the the membership body at our meetings and we discuss. Each of the members have their own ideas that with discussion can lead to a creation of a goal. we determine, as a team, which ones we should pursue, which ones may be good ideas but maybe aren’t a good fit for our organization, some are a flat out “no thank you”.

Some of the goals I would like to see on the WCC 2024 list is

• Member engagement, being an active member is not as time consuming as you think

• Better and more efficient communication, this is one for me personally ( can I get minutes out a week earlier! )

• Get out and meet our members where they are

• Membership portal on the website

For now I think we have a lot of exciting events in the works and I feel that our team is capable of doing great things. I hope, together, we will check so much more off of the WCC list and we will see our 2024 goals accomplished!

Thanks for your continued commitment to the WCC!

Robyn

Get Out There!

Supporting another’s success will never dampen yours. - Oleg Lougheed

The Woodbury CT Chamber of Commerce was started as a way for local businesses to work together to build a strong economic base for the benefit of all. Karen Reddington-Hughes, Paul Luchetti, and Robert Clarke believed that a Chamber of Commerce could be the vessel that would carry this idea forward.

Karen as President, Paul as Vice President, and Bob as Treasurer, worked diligently to establish the bylaws and register them with the state before they began speaking to local professionals to create a team to launch that newly established Chamber.

For three years the Chamber grew in membership and scope, and then COVID happened. As with everyone else, we had to quickly learn how to navigate this new reality. Karen communicated the changes that were happening in real time. Helping our members have the most up to date resources when it seemed like the rules were changing daily. We used social media to post which restaurants were open, their menus, and how they were handling the no contact rules, we went online with meetings so members could still feel connected and know they weren’t alone in their distress, Karen shared financial assistance, grants and programs the government was offering, and we hosted online social opportunities that we hoped were engaging, fun and beneficial to both the public, members and non-members alike. Absolutely none of that was easy.

Fast forward to 2022, we came back to life, albeit slowly. It was like building from the ground up again. Rebuilding our presence, our membership, and our goals. Karen, Paul and Bob, still steadfast that the Chamber was needed. At the end of 2022, Karen announced she was stepping down, she had seen us through the pandemic and was excited to support the next group of leaders.

2023 saw a new president and continued growth in membership coming from not just Woodbury but Bethlehem, Southbury, and Washington. Committees were formed and an enthusiastic membership body began planning events. We got back to the Get Socials, networking events, interactive meetings, sharing of experiences and knowledge, and the original mindset of working together to benefit all. The Chamber then decided to focus on one thing and that was supporting our Events Committee on bringing the Fall Festival back. The committee volunteers worked diligently to make the event an astounding success and it demonstrated how successful we can be when we work together towards a common goal.

This year has been one of growth, learning and change. We have increased our social media presence, participated in many ribbon cuttings, supported other organizations in town and started working on our 2024 goals with many exciting events in the works.

Thank you to everyone for your support, check out our calendar for upcoming events and we hope you consider joining the Woodbury CT. Chamber of Commerce!

~Robyn Dostie Esposito