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Chamber eager to move to in-person events and meetings

Virtual meetings didn’t hold appeal for Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows members
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Mark Vosper with the Chamber of Commerce. (Special to The News)

The Chamber of Commerce serving Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows, had to move everything to the virtual world, like everyone else during the past two years of the pandemic. However, the chamber and its members are eager to be back to holding in-person meetings and events once again.

During the past two years, the chamber adjusted to COVID restrictions by holding most of their meetings virtually. According to the chamber’s executive director Mark Vosper, with the vaccine rates improving, and with the introduction of the vaccine passport, they were recently able to move to hybrid meetings.

“With such a high proportion of business meetings and social contact having to be held virtually during this time, the initial appeal soon wore off and attendance noticeably dropped. It has been generally agreed that in-person meetings produce far better results including participation, input and networking. We greatly look forward to getting back to in-person events and meetings going forward,” he said.

The chamber’s new hybrid meeting format allows for in-person meetings if vaccinated, or via Zoom if preferred. The board of directors meets monthly, except for August and December, usually on the third Monday of each month unless there is a stat holiday that day. General meetings are held quarterly.

While the virtual meetings won’t stick with the chamber in the long run post-COVID, the increase in advertising and financial support for businesses and individuals from the government, which has further helped the chamber in distributing the information to its members, is something the chamber is hoping will stay even after the pandemic is over.

“One noticeable feature of the pandemic has been more prominent advertising and dissemination by the government on receiving financial support for businesses or individuals. This has helped us to provide key information to our members through our newsletters, mail-outs or directly on phone calls,” he said.

Towards the end of last year, the chamber even updated the look and content of their weekly member newsletter, modified and increased their social media presence to provide additional promotional opportunities to its members, and has managed to offer multiple advantages including up-to-date, relevant business information, member-to-member deals and discounts, marketing opportunities, preferential access to group insurance and medical plans.

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And while the chamber membership dropped by just over 5 per cent overall, the chamber is hopeful that with these new measures and an added incentive on in-person meetings and events, things will start to look up.

“We have started to see more interest currently with new members and potential new members making contact for membership applications. We are looking forward to resuming in-person events soon to further promote member businesses and provide networking and trade relationship opportunities,” said Vosper.

Chamber’s first in-person, semi-formal event, the Business Excellence Awards, will take place on Mar. 5. And following this week’s announcements lifting restrictions on indoor gatherings, the chamber will be running the event at full capacity.

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Priyanka Ketkar

About the Author: Priyanka Ketkar

Priyanka Ketkar has been a journalist since 2011 with extensive experience in community-driven news writing, feature writing, and editing.
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