The Changing World of Events

from Voice of Business - Summer 2020

Messages from the Board

The ChangingWorld of Rochester Chamber Events

Susan George

Director of Events and Affiliation Relations

OVID-19 hits like a spear right to the heart, and the world of events as we previously knew it has changed. The Rochester Chamber events department, like so many others, went from organizing small to large size gatherings under one roof to network, connect, socialize, and celebrate, to a complete halt in March. C

For the first two weeks, it was incredibly challenging, trying to be sensitive to what businesses were going through, and deliberately taking a back seat from hosting these planned in-person events, to begin developing a strategy to pivot to a different platform, all while dealing with this unprecedented shutdown.

My events department team and I had already planned our events for the year, with our focus mainly being organizing and coordinating with members, event supporters and partners, promotion, and securing sponsors. With hosting these in-person events no longer being an option, we had to scrub many of our planned topics to focus more on relevant and current trends, and pivot to hosting these events via webinar. Hosting an online event is much different than hosting a physical one. While renting a venue and hiring a catering company is not necessary, planning and hosting our own online webinars is easier said than done. At the same time, the benefits of hosting a webinar are virtually limitless. We realize that offering events through webinars is not a new concept for a many. In fact, for some, it is a way of life and a totally normal way to present informative programming. However, for the Rochester Chamber events department, it quickly became a learning experience.

Hosting a webinar around a topic – whether it’s related to current trends, legal insights for our small business owners, professional development strategies for member organizations and their staff, ways to handle stress during this time, social webinars with a happy hour component, or a virtual 5K race for our members to get out and get active, and more – puts the speakers and sponsors on a virtual pedestal, while our registrants choose to stay connected, learn more, and stay on top of current trends. Our webinars are free for members, and we continue to strive to offer valuable information that is unique and interesting. With dozens of webinars planned and executed for nearly 5,000 participants in the first months of offering them, we still struggle with the unknown future of our signature in-person events. We have already moved the ROC Tech Conference to a virtual platform. We don’t yet know the pandemic’s impact on the potential of hosting the Rochester Chamber Top 100 awards celebration, the Rochester Chamber IGNITE award where we recognize future leaders, and our annual GO! women’s conference.

What is our world going to look like if we can’t gather in time for these planned signature events? Well, the good news is that we are all in the same boat, so we collectively get the dilemma we are in. However, despite the unknown, we must continue to pivot to ensure we still recognize the accomplishments of so many who have worked hard during this shutdown while maintaining sanity through it all. We must strive to support each other, while we remain open to innovative ideas that will help us think of new ways to showcase our community virtually.

We continue to work with Rochester Chamber supporters, sponsors, and partners of these signature events to come up with different ways to celebrate, recognize, and honor Rochester’s great contributing companies and business and community leaders. We will find a way! We must!

If you wish to contribute to our success and our plans to be more innovative given the times we are in, please feel free to contact me at Susan.George@GreaterRochesterChamber. com or call (585) 256-4612. I would love your input, innovative ideas, and support. Together we will get through this and be a stronger community. Be that change leader! To stay connected and up to date with all our webinar offerings, and our plan for future signature events, please visit us at GreaterRochesterChamber.com.

Thank you to our elected officials and community leaders for joining our Policy Matters series during this challenging time.

CONGRESSMAN JOE MORELLE

Congressman Morelle joined Rochester Chamber CEO Bob Duffy for multiple updates, where he answered member questions and gave updates on the federal COVID-19 response.