Southern Lancaster Chamber

Southern Lancaster Chamber Logo with dark gray rooster weather vane, gold background behind "Southern Lancaster", and green text reading "Chamber", with "business and community" typed underneath

The Background

After becoming a Realtor in 2019, my mentor, Kelli, encouraged me to join the Southern Lancaster County Chamber of Commerce (SLCCC) to begin networking. If you’re not familiar with a chamber of commerce, here’s my definition: a regional group of businesses & nonprofits that meet on a regular basis to network, support one another, and grow their organization. Here in Lancaster County, there are several chambers, and plenty more networking groups on top of that.

SLCCC was my intro to networking and I’ve been hooked ever since! I’ve now been a Chamber member for 6+ years, served on the board for many years, and am still actively involved!

I officially joined the Chamber in early 2020 and was able to attend a few normal events before COVID shifted everything. The Chamber switched to Zoom meetings and I continued to be involved, even speaking at one of the meetings as a panelist on real estate!

We slowly started hosting a few in person & online events, and I assisted in planning a few of them. Fast forward to spring 2022, I was nominated & elected to serve as a board member until April 2025. As my term began, the Chamber was navigating leadership transition and evolving event formats due to COVID.

I was a presenter at the Chamber's inaugural professional development conference in 2024! I taught a session on Canva/graphic design!

TLDR

I supported SLCCC during a period of transition, helping with day-to-day operations, communications, and event planning as the organization adapted to changing formats and evolving needs. I continue to be actively involved in the Chamber with planning the annual professional development conference and serving on the marketing committee.

3 women standing together, smiling at camera, with Southern Lancaster Chamber pop up banners behind them.
Backs of several people waiting in line at coffee truck

Tasks

I stepped in during a period of organizational change, serving as interim secretary and supporting the board as roles and responsibilities shifted. My responsibilities included:

  • Creating board & member meeting agendas
  • Taking board meeting minutes
  • Email communications with the membership
  • Social media posts
  • Helping to coordinate & keep track of events
  • Website help

 

During my term, the board created a new administrative staff role to support daily operations. I helped onboard and train the new administrator, allowing me to shift focus to larger initiatives, such as planning the Chamber’s inaugural professional development conference, which I’ll dive into later on this page.

Gradual Growth

Since joining in 2020, the Chamber has navigated a period of rebuilding. Like many organizations, we shifted from being a thriving, in-person community pre-COVID to redefining how we operated once gatherings resumed. This included finding a new meeting location, rethinking fundraising efforts, navigating leadership and role transitions, and reestablishing consistent event programming.

55+ new members
in 2023
(up from 15 in 2022)

238% increase in social engagement

40% increase in website
traffic

55+ new members 

in 2023 (15 in 2022)

238% increase

in social engagement

40% increase

in SLCCC website traffic

40% increase in

website traffic

Task Breakdown

Email List

I managed email communication for the Chamber, our primary channel for reaching members. These emails were to notify members of upcoming events, chamber updates, sponsorship opportunities, and more.

For programming emails, I followed what is referred to as a “runway” system- a sequence of emails that gradually prepared members for each event, from announcing the event through day-of logistics. The goal was to efficiently make members aware of events, drive attendance, and pre-emptively answer questions (i.e. parking, where to enter, etc.) to create a great member experience.

Announce- “Next Wednesday, 1/17- join us for a mixer at Morr Range from 5:30-7:30PM! RSVP here [insert link] by Tuesday, 1/16.”

*Repeat info at a later date*

Last call- “Tomorrow (Tuesday) is your last chance to join us for our mixer on Wednesday, 1/17 from 5:30-7:30PM @ Morr Range! RSVP by end of day tomorrow here!”

Reminder to attendees- “Friendly reminder that our mixer at Morr Range is TONIGHT (Wednesday) from 5:30-7:30PM. Park ____, enter____, and you’ll find us ____”

Social Media

I would create graphics about our upcoming events and similar to the email schedule, create multiple posts for each event for our Facebook and Instagram.

I would take photos during the event and post them the same day or following day.

For many of our happenings, I would also create Facebook events.

I posted in our Facebook group for Chamber members and replied to any messages on both platforms.

I’m proud of SLCCC in a lot of ways, one of them being all the referrals we have! We’re all joining to get business and that’s exactly what happens! I would create posts highlighting Chamber connections- “Ina Bunnell with Engle Printing & Publishing created an Advertiser ad for Jona Green with Edward Jones!”

Event Planning

I was responsible for coordinating Chamber events. This included:

  • Creating RSVP form on website 
  • Inviting & confirming speaker (if applicable)
  • Coordinating & confirming with event host
  • Advertising event
  • Sending reminder emails to attendees
  • Taking & posting photos
  • Checking attendees in (if applicable)

 

Email Shift

When my board term began, we were using a regular email to send out membership communication, no “email service provider (ESP)” such as Constant Contact, Mailchimp, Flodesk, etc.

What it looked like to not have an ESP:

  • Copy and pasting recipient list, which led to emails bouncing, room for error, and was an unnecessary time suck
  • Not having the ability to design emails- we were limited to plain text. Any graphics needed to be attachments.
  • We couldn’t track statistics, like open rates and click rates. 
  • Scheduling emails was hit or miss
  • We couldn’t adjust the preview text

 

Overall, it just was not practical. I migrated our email list to Mailchimp! The 2026 update is that due to a new CRM system the Chamber is implementing, we are now moving to ConstantContact! It works directly with the new CRM.

Room of people seated at round tables, looking at man presenting

Website Management/Edits

While I did not create the website (that was done before I joined the board!), I have made a lot of edits over the years! This was my introduction into WordPress and Elementor, the systems I’m using to create this project page! 🙂

A few examples of edits:

  • Finding & setting up a NEW event platform so attendees can RSVP & pay online
  • Updating home page with fresh photos & new event platform
  • Updating join page with new photos & text
  • Updating membership prices on front and back end
  • Editing directory listing form
  • Updating about page as leadership changes
  • Updating scholarship pages as applications open and close
Kyle Beltle, Proactive CPA speaking at the 2025 SLCCC Conference | Photo Credit: Midland Media

Project Feature: Professional Development Conference

In 2024, the Chamber received a grant from the Lancaster County Community Foundation. We decided to use it for a brand new event: a professional development conference!

I stepped into the role as conference committee chair, leading the committee to plan, advertise, and execute the event!

Tasks at a glance:

  • Soliciting and reviewing speaker applications
  • Creating and managing conference web page
  • Creating ticket page
  • Advertising timeline (early bird tickets, open & close registration)
  • Program design
  • Soliciting sponsors (in 2025)
  • Venue coordination (set up, menu, room rentals, etc.)
  • Soliciting and managing vendors (coffee truck, photographer/videographer)
  • Coordinating committee meetings and delegating tasks
  • Topic selection

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