Longboat Key Chamber of Commerce to gather for 61st annual meeting

The Longboat Key Chamber of Commerce is looking to the new decade with a desire to be part of something bigger. That mission will begin at the 61st annual chamber meeting and awards luncheon, held this year from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Jan. 21 at the Lido Beach Resort.

As usual, the chamber will give six awards based on a point system: Ambassador of the Year; Newbie of the Year for members who got involved right away; Ed and Marge Moran Memorial Award for members involved in the community’s greater good; Chamber Member of the Year; Chairman’s Award for impactful, longtime members; and Eager Beaver.

“[Eager Beaver] is someone who’s really eager to do whatever he or she thinks we might need,” Chamber President Gail Loefgren said.

At last year’s event, they introduced the Each One, Reach One campaign, an endeavor to increase the chamber’s membership. Each member was supposed to try to reach a new member to bring into the chamber. Although that campaign ended with 2019, the chamber is always focused on bringing in new members, especially younger members of the business community.

“This year, we’re going to concentrate on the chamber giving back,” Loefgren said. “There are some younger members joining, and if you’re going to attract a new generation, you have to do things to reinvent yourself.”

In 2020, the chamber wants to organize a roundtable of its nonprofit members and match them with other members of the business community for the greater good of both.

“I think that the younger generation especially all wants to be a part of something greater than themselves,” Loefgren said.

Elsewhere in the chamber’s business plan for 2020 are plans to refurbish and repurpose its monthly networking events and to explore the possibilities of digital marketing and social media.