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06/21/2017 08:30 AMThe lease on the office for the East Haven Chamber of Commerce, currently at 29 High Street, expires on June 30. Instead of moving to another building, the Chamber will use an online cloud service.
“If you look at most of the business today, more people are working from home,” said Chamber President Jennifer Higham.
Higham said that being a small Chamber, not paying for a lease on a physical office would be beneficial to the organization, adding that the Chamber could put more money into programs for its members, its scholarship fund, and community events, such as the Chamber’s annual tree lighting event on the Town Green.
She also talked about the ease of having everything related to the Chamber online.
“I could sit in the car and pick up my son at school, and send documents from my phone to Chamber members,” said Higham.
Higham also said the move will bring Chamber officials closer to its members, saying that Chamber staff will go see members at their businesses instead of members coming to them.
Using the example of buying tickets for events, she said that if someone doesn’t want to buy tickets online, that person will be able to buy tickets at a designated Chamber member’s business.
“It does two things: They’re able to pick up the tickets, but they’re actually walking into a business that they haven’t necessarily been in before,” said Higham, “So we’re trying to give back a little bit more exposure to our Chamber members.”
Chamber Ambassador George Smith said that the foot traffic going through the physical office is so small that the Chamber is basically throwing away money on rent.
“People expect to be virtual now,” said Smith, “I think it really puts East Haven Chamber on the forefront as being the virtual Chamber.”
As far as she knows, Higham said that East Haven is the first virtual Chamber on the shoreline. Since she became president in October, she said she’s only had two unannounced walk-ins come to the office.
“For the Chamber, what we’re trying to accomplish, to pay for an office defeats the purpose,” said Chamber Board of Directors Chairman Mark Gravino.
Gravino said that the Chamber will still have the same phone number, fax number, and mailing address. He added that nothing is changing, except the Chamber won’t be in the building after June 30.
The Chamber will eventually have an office again, according to Gravino. He said that new facilities are being built in town, and the Chamber may get an offer to move into a building at no expense, which would continue to enable any money the Chamber receives to be put back into the community.
Gravino said he has also gotten offers from different business to use their facilities to hold the Chamber’s meetings.
“I would personally like, as chair, like to move the meetings around town,” he said.
Town Hall, Hagaman Library, the Trolley Museum, and even the Main Street Dunkin’ Donuts were cited by Gravino as potential places to hold Chamber meetings.
If any Chamber members are concerned about the move to digital, Higham said anyone can call and request a physical copy of any documents and information pertaining to the Chamber. Smith said he is also willing to meet anybody face-to-face if they would like.
Everything Chamber members will need can found on the Chamber’s website, which Smith said is easy to maneuver. Higham said that the Chamber’s meeting agendas and minutes are on Dropbox, and any of the board members can go into it and pick up whatever they need.
“Everything that we have on Facebook is attached to a document, so they can download it and have it,” said Higham, “We’re trying to find more cost-effective ways to be virtual, yet be in communication with our members.”
With the Chamber growing over the past few months, Higham said she’s received positive feedback from happy members, and stressed that the move to online is a positive thing.
Smith said the Chamber is putting this into place now because it would be inevitable anyway, adding that younger people coming up in businesses don’t expect hard copies and physical locations.
“I think you’re going to see more and more chambers, especially in our area, following our lead,” Smith said.