Chamber Chat in review

Rich Cantillon

2017 Chamber Year in Review:

• We had 26 Ribbon Cutting Ceremonies. These Ribbon Cutting Ceremonies recognize people for their investment in Ponca City.
• We had 12 Cash Mobs.
• We finished our 31^st Ponca City Leadership year.
• We offered 15 PRIDE Trainings on quality customer service.
• We had five speakers at our Ponca Politics Committee Meetings including State Treasurer Ken Miller.
• I attended or spoke at 86 meetings representing the Chamber and Ponca City.
• We sponsor Ponca Young Employees. They had a very active year.
• We promoted a rally for AMTRAK Rail Service to Ponca City.
• We had another sold out Chamber Banquet. Thank you!
• We had nine Chamber Connections for our members this year.
• We recognized 12 Chamber/Business Partners this year.
• We helped and promoted a yes vote for the PCDA tax.
• We had a very successful Party at the Palace/Chamber Auction. Thank you!
• We had 11 Business after Hours. We are booked through 2019.
• We had 3 Legislative forums with Sen. Fields, Rep. Vaughan and Rep. Pfeiffer.
• We hosted an election forum for the County Commissioner race.
• We had a Leadership Alumni Luncheon.
• Our Chamber Board, Executive Committee, Finance Committee, Tourism Bureau, Ambassador Committee, Ponca City Business Council, and Community Development Committee met 12 times. All of our committee meetings are well attended. We have great volunteers.
• Education and Workforce Development committee met nine times. Many of their meetings are held on site at various schools.
• Ponca Politics Committee met 10 times.
• I had 143 one-on-one meetings this year.
• I attended nine fundraising events supporting Ponca City organizations.
• We made several trips to the State Capitol on issues facing Ponca City citizens.
• I spoke to Phillips 66 summer interns on choosing Ponca City to work and live.
• I took our Board and past Chamber Chairs to visit the Ardmore Chamber.
• I helped train 16 other chambers around the state of Oklahoma and Kansas.
• I teach Chamber Law, marketing, creating a business plan and leadership programs for OCCE. I taught at the Iowa Chamber Conference and for the University of Oklahoma Center for Chamber Excellence.
• We registered people to vote at Walmart.
• We hosted a School Support Staff reception with over 90 door prizes.
• We had our PIE wrap up meeting. It was a very successful year benefitting our students.
• We had a booth at the International Retail Show, the largest show of its kind in the world.
• We hosted Congressman Lucas, Senator Inhofe and Senator Lankford at various times this year.
• We had our Elected Officials picnic.
• We continue to update our chamber web site.
• We improved out email blasts.
• We started our 32^nd Ponca City Leadership Class.
• We hosted the new teacher luncheon.
• We hosted Stuff the Bus with school supplies, the largest effort to date.
• We participated in the Oklahoma Chamber fly-in to Washington, D.C. This is very educational.
• We kicked off another PIE partner year.
• We had our Santa Buck Giveaway retail event with 86 participating. This is the largest retail event of its kind in Oklahoma.
• We had 5 Chamber lunch and learns on a variety of topics.
• This list does not include what we did with Tourism.

We want to thank Adam Leaming, our 2017 Chamber Chair, for his amazing leadership plus our Chamber Members for your support.