HomeMy WebLinkAbout11252019 City Council Laydown - Chamber Report ovin
Report to COUNCIL November 25, 2019
Seward Chamber of Commerce, Jason Bickling
New Chamber members this month:
Chevron (rejoined as corporate member and joined as SSD sponsor)
Cobble Art
In the near future, we will be putting out a membership survey so that we can better understand the needs of
our members and how we can better support and advocate for them. We will also be putting out a non-
member survey as well that will come later.
We recently had Chamber Board elections. We had a great participation rate as members participated
electronically. When those are confirmed and finalized, we will send them to the Council.
In the near future, the Chamber will be facilitating a discussion on how we can promote a united front when it
comes to our marine industry here in Seward (port, SMIC, RR access, marine service members, and AVTEC).
Homer has the Marine Trades Association which has been successful www.homermarinetrades.com. I believe
that we have more to offer here in Seward and can benefit from a united front to bring in more business
opportunities as well as create opportunities for new businesses to fill in gaps (prop work, specialized
machining). I'll keep reporting on this progress.
Our staff is in the thick of the development process of the 2020 Seward Visitor's Guide. Our goal is to have it
finalized by Dec. 17. After completing that, we will then be turning our focus to the continued development
of the new website.
We are also working strategically on our paid media planning with numerous travel guides (The Milepost,
Bell's, Alaska.org, travelalaska.com, etc.) as well as a sponsored content opportunity with Seattle Magazine in
their Alaska travel issue which has a readership that is highly aligned with our target audience.
We had a great small business start-up week last week (11/16-11/23) with local events that included: Seward
Business on Tap (Beer and Networking at the Yukon), You Canna Do It — a forum on getting started in the
Cannabis Industry, AVTEC — Alaska Maritime Training Center Open House and Industry Discussion), Ideas to
Reality — Questions Every Business Start Up Should Consider at the Library.
Upcoming Events:
November 30th: Small Business Saturday (shop local campaign)
December 6th— 8th: Winter Weekend - Craft Fair
December 10th: The Chamber is hosting a Board of Fish Dinner at AVTEC. We are also working with them to
provide some other opportunities to be out and about in our community while they are here December 10th —
14tn
December 12th: Chamber Lunch — Casie Warner— Seward Prevention Coalition