Latest / Beyond the Ribbon Cut / Welcome to Beyond the Ribbon Cut
Transcript
- Ted Wind: Hello and welcome to Beyond the Ribbon Cut, a podcast by Diagonal for Chambers. My name's Ted Wind, and I spent the last few years building software for you, Chamber Leaders. I I should say up front, I've not personally run a chamber myself. I haven't sat in your chair, I haven't managed the board, sold the sponsorships, planned the events, done all the other things that somehow end up on your plate. But I have talked to hundreds of chamber executives. And chamber staff over the last few years. And the more time I've spent in this world, the more impressed I've become by the work chambers do. And the more I've wanted to help you, the chamber leaders at home listening, to learn from each other. So that's really why I'm starting this show. Before I got into chambers, I was actually building software for yoga studios, gyms, other membership-based small businesses. That was the space I knew, members, payment, events. Small teams trying to do way too much with limited time. Sounds familiar. And then I started learning about chambers. And honestly, at first I didn't really know what a chamber did. I probably had that same outside view a lot of people have: networking events, ribbon cuttings, maybe a business directory. And then I went to these chamber events. I met chamber leaders. I saw firsthand how much chambers actually do for their communities. The spaces that you were creating where local leaders could build trust, the support for small businesses, the economic development work, the advocacy work, all the little things happening behind the scenes that most people never see. And I just remember thinking, how did I not know this existed? I was just genuinely blown away by how important chambers are. The more I've learned about chambers, the more I've realized that. The ribbon cutting is often the part everybody sees, but it's not the whole story, not even close. The real story is everything happening behind the scenes. And that's the stuff that I want to talk about on this show. It's also what pulled me deeper into the chamber world. I'd talk to chamber teams doing incredibly thoughtful, relationship-driven work, and then I'd see them fighting with clunky systems, a lot of messy data, manual follow-ups. Renewal processes that just went on and on and on, tools that just didn't seem built for the way chambers actually operate. So I started building software for chambers. And through that work, I got to meet a lot of incredible chamber leaders, people rethinking how a modern event functions, working to improve retention of members, finding creative ways to drive non-dues revenue. Chambers who are modernizing their organizations without losing the relationship-driven heart of the work that you do. A lot of those people are going to be guests on this show. And I I want to make something really clear. You know, this podcast is not meant to be a product pitch for a diagonal. Yes, I build software for chambers. Obviously, I care a lot about technology and the systems behind the scenes. Those things will come up because they matter, but this podcast is not. About me telling you to use one software or another. It's really designed to create a place where chamber leaders can hear from other chamberleaders about what's actually working. You know, what did you try? What worked? What didn't? What would you do differently? What helped with renewals? What made an event amazing? What changed the way you think about your chamber? That's the stuff I want to get into. And now there's obviously already places where chamber leaders share ideas. The Facebook groups, the conferences. We got Ace coming up soon, which is super exciting. All of that is really great. But I love the podcast format because it lets us hear the stories behind that advice. a quick post can give you the basic answer, but a podcast conversation ⁓ lets hear how someone actually thought through the problem, what was messy, what surprised them, and most importantly, what another chamber might be able to learn from that story. So that's the goal of Beyond the Ribbon Cut. To go past the surface level version of chamber work and talk about the real stuff. Membership, events, sponsorships, retention, the boards, everything else that comes with running a modern chamber. My hope is that every episode gives you at least one idea you can take back to your chamber at home. Maybe it's a tactic, maybe it's a question to ask your team, or maybe it's a story that makes you realize another chamber is dealing with the same thing you are. Either way, I want this to be practical, honest, and useful. So welcome to Beyond the Ribbon Cut. I'm really excited to both share and learn from these conversations with you. Thanks so much for listening, and I'll see you on the next one.