News from the GCVCC

Article By: Rebecca Rizzo

Business lunch is power lunch – making friends and making deals! Unfortunately, the traditional professional networking lunch has become more difficult in the age of COVID-19, leaving professionals with many challenges. How can I connect when my opportunity for in-person networking is being severely restricted? How do you network in the new virtual world and make it meaningful? How can I build my network of professionals without wasting my time on another boring Zoom call?

The Greater Coachella Valley Chamber of Commerce team is working with members to answer those questions. An old favorite, Lunch Bunch, is being reimagined to work for members in the new virtual world of networking. Join us for our new program, Chamber Connect!

Chamber Connect takes place weekly via zoom, inviting professionals from across the Coachella Valley to attend and participate in a structured lunchtime networking group. Each meeting starts off with some network guidance, with a GCVCC professional that is selected to deliver pro networking tips in a quick two-minute presentation. This is followed by our traditional meet and greet round table where each attendee will have a chance to introduce themselves and state what they are hoping to gain by attending. Once everyone has introduced themselves and we have completed our feature presentation, we circulate an activity information sheet so we can have a running tally to reference. After Chamber Connect concludes, a list of all registered attendees is emailed out to the group. Everyone is encouraged to reach out to all that attended. The goal is to generate the 4 R’s. Revenue, Reviews, Referrals = Results.

This program was started September of this year, with our first meeting drawing 18 people. We have continued to grow the engagement since, and with it the success. Together there has been over 100 appointments, 6 reviews, 7 guests and 8 referrals. The attendees have already generated over $17,000 in revenue. Each week our numbers grow, would you like to be a part of the growth?

We look forward to eventually returning to in-person events. But for now, we are making the most of the tools we have available to us. If you haven’t joined us for a networking session, try it out! Consider yourself invited to this fun and profitable networking group. Please register and attend our next lunchtime networking meeting each Friday. For the next event, click on our Events page to find the next scheduled Chamber Connect (or Lunch Bunch). Click HERE.