Saint Martins Chamber of Commerce

foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] welcome to chamber chat I'm Tash Taylor and on today's show we have Jordan Jameson Jordan wears a lot of hats in the St Martin's area first and foremost you are the president at the St Martins and District Chamber of Commerce also the operations manager and co-owner of Bay of Fundy adventures and then I'm pretty sure you said co-owner and director of marketing at Old Molly's Bar correct yeah I mean he added a director in there I'm just marked her butt I like it I think I'm Gonna Keep It have to write it in on all my business cards there it's it's all yours it's all yours and then of course our president is with us today and Nick Butler Hello everybody welcome to the show hi good morning so uh we have been doing this little series um with uh the different Chamber of Commerce around us because you guys work in the background together which I absolutely love um because one of our main goals at our chamber is collaboration and you can't keep businesses uh motivated and working on a great schedule if you're not all working together as well especially since we're so tightly connected along the coast so um and Nick maybe I'm gonna let you run this show here and chat with Jordan about how you guys do your collaborations and I'm going to sit back and take notes and and learn yes well Jordan and I actually um see each other fairly often because of our tourism front this is kind of where the collaboration committee um started taking life is with us just kind of like you know I know that we're uh presidents for two different chambers but representing rural regions and our members we have some of the same challenges we have some of the same uh Dynamics sometimes and concerns that are brought up so wouldn't it be great if we were able to have like a meeting on a regular basis and just touch base to kind of see uh you know exchange best practices chat see if there's anything that we can kind of help each other with and collaborate um so from there I think we started this uh Jordan you can correct me from wrong we were on at Holy wheel Brewery on the deck there was the it was the announcement for the funding for friends of funding and as you know that connects our regions formally anyway so it was really a great segue to kind of get that started we brought in um the Chamber of Sussex and then after after the Chamber of Hampton so it's really a nice rural group and collaboration that we're just able to meet quarterly and uh and chat and see if there is uh first of all to be aware what's happening in each other's regions I find that's really important and I know that Jordan will agree um but you'll be surprised of the stuff that comes up in those chats like in terms of like hiring you know what do we do for work plans for the students what are some of the challenges with uh you know Waste Management like just different things that affect our rural communities that we need to be on top of um so Jordan I'll let you speak a little bit about your region and what's happening in St Martin's and um we'll take it from there yeah well I first like to kind of touch on one of the things we said in the last two things you mentioned were absolutely challenges that I was having in my area specifically I feel like sometimes uh actually I I talk a lot in those meetings because I see all the Sussex and and you guys kind of just doing your thing I'm like in using you that group as almost like a mentorship for me has been really handy because coming into to my position I really wanted to improve the role improve the chamber so being able to come and just quarterly be like oh my God I have this problem and can you guys please tell me has been really great for me but it's it's almost like a you know a Jordan support group and I really appreciate it uh I I I love our little collaborations quarterly I think every uh one of the communities kind of has like you said has their challenges but brings their own style of solution and uh with us being such a small community what we were a village I mean St Martin's in District's pretty wide but generally our village and the pool of volunteers we pull from was 279 people now after the new white papers and all that entity Shuffle were fundies technically are areas called the Fundy St Martin's and now we've reached I think just over 5 000. so uh the responsibility has really grown over the last several months and uh I really am glad I've got a a good group I can have a you know a dish session with every absolutely yeah and I mean we the fact that we do that it makes it so that if you have something happening outside of that three months you're we we Outreach quite easily yeah um because we attend a lot of the same events and stuff anyway so we do see each other on a regular basis um and our Chambers as well as yours I believe don't have a staff so it was strictly a volunteer what am I right it's 100 volunteer and we've got uh fortunately for me I've got a really great group of people who have put in just I mean even if you just look at some of the events that we've hosted hundreds of hours of their time and especially a lot of people in our area the same ones in the district or funding St Martin's however you want to call it a lot of them are entrepreneurs so they're already putting in 100 hours hundreds of hours and then on top of that on the side with this uh chamber so I I always appreciate them and uh try to show that as best I can but you know I think sometimes it's tough to take a moment to Pat yourself on the back or Pat others on the back you just got to keep rolling on to the next thing but I no I hope they know we completely understand that yeah um the resources uh speaking about things that are happening and things you're bringing to the chamber that's also something else that was great with the collaboration because you have the speaker series um that we're able to stare at our newsletters and and stuff so that people can kind of join in I know that some events amongst the chambers have extended membership fees or or membership prices to our our members that the Albert County Chamber of Commerce which is greatly appreciated but it kind of just broadens our resources and benefits that we're able to offer our membership across the board yeah well there are speaker series was something we brought in last year um I think we just wanted to try to an easy way for the community to get engaged more with the chamber we didn't have a lot of Engagement when I came in uh two years ago I just finished my second year as as president fortunately or unfortunately was elected for for another two so they have they're stuck with me for a couple more um but that's something we started last year to kind of get get easy engagement so we had a one speaker series well the speaker series in general is is four sessions two around two hours each every other week and each one is freedom members and I think it was a small fee I don't think we ever collected it though just because we just wanted people to use it to for non-members uh and we brought in experts in different fields to kind of all with economic growth in mind so last year our first guest was a gentleman from Impact well talking about small business uh Financial Planning and and insurances for people who run small business entrepreneurs that kind of thing we also brought in Governor New Brunswick tourism Heritage and culture to talk about a lot of visitor data they they collected over the years and how that impacts how visitors come to our area what they're looking for how to Market to them which was really cool and then they gave us a ton of materials that I can continue to hand out to businesses that were maybe not even in attendance we had um working in B come through to talk about available funds for training employees so this is really helpful for people who own small businesses because I offer a lot of training to my employees and it's kind of like an incentive to work for us getting people to work in a small rural area where the closest town or city can be upwards of you know 20 to 40 minutes away so if we can have that incentive of okay we can pay this much which is great we know you're commuting but how about I pay for your training because some of our especially in Fayette County Adventures it's a high skill uh position that we're looking for with our guides um so we had that gentleman come in and then we have the UNESCO Stoneham geopark coming to talk about the geological history of the area and how there's two UNESCO destinations overlap so kind of bringing in that finishing up the round of four with uh pride of place and kind of some people learning about the area that they they work and live in which is really cool and then this year we're bringing back working NB because that was we had a ton of uptake from that and that was really fun because that started an engagement it started the process of basically the last two years has been getting people to listen to the chamber again there really wasn't a group of that over the previous years and so it's kind of like yeah here you know our emails are really useful there's really good stuff in there it's going to benefit your business you know here's one of the things that's really easy to do all you got to do is show up to your community center for two hours and you will find something useful so that kind of started the trend of trying to get people to listen again see the value in the chamber and that's been the building uh that was part of the building blocks over the last couple years that's amazing yeah I think you um I like you would see obviously a lot of the same issues that we would have and and I agree that having people realize that a chamber is useful for you all year round when you live uh in a place that most businesses are seasonal so yeah that that becomes an issue is that um and then if you can provide the speaker series throughout the year then it keeps them engaged when they're not working because we all know when it's a seasonal business you're a Full Tilt for those three months yeah or maybe five months that you get out of out of two or a season um are you finding that throughout the winter you're still having a slow is it slower for people to partic per take in these events yeah and that's part of why we we try to schedule for example the speaker series in April because people are starting to come back um I know there's there's quite a few of my members who are on vacation whether it's in a different Province or truly that's just they're kind of that age where they they're the reverse Snowbird situation um which is you know so so engagement there can be difficult and and I will say every year when the season starts when the season is starting you can kind of see that groove of like okay remember we we do this this is great let's go go and then you're you're full unfortunately your full kill right so then you go the participation is like well we have this great meeting and they're like wow I'm working yeah which everyone is which is and it's fantastic I'm glad people are so busy but it's also like we can help you full year so that's my goal right now is to or my goal of the last two years has been to regain trust with members and and have them really listen email discovering what it is that they will listen to like some people just won't read the emails so they need a phone call no problem we'll we'll get you that phone call to tell you'll be the meeting or something that's coming up um we always have for example as well like a Christmas dinner situation and that was fantastic and well very well attended this year and uh so we're getting in the groove of Manhattan people listen full year and then kind of keep them engaged throughout the the seasonal month in but that's definitely especially for rural community definitely a struggle for sure yeah and I find that with um and younger business owners now like it's that switches is starting to happen and Chambers I can like I can remember my grandfather being on a chamber and it was just like a bunch of old men in a board room and nobody really knew what they were doing right like nobody knew what these guys were up to all the time and I think that a lot of people have that mentality still like that that a chamber is kind of like an old boys club if you will and it and I think it takes a lot of work for um you know us you know new business owners and entrepreneurs to to make sure people realize that that we're here to help you yeah and you maybe happen to know I think uh St Martin's is breaking that mold I believe there's let me count it out there's two three four five six seven things that we have seven board members right now and two identify as male so I am outgunned is that why I'm your support group I think so yeah that might be it yeah there everyone brings to what they want I'm just kidding people who want to volunteer they're very very precious time and uh I I haven't uh I don't think I've said no to anyone wanting to be a board member yet right right and I mean for a volunteer board I mean we're really if they're bringing over you know they've got time to help and they got the skill sets I mean we're if you're like us where we just welcome them all because we need them anyway yeah and and one of the things I've done over the last two years too is I haven't put names on my director positions just a couple and it was just like whatever your wheelhouse is we'll find something for you to help with so I I do have someone who was a Director of Events she is now my VP which is fantastic extremely hard worker but if director because it was within our wheelhouse so perfectly to to put together an event do this do that we had our first job fair this year because of the efforts that she put in while I was absolutely on vacation so I appreciate that but uh generally When It's A Hard Sell sometimes because when you're when you're asking people to volunteer you're just like well just be a director well director of of what and you're like uh kind of whatever you want and so and and but we fit people in where they can and if they're great at communicating or reaching out to people and saying and explaining the great you're my director of Outreach your Communications their membership for kind of every two years go through this transition of of these new positions that will help kind of build the the organization off of what people are good at because that in itself is a different leadership skill like you've got to lead your board but also lead the region right so there are two kind of completely different skill sets that I think the fact that you got reelected congratulations Jordan I think that speaks volumes yeah yeah no it does it does I know it's a lot of work it really is especially when we're all busy I mean you're talking about your off season and I loved how you said absolutely on vacation because as a business owner there's vacation and then there's absolutely on vacation and then there's like I'm purposefully going to a road area so I can truly be here there's like three there's like three three types of vacation yeah and this one so you never will get away but yeah well I mean we all need that to be able to continue doing the work that we do yeah yeah yeah like like this one was a real one there was one email that went out chamber wise well as a way that was it so that was perfect good your speaking series they are we're able to see them after the dates even uh we actually we we haven't been recording them however they are on our website stmartinscanada.com which is which is the chamber website um under the four business section and that or for businesses section uh I I welcome anyone um to to attend I think they're all very useful um they're all very interesting I think I guess that's a little bias but um I I encourage anyone to come to St Martin's to come see them uh we should definitely consider recording them uh I think just last year we were just so happy to have people come out and spend their time with the businesses in the area that we were setting up projectors and tables and chairs and and just didn't end up setting up anything to record the individuals yeah it happens absolutely go ahead and Nick your website I'm sure um Tosh will put the website in the links in um in the description of this recording so that we have our chamber chat resources listed there and people can go right to your website see what's happening yeah it's brand new it's refreshed so I'm very excited about it um the front page showed a calendar event for the job fair we just had a couple weeks ago we have um you know the speaker series coming up uh in August we do the uh funny sea shanty Festival which is great which was a huge event last year so the the chamber uh hope is a host to that so we do a lot of the bad and work the hosting and we're go between for a lot of things a lot of really good volunteer brains and hands on that event um and then uh as well we just participated in in Fundy Winterfest for the first time this year so that's an event that's been going on for over a decade and uh this year St Barnes was uh invited to uh invited to participate and it was great loved it that's a great way to really like you said push your year-round stuff for your residents as well as your businesses well it was great and thankfully St Barnes uh in the area is starting to become a winter destination as well um the sea caves are gorgeous in the winter with all the items gorgeous and possibly a little dangerous with all the icicles but it's such a good picture to get in behind the mall taking a picture out into the Village from behind it's it's really cool and and people are enjoying the the Solitude on the beach because it's still not necessarily a winter destination but it's definitely a place to visit visit in more places seem to be opening up a little more on what we would call the shoulder season and winter and they're starting to see the value and uh in in being open and maybe there's a day or two where you gotta eat those costs but there's also gonna be really great days out there as well in the winter oh for sure the traffic I mean we're seeing just in the past couple of years with baby connect the growth in the winter months like it's uh yeah you know it used to be individuals but I'm getting um especially around conferences and things happening I mean um you know we're connected closely to Moncton you're connected closely to St John uh there's ways to kind of reap that into our small communities I'm sure and I agree businesses are starting to see that they're open on weekends it's fantastic we actually have a place to go and eat when we're traveling with guests um so here's to seeing what happens next yeah yeah for sure it's it's been really it's been really fun to see St Martin's grow or at least my region grow in over the last little while and people people coming in I think the pandemic I mean I hate to bring it up all the time but it did really change the landscape especially in the rural communities and I think there's obviously a lot of cons and some businesses who really suffered but you kind of look at it and there is a lot of Pros we have people who came to St Martin's who love St Martin's they don't want to change it they don't want to they came to it for a vacation once they loved it and they they moved there during the pandemic and now they just want to participate and improve and empower the people in that area and that's I think was one of the pros that came out of the pandemic was people kind of discovering these rural areas and moving in and being like oh this place is great and wanting to participate in every corner and every facet of the community and I think that's and at least for me it's been very helpful well it has and your businesses have adapted as well in terms that when you're calling for example to book a room it's not just booking a room it's we can do a three-day and do this this this is this yeah and um from a receptive to operative perspective that's fantastic um as a guest benefits so much um so I it keeps people in our areas right and that's the the whole point um yeah but I'm rambling on a little bit too long Josh do we have any questions uh for Jordan that you wanted to ask before we go uh no actually I was the only thing I wanted to know more about was the sea shanty festival and Jordan touched on it so that's exciting but does it um when is it let's give people like the dates for that and where they can find more information and of course uh your Chambers social media handles as well please so yeah the I'll start with the sea shanty Festival that's happening at August 11th through 13th this year in St Martin's uh it's second year we had a really great success and sold out tickets last year this year we're actually doubling the amount of available tickets um one thing I did last year maybe to the synchronous people's kind of throttle the amount of tickets see what St Martin's can hold and now we've absolutely opened the flood gates because the community showed up the the the planning committee showed up so hard and so now it's it's time to really make our Mark in the shanty World um so we have a lot of actually International acts coming this year we had um uh one two at least one for sure last year and now we're full we've got people from all over coming to perform at the funny sea shanty Festival which which is such a such cool news that people are discovering our our little uh Hardware privilege through this and so that's exciting um St Martin's canada.com is where you can visit to find more about events we're having in the area um resources for business as well as resources for visitors whether it's an event calendar as well as kind of a you know a list of businesses that maybe whether it's accommodations Food Services tours that kind of thing that's all available to you and then um um our social so Facebook St Martin's in District Chamber of Commerce and then we also have an Instagram that's just the village of St Martin's which actually I think now needs to be changed that kind of just shows off the beauty of the area in the winter summer everything it's kind of a user generated social media and uh it's it's very cool to see all the different pictures from from around the area whether there's sun or snow how gorgeous it is um you can also go to uh fundyc shantyfest.com to learn more about the festival and tickets and the pro and see the program and everything there oh that was kind of jumbled no no well so it was my question so handled it like a pro um yeah you can tell you you can tell you're a man that wears many hats because you can handle any question that's thrown at you and anything whether you know yeah yeah all the answers are there it's now up to your listeners to sort through by ramble and try to figure out exactly pick out exactly what they're looking for yeah yeah I do apologize but I promise it's all there no it's it's absolutely perfect and I think that we need to make sure that we remind people like we do with our own area that uh not everything closes when uh tour season wraps up so you can enjoy uh St Martin's any time of the year same with Albert County and uh and that any any uh closing remarks uh no just want to thank you for taking the time to chat with us yeah thanks for having me this is really cool I'm I'm um actually I'm a podcaster now so great let's add that we don't mind if your chamber steals it it's okay you guys can do it too okay we'll share just another thing for my uh awesome volunteers hey this is a great thing you should do it nudge nudge yeah yeah well if you need some help developing that uh next venture maybe reach out to podcast Hub because there's some nice training there to help you out okay perfect yeah all right guys well thank you for your time and for joining us on on chamber chat Jordan we will see you this summer and Nick I don't know when I'm gonna see you face to face next but sometime soon I hope I hope so all right everybody thanks for watching and we'll see you next week

Channel: Albert County Chamber of Commerce

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Id: f7Nlk1FGGnE

Length: 25min 52sec (1552 seconds)

Published: Thu Jun 08 2023