Officials: Tyler Area Chamber Sets National Membership Drive Records

TYLER — While most chambers of commerce struggle through their annual membership drive, the Tyler Area Chamber of Commerce hosted a membership event that is like none other, according to a Chamber news release. Chamber officials say for 2½ days, over 400 volunteers worked against the clock and against each other to sign up 914 new Chamber members and created a greater community awareness of the important role of the Chamber of Commerce. The event is organized by Jimmy Cusano and a group called Your Chamber Connection. Their specialty is high-energy membership campaigns that allow volunteers to conduct “out of the box” membership fun while building the membership base, according to the news release.

“It’s about business,” says Cusano. “The Chamber of Commerce is the business community. This brings everyone together to build our Chamber. It’s a membership-based organization and most people don’t like ‘membership drives.’ With a Membership Event they come together in a competitive fun setting and tell the Chamber story. When others hear about everything the Chamber does, all of a sudden you have a great deal of enthusiasm for the Chamber, and a great deal of support.”

The Tyler Area Chamber of Commerce Membership event, in addition to a new national record of 914 members, also set records for the most money generated at $229,000 and most volunteers at over 400, according to the news release.