A summary of accomplishments for our FY2013 (Oct 2012 - Sept 2013)

1. Vermont Chamber of Commerce
Year in Review
2013

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The Vermont Chamber
Connects Businesses
The Vermont Business & Industry EXPO
The Taste of Vermont Legislative Reception
The Vermont Hospitality Gala
The Citizen of the Year Award Dinner
Legislative Leadership Luncheon
Vermont Manufacturing Trade Show
The Legislative Roadshow Series
Newsletters
Manufacturing Supply Chain Events
Webinars
Action Network

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Transformed four member lodging
establishments into engaging
settings for productive networking
events.
Worked with over 50 member
businesses on event sponsorship
opportunities for highlighted
visibility.
Connected over 3,000 businesses
resulting in one-on-one qualified
networking experiences.
Enhanced the Vermont Chamber’s
visibility by adding freshly branded
materials consistently showcased
at each event.
Six Prestigious Awards
 Citizen of the Year: Antonio Pomerleau
 Deane C. Davis Outstanding Business of the Year:
GW Plastics
 Borden E. Avery Innkeeper of the Year: Beth
Kennett, Liberty Hill Farm
 Allied Member of the Year: Todd Paton, Rock of Ages
 Restaurateurs of the Year: The Farmhouse Group
(Jed Davis, Rob Downey, Paul Sayler, Chef Phillip
Clayton)
 Chef of the Year: Chef Robert Barral, Café Provence

4. Connecting Vermont’s
Manufacturing Industry
• Organized the first-ever Manufacturing Trade Show attended by
over 500 decision makers, resulting in feature stories in VTDigger
and the Burlington Free Press.
• Promoted Bennington as a economic center for carbon composites.
• Highlighted Vermont’s emerging medical device manufacturing
industry.
• Promoted the Burlington International Airport as a state asset and
regional economic driver.
"You're amazing. You did a
fantastic job with this event!
I was quite impressed."
~ Penny Guy, Intertek

5. Vermont Chamber’s Tourism Network Connects Tour
Operators and Visitors with Member Companies
• Conducted more than 350 tour operator appointments at shows like
American Bus Association, the National Tour Association and the Ontario
Motorcoach Association.
• Connected with more than 600 group leaders at regional shows hosted by
tour operators.
• Hosted a group travel sales mission to Ottawa and Montréal.
• Hosted the ABA Top 100 Committee meeting and FAM

6. The Vermont Chamber created four new electronic newsletters to communicate with
members on business, tourism, manufacturing and legislative issues.
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Commerce Connection, the semi-monthly newsletter, is sent to over 7,000 people
with an average open rate of 22 percent.
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The legislative update, State to Main, is sent weekly over to over 3,000 readers.
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Two quarterly newsletters dig deeper into issues of particular importance to the
tourism (Tips & Gratuities) and manufacturing (Horizons) industries.

7. Members Learn through Webinars
• 28 webinars presented by
member businesses to 200
attendees.
• Topics included social media,
tax info, education, health
care reform, security ,
energy efficiency, marketing,
regulations and business
trends.
“The Vermont Chamber
has effectively promoted
UVM to Vermont’s
statewide business
community with business
development efforts,
including the Webinar
series.”
~ Joe Speidel,
University of Vermont

8. Members Learn through the ServSafe® Program, a
partnership with the National Restaurant Association
• 4 ServSafe® Food Safety Classes
• 92% attendee pass rate
• 49 Vermonters certified as ServSafe® Food
Protection Managers

9. Members Learn About Health Care
• Secured the largest statewide Navigator organization grant from the State
of Vermont to help small businesses transition to the new health care
marketplace, Vermont Health Connect.
• Held 25 informational forums for the business community across the state
with a total of nearly 500 attendees to educate employers about health
care reform and their options for 2014.
“Thank you for your thoughtful
presentation this morning at the
Brattleboro Chamber of Commerce
breakfast meeting. For such a long
journey, you deserve our heartfelt
gratitude.”
~ Joan Bowman, Brattleboro
Memorial Hospital

10. Members Learn About Legislative Issues
“Thank you for all your work on
behalf of Vermont Distilleries.
Your advocacy is helpful as we
grow as an industry and employ
more people.”
~ Todd Hardie, Caledonia
Spirits
• The Vermont Chamber’s lobbying
team presented the Business
Agenda to over 1,000 businesses in
the Issues Preview Road Show
Series.
• 100 businesses attended the 2013
Legislative Luncheon.
• The weekly legislative update State
to Main is emailed to 3,000
business people each Friday
morning to educate them on issues
impacting their businesses.

11. Additional Learning at the EXPO
Momentum Center
• Introduced the Momentum Center at EXPO sponsored by
Blue Cross and Blue Shield Vermont
• 14 member companies
gave ten-minute
presentations to small
groups of business people
• Over 100 participated
in the Momentum Center

12. Tourism Marketing Means Business
Growth for Members
• Distributed 400,000 copies of tourism publications
nationally and internationally.
• Increased annual page views on VisitVT.com to
200,000, a 25% increase.
• Achieved over 2,500 VisitVT Facebook fans with an
average weekly fan engagement of over 1,500
individuals.
“Since joining the Vermont Chamber and enhancing our
web listing on VisitVT.com, we’ve seen an increase in
traffic from interested parties both as visitors to our
website and to the Meadery itself .”
~ Kelly Klein, Groenfell Meadery

13. Vermont Chamber Members
Grow Internationally
• Vermont Chamber members attended the 50th
Paris Air Show featuring 2,100 exhibitors and
151,000 attendees from around the world.
• The marketing effort at the Paris Air Show resulted
in $3.3M in sales for member companies that
participated in the Best of New England Booth.
• Trade discussions with Aéro Montréal resulted in
an agreement to be signed at the Aerospace
Innovation Forum in December, supporting the
vision to enhance joint supply chain opportunities.

14. Helping Members Grow
Through Advocacy
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Achieved a budget balanced on existing revenues, rather than new and increased taxes.
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Secured a first-in-nation proposal that included patent and intellectual property protections for
small businesses.
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Allowed employers flexibility when managing employees and avoiding prescriptive legislation
that would mandate flexible work arrangements to be approved by all employers.
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Protected the tourism budget to promote travel,
recreation and cultural attractions.
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Retained the production deduction exemption for
Vermont's manufacturing community.
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Preserved the capital gains exemption maintaining it as a
small business development incentive.
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Promoted an effective approach to protect Vermont's
primary agricultural soil that allows development to
occur where growth and infrastructure improvements
have been planned.

15. “It was a real pleasure working with you and your team.”
~ Kelly Colling, Burlington International Airport
“As we celebrate 50 years
in business, we wish to
thank the Vermont Chamber
of Commerce for its support
during our many years of
membership. They’ve been
an integral part of our
success and have helped us
achieve this milestone.”
~ Herb Hillman,
Golden Eagle Resort