Minutes meeting 17th August Wednesday 5.30pm MacKellar motel
Opening: 5.36pm
Present: Jamie Chaffey (Chair), Stacey Thibault, Jim Farquhar, Wendy Marsh, Mike Broekman (5.39pm), Scott Davies, Tammy White, Gerry McDonald, Welington Sardinha, Kate Gunn
Apologies: Treena Daniells
Motion: that the apologies be accepted Chaffey/Sardinha. CARRIED.
Minutes previous meeting held Wednesday 20th July OGM 2016
Motion: that the minutes of the meeting be accepted McDonald/Davies. CARRIED.
Minutes previous meeting held Wednesday 13th July 2016
Motion: that the minutes of the meeting be accepted Sardinha/Farquhar. CARRIED.
Business Arising
- Ann Luke Re sending a statement to our membership regarding her running for council
There was unanimous agreement from the committee that any candidate running for election in the upcoming council elections should have access to our membership to help foster their campaign.
Motion: The committee is happy for Ann Luke and any other candidate running in the upcoming council elections to notify our membership of their candidacy by way of email sent out by the Chamber if approached to do so Thibault/Sardinha. CARRIED.
Correspondence
Incoming
- SANTOS sponsorship letter
- Essential Energy letter
- Gunnedah High School request for donation to fund magazine
- Various email correspondence from web designer Donna Leys
- Emails from Joe Townsend in relation to the local chamber alliance portal and confirming alliance partner member details
Alysha to contact Joe Townsend from the NSW Business Chamber to invite him to our next committee meeting to discuss the what services they provide to chambers and the business community at large.
- Email from Sandra Strong, Mackellar Care requesting information relating to Gold Corporate Sponsorship
- Email from Kieran White, Small Biz Bus, regarding attendance at Ag Quip field days.
Outgoing
- Letter to Eric Groth re Business Partner Program
- Interviews with print, radio and TV media around the BHP Caroona Coal project by back.
Motion: That the correspondence report be accepted Stacey Thibault/Tammy White. CARRIED
Treasurer’s report
- Issued by Jim Farquhar
Gunnedah & District Chamber of Commerce and Industry Inc
Meeting 17 August 2016
Accounts to be approved for payment
Everythink $267.30
Fairfax $817.25
GSBC $185.00
Wialla $1957.50
Australia Post -$55.24
Bank balance at 31 July 2016 CBA $36,951
- Beyond Bank $180
Profit and Loss and Balance Sheet attached.
Motion: That the report be accepted and the accounts paid Jim Farquhar/ Kate Gunn. CARRIED.
Reports/Projects
- Chamber website problems and possible upgrades (Alysha White)
Agreeance from the committee that something will need to be done to upgrade the website with the Chamber expanding as it is and people relying on the website for much of the information relating to Chamber activities and events. Was discussed it would be a good idea to seek advice from the NSW Business Chamber in relation to potential upgrades as well as furthering discussions with current web developer Donna Leys and other local developers about possible amendments.
Website Development and General Interface Issues
Over the past couple of months I have been having difficulty adding new members to the member directory due to time out issues. I have been in contact with our web developer Donna Leys and after she ran a few tests she concluded that the membership directory has become too long and exceeding the memory limit. She performed a backup of the website, updated the website with the latest version of WordPress. She spent time removing revisions form the page which optimised the site’s database. All in all she performed the following procedures which she will be invoicing us for unless we have other modifications we wish to have done on the website prior to her closing the invoice off.
1. Checked that we are using maximum resources available to us on the Digital Pacific Business Basic account.
2. Instructed WordPress to keep a maximum of 3 page revisions only.
3. Installed a database optimiser that will keep revisions and trashed items for a maximum of 2 weeks, after which point old items will be deleted and the database optimised (cleaned up).
4. Updated to the latest version of WordPress.
5. Update all site plugins.
6. Updated the site's gzip and compression code. These compress the site for smaller and quicker delivery of the site when a user requests it over the internet, and means you use less server resources.
The website is not really suitable in its current capacity for dealing with promotion of Chamber activities and events into the future. Currently we are unable to represent our corporate sponsors to the general public in a suitable fashion like the Tamworth Chamber does for example. I believe, as does the web designer that modifications are necessary to its current format to make it more user friendly and effective as a media tool.
Tamworth Layout works well www.tamworth.org.au
- Gift Card
Alysha to contact Ann Luke to see if she is still keen to remained involved in this program. Nil activity
- Sponsorship funding group (Mike Broekman)
4 Major Sponsors have now been locked away being:
1. Business and Service Awards – Major Sponsor - The Stripes Group of Companies
2. “Try a Trade” – Major Sponsor - TAFE NSW
3. Tourism Gala Event – Major Sponsor - Gunnedah Shire Council
4. Spirit of Christmas Fair – Major Sponsor – Mackellar Care Services
- Gunnedah Open for Business (Jamie Chaffey) Report Attached
“GUNNEDAH – OPEN FOR BUSINESS”
STRATEGY TO ENHANCE SUPPLY CHAINS BETWEEN BUSINESSES
IN THE GUNNEDAH REGION
By Jamie Chaffey
During the last six months of communication and consultation the sub-committee discussed our strategy and dates of delivery for the first round of engagement, this structure has changed as the interest has grown from the local business community and state enterprises that are interested in supporting the initiative.
The sub-committee were informed that funding under a State Government -Energise Enterprise Fund was available with submissions being excepted up until the 20th of July for projected projects that have yet to commence.
The decision was made to hold all the planned initial engagement and submit an application for the funding of $25,000 to assist in delivering the project.
The Committee employed the assistance of a consultant (Joan Gleeson of Street Ryan) to help compile the application and we submitted on time (Your submission has been received on the 20th of July)
Submission Number: R2EEF0128
Below is our completed application for your information.
We now await a positive response.
End of Report.
- Gunnedah Business and Service Awards 2016. Sponsorship commitments (Treena Daniells)Report Attached
Gunnedah and District Chamber of Commerce and Industry
Business and Service Awards – Sub-Committee Report 17/08/16
Treena Daniells, Stacey Thibault, Sarah Ranclaud, Wendy Marsh, Jamie Chaffey, Michael Broekman
Event Co-ordinator – Bridie George – Unbridled Branding and Events
Admin Support - Wialla, Everythink
Nominations
Online entries / Were found to be very difficultThere were issues with login and navigating the site
Bridie spent a lot of time assisting those that asked for help
Joe Townsend advised that Gunnedah was not alone in these difficulties and he expects the process will be re-vamped before using again
Nominations not entered into online system / many hard copy and emailed nominations were received
Much time was spent collating, scanning, renaming, cataloguing and recording the nominations
Scanned entries were sent to NSW Business Chamber for judging
Hard copies of entries were distributed to mystery judges for judging
Number of nominations / 147 Nominations were processed, including those that were not fully completed
Judges
Who judging / 3 x Rotarians and others1 x Council representative
We also considered inviting high profile judge but we decided it would be better to keep locals judging locals anonymously, which also allows local knowledge over time to be considered.
Excellence in Mental Health – Robyn Gallen
Also NSW Business Chamber judges
Online judging / Was not used
Finalists / 2 or 3 in each category to be selected
With up to 4 depending on number of nominations in the category and the scores attained
Finalist businesses will be notified
Advertised on 18th August in the NVI
Sponsorships
Major Sponsor / Stripes GroupGold / Lil’ Achievers
First National
NVI (inkind advertising)
NV Bricks
TAFE
Ewings Real Estate
Merrivale Partnership
Gunnible
Richmond RPA
Gunnedah Shire Council (inkind hall hire)
Workforce XS
Wholegrain Milling
Everythink Accounting & Business Services
Northwest Family Medical
Whitehaven
15
Silver / K & K Creative (inkind design)
Gunnedah Diesel Service
Prime Engineering & Pumping
3
Still accepting sponsorships
Bronze / Chatterchinos (inkind catering)
Gunnedah Locksmiths
Hennessy Real Estate
Stockholm Florist
Donoghue Property Valuers
Garven & Cousins
Karen Carter Chemist
Verdict (inkind towards dinner)
8
Still accepting sponsorships
Host
Who / George Hoddle – MCAssisted by sub-committee members – probably Stacey, Treena, Jamie
Band
Who / The BudgiesLooking at 45 min set before awards and
Two 45 sets after award presentation
Food
Who / Verdict answered EOIProposed menu
Canapes served on platters to guests
Very experienced ‘tasters’ sampled options and have chosen 2 mains (beef and salmon) for alternate drop
$40 per head incl GST
Dessert
Who / Rotary 2380 providing 250-300 ‘pieces’ of dessert$1500
Certificates
Who / K & K are producing for all general categoriesWinner certificates (silver frame)and
Finalist certificates (black frame) have been organised
Drafts have been approved and they are off being printed
Trophies
Who / 2 major prizes will be trophies by Old Bank GalleryEmployee of the Year
Business of the Year
Advertising
Where at / NVI – announcing finalists in Thursday 18th paperOngoing with Christoph
Tickets
Sales / Eventbrite working wellSteady sales already
Expecting a rush after finalists announced
Award Night
Finalists / We will ask each finalist to consider preparing a speech in case they win – can hand speech to the presenter if they wishProcess of presenting / Considering how to present awards – host be on the stage announcing finalists and the presenter be at floor level with the finalists as award winner announced – finalists will receive their certificate at their table and the winner will come forward to collect theirs
Lights / Laurie at Cinema
Sound system / From Conservatorium at no cost
Budget
Where at / To date expenses have been contained well within budgetNumber of Sponsorship received is below budget – mostly because of lack of time to chase up – due to the nomination process taking so much time and not working as expected
Too early to put together useful projections
Local Member, Kevin Anderson is interested in being involved in the proceedings and discussion was made that it would be a good idea for him to open the event with George Hoddle as MC in conjunction with 3 or 4 chamber committee members to help run the evening and announce the categories. Stacey Thibault, Gerry McDonald, Jamie Chaffey and Treena Daniells have put their hands up to help George on the night to announce categories. Looking at a surplus so far of approximately $15,000 but ticket sales still to be confirmed
- Tourism subcommittee (Jim Farquhar) No Activity
- Corporate Sponsorship Commitments – (Alysha White) Report Attached
2016/17 SPONSORSHIP PACKAGESPACKAGE / VALUE / DETAILS / NUMBER AVAILABLE / BUSINESS / Confirmed / Still to fill
MAJOR / $6,000 / Awards Evening / 1 / Stripes Group / Yes
GOLD / $5,000 / Christmas Fair / 1 / Mackellar Care Services / yes
GOLD / $5,000 / Try a Trade / 1 / Tafe New England / Yes
GOLD / $5,000 / Tourism Gala Event / 1 / Gdh Shire Council / yes
SILVER / $1,000 / As per prospectus / 8 / Merrivale Partnership / Yes / 6
$1,000 / As per prospectus / SANTOS / Yes
BRONZE / $500 / As per prospectus / unlimited / Best Employment / yes
Gdh Leather Processors / yes
Lorraine Boyce Solicitors / yes
General Business
- Gunnedah Prospectus
The beginning stages have been completed and will be emailed to the committee for review. Interest from China via the previous 2 delegation tours for our local produce has begun with some business connections already being fostered eg Gunnible Pastoral Co now expecting their oranges. A prospectus was requested showing what the Gunnedah region could export to China especially in the way of beef but also other agricultural products to meet their ever increasing demand. An initial prospectus has been compiled in conjunction with Gunnedah Shire Council with the help of a consultant showing statistics focused on agribusiness and snapshots of local business already or on the verge of being ready to export their produce overseas. The document has been translated into Mandarin as well as Japanese and Korean to be completed shortly. The DPI will promote the document to the various overseas counterparts with the intention that an invitation will be received from the Ningbo region to us to discuss future developments in this area. A great start to the promotion of our local industries and something that has been sorely lacking in Gunnedah before now. A credit to president Jamie Chaffey in his determination to get this project off the ground in conjunction with our local council.
- Prime TV Advertising Offer – Update
Breakfast held last Tuesday week to discuss Prime7 advertising opportunity. Those committee members that attended believe the advertising offer is good value for money and particularly good for the Chamber which will have a negligible cost but gain good exposure from the campaign with Southern Cross (Channel 10) now getting involved too. Email will be sent around to our membership with information pertaining to the campaign and it was agreed that better to have a deadline to coincide with the Spring campaign running up to Christmas. Alysha to follow up with Prime7 representatives Matt McCarthy and Barry McDonald before next committee meeting.
- Administration Job description and contract – to be approved
Job description and short term contract has been created for the administration assistants position currently occupied by Alysha White. It is to be approved by the new committee ready to go out for expressions of interest based on a 12 month commitment by the person taking up the position. Discussion made as to whether the committee is happy to maintain the status quo with Alysha staying in the position until she is not longer able to commit or to put out an expression of interest to the market in order to get a 12 month commitment so as to ensure continuity of administrative support for this period. The general consensus from the committee was that they are happy with Alysha to remain in the position.