Mick Fleming, President March 31, 2011

da Plane Boss, The Plane IA, AZ, SC, MO, CA, MS, FL, PA, NJ, NC, TX, CO, IN, NY It’s about more than collecting post cards.

First, the commercials  Convention 2011 Los Angeles: ACCESS!  The Plan & the Campaign  Building the Information Office  Clearinghouse  Social Media Groups  New Opportunity Partnerships thru ACCE  Free, no-obligation retirement plan evaluation/comparison

The “Regular” Trends... Yes, they still matter Balancing Budgets Membership Policy Priorities Event Design & Attendance Sponsorship Political Landmines Media Relations Social Media’s Rocky Advance Economic Development Methods & Results

Today, Grand Observations (and Gross Generalizations)  The Context:  COG: The Policy Debate of Our Generation  Government In the Economy  International Influence  Demographics  The Work:  The Volunteers Are Back... Is The Good?  Impatience & Turnover  The Business Model  Money & Politics  Communications Revolution

The Cost of Government  State Budget Train wrecks  Collective Bargaining  Federal Deficit Posturing  Citizen & Interest Group Expectations  Specific Issues as Thru COG Lens  Immigration  Energy & Environment  Healthcare  Business Taxes  Econ Dev Incentives  War & Diplomacy The Context

Government In the Economy  Every major project is public-private  Governments (and quasi) as largest employers in MOST communities  Government as largest customer  Selecting winners and losers through TARP, but also every day (green, BRAC, etc) The Context

International Influence  EVERYTHING IS CONNECTED  Japanese retirees own our bonds  Brazilians are buying up Miami condos  North African oil & Egyptian cotton supplies  Largest US trading block is EU  Global TV market for NFL part of negotiations The Context

Demographics  Pyramids and rectangles  Millennial issue  Boomers aren’t going away  Boards: Too white? Too old? Too dull? The Context

Volunteers Return  Relationship between vols and pros still changing – ways they are playing is different  Recession, local economies, urgency of policy action and organizational struggles have has brought volunteers back  Re-engagement a good thing... I think The Work

Impatience At All Levels  Members impatient for relevant programs  Boards impatient with pace of org progress  Staffs impatient with unavailable volunteers  Pols impatient with slow chamber consensus  Sponsors impatient with slow ROI The Work

Money and Politics  Soft money & national money playing at state/local levels – chambers in the middle  Posturing by local pols who have ambitions  Open source fundraising can make many others more influential than the chamber The Work

Communications Revolution  Long Tail theory more at play than ever  Newspaper desperation for readers  Biz Journal morphing affecting your program  Open-source world and Chamber exclusivity  Social media limitations more evident The Work

Chamber Business Model  Membership numbers level off – Is that enough?  Health plans in the long term  Campaign/pledge style funding (deliverables)  The Exclusivity thing  The Work thing  Exceptional funding becoming normal  M & A options on the table The Work

If it ain’t broke, break it?