Chamber membership drive starts Aug. 27

On Aug. 2, more than 70 members began preparing for the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce’s 2013 membership drive, which officially begins Aug. 27.

This year the chamber’s goal is to recruit 425 new members during its three-day drive, to put its membership at more than 2,300 members.

To inspire the crowd of member volunteers, the chamber brought in speaker Jimmy Cusano of Your Chamber Connection to the Springfield office Aug. 2. During the chamber’s last membership drive, Cusano helped the organization recruit 420 new members in three days, a record for the largest number of members recruited in a single chamber of commerce membership drive worldwide, according to a news release.

In the meeting, Cusano emphasized that membership size translates into clout, which plays an important role in the chamber’s legislative and economic development initiatives, according to Cusano.

It’s about making Springfield a better place to live, work and grow your children,” Jami Peebles of Central Trust & Investment Co. said in the release.

On Aug. 27, executives will arrive in shifts, accompanied by teams of five or six who will then reach out to their contacts, asking them to support the community and join the chamber.

The entire event can be summed up in four words: building a better Springfield,” the chamber’s Vice President of Membership Brent McCoy said in the release. “This membership event is not about you, me or the chamber. It’s about our regional economy succeeding and thriving, and it’s about us as a business community.”