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October General Meeting Minutes

General Meeting

14 October 2020
Held at Club Menangle Trackside

The meeting was opened at 6.40pm.

Welcome – Shaun Pereira, President

Shaun welcomed everyone to the meeting and for Small Business Month.  He acknowledged Life Member Ian Wolf, meeting partner Debbie Roberts of Camden Region Economic Taskforce, our guest speaker Danielle Di-Masi, Arnold and Irene Vitocco and our members and their guests.

Apologies

Tony & Kathy Perich – Narellan Town Centre
Adriana Care – Coutts Solicitors and Conveyancers

President’s Report – Shaun Pereira, President

  • 130 booked in for tonight’s meeting, this is awesome.
  • Small business is important to the local area and the state economy
  • Business NSW has been doing a big promotion of October as Small Business Month.  Your membership of the Chamber gives you direct access to the Business NSW Local Chamber Alliance Program.
  • Shaun introduced the Board members – Steve Moore, Karina Rauch, Carla Upfill, Leanne Wolf, Sue Robinson, Pania Gregson, Damian Bleeker, Sandy Bartlett, Jean Alim and Wendy White as Administration Assistant.  Shaun also thanked the outgoing Board members and wished them well.

Secretary’s Report – Carla Upfill, Secretary

Carla thanked the Board and all the members for supporting her to be elected the Secretary at the recent AGM.  She advised the Minutes from 9 September 2020 as well as the AGM were on the website and were moved by Leanne Wolf, seconded by Sue Robinson and accepted.  No business was arising from those Minutes.

Treasurer’s Report – Karina Rauch, Treasurer

Karina presented the Treasurers Report as at 30 September 2020.  Income for September was $12,167.36, Expenses were $19,047.76, current net loss year to date is $6,862.07.  Current equity of the Chamber is $90,766.52.  The report was moved by Amy Woodley, seconded by Sandra Bartlett and accepted.

Membership Update – Sandra Bartlett, Membership Co-ordinator

Current membership is 163 financial members, with 48 renewals outstanding.

4 New members – Finance 4 Growth, Macfarlane Law, Bold Events, and Victoria Waring Painting & Decorating.

When booking tickets as a member, login to the Chamber website.

There is a Chamber Members Only Facebook page – https://www.facebook.com/groups/narellanchambermembers  where your able to share happenings and also ask questions.

Member Spotlight promo draw for November 2020 meeting – George Gatt of The Office Builders.

Members Facebook promo draw – Kaisha Gambell of Coutts Solicitors & Conveyancers.

CRET Update – Debbie Roberts

Debbie promoted events happening for Small Business Month:

  • Webinar on 21 October with the ATO – Digital options for your small business
  • Webinar on 28 October with the NBN – Cyber security in business

Debbie thanked Danielle for being tonight’s guest speaker and looking forward to hearing her speak on adapting to rapid changes  to grow your business in the future.

What’s On – Steve Moore, Vice President

Steve thanked everyone for coming, 130 people booked in.  He advised the following upcoming events:

  • Youth Solutions – Interested in learning about mental health – Tuesday, 20 October 7pm. Register by email to sam@youthsolutions.com.au
  • Macarthur Tourism, Travel & Events College has a Barista Training Course on October 24th and November 11th
  • Markets at Lakeside happening on Sunday 25 October from 10am-4pm
  • Melbourne Cup Day at Menangle Country Club is sold out, however table bookings can be discussed
  • Gregory Hills Hotel have a Melbourne Cup event on – enquiries at bookings@gregoryhillshotel.com.au
  • November meeting is on Wednesday, 11th November with guest speaker Melinda Cruz who is the Founder of Miracle Babies Foundation

Sponsorship Update – Sue Robinson, Sponsorship Co-ordinator

Sue acknowledged all the sponsors – Gold, Silver and Bronze.  And the Support Partners and Media Partners.  And advised that due to Covid the sponsorship packages had been extended through to March 2021.

Speaker Presentation

Debbie Roberts introduced the evenings guest speaker – Danielle Di-Masi speaking on adapting to rapid changes  to grow your business in the future.

  • Danielle has family in Camden, and it was great to come and visit
  • The tech-human problem – remember the human element.  The Dalai Lama says this is a human problem that needs a human answer
  • What is the human answer?
  • How to cut through the noise to have the most impactful digital communications strategy.
  • What works offline, works online
  • Sales psychology – the About You page  summary on Facebook, be aware that people make decisions based on this information.  Construct your story – cut out the noise.
  • First part of the strategy:
    • Who are You – person and business
    • This is the first question the Dalai Lama asks when he meets someone
    • Why do you do what you do
    • Where is your customer – if they aren’t on Twitter then don’t spend your time there
    • Who are you to your customer (the why)
    • What are you to your customer
  • Who are your tribe
  • Trust – people like us, do things like this
  • You need to control the narrative speak about you.  Google yourself to make sure it’s your narrative.
  • Control 80% of your brand – you narrate who you are – every digital touch and digital touchpoint tells the story
  • You build a reputation 1% at a time.
  • Reason #1 Time – Schedules, Platform schedules, don’t overcommit, get clear on purpose and story
  • Reason #2 What to post – Ask, listen, watch, share, engage, don’t overcommit, what works offline…
  • Contextualise – why you want them to know
  • Human conduct rule
  • Stop hiding phone numbers on websites
  • People buy the story
  • The human answer – who are we to them.

Question and Answer

  • What if I am different next week
    • 3 things       I see you, I get you, and this makes sense
  • Always make the other person important
  • Please connect with Danielle on Linkedin – send her your page and she’ll take a look.

Shaun and Leanne thanked Danielle for her presentation and presented her with a gift.

Lucky Door Prize

Club Menangle Voucher won by Lana Harvey of David Harvey Auctions

Hillross Bottle and Finance Healthcheck voucher won by Emma Macfarlane of Macfarlane Law

Mystery gift won my Dean Boone of Distinctive Living.

Closing Remarks – Shaun Pereira

Shaun thanked everyone for supporting another great meeting, the energy in the room and 130 people attending.  Thank you to the Board for all their support.

See you all on November 11th for Melinda Cruz. 

There being no further business, the meeting was closed at 8.36pm.

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