Why Join the Chamber? (Take 1)

Author:
Tyler Rector
Summer Intern (Wabash College)
Crawfordsville | Montgomery County Chamber Of Commerce


​This summer I have been interning at the Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce. Most of my work has been on promoting the Chamber and its members through video interviews. Each week I have been able to meet with business owners from all different areas of our community. From Brad Monts of Hoosier Heartland State Bank, to Diana McCormick of Athens Arts, our member database covers all aspects of business here in Montgomery County. Most of the interviews revolved around me asking questions such as: “Why is the Chamber important to your business?” or “What reasons would you give a business (large or small) to join the Chamber?” Through these interviews I have made numerous connections outside of the office and met many great members who have the community’s best interest in mind. The final product will be a “promotional” video highlighting the locally owned businesses here in Montgomery County. When I began the internship in June, the Crawfordsville Chamber of Commerce website had no video footage and many of the pictures were stills taken from a few years ago. My boss Cassie and I have been working to try and figure out how we can bring “new life” to the site to draw more people’s attention, not only to our web page, but to Montgomery County as a whole. We want to show off our great community to people who may not know anything about us or give more information to those who wish to learn more about the community. While most of my work has been on this one video, we have been talking about other uses of video on the site to brighten up our page with the use of visual work. I have also made a few user guides for members of our chamber such as: “Wireless Screen Sharing Guide” for the Fusion 54 building, as well as a “Google Analytics Startup Guide” for members who requested a Google Analytics walk through. Both guides are free for any of our members to use and we hope it helps them as they continue to grow and develop their businesses. The work I have been doing has allowed me to further my knowledge of video filming and editing, which I intend on being my career path later down the road. At the end of the summer, the video will be completed, and we hope that it will showcase everything we at the Chamber, as well as the community as a whole, have to offer to anyone who wants to learn about/visit Montgomery County.

Please check out Tyler's video! Thank you for your good work, and special thanks to Hoosier Heartland State Bank, Walmart Optical Lab, Athens Arts Gallery, and Davis Morrison Realty for participating! - Cassie Hagan, Executive Director

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