June 27, 2005
News on the "Junk Fax Prevention Act" . . .
On Friday, the Senate passed legislation by unanimous consent restoring the “established business relationship” (EBR) exception that allows associations, chambers and other businesses to send unsolicited commercial faxes to their members and clients.
The Senate action on S. 714 sends the fax bill to the House of Representatives. If it passes quickly, it is possible - although not certain - that the legislation could move to the President’s desk for signature prior to the FCC’s new rules taking effect on July 1. If the bill does not become law by July 1, and if the FCC does not grant the 6-month stay extension, The Fax Ban Coalition will work with Congress to incorporate a “safe harbor” provision for commercial faxes sent between June 30, 2005 and the date of enactment.
In addition to restoring the EBR language, the Senate bill requires that all unsolicited commercial faxes include an opt-out provision on the first page of the fax, providing a cost-free, 24-hour means for the recipient to request to be removed from the fax distribution list; requires that fax numbers be obtained either directly from the recipient or from a public source to which the recipient gave the number for publication (i.e., a Web site, advertisement or directory); and “grandfathers” in fax numbers in the possession of the sender at the time of enactment. Information in this article provided by the American Society of Association Executives.
Storytelling in communications . . .
In the May/June 2005 edition of ACCE’s magazine, Chamber Executive, the Greater Syracuse Chamber of Commerce was featured in the cover story about storytelling in communications. The article is excerpted here with ACCE’s permission:
In Syracuse, N.Y., the chamber harnessed the power of stories in selling the benefits of a program it manages, the Space Alliance Technology Outreach Program (SATOP), and came up with and entire publication based on stories. Why? Consider the difficulty of explaining this particular service: the program provides up to forty free hours of free engineering services to small businesses. Through the SATOP grant, NASA allows small businesses to tap into the same brain power that has landed men on the moon and rovers on Mars to solve their more specific and down-to-earth challenges. These solutions can help the economy, through job growth or more cost-effective production; and they can make a product safer or more reliable.
Now, imagine making this program clear to the manager of the fitness center in need of acoustical engineering assistance or the security company executive in need of product design assistance. Complicated, right? So, to promote SATOP across New York, the Syracuse Chamber partnered with over forty other chambers and economic development corporations. These organizations spread the word about SATOP and refer small businesses to the chamber.
However, as a group, referrals fell over the course of a year. The chamber’s business analysis determined that the drop in referrals was due to a common misconception about SATOP: because of the program’s NASA connection, small business owners wrongly assumed that only high-tech or aerospace companies could qualify. This often discouraged them from submitting requests for technical assistance, though program documentation stated that the services were available to all types of businesses. At this point, the chamber needed a concise, effective way to clarify the opportunities of the SATOP program and turned to storytelling as a way to reach potential customers. Hence, a success stories publication was born.
“The success stories illustrate how the program has assisted businesses in many different industries,” says Holly Berlin, Director of Communications, Greater Syracuse Chamber of Commerce. “However, the chamber found that these success stories were difficult to remember in detail, and observed that its marketing partners were repeating the same one or two stories to every business, presenting a very limited picture of the program. The solution became a ‘success stories’ booklet inspired by an annual NASA publication featuring aerospace success stories.” The booklet that the Syracuse Chamber created allows its sales partners to easily find a story sorted by engineering discipline, industry type or business name.
The effective cost to produce each booklet was just over four dollars and the return has been many times that, according to the chamber’s analysis. “[The booklet] clearly represented real scenarios that businesses could relate to, [and] demystified the NASA image of technology elitism,” said representatives of one of the chamber’s sales partners, the Local Development Corporation of East New York. Last year, the SATOP story booklet was recognized in ACCE’s 2004 Award for Communications Excellence as a Grand Award winner.
Federal transportation funding update . . .
A House-Senate conference committee is racing to beat a deadline of this Thursday, when the seventh temporary extension of TEA-21 transportation funding runs out. The conference has been working since May 26th to reconcile differences in multi-year transportation funding bills: the $284 billion House version (H.R. 3 or TEA-LU) and the $295 billion Senate version (H.R. 3 modified or SAFETEA).
The conferees’ framework for the final bill includes a guaranteed funding level of $286.5 billion over six years. Analysts say that too many details of the multi-year bill remain to be worked out before the temporary extension expires on June 30th. Congress is likely to pass another short-term extension with the goal of resolving the differences by mid-July.
New York conferees are Rep. Sherry Boehlert (R-NY), Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-NY), Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY), and Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY).
Todd Shimkus, CCE . . .
Congratulations to Todd Shimkus, President and CEO of the Adirondack Regional Chamber of Commerce, who is New York State’s newest Certified Chamber Executive (CCE)! Todd will officially adopt his designation (and suffix) at ACCE’s St. Louis Convention in August. For more information on the CCE program, visit www.acce.org/profdev/certification/.
U.S. Chamber’s Eastern Region GAC conference . . .
The U.S. Chamber’s Eastern Region Governmental Affairs conference is scheduled for Wednesday to Friday, October 5-7, in Boston, MA. The 3-day conference is packed with comprehensive government affairs programming. Sessions feature provocative speakers and open, candid discussion so participants can learn about the latest government affairs practices and trends.
The conference will be held at the Boston Park Plaza hotel. Registration information (including online registration) is available on the U.S. Chamber web site at www.uschamber.com/events/ViewEvent.htm?eventID=347. Please contact Megan Tucker at 401-831-8885 or mtucker@uschamber.com with any questions.
Got a question you’d like to ask other CANYS members? Job opening in your chamber? Great idea you’d like to share? Send it to maggie.moree@bcnys.org.
