I am looking into joining the Sheffield Chamber of Commerce... as yet I have not talked to anyone who is/has been a part of it. Is it big/small?Friendly? Innovative? A good mix of businesses? I am mainly interested in getting to know people in the local business community and also in developing my own business handling skills.

My experience with various chambers has been that they vary widely in quality and relevance. My main concern is that in some chambers the dynamics are pretty hard-sell - people only interested in pushing their products/services. These groups easily tend to become pretentious...
I'd really appreciate hearing your experiences, if possible.

Please feel free to PM me if you'd like to as well.

I have a friend who is in the Junior Chamber of Commerce, and I suspect that is what you would be better joining (assuming you are young of course)

They seem like a sociable bunch and a fair mix of people, I can put you in touch if you like.

Originally posted by genesiscouch
I am looking into joining the Sheffield Chamber of Commerce... as yet I have not talked to anyone who is/has been a part of it. Is it big/small?Friendly? Innovative? A good mix of businesses? I am mainly interested in getting to know people in the local business community and also in developing my own business handling skills.

My experience with various chambers has been that they vary widely in quality and relevance. My main concern is that in some chambers the dynamics are pretty hard-sell - people only interested in pushing their products/services. These groups easily tend to become pretentious...
I'd really appreciate hearing your experiences, if possible.

Please feel free to PM me if you'd like to as well.

That last paragraph has been by experience with the Chamber of Commerce. They like to sell you their courses for staff but from my experience they are pretty expensive and can be sourced elsewhere at a much cheaper prices.

With Chamber of Commerce you pay your subscription and then additional services were paid for. If you wanted to put leaflets in their mailings etc they were pretty expensive. Similarly, you could pay to obtain a members listing but the cost was something like £55 per 1000 if I remember rightly.

After joining you did get inundated with mailings selling their services - only their news booklet was probably worth reading but even then you have to pay to be a featured company!!

I will stress this was before Andy Deniff's time so I am not sure if it has changed recently.

I always found the Chamber of Trade to be much more representative - they didnt just take your money and forget about you; at least when John Taylor was there you used to get regular visits from him.

I understand the two are merging together now.

I was a member of the Chamber of Commerce for a while in the 1990s. I did a few presentations, attended some meetings, paid my dues and got very little from it.

I've managed to get more work for my line of work from networking groups like eCademy or other freelancing forums online.

Joe

Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts. The Junior Chamber actually does look intriguing; I think I'll check that out. Being that the word 'junior' implies 18-40 (lol - at first I thought it must be a kids' club or something). Sounds like the spirit of the group is much more focused on self-development, etc. The Chamber of Commerce hosts some events that non-members can attend as well, so I don't think I'll be opting for a full chamber of commerce membership for the time being.

Has anybody had any more recent experiences with the Chamber of Commerce?

Can we have an updated view on this please as this is so old.

Has no one any opinions on this?

Hi

I ws enterprise director with Sheffild Chamber until July 2007. I ran the enterprise agency (SENTA) but of course I do know about the whole of the Chamber.

I was a member of SCCI but didnt renew as I found it to be more geared towards larger corporate businesses, not the smaller end of businesses and not many networking events.

I am also a member of Rotherham Chamber which has now merged with Barnsley Chamber. That is more geared to smaller (micro) businesses IMO, and has more regular networking events whihch are either free or cheap ie £10 or £15.

I am also a member of Doncaster Chamber, and again, they run a networking club 10 of the 12 months a the year. There is a South Yorkshire breakfast meeting wher all 4 chambers meet up. This is about £20 + VAT. (member price).

I think you have to weigh up what it is you want, from what they can offer you. And then, ideally, expect to get as much from that as you can.

What I want to dont do is pay a memberhsip fee for cheaper telecoms, utilities and courses, etc, (none of which I need) only to have to pay extra for the stuff I do want, which is networking.

It would perhaps be better to pay to attend certain events as a non member, than to pay an annual fee and only attend say 3 events that might only otherwsie cost you say, £80.

dont know but i was a cleaner there for a while, messy people thats all i can add.

Hi

I ws enterprise director with Sheffild Chamber until July 2007. I ran the enterprise agency (SENTA) but of course I do know about the whole of the Chamber.

I was a member of SCCI but didnt renew as I found it to be more geared towards larger corporate businesses, not the smaller end of businesses and not many networking events.

I am also a member of Rotherham Chamber which has now merged with Barnsley Chamber. That is more geared to smaller (micro) businesses IMO, and has more regular networking events whihch are either free or cheap ie £10 or £15.

I am also a member of Doncaster Chamber, and again, they run a networking club 10 of the 12 months a the year. There is a South Yorkshire breakfast meeting wher all 4 chambers meet up. This is about £20 + VAT. (member price).

I think you have to weigh up what it is you want, from what they can offer you. And then, ideally, expect to get as much from that as you can.

What I want to dont do is pay a memberhsip fee for cheaper telecoms, utilities and courses, etc, (none of which I need) only to have to pay extra for the stuff I do want, which is networking.

It would perhaps be better to pay to attend certain events as a non member, than to pay an annual fee and only attend say 3 events that might only otherwsie cost you say, £80.
mm Thanks
I am finding it hard to get a group where I fit in to in terms of networking.It really is hard isnt it?