Opelika Chamber Newsletter

Rally Session #6
Date: November 2, 2022
Location: Southern Union State Community College Southern Room

Good afternoon,
I am pleased to share that our campaign total currently sits at $328,561.

For those that missed our rally session yesterday, here are a few updates:
•Session Notes: Ali and I have created a WANTED/LIKE List for you all and we went over the specifics of these few sponsorships (See attachments).
•Campaign Leaders of the Week: Congratulations again to our Campaign Leaders 1st Place â€" Evan Crawford, Crawford/Willis Group; 2nd Place â€" Laurel Buckalew, Railroad Investment Group; 3rd Place â€" Wanda McCaghren, AuburnBank.
•Sponsorship Challenge: If you sell anything on the WANTED list this week, you get 10 entries into some raffle prizes. If you sell anything from the LIKE list, you will get 5 entries into some raffle prizes.
•END OF CAMPAIGN UPDATE: Due to Veteran's Day, the FINAL DAY to secure sponsorships is Tuesday, November 15th at 5:00pm. This is also the same day as our VICTORY PARTY â€" SAVE THE DATE!

We hope you all will join us for our LAST Rally Session on Wednesday, November 9th at noon at Red Clay Brewing Company (Address: 704 N Railroad Ave, Opelika, AL 36801). We will be enjoying pizza from Red Clay. If you are able to attend, please let me know, so I can have a proper headcount.

Hope you all have a great day and as always THANK YOU SO MUCH for your hard work and dedication!

Best - Mackenzie Poole


Rally Session #5
Date: October 26, 2022
Location: John Emerald Distilling Company

Good afternoon,
I am pleased to share that our campaign total currently sits at $321,021. This is AMAZING!!

For those that missed our session yesterday, here are a few updates:
•Marketing Notes: Ali went over the different marketing opportunities still available for businesses to purchase. We also put together a document that pairs some remaining sponsorships together for a Small Investment, Big Impact sale as you continue to visit and communicate with different businesses.
•Campaign Leaders of the Week: Congratulations again to our Campaign Leaders 1st Place Vertrina Grubbs, Southern Union State Community College; 2nd Place Wendy Mickle, Bailey-Harris Construction; 3rd Place Jay Walters, East Alabama Health. Also congratulations to our Campaign Team Leaders 1st Place Team Grubbs ($9,475); 2nd Place Team Walters ($6,274); 3rd Place Team Hellums ($4,925). Keep up the great work!
•Sponsorship Challenge: Last week, we challenged you all to sell memberships for to be entered in to win a prize. Congratulations to Jonathan Isbell with Southeast Mortgage for being selected as our winner of a $40 gift card to Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail!
•Drop List: Ali was kind enough to give you a list of members that have dropped their membership in the past 2 years. If you have a relationship with one of these businesses, feel free to reach out to them and share the many opportunities available through the REACH Campaign.
•Time is on Your Side: Please begin reminding businesses that the deadline to secure sponsorships is Friday, November 11th, at 5:00pm.

We hope you all will join us for our next Rally Session on Wednesday, November 2nd at noon at Southern Union State Community College's Southern Room.

Hope you all have a great day and as always THANK YOU SO MUCH for your hard work and dedication!

Best - Mackenzie Poole


Rally Session #4
Date: October 19, 2022
Location: Red Clay Brewing Company

Thank you for those that were able to join us for pizza and cookie cake today at Red Clay. We enjoyed celebrating meeting our campaign goal of $275,000 as well as Support Your Local Chamber of Commerce Day!

Since our meeting this afternoon, our campaign total has grown to $294,992. What a great start to the week!

For those that missed our session today, here are a few updates:
•Membership Notes: Catherine Olen, Marketing & Membership Coordinator, went over the many benefits of joining the Opelika Chamber and what she shares with potential members. I have attached the "Why Join" flyer she went over to this email. As a reminder:
Only Chamber Members can purchase sponsorships through the REACH Campaign.
Businesses must complete the member application and pay the fee to be a member.
The application can be found here: https://business.opelikachamber.com/member/newmemberapp/
If you believe a business has completed the member application that you recruited, email me and I can verify if they have joined or not and then log that into the REACH system so you receive credit for the sale.
•Campaign Leaders of the Week: Congratulations again to our Campaign Leaders 1st Place John Meadows, South State Bank ($5,925); 2nd Place Elizabeth Milner, Hometown Lenders ($3,075); 3rd Place Jordan Kelly, Troy Bank & Trust ($2,950). Also congratulations to our Campaign Team Leaders 1st Place Team Cummings ($5,925); 2nd Place Team Hunley ($4,685); 3rd Place Team Harvis ($4,200). Keep up the great work!
•Sponsorship Challenge: Last week, we challenged you all to sell sponsorships for to be entered in to win a gift card to the Spa at the Marriott at Grand National. Congratulations to Brenda Hellums with Renasant Bank for being selected as our winner!
•Goal This Week: Sell a membership this week and be entered to win a prize at our next rally session. For every membership sold between now and the Rally Session, your name will be entered into the drawing. We will draw at the Rally Session.
•Update Contact List: At your convenience, please send me your list of businesses that you have communicated with or plan on reaching out to this week. This will allow Ali and I to look over what businesses have been communicated with and which ones have not as we focus in our last few weeks of our campaign.

We hope you all will join us for our next Rally Session on Wednesday, October 26th at noon at John Emerald Distilling Company (Address: 706 N Railroad Ave, Opelika, AL 36801).

Best - Mackenzie Poole


Rally Session #3
Date: October 12, 2022
Location: Twice Baked

Good afternoon everyone!
Thank you for those that were able to join us at Twice Baked for lunch today.

We are about halfway through our REACH Campaign and our current campaign total stands at $258,575. I truly believe we can hit our $275,000 campaign goal by next week…we just need each volunteer to sell 1 sponsorship between now and next week. Let's do it! 😊 Please let me know if I can help you in any way!

For those that missed our session today, here are a few updates:
•Annual Meeting Notes: We went over the specifics of Annual Meeting today. The event is scheduled for Friday, June 2, 2023 at the Opelika High School Indoor Practice Facility. This is a luncheon event that hosts close to 500 attendees. It is our annual awards program where we celebrate the accomplishments of our chamber members from the past year. We still have some great sponsorships available for this event including the Award Sponsor and Shuttle Sponsor which are new this year.
•Campaign Leaders of the Week: Congratulations again to Evan Crawford of Crawford/Willis Group @ eXp Realty ($3,310); William Sheffield of Jackson Thornton ($3,075); and Brenda Hellums of Renasant Bank ($2,450) for being our Campaign Leaders last week. Keep up the great work!
•Golf Tournament Sponsorship Challenge: Last week, we challenged you all to sell sponsorships for the Golf Tournament. Congratulations to Brenda, James, Jonathan, Kristy, Jordan, Evan, and Rosanna. I will be emailing each of you a lead tomorrow afternoon.
•Goal This Week: Sell a sponsorship or membership this week and be entered to win a massage from the Marriot at Grand National Spa. For every sponsorship sold between now and the Rally Session, your name will be entered into the drawing. We will draw at the Rally Session.

We hope you all will join us for our next Rally Session on Wednesday, October 19th at noon at Red Clay Brewing Company (Address 704 N Railroad Ave, Opelika, AL 36801:, Opelika, AL 36801). We will be enjoying pizza from Red Clay and will have a variety of options just let me know if you plan on attending so I can have a proper headcount on how much pizza to provide.

Best - Mackenzie Poole


Rally Session #2
Date: October 5, 2022
Location: Resting Pulse Brewing Company

Happy Thursday everyone!

Thank you all for a wonderful rally session and birthday celebration yesterday! 😊

We are just a few weeks in and have made amazing progress toward our campaign goal! I spoke with Jason earlier today and he mentioned that we passed last year's campaign total! WOWZA! Our campaign total currently stands at $239,410.

For those that missed our session today, here are a few updates:
•Golf Tournament Notes: At yesterday's Rally session, we went over the specifics of the Golf Tournament. For those that missed, please note that the Golf Tournament will be Tuesday, May 2, 2023 at Robert Trent Jones at Grand National and will host a morning flight with a shotgun start at 8am and an afternoon flight with a shotgun start at 1pm.
o Note: If you sell a sponsorship that falls under the 'Golf Tournament' category between now and our next Rally session, you will be entered into a drawing to receive a lead for another sponsorship. We will be drawing 5 names total.
o Shoutout to Billy Plummer, Antione Harvis, Rosanna McGinnis, and Terry Fulks for securing '2022 Event' sponsorships last week. I will be emailing you all a lead as your reward.
•We celebrated our Campaign Leaders of the Week: Congratulations again to Tabatha White of Alabama Power ($7,432); Antione Harvis of Wise Guys Moving ($5,106); and Chris Clark of East Alabama Health ($4,075) for being our Campaign Leaders last week. Keep up the great work!
•We enjoyed a Flip Cup Competition: Congratulations to Tabatha White, Nathaniel Jackson, Jordan Kelly, Joseph Shaw, Sara Carrington, Sharon Patterson, Erica Harrison, and Kristy Butler for winning the challenge. They all received a Resting Pulse drink token for joining the fun. If you want to see the fun for yourself, check out the OCC Reach 2022 Facebook page.

We hope you all will join us for our next Rally Session on Wednesday, October 12th at noon at Twice Baked (Address: 909 S Railroad Ave, Opelika, AL 36801).

Best - Mackenzie Poole


Rally Session #1
Date: September 28, 2022
Location: Baumhower's

Wow! Thank you all for such a wonderful Rally Session at Baumhower's this afternoon!

We truly appreciate the enthusiasm and hard work that each of you have brought to the REACH campaign thus far!

Speaking of which, I am excited to announce our campaign total is currently at $198,093! I think we can get to $200,000 by the end of the week - what do you guys say?!

For those that missed our session today, here are a few updates:
•Understanding what a Rally Session is: We use Rally Sessions as a way to celebrate the hard work of each of our volunteers. We also will spend each week deep diving into specific sponsorships as well as hosting friendly competitions to receive leads and rewards throughout the campaign. At this specific rally session, we reviewed the '2022 Events' which include Keep The Cheer Here Social Campaign; Secret Santa Gift Exchange; Snopelika; and the Snopelika Parade.
o Note: If you sell a sponsorship that falls under the '2022 Event' category between now and our next Rally session, you will be entered into a drawing to receive a lead for another sponsorship. We will be drawing 5 names total.
• We celebrated our Campaign Leaders of the Week: Congratulations again to Antione Harvis of Wise Guys Moving ($20,997); Billy Plummer & Barbi Argicola of Agricola Law ($19,510); and Brooke Kastner of AO Tourism ($11,500). Keep up the great work! And for those of you still working on securing your first sponsorship, please do not be discouraged by these numbers. As I mentioned in the meeting, we have only reached out to 97 of our 950 members. That is just 10% of our membership so there is plenty of room to secure sponsorships and reach your individual and team goals for the campaign.
• We enjoyed a Snow Man Building Minute to Win It Competition: Congratulations to John Gwin; Barbi Agricola; Antione Harvis; Jonathan Isbell; Erica Harrison; Jenna Morrow; Elizabeth Milner; and Garner Martin for winning the challenge. I will be sending you each a lead to a sponsorship as your reward. If you want to see the fun for yourself, check out the OCC Reach 2022 Facebook page.

We hope you all will join us for our next Rally Session on Wednesday, October 5th at noon at Resting Pulse Brewing Company (Address: 714 1st Ave, Opelika, AL 36801). Also, MY BIRTHDAY 😊 We will be celebrating accordingly. Woohoo!

Best - Mackenzie Poole