Spring Klein Chamber of Commerce holds their events at venues like Top Golf.[/caption]With an eye on increasing millennials to half its membership, Myeshi Briley, president of the Spring Klein Chamber of Commerce, caters to a growing number of young entrepreneurs in the area.
The mission of Spring Klein Chamber of Commerce—to be the primary resource and support of area economic development and quality of life—is not that different from the mission of other chambers. What Spring and Klein does differently, however, is attempt to attract the millennial set, age 18-40.
Briley has been chamber president for three years. In her second year she said she began to notice a trend in the age of the chamber members.
“I started to look at what our membership looks like,” Briley said. “They were younger.”
Chamber membership of entrepreneurs ages 18-40 stands at 31 percent, Briley said. Additionally, half of the SKCC board is made up of millennials, whom Pew Research defines as those aged 18-34 in 2015.
“We bring stuff to the table that a lot of the other chambers don’t think of,” said SKCC board member Edna Sangel. “We are different and unique, and we have millennials who are board members and that makes it attractive.”
Sangel said millennial entrepreneurs are looking for a group where they can feel like they belong. Millennials are less interested in the buttoned-up environment of conventional networking and more interested in getting to know other chamber members on a personal level and developing a rapport from there, rather than a scripted exchange of business cards and work discussion.
"We are authentic people who want to grow together and help each other out.”
–Edna Sangel, SKCC board member
“We end up doing business with each other because we got to know each other on a personal level,” Sangel said.
She said the suit-and-tie environment is a turnoff to millennials, who prefer to be judged not on their attire but on their accomplishments, knowledge and experience they have acquired.
“With us, we don’t care how you look,” Sangel said. “People want to feel welcome and not judged and not have to put on a suit and tie to be considered successful. That’s what attracts people to our group. We don’t do that. We are authentic people who want to grow together and help each other out.”
Jon Hibler, 27, owns the coffee shop DeNovo on Louetta Road in Spring. He said he is considering joining the SKCC because of its outreach to young entrepreneurs.
“She has the group of the young entrepreneurs set up, which I think is really cool,” Hibler said. “There are not a lot of people that our age that are doing the kinds of things that we are trying to do with the same perspective that we might have. [Membership] gives us a chance to set up some long term partnerships [with people] that are closer to our age.”
SKCC appeals to a younger group by holding chamber events at venues such as Top Golf in Spring, Hibler said.
“Some of the way we’re a younger chamber is because we’re not set in our ways,” Briley said. “We’re flexible for our young professionals. We value their innovation.”
As an example, the younger entrepreneurs embrace social media and new ideas, she said.
“They like working for companies and organizations that want to think outside the box,” Briley said. “Young professionals are not afraid of change. They get bored if you don’t change things up.”
