The Local Leaders Roundtable met on May 13 for Local Hive: Emerging From the Pandemic
The Local Hive is a friendly discussion among local leaders that starts with a topic but may, and often does, veer into what’s on the minds of the AMIBA community. This event, however, stayed on the topic of emerging from the pandemic. Is it time? Has anyone had an in-person event? Was it a success? Are our members ready to emerge? Yes, yes, yes and yes!
This was perhaps the most inspiring LLR yet because it was so clear that our members are ready to emerge and there is a pent-up demand for seeing one another in real life. Several IBAs have had in-person events to great success. Everyone followed local protocols including masking, distancing and temperature checks. But that didn’t deter attendees at all. Events included:
- Outdoor networking events in neighborhood parks
- An event at the zoo
- Skating at a skate rink
- Coffee networking
- A Second Line parade of owners, employees and customers of businesses lost in the pandemic. This hasn’t happened yet but what a great tribute!
As nearly every leader on the call expressed an interest in starting up events again, it was great to hear these success stories.
But the discussion went beyond events to pandemic changes in the way we do things. Many IBAs have, for the first time, collaborated with local organizations in the desire to share information and help businesses. There was a widespread sentiment to continue these collaborations beyond the pandemic since they amplify everyone and help business and the community.
Another side effect of the pandemic (but perhaps a good one) was a refocus and rethinking of member benefits. From necessity, many IBAs shifted from marketing to providing and connecting to real support services during the pandemic. For some, this was the first time they ventured into direct services and it’s likely to stay.
This was a great sharing discussion at the Local Leaders Roundtable! Missed this event? You can see the video on YouTube.
The Local Leaders Roundtable is every second Thursday at 1pm ET. Our June Roundtable is Nuts & Bolts: Hybrid Events. Register for this and other AMIBA events here. (https://amiba.net/events) Hope to see you soon!