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Chamber Travel Opportunties!

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Join us as we explore the Wonders of the World through safe, unique and exciting tours!

The Yarmouth & Area Chamber of Commerce and Indus Travel have teamed up to offer one-of-a-kind adventures. Visit historic cities and famous landmarks while you dine on authentic cuisine and immerse yourself in local cultures.

Chamber Travel trips are open to members and non-members alike, and provide a once in a lifetime affordable travel experience! We are offering two trips leaving in October 2024.

Experience Ireland

 

TOUR SUMMARY:
Discover the beauty of the Emerald Isle with this spectacular 10-day tour of Ireland! You will head on a journey you will never forget, filled with rich history and fascinating sites that will leave you in awe. Your journey will begin in Dublin, the capital city of Ireland known for its lively atmosphere, cultural heritage, and friendly locals. From there you will explore the Ring of Kerry, famous for its sandy white beaches, rich species of wildlife, and breathtaking mountains. Visit Killarney, the perfect place for outdoor activities as the region is filled with mountains and lakes, and see the Cliffs of Moher, perhaps the most famous site in Ireland known for its natural beauty, and travel to Limerick, one of the oldest cities in Ireland. Make your way through the narrow streets of Galway, where you will see gorgeous cathedrals and busy pubs before you explore the Connemara Region, a land of lakes, rivers, bogs, and mountains where
Gaelic remains the spoken language. Your tour of Ireland will come to an end with a scenic trip back to Dublin and you will head home filled with fascinating memories that will last you a lifetime!

Experience Ireland Brochure

More Information and Booking for Experience Ireland

 

Discover Croatia, Slovenia & Montenegro

TOUR SUMMARY:

Begin your guided tour of Croatia, Slovenia and Montegero in Zagreb, the capital city of Croatia where you will discover a rich heritage, gothic churches, and museums. Next, travel to Ljubljana in Slovenia and explore the baroque-styled buildings set beautifully in the Old Town, dating back to around 2000BC. Discover Lake Bled, a pristine alpine lake, and Bohinj Valley, situated at the foot of the Alps. Return to Croatia to discover Plitvice National Park, home to 16 emerald lakes, hidden caves, and several waterfalls. Continue to Zadar, a 3000-year-old city, and visit Sibenik, a gateway to the Kornati Islands. Continue your journey to Split, a town breathing in ancient history, and see the famous Diocletian Palace. From Split, travel to Dubrovnik, known as the Pearl of the Adriatic. Enjoy walking around the walled city and visiting historic landmarks like Rector’s Palace and the Cathedral. Go to Kotor, a gorgeous coastal town in Montenegro surrounded by magnificent mountains. See the historical landmarks like the Kotor Cathedral and Maritime Museum. Return to Dubrovnik where your tour ends. Fly back home with lovely memories!

Discover Croatia, Slovenia and Montegero Brochure

More Information and Booking for Discover Croatia, Slovenia and Montegero

 

 

Indus Travel

Indus Travels is an award-winning Tour Operator offering value vacations to over 80 destinations around the world. Indus Tours are designed by Expert Tour Planners with the freedom and flexibility of passengers in mind.

The Indus Travel Experts are highly knowledgeable and passionate about helping clients design their dream vacations and prepare for unforgettable adventures.

Register for a Free Professional Development Course!

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The Chamber of Commerce is pleased to partner with the Province of Nova Scotia to offer our members free professional development courses!

Check out these 2 courses starting in January 2024:

Performance Management with Lisette Jones (Registration is now closed for Performance Management as the course is full)

Wednesdays 9:00am-1:00pm | Starting January 17th 2024 for 10 weeks

The intention of this program is to provide you with a general overview and understanding of the role of performance management as an integral function of HR in your company – whether you have one or 50 employees. In addition to laying the foundation for a performance management system, the program will provide knowledge, tools and templates for engaging your employees, and applying coaching techniques to support your team in being the best they can be.

Learning Outcomes:
•Identify the core components of performance management
•Identify the four learning styles
•Explain how learning styles impact performance
•Manage performance logs
•Create a process for checking in with employees
•Conduct stay interviews
•Developing SMART performance goals
•Identify when and how to provide the three main forms of feedback
•Explain the three feedback triggers
•Illustrate the J Curve
•Design performance appraisals tools
•Identify the steps in progressive discipline
•Manage common performance issues
•Define the fundamentals of coaching
•List the elements in asking the right questions
•Compare and contrast facilitating versus directing a team’s direction
•Compare and contrast strategic questioning techniques and identify when to apply each

Customer Service Excellence with Lisa Olie

Mondays 9:00am-1:00pm | Starting January 15th 2024 for 10 weeks

This program creates the opportunity for you to provide the best experience possible for your customers. You will explore key elements of customer service standards, gain clarity on your customers’ expectations, study the seven types of challenging customers, and learn how to navigate difficult customer situations.

You will explore in-person, telephone and online/email customer interactions in various business settings to help you analyze your current customer experience and develop customer service strategies tailored to your business. You will learn techniques to improve internal customer service to help make you a better customer to your suppliers and business community.

These 10 week courses are free, customized to your needs, and provincially certified, with a value in excess of $1,500 per person.

Seats are limited and will be offered on a first come, first served basis.

Classes will be virtual so you must have a computer with a webcam to interact properly.

Requirements

  • Must be an owner or employee of a business based in Nova Scotia
  • Be willing to complete detailed registration form
  • In order to graduate you must attend 80% of classes

To Register

Complete the registration form and email it to info@yarmouthchamberofcommerce.com or call the office at 902-742-3074

Change in Member Dues

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Dear Chamber Members,

This past year has certainly been a roller coaster and we know that 2021 is full of unknowns, but through it all we continue to stand beside you ready to provide assistance and advice. With our partners we have strongly lobbied governments on your behalf to provide programs and assistance that would actually help and we have seen them make meaningful changes based on our advice. We will continue to do this moving forward and I encourage you to reach out to us with suggestions and input as this pandemic continues to play out. 

As we move into 2021 and a new membership year, we saw the opportunity to bring about a change in our membership structure in order to provide more value to you. We are officially moving away from charging based on the number of employees you have as this is an out-dated method. Instead our membership fees will be based on the benefits that you receive. Along with this change we have put in place a small increase in fees, the first time in many years. 

Going forward the Yarmouth & Area Chamber of Commerce will now have six different membership levels for businesses which will be called; basic, essentials, connect, growth, influence and champion. Each of these levels offers a different set of benefits and I encourage you to read the membership brochure to see all of the details. During this transition our current members will be moved into the equivalent new membership level based on what you are paying now. This transition is laid out below.

New Membership Level

Old Membership Level
Basic Fewer than 5 employees
Essentials Between 5 and 20
Connect Between 21 and 50
Growth 51 or more

Our new influence and champion level have no equivalent in our past structure. 

Individual and student memberships will transition to the basic level.

You will see renewal invoices emails come to your email Monday morning. Please keep an eye out. You can pay online and also make changes to your membership levels. If you have any issues with this please reach out.

I know this change will bring about many questions and I invite you to first check out our website and then call or email us with your questions. We have also created a membership FAQ page on our website which we will continue to update with answers to questions we receive.

 

Sincerely, 

Rick Allwright

Executive Director

Steaming Forward

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A Platform for Growth of Yarmouth County
2020 Municipal Election

The upcoming municipal election provides a key opportunity for the voters of Yarmouth County to set the direction of our community. As a local business organization, the Yarmouth & Area Chamber of Commerce is non-political and non-partisan in nature and does not support any specific candidate(s) in the upcoming election. Our role is to educate our membership and citizens of the region on key issues so that they can make informed decisions.

In order to assist voters, the Chamber seeks to highlight key issues by providing a platform called “Steaming Forward: A Platform for the Growth of Yarmouth County”. This platform is part of the Chamber’s ongoing effort to better our community. It is our hope that candidates will adopt this platform and add their own ideas.

The following issues have been identified by our membership as key in this election:

1. Consider Consolidation of Municipal Units

The most significant issue is the prospect of consolidation of the three municipal units. Maintaining three units has resulted in financial and procedural inefficiencies, poor working relationships between the units and the general inability to reach consensus to move decisions forward. This has also resulted in provincial and federal government frustrations and community confusion.

The Yarmouth & Area Chamber of Commerce implores each member of council to prioritize this task in an open and transparent way and to communicate the implications of consolidation with all citizens. As an organization that represents businesses, we also offer our support in relaying communications. It is also our responsibility to challenge council when businesses and citizens are not receiving information or clarification on the impacts of large organizational change.

2. Asset Development

Of obvious note are the numerous community discussions on the importance in the development of new facilities within the region. Both businesses and citizens understand and desire the significant lifestyle enhancements that come with increases in services and facilities within the area. Businesses recognize the potential to attract more talent.

The membership base of the Yarmouth & Area Chamber of Commerce believes that the three municipal units of Yarmouth County need to work together to come up with a complete asset development plan that will prioritize this work and ensure it is executed in a strategic and timely manner. Councils need to communicate, consult and listen to their citizens.

3. Asset Re-investment

Throughout the region we have a number of infrastructure assets that are approaching their “end of life” and will require significant investment in order to breathe new life into this older infrastructure, most important being the wharves, but also the airport, power grid, water/sewer systems and more. Higher levels of government have a role to play but leadership and planning can and should come from the municipal level. In addition to an asset development plan as noted in point two, a complete plan for the entire county to reinvest in our infrastructure is needed.

4. Attracting Residents

One of the key issues that we continue to face in our business communities is a worker shortage. We constantly hear of businesses that are unable to fill job vacancies. Vacancies range from manual, front-line labourers to executive positions in all industries. Yarmouth is a great place to live and do business in. We need to get that message out there.

The Yarmouth & Area Chamber of Commerce believes that this is not just a role for the municipalities but a team of community organizations, including the Chamber. The Chamber also recognizes that housing availability is a major issue that plays a role in this and many parties need to be engaged on. We also believe that addressing some of our social issues will be possible by focusing on this issue.

5. Economic Diversity

Our region is heavily reliant on fishing and one other key sector. When either one of these experiences any sort of disruption, the ripple effect throughout the region is significant. Continuing with the status quo does not position our region well for the future. We do recognize that this will be a team effort that should include several organizations and higher levels of government.

 

The Chamber has identified these five key issues from the voice of our membership and the community. “Steaming Forward” as named to capture the essence of the present momentum and push it forcefully ahead to encourage plan, action, and change. We must keep Steaming Forward.