(WNY News Now) – With fresh networking opportunities and innovative advocacy events, the CHQ Chamber is shaking up 2025 for local businesses.

Out of the starting gate this year we are trying something new with our Business After Hours networking events. We have traditionally held these events at venues where food and beverages are readily available. At the same time, we have had several requests from other types of businesses interested in hosting these experiences, so we’re giving it a go, beginning this month with a Business After Hours at Ballgame Heroes in Jamestown January 16. Ballgame Heros is a locally owned business specializing in sports trading cards and your go-to destination for sports cards and memorabilia! They also feature Pokémon cards. The timing of this event lends itself to the theme: a football playoff party! Ballgame Heroes will offer complimentary pizza, wings, and beverages, and you are invited to wear your Bills or other NFL jerseys or other gear. 

Some additional new Business After Hours events will be announced soon, and we hope you’ll join us for some outstanding networking opportunities at a variety of locations in the year ahead. Our members often make great business contacts during these events, and it’s those connections that help you get the most from your Chamber membership.

The CHQ Chamber is also restructuring its advocacy events this year. In the past we have held panel discussions with elected officials from the county, state, and federal level. As we have seen changing attendance at many of these events, we thought it was a perfect time to try something new that may be more meaningful for our membership. We will implement three new advocacy-style events, beginning this month with our first ever State of Business panel discussion scheduled for 8am, Friday, January 31 at the DoubleTree in Jamestown.

The State of Business breakfast will feature a quick round of updates from some of the top business development organizations countywide including the County of Chautauqua Industrial Development Agency, Chautauqua County Visitors Bureau, Chautauqua County Workforce Investment Board, Manufacturers Association of the Southern Tier, and Small Business Development Center. This event will also allow for questions and answers directly from the local business community. 

We are also excited to announce a new event we are calling Official Introductions. This networking-style event will bring together local businesspeople with a variety of elected officials from across all levels of government for an informal get together that allows for mingling and direct access with town, village, city, county, and state officials. We have booked the Chautauqua Harbor Hotel for June 3 for this late afternoon session. 

In August we will combine our more traditional elected officials panel discussions into a single event featuring our representatives from the county, state, and federal levels for a luncheon event. This will provide opportunities for vetting of policy issues that may cut across levels of government and will still allow for questions from the audience. 

We firmly believe in the adage that you don’t get new results when you do the same old thing. A couple of weeks ago we noted how we are innovating with software as we deploy some of our community-wide events, and now we are innovating with restructured events as we seek participation from our members in new ways. Please join us in 2025 as we roll out some of these newer and, we hope, more engaging events. Please check our online calendar at www.chqchamber.org to register for upcoming events and sign up for email notification when we are unveiling new events. Anyone can get our emails by signing up at www.chqchamber.org/stay-up-to-date.