It was another busy year for the Swift Current Chamber of Commerce.

This year's Annual General Meeting was held virtually last week; a chance for CEO Karla Wiens, outgoing chairperson Karen Richmond and incoming chairperson Ken Linsley to speak to members and media about the successes of the past year and the strategic priorities of a COVID-19 dominated 2020.

In a statement, Wiens highlighted the busy slate of events hosted by the chamber in 2019 and their benefits to the members; Networking and education as well as advocacy and having a stronger unified voice with all levels of government.

The chamber as well spent a considerable amount of time last year focusing on supporting and reminding residents about the importance of shopping local; with their Live Here, Shop Here campaign now proving itself to be more important than ever as the novel Coronavirus has impacted the small business community in the city in ways that will extend far into the new year and likely beyond.

"Really, the goal of that entire campaign, in addition to connecting with our members, was to really megaphone the message that supporting local is hugely important.  Those local businesses are our friends. They're our family. They employ our friends and our families. They support our local events (and) our local sports teams with donations and sponsorship."

The Live Here, Shop Here initiative was piloted in July and August of last year. A winter edition was run in February, whose popularity with chamber members resulted in a waiting list and the announcement of a fall edition to take place later in 2020 as the southwest Saskatchewan business community moves through its recovery phase.

Incoming chairperson for the chamber, Ken Linsley talked about the diversification of the chamber in 2019; ensuring that their reach remained consistent.

"I think one of the things we really spent some time focusing on the last year or so or more has been making sure that we're touching every industry as well. So we've looked at oil and gas and farming and entertainment and hospitality; all of those different sectors we tried to really be present in all the sectors. And I think that that has generated some additional interest in the Chamber of Commerce."

Looking ahead to 2020 and the additional challenge that COVID-19 will likely bring to the chamber's small business members, he is certain that adjustments in how they deliver their message to their members might change, but that the core message will remain largely consistent with previous years.

Wiens echoed that belief, adding that there are core pillars that remain important to small businesses universally, even as fine-tuning takes place year to year.

Bringing education to their members is one of those pillars.

They hosted a number of seminars in 2019 with subjects ranging from expanding trade markets to digitalization and labour market challenges. Changing those educational opportunities to perhaps leverage virtual delivery methods in a COVID-19 world is just one example of such fine-tuning that might take place.

"One of those aspects of how we can benefit our membership is bringing more educational opportunities to the table in addition to the various other networking events that we arrange," Wiens said. "So I anticipate seeing education being a piece. And by that, I mean lunch-and-learns or professional development opportunities, mini-conferences, that I see becoming a bigger part of our activities going forward."

Ultimately both Wiens and Linsley consider the chamber's year a success; maintaining a 97 percent member retention rate that was only one percentage point off of their target and boasting 394 members in total.

For Linsley, who is replacing outgoing chairperson Karen Richmond, the year ahead is one that is largely about steering the boat in the same direction while accounting for some new storm clouds on the horizon. He says that a part of his goal will be to continue an open line of communication between chamber and members; bringing as much information to them as they can.

"I think we can continue to be a collective voice. It's going to make us stronger and come out of this better. So for sure, we're approaching the memberships with some flexibility and we encourage the discussions but I think our plan is to continue to encourage people to stick together and that we're going to come out of this okay."