Filling Up Fast

With three months to go until the event, the Chamber of Commerce Business Showcase on March 5 is filling up fast. Of the 130 spaces available in the Holiday Inn Expo Center, fewer than 30 remained available at press time.

Last year, the event committee managed to squeeze in another five booths, which brought the total to 135 after the initial 130 spaces sold nearly two months prior to the event.

“We sold out the bathrooms, the hallways,” Victoria Brees says with a laugh. “We just squeezed people in who said, ‘Shove me in the corner; I just have to be there.’”

As the director of program development for the Columbia Chamber of Commerce, Brees says the event has grown each year since it began, under a different name, in 1991.

“Each year we try to make it new, fresh and better,” she says. Almost a decade ago, the event was moved from rotating locations to its current location at the Holiday Inn Expo Center. The Women’s Network luncheon was also incorporated to be part of the event three years ago.

Better for business
The showcase provides a valuable resource to local businesses, says showcase Chairman Kevin Czaicki. “It’s pretty simple. It’s about bringing companies together to showcase themselves for other companies and for their customers.”

In his role as the north central area operations manager for Century Link, Czaicki has also been active at the showcase as a participant. He estimates Century Link sold its services to 50 new residential customers and two significant business clients last year.

“I’ll be honest, even if we had walked away with half as many sales, I’d still call it a success,” he says. “It’s a great way to be face to face with customers who typically just call into the call center.”

Secrets of success
Booths for Chamber members cost between $365 and $465, depending on size and location, and booths for non-members cost $655 to $755. The event is also attractive to businesses considering Chamber membership, which costs a minimum investment fee of $350 — almost equal to the price difference for non-members.

Czaicki says either one person or a handful of people can staff each booth. Century Link, he adds, often finds that two representatives are enough for “quiet” times, and four can manage the busy times, which are often right when the doors open and again following lunch.

With more than 1,200 attendees last year, the event tends to draw beyond the circle of influence of the Chamber, Czaicki says. “There’s a lot of opportunity for people that aren’t often exposed to the Chamber to come to the showcase,” he says. “I can’t think of any industry that isn’t represented there.”

The showcase is $5 or free for attendees of the Women’s Network luncheon and for those who donate blood that day. It will begin at 9 a.m., after the Chamber quarterly breakfast, and there will be a recess for lunch from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. (one free lunch ticket is provided per booth). The event will end at 5 p.m., and there will also be a mixer sponsored by the CBT at 4 p.m. to relax and socialize following the event.

“It’s one day that embraces everything the Chamber believes in,” Czaicki says.