GM Chamber of Commerce

[Gillie]

Or Manchester Solutions as they are now known ... anyone else a member of them?

[An Oasis]

Nope, never come across them.

[JoyDivision]

I've found they are quite pushy in a double glazing manner.

[Gillie]

And yet I have found the opposite and they are most helpful and very good at making sure you get in front of the right people.

[NW Law]

Just cancelled my membership. That says what I think!

[Exec-U-Travel]

TBH, I kinda get confused with all these gangs.

There doesn't seem to be any clear 'patches' about which you can/should join. I'd always assumed you were claimed by where your company was based, but (if I so wished of course) it seems I could actually join at least 3 chambers of commerce I'm aware of, and some are more competitive for your membership than others it seems.

Likewise with all the quango-type development agencies, I'm really confused about them and what exactly the deal there is. I know of two covering the same town and sometimes they work together and other times they're effectively competing?

For instance, in Blackburn you have Bootstrap, but also Get Set, and both seem to have filtered in to No Limits. Then you have Business Link at Preston, which also includes Blackburn. Added to that the Chambers of Commerce. Then throw into the pot the other 'development agencies' with specific interests, such as finance, or the biggies such as NWDA.

As they used to say in the TV series, Soap - confused?? You will be.....

[beverleymoore]

I'm a member of the Manchester Chamber; I go regularly to their Stockport Breakfast Club networking sessions and have got business and made useful contacts at these. Chambers of Commerce aren't government quangos but independent membership organisations. Manchester is a bit confusing because it outsources all its admin etc to a private company - Business Support Solutions. I've found Chamber staff helpful, and there is a huge range of networking and training events. The only negative was that when I joined, I got phone calls from people trying to sell me advertising space etc - but that was only at the start. If you want to meet local businesses, give it a go for a year and see what happens - but you will need to put the effort in to go to things and get to know people.

[Paul1956]

I use to be a member of Manchester Chambers, however I let my membership lapse. I wasn't really getting much out of it; well not what I expected to get out of it.

I've recently joined the Federation of Small Businesses, has anybody had any experience of them.

Regards

Paul

[notlobian]

I was just thinking about joining Chamber of Commerce, for those who have been members were the network events useful? Is it orientated towards Manc city as opposed to GManc? Any other comments to sway me?

Thanks

[Gillie]

From chatting to various, I am told that the area covered is huge as its one of the largest Chambers in the country and that basically you get out of it what you put into it, so that if you are willing to volunteer to give a spiel on your business, you will be noticed more and therefore be asked to contribute more and so on.