Transform Our Chapter - Leveraging Social Media and Tools

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We are a chapter of the Hearing Loss Association of America, a 501(c)(3) organization. Learn a little about us:
Website: www.hla-lakeland.org
Facebook: www.facebook.com/HearingLossLakelandChapter
Brief Video: https://youtu.be/WAI8QclRHGA

Since our inception in 2012, we have had monthly meetings to hear presentations, learn about technology offerings, discuss how to better manage hearing loss, address questions, etc. Due to the pandemic, we have ceased these meetings.

We would like to resurrect our meetings in a bold new way. Many groups like ours are moving to virtual meetings, using a video app, such as Zoom. Of course, we want to do this too, but with a much broader vision in mind. We envision entering a virtual chapter, where we can:

• Lead/participate in a small leadership meeting or a large chapter meeting. While we are (have been) a local chapter, we can now see ourselves as a group with a national reach.
• Ability to add content, such as videos, an informative document, instructions, links, etc. Essentially, a library.
• Meeting scheduling
• Submission of questions, meeting topics, etc.
• Sponsorship section that has various features, such as:
  • Sending a Sponsorship Solicitation. This would be the emailing of an invitation to a potential Sponsor, inviting them to sponsor our chapter in exchange for placement of their ad/image, for a fee/donation.
  • Management of the ad/image from the Sponsor. Uploading the content, storing, displaying, removal after some expiration date.
  • Sending a thank you communication to the Sponsor.
  • Other features/functionality to solicit/manage Sponsors.....TBD
• View member list and ability to send email or invite to chat room
• Expo - in the past, we have held annual Expos, consisting of about 40 Exhibitors. This was our primary source of revenue to pay for our programs, website, etc. About 10% of the Expo Exhibitors were Expo Sponsors. We had about 3-5 Sponsors who were not Exhibitors. Expo Room to have a number of features, such as:
  • Separate Expo Rooms for each Exhibitor, where they can upload/maintain content
  • Choose various Themes
  • Ability to define Tiers of Expo Sponsors. Some can display on the 'main floor', others can offer content in the 'training room', others can use other features TBD. This would allow us to offer Expo Sponsorship Tiers of differing rates.
  • Chat rooms, question submission, request for appointments/callbacks, etc.
  • Product area where Exhibitor can provide content about their various products/services
  • Other features/functionality that would be attractive to Exhibitors....TBD
• Main Floor
  • A list of Exhibitors and access to their Showroom
  • A board displaying the Special Attraction (a premium tier paid for by an Expo Sponsor)
  • A list of Sponsors
  • A Room that is all about our chapter (same features as an Exhibitor would have)
• Tool Room ??? Maybe a needed room that provides access and learning material about various tools that we may need to use, ie Zoom, Google Docs, etc.

The above does not represent our total need. We are entering some new times and requires some out of the box thinking. This is our attempt to re-invent our chapter. Along the way, we must provide some means to generate revenue, as we have various programs that help those with hearing loss. Such programs have included help to local high school deaf/hearing loss classes, looping services to several businesses, specialized training for teachers, etc.