Clearing up confusion: ’We don’t give out our members contact information,’ says Chamber CEO

For many years, the Sault Ste. Marie Chamber of Commerce held its annual ‘Spring Expo’ for its member businesses, selling exhibition space for those member businesses to show off their wares.

The Chamber dropped its longtime ‘Spring Expo’ moniker for its annual show in 2016, re-branding to a series of ’We are the Soo Expos.’

It has come to the Chamber’s attention a southern Ontario entity, known as Montgomery Partners and believed to be based in the Niagara region, is contacting Sault Ste. Marie Chamber of Commerce member businesses and attempting to sell them exhibition space at an event known as the ’Sault Ste. Marie Spring Expo,’ to be held at the John Rhodes Centre in May.

The ‘Sault Ste. Marie Spring Expo’ moniker, very similar to the longtime ‘Spring Expo’ event name used by the Chamber, is causing some confusion among Chamber members, said Rory Ring, Sault Ste. Marie Chamber of Commerce CEO, speaking to SooToday Thursday.

Competition, Ring told us, doesn’t bother the Chamber, but said “the real critical point here is that we’ve received calls from some of our members saying that this company has directly emailed them, so we are letting our folks know that we do not release anyone’s contact information.”

“We maintain their membership information confidentially. Obviously, people can find our member roster through the internet, but we do not provide any kind of list of our members to anyone, for solicitation, for any reason,” Ring emphasized.

The Chamber communicates with each of its members by asking permission to send them Chamber emails and newsletters, with the right to unsubscribe at any time, Ring said.

“We don’t want our membership feeling we’re selling their information,” Ring said, adding he is not certain how Montgomery Partners got hold of the Chamber’s list of members.

“We don’t mind the competition, competition’s good (but) it’s a little disappointing they’ve ripped off our brand moniker, but at the same time we’ve re-branded into We are the Soo, but it’s an obvious way of saying ‘let’s take their brand.’”

Ring added he is concerned with the timing of the company’s own expo in May, but added he is not overly concerned, stating the Chamber’s own fees for its members to hold expo space is better.

In addition, Ring said he believes the Chamber’s focus on separate expos with specific themes, such as Health & Wellness, gives the Chamber another advantage for its members. 

The Chamber is now taking registrations for all three of its 2018 We are the Soo Expos:

• the Health & Wellness Expo, Saturday, Jan. 27
• the Home Decor & Renovation Expo, Saturday, Feb. 24 and Sunday, Feb. 25
• the Big Sport & Outdoor Show, Saturday, March 10 and Sunday, March 11

All three events will be held at The Machine Shop for 2018.

2018 will mark 43 years of the Chamber of Commerce’s spring trade show tradition.