If you haven’t noticed, it’s the Wild West in AI.

Not only are the various tech players competing, and seemingly making new advancements every day…

But, schools, governments, businesses – everyone’s jumping on the technology and trying to get (and stay) on top.

Surprisingly, though, what we’ve noticed is that there is a void in leadership.

Not because there aren’t enough “leaders”, but because there are so many people and companies looking for guidance and solutions.

Think about your own community.

My guess is that maybe government and higher ed have engaged in some kind of leadership, likely focused on high-tech, data center development, research and investment.

If you go to social media for guidance, you’ll find just as competitive environment of “experts” trying to outdo each other at who knows more, and whose ChatGPT prompt dictionary has more entries (“500 Prompts You Can Use Today” – Honestly? Do you have time to go through 500 prompts? I don’t.).

Unfortunately, much of that is irrelevant to 99% of your members, who are simply looking for answers on how to use AI tools to make their lives easier, and grow their businesses.

You can – you should – be the one to give them those answers.

I’m going to show you how…

Your Chamber as the AI Thought Leader in Your Community

This blog may look a lot different six months from now, but for right this second, the path forward for chambers is clear.

And the good thing is that it’s not a huge lift.

Yes, it’ll take some focus, and a commitment to being a leader.

But the tactics needed to brand your chamber as the leader in your community are doable, and well within reach – even for chambers with small staffs.

Here are the four steps you need to take to be the AI thought leader that your members need right now…

Internal Chamber Usage

First and foremost, you have to be using it yourself.

Indeed, there’s no way around it.

Plus, you have to be using it in a meaningful way.

Which means, not just “dabbling”, and using it only for social media posts.

AI is unbelievably powerful, and a massive tool for chambers of commerce and membership organizations.

If you’re going to be a leader in your community, you need to have credibility.

The good thing is that if you dig into artificial intelligence to better serve your members, you’ll learn as much about it as they do.

Most of the chambers who have come back to me, and let me know they’ve starting using it more regularly after our training, originally worked with us… to help their members.

The basic principles are the same whether you’re a chamber of commerce, a small business, or a college student.

So, that’s where you can start.

For this purpose, we run chamber-specific AI training sessions regularly… Our next is Monday, September 9 (free for chamber professionals).

At this point, we’ve taught a few hundred chamber professionals how to implement AI in their daily operations, and have a lot more coming this fall.

All of that opens the door to your members looking to you for leadership.

Relationships

Next, find the folks in your community who are knowledgeable (and active) in AI.

That’s from among your members, and your community and economic development partners.

Engage them – meet with them, invite them to speak, comment on their social media posts…

They can and will be resources for you to tap into.

We made the decision in late 2022 to dive in on AI with a specific strategy in mind:

• We’d learn as much as we can to grow Momentum
• We’d curate the best stuff, to share with our chamber and small business network

Why? Because we know that you don’t have the time to dive in head-first, like we have.

I worked for the regional chamber for eight years, and I chair a chamber now.

I know what day-to-day looks like for a chamber staff… And, that there’s not a whole bunch of extra time to be sitting around experimenting with ChatGPT.

So, use the resources in your network.

Give them access to your members for mutual benefit.

And, if you don’t have them at-the-ready, as Viper said to Maverick in Top Gun…

Give me a call. I’ll fly with you.

(That’s my cheeky way of saying that we’ve done lots of programming for individual chambers’ members, and would love to help you with yours).

Events/Training

AI events and trainings are everywhere right now.

They’re easy to find.

Some tough love: if your chamber hasn’t hosted an AI training session yet, you’re already behind, and you have some catch-up to do.

The good thing is that more is needed.

I can assure you, your members, large and small, are still not finding the resources that set them on a productive, impactful path.

They will soon (if it’s not you), but all is not lost yet.

Let’s get you on it. Quickly.

At Momentum, we break this content down into two categories: (1) Education and (2) Thought Leadership.

If you’ve built the relationships I described above, both of these are relatively easy to build and present to your members:

AI Training Sessions

For training sessions, know that most of your members – the ones who would attend such a program – are at the beginning or intermediate level.

When you recruit someone to present to them, focus on that.

Not surprisingly, many AI “experts” are prone to sometimes going too far, too fast, and leaving people behind.

As intimidating as the whole concept is in general, while their eyes will be opened, and they’ll get some wow factor, often it’s too much for them.

Remember, using AI isn’t just about using it… It’s often also about overcoming fear, doubt, negativity and indecision, and THEN learning how to use it in a way that’s meaningful to you, personally.

Accordingly, make sure your speaker understands that, and focuses on practical, doable solutions that can be accomplished on the platforms that are easily and affordably accessible – typically ChatGPT, Gemini, Copilot, Meta, Grok and Claude.

Use cases are literally limitless.

“Limitless” is intimidating for busy business people.

Keep that in mind.

Thought Leadership

I don’t have to tell you, while there’s great opportunity and promise for AI, there are also legal, ethical and moral concerns.

Like any technology, the powerful use cases are offset by bad actors’ misbehavior.

Personally, we don’t believe that it’s Terminator time yet…

But, that certainly doesn’t mean you can’t discuss the concept.

Here’s the thing about AI people like myself…

We love to talk about it.

Consequently… We have opinions.

You ask us to speak… We’ll be there.

You put together three panelists and a decent moderator, and you’ll definitely fill up an hour’s program.

Additionally, what’s cool is that if you ran the same program again a month later, or with different speakers, it’s likely you’ll get completely different perspectives…

Undoubtedly, all of them will be valuable to your members.

This is an easy one to set up, and powerful content for your to bring to your membership.

Plug-and-Play AI Panel

In fact, I’ll make it even easier for you… Here are your questions you can use for moderation:

• What are the key benefits for small to medium-sized businesses, and how can they start implementing AI solutions with limited resources?
• How can large enterprises leverage artificial intelligence across their operations? What are some examples?
• What are some common misconceptions about AI that businesses should be aware of, and how can they navigate these misunderstandings?
• In what ways can AI help improve customer service and engagement for companies across different industries?
• What are the potential risks and ethical considerations of implementing AI, and how can businesses ensure they are using it responsibly?

How do you like that? Couldn’t be any easier.

Comms/Social Media

Of course, in order to maintain a standing as a thought leader, you need to be consistent.

So, this is where your social media comes in.

Who “owns” AI, when it comes to your audience?

At this point, it might be no one.

As we said above, there might be some stuff going on in your community, sure.

But, do your members/followers/stakeholders know about it – and, more importantly, what it means for them, personally?

Is what’s going on relevant to them?

In many cases, no, it’s not.

In short, a lot of this is just “out there.”

Which does them no good.

You’ve built an audience, and you have a platform for reaching them.

As a result, you can put any storytelling into that platform that you’d like.

Why not the #1 topic on everyone’s minds right now?

Again, because so many are timid about diving in, it’s not that hard for your chamber to stay in front… Here’s what you can post:

• Obviously, your upcoming AI-related events
• Cool things your chamber is doing with AI
• Cool things your members are doing with it
• Innovative prompts related to your members’ needs
• Changes, updates and trends – supplied to you by your local experts (or, if you need, me – we’re on top of things because we know you don’t have time, yourself)

Doesn’t have to be your be-all, end-all of content, but a consistent flow will position your chamber as a go-to resource.

Six Months from Now

The AI world is changing daily and rapidly.

It’s a lot to keep up with – even for me, who’s committed to it.

It also can get expensive, as new tools are developed and released just as frequently – and just about everyone has a free trial, and then a monthly fee.

You don’t need all that.

Moreover, your members don’t need all that.

They need to understand how to take this invaluable tool, and use it for something meaningful in their daily lives.

That’s it.

From there, they can experiment all they want.

At Momentum, we’re saving 25-30 hours a month using ChatGPT and other resources.

That’s real.

Imagine the reaction you’d get if, through your efforts, your members were able to save even five (5) hours a month (which is what we believe simply using the tactics in our one-hour training will yield).

What’s your membership fee? $300? $350?

Hence, the return on one training you provide to them well exceeds their investment.

You know it and I know it – it’s rare that the value of chamber membership is so undeniably tangible.

But, for that reason, it has to be you.

Don’t let another organization be that tangible solution for your members.

Make their renewal with you an easy decision, because you’re the ones who introduced them to this world.

Where to Go from Here

We tried to lay this out in a logical way for action.

Consequently, if you take the steps described above, you’ll be on your way to position your chamber at the center of the artificial intelligence conversation in your community – most importantly, for your members.

However…

Everything we have in this blog… We can help with.

From hands-on trainings to thought leadership panels to chamber-specific solutions (including our Momentum AI for Chambers platform!), we are here to support you.

We’ve been providing this help to chambers all over the U.S. and Canada for the past two years, and have no intention of slowing down.

It’s just too important.

(To you).

***

Need more help getting started? Set up a 15-minute Zoom with us, and let’s talk.