It must be the rubber chicken

Atlantic Business magazine recently polled its readers to see what they get out of belonging to business associations in the region and found that, as reported in its March-April issue, while most feel the hard returns are slim, they wouldn't hesistate to continue to belong to the local chamber of commerce or whatnot.

About half of the companies surveyed receive little to no new business as a result of their membership in business associations. Yet 92 per cent of respondents said they wouldn’t hesitate to rejoin.The telephone survey asked five members of each association to rank their membership on quality of networking opportunities, new business attributed to membership in this organization, and overall satisfaction with member-ship. Each survey respondent was then asked if he or she planned to renew the membership:

•50 per cent of respondents reported receiving little or no new business as a result of their association membership.

• 70 per cent reported being very satisfied with the return on investment for their membership fees.

• 92 per cent of respondents reported they wouldn’t hesitate to renew their membership.