Ribbon-Cutting Ceremony

The Beaverton Area Chamber of Commerce conducts Ribbon Cutting Ceremonies as a complimentary service to Chamber members (Silver - Diamond members). Ceremonies can be performed by themselves or as a part of an open house or grand opening. We bring the camera, official scissors and, of course, the ribbon!

• To qualify you should meet one of the following criteria
• You should be within your first year of opening your business
• You should be within a year of purchasing an existing business
• You should be an existing business in a new business location or remodel.

There are many benefits to having a ribbon cutting ceremony for your new business or location. Ribbon cutting photos appear in the Business BEAT, which is mailed to our 700+ members and 9,000 subscribers to the Beaverton Valley Times.. The Chamber Ambassadors attend ribbon cutting ceremonies on behalf of the Chamber Members. Having Ambassadors in your business provides an excellent networking and publicity opportunity.

WHAT THE CHAMBER DOES: (Costs are included in your Chamber Membership)

1. Sends out a broadcast email to Ambassadors, Chamber Board Members, and dignitaries to notify them of your opening
2. Promotes the event beforehand on Beaverton.org, and on our calendar in Business BEAT(subject to Beat submission deadlines)
3. Provides the “giant scissors” and ribbon to cut
4. Attends the event and takes pictures – Photos emailed to you upon request
5. Publicizes the event with a photo in the next edition of Business BEAT

Typically our Ambassadors and Membership Director attend. On occasion, the Chamber President, Chair of the Board, Mayor of Beaverton, City Councilors, County Commissioners, and Board Members attend, as well.

WHAT THE MEMBER COMPANY DOES:

1. Sets the date and time of the event . Please coordinate this with the Chamber if at all possible well in advance to avoid date and time conflicts. We strongly encourage you to consider Tuesday - Thursday's, early morning or 3pm and later.
2. Determines which public officials will attend (We will help you get them there!)
   • For the City – Mayor, City Manager, City Council Members
   • For the County – County Commissioners
   • State officials if applicable (depending on the nature of the business)
   • Your Board of Directors, if applicable
   • Friends and Family
   Those who helped with your new location – contractors, bankers, etc. Invite the media – Beaverton Valley Times, Oregonian, Portland Busines Journal, Portland Tribune
3. You provide any refreshments for those in attendance – this is entirely up to you
4. Prepare an agenda (We strongly encourage you to prepare an agenda, even if it’s just a back-of-an-envelope kind of thing. Things run much more smoothly with an agenda, even if it’s just sketched out. See below.)
5. Provide background information on your company ahead of time to those who are speaking so they can prepare remarks

HOW IT RUNS: Your agenda could be something like this...

1. Welcome Guests – done by a Chamber representative
2. Introduction of Chamber Representatives in attendance, dignitaries, Chamber Staff.
3. Introduction of Company President or Manager
4. Congratulatory Remarks – from Chamber or other dignitaries – these are very brief (1-3 minutes)
5. Cut the ribbon – usually done by dignitaries and head company rep, some choose to have all employees do the cutting
6. Thank you for attending – by a company rep
7. Intro on the company – done by a company rep – Explain what you do if a new business, about your new location – if a second location or a move, your hours; introduce your staff
8. Then you offer everyone to come take a look at your facility, and if large enough, you might want to offer tours

KEEP IN MIND:

• The further ahead you contact us the more publicity we can give your event
• Weekend grand openings (including Friday after 5:00) are harder for the Chamber to draw attendance to than weekday events - we strongly discourage them.
• Keep in touch with the Chamber as your plans progress.
• If you've asked for RSVP's, people will typically wait until the last minute, or will show up without RSVP-ing.
• Will parking be an issue? If so, please let us know where you would like guests to park so we can inform them in advance.