What is the Docklands Chamber of Commerce?
The Docklands Chamber of Commerce is an incorporated not for profit organisation primarily funded by the City of Melbourne’s precincts program. It is governed by an executive committee and operates in accordance with incorporation law.
It’s purpose is to promote Docklands and in particular the member businesses it represents. It does this by:
- Advocating on behalf of member businesses – e.g. coordinating meetings with all interested stakeholders for the NYE celebrations
- Promoting Docklands as a destination of choice
- Promoting our member businesses through this website and our social media – Facebookand Instagram
- Organising member network events, forums of interest and training seminars which are free for our members to attend
How much is Membership?
Micro business Member – $100 – Employing less than 5 staff
Small business Member – $150 – Employing 6 – 20 staff
Medium business Member – $250 – Employing 21 – 100 staff
Large business Member – $350 – Employing more than 100 staff
Associate business Member – $50 – Limited benefit offered
Multi-membership – $50 x no. of businesses- negotiated by agreement
What does membership entitle me to?
Networking works and the Chamber is the place to do it! From high-tech companies to high-spirited entrepreneurs nurturing small businesses, you will encounter successful people at the Docklands Chamber. If you make just one life-long customer in your first year of belonging to the Chamber, your membership has more than paid for itself.
Members are also entitled to a full business listing on this website.
In addition, the business directory is linked to our social media Facebook – Visit Docklands Melbourne (in excess of 183000 followersand a weekly reach > 100 000) and Instagram DocklandsMelb with greater than 15000 followers. Our members are able to send through posting and materials to be promoted on those platforms at the discretion of the Executive Officer regarding quality and purpose of content. As a general rule members can send through posts fortnightly if images are in line with our ‘feel’, greater than 1Mb in size and able to organically reach in excess of 2000 people
Every full member of the DCC is guaranteed to have at least the total of their subscription allocated towards their social media advertising on our Facebook page so long as they send through material and it meets the above requirements.
Members are entitled to attend most of our events, training and networking nights for free with a guest. For VIP events members are entitled to a discount rate for themselves and their guests.
What is the difference between an Associate and a full membership?
- An Associate member is not entitled to vote at our AGM.
- An Associate member is entitled to a full business listing on this website and postings on our social media, however these will not be sponsored as they are with a?full membership.
- An Associate member is entitled to one free ticket for our events (when no charge is allocated to all attendees). Full members are entitled to a minimum of two tickets per event
How can I join?
The easiest and simplest way is to fill in this form and we will come back to you with an invoice
How can I post on your social media?
We are always searching for new material to post that is in the best interests of Docklands and our member businesses. As a general rule a member business could send material to the media director every fortnight for posting to either Facebook or Instagram. Images should be in jpeg format, greater than 1Mb in size and able to generate organic interest. This would be sent to the Executive Officer – Shane Wylie.
Do you advertise for me?
Yes, we do. The DCC spends 15% of it’s annual expenditure promoting our member businesses. This is primarily achieved through our Facebook profile promoting posts that have achieved a high organic interest.
Can I advertise with you?
Yes, certainly. We have several members who actively advertise beyond what their membership provides. Opportunities are available annually, seasonally or for short term activations.
How much do events cost? And what kind of events do you organise?
Our events could be summarised as to three different types:
- Networking events – recent examples have been the DCC Christmas function
- Public interest events – such as the ‘Meet the candidates’ night for the Melbourne council elections
- Training events – such as how to get the most from your marketing in Docklands
In the past 12 months every event has been free for our members to attend.
Where do my membership fees go?
The Docklands Chamber of Commerce is a not for profit incorporated entity. Each year we acquit all of our funding and membership fees with the City of Melbourne. For the financial year 2018/19 DCC expenditure was directed as follows:
25% Member events
25% Administration and contractor payments
15% Advertising on behalf of members, social media, newsletters
15% Sponsorship of Docklands events
15% IT costs – website, hardware, phones
5% Subscriptions