You Are Hosting This Month. Chamber of Commerce Networking Ideas [Unique & For Large Groups]

Chamber of Commerce Networking Ideas: Have you noticed how people often arrive at networking mixers, chat with one or two people they already know, and then leave?

Networking can be awkward, so here's how to create a mixer people will remember, while helping attendees make new connections outside their usual circles, especially at events with 50+ people.

It's your turn to host the monthly Chamber of Commerce mixer. That usually means hosting people at your place of business, ordering the food, printing name tags, and then hoping people come and actually talk to each other.

Most chamber mixers run into the same problem. The members who already know each other stand together near the bar. The newer members, the ones you actually want mingling and building referrals, end up standing near the wall with a drink they're not really drinking.

If you're hosting this month, you have a real chance to fix that instead of just repeating the same format everyone else uses.

Every chapter has its regulars. They show up every month, they know each other well, and they naturally cluster together the second the doors open. That's not a bad thing on its own, but it means new members and guests are left to figure things out alone.

• JamBingo: Gets members talking to someone outside their usual circle (especially, for large groups of 50+ people).

People are coming in from different organizations, departments, or locations. You're looking for a simple and organic way to incentivize them to interact with one another.

The attendees don't all know each other and you want them to get out of their bubbles. Jam Bingo gets people having meaningful conversations instead of surface-level networking. See how JamBingo works!

The ideal time is typically 15–30 minutes into the event, once most attendees have arrived but before they've settled into conversations with the same people. This is usually immediately after your welcome announcement, when everyone is gathered and ready for the event to begin.

For Jam Bingo, simply invite everyone to scan the QR code with their phone. It only takes a few seconds to join, so you can transition directly from your welcome into the activity and get people mingling with new colleagues instead of staying within their usual circles.

A prompt like "Find someone who likes coffee" doesn't do much for a room full of business owners looking to make meaningful connections. Instead, use prompts tailored to your city, your Chamber's members, or your industry's interests. With Jam Bingo, you can fully customize the prompts to create conversations that are relevant and engaging for your group.

• Challenge someone to name their go-to motivational quote or mantra
• Ask someone what advice they would give to their younger self
• Find someone who isn't talking to anyone and ask them what they're passionate about outside of work
• Find someone whose business is within five miles of yours

That last one matters more than it seems. Members who have hosted before know exactly how much work goes into it, and they usually have advice worth hearing.

A good chamber mixer isn't measured by how many drinks got poured. It's measured by how many members actually email or call each other the following week.

Prompts tied to referrals and industry crossovers give people something concrete to follow up on. Find someone who could refer you a client turns into an actual conversation about how to send each other business, which is usually the whole reason members joined the chamber in the first place.

You don't need to redesign the whole event. You just need one activity, running for the first 15 minutes, that pushes members toward someone they haven't met yet.

A few things hosts usually ask before their turn.

It scales from 20 players to 5,000. Since everyone joins and moves at their own pace on their own phone.

No. Members scan a QR code and the activity opens in their phone's browser. There's nothing to install and nothing to explain from a stage.

45 minutes to the full networking hour. It's long enough for members to complete a handful of prompts, and short enough that it doesn't eat into the rest of the evening.

Yes. Prompts work best when they're built around your actual members, like specific industries in your chapter or how long people have been involved, instead of generic small talk questions.

That's exactly who prompts like find someone who joined this year are built for. They nudge your regulars toward the newer members instead of letting them default back to their usual group.

Jam Bingo

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Learn more at @thejamsocial.