From Business Solutions to EmpowerHER: Learning, Connecting, & Growing Together with Walton Chamber

The Walton County Chamber of Commerce brings local professionals together throughout the year to learn, connect, and strengthen the local business community.

This past August, local business owners and professionals gathered for the 2026 Business Solutions Summit, a day focused on practical ideas businesses could put to work in marketing, AI, workplace wellness, customer service, and more. From figuring out how to stand out on social media to creating stronger connections with customers, speakers encouraged attendees to think differently about some of the challenges they face every day.

Now, the Chamber is looking ahead to another opportunity to learn and connect. The 2026 EmpowerHER Summit takes place October 8 and will bring local female professionals together for an evening centered on personal and professional growth.

Together, these two events highlight an important part of what the Chamber of Commerce offers its members: opportunities to step away from the day-to-day demands of work, learn something new, and connect with others in the Walton County business community.

A Day of Business Solutions

The 2026 Business Solutions Summit took place August 19 at 1025 Church in Monroe. The day included sponsored tables, networking, lunch, presentations, and two longer sessions led by certified Meta trainer Gibran Jones.

Gibran Jones kicked off the educational portion of the day with an interactive workshop focused on Meta advertising and the challenges businesses face when trying to reach customers on social media. One of his simplest pieces of advice was also one many busy business owners probably needed to hear: If social media feels overwhelming, you're doing too much.

Instead of trying to do everything, Jones shared how businesses can think more intentionally about what their customers are looking for on a particular platform and create content with that specific audience in mind. And since every post is competing for attention with everything else in someone's social media feed, it’s important for businesses to give people a reason to stand out and stop scrolling.

Looking Beyond Likes

Jones also challenged attendees to think beyond likes when determining if your social media marketing is working. A post that gets plenty of likes is definitely not a bad thing, but likes aren't always the ultimate goal. Instead, it’s important for businesses to understand what they're trying to accomplish and where customers are in the process of getting to know them.

The customer journey often moves through awareness, consideration, and conversion, but Jones explained that the process isn't always linear. Customers may move back and forth between those stages along the way. That makes the awareness stage especially important.

As a business owner, you may feel like you’ve talked about the same product, service, or message countless times, but your audience hasn't necessarily heard it as often as you have. As Jones put it, "If I knew what you knew, I wouldn't need you." Customers first need to understand why something matters before they have a reason to care about it.

Make Your Marketing Smarter

For businesses that are ready to put money behind their social media content, Jones broke down the difference between boosting posts and running ads. Before spending money on either, businesses need a solid social media presence. Consistent, organic posts help establish that presence so someone who sees an ad doesn't click through to a page that looks inactive or spammy.

His approach was straightforward: create, run, review, and refine. By changing only one element at a time, businesses can get a clearer picture of what actually affects the results. That same principle also applies to online audiences. Different audiences may call for different ads and different messages. At the same time, Jones encouraged attendees to think about what makes their business stand out. He asked, “Why start a business just to be like everyone else?”

Lessons in Wellness and Hospitality

Social media was only part of the conversation at the Business Solutions Summit this year. Three additional speakers also brought their own perspectives on building businesses that are ready to adapt, take care of their people, and create meaningful customer experiences.

Kelly Welch of KLP Consulting spoke about market domination and the importance of recognizing that success is a moving target. Using McDonald's as an example, she noted that the company wasn't the first to sell hamburgers. But a big part of its success came from its ability to evolve and pivot as the market changed.

Chelsie Wolaver with Our Family Health shifted the conversation toward workplace wellness. Most people already know many of the choices that support their well-being, she explained. The challenge is making those choices realistic within your everyday life. That includes creating space to disconnect. If we never disconnect from work, we never truly recover from it, and recovery itself is an important part of wellness.

Edgar Brush with Chick-fil-A in Loganville explored the difference between customer service and hospitality, describing customer service as "black and white" and hospitality as "in color." Brush, who was hired by Chick-fil-A founder Truett Cathy and has decades of experience with the company, emphasized the importance of making emotional connections with people.

Creating that kind of culture starts at the top. He encouraged leaders to anticipate wants before they become needs and to think carefully about how they communicate expectations to employees. Rather than approaching a mistake with "You're doing it wrong," a leader can reframe the conversation around, "This is how we do it here."

Putting AI to Work Without Losing the Human Expertise

Jones returned for the afternoon session with another timely topic: prompt engineering and artificial intelligence. His central message was that AI is a tool, not a substitute for the expertise business owners and professionals already bring to their work. "AI is not a genius. It's an intern," he told attendees. That means users need to provide clear instructions, context, and feedback.

Jones broke down an effective prompt into two basic components: context, which prepares the AI with the information it needs, and the task, which explains the desired output. As with many tools, the quality of what comes out depends on what goes in. That’s how AI predicts what a user wants it to say, and also why it can make mistakes or even give inaccurate information. That means people still need to review what AI produces and catch any mistakes.

Businesses can also improve their AI-generated content by giving the technology information about their brand. Jones recommended using a brand guide to establish a consistent voice. Businesses without a brand guide can give AI examples of their existing content and ask it to identify the tone of voice, then use those guidelines to help keep future content consistent.

Feedback matters, too, even when you're essentially talking to a computer. Jones encouraged users to tell AI when it gets something wrong and provide clearer direction so it has more information to work with. And for businesses still avoiding AI altogether, Jones encouraged attendees to begin exploring how it might make certain tasks more efficient while continuing to rely on their own knowledge and judgment first and foremost.

Next Up: The 2026 EmpowerHER Summit

The learning continues this fall with the Walton County Chamber of Commerce's 2026 EmpowerHER Summit on Thursday, October 8, from 6 to 9 p.m. at Team Up Mentoring in Monroe. This year's keynote speaker is Dr. Melissa Furman, founder of Career Potential.

After more than 20 years working in higher education, Furman started her business providing speaking, training, coaching, and consulting services. Her keynote will focus on professional branding and how reputation, communication style, and professional presence influence future opportunities and success.

The interactive session is designed for emerging leaders and seasoned professionals alike, with opportunities for attendees to reflect on how they present themselves and strategically shape their professional brands. The evening begins with networking from 6 to 6:30 p.m., followed by dinner and Furman's keynote. Attendees will also have time later in the evening to mix, mingle, shop, and enter door prize drawings.

Making Time to Learn and Connect with the Walton County Community

With the everyday demands of running a business and growing a career, professional development can easily get pushed to the side. Work keeps moving, and finding time to step away and focus on learning isn’t always easy.

That’s why events like the Business Solutions Summit and EmpowerHER Summit create dedicated space to step outside of your routine. Sometimes the takeaway is immediately practical, like learning a better way to structure an advertising campaign or write an AI prompt. Other times, it's an idea that changes the way you approach an employee conversation, think about workplace wellness, or introduce yourself professionally.

And don't forget the connections made along the way. Conversations over dinner or during a networking break give attendees another chance to meet fellow professionals and learn more about businesses throughout Walton County. This October, EmpowerHER offers another chance to connect, learn, and leave with new ideas to put into practice.

The 2026 EmpowerHER Summit takes place Thursday, October 8, from 6 to 9 p.m. at Team Up Mentoring at 601 South Madison Avenue in Monroe. Registration is open through October 6. Learn more and register for the 2026 EmpowerHER Summit.