1. Membership in the CEA belongs to the firm. Your firm’s business activity must not infringe upon, or compete with, the business activity of an existing member. Check our existing membership list to determine if any of the member firms compete with your company. If they do, you will not be eligible for membership in the CEA at this time.
2. Your business must have been in business for a minimum of 1 year.
3. The prospective member representative for your firm must be the business owner, or a key decision maker within the company who has direct influence on the firm’s purchasing and selling powers as well as the authority to represent and bind your company.
4. The prospective member representative for your firm must have the ability to attend weekly breakfast meetings and attend occasional evening meetings for onsite and social events. Weekly meetings are mandatory and attendance is tracked. A business out of sight is out of mind so it is important you attend to keep your company and its products and services up front and in the minds of fellow members.

CEA meetings are currently held every Wednesday morning from 7:00 am – 8:30 am at The Winston Golf Club.

Attending as a guest allows you to meet our members and see how a typical weekly meeting runs. It’s an opportunity for us to meet you as well to learn more about your business. There is no cost for you to join us as a guest.

We invite you to introduce yourself to our Executive Director by contacting the CEA office by phone, email or by completing the Contact Us form. Let our Executive Director know that you are interested in attending a weekly meeting.

Members arrive at 7:00 am.

Networking:  Time is allowed at the start for members to network and help themselves to breakfast.   The meeting generally starts around 7:15 am with opening announcements.

Leads and Information Sharing:  Members then go through a roll call where they each have an opportunity to announce who they are and provide any leads or information that might be of interest to other members.

Promotion:  Following roll call, one of our members will present a 15-minute corporate profile on their business. 

Connect:  Members then break into smaller table discussions on a topic of the Chair’s choice.  It’s an opportunity for members to talk about business issues, get feedback and seek advice. It’s an opportunity for members to get to know each other and build relationships.

The meeting adjourns at 8:30 am.

When attending a weekly meeting as a guest, you will be provided with information on how you can submit a formal application to join the CEA. 

All membership applications are circulated through the membership for a period of two weeks to allow members to comment and/or ask questions. During this time, a member of our Board of Directors will contact you to schedule an interview. The interview allows us to seek clarifications on your application (if needed), to ask additional questions about your firm or about you as the proposed member representative, and to highlight the membership obligations and expectations. It is also an opportunity for you to ask us questions about the CEA.

Your application is then taken back to the CEA Board of Directors for discussion and final approval.

Once your application is approved, you will be set up on our website and you will be invoiced for your initial membership dues.  Upon payment of that invoice, you will be able to attend our weekly meetings as a full member of the association.

There are three costs:

• A one-time initiation fee of $300 invoiced when your application for membership is approved.
• An annual membership fee of $300 invoiced at the start of our membership year (October 1^st). This fee is pro-rated for new members joining mid-year.
• A quarterly meeting fee ($375) invoiced at the start of each quarter (October 1^st, January 1^st, April 1^st and July 1^st). Members have the option of paying the quarterly fee on a monthly basis ($125 per month). This fee is pro-rated for new members joining part way through a quarter.

Outside of the one-time initiation fee invoiced when you first join the CEA, membership costs total $1,800 each year.

Members are expected to:

• Attend at least 75% of the weekly general meetings. Attendance is tracked. Alternate members can be designated from your firm to attend in the absence of the primary member representative.
• Proactively participate and engage with other members. Participation is tracked using the association app (Connectable). Participation includes sharing leads, doing business with other members, meeting with other members outside of the weekly meeting, giving testimonials etc…
• Familiarize themselves with the various businesses represented by fellow members.
• Provide information and assistance to other member firms when requested.
• Encourage, solicit and receive business from other members' firms.
• Act promptly on all business leads received.
• Handle all referred business in such a manner as to reflect credit upon the referring member and the association.
• Give fellow members the preference and opportunity in business transactions.
• Recommend member firms to your associations, employees, and other contacts.
• Furnish quality merchandise and service.