Mystic — Tricia Walsh spends a lot of time as president of the Greater Mystic Chamber of Commerce trying to dispell people's image of the area — and of the chamber itself.

"A lot of people visiting the area believe Mystic Seaport is Mystic and we all live in a village dressed like 18th-century people," she said during an interview last month in her office on the second floor of the Packer Building on Roosevelt Avenue.

People used to visiting Disney World find the geographic layout of Mystic difficult to understand, she said. Similarly, people in Mystic have a view of the chamber that doesn't always mesh with reality.

"Some people don't understand what the Mystic Chamber does," Walsh said. "There's a large misconception that every event held in Mystic is run by the Chamber of Commerce."

Walsh proceeded to tick through a list of events that the chamber is not directly responsible for, including the Mystic Irish Parade and the two different "taste" events scheduled this year — one of which used to be run by the chamber.

Instead, the chamber is just as likely to be involved in attending hearings on new zoning regulations or doing advocacy work for tourism causes, she said, work that led to some of the funding for the Eastern Tourism District being restored to the state budget a couple weeks ago.

"It's the golden egg of the community," Walsh, who succeeded Tricia Cunningham as head of the Mystic chamber a little over two years ago, said of tourism.

She estimated that 60 percent of the chamber's 670 members get a direct boost from tourism dollars, while virtually all local companies are affected in some way by the influx of visitors from out of town.

"There's a misconception — 'I'm not in the tourism industry because I don't get involved in tourism on a day-to-day basis,'" Walsh said. "You may not service tourists all the time ... but your clintele in a general way is able to support you based on tourism."

The chamber devotes a good deal of energy to helping tourists find their way to local businesses and attractions, though Walsh has been at the forefront of a move away from day-to-day direct involvement in tourism activities. This is perhaps best exemplified in the chamber's decision to vacate offices at the Mystic train station, where staff were constantly required to answer tourist inquiries, to move to more professional headquarters.

For a time, the chamber was still staffing the train station with volunteers, but in mutual agreement with Amtrak decided to drop that effort earlier this year. Walsh said she believes the tourism district, which operates the www.mystic.org website, is in a better position than the chamber to deal with most of the day-to-day work promoting tourism in the Mystic area.

"We don't want to duplicate efforts," Walsh said. "We're able to point people in the right direction."

And that counts in the municipal sphere as well, Walsh pointed out, because it's often confusing to people that Mystic encompasses two different sets of regulations: Stonington's on the east side of the Mystic River and Groton's on the west.

"People don't understand Mystic is not a municipality," Walsh said.

The chamber has a web of relationships that includes the Groton Business Association, which is under the Mystic umbrella. But the Mystic chamber is not affiliated with the Chamber of Commerce of Eastern Connecticut or the Westerly-Pawcatuck Chamber of Commerce, though it conducts three annual fundraisers with the latter group headed by Lisa Konicki.

Walsh said the Mystic chamber, which has a staff of three, is available to members and nonmembers at a moment's notice, whether they pay $10 or $10,000 in dues.

"We pride ourselves on that local open-door policy," she said.

The policy has paid off with a 93 percent retention rate for members, Walsh said, compared with a national average of 88 percent.

"Retention is what we really focus on," Walsh said. "We look for saturation in our market area."

The chamber is in its 78th year. Walsh is hoping to hit 800 members in its 80th year, though she said that could be an overly ambitious number.

Among the services offered as part of chamber membership is a newly relaunched website that adds analytics to the equation — for instance, allowing businesses to figure out the return on investment for click-through ads or to understand the best time of the day to send out email blasts. Listings on the website are free, and www.mysticchamber.org allows for social-media integration that eases messages getting out on Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and other platforms.

Walsh pointed out that the local chamber has to satisfy a wide range of businesses, from places such as Lawrence + Memorial Hospital to the tiny Custom Marine Canvas.

"I love hearing people's stories of how they got started," Walsh said. "I guess I'm a secret entrepreneur at heart."

Yet Walsh also spends much of her time working on the boards of such organizations as the Southeastern CT Enterprise Region, the Mystic Cooperative Task Force and the Greater Mystic Visitors Bureau. In addition, the chamber runs the popular Mystic Outdoor Art Festival and has been involved in such issues as the Thames River water taxi, Groton's Summer in the City festival and the upcoming celebration of the Coast Guard's 225th year.

At the same time, the chamber runs dozens of events every year, many involving education of members on a wide range of issues, from tips on decluttering to pointers on using the social media site LinkedIn. Many of the ideas for new programs come out of regular 15-minute brainstorming sessions Walsh leads at the chamber offices.

"We find if we need help with something, a lot of other people do, too," she said.

Walsh has developed strategic and business plans for the chamber, and hopes in the future to launch an in-depth marketing and communications plan. She wants Mystic Chamber branding to provide a consistent message. 

"We want the businesses in our area to be successful," she said. "We are the local Chamber of Commerce."

l.howard@theday.com

30-second bio

Tricia Walsh joined the Greater Mystic Chamber of Commerce in 2007 as the manager of membership & operations, was promoted to director of membership & communications, and in February 2013, was promoted to president of the Chamber. She is a longtime resident of Mystic and feels passionate about the community and the importance of the Chamber. Tricia has extensive experience in employee management and is a graduate of Eastern Connecticut State University with a bachelor’s degree in business management.

— Lee Howard