The Charleston Chamber of Commerce, in conjunction with Eastern, distributed a random mailing of nearly 2,000 surveys to Charleston residents to get a concept of how Charleston residents perceive the city.

Last fall, five different focus groups, consisting of residents and students, were formed by the Chamber of Commerce to discuss the strengths and weaknesses of Charleston as a whole, said Jill Nilsen, interim vice president for external relations.

“We wanted to see how Charleston was perceived,” she said.

The Chamber of Commerce took the messages heard in the focus groups and composed the survey to verify the thoughts and comments of the groups, Nilsen said.

“(The survey) will either validate or invalidate what we heard in the focus groups,” Nilsen said.

Cindy Titus, executive director for Chamber of Commerce, said the city will cover the postage cost on the completed surveys that residents mail back.

“It is a simple one-page survey,” Titus said. “Eastern will use its scantron (machine) and data.”

The survey presents residents with statements in which they must fill in a bubble expressing whether they agree, disagree or are neutral on the matter stated.

Items discussed on the survey include the safety of Charleston, its dining options, the type of education it offers, job opportunities and other items.

The survey data will be analyzed by the Chamber of Commerce, Titus said.

Titus said they are hoping 25 percent of the surveys distributed will be returned.

“We have already received 400 back,” Titus said. “We feel if we get (25 percent of the surveys returned) we will have valid information.”

The Chamber of Commerce also hopes its marketing committee will be able to take resident feedback and develop a slogan for Charleston.

“We will look to take the information from the surveys and develop a marketing plan to create a slogan,” Nilsen said.

Titus said they want the slogan to be an important message “we want to say about Charleston.”

Surveys must be completed and mailed in the postage-paid envelope no later than March 30, Titus said.