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HomeMy WebLinkAboutVPCMinutes_2012_02_27Promotions Committee Meeting Minutes – February 27, 2012 City Hall Present: Victoria Blatchford, Rob Peterson, Tom Jones, Jameson Berreth, Lynn Darnall, Leah Brink, Tom Richter and Bridgit Burghardt. Chairperson Blatchford called the meeting to order at 12:19 January Minutes: Jones motioned to approve, Berreth seconded. Motion Carries. Financials: Jones motioned to approve the financials, Berreth seconded. Peterson questioned if there was anything on the post evaluation reports the committee should be reviewing. Burghardt explained that if the post evaluation comes back and the event did not perform within reason, the post evaluation comes to the committee to approve the remaining payment for the event. Burghardt continued that the committee is given actual impact information regarding events on the estimate vs. actual report as well as in the information if the event applies again. Blatchford mentioned she has been speaking with Al Heuton regarding surveys regarding true economic impact. Peterson questioned if the Swiftel Center does surveys? Richer responded they have done surveys. In the past, they have done in person surveys and they just talked about doing this again. They also do license plate counts for events. Blatchford asked what sort of questions were on the Swiftel Center survey? Richter responded things relating to eating in a restaurant, stay in a hotel. The surveys have to be short. Peterson questioned if the Swiftel Center can do surveys through Ticketmaster? Richter responded yes. Blatchford mentioned the Children’s Museum of SD also does tracking. Motion Carries. Branding Update: The Chamber is exploring a separate CVB. Marketing would be included in the CVB. We need one person focusing on the brand. From the City perspective, branding is very important and we need to be proactive. We have received a funding request from the Chamber for notebooks to be handed out at their annual meeting. The Chamber anticipates using 200 at the meeting and the remaining 300 could be used by the City, CVB, and BEDC, whoever needs them. We do not see these being given out in the visitors bags, but rather if there is a special need for them. Darnall questioned who the 200 would be going to? They will be going to Chamber and BEDC members at the Annual Meeting. We talked about ordering 1,000, but that was too expensive. This is a good way to co-op with the other entities. The cost for 500 notebooks is $1,145. Darnall mentioned they use something similar at the Boys and Girls Club. Brink added people are going wireless, but still like to have paper for notes. Convention Report: Hubers reported on the convention report. January and February have been busy months. We exceeded our goals for 2011. Blatchford questioned which events are new? Hubers explained Archery and State 8 Ball are new events. Hubers continued that our goal is for repeat events. New events are expensive and take awhile to grow. Darnall questioned if All State Band is a new event? Yes. Other levels have been here in the past, but this is the first time All State Band is here. Jones questioned if Sioux Falls will get all of the state tournaments? Richter responded we are going to fight against it. Hubers added there is a High School Activities meeting on Wednesday and there is an organized effort against it. Comprehensive Visitor Strategy: Blatchford explained the Chamber Board continues to look at the CVB structure. VPC came about because of the current structure. The VPC structure works well, but we are more reactive and the CVB is more proactive. Looking to combine the CVB and VPC budgets and possibly BID money. We need to make sure branding/marketing is involved. Brink questioned if this would lead to greater efficiency? Yes. If we continued as is, we would have a CVB, VPC and BID Board all working for visitor attraction. Richter added the BID board does not want to divide out money; they want it to go through the CVB. Blatchford added with all of the 3rd B money and the pillow tax, we need a high level strategy. We need to encourage visitors to spend money and stay longer. Darnall mentioned it would be nice if they opened up spots for volunteers to be on the new board. We have diversity on VPC; we do not want to lose the diversity. Blatchford mentioned we will still have diversity, with a focus on visitors and representing those key stakeholders. Peterson inquired about the vision for the students? Blatchford explained we have not gotten that far. Our focus is conventions, tournaments and marketing. We do not want to lose the accountability and our on return on investment. We will keep VPC informed as we move along. Darnall motioned to adjourn, Jones seconded. Meeting adjourned at 1:11p.