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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2001-10-16 Regular Meeting try CITY OF GRAPEVINE, TEXAS GRAPEVINE CONVENTION & VISITORS BUREAU BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING Tuesday, October 16, 2001 - 11:30 am WALLIS BUILDING ONE LIBERTY PARK PLAZA, GRAPEVINE, TEXAS AGENDA I. CALL TO ORDER II. APPROVAL OF MINUTES FROM SEPTEMBER 20, 2001 MEETING III. SALES AND MARKETING REPORT IV. HOTELS/ATTRACTIONS REPORT V. OLD BUSINESS A. MARKETING STRATEGY REPORT VI. NEW BUSINESS A. ACCOUNTING ASSISTANT POSITION B. FESTIVAL PLANNING C. BUTTERFLY FLUTTERBY UPDATE VII. REPORTS A. HERITAGE FOUNDATION B. CHAMBER OF COMMERCE VIII. ADJOURNMENT IF YOU PLAN TO ATTEND THIS PUBLIC MEETING AND YOU HAVE A DISABILITY THAT REQUIRES SPECIAL ARRANGEMENTS AT THE MEETING, PLEASE CONTACT THE GRAPEVINE CONVENTION & VISITORS BUREAU AT (817) 410-3185 AT LEAST 24 HOURS IN ADVANCE OF THE MEETING. REASONABLE ACCOMMODATIONS WILL BE MADE TO ASSIST YOUR NEEDS. IN ACCORDANCE WITH TEXAS GOVERNMENT CODE, CHAPTER 551.001 et seq, ACTS OF THE 1993 TEXAS LEGISLATURE, THE GRAPEVINE CONVENTION & VISITORS BUREAU ADVISORY BOARD MEETING AGENDA WAS PREPARED AND POSTED ON THIS THE 8th DAY OF OCTOBER, 2001 AT 5:00 P.M. (itiv Eloise Koehn Budget&Bureau Administrative Manager (iire STATE OF TEXAS COUNTY OF TARRANT CITY OF GRAPEVINE MINUTES The Grapevine Convention & Visitors Bureau Board of Directors met on Tuesday, October 16, 2001 at the Wallis Building, Grapevine, Texas with the following persons in attendance: Don Bigbie Chairman Ev Barnes Board Member Bill Brink Board Member Philip Cloud Board Member Phil Parker Board Member Kathee Livengood Board Member Robert Thrailkill Board Member Darlene Freed Council Liaison Paul W. McCallum Executive Director George Kakos Director of Marketing Absent: Paul Jennings Board Member Steve Trent Board Member Aaron Compton Grapevine Chamber Pat Stinson Heritage Foundation CALL TO ORDER Chairman Bigbie called the meeting to order. APPROVAL OF MINUTES A motion to approve the minutes from the September 20, 2001 meeting was made by Bill Brink and seconded by Ev Barnes. Motion carried. SALES AND MARKETING REPORT Mr. Kakos reported that during the month of September the convention sales team produced 15 leads representing approximately 12,000 room nights. Four groups went definite representing over 255 room nights, all for 2001. Convention Services worked with 4 groups representing 2,700 delegates. Tourism division generated 4 leads representing 150 room nights. The Visitor Information Center assisted 12,987 visitors during September and 90,400 brochures were distributed. Through the team efforts of an aggressive sales program the Convention Center had bookings for 29 groups representing 8,000 attendees. Communications had $88,200 in print and $19,653 in electronic media exposure during September. (if Board of Directors Meeting October 16, 2001 Page 2 of 4 HOTELS/ATTRACTIONS REPORT Mr. McCallum reported that the west tower of the Hyatt came down without fanfare. The hotels report that the group business has not returned to previous numbers and what is, is rebooking in the first quarter of next year. People are limiting their travel to one or two conventions instead of 4 or 5 meetings a year. There is more transient business. Opryland has slowed the program of construction and will be open by June of 2004. That is a must open date because of commitments to Grapevine based on the TIF tax. They may possibly be able to open by December of 2003 if the economy rebounds and the Florida property does well. The Dallas CVB went after Opryland business after the announced delayed date; however, this created a sympathy factor that has played well for the Opryland sales team. OLD BUSINESS Marketing Strategy Report Mr. McCallum reported that the bureau staff met with all the hotel properties on September 26. It was a tremendous meeting where all shared openly and honestly around the table. Staff then strategized from these ideas and on October 8th brought back 10 options for them to choose from. Two programs were selected. The leisure-based program is for this quarter and should be implemented in the next 10 days. It includes radio, cable television and direct mail. It will cover the area north of I-20 from Louisiana to west Texas. The program is driven by coupons and value and will target the second and third tier markets. Visitors will book directly with the hotels and receive a coupon book with $1,500 worth of coupons at check-in. The convention sales program is a cold call sales blitz throughout the Metroplex. Approximately 15 teams will make calls on 6 days generating 1,000 plus contacts and leads. The sales teams made up of staff from the CVB, hotels and attractions will leave a specially designed hotel and meeting guide along with a gift. Copies of the sales call reports will be distributed to all the hotels. On October 12th staff met with the agency and we should have the brochures in-hand by the first of next week. We will mail samples of the materials to the board. NEW BUSINESS Accounting Assistant Position Mr. McCallum presented the need for an Accounting Assistant. The bureau added the accounting position about 7 years ago to be able to operate on a 45-day cycle. Since then we have developed festivals into a major business, created the Sister City Program and the Wine Pouring Society, increased the Convention Center program and have added the Tarantula Train program. Angela Porter, our accountant, is working 20-30 hours a week to keep up with the spreadsheets and is in need of some relief particularly with the train and festival accounts. Staff recommends the hiring of a part-time person to assist with the accounting and that tiv reimbursements be made from the train and festival accounts to the CVB salary account to cover this expense. In the future this would most likely grow to a full-time position or the train accounting would spin off to a full-time position. Bill Brink made the motion to hire a • tor The Board of Directors Meeting October 16, 2001 Page 3 of 4 NEW BUSINESS cont. Accounting Assistant Position cont. part-time assistant accountant and that this person's salary be covered by train and festival funds. Kathee Livengood seconded; motion carried. Festival Planning Mr. McCallum stated that City Council plans to build a downtown, multi-level parking lot will impact the footprint and other related issues for the festival. Footprint: The Carnival will need to be relocated leaving the potential to open up Wall Street. The north entrance would move about 100 feet back from the intersection of Main and Wall. This will open up parking in the new lot and the First Baptist Church lot. Operations for the festivals would move to Barton Street on the west. This allows the potential to create a grand stage in the center of the festival by setting up a full concert stage behind the Gazebo in the Jenkins Street parking lot area. This would improve the traffic flow. Staff has not reached a fmal recommendation on the Carnival location. Prices: The vendor rates were increased in 1999. The last admission price increase was in 1992 when admission was set at $5 for adults, $1 for seniors and children, free for (lw children under 6 and a $12 family price. Staff checked with several other comparable festivals in Texas for their admission prices and recommends $6 for adults, $3 for seniors, $2 for children, free for children under 6, $10 for weekend pass and $15 for families. Ev Barnes made the motion that the staff recommendation on pricing be accepted. Robert Thrailkill seconded. Motion carried. Sponsorships: It is the responsibility of the CVB to retire the bond note on the Palace Theatre. The payments run $395,000 a year. The bureau's plan is to generate the funds from the festivals so as not to use any CVB operating funds. The goal is to clear $400,000 a year from festivals. The biggest opportunity to increase revenues is in sponsorships. In order to develop sponsorship dollars it is necessary to break the 200,000 attendance mark and to be able to offer a longer exposure time. Staff is recommending to the board that festival hours for GrapeFest be changed to 10 am - 10 pm on Thursday and 10 am - 11:30 pm on Friday with Saturday remaining from 10 am - 11:30 pm and Sunday remaining from 11 am - 6 pm. This would create 3 additional meal times on the street, Thursday lunch and dinner and Friday lunch. From 10 am Thursday to 5 pm on Friday, there would be no charge to attend the festival. There is a huge working population around Grapevine that could attend during these hours. Staff proposes to handle Thursday and Friday activities with our volunteers and not have to go to the service clubs. Set-up would be on Wednesday night with the street closing around 7 or 8 pm. The festival hard costs such as fencing would not increase as most are 7- day rentals. There would be some additional entertainment and public safety costs. A motion was made by Robert Thrailkill to visit with the Main Street merchants regarding a 4-day GrapeFest festival and to take the proposal to Council to expand the festival hours to 10 am - 10 pm on Thursday and 10 am to 11:30 pm on Friday; thus adding 20 hours to the festival. Phil Cloud seconded the motion; motion carried. tiw Board of Directors Meeting October 16, 2001 Page 4 of 4 Butterfly Flutterby Update Eloise Koehn reported that Butterfly Flutterby will be held on Saturday, October 20, 2001 from 10 am - 2 pm. The parade registration starts at 9:30 am at the Depot and the parade kicks off at 10 am. Other activities will include 3 butterfly releases at 11, noon and 1 pm; arts and crafts; a clothesline art program, storytelling, displays and a presentation by the Fort Worth Zoo. All activities are free and everyone is encouraged to attend. REPORTS Heritage Foundation No report given. Chamber of Commerce Phil Cloud reported that the Chamber had a successful trip to Opryland. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business to come before the Board, Bill Brink made a motion to adjourn seconded by Ev Barnes. (br ATTEST: DATE: Cs