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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2021-08-19 Regular MeetingCITY OF GRAPEVINE, TEXAS GRAPEVINE CONVENTION & VISITORS BUREAU BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING Thursday, August 19, 2021 — 8:00 a.m. CVB Headquarters 636 S. Main Street Grapevine, Texas AGENDA 1. Call to Order 2. Citizen Comments Any person who is not scheduled on the agenda may address the Convention & Visitors Bureau Board under Citizen Comments or on any other agenda item by completing a Citizen Appearance Request form with staff. A member of the public may address the CVBB regarding an item on the agenda either before or during the Board's consideration of the item, upon being recognized by the Board Chair or upon consent of the CVBB. In accordance with the Texas Open Meetings Act, the CVBB is restricted in discussing or taking action during Citizen Comments. 3. Approval of Minutes 4. Sales & Marketing Report 5. Ongoing Business A. Cvent Connect Recap 6. New Business A. Introduction of Staff B. Statement of Officer's C. Grant's in Aid 7. Hotels / Attractions / Activities A. Wally Funk Parade Recap 8. Adjournment If you plan to attend this special public meeting and 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 13th day of August, 2021 by 5:00 p.m. Drina Farmer the Executive Director State of Texas County of Tarrant City of Grapevine MINUTES The Grapevine Convention & Visitors Bureau Board of Directors met in Regular Session on Thursday, August 19, 2021 at 8:00 a.m. at the Grapevine Convention and Visitors Bureau, 636 S. Main Street, Grapevine, Texas with the following persons in attendance: Joe Szymaszek Mark Terpening Dan Weinberger Chuck Pacioni Cynthia Blankenship Corinna Wenks lain Scouller Debi Meek Sharron Rogers Board Chair Board Vice Chair Board Member Board Member Board Member Board Member Board Member Alternate Board Member Council Liaison Constituting a quorum, with the following liaisons and staff members present: Paul W. McCallum Executive Director Brady Closson Deputy Executive Director Donna Farmer Assistant to the Executive Director CALL TO ORDER Board Chairman Joe Szymaszek called the meeting to order at 8:03 a.m. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Motion by Cynthia Blankenship, seconded by Mark Terpening approved the minutes from the July 15, 2021 meeting and prevailed by the following vote: Ayes: Weinberger, Pacioni, Meek, Scouller, Wenks and Rogers Nays: None SALES AND MARKETING REPORT Mr. Brady Closson reported in the Sales Team sourced 130 lead opportunities for the month of July to stake holder hotels representing just under 96,000 room night opportunities and $59.5M in economic impact. The team also assisted in converting 27 bookings to definite statue in the month resulting in just under 15,000 room nights and an economic impact of $9.8M; 14 of which are in the year for the year with 8 in 2022 and 4 in 2023. The team participated in 10 site inspects at stake holder hotels. Board of Directors Meeting August 19, 2021 Page 2 of 4 Leisure & International Sales team had 6 new leads were sources, representing 483 potential room nights, and converting 8 new definite bookings; 4 of which were for 2021. Staff attended the RTO (Receptive Tour Operators) Summit. Coordinating 37 different one-on- one meetings with both international receptive operators as well as domestic tour operators. In addition, also hosted meetings with SeeUSATours as well as Cosmopolitan Incentives. Recreation Adventure Tours had a tour actualize in July. This group was based out of OKC and rode AMTRAK to Fort Worth, then chartered a bus to come shop and dine in Historic Downtown Grapevine as well as shop at Grapevine Mills. The Destination Services team assisted in 11 different conventions in the month of July representing 6,734 attendees with a potential economic impact of $5.1M. Visitor Information Center at Grapevine Main welcomed 5,229 visitors, CVB HQ welcomed 1,904 while Settlement to City Museums welcome 231 visitors and the Cotton Belt Depot welcomed 3,680 for a total of 11,044 guest for the month of July. Grapevine Visitors Shuttle returned to modified service on Friday, June 4, 2021. The service is running Thursday through Sunday, 10a.m. to 8:30p.m / on :30 minute headways. Total ridership for June was 685 guests, July ridership 1,408. Grapevine Vintage Railroad hosted 33 excursions in the month of July with the total passenger count of 10,132. The CVB website had 202,948 visits with over 394K page views for the month. Much of which was driven from the landing page presenting "Summertime in Grapevine", that campaign continues to run. Core/Outter market TV spots represented 509 spots/on air mentions, representing 4 hours, 14 minutes and 30 seconds of Summertime in Grapevine promotion. The starter board just came out for the month of July and as a total destination (over 6K hotel rooms with the addition of Hotel Vin) we ran 76.9% occupancy as a destination at above a $200 ADR; the best we have seen as a destination since February of 2020. The Public Relations team distributed 8 Media Releases, 4 stories being published with a circulation/impression exceeding $1.2M and online placements for the month representing 39. ONGOING BUSINESS Mr. Closson reported on the sales team's participation of CVENT Connect which took place in Las Vegas, August 1-4. The important note to mention is that this event was not paid for in 2021 for 2021, original planned in 2020 however it was suppressed and carried over to the current year. Two representatives from the CVB were sent out with a total of 1,400 attendees at the convention: hosting educational sessions as well as a reverse trade show. Two stake holder hotels participated with the CVB team, Gaylord Texan, and Hyatt Regency. The CVB team returned with multiple RFPs with the largest being Habitat for Humanity's in 2025 representing 7500 room nights, is considered a city wide as it represents a singular meeting and will represent 3 or more stake holder hotels for contracted room nights. Additionally, the client is interested in a 2-year deal taking this booking to 15,000 room nights (2025 and 2027), Gaylord Texan has the RFP and is aggressively working. Board of Directors Meeting August 19, 2021 Page 3 of 4 In addition, the National Pork Board, based in Iowa has requested an RFP and the team has submitted to the stake holder hotels. At the CVENT Connect the sales team hosted 30 different one-on-one appointments. This event is hosted much differently as the supplier in the states must request a meeting with the proposed planner and the planner must accept or request back to ensure a "best match". To put this into perspective Houston was just behind the CVB team over two days only had 7 appoints comparatively showing the demand for Grapevine. The team recently booked the Habitat for Humanity's GrapeFest FAM Tour with a total RSVPs for the FAM being 9. NEW BUSINESS 8:15am Mr. Paul W. McCallum introduced new staff member, Ms. Madelyn Winter, Event Coordinator. Ms. Winter previously interned with the CVB during her course work at Texas Tech University. Ms. Winter also interned with the Lubbock CVB continuing to broaden her interest within the tourism and hospitality fields. Madelyn knows our community well as she lives in Grapevine. She shared her excitement to join the CVB Team with the Board. Mr. McCallum congratulated the Board Members who were re-elected to the Board and asked Ms. Farmer to proceed with the swearing in of the re-elected Board Members. Ms. Farmer requested that Board Members, Mr. lain Scouller, Ms. Corinna Wenks, Ms. Debi Meek and Mr. Daniel Weinberger stand and raise their right hand. The Oath of Office was read and repeated by the respective members and concluded with signatures and notary seal. Mr. McCallum presented the request from the Board for approval of a Grants in Aid in the amount of $2,500 for the Grapevine High School Homecoming Parade requested by the GHS Ex -Student Association. Mr. McCallum recommended the approval. Chairman Szymaszek motioned the request, Seconded by Dan Weinberger. APPROVED Ayes: Cynthia Blankenship, Mark Terpening, Chuck Pacioni, Corinna Wenks, lain Scouller, Debi Meek, Sharron Rogers Nays: None Hotels / Attractions / Activities Mr. McCallum reported on the Wally Funk Parade Recap and the successful execution by the CVB Team. The CVB Staff organized and orchestrated this event in two short weeks which included Street Team, Greeters, Escorts, Luncheon Logistics, Set-up Team, Tear -down Team, Staging and much more. Thousands lined up to honor hometown hero 82-year-old Wally Funk was honored for her pioneering ride on Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin New Shepard suborbital space tourism rocket. The parade included the members of National Space Society of North Texas, Frontier Brigade Band, Wally Funk, Mayor William D. Tate, Members of the 50111 Star Garrison North Texas Squad in full Star Wars costume, City Councilmembers Sharron Rogers, Leon Leal and Duff O'Dell, Blue Origin Vice President of New Shepard Mission and Flight Operations, Audrey Powers; and Head of the New Shepard Program, Steve Bennett. During the presentation on Peace Plaza, representatives from Blue Origin and others spoke about Funk. Mayor William D. Tate presented a personal message of appreciation and a proclamation from the City of Grapevine announcing August 7,2021 as Wally Funk Day. Board of Directors Meeting August 19, 2021 Page 4 of 4 An ice cream social was held following the presentation and commemorative replica lapel pins like the one Funk wore into space and Astronaut Ice Cream, donated by Space Center Houston, were handed out to attendees. This was followed by a VIP luncheon were Mayor Tate, Blue Origin and other select leaders congratulated Wally on her success and the impact she has made on this great community! Both Local and National Media coverage was received reaching major Television networks: FOX, CBS, NBC, Spectrum News. Our reach for this event was more impressive reaching networks in Print, Online, Radio & TV from Houston to Albuquerque, Connecticut to Utah and internationally to include the Dominican Republic - even being shared by Jeff Bezos himself on Instagram! Mr. McCallum presented the three Grapevine pins that Wally Funk took with her into space further explaining they would be displayed in shadow boxes located within City Hall, Museum and CVB Headquarters. Mr. McCallum believes that we received upwards of 30K impressions from the media coverage received from the celebration. Mr. McCallum provided the Board Members with an overall update on GrapeFest, sharing the poster and wine glass, thanking sponsors in attendance and detailing dignitaries who would be attending on behalf of Barossa and Napa Valley. The Board discussed various activities planned for the festival to include security of the gates, food vendors and the three prime entertainment events. Mrs. Sharron Rogers posted the inquiry of the next scheduled Board Meeting which would fall on the first day of the festival; Mr. McCallum suggested to the Board to cancel that meeting which was subsequently unanimously approved. The Board continued discussions of festival attendance expectations. There being no further business to come before the Board a motion by Vice Chairman Terpening, seconded by lain Scouller to adjourn the meeting at 8:54a.m. prevailed by the following vote: Ayes: Joe Szymaszek, Dan Weinberger, Chuck Pacioni, Cynthia Blankenship, Corinna Wenks, Debi Meek, Sharron Rogers Nays: None PASSED AND APPROVED BY THE GRAPEVINE CONVENTION & VISITORS BUREAU BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF THE CITY OF GRAPEVINE, TEXAS ON THIS 21th DAY OF October, 2021. AP`PROV D: 1 Joe zymasz Chai n ATT ST: Donna Farm Assistant to he Executive Director