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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2022-01-20 Regular Meeting • a CITY OF GRAPEVINE, TEXAS GRAPEVINE CONVENTION&VISITORS BUREAU BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING Thursday,January 20, 2022—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. CCOT Recap 6. New Business A. Grant's in Aid i. Frontier Brigade Band ii. The End of the Runway Players Inc. B. Nash Farm Maintenance Grant 7. Hotels/Attractions/Activities 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 12th day of November, 2021 by 5:00 p.m. 4iii t Lt Don a Farmer Assistant to 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, January 20, 2022 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 Cynthia Blankenship Corinna Wenks Debi Meek Sharron Rogers Board Chair Board Vice Chair 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 Brady Closson Donna Farmer Absent: Executive Director Deputy Executive Director Assistant to the Executive Director lain Scouller, Board Member Chuck Pacioni, Board Member CALL TO ORDER Board Chairman Joe Szymaszek called the meeting to order at 8:04 a.m. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Motion by Cynthia Blankenship, seconded by Debi Meek approved the minutes from the December 14, 2021 meeting and prevailed by the following vote: Ayes: Szymaszek, Terpening, Weinberger, Wenks and Rogers Nays: None SALES AND MARKETING REPORT Mr. Brady Closson advised the Board he would be presenting a different approach for the Sales and Marketing Campaign initiatives in December, touching on more actionable steps taken as specific metrics can be found in the December Board packets provided. Team launched the Texas Two -Step campaign, this promotion incentivizing new business to contract into Grapevine hotels, targeting groups up to 100 on peak, that are meeting in either 2021 or 2022. The incentive is a $5.00 rebate per actualized room night. Incentive runs through November 30, 2021. In conclusion, the campaign produced 90 leads to stakeholder hotels, representing over 64,972 room nights. Fifteen (15) programs were converted to definite status, representing 5,727 room nights and an Earned Income of $3,440,695. A Return on Investment of 120:1. Board of Directors Meeting January 20, 2022 Page 2of6 In the month of December, the Sales Team conducted the following three (3) Sales Mission: Eleanor (Ellie) George attended Connect DC, over the dates of November 29 — December 2, 2021. Approximately 150 planners attended the show, down from prior years. She had 23 one- on-one appointments which resulted in five clients being interested in attending future FAM and one trace for future lead generation for 2023. Eleanor also conducted three sales appointments while she was in DC. Tanja Nichols participated in US Sports Congress, held at the Hyatt Regency Frisco. There were approximately 300 attendees that included sports rights holders, NGB's (Olympic governing bodies), sports commissions and CVB's. There were general sessions, peer round tables and off -site sports activities, hosted by sports commissions. The daily trade show provided opportunities for appointments and networking. Tanja had 12 appointments. Tanja was also able to come away with additional opportunities for Grapevine to pursue which include: • Cowart Events — March Softball Tournament • Kayak Bass Fishing — Possible fishing tournament • Ripken Baseball — 2024 Tournament • Can -Am Police and Fire Games for 2026 or 2028 Codi Missimo and Connie Ash attended Destination Texas held at Great Wolf Lodge. This conference brings together the most highly -qualified meeting buyers with top destinations, hotels/resorts, DMCs, DMOs and tourism offices from Texas. Attendees participate in one-on- one pre -scheduled appointments, gain industry insights from our guest speakers and network with this exclusive group. Great Wolf Lodge and Hotel Vin both participated in the Destination Texas show in conjunction with the CVB. Codi and Connie had 20 appointments that resulted in one RFP. They also hosted 4 planners and 2 hotel partners for an off -site excursion/destination site of Grapevine during the conference afternoon break -time. Grapevine CVB hosted the closing reception at Harvest Hall/3rd Rail with approx. 50 attendees. Codi Missimo hosted a local meeting planner Christmas reception for top clients. The event was held at Mason & Dixie which was closed to the public for our event. Mason & Dixie provided all the catering and decorative Santa cookies, individually wrapped, as appreciation gifts for the clients. There was a total of 51 in attendance. Mr. Closson informed the Board that since January 1, the CVB has received notifications of over 20 cancelations for January due to the Omicron variant. Cancelations represent over 34K room nights and over $16M in economic impact to hotels and the destination. Additional programs for February that have canceled or working to rebook if possible represent over 3K additional room nights. Leisure Sales continues to build. Group Tour activity continues to pick up momentum with the following operators brining tours to Grapevine over Christmas Capitol of Texas: R&J Tours, Uniglobe Ohio Valley Travel, Village Travel, Heritage Tours, Little Rock Tours and Bilbrey Tours. Heather Egan also attended a Dallas Sundowner event hosted by the Australian - American Chamber of Commerce, had the opportunity to meet the Australian Consulate General, Benson Saulo. Board of Directors Meeting January 20, 2022 Page 3of6 Mr. Closson thanked all that were able to participate in welcoming the ABA Marketplace 2022 back to Grapevine. This was Grapevine's 3rd time to host this important group and it was received extremely well by all participants. First time together in 2 years... attendees were ready to network and talk business. Special Grapevine Today was created and distributed to all attendees as well. There were over 1800 between; roughly 300 pre -registered cancellations, 400 last minute walk same day conference registrations. Over the past week, Heather has received 25 lead opportunities for future tour programs to showcase Grapevine, Texas. Mr. McCallum also noted that there were roughly 1800 marketing collateral (cups, etc.) by Team Texas during the ABA Marketplace. The team had 32 sponsored destinations from Texas with 70 people rotating the Team Texas booth raising over $270K to off set cost. He continued noting that House of Shine was the recipient of the Grapevine Give's Back initiated by ABA for a total of $13,251.56. Brady Closson concluded with the following upcoming Missions planned for the Sales Team: • Southwest Showcase — Austin, TX / January 22-23, 2022 (Multiple stakeholder hotels participating) • RCMA (Religious Conference Management Association) — Sacramento, CA / February 1-3, 2022 (Multiple stakeholder hotels participating) • St. Patrick's Day Mission — March / (Multiple stakeholder hotels have confirmed participation) ONGOING BUSINESS Mr. Daniel Horsch, Director of Marketing and Brand Management provided a CCOT, Christmas Capital of Texas marketing recap for 2021. He gave accolades to Emily Henvey (previous Communications Coordinator) for her hard work which resulted in much of the success in regards to media coverage. Daniel, reviewed in detail the targeted strategy that was taken, beginning with the 16.8M smiles aka impressions received; proving that awareness combined with engagement results in responses. Metrics show that Grapevine CCOT 2021 campaign out performed 2019 (utilized for accurate comparison) for website traffic with 1.5M page views. Some of the strategy highlights he covered included Cable, OTT, VO's, Streaming Audio, print, VCR, social media including Facebook, Instagram and TicTok. Mr. Horsch noted that there were 1.2M impressions collectively for Facebook and Instagram while TicTok was shared by partnering influencer, My Curly Adventures who has 411,100 followers resulting in 1.5M views, 132,000 likes,1,557 comments and 21,000 shares. He advised that the best results came from paid social sites and therefore the Marketing Team would look at those platforms for continued enhancement in the 2022 campaign program. Mr. Horsch also noted that the arrivalist platform allows us to analyze visitors for informed decisions based on analytics. NEW BUSINESS Mr. McCallum presented a request for a Grants in Aid from the Frontier Brigade Band. The applicant is requesting $5,000.00 will be used for professional services / performance fees, Board of Directors Meeting January 20, 2022 Page 4 of 6 travel, uniforms, supplies, materials, publicity and promotion, printing and other related cost associated. The band was founded in 200 and is dedicated to the preservation of the musical heritage of our country. They perform impressions of the hometown and military bands from the American Civil War period, The "1859 Marine Corps Band", "Buffalo Bills Cowboy Band" and has just recent added "Grenze Kapelle" a German Festival image. In historical uniforms of the period and often playing replica Over -The -Shoulder (OTS) brass instruments the band performs music from the band book the late 1800's and early 1900's including the Regimental and Brigade Bands from the Civil War period, show tunes from Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show and prominent music from the turn of the century up to and including current patriotic repertoire. The Frontier Brigade Band has performed a number of prestigious events throughout the Country, State and locally including here in Grapevine. Their focus provides historical programs for schools, churches, libraries and civic organizations. With the approval of this Grants in Aid the Frontier Brigade Band will perform as the Grapevine Cornet Band with 6 performances annually. Mr. McCallum respectfully request the approval of the Board for the $5,000 Grants in Aid. Chairman, Joe Szymaszek Motioned to Approve the $5,000 Frontier Brigade Band Grants in Aid. Motioned first by Cynthia Blankenship, Second by Debbie Meek. Ayes: Terpening, Weinberger, Wenks and Rogers Nays: None APPROVED 7-0 Mr. McCallum presented a request for a Grants in Air from The End of the Runway Players Inc. The applicant respectfully request $19,400.00 will be used for supplies & materials, publicity & promotion, printing, royalties & scripts along with production cost (sets, costumes, props, musician fees). The End of the Runway Players, Incorporated (Runway Theatre) is a 501(c)3 not -for -profit organization, it relies on ticket sales, grants, and the generosity of individual patrons for support. An all -volunteer, non -equity organization, Runway Theatre seeks to involve all members of the community and has produced quality, live entertainment for 36 seasons. Due to COVID19 Runway Theatre shut down from February 16, 2020 — August 18, 2021. Project Welcome Home to Runway is their plan to move forward this spring with a soft opening prior to announcing their 2022-2023 Season (our 37th season). Through an economic impact study, found that 34% of those surveyed lived in 76051 zip code while the other 66% represented 41 other zip codes in the DFW area. With an average economic impact over the Runway Theatre's season to be over $200,000 on food and drink, as well as any other shopping our patrons may do while in our city. Their core values of: a dedication to artistic integrity, a pledge to responsibility, a deep understanding of the power of community and a respect for the art of play drives every decision at Runway Theatre. To this regard The End of the Runway Players continues its history of giving back to the community. They have provided volunteers for the People's Choice Wine Tasting Event at GrapeFest for many years; our volunteers provided many hours of service in 2021. Upon reopening with the new 2022-2023 Season their plan to once again invite local area Senior Centers to preview our productions, work with students from local high schools and area universities to provide Board of Directors Meeting January 20, 2022 Page 5 of 6 volunteer hours and internships and hopes to renew this commitment of volunteerism within the community. Mr. McCallum respectfully request the approval of the Board for the $19,400.00 Grants in Aid. Chairman, Mark Terpening Motioned to Approve the $19,400 The End of the Runway Players Inc Grants in Aid. Motioned first by Cynthia Blankenship, Second by Dan Weinberger. Ayes: Meek, Szymaszek, Wenks and Rogers Nays: None APPROVED 7-0 Mr. McCallum presented a request for a Grants in Aid for Nash Farm Maintenance. The amount requested is $30,000 [$12K for exterior repairs and $18K for farm house repairs] to be used for repairs to gates, livestock fencing, painting, dry rot repairs on the farm house and various other necessary repairs needed. The approval of this grants request will contribute to the repairs of items listed that have been on a deferred maintenance for approximately 15 years extending the life of the repairable items for an additional 25-30 years. Upon approval the partial request of $12K would be come from festivals which raise revenue for historic preservation while the additional $18K was previously budgeted and therefore approved by Council also coming out of funds raised through festivals. The historic preservation team previously applied and was awarded a $3K grant through the Association of Living History, Farm and Agricultural Museums (ALHFAM) to be used for livestock corral repairs hence reducing the request. There was brief dialog regarding the farm, Heritage Foundation and any additional repairs (signage) between Board members and Mr. McCallum. Chairman, Joe Szymaszek Motioned to Approve the $30,000 Nash Farm maintenance Grants in Aid. Motioned first by Corinna Wenks, Second by Mark Terpening. Ayes: Meek, Blankenship, Weinberger and Rogers Nays: None Arrmuvcu i-u Hotels / Attractions / Activities Mr. Brady Closson briefed the Board on various changes within the community including the opening of HTeaO officially opening in December located at 1113 Northwest Highway (old Taco Bueno location) featuring Tea, Coffee and small snack items. The Cotton Patch Cafe located in historic downtown Grapevine has officially permanently closed. Lastly, Winterfest continues at Gaylord Texan running through weekend of February 27th Board of Directors Meeting January 20, 2022 Page 6 of 6 There being no further business to come before the Board a motion by Chairman Szymaszek, seconded by Mark Terpening to adjourn the meeting at 9:30a.m. prevailed by the following vote: Ayes: Corinna Wenks, Dan Weinberger, Cynthia Blankenship, 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 20th DAY OF JANUARY, 2022. APPROVED: t Joe $zymaszekZ ` Chdrman ATTEST: �. fiWlLic- Donna Farm6r Assistant to the Executive Director