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Home My WebLink About2004-11-18 Regular Meeting (r. CITY OF GRAPEVINE, TEXAS GRAPEVINE CONVENTION & VISITORS BUREAU BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING Thursday, November 18, 2004 -- 11:30 a.m. WALLIS BUILDING ONE LIBERTY PARK PLAZA, GRAPEVINE, TEXAS AGENDA I. CALL TO ORDER II. APPROVAL OF MINUTES III. HOTELS/ATTRACTIONS REPORT IV. SALES AND MARKETING REPORT tiv V. OLD BUSINESS A. GV TODAY B. GRAPEVINE JUBILEE C. TRANSPORTATION D. WAYFINDING SIGNAGE PROGRAM VI. REPORTS A. CHAMBER OF COMMERCE B. HERITAGE FOUNDATION VII. ADJOURNMENT State of Texas County of Tarrant City of Grapevine MINUTES The Grapevine Convention & Visitors Bureau Board of Directors met on Thursday, November 18, 2004 at the Wallis Building, Grapevine, Texas with the following persons in attendance: Don Bigbie Chairman Ev Barnes Board Member Bill Brink Board Member Kathee Livengood Board Member Paul Slechta Board Member Tom Smith Board Member Steve Stinson Board Member Pat Stinson Heritage Foundation Paul W. McCallum Executive Director George Kakos Assistant Executive Director Absent: (kw Philip Cloud Board Member Cliff Reynolds Board Member Darlene Freed Council Liaison Martin Thompson Grapevine Chamber CALL TO ORDER Chairman Bigbie called the meeting to order. APPROVAL OF MINUTES A motion to approve the minutes from the October 21st meeting was made by Kathee Livengood and seconded by Ev Barnes. Motion carried. HOTELS/ATTRACTIONS REPORT Mr. McCallum shared the following: • George Vizer is the new General Manager and Bryan Davis is the new DOS for the Grand Hyatt. Mr. Vizer will start late December or early January. Kip Henry is the Director of Engineering and Lisa Matthew will be the new F&B Director. Tours of the Grand Hyatt will probably be available next year. Participants will have to go through the construction site of the terminal. • Shops that have gone out of business include Flavors of Florence, Tuscany House and Guest Antiques. This is the first time in over 50 years that the Guests have not been in business on Main Street. Nana's Gifts is coming into the Tuscany House location. • Café Italia is opening a second location on highway 26. The Board of Directors Meeting November 18, 2004 Page 2 of 4 HOTELS/ATTRACTIONS REPORT cont. • We have added Polar Express runs to accommodate the increased demand. There are now a total of 8 school group days and 21 public Polar Express runs over three weekends. Next year this program will become a room generator and be positioned similar to Thomas the Tank. • Puffy is in the process of being rebuilt. Parts had to be specially made for the engine. • The Grapevine Christmas Parade is Thursday, December 2nd. Board members should meet at the Wallis by 6:15 for a ride to the Chamber Office to board the buckboard to ride in the parade. • Bureau staff is participating in the "Greet the Troops" on December 21St and Dec. 28th Board members are invited to participate. • CVB staff changes include: Sallie Andrews has moved to Historic Preservation Manager; Gretchen Voight to Historic Preservation Assistant; Michael Woody to Director of Advertising / Communications / Promotions and Mike Kemp to Director of Convention & Tourism Sales. We have created an internal ad agency that Michael Woody will head up. Tourism will have two sales managers; one international and Heather Kisabeth will remain with national sales and motorcoach. • Open positions at the bureau include; Convention Sales Manager with Washington DC as the primary market, Tourism Sales manager, Director of Marketing, Festivals and Events Assistant, Media Relations Manager, Market Days Manager and Train General Manager. The bureau is working to combine convention and tourism services so that any of our registration assistants can also act as step-on guides and visitor information center workers. SALES AND MARKETING REPORT Mr. Kakos reported for the month of October that the convention sales division produced 26 leads representing 9,523 potential room nights. The team assisted with 6 definite groups representing 230 room nights. The team conducted 6 site inspections and exhibited at the Dallas Fort Worth Association Executives Association Day Meeting and attended the Society of Government Meeting Planners Golf outing. Convention Services provided registration and information assistance to 14 groups representing 12,203 attendees. Tourism division produced 3 leads representing 90 potential room nights and conducted 5 site inspections. Staff assisted with 8 definite groups representing 544 room nights. During the month 29,117 brochures were distributed and 3,256 visitors were assisted at the Visitor Information Center. The Convention Center booked 35 groups representing 12,565 attendees. They have added a full breakfast to their menu. Board of Directors Meeting November 18, 2004 Page 3 of 4 SALES AND MARKETING REPORT cont. The Grapevine Vintage Railroad carried 2,929 passengers and hosted the ArtTrain, which was visited by 718 students and 948 public guests. Visits to the Grapevine Vintage Railroad web site totaled 18,159, double the number from last year and visits to the general site numbered 6,729. Public Relations generated $46,108 in print and $104,107 in electronic media coverage. Mr. Kakos shared several awards received at the International Festivals and Events Association meeting. The awards included 1 gold, 1 silver and 2 bronzes. Gayle Hall received her CFEE (Certified Festival and Event Executive) certification. Mr. Kakos also shared from Midwest Living magazine the state of Texas ad that featured Grapevine and San Antonio. OLD BUSINESS Grapevine Today try Mr. McCallum reported that Grapevine Today is designed to be our Visitors Guide and is written in a life-style manner. Distribution will be through businesses, hotels and the CVB. Several hotels will place them in the guestrooms. With this first edition we were hoping for 6 pages of advertising and ended up with 101/2 pages. It will be in the marketplace next week. Grapevine Jubilee Mr. McCallum reported that the jubilee celebrated 160 years of settlement on the grape vine prairie. This was the kick-off fundraiser for Nash Farm. The plan is for a working farm with horses onsite. The plan includes three primary crops; cotton, wheat and corn and a small kitchen garden to grow household vegetables. The house will be restored to the 1880's with static displays. $15,000.10 was raised at the fundraiser. Transportation Mr. McCallum reported that the goal is to have transportation from the airport and the northwest section of Irving into Grapevine moving visitors between the hotels, shopping and attractions areas of Grapevine. A meeting is set to select a consultant to create an RFP to take to our hotels and the private sector for bids to operate. Wayfinding Signage Program Mr. McCallum shared drawings from a wayfinding signage program that was developed pre 9/11. The city manager's office would like to incorporate this program into the general obligation bond program. It would be a $300,000 - $500,000 program. The Board of Directors Meeting November 18, 2004 Page 4 of 4 REPORTS Chamber of Commerce Kathee Livengood reported that this afternoon at 5:30 there would be a Chamber Mixer at Su Vino Winery. The Anniversary Ball will be at Gaylord on November 20th. Also coming up is the Chamber Christmas Party at Bank of the West and two weeks for greeting the troops at DFW Airport. Looking ahead, the Mardi Gras Fundraiser will be at Paradise Cove in February. Heritage Foundation Pat Stinson reported that the board was ecstatic to have Sallie Andrews as the new Heritage Foundation manager. The foundation board thanked the CVB for the 160th Jubilee. The Foundation board was also excited to hear about Miss Grapevine, the grape crushing truck. The pole barn is in good shape at Nash Farm and they will be having events there. The Grapevine history book is being reprinted and 100 copies will be for sale at a price of$65 each. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business to come before the board; Ev Barnes made a motion to adjourn; seconded by Steve Stinson. Motion carried. ATTEST: DATE: