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Home My WebLink About2011-11-17 Regular Meeting CITY OF GRAPEVINE, TEXAS GRAPEVINE CONVENTION &VISITORS BUREAU BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING Thursday, November 17, 2011 — 8:00 a.m. Wallis Building Grapevine, Texas AGENDA I. CALL TO ORDER II. APPROVAL OF MINUTES III. BOARD MEMBER INDUSTRY ANNOUNCEMENTS IV. OLD BUSINESS A. CV B HEADQUARTERS UPDATE B. AMERICAN BUS ASSOCIATION UPDATE C. AMERICAN SOCIETY ASSOCIATION EXECUTIVES UPDATE V. NEW BUSINESS A. CHRISTMAS CAPITAL OF TEXAS MEDIA EVENT VI. SALES & MARKETING REPORT VII. HOTELS /ATTRACTIONS ACTIVITIES VIII. GRAPEVINE VINTAGE RAILROAD REPORT IX. LIAISON UPDATES A. HERITAGE FOUNDATION ACTIVITIES B. CHAMBER OF COMMERCE ACTIVITIES X. ADJOURNMENT State of Texas County of Tarrant City of Grapevine MINUTES The Grapevine Convention & Visitors Bureau Board of Directors met on Thursday, November 17, 2011 at 8:00 a.m. at the Wallis Building, Grapevine, Texas with the following persons in attendance: Paul Slechta Chairman Tom Cherry Board Member LuAnn Chapman Gatts Board Member Dennis Roberts Board member Peggy Weaver Board Member Dan Weinberger Board Member Balla Wright Heritage Foundation Liaison Angela Mitcham Chamber Liaison Sharron Spencer Council Liaison Paul W. McCallum Executive Director George Kakos Assistant Executive Director Absent: Jennifer Hibbs Assistant City Manager John Imaizumi Board Member CALL TO ORDER Chairman Slechta called the meeting to order. APPROVAL OF MINUTES A motion to approve the minutes from the October 20, 2011 meeting was made by Dan Weinberger and seconded by Tom Cherry. Motion carried. BOARD MEMBER INDUSTRY ANNOUNCEMENTS • Congratulations were made to the Chili Cook-Off Team. They are committed to winning first place next year at the Chamber's 20th Annual Chili Cook-Off. • Gaylord was recognized as the "Best Place to Work" in the largest employer category in the Metroplex. • Santa arrived at Grapevine Mills mall last Saturday. • Coach Outlet will be opening at the mall in the spring of 2012. • The mall is prepared for opening early for Black Friday. • The tree lighting and Ice! opening was last Friday. OLD BUSINESS CVB Headquarters Update Mr. McCallum reported that we are in the punch-list phase and expect to accept the building in November or early December. Staff will move into the building after the (Iw Board of Directors Meeting November 17, 2011 Page 2 of 4 OLD BUSINESS cont. CVB Headquarters Update cont. American Bus Association convention in January. The Grand Opening is slated for March 2nd, Texas Independence Day. American Bus Association Update The American Bus Association (ABA) convention is seven weeks out. Grapevine is co- hosting with the rest of the cities in Texas and Gaylord for the second time. We hosted this convention in 2007. Attendance is expected to be 3,000 and over 8,000 room nights. It is projected to surpass last year's meeting in Philadelphia. The Hilton DFW Lakes, Hyatt Place and Springhill Suites are overflow properties. Marketplace Gives Back, which was started in Grapevine in 2007, has already raised over $10,000. This year's proceeds will go to GRACE. There are nine pre and post- fam tours highlighting the entire state. There are ten sightseeing tours throughout the Metroplex. The Opening Ceremony will be a grand event including 50 performers and six horses from the TEXAS musical drama from Palo Duro Canyon. There will be several opportunities to volunteer. There will be an event in Fort Worth, one in Dallas, and the one for the state at Cowboy's Stadium. Heather Kisabeth, Tourism Director, has done a superb job coordinating ABA and has raised over $350,000 in sponsorships. American Society Association Executives Update This convention is the "super bowl" of meeting planner conventions. It is slated for Dallas on August 11-14, 2012. Grapevine has partnered with Dallas and other cities on this event. The Opening Activity will take place at Cowboys' Stadium with the rest of the activities in Dallas. The group has 22,000 association executives and represents in excess of 11,000 associations. Italian Car Fest Wrap-Up Report Staff has received a very detailed wrap-up report from the Italian Car Fest for their 8th annual car show held at Nash Farm. NEW BUSINESS Christmas Capital of Texas Media Event The Christmas Capital of Texas Kick-off Media Event will be held Monday, November 21st at 10:30 a.m. at the Gazebo. Chairman Slechta was strongly encouraged to participate in the media event as one of the world's largest elves. This event will include the taking down of fall decorations, a pardon for Tom T. Turkey, and the start of the Christmas season with the 40 days and 1,400 events. Board of Directors Meeting November 17, 2011 Page 3 of 4 SALES & MARKETING REPORT Mr. Kakos reported that during the month of October the convention sales team produced 30 leads representing in excess of 35,000 potential room nights; 17 of the leads were for 2012 and two for 2011. Staff assisted with five definite bookings representing approximately 12,000 room nights; one for 2011 and two for 2012. Staff conducted five site inspections. They participated with the Gaylord Texan in a Dallas Cowboy/ St. Louis Rams game fam with 11 clients and a Dallas Cowboy/ Detroit Lions game fam with 10 planners. They hosted a local planner reception at Cross Timbers with 22 planners in attendance. A Halloween e-blast was sent to 1,500 clients. Bruce Dalton served on a panel at the Hotel Sales and Marketing Association meeting. Tourism sales team hosted the American Bus Association Marketplace Advisory Committee and is making final preparations for the 2012 American Bus Association. Staff welcomed seven bus tours and distributed over 51,000 brochures. The Visitor Information Center welcomed 9,552 guests at the Visitor Information Center. Destination Services provided information and registration assistance to six groups with 9,666 delegates. Grapevine Shuttles carried 5,749 passengers. The Convention Center booked 30 future groups representing over 11,000 attendees and had $62,562 in total sales. The Palace Arts Center booked 32 future groups representing 4,000 plus attendees and had $34,007 in total sales. The Concourse booked three future groups representing 195 attendees and had over $12,000 in total sales. The website had 70,667 unique visitors for the month of October, a 40% increase over last October. Over 15% of the visitors used a mobile device to access the site. The advertising investment included 11 convention group trade publication print insertions, two leisure group trade publications, 45 consumer publications and 81 online insertions. TV and radio had 300 runs. Print publicity was $102,582; electronic publicity was $49,770 for a total of$152,352. Mr. Kakos shared the Christmas Capital of Texas brochure, the North Pole Express rack card and Gaylord's Lone Star Christmas rack card. He also shared an article in Texas Highways that was the result of a writer attending last Christmas. Grapevine captured the cover, inside cover, photo on contents page and an 8-page article in the magazine. He also shared articles in Home and Away— Oklahoma magazine, the Dallas Morning News and Indulge magazine, an upscale magazine published by the Star Telegram. There will be an article in the March issue of Texas Highway on traveling with children. Directors Meeting November 17, 2011 Page 4 of 4 HOTELS /ATTRACTIONS ACTIVITIES Mr. Kakos reported: • The new owners of the Baymont have begun renovations to the property. • The Omni Dallas at the Convention Center officially opened on 11/11/11. They have 1,001 guest room, 110,000 sq. feet of meeting & banquet space and a 32,000 sq-ft ballroom. • Grapevine has been named to the Top Ten True Western Towns in America by True West magazine. The winners will be featured in the February 2012 issue, which comes out mid-December. The award is based on a community's commitment to historic preservation. As part of the award an editorial feature on Grapevine will be included in the magazine some time during 2012. Leigh Lyons, Communications Manager, was instrumental in securing this award for Grapevine. GRAPEVINE VINTAGE RAILROAD REPORT George Kakos reported that the Grapevine Vintage Railroad carried 3,883 passengers during the month including ten groups, one special run, and two cab rides. The special run was the All Hallow's Eve run which was a sell out. They have over 3,100 students from 40 schools booked on the North Pole Express school runs. Christmas decorations are going up and the windows have been installed on the open air cars. Our new train master, Michael Percifield started today. LIAISON UPDATES Heritage Foundation Activities Balla Wright reported that the Italian Car Fest was very successful and that the group made a $2,500 donation to Nash Farm. The membership committee is promoting a Lil' Sprout program to encourage children to be a part of Nash Farm. This Friday, November 18th will be the celebration of the Palace Arts Center's 10th Anniversary Gala. Tickets are $25 and can be purchased online. Chamber of Commerce Activities The Chamber is working on the budget for next year. A Save the Date card for the Awards Ceremony in January will be in the mail soon. Doug Larson will be the new Chamber representative starting in January. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business to come before the board, LuAnn Chapman Gatts made a motion to adjourn, seconded by Tom Cherry. Motion carried. ATTEST: DATE: