City of Lawrence

Lawrence Convention & Visitors Bureau Advisory Board

Tuesday, February 28, 2006 minutes

 

MEMBERS PRESENT:

Michael Moore, David Longhurst, Doug Holiday, Bob Schumm and Maria Martin

MEMBERS ABSENT:

Ron Desch, Constance Wolfe, Derek Felch, Brad Kemp, Kate Kelly and Karen Christilles

STAFF PRESENT:

Judy Billings, Bob Sanner, Debbie White, Ashlee Roll-Gregory and Susan Henderson

CITY LIASON PRESENT

Lisa Patterson

PUBLIC PRESENT:

None

The meeting was called to order by Maria Martin. Longhurst moved, Holiday seconded to approve the minutes as presented.  Motion carried.

 

Financial Report

This month the Board was presented with two financial statements; one from December 31st (2005 year end) and the other from month end January. Billings also reported that the year end financials have not yet gone to the auditors. Billings noted that the year end statement contained information in the advertising column that reflected ads that had been placed in 2004 and had not shown up in the budget until now, which was the cause for the over spending in this line item.  In addition, the over spending in special projects is actually projects in 2004 that currently showed up in 2005. Billings stated that this will also happen with projects in 2005 overlapping into 2006. So while it appears that the CVB has gone over budget, we have not.

 

Billings noted that before the City Commission sees the year end numbers they will be subject to an audit. In addition, accounts receivable for 2005 Visitor Guide advertising continues to receive money from outstanding accounts. In February the CVB received $1,500 although there are still some outstanding amounts due.  The guest tax received in the 4th quarter and in January accrual was $154,264.  The transient guest tax was up 68%, which reflects collection from December.  While there is no way to know for sure, we suspect that there is some delinquent collection in the guest tax collection for the month. 

 

 

Old Business

          i.        Website enhancement currently in process is a weather forecast and event calendar to be mailed to the on-line client 10 days prior to the visit as well as a post visit survey thanking them for the visit and asking just a few questions about the satisfaction of the visit.

                  

New Business

 

i.        No new business.

 

Staff Updates of involvement

 

Susan Henderson updated the board on the progress of the ‘06-‘07 Visitor Guide. This year, the CVB will be using a new design team , MB Piland, to work on the Visitor’s Guide.  New design concepts will be ready to view later in the week.  In addition, some of the features that are being proposed for the new Visitor Guide include articles on the gardens of Lawrence, family activities in Lawrence, Lawrence history and a scavenger-type architectural hunt within the guide directing readers to different sites around Lawrence.

         

Henderson also reported on the Topeka ad campaign. The campaign is the result of negative comments made in regards to Topekans in the Lawrence Journal World and Topeka Capital Journal.  The fallout is being felt by some merchants in Lawrence. The ad piece will run in the Topeka Capital Journal and is designed to accommodate local business logos as cooperative advertising.  The ad will run for three weeks and thus far eight Lawrence businesses have agreed to participate for a fee of $50 per week.

         

Bob Sanner reported on the PLAY initiative that he has been involved with. The sale of Sport2Sport, which has been converted to First Serve, has left a void in the community for competitive amateur sports. The Lawrence School Board has agreed to pay $25,000 of the $63,000 for a feasibility study regarding the PLAY project. Sanner also said that the Lawrence Sports Corporation is in the position of promoting Lawrence as a destination for sporting events and with $12,000 in the CVB budget directed for sports, PLAY is very important because Lawrence has very limited facilities available in the area.

 

In convention news, Sanner reported that the Convention Start Here ads are currently running in the Lawrence Journal World. These ads encourage the citizens of Lawrence that have meeting needs to let the CVB help them in their planning. The ads are scheduled to run the rest of the year. Thus far, the CVB has received two possible events directly due to the advertising and is very encouraged by the response. In addition Sanner reported that he is in talks with the KU Medical Association for their Convention in 2007, hopefully the convention would bring 500-600 people to Lawrence over a 3 to 4 day period.

 

Sanner also reported on the Bicycle Race schedule for Downtown on May 12, 13 & 14.  They are currently working on logistics and keeping everyone informed and happy. Due to the conflict with the race route and churches on Sunday, they are working on an alternative cycle route which will alleviate concerns of the parishioners.

 

Judy Billings reported that the Heritage bill has made progress in the House and is now in the process of being marked up to reflect the language of the Senate. Hopefully between February 28th and March 16th there will be a push on the House floor for a vote.

         

Ashlee Roll-Gregory reported that monthly users on visitlawrence.com had increased 187% from 1/05, and in addition daily use had increased 187% from 1/05. The number of reservations made on the online booking site had increased 68% from 1/05, and the number of reservations stayed had increased 154% from January of last year.  In addition, Roll-Gregory discussed the new email system that the CVB is working on to contact guests before their stay to notify them of upcoming events and a link to a weather forecast. In addition, another email would be sent to the visitor after their stay and would contain a few survey questions that would allow the CVB to gauge the visitor’s experience.

 

Debbie White updated the board on the 10th Anniversary celebration of the Visitor’s Center.  An open house will be held on April 22, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and will feature a garden tour, a short address from the Mayor at 11 a.m. and children’s activities. An invitation will be sent to those involved in the restoration process in addition to an open initiation to the city in the paper and online.

 

 

Meeting Adjourned

 

Future Meetings

         

March 28, 2006: City Managers Conference Room, City Hall