City of Lawrence

Lawrence Convention & Visitors Bureau Advisory Board

Tuesday, May 15, 2007

MEMBERS PRESENT:	David Longhurst, David Johnston, Doug Holiday, Constance Wolfe, Derek Felch, Karen Christilles, Bob Schumm and Brad Kemp
MEMBERS ABSENT:	Maria Martin, Michael Moore and Tim VanLeer
STAFF PRESENT:	udy Billings, Bob Sanner, Susan Henderson, Ashlee Roll-Gregory and Kate Eichten
PUBLIC PRESENT:	<enter public present>

---

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

Old Business

Continued discussion from March’s meeting regarding the Board’s position of the relationship between the CVB, the Chamber, Heritage Area and Watkins Museum.

New Business

A presentation was made by Cristian Morosan, Ph.D., from Kansas State University regarding the findings of a conversion study in advertising effectiveness. The results were very positive and found that the CVB’s rate of return on advertising dollars is 1:59.

More than 850 people who have requested information about Lawrence in the last year participated in the online and paper surveys about how the information they received and the advertising they had seen about Lawrence influenced their travel decisions. 

Important study findings include:

• Travelers reportedly spent $289 per trip per traveling party, out of which an average of $54 was on lodging.
• Travelers to Lawrence are mature (45-64), with relatively high incomes – more than 50% report an annual income in excess of $80,000
• Major attractions include University of Kansas, its related events, and the

downtown area for shopping and dining.

• The gross conversion rate was 71%, which means that 71% of people who requested information about visiting Lawrence did eventually travel here.

• The study found that for each dollar spent on advertising by the LCVB, a resulting $59.07 was returned on the investment.
• The LCVB website, visitlawrence.com, has a strong impact on motivating travelers’ decisions to visit Lawrence.

• Des Moines, Wichita, St. Louis, Omaha and Minneapolis are all strong feeder markets for Lawrence. 
• 80% of respondents said that material produced by the LCVB played a strong role in influencing their decision to visit Lawrence. 
• 71% of Visitor Guide recipients said they had visited an advertised restaurant or attraction and 66% said they had visited an advertised retail store. 

Overall, the findings suggest that the LCVB’s marketing mix is sound and each type of media is enhancing the effectiveness of the others.  The study revealed that the LCVB should continue to update and enhance its website and provided insight into which magazine advertisements were most memorable to visitors. 

Discussion followed regarding the Board’s position on the Downtown Library project.

Meeting Adjourned

Future Meetings

July 3^rd at Biggs BBQ