Lawrence Convention & Visitors Bureau Advisory Board

Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Attending Board Members: Karen Christilles, Derek Felch, Constance Wolfe, David Johnston, Michael Moore, Doug Holiday, Bob Schumm and Brad Kemp

City Liaison: Lisa Patterson

Attending Staff: Judy Billings, Bob Sanner, Ashlee Roll-Gregory, Susan Henderson, Kate Eichten, Debbie White & David Longhurst

Not attending: Kate Kelly

The meeting was called to order by Judy Billings. Moore moved, Holiday seconded to approve the minutes as presented. Motion carried.

Financials

Billings also noted that the voluntary occupancy reporting numbers for January were down due fact that the Hallmark Inn had stopped reporting to the LCVB, which is quite common with voluntary reporting.

Our current balance sheet shows $12,000 in sweep savings. The 2008 Budget is organized by a classification of programs and is still a work in progress. Currently, the budget is at $618,000 and reflects the cuts made from the 2007 budget.

There is about $6,000 in receivables from the 07/08 Visitors Guide that has not been collected. The staff is working on these before we begin selling ads for the 08/09 Guide.

Year End Report

The organizational chart in the CVB Management Plan has been reformatted to reflect previous suggestions by the Board. Billings also noted that the 2007 Direct Spending Estimate will be released to the City Commission and the press at the same time.

Staff Updates

Bob Sanner

Sanner reported that he is working on the June Ironman qualifier event at Clinton Lake. Traditionally, there is a packet pick up and vendor expo for the participants that take place in the vicinity of the race. However this year, it isn’t really advantageous to have the expo at Clinton Lake. Sanner said that he thought it would be more beneficial to the event and Lawrence to have the expo and packet pick up Friday night Downtown along with an entertainment event that would be open to the public and all-day events Sunday at Clinton Lake. Currently, there are 900 registered participants for a multiple night stays for the entire event.

For July 14-19 Sanner is working on the NAFA Softball event, which is returning to Lawrence. Past NAFA events have generated about 1750 room nights for Lawrence and local hotels are very appreciative of the weekday business that the tournament generates.

Susan Henderson

Henderson reported that she is working on a International Marketing Seminar with Lisa Weight, which will help local hoteliers understand how to leverage international to their customers and price their rooms accordingly. Also, Henderson mentioned that she along with the CVB’s intern, Liz Kelly, are working on the logistics for the 2008 Chautauqua, which it taking place in Lawrence in June, 2008.

Kate Eichten

Eichten reported that she is currently working with both the Knight of Columbus event and the HOG Rally in ’09 with a site visit from the HOG representative on March 17, 2008.

FFNHA

Billings reported that the public process of the Freedom’s Frontier Management Plan has begun. The management plan has to be a civic engagement process and approved by the National Parks Service and must be signed off on by the Secretary of the Interior. Applications for earmark funding are being submitted in the amount of $1 million dollars to Congressional offices that represent the heritage area both in Kansas and Missouri. Letters of support from the City of Lawrence and Governors office will be sent as supplemental information along with other letters of support. Billings will be in DC for the Alliance of National Heritage Areas meeting March 3-5 and has appointments with Congressional staff in each office to discuss the applications.

Meeting Adjourned

Next Meeting scheduled for 4 p.m., Tuesday, March 25 at the CVB offices.