Lawrence Convention & Visitors Bureau Advisory Board

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

 

Attending Board Members: Bob Schumm, David Johnston, Jane Pennington, Stephen Horton, Tim Van Leer, Ryan Kehr, Chris Marshall & Constance Wolfe

 

City Liaison: Megan Gilliland

 

Attending Staff: Judy Billings, Susan Henderson, Anne Dillon, Ashlee Roll-Gregory &
 Bob Sanner

 

Not attending: Jeanie Hetrick, Sam Bhatka

 

 


David Johnston called the meeting to order and Pennington moved for approval of the minutes as presented. Van Leer seconded and the motion carried.

 

Financials

Billings reported that the third quarter bed tax collections represent the end of the city’s calendar year budget which is very close to meeting the 2010 budgeted amount.  Currently a $6,000 short fall is due to delinquent guest tax payments according to the City Finance Director.  In addition, the Tour of Lawrence event left the CVB $4,000 in the red, thereby leaving the CVB absorb the cost.

 

Old Business

Carnegie renovation is coming to an end and the CVB’s move is estimated for mid to late November. The City has agreed to fund the expense of moving furniture and computers out of bed tax reserves. City staff will move the rest.  CVB budget will cover technology and phone system needs. 

 

New Business

The CVB staff attended the TIAK conference and came home with many new ideas, especially regarding social media. Some of the ideas have yet to be implemented and most are in regards to the social media sites facebook and twitter. In addition, Henderson reported on foursquare, a website that allows its users to post their locations on social networking sites. The CVB has “claimed” the Lawrence Visitor Center, so that visitors can “check in” at this site. Discussion then moved on to the updates and changes coming to the CVB’s website and mobile site.

There was discussion among Board members regarding the LCVB’s Book It website program. It was decided that there would be a special committee formed to discuss the subject and bring it back to the entire Board.


In addition, there was discussion about the frequency of the Advisory Board meetings. Currently the Board meets once a quarter and the question was posed as to whether the Board should meet once a month. It was determined that the CVB Advisory Board would meet in November.

 

 

 

Staff Updates

 

Anne Buhler Dillon

Dillon reported that she is currently focusing her sales energy on visiting facilities where groups are currently meeting to gather information instead of contacting them directly. In addition, Dillon reported that she is currently investigating new software for the office. The program, SimpleView would perform a multitude of functions not only for conventions/meetings marketing but also for the rest of the staff. Dillon noted that the Director of Sales meetings are still occurring every six to eight weeks.

 

Bob Sanner

Sanner reported that he had traveled to Sedalia, MO to observe the Bike MS event.  Formerly known as the MS 150 Bike Tour, Bike MS is a fundraising event in which close to 2,000 cyclists travel 160 miles in two days. South Park will serve as the event’s Cycling Village and the plan is pending approval from the city. This event will generate approximately 500 hotel nights. 

 

Sanner also reported on the bid progress in regards to the 2014 Special Olympic Games. The bids have been sent and Lawrence is being considered alongside Boston and Princeton. The next step in the selection process is to send representatives to Lawrence for a site visit. The Games would be a week-long event with 3,000 athletes, plus coaches and family members. The event would be great for Lawrence and will require a financial commitment between seven and nine million dollars.

 

In addition, USSSA World Series softball tournament is tentatively set to take place July 18th-23 of 2011. Sanner noted that there should be a decision made shortly.

 

Susan Henderson
Henderson reported that Lawrence will host the 2011 Kansas Tourism Conference, October 17th – 19th, with approximately 150 attendees. The LCVB will look to community partners to help plan activities for these tourism professionals from across the state the showcase Lawrence’s offerings.

Henderson distributed copies of the new Visitor Guide. The content is similar to years past but layout is new. The LCVB has unveiled a new logo and the VG was the first place it was used. Going forward all material from the CVB will contain these new elements. By the time the CVB has relocated to the Carnegie all design changes should be complete.

 

Henderson also reported that  holiday advertising was underway and will be once again be working with the KC Star online promoting Lawrence with behaviorally targeted advertising and e-blasts. The e-blasts will run in late-November and in December and there will be an opportunity for hotels to participate in the Travel Deals e-blast at no charge.

 

Meeting Adjourned

The next board meeting is scheduled for November 30th at the Visitor Information Center.