City of Lawrence
Lawrence Convention & Visitors Bureau Advisory Board
Tuesday, July 27, 2004 minutes
MEMBERS PRESENT: Ron Desch, Kate Kelly, Richard Johnson, David Longhurst, Maria Martin, Tom Rost, Constance Wolfe
Members Absent: Karen Christilles, Derek Felch, Doug Holiday, Dave Horstman, Don Johnston, Brad Kemp
STAFF PRESENT: Judy Billings, Brandy Ernzen, Susan Henderson
City liaison present: Lisa Patterson
The meeting was called to order by Chairman Tom Rost. David Longhurst moved, Ron Desch seconded, to approve the minutes as presented. Motion carried.
Billings discussed the monthly guest tax reports and asked for feedback on the way the figures are now presented to achieve an “apples to apples” approach. Board consensus is to go back to the “old” way of reporting the full tax figure, and using an asterisk in March 2004 to denote when the guest tax changed from 4 percent to 5 percent. Billings also went over the monthly financial reports, touching on a few line items.
Old Business
i. Western Music Association Awards: Billings and Desch presented the formal request for reserved parking spaces at the Visitor Information Center as well as shuttle busses to run between the Holiday Inn Express, Holidome and downtown from Thursday-Sunday. Discussion followed about the feasibility of using the T instead of shuttle transportation and whether or not the group could use the parking garages downtown rather than spaces at the Visitor Center. The T is not an option since it would interfere with private businesses in that sector. Desch will check with WMA to see that the CVB will have the authority to stop shuttle service if there are no or few riders. The board agreed that shuttles on Friday-Sunday would be more appropriate, bringing the bid to $1840. Ernzen will also get bids for two shuttle vans instead of the bus.
New Business
i. American Fastpitch Association Tournament Sponsorship Request: Billings announced that the CVB is collecting information on the number of room nights and overall feedback from hotels for the 2004 event. Overall, hotels and the board see this event as an important piece of business for Lawrence. Costs for this year’s tournament jumped this year since opening ceremonies were held at the Lied Center instead of a local ballpark. Billings presented a request from AFA National Tournament organizer Ed Kimminau for $10,000 for next year’s tournament. She noted that Lawrence Sports Corporation donated $1,000 to this year’s event. Discussion followed. The board recommends two options:
a. Offer funds in increments (i.e., $5,000 for first year, $7,500 for second year, $10,000 for third year) as incentive for the tournament to remain in Lawrence.
–OR–
b.
Recommend that the CVB give $2
per room night for each room booked as incentive for tournament organizers to
host as many teams as possible in Lawrence instead of Topeka or Johnson County.
ii. KUAC Sponsorship Request: Billings said that she met with KUAC officials regarding three sponsorship requests:
a. CVB to pay for the manpower/temporary help hired to staff the 5A and 6A State High School Football Championships on November 29. Cost is approximately $2,850.95.
b. CVB to pay for the event manager for the 5A and 6A State High School Baseball Championships on May 28-29, 2005. Cost is approximately $395.00.
c. Help producing the KUAC Visitors Guide that is distributed to all visiting teams and includes information on KUAC facilities, hotels and some restaurants. This costs KUAC several thousand dollars each year to produce, and they do not currently sell advertising in the guide.
During this meeting with KUAC, KUAC told Billings that if KSHAA asks them to host either of the 5A or 6A State Championships, they would have to decline because they lost money on the events last year. They also noted that when the games are held in Manhattan, the Manhattan CVB provided the funds for the temporary help. Billings is working to get information from the Manhattan CVB on this. Discussion followed about the number of room nights that these events would provide, since most of the larger high schools in Kansas are located in close proximity to Lawrence.
David Longhurst moved, Ron Desch seconded, to deny all three requests. Discussion followed; motion carried.
iii.
Eldridge Hotel Old-Fashioned
Christmas Parade: Billings announced that the parade will be held this
year and that Rob Phillips, event organizer, has requested that the name be
changed to Eldridge Hotel/Free-State Farm Old-Fashioned Christmas Parade.
Phillips will continue to organize the parade as in years past. Billings has
had discussions with those who handled the collection of funds from downtown
retailers and payment of bills for the parade in 2003. They indicated a desire
to establish a budget this year and have the funds deposited into a Downtown
Lawrence Inc. account before payments are made. Desch requested that an
additional $2,000 be raised this year to replace the money that the Eldridge
Hotel donated last year. Billings will continue to work on solutions to keep the parade
viable.
iv. Sunflower Film Festival: Billings explained that she’s been meeting with a person from New York who would like to bring an independent film festival to Lawrence. She and the organizer have met with KU film school faculty and others in the film industry in the area. They scouted local venues for this event. Billings sees this as an exciting annual event beginning in September 2005, with independent filmmakers coming from all over the country. Discussion followed regarding dates and conflicts with KU events. Lisa Patterson will also look into accessing Visit 2020 funds to help launch this event.
Staff Updates of Involvement
Kansas Chautauqua Recap: Billings and Henderson announced that Chautauqua was a huge success. Henderson passed around a binder showing Chautauqua editorial coverage and noted that newspaper coverage for the event in Lawrence and statewide valued at approximately $77,000. That number will increase once all clippings are received and magazine editorial is totaled.
Online Booking, Web site & Database: Ernzen reported that the newly redesigned site is now live. The number of online booking reservations and room nights jumped for June, and the trend looks to continue for the next few months. Web site traffic as a whole also continues to increase. Ernzen also passed around copies of the new privacy policy that will be posted to the Web site this week to ensure compliance with a California-based law.
Ernzen is preparing for the new Visitor Guide direct mail campaigns. She encouraged any Visitor Guide advertiser interested in participating in the direct mail insert program to contact her as soon as possible.
Conference & Sporting Event Bids: Billings announced that Bob Sanner has joined the staff as Director, Conventions & Sports. Billings and Ernzen have taken up the slack in providing conference and sporting event support before Sanner was hired.
Other
Billings noted that the stolen Jayhawks on Parade jayhawk has been found, although insurance money has already been collected for it. Henderson and Billings are working with the insurance company and local police to see what steps need to be taken at this point.
Meeting Adjourned
Schedule of Upcoming
Meetings:
Tuesday, August 24, 2004, 4:00 pm at Halcyon House, 1000 Ohio