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Home My WebLink About02-11-2015 TBID MinutesTourism Business Improvement District Meeting Minutes Wednesday, February 11, 2015 10 am City Hall CALL TO ORDER: Chair Nipool Patel PRESENT: Adams, Pearce, Patel, Walker, Conner, Wilkins, Hutton STAFF PRESENT: Molly Cano, Tourism Manager Call to Order at 10:00 am PUBLIC COMMENT Andy Iro from Uber introduced himself to the TBID board and members present. He reported that Uber is preparing for Spring/Summer business. He mentioned that many of the guests traveling into San Luis Obispo from nearby metropolitan cities like San Francisco and Los Angles are already familiar with the service and are comfortable using it when visiting our destination. He requested that communicating peak dates and event times with Uber would help them to provide more vehicles to the area. Iro also introduced the Board to the new Uber for business program that would be available for accommodation and other business to partner with Uber to transportation guests by being booked by the business instead of the guest. For any members interested in this service, please contact Tourism Manager for Iro’s contact information. CONSENT AGENDA ACTION: Moved by Conner/Walker to approve the consent agenda. Motion carried 7:0 PRESENTATIONS 1. MARKETING AGENCY MONTHLY UPDATE Representatives from BCA + StudioGood presented an update to the Board on the marketing activities during the previous month. Highlights included: work on Visit SLO County visitor guide editorial and ad direction for SLO, February promotions for “Romance in SLO” online and mobile campaigns running on various channels including sunset.com, Bay Area news Group, and Google Display Network. Also worked on the San Francisco Destination SLO County guide, Sunset Magazine e-blast, SLO vacations e-blast. Web and mobile traffic is up. Social metrics are increasing as well. 2. VISIT SLO COUNTY QUARTERLY UPDATE Chuck Davison from Visit SLO County presented the quarterly report for their contract with the SLO TBID. He reported that the initial hearing for the TMD by the Board of Supervisors passed by 4:0:1. The next hearing is March 10 followed by the final hearing on April 7. One consideration is for the collections to begin on May 1 instead of July 1. If the May 1 start date is not approved then Visit SLO County would need to consider interim funding for the first quarter of the 2015-16 year. Website traffic is counting to grow with the investment in the SEO contract. Analytics show that 20% of traffic is from out of the area which gives a huge opportunity for future growth. The Visitor Guide will be released in March and the new design is focused on custom content. 3. SLO WINE MID YEAR REPORT Heather Muran from SLO Wine presented the mid-year report for the contract with the SLO TBID. The partnership continues to grow. She reported that 47 newsletters had been sent over the past 6 month which many included the SLO TBID logo, content, and link. The ad space for the new wine map is now open. Through the partnership the TBID receives a full page ad space and SLO TBID hotels receive a Tourism Board Improvement District Minutes Page 2 20% discount off the purchase of an ad. The new brochures will continue to be distributed with Certified Folder and the distribution has grown to include Ventura, Monterey, Santa Barbara and San Jose. Results this quarter have been outstanding particularly with PR. SLO Wine is happy to be partnering with the TBID on Roll Out the Barrels and the upcoming wine media FAM. BUSINESS ITEMS 1. CAL POLY OPEN HOUSE- ADDITIONAL EVENT OPPORTUNITY Melody Klemin from Cal Poly presented the preliminary event concepts to expend the length of stay for Cal Poly Open House through Saturday night by featuring a new event on Saturday evening in downtown. The event concepts were: 1. A concert in the plaza type event in Mission Plaza or 2. A VIP movie night in downtown with a reception in Mission Plaza. Cal Poly would be willing to match the funds provided by the TBID to put on the event. It would be marketed to all Open House attendees as an endorsed additional event. The Board discussed the 2 event concepts and felt option 2 of the movie and reception was the best fit. ACTION: Moved by Hutton/Conner to sponsor the additional event for Open House weekend and release the $5000 funds earmarked for the event. Motion carried 7:0 2. VIDEO & PHOTOGRAPHY PROPOSAL The Marketing Committee presented the recommendation to the Board to allocate funds to the Marketing Agency for the investment in new photography and video assets for tourism promotion materials. The requested amount is $35,000 and would be used from the remaining funds from the 2014-15 FY collections. The marketing agency explained that new imagery and video was needed to keep our advertising fresh. ACTION: Moved by Pearce/Adams to allocate up to $35,000 to the marketing agencies for the investment in new digital assets for the SLO TBID. Motion carried 7:0 3. SLO MARATHON RACE ARCH DESIGN The Marketing Agency presented the race arch design for the Board’s review. The Board discussed that direction had changed from the spirit of the original agreement. The Board directed the Marketing Committee & Marketing Agency to meet with the RaceSLO team to reconsider the design and the arch sponsorship opportunity. The Board gave the authority to the marketing Committee to reevaluate the commitment and approve the final design. 4. EVENT SUBCOMMITTEE – FUNDING RECOMMENDATIONS The Marketing Committee presented funding recommendations from the joint TBID/PCC Events Subcommittee for the event promotion agreements. • All Out Events: Dawn to Dusk request for $4800 Committee Recommendation: TBID: $0 / PCC: $0 • SLO Wine: Roll Out The Barrels request for $18,000 Committee Recommendation: TBID: $9,000 / PCC: $9,000 • Hospice SLO: Eroica request for $15,500 Committee Recommendation: TBID: $15,500 / PCC: $0 • Festival Mozaic request for $20,000 Committee Recommendation: TBID: $2,500 / PCC: $9,150 The Board discussed the recommendations and supported the committee’s recommendation. ACTION: Moved by Walker/Conner to fund the events as recommended by the marketing committee: SLO Wine: Roll Out The Barrels 2015 for $9,000; Hospice SLO: Eroica Dinner for $15,500; Festival Mozaic out of area promotions for $2,500. Motion carried 7:0 Tourism Board Improvement District Minutes Page 3 5. 2015-17 BUDGET PROCESS Staff presented the proposed budget process for discussion and the development of the 2015-17 budgets. The timeline included: March –committee discussion with strategic partners followed by the March Board meeting first look at budget amounts. In late March the Management Committee will begin initial budget planning and Marketing Committee will work on the marketing plan input with the agencies. In April the strategic partners will present requests to the Board followed by subcommittee considerations of the proposals. At the May Board Meeting the budget recommendations for 2015-17 will be presented and at the June Board Meeting the Marketing Plan will be presented to the Board. COMMITTEE COMMUNICATION HOTELIER UPDATE No updates. PCC UPDATE Pearce and staff reviewed the PCC minutes with the Board. TOURISM PROGRAM UPDATE Molly Cano presented the Tourism Program update: - February will be a month full of travel o Tradeshows o Outlook Forum - FAM o tour operators from China to California on a FAM tour from March 20 to March 29. This time the participants are from Beijing, along with representatives from Air China (Air China will add 1 more daily flight from Beijing to Los Angeles starting June 2015). o managerial level tour operators from key markets of South East China to California on a FAM March 10th –18th -- North America Product Managers from Shanghai, Hangzhou, Chengdu, along with other East China cities slated to attend. - Interviews for the Board seats o March Board Chair/VChair o Bylaw review o April new committee members - Advisory Body Recognition Reception 3/18 at 5pm at Embassy Suites o RSVP to Clerk’s Office - PCC o GIA applications are open o Mandatory meeting tonight at 5 pm in Council Chamber - Subcommittee Dates: o Thursday 3/5 at 9:30 am Marketing Subcommittee o Tuesday 3/3 at 3 pm Management Committee & 2/17 Helium demo o Events promotion subcommittee with PCC is currently being scheduled Meeting adjourned at 11:50 am