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HomeMy WebLinkAboutM060909 TCC Meeting Minutes, 6-9-09 10:00 am at the Resort at Port Ludlow Attendees included Bill Roney, Crystal Hudson, Carol Fletcher, Joy Baisch, Christina Pivarnik, Kitti deLong. Philip Morley arrived at 11:00 am. Excused were: Miriam Villiard, Frances Rawski, John Austin Absent were: Larry McKeehen, Anna Matsche There was no quorum. The minutes from this meeting are for information purposes. Minutes There were no changes requested. This matter was moved to the next meeting to be approved. Financials – Kitti Invoices submitted for payment included: Inside Out Solutions, Domain Registration for www.visitolympicpeninsula.com $ 25.00 OPTC, Joint Mktg Contract Commitment 1,887.97 Kitti deLong, Admin Services 761.06 Olympic Pen. VC, Spring Mktg Campaign (recv’d after mtg) 1,554.56 Total Submitted for Payment $4,228.59 Actual amount spent to date of meeting was $42,745.79 plus the invoice received after the meeting for a total of $44,300.35. This matter was moved to the July meeting for approval. Continuing Business: Progress on Inviting Unincorp. PT to Participate – Crystal Crystal had questions about how to write this letter. It was determined that the Lodgings do not have to be Chamber members to attend meetings, but would not have a voice or vote. Quilcene-Brinnon Visitor Center is changing name to North Hood Canal, which covers the area on the south side of Hood Canal and Hwy 101 to the County line. Leader’s Getaway Guide – Kitti We were able to get only one copy to review before the meeting. The changes that were made because of TCC input included: a. Maps were moved to the front b. Included a more complete list of VC’s in Jefferson Clallam Counties c. Added locator maps where appropriate d. Otherwise, is the same as last year e. Circulation this year is approx three times that of last year because of TCC and PT co-op Discussion about what kind of Travel Planner we want. Size? Content? Joy suggested expanding the OPTC Planner to include information from PT/TCC Planners. The smaller size is really important. Bill read the 6-5-09 message from Diane asking for input into the Olympic Peninsula Travel Planner, which follows in full: As requested, I am outlining some choices for out 2010 Travel Planner for you to run by your boards and decision making groups. Please be prepared to report back by or at the next OP Tourism Commission meeting on July 9. 2010 Travel Planner crossroads Should we enhance the travel planner in some way to represent all cities to a more detailed degree to use instead of our individual community tourism brochures? This would give us a more comprehensive destination piece and could eliminate some duplicate mailings. Current Planner: We have been producing a glossy, full color destination marketing piece showing our communities and travel product, including free listings for all lodging in our region for several years. It is an 8x 9 inch, 40 page booklet that folds over to 4x9 size. It has paid advertising in it, less than 30%. It is the only Travel Planner sent free of charge to people off-peninsula to people planning travel to the area, and is also distributed throughout the state and NW in Visitor Centers, key ferry runs and visitor points by the OPVB and through Certified Folder. Challenges - it is small and doesn't have everything in it. It is designed as a lure brochure, with lots of suggestions and ideas for more info. Communities mail their info to same customers, so there is overlap in mail costs. Strengths - it is small and gives a good overview and enough detail to inspire a visit, or continued research to plan a visit. Easy to mail, easy to display in racks and in businesses. Consumers get several pieces of mail from Olympic Peninsula destinations. What if: We enlarge the planner to be more of a comprehensive destination piece, with maps and more community info. Each area would give it out, possible replacing the existing community (since the info is included in the new piece). Advertising would support it in whole or in part, or we pool more of our resources to produce it without advertising. Benefits - reduced mailing costs for communities, less duplication of effort, more comprehensive, inspiring information. Challenges - more expensive to produce, mail, distribute. Please bring this up for discussion in your boards and see if there is interest in moving to this level, or if the current methods are still acceptable. End of Diane’s message. ACTION ITEM: A tentative meeting was set to discuss the Travel Planner after the OPTC meeting on July 9, 2009 at 2:00pm, venue to be determined. Spring Marketing Campaign – Debbie Black Debbie Black submitted a final written report, attached. KMPS had an ad in their electronic newsletter. Had overnight stay for Inn at Port Hadlock but we don’t have information about who won that yet. KMPS’ Steven Kilbreath did a very good job on an interview with Renae Rux. Had one week of giveaways with a mix of overnight stays, which were all given away. This week is the fourth and final week of giveaway, which included five overnight stays from the Resort at Port Ludlow. KMPS promos end Friday, June 12. No one has had a coupon redeemed during the time of the promotions at any of the four venues. Seattle Dining: The fourth and final advertising packet is on the website now. Debbie needs feedback about how the TCC Members feel these promotions worked. Joy stated that attendance at Shrimp Fest was up a couple thousand from last year to about 15,000. Crystal stated that the Inn at Port Hadlock had been getting more hits on their website during the promotion time. Discussion about the fact the B&B’s are reluctant to take part in the promotions because they can not afford to give away overnight stays. If we had more packages that include two nights and some activities, that would draw people out to do things on the Peninsula. In order to put packages together, we need a way to network. Tourism Commission Update - Bill Olympicpeninsula.org - The new website is an empty basket that each of the 11 partners needs to fill. Freelocke is adding all the information from the Olympic Peninsula Travel Planner only, unless we each have some stuff ready to go right now. Then they will place that information into the website system for us. Otherwise, each of the partners will need to appoint someone to manage inputting data and making changes for that area. This new website has the potential to: Backpack- the viewer can request info by putting the request into the backpack, then can print anything in the backpack out. Blog Flikr RSS Feed – If you update something on your own website, you can have that relayed to this website. PT LTAC Update – Christina Bill suggested that we hire a trainer who can help each of the partners who do not have technical support do this work on the olympicpeninsula.org website. ACTION ITEM: Add to next agenda the discussion about hiring a trainer to help partner with Olympicpeninsula.org website. ACTION ITEM: Bill will call Scott Wilson at the Leader to get any information the Leader might have in Excel compatible format that we can give to Freelocke to put onto the website. ACTION ITEM: Kitti will arrange for a meeting to work on Travel Planner and website issues to be held after the OPTC Meeting on July 9, from 2- 4:00 pm. Venue to be determined. Eco-Tourism – Joy Shelby Smith is working with the Governor’s office to help them understand what eco-tourism is. ACTION ITEM: Joy will email to Christina and Shelby about eco-tourism to make sure all are on same page and message is clear. OPTC Cooperative Marketing Agreement – Joy ACTION ITEM: Joy will email copies of the contract with OPTC to all TCC Members. Christina is considering doing something very unusual for a promotion that would be like a Pied Piper Tour that starts in Seattle and continues onto the Olympic Peninsula. Sunset Magazine has gotten so many responses on the Culinary article that they plan to run the entire article in their California edition in August. Bridge Opening Bash was a huge success. PT is launching Way Finding, which will be in PDN today, probably in the Leader this week. Information and contact info can pop up on your phone and will have instant (within one minute) hot links to lodgings, restaurants, etc. Port Townsend is the first City in Washington, and maybe on the West Coast, to use this system, though it is popular in Europe. This is a very good way to check in on flights. City of PT is looking at how this may benefit people who want to renew their business licenses. Christina has scheduled at marketing meeting for June 15, 2009, from noon to 1:30pm at the WSU Spruce Room. Christina was with the FAM Tour of Travel Writers, which was family oriented, and that went well. Swiss Tour Operators arrived on the afternoon during the bridge opening bash, which made things very hectic. Meeting ended at 1:00 pm Congratulations to Crystal Hudson, who is getting married on June 27!