CH-OCVB minutes 041917 - Laserfiche WebLink

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feels that will go hand in hand with growing tourism in the county. When Laurie Paolicelli asked him what he would like to see by way of marketing he said the best way to market a brewery is by telling the genuine story behind their beer. As an example, Steel String Brewery names all their beers after albums or songs and their tap pulls are parts of musical instruments. Also important is seasonality of beers and the relationships with breweries and local farms. The vast majority of Mystery Brewing business comes from outside Orange County and 45% of their business is done on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Four percent of the beer consumed in NC is made in the state. They have learned a lot from wine producers about how to attract older drinkers. Rosemary Waldorf would like to form a group to consider some of his suggestions and think about how to raise the profile of our Orange County breweries. She proposed holding an initial brainstorming meeting at Mystery Brewing with members of the Visitors Bureau Board. Finance Report Finance Chair, Penny Rich reported that the Orange County Board of County Commissioners will receive the Manager's Recommended Operating Budget on May 2, 2017 and will spend the rest of May and first part of June receiving resident input and discussing possible revisions. The 2016 -17 Visitors Bureau budget has devoted a large amount to advertising in the wake of HB2, even though HB142 passed we are not out of the woods as visitors are still saying they will not visit NC. More resources have been put toward social media and a television campaign focusing on the Charlotte market. We are supporting the arts commission and working hard to stay focused on mid -week business for our hospitality industry, including business and conference travel mid -week. Commissioner Rich encouraged the board to use the Visitors Bureau resources, including calling Marlene Barbera when in need of public space. Sales report Marlene Barbera updated the board on the upcoming North American Travel Journalists Association conference that will be held in Orange County May 16 -18, 2017. Registration just closed and so far the number attending is 78. There will be a "twitter party" on April 26 at 4 pm for one hour. She is hoping all our partners will participate by tweeting their welcome to the group and posting photos of the county. She would like all board members who are tweeters to participate. The hash tag is #OCNC2017. We are a unique destination in that we have three towns and the university to showcase. She has sent out invitations for the Barn at Valhalla event on Tuesday evening, May 16. More information on the conference will be going out over the next weeks as the conference start gets closer. Marlene asked Katie Murray to speak about the art that will be displayed at the Barn at Valhalla event. Katie shared that the Arts Commission put out a call to artists statewide, with preference given to Orange County artist, to put together a show and they had a tremendous response. Old 'Town Hall Update Lee Storrow is representing the Visitors Bureau board on the Old Town Hall Committee. He reported that talks are moving forward. The group is looking at what modern community centers, museums and gathering places look like, and how to tell our community's story in a dynamic way. The group has scheduled a meeting May 3 to invite public comment. They will give a formal report to Town Council before their summer recess. Cianciolo said that it would be helpful to the Town Council to know what the Visitors Bureau Board's position is. Penny Rich pointed out that it is not the charge of this committee to decide what will go into the building or the financing of making that happen, but rather look at what the possibilities could be and what could work well there and it would be helpful to know what the Visitors Bureau Board would like to see the Visitors Center move to the Old Town Hall location. Annette Lafferty reported that it might take three years for the new IFC facility in Carrboro to be completed once the current residents move out. Laurie will draft a letter, send it out to the board for feedback, and then share that with our representative attending the May 3 meeting. 21 Page CHOCVB BOD Meeting April 19, 2017