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Approved November 15, 2017 MINUTES Chapel Hill /Orange County Visitors Bureau Board of Directors Meeting October 18, 2017 The Chapel Hill /Orange County Visitors Bureau met at UNC Health Care, 430 Waterstone Dr., Hillsborough, NC Board Members Present: Kayla Dempsey, Aaron Bachenheimer, Penny Rich, Lydia Lavelle, Jeffery Strickler -Vice Chair, Mark Bell, Annette Lafferty, Tim Hoke, Anthony Carey, Lee Storrow, Rosemary Waldorf- Chair, David Brooks, Shannan Campbell Not Present: Andrew Strickland, George Cianciolo, Mark Sherburne, Meg McGurk Staff attendance: Laurie Paolicelli, Marlene Barbera, Allison Chambers, Steve Brantley Also present: Kristi Kaas of Hyatt Place, Chapel Hill, Robert Zimmerman of the Sheraton, Chapel Hill, Sam Henry of MedStay and DR Bryan of Bryan Properties Call to Order Chair Rosemary Waldorf called the meeting to order at 8:06 am. Introductions were given by all. Approval of Minutes Chair Waldorf requested a motion to approve the September 20, 2017 minutes. Penny Rich so moved and Mark Bell seconded. With all members in favor, the minutes were approved as submitted. Finance Report Finance Chair Penny Rich reported that the budget is on target at this time. We report two months behind in regards to occupancy tax and while occupancy is slightly down, rates are not. The budget for 2017 -18 is $1.5 million, but we are seeing some increases in what we have to spend. The Bureau is moving more toward online advertising and this is going to be more expensive. The greatest part of the budget is in advertising and is paid to our advertising agency. We will soon begin working with a new agency, Fleishman Hillard . Our contract with them will be around $400,000 and they will be at next month's board meeting to make a presentation. They are contacting every board member to get a feel for how each board member sees how we move forward. Available fund balance is currently $288,055. The Visitors Bureau has recently wrapped a bus that is driving the streets of Chapel Hill /Carrboro. Host Introduction Laurie Paolicelli asked our host and vice chair, who represents the Alliance for Historic Hillsborough on the board, Jeff Strickler, to tell the board what is going on in health care, with health care being a top three driver of demand in the hotel industry. Jeff shared examples of the high -end medical research that is being done at UNC Health Care. Ms. Paolicelli sent the board a video clip from 60 Minutes about the use of Artificial Intelligence at UNC Health Care. Medicine has reached a point of being able to use precision medicine, tailoring treatment and medication very specific to the individual. Eye level research is being done in Chapel Hill. The community has had two Nobel Prize winners in the last decade. All this makes our place somewhere to be proud of, and a national destination. This research is expensive and there are more losers than winners. There are three significant health care criseses in the country now; those that are disadvantage and don't have access to care; those in our society that have behavioral and psychological issues which