CH-OCVB minutes 012016 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Sales port Marlene Barbera reported that since the last board meeting in November she has had a productive Director of Sales meeting with local hoteliers. Cyndi Golden is officially on board. December was mostly a training month as she and Marlene conducted on sight tours of all the local hotels and unique venues. As of this meeting nothing has come to fruition, but she has several leads. Marlene has been approached by a baseball league that is interested in bringing league play to Orange County. She has met with the superintendent of the Chapel Hill - Carrboro City Schools to gauge their interest in this program. The superintendent was not interested given the compensation formula of the league. The superintendent felt that this would be a change in policy for those interested in using school facilities. The board wondered if this is something that the Visitors Bureau could sponsor. Marlene has set a meeting with the Friday Center staff to encourage them to lean more on the Visitors Bureau staff when arranging events to keep those attendees in Orange County hotel rooms. Marlene produced rack cards to place at venues for people to receive when they have booked that venue that will lead them to her to help them locate hotel rooms. She shared stats on Cvent to bring the board up to date on the return on the investment. From July 2014 to June 2015 ten leads were generated. From July 2015 to December 2015, after we began advertising with cvent, thirty -three leads were generated. New BUsiness/Round table Chairman Carey acknowledged all for updates in their respective fields: Chairman Carey recognized Karen DeHart who reported that the 3A and 4A high school football championships were hosted in Keenan Stadium. Eight Thousand people attended with three of the schools coming from out of town. They are hosting the basketball press conference on March 7 at the Sheraton. Championships will be on March 12 on the UNC Campus and this will bring in twelve teams plus sixteen thousand attendees. Shannan Campbell reported that Bonafide Sandwich is getting close to opening in Hillsborough. The Cloth Mill has opened and she is working with them to get better signage. The tourism board is working on revamping their funding structure to contract for services rather than awarding grants. Looking forward to working with Hillsborough's two tourism boards to move forward with spending down their fund balances. Chair Carey recognized Meg McGurk who announced the kick -off for the 5t" cohort, and that the downtown partnership is ready to release "downtown strategy'. They are partnering with the Chamber to do a new event called Facetime, which is a networking event. Carolina Square will be complete in the fall of 2017. Chair Carey recognized Debbie Hepp who reported on the Shimmer event which will take place February 12, outside, in downtown Chapel Hill and Carrboro. The Arts Council is getting ready to start their market research interviews. The Arts Councils hopes this research will lead to more grants applications. Annette Stone shared that there will be a public hearing on the January 26 agenda to consider a Hilton Garden Inn. A Honey Bee mural will be painted on the side of Carrboro Fire Station #1 this spring by Matthew Willey to bring attention to the decline of the Honey Bee population. Southern Rail has closed. Laurie Paolicelli asked for a round of applause for Chair Anthony Carey. Chair Carey adjourned the meeting at 9:25 3 1Page yIIII 0 y V 3 B 0 D M eetiing UaIII !aii,y 2 0 , 2 01.6