HomeMy WebLinkAbout2022-05-23 - MinutesFayetteville Advertising and Promotion Commission
Minutes May 23, 2022
Fayetteville Town Center
Commissioners Todd Martin, Chair, Tourism & Hospitality Representative
Present: Elvis Moya, Tourism & Hospitality Representative
Chrissy Sanderson, Tourism & Hospitality Representative
Andrew Prysby, Commissioner at -large
Sarah Bunch, City Council Representative
Mark Kinion, City Council Representative
Commissioners Katherine Kinney
Absent:
Staff: Molly Rawn, CEO; Jennifer Walker, Vice President of Finance;
Hazel Hernandez, Vice President of Marketing and Communications
Chair Martin called the meeting to order at 2:00 pm.
Old Business
A. Chair Martin asked commissioners to review and approve the April 2022 minutes.
Commissioner Sanderson made a motion to approve the minutes with
Commissioner Prysby seconded. After asking for any objections and hearing
none, Chair Martin stated that the minutes were approved.
B. Vote. Amendment to the by-laws allowing for virtual meetings and virtual
attendance at in -person meetings.
In accordance with the by-laws, the proposed amendment was presented for the
first time at the April meeting. Chair Martin read the proposed changes to the by-
laws and asked if there were any questions or comments. Commissioner Bunch
asked about the origin of the proposed number 3 as the maximum number of
virtual meetings and CEO Rawn said it was selected as it represented 1/4 of the
total number of meetings. Commissioner Bunch also asked about the quality of the
technology available for hybrid meetings and CEO Rawn said the equipment at the
Fayetteville Town Center will be upgraded and she feels confident in this approach
and in her team's ability to deliver a good experience.
Chair Martin asked for a vote and it was approved unanimously.
III. New Business
A. CEO Report. An executive overview of the previous month's activity, issues and
opportunities facing the organization. Complete memo attached.
CEO Rawn spoke about upcoming events for the commission. She updated the
group on the activities of the Experience Fayetteville sales team which included a
sports conference where VP of Sales Tina Archer -Cope had numerous
appointments with event organizers.
While May's First Thursday event was rained out, we are looking forward to June's
event next week entitled "In Bloom."
May is bike month and we've been doing complimentary bike valet at restaurants
located close to a bike trail on Tuesday evenings and will be closing out the month
at Leverett Lounge. EF is also hosting a Bike Friendly Business Boot Camp for
businesses.
The Joe Martin Stage Race was this last weekend with the Experience
Fayetteville Criterium yesterday. Rawn was very pleased to see elevated
community and spectator engagement at the start and finish lines. Rawn
highlighted that we will have held 4 professional cycling events of varying
disciplines (road, gravel, mountain and cyclo-cross) within the first half of this
year.
The Fayetteville Town Center has hosted 13 events since the commission last
met, one being a two -week rental from the Fayetteville High School. FTC has
been working with the city to take part in city's Energy Savings Performance
Contract which may allow certain upgrades such as replacing some HVAC units,
weatherization, and possibly roof upgrades in a cost saving manner.
The Clinton House Museum continues the work of separating itself financially from
the A&P and has hired Kristi Andrews to staff the museum on Thursday and
Friday from 10 am to 4. Rawn expects there to be a staffer announced for
Saturday soon.
Clinton House Museum board president Steve Smith, Arkansas Department of
Parks, Heritage and Tourism's Secretary Stacy Hurst and Rawn met with the
University of Arkansas, the owner of the house, and were granted a reprieve from
monthly rent obligations through 2023.
She informed the group that the desire to receive consultation on future purposes
for the Walker Stone House may possibly be handled by a project Britin Bostick
with the city of Fayetteville is coordinating involving a consultant on a project with
an overlapping scope.
Rawn spoke about our current HMR and occupancy numbers, stating that we
were at 70% occupancy for April, up 11 % from April 2021 and year to date we are
up 6% in occupancy. Furthermore, our ADR, average daily rate, is up 32%
compared to April of 2021. Lodging collections are up 28% compared to last
month and 36% compared to the same time last year. Dining collections are up
24% over last month but we do show a small decrease compared to April 2021.
She stated she is not concerned over this decrease but will be watching future
numbers. She thanked the city of Fayetteville's accounting team and noted that
they are installing and utilizing a new software system which will help show us
more detail on collections in the future.
B. Financial Report. Jennifer Walker, Vice President of Finance
VP Walker said that the agenda packet contained April financial statements and with
being one-fourth through the year, the target revenue and expenditure level is 33%
We are 2% below target for revenue and 7% below target for expenses. We have a
very healthy financial position with a current operating net income amount of
$283,000. We have grant revenue that we have not received which will make up
most of that 2% deficit in revenue. Looking at our HMR revenue, seasonally
adjusted, we are about 2% ahead of target in revenue. The balance sheet shows
cash and investments are $4.5 million and our unearned revenue is approximately
$150,000 - this is a good sign showing upcoming bookings at the town center.
C. Marketing Report. Hazel Hernandez, Vice President of Marketing and
Communications
Hernandez began by highlighting the Moose Jaw US Pro Cup in April where we
had numerous stories by media and a great Instagram live, with lots of interaction,
with Ty Caddy and two athletes. She also highlighted a new publication coming
soon for us, a pocket guide to Fayetteville, which will be helpful for both cost and
ease of distribution. The pocket guide will have a QR code that will take visitors to
the full Visitors Guide on our website.
Fayettevan will be activated in both NW Arkansas and Arkansas to create
awareness and we are working on doing a ride -along interview to highlight Vanny.
It's been at several events since it arrived more than a month ago.
Hernandez gave updates on our social media accounts: Facebook had increased
reach and visits but new followers were down 13% compared to new followers last
month, with total followers at 36,652. Instagram saw a decreased page reach but a
strong number of followers at 58,578 — one of the largest Instagram accounts in
the state compared to other DMO's. Total referrals from our social sites to our
website are up 163%. Commissioner Moya suggested the idea of asking a
restaurant to do a take over for a day to show off their new dishes, get interviews
from customers, etc.
Hernandez also talked about the work we are planning do in the motorcycling
realm, with adventure riding being a prime target to focus on. With that, Hernandez
turned it over to Mike Sells with Sells Agency.
Mike Sells talked about the re -vamping of our Experience Fayetteville website.
Sells said in 2017 that organic traffic made up 36% and that number jumped to
57% in 2021. Our new strategy for the website will be blog articles with anchor or
"evergreen" content. Mike mentioned that having Jerrika Longueville as our Digital
Marketing Coordinator was a "game changer" and she has created a lot of content
for our site. We have also added an event calendar which is now the 51" most
visited page on the site. Commissioner Prysby asked if we are featuring social
media on our website. Currently the site is featuring our own social but not others.
He suggested staff look into adding other users' content who use our tags.
Sells stated that current projects include updating the Eat section of the site,
activating our Fayettevan PR Plan, doing photo shoots for fresh content and re -
purposing the Cyclo-Cross website to the US Pro Cup.
Sells also mentioned some travel industry trends and insights - traveling with pets
is very popular and so we are looking to highlight our pet friendly activations and
businesses. Additionally, 77% of travelers are more conscious of supporting small
local businesses while traveling and sustainability incentives while traveling are
also important.
D. Vote. Downtown Initiative. A recommendation to allocate $100,000 to hire a
director of downtown initiatives, in association with the Downtown Fayetteville
Coalition. Memo attached.
CEO Rawn opened this up by saying that this has been a need and a topic since
she arrived almost 6 years ago and that Fayetteville needs to have a strong
downtown organization.
Fayetteville Downtown Coalition, formally the Dickson Street Merchants, is an
organization that has branched out to cover a broader area than just Dickson
Street and has been working hard to establish a thriving organization and it is a
good time to add paid staff to propel their efforts. Rawn is proposing to incubate a
staff position as a line item within Experience Fayetteville's personnel budget. She
mentions that this should not just be an Experience Fayetteville expense, but could
be shared with the city of Fayetteville and she knows that there are city staff who
are in support of this growth. Rawn mentioned that Fayetteville is one of the only
large cities in Arkansas to not have a dedicated downtown organization. Chair
Martin, who is involved in the Fayetteville Downtown Coalition, said the coalition
saw the need to expand the footprint of this group to expand much further than
Dickson Street and having dedicated personnel will be vital to moving this initiative
forward.
Commissioner Moya asked how many merchants would be involved in this
organization and if this person would give a monthly update to this commission like
other EF departments and finally, has the city of Fayetteville voiced that they will
give financial support to this initiative?
Chair Martin answered the question about merchants by stating the approximate
geographic area of the downtown area encompasses approximately the same area
as our Outdoor Refreshment Area. Rawn stated yes, this person would be giving
updates on this initiative to give to the commission. She said that the city has not
allocated any funding and the city will be formally asked for financial support to be
considered when the city's next budget cycle begins. If the commission approves
this, Experience Fayetteville would be voting to make this investment and hire this
person before the city or other potential supporters would be getting involved.
Rawn said that before we committed to more years of funding, we would want to
see commitment from other entities. Commissioner Sanderson asked if $100.000
will be enough to fill this roll and Rawn said she thought $100,000 in this fiscal year
would be enough to give this person the tools they need.
Commissioners Kinion and Bunch who also serve as City Council members stated
that as this request and program goes before the City Council, we will need to be
cognizant that each city council member represents different sections of the city
and members may ask what about attention for Uptown or Midtown, etc. Rawn
acknowledged those were all good points and to be expected. She stated there is
a uniqueness and significance that downtowns bring to tourism as economic
drivers and that a thriving downtown brings benefits to the city overall.
After more discussion, Chair Martin asked if he could call for a vote.
Bunch asked if the job description was complete or in progress and how it would
be advertised. CEO Rawn said that it would be posted internally, on Indeed, our
own website and social media. For this job, we will also post on the International
Downtown Associations' job portal. Commission Bunch also asked about the hiring
process and Rawn said she would like to put together a search group that would
include stakeholders such as the Fayetteville Downtown Coalition. Rawn stated
the overall goal of this project and position is to found and establish an
independent downtown organization with its own by-laws and structure.
Commissioner Kinion volunteered to make a motion (as clarified Chair Martin) for
the A&P Commission to authorize the creation of the director of downtown
initiatives position and allocate $100,000 to the effort which was seconded by
Commissioner Sanderson. Chair Martin called a roll call vote and it passed
unanimously with Chair Martin abstaining from the vote as he also sits on the
board of the Fayetteville Downtown Coalition.
E. With no further agenda items, Chair Martin called for a motion to adjourn the
meeting. Commissioner Kinion made the motion with Commissioner Sanderson
seconding it and the meeting was adjourned at 3:40 pm.
Minutes submitted by Amy Stockton, Director of Operations, Experience
Fayetteville