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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2023-04-24 - Minutes -Fayetteville Advertising and Promotion Commission Minutes April 24, 2023 Fayetteville Town Center Commissioners Present: Andrew Prysby, Commissioner at -large *virtual attendance Sarah Bunch, City Council Representative Sonia Harvey, City Council Representative *virtual attendance Katherine Kinney, Tourism & Hospitality Representative Elvis Moya, Tourism & Hospitality Representative *virtual attendance Chrissy Sanderson, Tourism & Hospitality Representative Commissioners Absent: Chair Todd Martin, Tourism & Hospitality Representative Staff: Tyler Wilson, VP of Strategic Initiatives; Jennifer Walker, VP of Finance; Sarah King, VP of Marketing and Communications Commissioner Sanderson called the meeting to order at 2:03 pm. She is chairing the meeting in Chair Martin's absence and introduced the commissioners in attendance and also introduced staff member Tyler Wilson who is standing in for CEO Molly Rawn who is out of town. Old Business A. Commissioner Sanderson asked commissioners to review the March minutes and asked for a motion to approve them. Commissioner Kinney made a motion to approve them with Commissioner Bunch seconding. They were unanimously approved. B. Smithsonian Institute Folk Life Sponsorship Tyler Wilson brought up the contract from the Smithsonian Institute for the $20,000 sponsorship of the Folklife festival that was approved at the March meeting. Commissioner Sanderson asked if there was anything new in the contract that was not covered when the sponsorship was voted on and Wilson said no, it was a standard contract covering what marketing we would receive for the sponsorship. Commissioner Kinney made a motion which Commissioner Harvey seconded to authorize CEO Rawn to sign the contract. It was unanimously approved via a roll call vote. III. New Business A. CEO Report. Executive Summary • City Council accepted the A&P Commission's recommendation to re- appoint Commissioner Katherine Kinney for another 4-year term. • Tina Archer -Cope, VP of Sales, was recognized as an "Emerging Tourism Star" at the E-Tourism Summit in Las Vegas • Tyler Wilson has been promoted to the role of Vice President of Strategic Initiatives with a working title of Executive Director, Fayetteville Town Center • Amy Stockton is procuring proposals for a different retirement plan which would allow a larger employer contribution to be an option. We currently offer a SIMPLE IRA, this would be a move toward a 457(b) • We are reviewing design options from Flintlock Lab for Experience Fayetteville offices which include ADA bathroom upgrades and re- configured office space • The repairs on Walker Stone House are almost complete, and the Folk School team is confident that programming can begin in May Marketing • The Marketing team is finalizing the 2022 Annual Report. • We made the decision to not renew the Buxton contract, and are researching various tools to help us capture visitor data in a more user friendly way • We have debuted a new photo asset platform which allows us better, more efficient access to our photo library • New Spring photo shoots have been scheduled and will include photos of the Greenway, First Thursday, Square to Square, and other businesses and attractions • Sales and Marketing team are hosting a dual sport motorcycling influencer next week Sales • Tina & Julie represented Experience Fayetteville at the UA Hospitality Career Fair on March 7th speaking with over 100 attendees about careers in our industry. • In March Julie attended the select bank travel show in Branson that brought together 200 group planners. Julie was able to add 25 new planners to our email list and CRM and was able to secure 5 new groups for the 2023-2024 season • Sales led the Hospitality in a Heartbeat March 141" meeting where we had 15 hotel partners present. They spoke to these partners about the sales team's tradeshow plans for the year • Molly recently attended the Music Cities Tourism Conference, along with Ashley Cane, Director of Brand Strategy. We hope to bring the conference to Fayetteville in 2025. Visitor Center • New Spring Hours 9 a.m. — 1 p.m. to accommodate Farmers Market • VC saw 1,138 visitors in March 2023 81 % increase from the prior month (630) • VC had $3,931 in sales in March 2023 39% increase the prior month ($2,819) • Visitors from Mexico, South Africa and Scotland. • High visitor count day, March 18th — 165. ExpFay provided coffee and refreshments for Spring Fling on the Square Cycling Experience Fayetteville participated at the University of Arkansas annual Bike Fest on 4/6 Annual US Pro Cup and international mountain bike competition was hosted at Fayetteville's Centennial Park April 12th — 16th 1,497 individual race starts Event pulled participants from 41 states and 11 countries: Experience Fayetteville hosted team from Visit Shawnee during US Pro Cup. Their city is developing a complimentary venue to Centennial Park (mountain bike and cyclo-cross) that could encourage future regional competition/series in the Midwest. Fayetteville Town Center Since our last meeting, Fayetteville Town Center has successfully hosted 24 events. April has been our busiest month this year, with only six days not booked We were thrilled to host the Arkansas Scholastic Press Association Convention last week, which brought over 600 journalism students to Fayetteville. Community Events We have received $23,500 in sponsorship commitments for First Thursday and Lights of the Ozarks and still have plenty of sponsorship opportunities available! We are in the process of booking the remaining bands and performers for the season. Downtown Initiatives We are finalizing the brand identity for the Downtown Fayetteville Coalition and plan to launch downtown social media channels by end of April. Upcoming Events May 4th First Thursday season opener May the Fourth, presented by Walton Arts Center's Artosphere. May 18-21 st Joe Martin Stage Race May 21st Experience Fayetteville Criterium May 21 st - All Wheels Welcome Downtown Fayetteville Coalition event at the JMSR Looking ahead to future commission meetings May: Walker Stone House tour June: potential Audit Presentation, potential budget revision B. Financial Report. Jennifer Walker, VP of Finance Walker stated that March financials are in the commission agenda packets and that as of March, our target for both revenue and expenditures is 25% of the overall budget. Our revenue hit 22% while expenses hit 20%, both of these are below target with expenditures even lower, so that is a good sign. We are 3% below our targeted number for our seasonally adjusted budget expectations. Our HMR tax receipts YTD are $1,152,678. We have $4.7 million in cash and investments and unearned revenue amount is $187,000 for events booked in 2023. With no questions, she concluded the report. C. Marketing Report. Sarah King, VP of Marketing and Communications King opened up the report by showing some of the enhancements on our website, including portions dedicated to gravel riding. She then turned it over to Mike Sells with Sells Agency. He shared website insights for March — users are up 17% and sessions are up 14%. He named some of the top metros who are watching our website, including DFW, Chicago and more. One very interesting item of note is that 68% of our referral traffic is from Razorback properties. He noted that the ExpFay social media team continues to excel with social up 67% compared to last year and a large percentage of growth from email marketing. He noted the top pages on our website are Things to Do in Fayetteville, Events Calendar, and a post called 11 best things to do in Fayetteville. He concluded with 2023 marketing initiatives, which include Fayetteville Restaurant Week, Fayetteville Events and our major campaign, "Authentic Fayetteville" campaign which starts this May. D. Vote. Fayetteville Town Center Window Coverings. VP Wilson discussed this voting item and began by stating that the upper -level window shades in the FTC ballroom need attention as some of the shades are broken and cannot be repaired and are no longer being manufactured. We are recommending new window coverings with a $96,500 quote with a 10% increase contingency if needed. Commissioner Bunch made a motion which was seconded by Commissioner Kinney to authorize the CEO to accept a quote from Custom Electronics for $96,500 with a 10% contingency for new window coverings. It was approved unanimously by a roll call vote. With no further items to discuss, Commissioner Sanderson adjourned the meeting at 2:30 pm. Minutes submitted by Amy Stockton, Director of Operations, Experience Fayetteville