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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes Corpus Christi Convention & Visitor Bureau - 05/16/2002 `i MINUTES CORPUS CHRISTI CONVENTION&VISITORS BUREAU BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING Thursday,May 16, 2002 12:OOp.m Museum of Science&History/Water Garden Room PRESENT: Brad Lomax-Chair,Bill Goin,Bill Morgan, Bill Pettus,Cristina Garza, Dave Prewitt, Govind Nadkarni, Berney Seal, Jody Patel,John Trice, Victor Gonzalez, Bert Quintanilla, Skip Noe, Lillian Riojas ABSENT: Mayor Loyd Neal, Tom Schmid,Vangie Chapa, Linda Routh, David Garcia GUESTS: Joe Cisneros, President-C.C. Hispanic Chamber and Manti Cummings STAFF: Wayne Bennett, Connie Cardamone, Carol Dunton, Terry Morales I. CALL TO ORDER: Brad Lomax called the meeting to order at 12:03 p.m. II. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: Brad made a motion to approve the April 11, 2002 CVB Board of Directors meeting minutes. Motion seconded;motion passed. HI. PUBLIC COMMENT: None IV. HISPANIC CHAMBER UPDATE: Joe Cisneros, President of the C.C. Hispanic Chamber gave the board a brief overview of their position with the marketing of Corpus Christi in Mexico. He informed the board that they have opened a new bank account, separate from their standard account that holds the funds that are transferred from the CVB. He noted that the beginning balance in that account was$40,500.00; which is the amount they have received to-date this fiscal year. Joe went over their financial report with the board and outlined expenditures that have been incurred, leaving an ending balance of$34,889.11. He also reviewed their timetable and activity report for the period of May 2002 through October 2002. Manti gave a brief report on his experience while living in Mexico. He stated that their media campaign would include a continual presence in the"El Norte"newspaper and the`Sierra Madre", directing the ad campaign toward the social elite. He would like the first event to be a media event on Labor Day weekend and reported on other events they are working on for the summer. He also reported on some possible on-site promotions and/or charity fund raising events in conjunction with Christus Spohn;which owns 50% of the largest hospital in Monterrey and with HEB, which have 18 stores in the Monterrey area. He stated that their goals for this summer are to get a media campaign up and going in July on a weekly or biweekly basis in the aforementioned newspaper/magazines and to plan a media and travel agent promotion event;which will require local participation. He noted that these events would exhaust the balance of the funds issued by the CVB. Manti stated that they plan on asking the producers of the program called"Rola Monterrey"to film one of their episodes in Corpus Christi. Joe Cisneros noted that Corpus Christi has been out of the market in Mexico for years and they plan on re-introducing our city to that region. He SCANNED 0• S Page 2 Board of Directors Mtg. May 16 2002 stated that there is a whole new traveling generation of Mexican citizens who are not familiar with Corpus Christi. There was a brief discussion regarding the Hispanic Chamber's effort and what the CVB can do to help them achieve their goals. Bert commented on how the chamber's co-chairs are very well connected in the Monterrey region, which will be of value to the CVB. Bill Morgan stated that they have invited the chamber to attend thein monthly sales&marketing meetings. Wayne added that they can direct them to the state of Texas' marketing effort in Mexico for guidance and can use some of their funds to partner with the state. IV. FINANCIAL REPORT: Connie reported that we are at the end of the third quarter of our fiscal year and she and Wayne are reviewing every budget account and making projections to give the board the financial status for the year-end. She noted that the large A/R amount of$116,093.39 at the end of April was due to industry partner billing for TTIA insert, Texas Monthly and the Wahoo insert. The available cash at month end for April was $168,700.75 due to the accrual of$100,000.00 for advertising not billed yet. Connie stated that on the executive summary, salaries are down about 8%and advertising is up over 18%at the same time last year. She also noted that all other operating expenses are down about 4%. Connie went over the variance report with the board. Connie reported that actual revenue for the month of April was $222,369.00; which includes the largest allocation from the city for the year. Our actual total operating expenses were$236,334.00 giving us a net loss of$13,965.00. Brad asked for a motion to accept the financials as presented, Dave Prewitt made the motion, Govind Nadkarni seconded, motion passed. V. MARINA AD HOC COMMITTEE APPOINTMENT: Brad reported that Wayne had received a letter from the Mayor asking him to appoint CVB representative to the newly created Ad Hoc Committee to help negotiate the Landry's project. Brad Lomax was selected to sit on that committee. Brad stated that he feels that he understands the will of the board and also understands the issues that need to be addressed. VI. COMMITTEE REPORTS: • Sales & Marketing-Bill Morgan reported that the Hispanic Chamber had made a presentation at their last meeting. They also looked at the new Wahoo insert with a circulation of 500,000. He stated that the committee approved Bill Pettus looking into some cable T.V. segments. Bill also reported that the STR report for April also looks very good. Bill Pettus reviewed the research survey by Preprint Publishing. He noted that his goal is to take the numbers given and interpolate them into the number of written inquiries we get every year;which is about in the 100,000 range. With further research the return on investment can be calculated. He commented on the 2,000 written inquiries the CVB has received from the April TTIA insert. Wayne reviewed the activity report with the board. He also commented on the SPID construction and how it is affecting the visitor center on the island. Wayne reported on the PKF report on industry trends and on how RevPar and ADR rates for the month of March is down statewide. but Corpus Christi is bucking the trend. Carol gave a brief report on the website bookings which are up about 50%. She i► S • Page 3 Board of Directors Mtg. May 16,2002 commented on the extensive Bacon's clippings for April with a circulation of 13.5 million with a cash equivalency of$96,000.00 largely due to the Selena articles. • Governmental Affairs—No report. • Evaluations& Guidelines—No report. • Nominating Committee—Brad asked that any board members who have not turned in their officer nomination form to please do so. • Finance Committee—Bill Goin reported that they met last week and reviewed the April financials. He added that the committee is still working on developing a forecast item on the executive summary to be able to get a better handle on where we are month to month. VII. PRESIDENT'S REPORT/REGIONAL BOARD REPRESENTATIVE: Wayne reported that he attended a conference in Port Aransas called the "Future of Regional Tourism". Wayne and Kevin Latone have been discussing the regional organization that exists and how Corpus Christi should take more of a leadership role in that effort. Barbara Shepard approached Brad and Wayne about including a regional representative on the board. There was a brief discussion regarding the benefit of such representative. Skip Noe stated that the concept must be submitted to council for approval before an actual person is nominated. He reminded the board that we must submit more names than available slots as per our contract with the city. Brad asked for a motion to add a regional representative to the board, Bill Morgan made the motion, Bert Quintanilla seconded, motion passed. Wayne reported on the TSAE reception on September 8,2002, which is opening night. Wayne passed out the Sand Dollar coupon booklet that came out last week that includes a tracking mechanism for those who participated. He also reported on the public television station KERN annual auction in San Antonio that includes a"Corpus Christi Night". The staff must collect 27 items with a value of$100.00 or more. The entire evening will be focused on Corpus Christi while auctioning those items with some CVB staff manning the phones. Wayne also reported that he met with two managers from SMG came to Corpus Christi to meet with the convention sales staff and to discuss how they will be working together in the future. Wayne feels it will be a very good relationship and they informed Wayne that they have no intention of wanting to take over the convention booking of the convention center. Wayne reported on his trip to Port Royal to begin establishing a relationship with them to let them know what we are doing and how we can help each other. He also reported on the tourism week proclamation and the Hometown Heroes luncheon. X. NEW BUSINESS: None XT. OLD BUSINESS: Dave Prewitt gave an update on the city contract negotiations. He reported that they are looking at a one-year situation. He stated that they made a lot of progress and will be meeting again tomorrow to further discuss percentage and allocations. He stated that they are trying to meet often to be able to work it into the budget cycle coming up. Dave wanted to get a clear understanding if the board can empower the chairman to make final decisions; which saves time by not having those issues come to the board. Brad noted that he would proceed at the direction of the Governmental Affairs committee of said issues. Skip it Page 4 Board of Directors Mtg. May 16,2002 stated that after their next meeting,they could possibly have something to sign by the next board meeting. XII. ADJOURN: There being no further business to discuss,the meeting of the Board of Directors adjourned at 1:22 p.m.