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HomeMy WebLinkAbout03-19-2009 * _7K . *CITY Meeting Notes AUBURN TOURISM BOARD SHI NGTON March 19, 2009 Auburn Area Chamber of Commerce 1:30-3pm Attendance: Board: Chair Sue Singer, Nancy Wyatt, Dixie Scahel, Adrian Buchan and David Kwok Staff: Debbie Luce, Kirsten Reynolds and Jeremy Chevalier Guests: Janis Flagg Opening: Chair Sue Singer called the Auburn Tourism Board meeting to order at 1:30 p.m. on March 19, 2009, at the Auburn Area Chamber Office, 108 S Division Street, Ste B. 1. Housekeeping • Introductions • Approval of Minutes from February 19, 2009 The Committee approved the minutes from February 19, 2009 as read. 2. Updates: • Aviation Show Update - Debbie Luce attended the annual Aviation Show held at the Puyallup Fairgrounds. Ms. Luce reported the give-a-way was popular this year, they had a total of 59 entries; several prizes were donated from Gosanko Chocolate Art and the Muckleshoot Casino. Attendees at the show expressed when they fly in to an airport they want to know what is within walking distance. The show was successful and proven to be a good use of time to get people familiar with the Auburn area. People were very interested in the number of airport hangers on site. • NW Sport Stackinq Championship - ATB sent welcome packets to the NW Sport Stacking_groups participating in the championship, packets included the local hotel rate specials and other area information. Dixie Scahel, from the Travelodge Suites, reported they had finro groups from the event stay. Last year the Supermall reported an increase of people that weekend. Many of the groups were local or close to Auburn and they could have easily turned around and drove back without staying the night. 3. Action Items • Financial Report - The Board would like to see the 2008 numbers as a comparison for tracking 2009, Debbie will ask for this format from now on from the City of Auburn Finance Department. Under the expenses section it currently is displayed as the Chamber of Commerce, it should reflect as the Auburn Tourism Board, this classification needs to be changed on the report permanently; it should also read as Auburn Tourism staff. 4. New Business • New Website Presentation www.auburntourism.com - Jeremy Chevalier unveiled the new Auburn Tourism Board website. Categories throughout the entire website are similar. Everything on the website is located within one to two clicks, it's very easy to navigate and maintain. The new site is catered to be higher up on search engines; it has been set up to recognize the following key words: Auburn WA, Auburn Washington, Things to do, Tourism, Hotels, Motels, Lodging, Reception, Banquet, Meeting, Restaurant, Building, Photos; the Meta Descriptions are: come to Auburn Washington and visit Emerald Downs, Muckleshoot Casino, Pacific Raceways, White River Amphitheatre and the Supermall. There are a lot of things to do here! The www.MoreThanYoulmaqined.com URL will continue to redirect people to the new site www.auburntourism.com. Other features on the site include, but are not limited to: • The main highlight section can be changed as events come up. • The calendar is dynamically maintained; once"the date expires it will roll off the page. • Website pictures are available for public use. • The things to do page allows readers to view pictures of businesses; text and pictures all have an equivalent feeling to them. • Park inquires are directed to the City's parks page. • Unique Shopping: ATB decided to only post unique shops in Auburn so doesn't have the same feeling as the Auburn Area Chamber site. • All amenities are listed: restaurants, lodging, meeting facilities, banquet facilities, caterers, picnic shelters and meeting rooms. • There is a section for Auburn News; this page will show the most recent 20 postings from the blog (www.talkauburn.com). Member Wyatt moved to accept the new website content and launch the live site; Member Scahel seconded the motion. All were in favor; the website will be live within 72 hours. Discussion about the ATB blog took place; www.talkauburn.com is the address for posting information on the site. It was recommended that all City staff be granted unlimited access to this site to allow open communication befinreen City staff and the community. Jeremy Chevalier, Debbie Luce and Nancy Wyatt all have editing abilities for the blog; spam posts are removed and messages sent to an individual warning them not to use bad language and/or they will have their IP addresses blocked from making future posts. Making posts can be very beneficial to a business if they have their own website link attached to their signature. Each time they make a post it will post their website link on the blog and help generate traffic to their sites. ATB would like Jeremy Chevalier to present the new tourism website at an upcoming Chamber luncheon. Chamber members could be shown how to make posts and drive hits to their websites. Mr. Chevalier suggested it would be beneficial to have two press releases issued, one for the blog www.talkauburn.com and one for the ATB www.auburntourism.com; the sites should be promoted separately. It was agreed that Jeremy Chevalier would present the new website at the next Auburn City Council meeting. • Certified Display Contract - The Board discussed the Whistler and British Columbia locations for dispersing the map/brochures in efforts to reach the Winter Olympics crowd. The current inventory should last through the current contract; however, the Board should begin working on the next layout and printing schedule. The group discussed it may not be the right time to solicit for paid advertisements because of the bad economy. Many restaurants are cutting their marketing budgets. Debbie Luce got quotes for selling our own ads or having the Auburn Reporter selling them in a larger booklet format (Snoqualmie's Visitor Guide was used as a reference). Debbie Luce will get more information about morphing the ATB map/brochure with a visitor/residents guide and report back to the group. Southwest King County Chamber is updating their attraction guide and selling ads for $50. The Board briefly discussed the possibility of using a card based program for mailing and promotional activities; this type of advertising has proven to be good for tracking and measuring the return (cards have tracking numbers on the back). These promotional cards could have a one time discount offer and an on-going discount offer; on-going discounts will promote repeat business. • Discover Auburn Week - The date was changed to take place on Saturday, June 6tn through Sunday, June 14t"; the date was changed to help promote the new Farmers Market, along with other events already being planned. The Tourism Board is planning to host a booth at the opening of the Farmer's Market, which happens to be the last day of the Tourism Week. Emerald Downs is hosting their Triple Crown race occurring to start the week of activities off; there is racing on Friday, Saturday and Sunday that week and they are hosting an Irish Celebration. People would be allowed to come for passport stamps at any of their events. The Board discovered they could save $10,000 on printing costs by changing the size of the passport; the new passport design would be printed on 8'/2 x 11 non glossy paper. 100,000 passports will be distributed through the Reporter Newspapers and at various locations around the City. All members agreed this would be the best time to hold the 2009 Discover Auburn Week. Debbie Luce will send a follow up e-mail out with more event details. • South Kinq County Bridal Fair - Janis Flagg announced her group of wedding event coordinators meets in the morning the last Tuesday of the month, locations change to showcase different businesses/vendors. The group has been exploring the idea of hosting a South King County Bridal Fair during the winter; the event would have four mock weddings happening with different themes to showcase various ideas. ATB discussed the possibility to get involved and would like to discuss the options further. Adrian Buchan announced Emerald Downs has been discussing hosting a Baby Expo in the future. 5. Information Sharing • Emerald Downs is hosting a job fair Saturday, March 21St. They are looking for people to work in the food and beverage jobs. The event was broadcasted on KIRO News; the job fair will be held from 11 am - 4pm. • The Auburn Area Chamber is revamping their website. They are also hosting a seminar on how to build your business in today's economy. • The City is working on grants for acquiring the historical post office/old county health office on Auburn Avenue from King County. Sue Singer had the idea to make this a business incubator. Other ideas for its use include arts-related offices, galleries and Chamber offices. • There was a brief discussion about the new Farmers Market branding materials; Jeremy Chevalier gave the Farmer's Market Manager, Lillie Brinker, branded marketing materials that work well with the City of Auburn and the Tourism Board. ATB was in agreement that a more collaborative effort should be made to work with the Auburn Downtown Association (ADA) regarding future Main Street banner design. Other Business: 1. Next Meeting: Host for next meeting - Emerald Downs on April 30, 2009 at 1:30 - 3:00 p.m. 2. Adjournment at 3:20 p.m.