VisitRainier Board Minutes: March 2008
Pierce County Community Services Building
Attendance: Dee Patterson, Vivian Cadematori, Pam Newlun, Andrea Brannon, Maree Lerchen, Jeremy Foust, Mary Kay Nelson, Carol Zahorsky
Absent: PC Dickenson and Ellie Worsham
The minutes from the January 31, 2008 board meeting were presented. Vivian moved and Pam seconded a motion for the approval of the minutes. Motion carried.
The Jan-Feb financial reports were reviewed and accepted. Mary Kay noted that the carryover from 2007 should not be included in the profit and loss statement and she will have the bookkeeper print out a revised P&L.
Mary Kay presented information regarding the 2008 budget and adjustments that need to be made within the marketing and promotion category based on the amount of carry forward from 2007.
Executive Director Report:
| Report from Wa State Tourism office | Top initiatives: Nature based tourism and Scenic Byways, b-roll library, Olympics, international marketing, Geo tourism, competitive grants to come. |
| Foss Harbor Marina post cards | Delivered 1000 postcards to be distributed to those entering via boat this year. |
| 501c6 approval | YES, we received it on 3/4/08 |
| Website support | Helped Sara with photography agreements, hiking info, NPS contact/review, Paradise page, 10 pages of notes. |
| Website promo business card | Researching an inexpensive tool for announcing the new website. |
| Connecting with the Cruise lines | Contacted Seattle CVB to discuss options, rack card placement. Cruise-a-thon next year? |
| Watchable Wildlife Conference in September | September 3 and 4 in Leavenworth. |
| Scenic Byway workshops in April and May | April 30 - May 2 in SanJuans - wayfinding signs May 7 & 8 in Leavenworth uniting groups around the byway. |
| Informal Survey results | MK will share preliminary results. Pleased with 13 properties responding. |
Carol Zahorsky provided a report to the board on her recent activities including recent press releases and interest by the media to report on the reopening of Paradise Inn. Carol asked the board members for updates from their areas. She encouraged each board member to contact her with information and asked them to be prompt in their responses, as sometimes she has limited time to work with media. She will try to give as much lead time as possible. Knowing what lodging and dining establishments are willing to comp or provide assistance can help make it easier. Carol has information regarding the c-boards for cruise terminals and will send it to Mary Kay for future use.
The Pierce County request for 2009 funds is due March 14. The board discussed strategies for presenting information and filling out the application with as much results oriented information as possible. Letters of support are important and we will work on obtaining 3 letters for the packet.
On-line marketing options - Mary Kay presented research she had done on various on line advertising sites. The board instructed her to continue looking for the best ROI and further investigate the Orbitz proposal in addition to Adwords and State Tourism banner ad that we are currently doing.
Website 2.0 update - The board held a lengthy discussion about the website so far. Several comments were made and Dee and Jeremy agreed to follow up with Ken on their concerns. The discussion of content and service area was held. The board agreed that Visit Rainier should focus on the areas surrounding the park and gateway communities as they have in the past. The website should reflect the best experience for visiting Mt. Rainier. Communities outside of the gateway communities will be noted as nearby neighbors and links will be provided to Chambers of Commerce for those communities. Shopping will be listed for key tourist oriented shopping such as gift and souvenir shops, outdoor recreation stores, rental shops, galleries etc.. Links will be provided to all chambers for complete list of businesses and services in communities.
It was also noted that we need to provide driving times as well as distance. With mountain driving and slow vehicles the driving times vary greatly from what the average visitor is used to. Overall the board was pleased with the progress on the website. The next deliverable is set for April.
Community Meeting and website roll out.
The board discussed the need to work with the lodging businesses on posting their information on the website and the importance of their participation. The more that participate the better the website will serve the entire area. If Ken is available, the board set aside April 16 for a community wide meeting to inform all interested in the new website and to specifically address the need to post their information on the website. A power point presentation will be shown by Mary Kay as an overview of the work Visit Rainer has done in the past 3 years. This presentation will be used for Pierce County LTAC as well. After MK has talked to Ken, the plans/and or need will be determined for the meeting.
Byway Extension project: Maree updated the board on the progress being made by the group proposing the 3rd leg of the Rainier Byway. A group headed by Steve Pruitt from Eatonville is looking at the possibility of creating a link between Morton and Enumclaw as a Scenic Byway that will connect the White Pass Byway and Chinook Byway.
Meeting adjourned at 2:20 pm.