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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCity Council Committees - Lodging Tax Advisory Committee - 11/20/2014 Lodging Tax Advisory Committee Meeting November 20, 2014 Start Time 4:00 pm Centennial North & South Conference Rooms Committee Members Present: Chair Bill Boyce, John Casey, David Kwok, Barbara Smith, Tim Higgins, Blane Webber Others present: Ben Wolters, Julie Pulliam, Ryan Hart, Michelle Wilmot, William Ellis, Navid Smafa, Hilary Waite Chair Boyce called the meeting to order at 4:05 pm, Introductions were done. Chair asked for any additions to the agenda, none were offered. Approval of Minutes A motion to approve the September 25, 2014 minutes was made by Barbara Smith and 2"d by David Kwok. Motion passes. Budget Report — None Chair Boyce requested a first of the year Financial Report for the next meeting. Brand & Logo Sponsorship- Ben Wolters Ben Wolters spoke on an opportunity to present the new Brand and Logo to a substantial business audience in the region, the Economic Forecast Conference which will be held at the Seattle Convention Center on January 15, 2015. We have a proposal from ECD which is attached in your packet for $15,000 sponsorship level. At this level we will be considered a prime sponsor in line with Puget Sound Energy, Puget Sound Business Journal, and KIRO 7. Margo Shiroyama provides several answers to questions Ryan Hart purposed. Question like what is the coverage of this event, how many will eyeballs will be there and which eyeball will be there. This event will have many of the leading business and government officials of the region, really a great audience for us to put this new logo and brand along with the accompanying work we will be doing to highlight Kent. There will also be an over print in the Puget Sound Business Journal and that will be something we can have and use in the future as promotional material, as well as the EDC using it throughout the region. The will be an opportunity for those of you who would like to attend to attend at our Kent table. Julie Pulliam will call to see who would like to attend and make the reservations. Wolters stated overall he feels this to be a great opportunity for us to introduce the new Logo and Brand to the region. Wolters asked for questions/thoughts: John Casey asked to clarify from the last meeting minutes the request started as a $5,000 contribution and now is seeing it as $15,000. Is there still the option to approve $5,000? Wolters stated the Committee has the authority to go for less, with a lesser amount the benefits are less. Wolters stated his original request was introduced as $5,000 and as the discussion continued the Committee and more information was provided Wolters impression was the Committee was actually interested in going higher in order to have a bigger splash at the event. Barbara Smith commented the Committee also saw an opportunity to get the new brand tag line out in the public. We felt this would be a way to do this in a big way and thought of this as a launching. Lodging Tax Advisory Committee Minutes of November 20, 2014 Page: 2 Tim Higgins stated that with $5,000 we would just be in the mix, with $15,000 will put us right up there to be noticed. David Kwok agrees the $15,000 will put us in the spot where we need to be. Since this is also partnering with the City of Kent, will the City of Kent also be contributing? Wolters answered, yes the City has a play in this but Wolters sees this as primarily as an opportunity is really a regional roll-out of our new Brand. For that reason it is appropriate for lodging tax dollars to support this fully. The City of Kent is already a member of the Economic Development Council as part of the membership we pay $15,000 a year as membership dues. With the $15,000 sponsorship we will receive 10 tickets to the Conference and the City will be paying for any additional tickets that will be needed above the 10. Blane Webber commented he is in favor of the elevated sponsorship level. Ryan Hart stated he had several question for Margo Shiroyama and feels satisfied with the answers. Motion: Move to authorize the Lodging Tax Advisory Committee to sponsorship the use of the brand and logo for the Annual Economic Forecast Conference, January 15, 2015 in the amount of $15,000. Tim Higgins moved and John Casey 2"d. No Discussion, Motion passed, David Kwok, abstained. Washington First Robotics — Navid Smafa & Hilary Waite Washington First Robotics has asked for $5,000; Washington First Robotics is part of the global organization First which is all about hosting robotics competitions and organizing the events for students all around the world. The program includes ages from 6 to 18 years of age. Our program is specially targeted toward the students in these programs. As of last year we have reached 11,000 among public, private, and charter schools all throughout the state. We are really excited about the State Championship, January 31, 2015, at ShoWare center for the second year. There will be 32 teams from Elementary School program an addition 32 teams from the Middle School and High School level programs, to make 64 teams who have qualified and will be participating. The event will be live streamed on-line and are very excited about the event growing each yea r. Hilary Waite stated the prospected budget for the event is $25,000 and that includes the fee for doing the event at ShoWare. We are requesting $5,000 from Lodging Tax Advisory Committee to help underwrite the costs for the team trophies, volunteer meals, and equipment. We are projecting approximately 125 volunteers who will need rooms at hotels. We are hoping to bring over 1000 kids and their families into the City of Kent. Chair Boyce clarified the timeframe of the event is January 31, 2015 all day at ShoWare. Boyce asked how many local schools are there. Navid said there is some coming from Kent, but the number is not known until they qualify. The hotel stay would be for 1 night. Boyce asked how do we know go about advertise the Kent hotels to stay in? Navid stated the information can be put on our website of hotel information to choose from. Wolters would like to state we need to put front and center the Kent hotels because they are partnering with the event via the expenditure of the Lodging Tax dollars in support. Lodging Tax Advisory Committee Minutes of November 20, 2014 Page: 3 Blane Webber stated his hotel had several stays from the event last year. David Kwok asked how will you report back to us? Navid said he will get the specifics on the volunteers stays, as well as put out a survey to teams on were they stayed as part of our annual survey. Kwok asked what plan do you have to promote the Kent Hotels, most of it is self-promoted by the availability and close proximity to the event, they have to be there early and it is more convenient to stay close. Chair Boyce said the tracking should be two fold. Tracked by the Hoteliers as well as First Robotics in there survey. Chair Boyce called for any other questions? Add tracking of hotels is important as well as the report back to the Committee. Motion: Move to authorize the Lodging Tax Advisory Committee to grant an ask of Washington First Robotics State Championship on January 31, 2015 at ShoWare Center in the amount of $5,000. David Kwok moved, Blane Webber 2"d, Motion passes. Tourism Website updates and next steps- Ben Wolters Wolters brought attention to the document Visitkent.com Project Timeline which has been handed out. This is a summary by Mary Kae Repp for the Committee to give you a quick snapshot of where things are at. With some of the options that were not coming together due to money or available staff time and were affecting the timelines and stalling the project, Wolters had a conference call with Genesis along with Michelle Wilmot and Ryan Hart who agree to join in the call and take stock in the whole development process was at and how the project could best move forward. This conference call took place just prior to this Lodging Tax Meeting. What we came up with was to still keep the structure of the website with categories to help guide people forward to via the website, it needed to be done in a way that was still able to be produced with the resources available. So the concept was to do with really good photography and you may recall the Committee approved the hiring of a local photographer who has been busy shooting and to pair it with narrative from the local writer that has also been hired by the Committee. Wolters showed the example of the approach that has been prepared for the Committees approval. Chair Boyce stated we want to get something up and going that is workable, we can always add to as we go. Is the mind set to scale it back a little to get it up and running, workable, and doable? Wolters stated that is exactly it, you have summed up the issue. Wolters showed the website as a visual as a prototype and explained the way it will work. Our writers will be changing this up often. We need to strike a balance of the audience we want to reach. We need to look at others in the region that has never been to Kent, or doing business here, or even residents. Smith said we need to make sure the events that would generate overnight stays are highlighted. Wilmot stated these are just examples and will be rotated out for events that will be relevant at the time. This is just an example to give a flavor of how the website will work. Lodging Tax Advisory Committee Minutes of November 20, 2014 Page: 4 Wolters took some time to take the Committee through some of the pages of the website. After presenting the pages and the Committee asking question Wolters asked "Is this basic set up of the site going in the right direction?" Committee response was eyes" Chair Boyce had 1 concern is when you look at the webpage there is a lot of verbiage. Sometime seeing a lot of verbiage is not desirable. Wolters said that concern was considered by on the homepage having a small amount of verbiage and if you want to see or read more you would need to click on it. Chair Boyce asked if all Committee is ok or any concerns? Smith asked if we will have it ready for the Robotic staff to have to use as a resource for their folks to find hotels or things to do in Kent. Wolters stated that everything should be up and running by December 19 that is Genesis commitment if the Committee approves of this direction of how to finish the structure of the website. Chair Boyce wanted to review the homepage a final time, and check to see if the hotels will show up on I click on where to stay. Yes the hotels will come up. Chair Boyce said he thinks the site looks good. Wolters wanted to poll the Committee for an ok to propose is make available to Genesis Ben Wolters, Michelle Wilmot and Ryan Hart bounce stuff off, to proof read and be available during the course of the day to be Genesis team to interact with at a rapid rate. So when it is at good places of completion Wolters will give the Committee the password protected site to go and review and further feedback. That is Wolters proposal on how to get this done in the rapid time frame we are looking to keep. Chair Boyce felt this to be a good idea. But he would really like to be able to give the Committee the chance to look at it and comment as it gets completed. This has been stalled for some time now and this will move it forward and keep everyone involved as progress in made. Genesis needs contact to keep things moving quickly. Wolters has been working with Genesis to make sure the website works correctly on all the web platforms. Genesis has followed up with this and their programmer is working on it now. Genesis is committed to having this up and going by the December 19th date. Michelle Wilmot stated the photography on the website are professional done are nice and makes Kent look like a beautiful place. We really stress the need to have great photography and placement. Chair Boyce asked we always think about diversity when doing the website. David Kwok wanted to ask about the writer and photographer handouts. Wolters wants the Committee to take that home and review. This handout will show what will be need past the 30 - 60 day contract we have already done. Wolters stated this will be our next big question, what is moving forward look like, how much will that cost, and how do we want to approach those two balancing items. Genesis wanted the Committee to know what their basic concept was going forward with maintenance. Chair Boyce asked when was the 60 days up? Wolters stated December 191h, 2014. Lodging Tax Advisory Committee Minutes of November 20, 2014 Page: 5 Wolters suggest we meet in January and come back and revisit this. David Kwok is wanting to know what length of contract is being considered for the photographer and writer? Wolters stated that is up to discussion, maintenance was originally looked at doing 1 year, the Committee decided to start out with a 60 day contract. We needed to get the site up and running and then have a broader conversation on how the committee wants to approach that question. Wolters stated he felt the Committee would want to review a contract at least every year. Chair Boyce asked who owns the site? The City owns it. Good of the order — Nothing Assignment for the Next Meeting — Budget Report Next Regular Meeting Date — January 22, 2015 at 4 pm (Committee will meet every other month on the 3rd Thursday of the month 4 pm., Centennial North & South Conference Rooms.) Adiournment - The meeting was adjourned by Chair Bill Boyce, at 5:20 pm. Submitted by Julie Pulliam, Lodging Tax Se e ry