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Tourism Committee, Marshall Chamber of Commerce Committee members present: Stan Moore, Ken Yowell, Arlene Borchers, Bill Orendorff, Cynthia Crawford Tourism Commission: Angie Wells Affiliates present: Shellie Arth, Larry Arrowood, Micheal Marsh, Micki Uhrig, Virginia Huston Guests: Eric Crump and Rachel Harper from the Democrat-News Chair Stan Moore called the meeting to order. Stan Moore showed two brochures that have been developed in the past year to support Marshall tourism. These are available in quantity for use. Think about value-added as people are already visiting Marshall, as well as attracting new people to visit. The Chamber of Commerce can serve as a distribution agent for your event mailings to people primarily 50+ miles from Marshall. Stan showed the materials that will accompany your mailing. In addition to providing labor to prepare the mailing, postage will also be provided. You provide mailing labels to the Chamber. If you want your event information routinely included in the packets, provide the information (preprinted in quantity) to the Chamber. It will go out in packets once you provide it. Mailings of 200+ are preferred so that they can be sent bulk postage. Mailings of less than 200 pieces can be managed, too. If you want a sticker on the outside of the mailer, please provide that, as well. Remember bulk mail takes longer to be delivered, so allow sufficient lead time. Alert Ken Yowell at the Chamber as you begin to plan a mailing so that they can plan for staff time. Reimbursement of Affiliates - Cash flow The question was raised about fund reallocation. No potential to increase dollar funding. Within your approved funding a group can make reasonable reallocations within the budget line item (for example media work) and then explain clearly when request reimbursement. If your reallocation is questionable, get approval ahead of the expenditure. Communication is key. Nearly all of the requests this year (for 2007) were continuation and further development of on-going work. After a two-year history, this group can submit to the Missouri Tourism State Commission. We are working toward a destination marketing organization for this purpose. There needs to be one group – not several – at the community level. This is another plus of this collaborative. Matching funds are possible. Reporting from affiliates is important however we want it to be an efficient process. A first draft of an evaluation tool was distributed. Be sure to encourage and document overnight stays whenever possible. Angie Wells encouraged affiliates to ask local motels to track overnight stays. When you call to ask for a discount for event participants, ask motels to note how many stay with them. They routinely ask something like “what brings to you Marshall” and they add it to the data base. Rose Anne Huck/Poole Advertising is a resource available to affiliate groups. Funds are built into the grant to upgrade printed materials/websites. Emphasis on quality – need a competitive edge with competition. Green Printers has a library of photography available. Shellie Arth added that the Democrat-News has photographs available. We know that many potential visitors are looking at Marshall via websites. Quality is important here, as well. Linking web pages is a plus. Ken Yowell reported that there are 12 visitors’ centers in MO. The smaller flyer has been approved by the state to be distributed by the visitor’s centers. 1800 brochures have been shipped to them. Chamber members have received the larger brochure. MVC is sending the brochure to prospective students and their families. The response has only been enthusiastic. Affiliates are encouraged to use the brochures, as well. Reprints are anticipated for fall annually. Updates needed by late summer. Brochure updates go to Ken Yowell/Chamber of Commerce. Missouri Life has a Marshall ad each issue. Work with our graphic artist to be aware of your specific event – Rose Anne Huck’s e-mail is roseanne@pooleadvertising.com Stan emphasized getting the brochures distributed – even think about family reunions. The website is in place. All events need to be scheduled on the website (affiliates and all groups). Use the website to submit your information. The info is approved at the Chamber office and then published on the site. It is not too soon to put event dates for all month on the calendar. There are multiple URL’s that take people to the website. This is another way we will be able to track the effectiveness of print advertising in various locations. Micki Uhrig raised the question of whether there would be economies of scale to host all web sites in the same location. We will ask Rose Anne. Shellie Arth offered that she has newspaper contact information for all newspapers in Missouri. Missouri Press Assoc. has a deal for buying ads for the west region of Missouri, the east region or the entire state. Can buy advertising in a lot of papers for not a lot of money. Time efficient and only one bill to pay. MFA Oil Foundation education dollars *Recruiting volunteers and keeping them engaged Think about packaging activities – “Play and Stay Weekend” with a menu of activities. Populating the calendar on the web site is the start of this happening. Need to push populating the events calendar immediately. One good idea is making the round of civic groups to promote the web site and especially the calendar. Also talk about brochure. Angie Wells, Marshall Tourism Commission, congratulated and encouraged the Chamber Tourism Committee for serving as an umbrella group and their approach to the funding proposal process. March 31 – need project summary for 2006. Angie will provide form to Stan. For 2008 – consider whether two different brochures are needed or whether one brochure will fill both needs. Angie Wells indicated that the Theater Group will want to be an affiliate in 2008. Be thinking about other groups that may want to be affiliates and that need information. Click any of the links below for previous Tourism Planning Reports
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Upcoming Events & Links May 2008 Flower Fest on the Square
For more information on the above events, please click here to view our monthly calendar of events. |
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| Chamber of Commerce | |||||||||
| Tourism Planning Reports | |||||||||
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| Marshall Democrat News | |||||||||
| Marshall-Saline Development Corporation | |||||||||
| Marshall Public Schools |
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