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DRAFT 2012_12_05 CSE MinutesCSE/Meeting Minutes December 5, 2012 Page 1 of 5 MINUTES: Town of Vail: Commission on Special Events Meeting Town Council Chambers __________________Wednesday, December 5, 2012 @ 8:30 a.m.______________ CSE Members Present: Jenn Bruno Cali Adkisson **left meeting @ 11:30 am Bobby Bank Dave Chapin Barry Davis *left meeting @ 11:15 am Sonny Kerstiens *left meeting @ 10:30 am Rayla Kundolf TOV Staff Present: Sybill Navas, CSE Coordinator Tammy Nagel, CSE Secretary Clare Hefferren, Economic Development Assistant Others Present: Adam Sutner, MKT Vail, LLC and Strategic Consultant to the CSE Margaret Rogers, Vail Town Council Member Robin Litt, Vail Jazz Festival Jaime Gunion and Beth Pappas, Vail Recreation District (VRD) Jessica Stevens, Vail Valley Partnership Kathleen Reed, Omniplan Consulting ______________________________________________________________________ CSE Chair, Jenn Bruno, called the meeting to order at 8:30 a.m. Administrative Items: • Approval of the Minutes of the meeting of the CSE meeting held November 14, 2012.  Motion to approve the Minutes of the meeting of November 14, 2012, as presented. M/S/P: Kundolf/Chapin/Unanimous. • Terms of current CSE Members: Navas reminded members that Adkisson, Davis and Chapin’s board positions will expire on December 31, 2012 and that all three members are eligible to reapply. All persons who are interested in serving on the CSE board should submit letters of interest and experience to the Vail Town Council, Attn: Lorelei Donaldson, Town Clerk, by mail or person no later than 5:00 pm on December 11, 2012. Town Council will conduct interviews during the December 18th work session and appoint the new members during the evening session that same day. CSE/Meeting Minutes December 5, 2012 Page 2 of 5 • Review DRAFT 2013 CSE Meeting Dates: Due to the holidays, the regular monthly CSE meeting scheduled for January 2 will be rescheduled to January 9, 2013. Navas will let members know where the meeting will be held, since the Council Chambers have already been reserved that day for another meeting. CSE members reviewed and approved the draft meeting dates for 2013 by consensus. • Navas presented a spreadsheet summarizing the CSE’s 2012 budget and status of contracts. No issues were raised.  Motion to approve an additional $691.00 from the CSE 2012 budget towards unexpected expenses incurred for the Memorial Day event research project. M/S/P: Kundolf/Davis/Unanimous. Special Event Recap: Vail Jazz Festival Robin Litt, Vail Jazz Festival, provided the CSE members with a brief recap of the 18th annual Vail Jazz Festival. There were 40 performances over the 12 week summer season with four distinct jazz series: Labor Day weekend party, Jazz at Vail Square on Thursday evenings, Jazz at the Market and Jazz After at Larkspur, in partnership with the Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival. The Jazz Foundation also sponsored a summer long exhibit at Vail Visitor Center on Dave Brubeck’s life. Litt stated attendance was over 18,000 this summer, a 15% increase over 2011 and a 40% increase over 2010. Litt stated Jazz @ Vail Square has become the “place to be” on Thursday nights. Litt estimated 1000+ guests filled Lionshead every week on Thursday nights and throughout Labor Day Weekend, creating energy and generating sales in retail shops and restaurants. Jazz Goes to School is another community contribution the festival offers which brings Jazz education to every 4th and 5th grader in Eagle County. Litt stated, given that the holiday falls on a Thursday in 2013, she has spoken with 4th of July event producer, Tony Landon, concerning the Jazz Festival and Human Movement partnering to bring a large name act. Review December 4th Town Council Discussion of CSE Funding Allocations: Bruno thanked all CSE members, especially Rogers, Navas, Hefferren and Sutner for presenting the 2013 CSE event allocations to the Town Council and requesting additional funding from Council for certain events. Navas stated that I Openers had declined the $21,500.00 allocation for a shortened version of Vail Restaurant Month, leaving that much additional money in the 2013 CSE budget. Lionshead restaurant owner, Brian Nolan has requested to present a restaurant proposal to CSE members at the January or February meeting. Navas informed the board that the following events that did not receive any funding, were still committed to produce the event in Vail; including the Ultra Race of Champions, Vail Victory Races, Season of Song, Vail Global Energy Forum, Beyond Winning and Losing, Skating Club of Vail Invitational Tournament and the Carpenter’s Ball. Council voted to allocate monies toward the Living Well Summit ($25,000), Intercept Survey/Attendance Research ($50,000) and a Memorial Day weekend event (up to $85,000). They also agreed that the CSE’s $15,000 request to fund an Event/Marketing Liaison contract would be appropriately funded from the Vail Local Marketing District budget. CSE/Meeting Minutes December 5, 2012 Page 3 of 5 Rogers stated the Town Council will be having a retreat on January 8, 2013 and there will be a discussion concerning event funding. Rogers would like to present dollar figures to the other Council members showing the return on investment that the Town of Vail earns from their investment in special events. Sutner will supply Council with metrics for all points of return on investment such as lodging, effects on local contractors, marketing and sales tax. Memorial Day Event Discussion and Review of Focus Group Input: Sutner provided the members with an overview of the Memorial Day Focus Research. Sutner stated the group of 12 were either from Vail, were second homeowners or were here on vacation. All had good knowledge of the industry, Vail and travel. Concepts tested included a luxury festival, family fun, comedy, music and food. Sutner provided brief descriptions of the concepts that were tested on the groups and summarized: • Luxury did not resonate at all – luxury within the Vail brand connotes the outdoors and quality time, not material possessions and acquisition. • Family was viewed as too prosaic and to ubiquitous, and the awkward school schedule was voiced several times. • Comedy was seen as fresh, bold, unexpected and novel, but all mentioned need for ‘big name’, that genre subjectivity was quirky, and was ultimately viewed as quasi-appealing and a little polarizing. • Music: The participants are knowledgeable of Vail’s and others’ music offerings and saw a Memorial Day festival as perhaps too much. When concept was pivoted in group 2 to January, as an après, ‘walk around’ concept there was far more traction. • Culinary: strong traction, especially in group 2, with enthusiasm spread amongst younger to older participants, - Hands on, participatory, competitive, and celebrity were all strong themes - Wine pairings, mixology, demos, classes, children’s cooking, kitchen tours - Celebrity aspects especially well received; Iron Chef, ‘Throw Downs’, et. Al. - Indoor/Outdoor, competitions amongst attendees - Possible tie to Health & Well-being Sutner stated a Memorial Day food concept event could feature casual and fun cooking seminars; from French, to Farm to Table, to Northern Italian, and others. At key time periods, either indoors or outside depending on the weather, Vail would feature a major celebrity chef, Bobby Flay for instance knows from TV’s Food Network, in a kind of ‘Vail Throw Down’ format. A lucky member of the public in attendance at Vail’s Food Weekend might win the opportunity to compete against our illustrious professional chef. Similarly, another idea would be to construct a kind of ‘Iron Chef’ style food stadium with seating for our culinary visitors. Vail would recruit several world class chefs to compete in the Rockies version of this popular TV property. Sutner stated it would be similar to the Gourmet on Gore festival on Labor Day Weekend, turning the Village into a food lover’s paradise with the restaurants opening up to the public for small portion tastings, clever food and wine pairings, fun mixology encounters, and a festival atmosphere as visitors explore the village. CSE/Meeting Minutes December 5, 2012 Page 4 of 5 Bank observed that Vail could have 4 strong food events which create a “culinary” balance to the overall calendar, with Gourmet on Gore on Labor Day, develop a strong October culinary experience, Taste of Vail closing out the ski season and a Memorial Day culinary kick-off to summer. Sutner noted that Vail might capitalize on developing “Culinary Vail” as a brand with a website of its own. Marketing Checklist for Publicly Funded Events: The purpose of developing the marketing checklist is to develop guidelines with specific checkpoints and to provide a liaison to assist producers in creating better awareness about their events and insure that the level is compatible with the “Vail Brand.” Due to a lack of time, Hefferren offered to email the document to all of the members for their comments and approval. Adkisson suggested that “cross promotion” be added to the list. Review Scope of Work Proposal for Event/Marketing Liaison Contract: Navas informed CSE members the draft proposal is currently not ready to be reviewed, but that she would email it to members next week for their approval prior to the scheduled review by the Vail Local Marketing District Advisory Council at their meeting on December 20, 2012. Review Draft Event Letter of Agreement for 2013 Special Events and attachments: In the interest of time, the CSE deferred this discussion to the January 9th CSE meeting. RFQ for Strategic Planning Consulting Services in 2013: Interview the Finalists and Award Contract: • Kathleen Reed from Omniplan Consulting provided CSE members a PowerPoint in their packets. Reed reviewed her background and experience of developing tactical and strategic planning; her ability to bring cohesion to a disconnected group; her ability to manage projects and experience in leadership. Reed provided examples of her experience with strategic brand planning; such as Chemical Bank and Trust and Colorado Christian University. • Adam Sutner from MKT Vail provided CSE members with a PowerPoint in their packets outlining his nearly 30 year marketing history on both agency and enterprise sides of the business, including the following sector experience: Ski and snowboard industry; destination resort marketing; power sports, automotive, pharmaceutical, technology, men’s fashion, packaged goods, and recreation. Sutner’s formative experience was at TBWA Chiat/Day Advertising, where he worked across the globe managing the Nissan brand and other blue chip clients. During that time he became well versed in the value of brand, and the optimal processes required to understand and nurture world class brands in the culture of Chiat/Day’s vaunted Account Planning process. • Executive Session: pursuant to: 1) C.R.S. §24-6-402(4) (e) - to determine positions, develop a strategy and instruct negotiators, Regarding: Contract for Strategic Planning and Consulting Services to the CSE in 2013. CSE/Meeting Minutes December 5, 2012 Page 5 of 5  Motion to adjourn into executive session @ 11:20 am. M/S/P: Bank/Chapman/Unanimous*  Motion to return to the regular scheduled CSE meeting @ 11:30 am. M/S/P: Bank/Kundolf/Unanimous* Citing the advantages of being based in Vail and the recently approved corresponding contract with VLMDAC which will further foster the ongoing communications and strategic alignment progress that has developed over the last year, CSE members voted unanimously to offer the contract to MKT Vail (Adam Sutner).  Motion to contract with MKT Vail for the Strategic Planning and Consulting Services in 2013. M/S/P: Kundolf/Adkisson/Unanimous* New Business and Community Input: None. Adjournment:  Motion to Adjourn @ 12:00 p.m. M/S/P: Kundolf/ Bank /Unanimous** Next CSE Meeting: Wednesday, January 9, 2013 @ 8:30 a.m. The Grand View @ the Lionshead Welcome Center