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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1.a. 2014-10-01 CSE Minutes DRAFTCSE Minutes Regular Meeting: October 1 Page 1 of 6 DRAFT MINUTES COMMISSION ON SPECIAL EVENTS MEETING Vail Town Council Chambers Wednesday, October 1, 2014 @ 8:30 a.m. CSE Members Present: Barry Davis Bobby Bank Amy Cassidy Mark Gordon Rayla Kundolf Nicole Whitaker CSE Member Absent: Jeff Andrews Town of Vail Staff Present: Sybill Navas, CSE Coordinator Kelli McDonald, Economic Development Manager Others Present: Laura Waniuk, Event Liaison Margaret Rogers, Vail Town Council Missy Johnson, Highline Cabal Yarne, VCBA/Lionshead Merchants Laney Odom, Love Hope Strength Foundation Liz Campbell, Betty Ford Alpine Gardens Ariel Rosemberg, Lakeside Stride Robin Litt, Vail Jazz Foundation Owen Hutchinson, Vail Jazz Foundation Jeanne Reid White, Bravo! Vail James Palermo, Bravo! Vail Sabrina Green, Bravo! Vail Jen Mason, Vail Valley Foundation Martha Brassel, Vail Valley Foundation Brian Hall, Blue Creek Productions Dave Chapin, Vail Town Council Terri Hanley Reichart, Arrabelle Mark Sassi, TV8 CSE Minutes Regular Meeting: October 1 Page 2 of 6 AGENDA: Meeting materials can be accessed at: http://www.vailgov.com/WebLink8/0/fol/313784/Row1.aspx CSE Chair, Barry Davis, called the meeting to order at 8:30 a.m. Administrative Items • Approval of the Minutes of the CSE Regular Meeting of September 3, 2014  Motion to approve the minutes of the CSE meeting of September 3, 2014, as presented. M/S/P: Kundolf/Gordon/Unanimous The motion passed 6-0. • Upcoming Meeting Schedule: o Wednesday, Nov. 5: RFP Presentations - Antlers, 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. o Wednesday, Nov. 12: Funding Allocations - West Vail Fire Station, 8:30 a.m.-3:00 p.m. o Thursday, Nov. 20: Present Funding Allocation Decisions to VLMDAC – Antlers, 8:30 a.m. o Tuesday, Dec. 2: Present 2015 Event Allocations to Town Council o Navas explained that interviews for CSE applicants at Town Council Work Session on Tuesday, December 16. Terms expiring at the end of the year are those of Barry Davis, Amy Cassidy and Mark Gordon. Bank will be term limited at the end of June, 2015. • Review Financial Status: Navas referred the CSE to the spreadsheet provided in the packet materials and noted that recap statistics have been added for all events that have presented to date. Event Recaps: Please see all recap documents for further details. Vail Summer Blue Grass Series: Ariel Rosemberg, Lakeside Stride Rosemberg would like to keep the 2015 event in Lionshead because he’s created good relationships, and that the event would benefit from having weekly concerts as opposed to the lengthier and more random schedule of this last summer. Kundolf asked if a seated area is necessary, Rosemberg said no, but it’s what people are accustomed to in Lionshead. Rosemberg said his event survey cost was $2500. Bank asked who the profit from the bar went to; Rosemberg stated it went to the venue (Arrabelle). Bank then asked Rosenberg to explore a profit sharing scenario with Arrabelle. Bravo! Vail: Jim Palermo, President and Executive Director Great results in the second year of new branding. Palermo stated it was the “best year ever” for the festival that defines itself by the commitment to deliver world class CSE Minutes Regular Meeting: October 1 Page 3 of 6 musicians in a beautiful setting in a vital social environment. Bravo! Vail received NPR recognition as a “Top 10 in the US” music festival and was named “one of 5 festivals worth the drive” by 5180 magazine. He noted that although there were 5 out of 6 sold out concerts featuring the New York Philharmonic, there were also 3 out of 6 sold out concerts with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and that attendance numbers appear to be down on account of a change in the methodology used to calculate the total. Retention is the key to success of their program. Excellent marketing ROI was gained on new digital initiatives. Community outreach programs continue, such as “Bravo! After Dark.” Whitaker mentioned that the customized email marketing was successful because of the “you might also like” section. Palermo said that reminder emails were sent to ticket holders before events, which increased attendance. Gordon stated that the funding is a very important part of the program as the ticket sales aren’t a huge revenue driver. Kundolf mentioned that it would be good to try to attract younger demographic such as millennials. Palermo stated that their demographic tends to age up based on life stages but added that there is research that says that it is a better strategy to chase the demographic of 5-7 year olds to create that appreciation early. Vail Jazz Festival: Robin Litt and Owen Hutchinson, Vail Jazz Foundation It was a huge year in both reputation and in number of performances. Nearly every event was sold out. They had a float in the 4th of July parade. The concert on Friday afternoon of Labor Day weekend was a great hit. Kundolf stated that the ongoing concert series was great in that it lasted the whole summer. Vail International Dance Festival: Martha Brassel, Vail Valley Foundation Brassel, stating that “We have arrived!” also described a “best ever” year in this, its 26th season. A new PR agency was engaged this year. The dance critic at the New York Times “loves this festival.” Ticket prices were higher, but so were ticket sales. They do intend to keep the $2015 concert on the schedule. Lodging growth was up this year and referrals from the dance website are up too. Farmers’ Market program was well received, but they hope to be able to activate again in Lionshead next year. Kundolf stated that the ambassadorship of Martha to other regions has been a part of the success. Rehearsal space is a challenge to find. Bank remarked on the “budget loss,” to which Brassel replied it was due to small items such as specific lighting requirements requested by choreographers and because there are significant costs for royalties. Hot Summer Nights: Jen Mason, Vail Valley Foundation Attendance is based on the weather, only one rain this summer. Citing a “fabulous line- up this year,” bands were scheduled to begin a little later, which seemed to work well this year. Parking and cost of concessions were weaknesses. They remain committed to a schedule from the 2nd week in June through late August. Whitaker stated that the bigger name bands really help with the revenue generation and filling the town and those big names bring guests in the bars and Vail Village. Mason closed by stating that they like to start and finish the season with a big name, so as to set the stage, and that they have notice a lot of out of town guests in attendance. CSE Minutes Regular Meeting: October 1 Page 4 of 6 Vail Rocks: Laney Odom, Love Hope Strength Foundation Dealt with transition of the executive director, despite this, they had a successful event. Checkpoint Charlie was a good location for the concert. Merchandise sales were strong. There wasn’t as much of a PR hit from the band, Devotchka, as expected. There was good attendance the night of the concert. Area for improvement to increase local attendance, Most of the hikers were from outside of town. Evergreen Lodge provided free rooms to some survivors. Whitaker mentioned the weekend was really busy across Vail Valley; there were a lot of events going on. Drink orders were as used to determine attendance at the concert. Navas stated that hike was inspirational and the on mountain concerts were great. Vail America Days: Missy Johnson, Highline The estimated attendance was 25,000. Golden Peak traditional fireworks show was well received. Highline moved to an online float registration application which helped close down registration a little earlier. This year there were 10 fewer floats, in an effort to keep the parade to a two hour window. Some of the floats or groups may have lagged and created gaps during the parade. A few more marching bands were requested for next year. Identifying the theme earlier next year would make things more efficient. Davis asked how the Solaris event impacted the parade. Johnson said that it would be an improvement to set up for the event venues earlier, for example liquor boundaries. For 2015 there may be a need to activate Solaris if it’s available. Cassidy mentioned that there are a lot of sponsorship opportunities. Johnson stated that Solaris was already in use this year and that was normally a location that could work for sponsors. Highline needs a longer lead-time to sell partnerships. Gourmet on Gore: Missy Johnson, Highline Described as an “Awesome weekend!,” the Friday night tasting tour event was a great kick off and profits go to Habitat to Humanity. Worked on overall guest experience from last year. Every location met the mark for a unique guest experience. Need to enhance the communication to vendors. The Slifer, Smith & Frampton home tour was a good way to diversify the event. Whitaker stated that it would be better if they start marketing efforts earlier. She also asked about the Rotary rubber ducky race and if it had an impact on the event. Johnson said that she didn’t notice an impact. Navas mentioned that although getting sponsors for events is important, we need to remember that our mission is to promote a positive environment for local businesses and that we need to be sensitive to recruiting sponsors that compete directly with Town of Vail businesses located within the same venue. Johnson stated that there will be another look at the strategy of duplication of sale of retail items next year. Vail Kids Adventure Club in Lionshead: Brian Hall, Blue Creek Productions The event draws families and kids to Lionshead and changing the start time to earlier in the day increased traffic to the event. Partnerships with concierges and hotels are a key communication strategy. Hall contracted an intercept survey to get an understanding of who attended the event, finding that there were more out of town attendees than expected. Hall is thinking about holding fewer, larger events. This was a challenging year because of the late coming support from the LH Merchants Association. Hall stated CSE Minutes Regular Meeting: October 1 Page 5 of 6 that for 2015, he needs to commit to the event regardless of sponsorship by the LH Merchants. Survey cost $1200-$1600 for this series of events. Hall is trying to get more sponsors for 2015. Cassidy described the event as a good example of an event that improves the guest experience. On August 16, Survivor auditions were held for the second year and fully funded by CBS. CBS wants to come back in 2015. Hall would like to try to create an event around it for both adults and kids.  Motion to approve the recaps for all events (a-i) and release the final funding disbursement to each promoter. M/S/P: Kundolf/Bank/Unanimous The motion passed 6-0 a. Vail Summer Blue Grass Series: Ariel Rosemberg, Lakeside Stride b. Vail International Dance Festival: Martha Brassel, Vail Valley Foundation c. Hot Summer Nights: Jen Mason, Vail Valley Foundation d. Bravo! Vail: Jim Palermo, President and Executive Director e. Vail Jazz Festival: Robin Litt and Owen Hutchinson, Vail Jazz Foundation f. Vail Rocks: Laney Odom, Love Hope Strength Foundation g. Vail America Days: Missy Johnson, Highline h. Gourmet on Gore: Missy Johnson, Highline i. Vail Kids Adventure Club in Lionshead: Brian Hall, Blue Creek Productions Review 2015 CSE Budget proposal/Event Liaison Contract Navas reviewed the budget supplied in the packet, and requested approval. CSE members questioned the survey line item under admin items. Navas then stated that McDonald met with the Town Manager, Stan Zemler, on September 30 regarding the Memo sent by the CSE to the Town Manager and the Finance Director in May requesting additional budget support in 2015. McDonald stated that the request for fireworks at America Days and New Years Eve has traction with the town. The one time new event funding request for $50,000 was considered a premature request because the CSE has not even received any requests yet, and does not know what will be forthcoming in this year’s RFP process. The final decision was to amend the memo to focus solely on fireworks. There was lengthy discussion regarding how the survey funding should be accounted for, given the CSE’s commitment in the RFP to cover those costs for all Tier 2 events. The members determined that how the survey funding would be allocated would be decided during the allocation process. They agreed that the request for survey funds and for new event continuation funding are to be struck from the Memo.  Motion to approve the administrative budget at $23,036. M/S/P: Cassidy/Bank/Unanimous The motion passed 6-0.  Motion to amend the Memo to strike the requests for $50,000 for surveys and $50,000 for new event continuation/opportunity funding. M/S/P: Kundolf/Bank/ The motion passed 5-1, with Bank voting in opposition. CSE Minutes Regular Meeting: October 1 Page 6 of 6  Motion to move $50,000 for the intercept/attendance survey funding out of the admin budget and into the Special Event Funds category. M/S/P: Kundolf/Whitaker/Unanimous The motion passed 6-0. Evaluation and Discussion of 2014 Events and Looking Ahead • Evaluate 2014 calendar with respect to Brand fit • Areas for Improvement • Determine strategy for funding decision making Navas stated that the way to approach the allocation strategy is to keep in mind the ROI to the Town. The CSE has the Destimetrics report to understand occupancy and ADR trends when considering potential events. This is just one data point, there are many others. Whitaker mentioned that CSE should consider other town events in the Vail Valley and their timing when looking at 2015 RFP’s. The Town of Vail staff will commit to trying to collect as much information about the other town events as they can. Davis mentioned to focus on having a fresh perspective and to be more creative and innovative in events and event selection. New Business and Community Input Chapin stated, “Everyone is chasing us because we set the standard” for special events and that we need to continue to set the standard moving forward. Cabal from the LH Merchants said that Vail’s Top Shelf Harvest event was successful. His shop, Arriesgado clothing had very good traffic from the event. Memorial Day is also a great opportunity for an event in Lionshead. He also thanked the CSE for continued funding for the Event Liaison position, which has  Motion to adjourn @ 11:27 a.m. M/S/P: Kundolf/Whitaker/Unanimous- The motion passed 6-0 Upcoming Meetings: CSE Annual RFP Review Meeting: Wednesday, November 5 @ 8:30 a.m. - 5:30 p.m. Antlers at Vail