BE A TOURIST IN YOUR OWN BACKYARD! Lodging, shopping, eats, arts and entertainment GENERAL MEMBERSHIP MEETING June 11, 2008 Hilton Garden Inn Northwest 1. Call to Order 2. Introductions – Mike Baxter 3. President’s Report – Mike Baxter a. Radio promotions in Beaumont, Bay City, Crockett, Madisonville, and Bryan-College Station: “Staycation” – staying in town to take a vacation. Mike wrote a story about staying in the NW and a one tank trip, as a PR. Shopping, dining, attractions; contacting local media for the same purpose to promote local business. He contacted the Houston Business Journal and the Houston Chronicle about doing a story on the NW “Staycation” story. b. Mike took a photo of Gary Kreitz from HFAC and Connie Roebuck from METRO Community Outreach, from the recent CVB Business Expo at iT’Z and sent it out to the media with a little blurb. Betty Passini from Giammalva Racquet Club volunteered to put a copy of the blurb on her personal website BettyGoParty.com. The photo was even uploaded to Chron.com and you can check it out in the individual community sections, Houston NW. 4. Approval of Minutes – Dave Crume. Dave moved, Mike 2nd, voting was unanimous. 5. Treasurer’s Report – emailed by Melony Hutson. The Board needs to follow up with Melony so she will actually do this when she cannot attend a meeting. 6. Unfinished Business a. Mike wants to know how the gas prices are affecting our businesses. Not affecting Sweet Tomatoes (as much as the recent scare about salmonella in tomatoes) and Northwest Forest, Hilton Garden Inn and Homewood Suites all report that business is good probably due to corporate money being spent. May be a problem later on this summer. Trader’s Village is up 16% already this year! People aren’t traveling out of our area as much so are spending time and dollars visiting local attractions. b. Membership Drive/Business Expo June 4, 2008 – Paula Harvey, Pam McGuire and Carol Baker. i. Great turnout on exhibitors but limited guest participation. Both the Greater Tomball Area and Houston NW Chambers didn’t get the notices out; but the Cy-Fair Chamber did an excellent job of faxing and emailing! Gary mentioned that Wednesday nights are church nights and we should probably schedule on Tuesdays or Thursdays next time. Timing might have been an issue as Heidi MacMillan from Northwest Forest suggested it’d be easier for her to attend during the work day instead of after. Betty suggested that for after hour’s events people generally don’t go home and then go back out again, especially if it’s during the dinner hour (even though dinner was included in the price of admission). Mike suggested that we hold it at Trader’s Village on a Saturday and have a huge built-in audience. Roseann agreed that Trader’s Village might be a great idea because of that audience. Betty suggested tying in with a Chamber meeting or business expo. Mike said the did an event at Katy Mills the weekend before Mother’s Day since everyone was shopping for mom, had a band and handed stuff out and that provided a HUGE built-in audience. Maybe holding it at Houston Premium Outlets or piggybacking on an existing event to take advantage the built-in audiences. Everyone agreed that getting the word out is paramount. And without Paula, Pam or Carol in attendance there’s not much more we can talk about. Dave Crume from Sweet Tomatoes asked why the Best Western event 3 years ago was so successful, but no one had a definitive answer. Holding it at the Sam Houston Race Park was suggested. Roseann suggested that we cross-promote with the outer-market chambers and Mike said we could get their local radio stations to sponsor! 7. New Business – Creating your Focus for the CVB – Give us your thoughts! a. Current Standing committees (and please join a committee to help support our endeavors): i. Tourism and Events – Mike Baxter. Houston Premium Outlet has a spot for community brochures. ii. Membership – Barbara Tague. iii. Programs – Paula Harvey. iv. Legislative – Barbara Tague. b. Additional committees needed? No information offered. c. Brainstorming session i. TALK TO BARBARA ABOUT RESCHEDULING THE STRATEGIC PLANNING MEETING!!! ii. What do you want? Ken Dwight from The Teleprocessors, Inc. suggested that we talk again to that new dinosaur park that’s opening in East Montgomery County. Disney is involved. Last Mike heard it was still several years away. iii. How can we improve? Ask Paula to line up speakers a couple of months in advance for promotional purposes. Have talked about it before – does she need assistance to line these up? iv. How can the CVB help you and your business? No information offered. v. Speakers? No information offered. vi. What programs would you like to see? No information offered. 8. Announcements a. CVB Member Events for the CVB website – send to mike@tradersvillage.com, these are needed ASAP as all the hotels, restaurants, and attraction will be listed by the CVB on various websites in the coming weeks. If you wished to be included, your information must be sent to Mike ASAP. Heidi would like links back to member sites but Mike said it’s such an economical site that it might not be available. Heidi’s husband has done web design and she offered him to look at it. Mike has found some online travel sites and they allow info to be uploaded on to them including calendars and photos: Tripadvisor.com, virtualtourist.com, and vacationranking.com. To take advantage of some of these sites you need to find people that are unaffiliated with your organization since these sites often ask for non-affiliation signatures. Mike went online to Topix.com and became an editor at this site for Houston and Dolphin Island, Alabama (where he does additional PR work). He can upload info and it goes worldwide! Mike did some Google searching about the Island and discovered his stories from Topix.com were posted on numerous worldwide sites. b. E-newsletter: Mike is still looking into. c. The new mailing address for the CVB – PO Box 284, Tomball, Texas 77377-0284, phone 281-357-1182 d. Dues invoices have been mailed. If you have not received yours, please email us at gnwhcvb@yahoo.com or mail your check to the above address. e. Gary wants folks to take the flyers for the upcoming productions at the HFAC. Les Miz is going to be awesome – over 100 kids auditioned and then they cast 70. Don’t worry about the ‘student edition’ designation as it’s an awesome show. Also, The Wizard of Oz is coming up with flying witches and monkeys! f. The last two home games of the Texas Copperheads are coming up on Saturday, June 21st and Saturday, July 12th. Dave mentioned that he has a partnership with the team, feeding them during the season and having Meet ‘n Greets at the restaurant and Sweet Tomatoes nights at the last two home games. 9. Adjournment at 9:45am. Moved by Gary, Roseann 2nd, voting was unanimous.