Minutes - 03/08/2001 - Hotel Convention and Visitors CommitteeOak Brook Hotel, Convention & Visitors C- ommittee
Minutes of Thursday, March 8, 2001 Meeting
Present: Chairman Mike Campa
John Merrill
Tony Mira
Kerry Mickelson
Ralph Maxson
Absent: Chuck Fleming
Also Present: Adam Butler, Village Trustee
Assistant Village Manager Michael Crotty
Denise Brownell, Marketing Subcommittee Chairperson
Tricia Snyder- Lewis, BVK/McDonald, Inc.
Skip Stritmatter, DuPage Convention & Visitors Bureau
Meeting was called to order at 5:02 p.m.
APPROVAL OF NOVEMBER 16, 2000 MEETING MINUTES
Motion by Tony Mira and seconded by John Merrill to approve the minutes of the
November 16, 2000 meeting as submitted. Motion approved 5 -0.
OLD BUSINESS
a. 2000 Marketing Campaign Update: It was reported that all invoices for
the 2000 Marketing Campaign have been submitted.
b. Recommendation — 2001 Marketing Campaign: The Committee discussed
the direction that should be taken regarding the Oak Brook hotels web site.
Chairman Campa indicated that the Committee directed BVK/McDonald
to revisit the web site at the last meeting, and that the current proposal still
commits approximately 1 /3rd of the dollars to the web site and related
projects. He indicated that he did not support giving that amount of
dollars to that project. Tony Mira indicated that while he was not in favor
of abandoning the web site, he was in favor of focusing dollars on efforts
to drive traffic to the site. Users could then access the individual hotel
sites via the links included on the page.
Assistant Village Manager Crotty suggested that driving traffic to a web
site is obviously important, but that the Village is dealing with the issue of
keeping its own web site updated and fresh. He also suggested that it may
do no good to drive users to a site that people discover is never updated
and is always the same.
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Oak Brook Hotel Convention & Visitors Committee
Meeting Minutes: March 8, 2001
Marketing Subcommittee Chairperson Brownell indicated that it will be
important to establish good tags so that when users enter certain search
key words, the site will be listed. Tony Mira agreed that linkages and
good key words should be a primary focus in updating the site.
John Merrill indicated that he did not think it was wise to have direct
advertising without a place for people to go to get more information. As
such, he was not in favor of abandoning the site. He indicated his
agreement with Mira that we focus more on freshening the look of the site
and driving users to it. Kerry Mickelson indicated that we almost need to
have a web site, but that it doesn't need to be elaborate.
Tony Mira asked whether it was necessary to have an updateable calendar
of events and promotions. Skip Stritmatter indicated that the DCVB has a
calendar and that users could access it via a link to the Bureau. Marketing
Subcommittee Chairperson Brownell indicated that it would be useful to
have an area where the Subcommittee could change text relating to
various promotions.
It was the consensus of the Committee that BVK/McDonald re -work the
web site portion of the campaign to focus on giving the site a fresher look,
developing appropriate "medi- tags" to drive users to the site, and clarify
search engine issues.
John Merrill moved and Kerry Mickelson seconded that the Committee
recommend that the Village Board approve the 2001 Marketing Campaign
excluding certain web -site related portions (i.e. the "site concepting
redesign and development ", " updateable calendar of events and
promotions ", and "new media sponsorship and hyperlinks to planner
sites ") and authorize the Village Manager to enter into the appropriate
contracts for BVK/McDonald to implement the Campaign. It was the
consensus of the Committee that BVK/McDonald would return at its April
meeting with a scaled -down plan for the web -site and any related re-
allocation of the related funds. Motion passed 5 -0.
NEW BUSINESS
a. Ratification of Telephone Poll for Release of Fourth Quarter Tax
Receipts to DCVB: Motion by Ralph Maxson, seconded by Tony Mira, to
ratify the phone poll vote approving the release of 20% of the fourth
quarter tax receipts to the DuPage Convention and Visitors Bureau.
Motion approved 5 -0.
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Oak Brook Hotel Convention & Visitors Committee
Meeting Minutes: March 8, 2001
ADJOURNMENT
Motion by John Merrill and seconded by Ralph Maxson to adjourn the meeting at
6:01 p.m. Motion passed 5 -0.
ATTEST:
Michael A. Crotty
Assistant Village Manager
APPROVED:
May 3, 2001
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Oak Brook Hotel Convention & Visitors Committee
Meeting Minutes: March 8, 2001