We're live at the Tupelo Convention and Visitors Bureau board meeting. Meeting started at 2 p.m.

We were a few minutes late (interviews in Corinth this morning) so we're going to come back and catch up with what we missed at the beginning.

Update: We came back at 10:15 Tuesday morning and updated with the info we missed yesterday.

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Disclaimer: I'm typing as people are talking. There may be typos. People also have a tendency to talk at the same time, so I can't always hear everything.

And, I'm not typing every word. Think of this more as the highlights of the meeting.

Something doesn't make sense? Corrections? Have questions?  Ask.

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Financial report from Kim Hanna:

The CVB ended January with a total fund balance (savings account) of $2,555,936.

North Mississippi Medical Center gave its annual "in lieu of tax" payment in January: $38,546

Fiscal year-to-date revenues over expenses: $80,240.

Tupelo’s tourism revenues grew 12.74 percent in November. CVB collected $304,739 in November, which is up 12.7 percent from November 2010.

Slight fall of 0.1 percent in October.

The money comes from a 2 percent tax on hotels, motels and restaurants in Tupelo. Tupelo reports the money from the month it was spent - November - but it gets the money three months later.

For the fiscal year, the tourism tax revenues have grown 9.72 percent. The CVB’s fiscal year starts in October, which is the August sales month for revenues.

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2:15 p.m. -

• Film report from Pat Rasberry (copy and paste from the report):

Tupelo Film Alliance – Next meeting Saturday, February 25, 2012 at 10 a.m.

MS High School Film Competition – March 3rd – The Link Centre – closing out submissions this week for competition and confirming judges/along with program that will be going up on website soon.

Tupelo Film Festival – The Tupelo Film Festival is underway – May 16-19, 2012 – submissions closed – receiving films in mail with postmark date of deadline (over 150 films with from all over the world) Logistics involving sponsors, workshops and judges will be completed this week.  

Indie Film Series – NY Expo: Opus Jazz  will be held at The Link Centre Tuesday, February 7th – 7 p.m.  - Filmmaker Ellen Bar  from New York will be present to discuss film with attendees.

Pending Projects

MS Film Office – continuing to work with MS Film Office on locations

Katscratchfilms – GA – continuing to work with Kat on several films pending projects which could possibly bring work into Tupelo this summer

SJ Productions – TN – project still pending – Nashville, TN

Red Planet Entertainment – Several projects in the works pending funding

American Family Studios – In addition to their short film “Paper Dream” which is scheduled to be released this spring – they have several other projects in the works they will be announcing  soon

A major effort is in place to complete the 300 applications required to accomplish the mission of securing the “Film MS” special license plate – I am working with Tupelo Film Alliance member/MS Film & Video Alliance and their members as we push forward to make this happen in our state – everyone is very positive that 2012 will be the year to accomplish this goal

Completed Projects

Food Network Channel – Restaurant Impossible segment that was filmed at Woody’s is set to air next month – March 7th.

Willie Bearden Productions – filmed in an Elvis short film in January for the Elvis Presley Birthplace – Scott and several members in his crew stayed in Tupelo three days as there were seven segments to the film that encompassed the Birthplace, Museum and offsite locations that included historical locations of Elvis roots.

Canadian Production Company – were back in Tupelo completing their post-production work on their Elvis documentary this past December and have expressed a great interest to return to Tupelo in May during the Tupelo Film Festival to screen the 1-hour Elvis documentary  

Numerous local and regional filmmakers have developed films which have been completed and have been accepted into festivals in and out of our state in they have received awards - this has been a great way for our city to be promoted as Tupelo was the location for many of the films

Question from Councilwoman Nettie Davis: What about Tupelo 77 movie?

Answer from chairman Neal McCoy and Rasberry:

We're following up on possibility of filming "Tupelo 77" here. It was a play written about life in the South in 1977. Talks about how life and people integrated back then. Loosely based on life in Tupelo. We're trying to get a script. We're doing everything we can.

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Meetings and conventions report from Linda Elliff (copy and paste from report):

•    Attending Bank Travel Marketplace which consists of the nation’s leading organization of Bank Loyalty Program Directors, along with tourism professionals from around the country.  The tradeshow will be held in Memphis, TN and the Tupelo CVB has 33 pre-set appointments where we will meet one-on-one with tour planners to  promote Tupelo as a travel destination for groups.

•    Attending Travel South Showcase , a regional marketplace offering travel suppliers pre-set one-on-one appointments with tour operators interested in bringing business to the 11 Southern states who are members of Travel South USA.  This year’s showcase will be held March 4-7th in Louisville, KY and we are currently in the process of finalizing our appointments at this time.

•    MS Good Sam’s Club RV Group –  This group of 300-400 people will meet in Tupelo at the Tupelo Furniture Market on March 15-18, 2012.  Attendees will be from MS and surrounding states and have previously met in cities such as Greenville and Starkville for the past few years, but never met in Tupelo.  This group enjoys tours of the local attractions, eating at local restaurants and shopping opportunities.

•    Atmos Energy Leadership Conference - Working with the local meeting organizer on bringing this conference to Tupelo in November 2012.  This is a group of 50 delegates from around the state.

•    Travelsphere -  This company is one of the UK’s largest tour operators and has been bringing groups to Tupelo for several years.  They have confirmed that they will  bring a total of 12 tours, ranging from 40 – 55 people per tour, to Tupelo in 2012.

•    MS Lions Club Association State Convention:  The Lion’s Club district meeting was held in Tupelo in January with very positive results.  The local organizer has confirmed that they have voted to bring the state convention to Tupelo in May 2013.  The 2012 convention will be held in Natchez.

•    La/MS/W.TN Kiwanis District Convention – The meeting planner for their district convention visited Tupelo for a facilities site tour and requested a proposal to be submitted from Tupelo to host this meeting in August 2014.  They are meeting in Lafayette in 2012 and Baton Rouge in 2013.  This is a group of 250-300 and they meet Fri.-Sun.  They will make a decision on the 2014 site in March.

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Motorcoach report from Linda Elliff (copy and paste from Sharon McKissick's report):

The Elvis Presley Birthplace  reported 760  visitors with 38 states and 19 countries represented.

Health Works reported 1,639 visitors.

Tupelo Automobile Museum reported 1,838 visitors. 

Tupelo Buffalo Park & Zoo reported 418 in December and 289 in January.

Tupelo Veteran’s Museum reported 258 in December and 218 in January.

I talked with Tammy Galloway with Buckeye Tours out of Cambridge, OH.  She has a tour booked for Oct. 16, 2012.

I talked with Melissa with Christian Tours out of Newton, NC.  She booked a tour for March 23, 2012. 

I talked with Joyce Lawson with Travel Tours out of Wagoner, OK.  She has booked a tour for February 17, 2012.

Recreation Adventure Tours sent in their application for the gas incentive program.

Vickey Gregory out of Hoods, TX is planning on bringing a tour Oct. 18.

West KY Travelers Group out of Paducah, KY is planning on bringing a tour in May 2012.

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Sports development report from Seth Gaines (copy and paste):

•    I met with Ole Miss Sports Clubs on Wednesday 2-1-12 about a possible fall event here in the fall 2012.

•    I present MSU Sport Clubs on Wednesday 2-15-12 about a mirrored event also in fall 2012

•    Mississippi ASA Church State was awarded to Tupelo for July 20-21, 2012 – this event has brought around 16-20 teams to Tupelo in the past.

•    We won a bid for the Ultimate Frisbee Gulf States Athletic Open Conference Championships it will be April 14 weekend, which is the same weekend as the Avett Brothers Concert at the Arena, and they have a huge college age following.

•    I attended the MHSAA Athletic Directors and Administrators Conference on January 11-13, 2012 in Vicksburg, and talk to many Board members and Staff about the possibility of hosting the 1A & 2A State Basketball Championships in Tupelo in 2013.

•    MHSAA met and approved the new format of the State Basketball Championships on February 2, 2012. That opens up the door for Tupelo to present them with a bid for the 1A & 2A State Basketball Tournament for 2013.

•    I will meet with the Tupelo Veterans Council on February 7, 2012 to gain their support as we make a move to get the Wounded Warrior Softball Team here.

•    I will meet with Coach Andy Kirk of the ICC Softball Team Monday February 6, 2012 about an expanded fall softball event in Tupelo 2012.

•    We are looking at a 2 day fall ball tournament with 12-16 schools.

•    There was a Swim event in Tupelo this past weekend – We are still collecting numbers to provide an economic impact report.

•    Tupelo will host an ASA National Umpire School this weekend.

•    I will be attending the NASC Regional Workshop on February 23, 2012.

•    The first version of a sports calendar is complete for 2012.

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Marketing report from Sean Johnson (presented by Stephanie Moody-Coomer - copy and paste)

Traditional Media

We have currently, or scheduled to run, a number of consumer travel messaged ads running in travel-specific inserts like America’s Best Vacations, Spring Travel Planner, etc.

We also have ads targeting our group segment in Group Travel Leader and Group Tour Magazine. Travel 50 and Beyond and the Oxford American are carrying Tupelo branded ads. 

For our meetings segment, we’re running in Reunions Workbook, MSAE, and the Journal of the Mississippi Medical Association. Starting later this month we’ll be running on statewide radio campaign on MPB that will target business/association meetings as well as our festivals.

New Media

We have a number of Spring and Festival season ads that will be appearing in the next few weeks on the Internet. These ads will be in addition to the current “Treat Yourself to Tupelo” dining ads and weekend special lodging ads targeted to our proximal markets and also in addition to our Elvis themed ads that run nationally. The new campaign, which will run on a number of networks (Yahoo!, Google, AdBrite, etc.), will extend into Missouri, Georgia and Texas.

We will also be doing a strong national and international campaign on Facebook that will tout Festival and Elvis activities through August.

Key to this new campaign will be a new section of our website that we are creating. This new section will have a style that speaks specifically to the Elvis tourist. It will be an interactive site that contains Elvis pictures, videos, quotes, etc. and will also allow for users to comment via an online guest book and even post videos and pictures of their adventures in Tupelo. As well, we will be including on the site listings of tour operators who regularly come to Tupelo along with detailed information that is designed to make their travel here as effortless as possible. This new site will launch in early March.

Our Facebook “Like” Page, our App, and our Booking Engine and our Text Campaign…

We now have over 13,000 likes on our Tupelo Facebook page. This is an increase of over 5,000 (62%) over the last time that I reported to you in December.  As this number grows we are seeing continued success in the buzz of our posts – on any given day there are 2,300 people sharing, liking, or commenting on our page.

While we may not yet have the number of likes of Tunica (49,000) we have almost 10 times the people talking about us (they have 299). And the number of direct requests for information about visiting Tupelo and the folks just saying that they’re coming to Tupelo is increasing.

Our “Let’s go to Tupelo” app is growing without any real publicity. We have over 900 users (300 users from the last report) from every continent (except Antarctica).  67% of our users are domestic, 23% are in Europe and the balance are in South America, namely Brazil (we only have a couple of users in Africa and Asia, but they’re there). With the addition of our new “Music Listings” on the mobile page, we’ll be promoting the app locally as a utility and will be promoting it to visitors who are staying in our hotels and eating at our restaurants through counter displays.

Our hotel booking on the Tupelo.net is back up with 630 referrals for the month of January. Total referrals through the system since May are 4,416.

Out text campaign received 20 new subscribers in January with the bulk of them (about 65%) coming from the billboard on Hwy 78.

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Website report from Stephanie Moody-Coomer (copy and paste from report):

January 2012

www.tupelo.net –   15,402 over January 2011 in which there were 13,411 visits

www.m.tupelo.net – 2,554 visits over January 2011 in which there were 961 visits (2nd month to be live)

Total visits – 17,956 total visits – an increase of 24% over this time last year.



Partnerships report

Mississippi Hills National Heritage Area

Hills will be hosting a Teacher Preview Day with an invitation to conduct field trips to the Exhibit Center

Print media schedule, collateral material production and a video project were approved at the last meeting

Continue to promote the Hills National Heritage Area through our partnership by :

• Presence on their website –  HYPERLINK "http://www.mshills.org" www.mshills.org
• E-newsletter participation
• Event promotion
• Involvement in their social media efforts
• Promotion at the Exhibit Center
• Participation in the “member video” project currently being organized by the Hills staff

The Natchez Trace Compact

The Compact was able to negotiate with Park Service photographer Mark Munich for use of one of his copywriten photos to be the cover of our new brochure and guide.

Tupelo hosted our January board meeting with all states represented

Facebook at almost 2800 fans, Twitter at 400 followers

Spring Prize Promotion kicking off "Faces of the Trace", we will have rights to use any photos.  Best photo will win an ipad

:30 spot complete.  We will use it for digital ads, website, partners may use, You Tube

Now working on 3 min sales piece and 7-8 Visitor Center piece for CVBs

Wrote National Scenic Byways grant for signage that will reflect the AMT.  This grant was strong with the MS Great River Rd partnering with us to submit it.

The Civil War Center Board

The MS Final Stands Civil War Interpretive Center has set their annual calendar:

• Civil War Trust Park Day- Saturday, March 31, 2012, 9 a.m. Mississippi’s Final Stands Interpretive Center

• Saturday, April 21, 2012, Decoration day/ Cemetery Tour- Bethany Historic Cemetery

• Friday and Saturday, June 8-9, 2012, Children’s Discovery Day and Living History Event, Brice’s Crossroads Battlefield and Tupelo-Harrisburg Battlefield

• Saturday, July 14 at 5 p.m, Program and Living History Encampment at Old Town Creek

Upcoming Events

• Tuesday, February 7 – CVB will have a booth at CDF’s B2B.

• Wednesday, February 8 – 3rd Tourism Leadership Program Class led by Diana O’Toole with the Mississippi Division of Tourism covering the topic of customer service

Other Items of Interest

After a suggestion during last month’s meeting, we launched a “live music” calendar on  HYPERLINK "http://www.tupelo.net" www.tupelo.net.

The first weekend, we had 30 live music listings over a 4-day period.  Most of our venues with live music offerings have embraced the idea and are posting their own events.  The CVB is assisting others in getting their events promoted on our website.

Janice Marshall, part of the Young Strategies, Inc. consulting team and the former director of the Macon, GA CVB conducted our 2nd tourism leadership program.  She covered the topic of CVB’s roles, responsibilities and organization.  That afternoon, the class had a fam tour of Tupelo’s attractions.

Natchez Trace Compact held their quarterly meeting in Tupelo in January.  We had guests here who came from Nashville to Natchez.  The meeting was coupled with a second Americana Music Triangle meeting.

The MS Hills also hosted their quarterly meeting in Tupelo.

We hosted Deb Wilson from the Florence AL CVB for a quick tour.  She was doing her own fam tour of Tupelo and the Mississippi Delta to experience the music product.  Muscle Shoals has a deeply rooted music history that will tie right into Tupelo through the Natchez Trace Parkway.

We are participating in an MTA seminar next week in Oxford titled “7 Ways to Kill a Festival”.  We have offered it to our festival organizers and will take the shuttle bus over for their convenience.

I assisted with an article for Group Travel Leader who is doing a spotlight article on Mississippi.

Sent out a monthly restaurant communication about the events in February.

We turned in a culinary inventory for Mississippi Development Authority Division of Tourism that will be featured on their website – www.visitmississippi.org

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Meeting adjourned at 2:40. Going to catch up with people and then update this post. Several reports are missing. Check back.

Tuesday update: We've posted all the reports.

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5:45 p.m. Monday update:

Been working on stories and haven't had a chance to post the rest of the reports. Will have to do that tomorrow. But here are the revenues ..

Tupelo’s tourism revenues grew 12.74 percent in November, according to numbers released Monday.

The Tupelo Convention and Visitors Bureau said Monday that it collected $304,739 in November, which is up 12.7 percent from November 2010.

The recent number comes after a slight fall of 0.1 percent.

November marks the start of holiday shopping, plus Toyota held its official line-off ceremony that month, which translated into additional hotel rooms and food expenditures.

The money comes from a 2 percent tax on hotels, motels and restaurants in Tupelo.

For the fiscal year, the tourism tax revenues have grown 9.72 percent. The CVB’s fiscal year starts in October, which is the August sales month for revenues.