HomeMy WebLinkAbout01-27-15 TBID MinutesBozeman Tourism Business Improvement District
Minutes of Meeting January 27, 2015
Chamber of Commerce Building, Bozeman, Montana
Present: Daryl Schliem (Executive Director)
TBID Board Members: Andrew Ash, Benno Garwood, Carl Solvie, Larry Lambert, Tom Stenzel
Public: Lisa Sabena (Lewis and Clark), Kali Gillette (Flying Horse), Amanda Black (Comfort
Inn/Comfort Suites), Jeff Krause (City of Bozeman), Brian Sprenger (Bozeman/Yellowstone
Airport), Greg (Prime, Inc), Mark Robinson (Museum of the Rockies), Kristin Cochrane (Days
Inn), Tony Rich (Yellowstone Kickoff), Other person from Yellowstone Kickoff, Paula Marquart
(TLC Inn), Kristi Peterson (Holiday Inn Express), Other person from Holiday Inn Express, Britt
Fontenot (City of Bozeman)
• At 12:03 pm, the TBID Meeting was called to order
• Introductions
• Minutes from previous meeting – Carl motioned to approve, second by Andrew, motion
to approve minutes carried unanimously.
• Disclosures – None
• Public Comment – None
• Tony Rich spoke on behalf of the Yellowstone Classic Kickoff Soccer Tournament, which
was held over Labor Day weekend 2014. Participating teams were under what they
were projecting, but still ended up with 50 teams in the tournament. They will be doing
the tournament again in 2015, and anticipate 85 teams this year. Numbers were down
this year due to some conflict with the Montana governing body, but that has been
resolved. They are in the planning stages of the 2015 tournament, which will likely be
held over Labor Day weekend again. According to their preliminary budget, it is
anticipated they will be asking for $15,000 from the TBID again in the near future.
• Greg from Prime Inc. did a presentation of the website. While it is not quite live yet,
they are expecting it to go live on Feb. 1. Greg walked the board through the website to
show the look and feel and various functionality. Greg said the website is very flexible,
so making changes, adding content is very easy, and they will turn control over to the
Chamber so they will be able to make changes quickly. The website is integrated with
Google Translate, so it will be available in dozens of languages. Daryl indicated he
would be sending a link to the current holding IP address so that everyone can browse
before it goes live. If anyone has any photos to add, change, etc., they can e-mail those
to Daryl or Greg before it goes live and they will get it changed.
• Marketing Plan update was given by Flying Horse Communications. Web Site traffic is
up 140% year over year, and the new website should improve that further. Madden
Media has generated 17,000 visitors, LiveIntent and AdTegrity have generated 8,000
each, and BrightRoll has generated over 4,000 visitors to the website, so the various ad
campaigns have brought in a significant number of visitors.
• Daryl gave the Financial Report. Motion to approve the financial report by Andrew,
seconded by Tom, motion passed unanimously.
• Daryl announced that Tim Kuhlman has resigned his seat on the TBID, so there is now a
spot open. Daryl is currently accepting applications for the open board seat, and hopes
to get the applicants in front of the City Commission for approval within a month. It was
decided that the chair person position he has vacated will be filled after the vacant seat
on the board has been filled.
• Brian Sprenger gave an update on Bozeman air service. Winter traffic is up about 6-8%
year over year. The airport has been courting American Airlines for quite some time
now, and they seem to be making progress. American has a lot of other potential
additions that seem to have priority, so having American Airlines by the summer seems
unlikely, but it does seem promising within the next year or so. All 14 destinations from
last summer will return this summer, and 2014 was a record year for Bozeman Airport,
serving nearly 1,000,000 passengers, far and away the busiest airport in the state.
• Andrew updated the board on the Hardwood Classic. They were anticipating 60 teams,
but they currently have 87 teams signed up, 65 of them from outside the Gallatin Valley.
• Larry informed the board the Belgrade is exploring the possibility of forming their own
TBID. The board agreed to keep an eye on this, and potentially work together with
them for certain opportunities.
• Motion to adjourn by Tom, second by Carl. Motion approved unanimously. Meeting
adjourned at 1:20pm.