Sedalia Area Tourism Commission Approves 2022 Funding Requests

The Sedalia Area Tourism Commission met at 1:15 p.m. Monday, Oct. 18, in the Conference Room of the Katy Depot, 600 E. Third.

The following were in attendance:

From the Sedalia Area Tourism Commission:
Chairman Chuck Kempton
Vice Chair David Dick
Treasurer Erica Eisenmenger
At Large Tom Adermann
CVB Advisory Carolyn Crooker
CVB / TC Liaison Deb Biermann

From the Sedalia Convention & Visitors Bureau Officers:
Chair Kevin Daniel
Treasurer Rick Yeager
Past President Kyle Herrick

Unable to attend was:
SATC At Large John Kehde

Others present were:
Steven Sims Missouri State Fair Off-season Marketing Director

On motion by David Dick, seconded by Tom Adermann, with all in favor, the summaries of action taken during January, April and May of 2021 were approved.

Chuck Kempton reviewed the Financial Report. As of October 18, there is $927,106.77 in the bank. There have been no proceeds spent in 2021 for support of the CVB due to receipt of Covid related grants.

In addition, a large portion of the $31,120 awarded to Scott Joplin Foundation will not be utilized since the 2021 Festival was canceled.

Also, a large portion of the funding to the Katy Depot will not be utilized for similar reasons.

On motion by Erica Eisenmenger, seconded by Tom Adermann, with all being in favor, the proposed SATC 2022 budget totaling $791.50 was approved.

Steven Sims was introduced as the new Off Season Marketing Director for the Missouri State Fair.

Steven reviewed the $80,399 request for funding. He detailed new items including the CVB 3D Tour which would highlight facilities for rent, and the next step in a marketing campaign update that will include re-branding of the Missouri State Fair.

The 2022 request is less than the 2021 request due in large part to the omission of billboards that were deemed ineffective use of funds.

Carolyn Crooker presented a comprehensive CVB Request for Funding as follows:
Sedalia Destination Marketing and Administration $298,034.84
Daum Museum Destination Marketing $21,251.00
Scott Joplin Destination Marketing $31,620.00
Katy Depot Destination Marketing $11,650.00
Sedalia Parks Department Destination Mktg $6,244.00
Liberty Center Destination Marketing $21,656.24
Sedalia Visual Arts Destination Marketing $850.00
Downtown Sedalia Historic District Dest Mktg $5,889.72

TOTAL CVB $397,195.80
As the Designated Marketing Organization (DMO) for Pettis County, the Sedalia Convention & Visitors Bureau has been working with Kevin Haulotte, 3D Square of Sedalia, to develop a 3D virtual interactive tour to promote Sedalia visitor destinations.

Meetings have been held between the CVB and the Tourism Coalition members to introduce the concept and to gain feedback regarding their reaction to such a virtual tour. Based upon that feedback, meetings were held between 3D Square and members of the Tourism Coalition to determine specific objectives the tour could accomplish for their destination.

All partners are enthusiastic about this opportunity and of the associated capabilities that the tour offers. The Missouri State Fair and the Parks Department in particular recognize the increased sales presence that the tour provides in a virtual view of their facilities to major groups who are looking for places to hold their event. Letters of support have been received from the Parks Department and Downtown.

The tour is produced using a drone overview ‘Bubble’ combined with the latest in technology including voiceovers that could include animated versions of the FLAT Cats. The FLAT Cats highlighted in this marketing campaign represent Sedalia’s seven destinations and could be a fun feature to include in the virtual tour.

The home page is an aerial view of Sedalia as shown in a radius from Highways 50 and 65.

Using the cursor, the viewer can fly over the town to find ‘snaps’ of our visitor destinations which provide a digital tour highlighting specific features of high interest. Visitor destinations include:

*Katy Depot as Sedalia’s Welcome Center, Historic Site, Katy Trailhead
*Downtown Historic District / Public Art / Amtrak
*Liberty Center Performing Arts Center
*Liberty Park / Liberty Flyer / Liberty Stadium / Heckart Community Center
*Pettis County Museum
*Missouri State Fairgrounds / Historic District
*Daum Museum / SFCC sports
*Bothwell Lodge

When selecting a snap, the viewer will be provided links to site websites, videos, pdf’s of site visitor guides, as well as rental or tour reservation forms.

Total cost for production and hosting is an estimated investment of $47,500 with nominal annual hosting and update fees. This campaign will become the central marketing piece further unifying Sedalia as a comprehensive visitor destination. Funding this tour campaign would once again position Sedalia ahead of the game in tourism marketing.

The tour will be promoted on You Tube, individual websites, and advertising mediums, and will be utilized as the primary presentation piece with group tour organizers. Now more than ever people are planning their travel online and the analytics will provide feedback on viewership and will guide future enhancements.

The CVB received three Covid relief grants (PPP $9,686, MO Division of Tourism Marketing $16,630, and Cares $167,402) to total $193,717. These grants have funded CVB Marketing and Administration costs from Dec 2020 through October 2021, thus eliminating the use of lodgings tax funds during that period of time. This provides adequate funds for SATC funding.
A suggestion was made to promote use of this tour link to Chamber of Commerce member websites as a way to further distribute the tour.

Following discussion, and on motion by Keven Daniel, seconded by Kyle Herrick, with all being in favor, approval to fund the following 2022 Requests for Funding was approved:

MSF 2022 $ 80,399.00
CVB 2020 $397,195.80
Total: $477,594.80

Discussion included taking the next step in developing a comprehensive CVB marketing campaign to be presented for the calendar year 2023 that would include the Missouri State Fair. All were in agreement this would be a positive move to have the CVB Board preview the request and make its recommendation to the SATC as it is currently doing with all other Tourism Coalition partners. This move represents the third phase in having all requests fall under the CVB umbrella even though implementation of the individual tourism coalition partner components would remain the same.

Further, any special requests for funding would be handled in the same way, first being presented to the CVB Board for review and recommended action going to the SATC for funding approval.

A Special Request for Funding received from the Liberty Center Association for the Arts to promote an October 2021 concert in the amount of $3,106 was approved on motion by David Dick, seconded by Kyle Herrick, with all in favor. Discussion included the background on no action being taken on their 2021 RFF thus prompting the submission of three special funding requests.

Discussion included the topic of ways to determine comparison between occupied motel rooms for various events. A suggestion was made to have ‘CVB ambassadors’ mix and mingle visiting with attendees to determine where they were from and how long they were staying in town.

Being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 2:15 p.m. Motion made by Kyle Herrick, seconded by David Dick with all in favor.

Submitted by: Deb Biermann