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Tourist Development Council Meeting
Minutes
November 21, 2006
Ocean Center Board Room

Call to Order:
Chairman Frank Bruno called the meeting to order at 9:04 a.m.

Approval of Minutes of June 16, 2006:
Motion to approve the minutes was made by Lori Campbell Baker and seconded by Sharon Hughes.

Quarterly Financial Report:
Donna DePeyster, Volusia County Assistant Director of Accounting reviewed the Quarterly Financial Report, which was distributed to the TDC Board Members. The report included the comparison to the same time period last year.

Charles Bray asked how we planned on paying the additional $30M increase for the expansion when the room inventory in Daytona was decreasing. Rick Hamilton explained that there was a delay in starting the project, so the original $46M was drawing interest, as well as us having a reserve account in addition to the debt service. The additional money for the transition came about through some reserve funds that we had in the Ocean Center account that had not been spent and the decrease in the interest rate. At that same time, the finance department asked Rick if the Ocean Center could handle the additional operational expense out of the original 2% resort tax. So we’ve got the 2% plus the additional 1% that was passed for the expansion. We take the additional 1% and apply it directly and totally to the expansion debt and the additional operational expense will come from the original 2% appropriation. We went back to Council and told them we may need up to $76M for the expansion. Mr. Dinneen, with the Council’s approval now has authority to increase the funding to the $76M budget.

We have been very fortunate that this county has been holding it’s own with the resort tax. The average daily rate has increased - so that the overall tax collections are a little ahead of last fiscal year. With new developers coming into town and decreasing the room inventory, we are bound to reach the point of no return. We are hopeful with the completion of the expansion that the developers catch up with building and opening additional new rooms in the market. Rick explained that unlike the CVB, our tax collections are county-wide and any new properties that open in Orange City, New Smyrna, DeLand, or along the interstate, etc. are included in the Ocean Center’s 3%. Short-term condos and campgrounds (any rental less than 6 months duration) are included in the tax collection.

Charles Bray inquired as to how many hotel rooms were actually in the Daytona Beach Market. Rick Hamilton was going to research and get back to the TDC Board Members with an answer by the next meeting.

Mr. James Dinneen, Volusia County’s County Manager was introduced, as well as Andy Kelly, new County Council Member from District 1. It was decided that the major team players (Hoteliers, CVB, Ocean Center, Airport, Chamber, TDC, etc.) would meet on a regular basis and brainstorm on coming up with ways to advertise the destination to meeting planners as an entire package. Mr. Dinneen appointed Matt Greeson, Deputy County Manager to head the coalition.

Motion to approve the Quarterly Financial Report was made by Cassandra Reynolds and seconded by Jim Bazemore. Motion was approved.

Status Report on Expansion:
With the previous bidding of the project, there were 45 bid packages and we only received bids on 40% of those packages. The 40% we did receive were extremely over budget. We went back out on the street with a new structure set up by Mr. Dinneen, where the County is directly holding all of the sub-contracts, which allows us to buy every piece of material that goes into the new construction, tax free. In addition to that, we had a mutual parting of ways with the former construction management, which saved an additional 5% on the project. We maintained our owners representative who is now overseeing the project and has a superintendent on site to make sure all the construction aspects are met. Rick is also on site on a daily basis. The project is moving forward on time and on budget.

To date, all bids have come in with coverage on all bid packages except for one. The one we did not have coverage on was a very small package and one of the major sub-contractors agreed to pick it up. Of the 45 bid packages, we have sent out 33 letters of intent that we intend to contract and 5 that are currently being negotiated (the larger packages, i.e., steel, concrete, masonry). The building process is totally moving forward. If you notice, there are no steps on the south side of the building. Most of the underground utilities have been completed; we have one sewer line connection to be completed. If you walk into Rick’s office after the meeting on the west side of the building, you can see we actually have concrete in the ground, steel standing above ground, and they’re continuing to pour foundations, etc. We are opening in June 2008 and as Mr. Dinneen has already stated - we’ve made the decision not to cut any corners - we are going to have a first class facility with full service, five star hotel quality finishes – carpet, mechanical & electrical systems, state of the art electronics, etc. Mr. Dinneen is briefing the County Council on December 22nd and right now it looks like we are on budget or a little bit under.

We met with the Arts in Public Places Committee last week and we released them on the original $400,000 budget and they were getting ready to solicit artists for commissioning on the project.

Bookings Report:
Debby Misita, Ocean Center Assistant Director, presented this report. A current Ocean Center Calendar of Events was made available to all attendees. Debby then introduced the Ocean Center Sales Staff; Lori Hunter – Director of Sales; Tim Buckley – Convention Sales Manager; Joey Yelvington – Convention Sales Manager and Sharon Angelastri – Administrative Coordinator. There are also 2 Event Coordinators that were not in attendance.

The sales team has been busy traveling the country marketing and selling not only the facility but the destination and all it has to offer. Lori attended Meetings Quest in Charlotte on September 12th, Debby attended Meetings Quest in Atlanta on October 12th, and Tim attended Meetings Quest in Dallas on November 13th. These shows are intimate with approximately 50 suppliers providing ample opportunity to talk one-on-one with each of the 100 plus planners who attend. The planners were well-qualified meeting professionals from a variety of associations, organizations and corporations. Our sales staff was supplied with databases of information on each of the planners in attendance for follow up correspondence and obtained several RFP’s from interested planners.

Tim also attended the TEAMS Conference in Las Vegas, October 11th-14th. The TEAMS conference is the World’s Leading Conference and Expo for the Sports Events Industry. The event had 1,210 attendees that consisted of event organizers, sports-event suppliers and destinations. The Ocean Center was able to schedule 25 different one-on-one meetings with various event organizers to introduce and lure their events to our destination. Some examples of events whose planners were met with include:

-Assn. of National Aerobic Championships Worldwide
-National Assn. of Police Athletics/Activities Leagues
-Disabled Sports USA – National Wheelchair Basketball Assn.
-International Kickboxing Federation
-World Events Sports Marketing – National 3 on 3 Basketball Tournament

In September, our advertising firm, Zimmerman Agency, brought in some travel writers that Ocean Center, Ocean Walk Resort, Hilton and Ocean Walk Shoppes entertained for three days, showing them all the variety of interesting things to do in our destination. They raved about how wonderful our area is.

The Ocean Center was a sponsor for the Meeting Industry Ladies Invitational, October 26 –29. This is a group of women association and corporate executives who are directly involved in booking meetings and conventions. MILI provides a venue for these ladies to develop golf skills while establishing business relationships. The tournament was two days, taking place at LPGA on Friday and Pelican Bay on Saturday. The host hotel was the Shores Resort & Spa. The CVB was directly responsible for getting this great group to Daytona Beach. The MILI tournaments are scheduled in many different areas of the country providing the sponsoring cities, hotels & resorts opportunities to showcase their venues. Daytona Beach was well represented by the community with hole sponsors from many area hotels, the CVB, the Ocean Center, LPGA and Daytona USA. We had a table at the 9th hole at both golf courses. One day we served Pina Coladas and handed out sunscreen, the second day we gave out golf towels embossed with the Ocean Center logo. There were also many other networking opportunities at a golf clinic on Thursday, both breakfast & evening receptions every day followed by the awards banquet on Saturday night. There were approximately 75 attendees for MILI.

Lori will be attending Expo/Expo, which is the International Association for Exhibition Management’s (IAEM) annual meeting & exhibition in San Diego, CA, November 28th-30th. This is a huge expo that is attended by exhibition and event managers from around the world who gather with suppliers for the exhibits, educational sessions and networking. This is a very important show for us to showcase the expansion and obtain contacts for the larger tradeshows that can meet in Florida.

Lori will also be attending RCMA (Religious Conference Management Association), January 30th-February 2nd in Louisville, KY. There will be approximately 2000 people in attendance all devoted to the religious meeting industry.

An Ocean Center Bookings Report for Fiscal Years 2005-2006 through 2007-2008 was made available to attendees. The report reflects contracted events only, the date of event, how many days the events are in the building, and the total number of days the venue is contracted for each fiscal year.

Since the time of our last meeting, the Ocean Center continues to attract a multitude of events that draw groups to our destination to utilize local hotels during their time here. A few of the larger events occurring since last meeting through December of this year are:

Showbiz National Talent event with 3000 patrons for 7 days;
Student Life Youth Conference, bringing 9000 people for 5 days;
National Cheerleading Association with 250 attendees for 4 days;
Youth Quest International with 5000 people for 4 days;
Florida Onsite Wastewater Association with 800 attendees for 4 days;
National Reptile Breeders Expo, bringing in 6000 people per day for 4 days;
Gator Nationals World Karate Championships with 400 people for 2 days;
U.S. Foodservice Show and Meetings with 350 people for 2 days;
Show Stopper Dance Competition with 400 people for 3 days;
Portable Sanitation Association International with 500 people for 3 days;
Right now we have Sports Network Youth Football Tournament in town with 3000 patrons for 4 days; and then U.S. Cheer with an expected 800 attendees for 3 days and Ace Gymnastics with an expected 400 patrons for 3 days.

In addition, both World Wrestling Entertainment and Montgomery Gentry concert brought in over 3,500 patrons. The Home Show attracted over 17,000 patrons and the Motorcycle Expo brought in 5,000 patrons per day.

We have a new eye-catching advertising insert that highlights the Ocean Center’s expansion features as well as some of our area’s activities most attractive to meeting and convention planners.

Motion to approve the Bookings Report was made by Cassandra Reynolds and seconded by Lori Campbell Baker. Motion was approved.

Update From Partners:

• Hotel/Motel Board of Director’s Luncheon honoring George Mirabal’s 20+ years will be held on December 13th.
• As of October 1st, the CVB kicked off it’s new marketing plan.
• CVB signed new contract with Simon PR with the UK.
• 2007 is showing promise as being a better summer.
• Air Tran Kick-off is scheduled at the Airport on January 12th.
• Rick thanked the CVB for loaning us the message in the bottle and beach and marina photos for our new insert, the response has been great. The new ad for next year is already being worked on, with the bottle found broken on the beach, the letter inside is unfolded and it has the new Ocean Center with the caption “it has arrived”.

Public Participation:
Charles Bray asked if there was any kind of booking report in place? Rick Hamilton reported there was no report in place, however he would generate one.

Tentative date set for TDC Training (roles & responsibilities for Board Members) is December 12th.

Meeting was adjourned at 10:11 a.m.

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