January 2

Our first meeting or the new year was called to order at 18:15 by President Jim Richards. We sang O Canada, toasted Queen and Country and sang Rotary Grace. Our only guest this evening, other than the speaker, was Ted Brandon’s wife, Lorry. Art Ward led us (without the benefit of songbooks) through our very own rendition of "The More We Get Together". Ironically, Art is on his way south for a while, so he won’t be getting together with us.

Sergeant at Arms Brian Black began with a fine for President Jim who had neglected to don the chain of office. Then the sergeant offered a number of Rotarians a chance to pay a $1 fine by sharing a new year’s resolution with the club. Only Nancy Bishop was willing to tell us she plans to quit smoking –most of us didn’t even know she had started. Others paid a $2 fine to keep their plans secret. The sergeant offered Sean Hawley a $2 tip for returning from his leave of absence, but it was declined.

President Jim read some correspondence to us:

The 4 C’s thanked us for our support with their Christmas hamper program – thanks as well to the Wigamog.

Rotary International informed us that we are part of a pilot ad campaign, chosen with Australia as a testing ground – let’s not try to figure out why.

Bracebridge – Muskoka Lakes is having difficulty filling their fund raising bonspiel scheduled for January 18 – it’s unlikely that we’ll send any teams since that’s the weekend of a popular local spiel.

Curry Bishop informed President Jim that we made $440 with our Christmas tree sales.

President Jim informed us that this year’s RI Convention is in Brisbane, Australia in June. Watch for details.

Dave Bishop spoke about this year’s car draw. He’s willing to be the chair, as long as we agree to a number of conditions:

80 tickets each, with an expectation to sell them all

contests and prodding to keep us on track

direct mail to previous purchasers not already on someones list

Andy Glecoff, Brian Black and Kim Emmerson to be team captains

Tonight’s Program

Jamie Cowan introduced Jim Miners and Carol Moffat to talk to us about the Haliburton Highlands Chamber of Commerce.

Jim began by explaining that the original plan included Jim Henwood, President of the Chamber, as a speaker as well. Sudden illness kept Jim away, but he would be happy to discuss Chamber business with any and all interested parties. Jim went on briefly to mention a number of the similarities between Rotary and the Chamber as organizations in our community. The majority (and the best part) of the presentation was by Carol, talking about the Chamber in general and her role in marketing the county specifically. Her presentation is presented below thanks to the wonders of modern technology.

HALIBURTON HIGHLANDS CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

Marketing Update for Haliburton Rotary Club

January 2, 2003

Who We Are:

Board of Directors

President Jim Henwood Henwoods Variety

Vice-President Scott de Savoye Delta Pinestone

Treasurer Bob Hall Certified Management Accountant

Past-President Diana Ferguson Gloucester Organization

Directors Mark Coles First Page SEO

Eric Christensen Buttermilk Falls Resort

Jim Miners Haliburton Water Sports

Graham Beeby Beeby Management Resources

Marianne Howard Gigabytes & DVDs

Bill Young Wigamog Inn

Don Shortreed Haliburton Cty. Council Rep.

Staff

Carol Moffatt Marketing and Public Relations – events@interhop.net

Heather Deveaux Administration, Finance and Membership – execasst@interhop.net

Ann Lavery Reception, Inquiries and Database Administration – info@interhop.net

Volunteers Karen Rainey, Elinor Hamilton, Rick Ratcliffe, Phil Graham

What We Do:

The Chamber of Commerce actually operates under two mandates:

we are membership-driven and provide services and to our membership first and foremost;

we receive fee-for-service funding from the County of Haliburton to undertake a variety of tourism marketing initiatives for the entire county.

What Kind of "Marketing Initiatives"?

Develop and implement annual Marketing Plan which includes both Internal and External initiatives;

Operate the county’s Information Centre which includes:

· answering phone, email and walk-in enquiries

· maintaining local business database

· retail sales (clothing, maps, books)

· capturing visitor info for database (use statistics for future planning)

· acting as local 411 – from plumbers to pizza joints, motels to maps the public asks us

Produce annual Destination Guide (75,000);

Partner with County of Haliburton in production of new county map

Develop and maintain county-wide Events Database (approximately 350 entries to date);

Use that database to continually update consumer portion of Ministry of Tourism website (www.ontariotravel.net)

Develop and maintain media database and media relationships; send out press releases/media advisories regarding significant county events;

Maintain county website on behalf of County of Haliburton (www.county.haliburton.on.ca)

Prepare and deliver educational and publicity programs to stakeholders and interested parties;

Maintain active involvement with the Trails and Tours Network, including TTORAG (Trails and Tours Offroad Advisory Group);

Maintain active participation with the Tour Development Committee of the Trails and Tours Network (first project: Minerals Tourism);

Maintain and continually update new membership materials/brochures (membership brochures and applications, upcoming restaurant guide, non-tourism listings);

Develop ongoing cooperative advertising opportunities for tourism industry stakeholders (magazines, Ministry of Tourism publications, maps, brochures);

Distribute important and relevant tourism industry information to local stakeholders;

Maintain relationships and/or memberships with important industry partners such as:

· Ministry of Tourism

· Ministry of Food and Agriculture

· Festivals and Events Ontario

· Travel Media Association of Canada

· Getaway Country Marketing Partnership

· Canadian Association of Rates and Data

· Canadian Centre for Philanthropy

Oversee membership visitation program called "The Ann Lavery Road Show";

Develop and provide workshops for tourism industry stakeholders (Successful Packaging, Working with the Travel Trade);

Produce monthly newsletter to more than 350 local and regional members and stakeholders;

Promote county image brand (promotional Items, county logo)

Plan and implement chamber events such as "Spring into Summer" BBQ, Annual General Meeting and Business After Hours receptions;

Represent the Highlands at targeted consumer shows:

· The National Women’s Show

· The Toronto International Snowmobile Show (formerly Supertrax)

· The Outdoor Adventure Show

· London Boat, Fishing and Cottage Show

· The Cottage Life Show

Represent the Highlands at "Country Comes to The City" marketplace;

Assist in developing ‘Beyond the City Lights’ Rural Tourism Workshop;

Maintain and update photo library;

In partnership with the Government Information Centre, developed and maintain "Welcome Kit" for visitors, cottagers, and new community members;

Continually look for new opportunities and relationships that will help the tourism industry of Haliburton County as a part of ongoing economic development.

Some Interesting Items:

Retail Sales:

Retail sales are up more than $8,000 over the same period last year.

Visitor Information Centre Stats:

In July the staff determined that even if they were too busy to capture individual visitor data, they could count the number of people who walked through the door.

July 27 to July 31 – 898 walk-ins (that’s 179.6 per day)

August 1 to August 18 – 2874 walk-ins (that’s 159.6 per day)

The busiest day recorded was Sat. August 3^rd, with 368 walk-ins

The slowest day recorded was Tues. August 13^th with 97 walk-ins

Since we know the percentage of walk-in traffic versus phone traffic that means that on, say, Saturday August 3^rd when 368 people came into the Info Centre, another 215 phone calls came in the same day.

In July and August approximately 12,000 people made enquiries either in person or on the phone to the Visitor Information Centre on Highway 35.

Distribution Stats:

We count brochures. From May to September of this year, the Information Centre gave out more than 60,000 brochures

14% were Arts and Heritage related

24% were Accommodation related

61 % were Attraction and Outdoor Experience related

Interestingly, ¼ of the Attraction and Outdoor Experience brochures were the publications of the Haliburton Highlands Trails and Tours Network

Website Stats for www.county.haliburton.on.ca:

In a comparison of 2001 and 2002: visits to the site up 107.3% and average visits/day up 120.8%