November 21st, 2011 Meeting Minutes

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NOVEMBER 21ST, 2011 MEETING MINUTES
DEERFOOT MEADOWS PETLAND
START TIME: 7:02 PM

ATTENDEES
Heather Jodoin Foucault(Secretary), Layne Strandquist(Vice President), Teena Tangen(Treasurer), Cody Faulds, Stephanie Faulds, Rob Bruley(General Board Member), Jessica Thornton(General Board Member), Mandie Halderman, Kyle Kirzinger, Lyra Logan, Jason Clevett,(General Board Member) Andrea Witko(General Board Member), Glyn Hersom(General Board Member), Neal Philip(President), Andrew Clark(Editor), Chelsea Philip

OLD MEETING MINUTES
Old meeting minutes were reviewed and deemed correct.

MEMBERSHIP
Amilee Walker renewed her membership and Jessica Obrien bought a new membership. Welcome to our newest member Jessica!

TREASURER’S REPORT
$15,721.32 in TD
$2,685.00 will also be deposited, those are the funds from the fall show table bookings. Teena also has an additional deposit to make.

SHOW BREAKDOWN
Teena will have the show breakdown for the next meeting.

FALL SHOW SURVEY RESULTS
SATURDAY
-51 Surveys filled out
-ADMISSION, VENUE DISPLAY & OVERALL VALUE - Votes were between 8-10
- Approximately half purchased and half did not.

Marketing
24 Hour was 0, Calgary Sun was 4, Calgary’s Child was 4, Radio (Non specific) was 3, CJAY was 1, Virgin was 0, TV(Non specific) was 2, Breakfast Television was 0, Shaw was 1, Poster was 11, Other was 24, Reptile Parties was 2, Repeat Client was 3, Sun Valley/Community Centre sign was 7.

SUNDAY
-103 Surveys filled out , very positive comments.
-Admission, Venue Display & Overall Value - Most were voted 10.
-Over 55% of patrons purchased something.

Marketing
24 hour was 2, Calgary Sun was 3, Calgary’s Child was 3, Radio (Non specific) was 3, CJAY was 2, Virgin was 3, TV (Non specific) was 6, Breakfast Television was 0, Shaw was 0, Poster was 22, Other was 50, Reptile Parties 4, Return Client 11, Sun Valley/Community Centre sign was 3.

NEW IDEA
Neal and Jason came up with a new way to advertise our show in hopes that a simple name change will bring more of a draw to our shows. Presenting “CRE - CALGARY REPTILE EXPO”!

We currently have a lot of difficulty explaining to the public exactly what TARAS is, and the public seems to have a difficult time understanding as well. Re-branding ourselves will hopefully help in having a better understanding from the public and from the media. Neal and Jay also had a meeting with Brad our publicist and he agreed that this would be an excellent idea. All in favour of continuing forward with this idea, the vote was passed.

CRE WEBSITE
We have also decided to create a completely separate website from the forum to advertise for the show. We will still advertise on the forum, but instead of the general public having to figure out how to use the forum (which can be very difficult and overwhelming) we want to make it so that a simple Google search will bring up the new website will all the information on it. $104.00 for 3 years for all 4 domains and this company would host them for free, and then the additional cost to have the websites designed. All in favour of a 150.00 cost for a total of 6 domains, the vote was passed.

PUBLICIST/MARKETING
Neal and Jay met with Brad and he suggested to drop advertising with CJAY and Virgin radio. These ads are very costly and we are not seeing a return with this type of marketing. There is 10x20 billboard on McLeod trail that we can use for advertising. The cost is advertised at $3400.00 + plus GST for 4 weeks. Other expos have seen a triple in attendance with using outside advertising such as this billboard. They are willing to work with us within a budget, and this needs to be booked by Christmas. Jason is proposing dropping the radio ads and saving $2,000.00 for the billboard ad instead. If we were to purchase this billboard for a period of time, there are certain other perks that we can get for very reasonable prices. Calgary’s Child gets a really good response, we would like to keep that. We need to book the ad now to secure the space.

Jason also suggested that we can look into advertising in magazines to have distributed within communities surrounding the venue. The Calgary Sun ad has been successful, we had one year without an ad being placed and that show did poorly so we will be continuing to advertise in the Calgary Sun. We will see if we will be keeping 24 HOUR or not, this will be brought up at a future meeting. We will also continue to poster as much as we possibly can as this is the cheapest and most effective way of advertising we currently have. We will also be advertising our Spring show at Reptilemania, we will have our small quarter page hand-outs prepared for then. Brad suggested that we also give tickets/passes to businesses that are willing to put up our posters up for advertising. He suggested a discounted ticket program through retail supports, such as having a coupon for $1.00 off at certain retail places may be a good idea. The last thing Brad suggested was a new printer. He suggested Miranda Printing and he spoke very highly of them. The quotes so far are $371.05 for 1500 raffle tickets, $85.19 for colour posters, $85.41 for black and white posters and we do not have a quote yet for the bulletin. She is a bit more expensive, however the quality certainly pays off. The current budget for marketing Jay is aiming for is $3,500.00 in total. All in favour of continuing forward with this budget, the vote was passed.

NEW LOGO
We would like to upgrade our logo and we need to get this done soon. We will be putting a small committee together to be able to decide on logos. Jason, Jessica and Glyn will be on the logo committee. We are seeking a professional, creative looking logo. We need the new logo by the end of January.

RAFFLE UPDATE
Rob has attempted to contact Zoo Med to discuss a donation. We already have some donations coming through already. The prizes so far are 4 hats signed by the Calgary Stampeders, a custom planted vivarium built by Jessica, The Gecko Tree gift card ($75.00), Darwin Reptiles gift card ($50.00).

Rob can’t get a CFL player for the Spring Show, but he is going to try for the Fall Show. Ron from Kangal dogs also contacted Rob about the dog collars and belts, we still have the prizes he donated for the fall show as they didn’t meet the cut off so those prizes will be saved for the spring show. All in favour of giving Jens a free family membership as a thanks for his services for the Stampeders merchandise, the vote was passed.

CASINO
The Alberta Reptile and Amphibian Society (TARAS) has held a vote, and the vote was unanimous for continuing forward in applying for a casino license.

REPTILEMANIA
Everything is booked and ready to go. Jess will post a thread on the forum within the next few months with the information and for members to post if they can volunteer.

CHRISTMAS PARTY
Booked and ready to go. Everyone who is going to show up, please show up and bring the food you’ve committed to bring.

KITCHEN PERMITS
Cody got the forms for Alberta Health services to use the kitchen and there is no cost. Cody will pass the forms onto our concession so they can apply and get the permit.

SECRET SANTA
The names have been drawn and Heather needs wish lists from everyone participating. Please bring all your presents to the December meeting!

MEETING END: 9:08PM

SHOW AND TELL
Cody and Steph brought in some Viper Boas for Show and Tell! Thanks very much to Cody and Steph for bringing in the boas, they were VERY cool!

NEXT MEETING
December 19th, 2011 at 7:00 PM at Deerfoot Meadows Petland.