Executive Board Meeting – Feb. 2015

Executive Board Meeting Minutes

February 6, 2015 – 9:30 – 10:45

Wine Road Office

In Attendance:  Renae, Robin, Ross, Sue, Beth, Stacy

9:15  Meeting Called to Order  by Renae

9:18  Treasurer’s Report

• Year end reporting to accountant
  • Savings Account = $170,218.81 (as of 1/1/15)
  • Checking Account = $24, 798.61 (as of 1/1/15)
• Overall review of 2014 budget
  • Spent more in 2014 than originally planned, focused more on quality marketing giving more exposure
  • Took out approximately $50k from savings – will be replenished by Winter WINEland ticket sales

9:28  New Maps

• 25,ooo maps are going to print.  A new cover will be presented at next print job.

9:30  Events

• Winter WINEland
  • Still missing money from a few wineries
  • Total ticket sales = 5,560
  • Ticket Sales at door = 1,000
  • Winery decorations were great, but the voting for best decorated winery was a fail.  Not enough voters, only 5 wineries had more than 60 votes.
• Barrel Tasting
  • Issue of whether to pay for porta potties in downtown plaza area.  Board unanimously voted not to pay for the porta potties.  There are 3 public restrooms in the downtown area.
    • Wine Road provides nice signs to be posted for public restroom locations
  • Expecting to sell approximately 14,000 tickets (about 16,000 tickets were sold in 2014)
  • Pamphlet color coding
    • It was voiced at the 2014 recap meeting that the wineries participating in 1 weekend only be differentiated by color in the pamphlet – the cost to do this is at least $2,000 more.
    • Board unanimously voted not to color code the pamphlet.
• 40th Anniversary
  • It has been decided to try and make the 40th anniversary a year long event
    • Different events will be held highlighting each season and the events within the season
  • May 9, 2016 Gala & Community event
    • Community Event – to be held in Healdsburg Plaza during the day

• The focus will be on how Russian River Wine Road was formed

• Portraits of the beginnings – founders, old pics of BT event in the plaza, etc – museum to contribute to display
• Includes wine, food, music, and merchandise
• Gala Event
  • Possibly held at KJ’s new property / Night event
  • Ticket price to fall between $200-$250
  • Silent auction, sit down dinner, celebrity chefs, showcase founding  members, etc
• Explore Your Backyard
  • Takes place on May 9th
  • Tickets are now available online

10:00  More Events

• Video on How to for Barrel Tasting
  • Received a lot of input from members
  • Approximately 15 minutes offers quick tips collaborated by members
  • Will be available online and be shown at pre-event meeting
• Pre-Event Meeting
  • Hosted at Raven Theater
  • Mandatory attendance
  • Ann working on a powerpoint component

10:05  Marketing & PR

• Seattle / February
  • 1 day festival to take place on Sunday
  • Press lunch on Monday
  • 6 wineries participating
• SoCo Tourism
  • 2/7/15-2/8/15
  • New texting ability to consumers to sign up on WR mailing list – texting 13131 by consumer creates doorway to sign up instantly to the mailing list
• Grant from Sonoma County for advertising
  • No news as of yet – hope to hear by April
• Monthly sessions with Rebecca
  • Various topics held on different days
  • Great RSVP response so far
• Printed Quarterly newsletter
  • 2014 recap in the works for the first quarterly release
• Monterey / June
  • Beginning to take sign ups – have 2 wineries signed up so far

10:15  Board of Directors

• Retreat date TBD / dependant on Scott’s (facilitator) available dates
• Elections
  • Waiting to hear back before 1 person before ballot is completed – hope to have ballot out by 2/10/15

10:20  High School Scholarships

• Had 5 applicants
• Board decided to offer all five applicants each $1,000

10:25  Old Business

• Sonoma County Vintners presentation
  • Beth Rocked!  As last presenter, she emphasized the social media impact that we all have as well as inform audience of all the amazing things Wine Road does.

10:30:  New Business

• Membership Applications
  • Dawn Ranch – membership to be accepted
  • Mutt Lynch – membership to be accepted
  • Gustafson – moving location, no additional fees to be assessed
• Editorial Calendar
  • Implementing many features
    • recipe every month
    • FB contest
    • Pinterest
    • Editorials for press releases
    • blogs
    • Use of hashtags to increase Wine Road exposure

10:35  New Logo

• Outline process to move forward
• Narrowed down to 4 designs – going outside of our sphere for input/opinions before finalizing.

10:40  Prior Board Meeting Minutes

• Motion to approve – Robin
• Seconded – Ross

10:45  Meeting Adjourned

Posted by Beth Costa

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