2013/2014 Visit Fort Wayne Community Report

Report to the Community 2013/2014

Dear Friends of Tourism, This Report to the Community is an exciting progress report on Visit Fort Wayne’s successful efforts to bring more visitors to our community. 2013 has been an outstanding year.

The staff at Visit Fort Wayne is constantly and vigorously working behind the scenes to promote our community’s many assets and these efforts continue to pay off. Not only are visitors coming to our city in record numbers, but based on their feedback, they continue to be impressed with their experiences here in Fort Wayne.

We welcomed a record number of families and individual travelers to our attractions – and our website will host over 2.2 million page views in 2013 – a 42% increase from 2012!

Tim Beere, Co-Owner, DeBrand Fine Chocolates Chair, Visit Fort Wayne Board of Directors 2013

By working with Fort Wayne’s many facilities and amenities, we have been able to promote and market our area as a great destination for meetings, events, and family getaways. We are the one organization that helps visitors choose Fort Wayne and Allen County for their trips, tournaments and conventions.

The following report outlines our 2013 accomplishments, alongside our goals for 2014. We plan to produce another 10 million impressions (or invitations) next year, as we invite people to visit our city and county. Please take a moment to read and learn more about our efforts to attract more visitors so we all can enjoy the economic and social benefits of a prosperous tourism industry.

Tim Beere Chair, Visit Fort Wayne Board of Directors 2013

Dear Tourism Partners, As I embark upon my first year as the Chair of the Board of Directors for Visit Fort Wayne, I am optimistic about the future of Visit Fort Wayne and our convention and tourism industry.

With a record-breaking year in 2013, we have a firm foundation to build upon - and no plans to slow down! Our group bookings and leisure visitors are at an all–time high, and our exceptional customer satisfaction is one of the primary reasons that these visitors return year after year.

The convention and tourism industry is a vibrant one in our community. With the help of our partners, we are able to add $524 million dollars in visitor spending to our community each year – it is a very real source of economic development for Fort Wayne and Allen County!

Gary Shearer, Tower Private Advisors Chair, Visit Fort Wayne Board of Directors 2014

As I step into this role, I look forward to working with you, our partners, to build on our successes.

I invite you to read the following Report to the Community and join me as we work together to welcome the world to Fort Wayne!

Gary Shearer Chair, Visit Fort Wayne Board of Directors 2014

2014 will mark Visit Fort Wayne’s 65th anniversary year. We are proud to be celebrating 65 years of promoting Fort Wayne and making it a great place to live, work and visit!

Who is Visit Fort Wayne?

The Fort Wayne/Allen County Convention and Visitors Bureau, dba Visit Fort Wayne, works to expand Fort Wayne’s economy by attracting convention and leisure visitors. Each year, $524 million dollars from visitor spending and $15.4 million in taxes paid by visitors generate increased commerce, sustain 7,700 jobs and enhance our city’s image.

Visit Fort Wayne’s full-time, professionally trained staff serves as Fort Wayne’s “ad agency” to the world. We market Fort Wayne and Allen County as a desirable destination for conventions, sporting and tourism activities. We also serve as an information center, group sales force, and tourism marketing organization for our area. We are a catalyst for economic development growth, through tourism, for our industry and community.

Our Mission Visit Fort Wayne conducts marketing and sales programs to attract visitors to our destination’s convention and tourism facilities so that our community can derive the economic and social benefits of a prosperous tourism industry.

Our Vision Fort Wayne is the best destination in the Midwest for conventions, trade shows, sports tournaments and fun, family get-away trips. Visitors enjoy their stay because of the famous “Hoosier Hospitality” they experience during their visit to Fort Wayne.

Our Goals • Conduct sales and marketing programs to attraction convention, meetings and tournaments to Fort Wayne • Produce advertising campaigns to attract leisure visitors and travel media attention • Provide visitor information services to promote our community and industry partners • Provide the leadership to grow our community’s economy and its tourism industry

“I am pleased to report that Fort Wayne more than met our criteria. The staff at both downtown hotels and convention center bent over backwards to make our event a success. The city of Fort Wayne offers interesting things to do, safe streets, and great places to eat. These are very important aspects for a large out of town group. The Visit Fort Wayne folks were a pleasure to work with, too.”

Gibby Gibson, National Fishing Lures Collectors Club

Destination Marketing Overview

Marketing Overview

Sales and Marketing to Attract Groups

Tourism has a significant impact on our community’s economy.

Visit Fort Wayne’s Group Sales team is focused on solicitating and securing conventions, meetings, trade shows, and sports tournaments to convene in Fort Wayne and Allen County facilities. This proactive outreach is accomplished through direct sales activities.

The 2013 Economic Impact Report of Fort Wayne’s travel and tourism industry states that over 5.8 million people visit Fort Wayne annually and spend $524 million on a wide variety of goods and services. Visitors’ spending sustains over 7,217 jobs in Allen County and pays $15.4 million in taxes.

Visit Fort Wayne combines public sector financing with private sector leadership and a professional staff to grow our economy through convention and tourism development.

Visit Fort Wayne conducts programs to attract and serve visitors. We do this through a process known as destination marketing.

Our sales staff promotes Fort Wayne at major trade shows and marketplaces attended by convention planners and sports event organizers.

The sales team also spearheads bid presentations on behalf of local groups, as part of our overall mission to represent every aspect of Fort Wayne and Allen County and book events in our community. On average, we book 25 groups in Fort Wayne per year, bringing 38,000 new people and $12 million in spending.

Marketing to Attract Leisure Visitors

Big City.

Bigger Heart.

You'll love family getaways in Fort Wayne!

Just two hours north of Indianapolis, a heartwarming getaway awaits.

Reconnect with your family this summer in Fort Wayne, Indiana. ®

Start Planning a Great Family Getaway That They’ll Love!

VisitFortWayne.com • 1-800-767-7752

VFW_IndyMonthly3.5x4.5.indd 1

Over 5.8 million people visit Fort Wayne annually.

This generates $15.4 million in tax revenues to local units of government.

Visitors spend $524 million on a wide variety of goods & services.

Visitors’ spending sustains over 7,217 jobs in Allen County.

2013 Economic Impact of Visitors on Fort Wayne/Allen County

“Thank you so very much for the great packet of information about Fort Wayne. It was a wonderful and included all of the brochures and information we were looking for. We look forward to visiting and experiencing some of the things Fort Wayne offers for family fun. ”

4/24/13 4:40 PM

Visit Fort Wayne uses mass media, advertising, web marketing and social media to attract leisure visitors to Fort Wayne. We promote Fort Wayne as a high-quality, low-cost family destination for getaway trips. Our goal is to produce 10 million exposures and generate two million visitors to the website as we promote Fort Wayne as a destination through print, television, radio, web, public relations and e-marketing campaigns.

The Yard Family Via the Visitors Center

Administration and Special Projects

Administration: 2013 Achievements

Administration: 2014 Goals

Special Projects: 2014 Goals

One of the goals of our strategic plan is to “operate an effective and efficient organization.”

In 2013, the Administrative staff insured that we came in on budget, passed an independent audit, and efficiently managed staff and resources that contributed to accomplishing our mission.

In 2014, our Board and Administrative staff will continue to advocate for improving Fort Wayne and Allen County as a destination.

New in 2014, we will be welcoming visitors to our community via digital signage at the Fort Wayne International Airport.

We will operate our CVB effectively, efficiently and aggressively, in order to generate a return on the investment for our industry partners and public entities.

Digital signs will greet deplaning visitors, welcoming them to our community and sharing seasonal information with them. Just one more way that we are welcoming visitors to our community!

Our Board of Directors was very active in 2013 as they initiated, created and advocated for a new Allen County Hotel/Motel Sanitation Ordinance.

With the tremendous support of the Health Department, new standards of performance, inspection and grading will be put into effect in 2014 to insure visitors and guests to our county will be able to stay in hotels and motels which offer acceptable standards of cleanliness and sanitation. This new ordinance was supported by many of our hotel members, the Fort Wayne Hospitality Association, and was enacted by the Allen County Commissioners.

We also provided input into the Mayor’s Legacy Fund projects on signage and sports development issues.

Special Projects: 2013 Achievements Fort Wayne continues to be a leader in offering new technology to promote to visitors.

Our Info Fort Wayne digital kiosk network offers 14 locations and growing. New to the network is highbred digital sign and kiosk. These digital kiosks provide information to our visitors – right where they are! Now with these larger screens and a more readable interface, visitors can learn about nearby things to do and places to eat and stay.

New Digital Signage at the Fort Wayne Airport

This upcoming January, Visit Fort Wayne will be partnering with the Indiana Restaurant and Beverage Association to initiate “Fort Wayne Restaurant Week,” a 10-day special promotion to showcase our home-owned and home-grown restaurants. From January 15-26, Fort Wayne restaurants will offer special $30 menus and help celebrate Fort Wayne: The City of Restaurants!

In addition, we will continue our efforts to provide training to the front line employees in our industry, through training videos and seminars.

Visit Fort Wayne Annual Budget 2013 Revenue Room Tax 80% Advertising and Co-op Programs 20%

2013 Expenses Personnel 43% Direct Promotional Expenses 41% Operating Expenses 16%

Info Fort Wayne Kiosks

“Where do I start in thanking you for your amazing support of the IMEA professional development conference?! I owe all of you a huge debt of appreciation for all of the pre-conference work done of behalf of our members. It gives our members and the visiting parents such a positive impression of Fort Wayne.”

Front Line Training

Barbara Resch, Indiana Music Educators Association

Group Sales

2013 Achievements The Visit Fort Wayne Group Sales Department had another fantastic year in 2013, working with numerous prospective customers and attending six trade shows. The sales department won several bids for group business including the North American Brass Band Association for 2015 & 2016 and the Automobile License Plate Collectors Association for 2016.

Our two Sales Managers worked with planners to produce 60 leads for future conventions and sports tournaments. They booked 30 groups – 10 more than in 2012! We lost 17 bids and 17 other group leads are still pending as of November 2013.

The 30 booked groups will bring over 70,000 people to visit Fort Wayne and their spending will add $13.3 million new dollars into our local economy!

Group Tours/Bus Groups Bus Tours Bring Fun to Fort Wayne

Since renewing our commitment to group tours (leisure-based bus and tour groups), we have seen a significant increase in bus groups coming to Fort Wayne. We attend group tour tradeshows and send quarterly e-newsletters to tour planners throughout the Midwest. By providing individualized trip itineraries and one-on-one interaction with each tour planner, Visit Fort Wayne has been able to book 38 group tours this year alone. This accounts for over 1,740 delegates.

On average, each bus will stop at 3 to 4 local businesses, restaurants and attractions, and will normally have at least one meal at a local restaurant. Fort Wayne has been able to offer group tour planners unique options, including the annual Vera Bradley Outlet Sale, DeBrand Fine Chocolates, the Genealogy Center at the Allen County Public Library, and many smaller niche businesses.

2014 Goals In 2014, Group Sales staff members will attend four trade shows with the focus on attracting religious and association conventions and sports tournaments. Our sales goals include producing 60 leads, booking 30 groups, and generating 20,000 room nights.

Group Sales Marketing In 2013, Visit Fort Wayne continued to put Fort Wayne on the map as a prime destination to host conferences, conventions and trade shows.

Working closely with the sales team, the Grand Wayne Convention Center and Memorial Coliseum, the marketing team created new sales strategies and programs to reach new, current and former local, statewide and national meeting planners.

First, the marketing team revamped Visit Fort Wayne’s meetings web page, updating it with a new, fresh look, as well as content, photos, videos, case studies and more. Second, a new bi-monthly Fort Wayne meetings e-Newsletter was created to educate, update and present Fort Wayne as the perfect location to host a meeting. Third, Visit Fort Wayne continued to advertise our city in several national, Midwest and new niche meeting publications, reaching markets Fort Wayne excels at hosting each year.

“I wanted to send an “official” thank-you to Visit Fort Wayne for the part you played in making the 2013 Federation of Genealogical Societies Conference a resounding success. We literally could not have coordinated this conference with as much success without you, and we appreciate all of your contributions. Thank you again for all of your support – let’s do it again in a few years! ”

Our Sales Team Steals the Show

In addition, our marketing team will continue to solicit new groups through email campaigns and social media efforts. Our PR efforts will involve working with sports venue writers and meeting planner media to produce coverage of Fort Wayne’s attractions.

Our sales process will also be improved with the addition of new digital bid books. Visit Fort Wayne will produce new videos, showcasing Fort Wayne’s meeting facilities and sports venues. Portions of the videos will be used on Visit Fort Wayne’s website and inserted into bid proposals.

We believe that this new multi-media strategy will help Fort Wayne bring more top-notch conventions and meetings to Fort Wayne in the future.

Dawne Slater-Putt, Allen County Public Library

Group Services and Visitors Center

2013 Achievements: 2013 was another busy year in the Visitors Center and Information Services Department as we assisted visitors and groups – keeping them informed and connected to our community.

One way that we do this is through promotion to groups who have booked conventions in our city for upcoming years. When needed, we attend the current year’s event to showcase what they can expect the next year in Fort Wayne. This helps motivate more attendees to register for the Fort Wayne convention the following year.

Championship. These groups alone brought more than 7,000 visitors to town, with tens of thousands more serviced at other events around the community.

We also conducted the triennial economic impact study of tourism in Allen County focusing on total direct visitor spending on the economy in Fort Wayne. The results of this study can be found at the end of this report.

In 2013, the Visitors Center serviced more than 15,000 inquiries while improving quality of service by spending more time with the visitors and customizing recommendations and referrals for them. Many more people are becoming repeat visitors to the Visitors Center because of our friendly, efficient, and knowledgeable service.

Conference Attendees Love Fort Wayne

Even when we can’t visit in person, we work closely with meeting planners and conference participants to customize the promotional message for their upcoming event in Fort Wayne.

We help craft messages promoting all that there is to do in Fort Wayne, and design custom web pages to provide attendees information about our community. Our goal is to make sure planners host successful meetings, and attendees have a great time in our city. This results in satisfied attendees, successful planners, and rebooked events in Fort Wayne!

Staff Helping Guest

We also launched shop.visitfortwayne.com this year, an online retail store that sells our great Visitors Center merchandise to people around the world!

In 2013, we worked very closely providing planning and implementation assistance for numerous convention groups including the Missionary Church, Indiana Music Education Association, the Federation of Genealogical Societies, and the Web.com Hotel Fitness

2014 Goals In 2014, we plan to further improve the planning services being provided to groups that book their events in Fort Wayne well in advance. Our assistance to attendees and planning committees helps expand attendance, while increasing overnight stays and visitor engagement within our community.

We’ll also be focusing quite a bit on research in 2014, with DMAI’s sports economic impact calculator coming online. In using our research gathered this year and comparative data from national sources, we’ll be able to better calculate the direct spending of all events, and better communicate their worth to the community.

In the Visitors Center, we would like to spend this year not only continuing to grow and improve service levels, but would also like to grow and improve accessibility to the Visitors Center and visitors’ knowledge of the Visitors Center as a resource. We will do this by having an increased presence on VisitFortWayne.com, by improving merchandise offered by in the Visitors Center and through the web store, and by providing a greater value to visitors that contact us and utilize our services.

The Visitors Center

Online store

”We were so happy with the Visitors Center! We were able to pick up maps, information and bus schedules. The ladies working there were so helpful and really spent time trying to help us figure out what we needed. This is the place to go if you are relocating to Fort Wayne or are just there for a visit! ”

M. Clean, Via TripAdvisor Reviews

Leisure Marketing

2013 Achievements Visit Fort Wayne markets Fort Wayne as an affordable, convenient, and high-quality destination for families within 50-200 miles of our city. We advertise in cities including Elkhart, Mishawaka, Kokomo, Lafayette, Muncie, Marion, Lima, Defiance, Coldwater, Kalamazoo, Battle Creek and more. This summer we expanded our reached with targeted advertising campaigns in Indianapolis, South Bend, and Toledo.

This summer’s campaign was a HUGE success, with inquiries and web visits up from all target markets, and in our new market of Indianapolis, our inquiries were up 277%!

Many articles were published as a result of this effort in 2012, including a full-page article in Midwest Living!

Big City. Bigger Heart.

You’ll love romantic winter getaways in Fort Wayne!

Explore Indiana’s second-largest city together and discover a heart-warming escape!

Combine our vibrant arts season with shopping, dining and overnight packages, and you’ll find a new way to reconnect and make memories together in Fort Wayne, Indiana!

Start planning a great getaway that they’ll love!

We use traditional advertising (TV, radio, newspaper, web), PR activities, earned media, and social media to produce well over 10 million impressions a year.

Our TV ad resulted in increased interest in Fort Wayne

VisitFortWayne.com • 1-800-767-7752 VFW_TravelIN_7.5x4.75_winter.indd 1

9/4/13 2:16 PM

Newspaper Advertising

Our largest PR effort involves distributing videos, pictures and travel trip ideas to regional newspapers and websites. We also work extensively with travel media, hosting them on FAM tours, and sending media packets to regional magazines and papers. This year we hosted a group tour of a dozen writers, and we hosted another dozen throughout the year – knowing that once they experience Fort Wayne they will be eager to share it with their readers!

2014 Goals In 2014, we will continue to build on our advertising successes, as we conduct conversion studies to determine the best markets and advertising techniques to reach potential visitors.

Our summer advertising campaign promotes our high-quality, low-cost destination. Advertising features the Fort Wayne Children’s Zoo, TinCaps, attractions, museums, festivals, arts and more, knowing that visitors love to take in these activities while enjoying our outstanding restaurants and hotels.

In the winter months, we promote Fort Wayne’s arts experience to attract leisure visitors. We promote the Broadway shows and Philharmonic performances at the Embassy Theatre as our lead offer to come visit Fort Wayne. We then suggest “more” activities including the Fort Wayne Museum of Art, Botanical Conservatory, Science Central, History Center, Coliseum concerts, sporting events, and arts performances and exhibitions.

Fort Wayne featured in Midwest Living

In addition, we will focus on encouraging residents to become ambassadors for our community – knowing that 40% of our visitors come to Fort Wayne to visit friends and family. Providing our residents with the tools to host visitors is an innovative way to help increase visitor spending in our community.

Also in store is the continued growth of our video and social media offerings – enabling us to reach our potential visitors with the information they want – in the way they want it!

Travel writers enjoy their tour of Fort Wayne

“We got home from our Fort Wayne getaway last night. Lots of fun as we visited the Fort Wayne Children’s Zoo, Museum of Art, Science Central, Botanical Conservatory, watched two TinCaps games (we bought tickets to a second game because we had so much fun at the first) and stayed and played in the pool at our hotel. Fort Wayne is a fun city. #feelingblessed”

Laura Neill, Via Social Media

Web Marketing and New Media

2013 Achievements In 2013 our website saw more than 2 million page views for the first time, as we hosted nearly 554,000 unique visitors. This was a 42% increase from the previous year.

Another big success story is our Insider Blog.

Every day a new post goes live on our blog, sharing a great depth and breadth of Fort Wayne information with our readers. We have continued to integrate this content into our site, and page views are up 7% from the previous year with more than 280,000 views.

honed each one into a tool that helps bring more visitors to our community. In fact, a recent study of our social media fans found that 68% of people who “like” us on Facebook visit us after “liking” us, and 56% of Facebook fans say that our posts influenced their decision to like us.

2014 Goals

Our “Insider Blog” features over 1,000 posts!

In 2013, we also went through a Social Media analysis and made improvements to all of our online properties. This effort has resulted in better communication and has doubled our fan base.

VisitFortWayne.com

In addition, our mobile website has continued it’s outstanding growth. VisitFortWayne.com saw more than 200,000 visits from mobile users – that accounts for approximately 36% of all web traffic, up from 25% the previous year.

Due to our extensive SEO efforts, Visit Fort Wayne now ranks first in Google searches for “Fort Wayne Attractions,” “Fort Wayne Events,” “Fort Wayne Restaurants,” and “Things to Do In Fort Wayne.”

These terms are searched more than 10,000 times every month!

Fort Wayne on Facebook

We currently populate Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest and several other social channels with invitations to visit Fort Wayne, and ideas about the best ways to enjoy our city.

Each platform has a different audience, requiring our team to employ different techniques to provide the right information in the right way.

Through education and trial and error we have

”Visit Fort Wayne makes other cities’ visitor bureaus pale in comparison. Thank you for all the help, friendliness, and for understanding that our conference is not exactly the same as other events.

You all rock!”

We expect mobile growth to continue in 2014.

Mobile visits could account for nearly half of the visits to VisitFortWayne.com in 2014, and we are going to be ready. The top goal for our web department in 2014 will be updating the look and functionality of our mobile website to make it easier for visitors to find restaurants, hotels, attractions, and events - and to get the most out of their Fort Wayne experience.

We remain committed to our search optimization efforts, and will attempt to get number one rankings in even more categories including “Fort Wayne Hotels.”

Mobile technology We’ve also expanded our meetings section, giving meeting planners, associations, and more an easy way to see everything that Fort Wayne has to offer. In 2014, we’ll work to increase visibility to that section of VisitFortWayne.com, in order to generate more interest in Fort Wayne as an outstanding meeting destination.

Paula Stuart-Warren, Federation of Genealogical Societies Conference

Economic Impact of Visitors to Fort Wayne/Allen County, Indiana

Number of Annual Visitors

Total Employment

Fort Wayne Visitors....................................................................5.8 million

Jobs (sustained by visitors)...............................................................7,217

Pass Through Visitors.................................................................2.1 million

Over 1/3 of jobs were in high wage occupations.

Represents a 1.7% increase over 2009 study.

Represents a 2.8% increase over 2009 study.

2006

2009

2012

Wages and Salaries

6 million

5.8 5.7

Direct Wages and Salaries...................................................$112,252,837 Represents a 10.9 % increase over 2009 study.

5.5 million

5.4 5 million

Taxes Generated Local Taxes (hotel, food & beverage, property).......................$15,352,015

Visitor Expenditures

State Taxes (sales, income, gas).............................................$47,759,293

Direct Expenditures.............................................................$523,728,321

Represents a 10.5% increase over 2009 study.

Represents a 12.4% increase over 2009 study, or an annual growth of 4.1%.

2006

2009

Results of a 2013 Conversion Study of inquiries made to Visit Fort Wayne via phone, web, and email

2012

$550 million

$524

$500 million

$450 million

$400 million

$466 $415

95% of people responded that they were happy with Visit Fort Wayne and the information we provided.

50% of them heard of us through online search, 30% through our advertising, 20% through friends, family, and other means.

When asked if our advertising motivated them to visit Fort Wayne, 58% said that it was the reason they inquired and visited.

Source: 2012 Study of Economic Impact of travel and tourism in Fort Wayne/Allen County.

Conducted by Certec Inc., Lexington KY.

58%

of inquiries say that our advertising was the reason for their visit!

Visitor and Travel Characteristics of Visitors to Fort Wayne/Allen County, Indiana

Where Visitors Come From

Expenditures by Visitor Type Per Day

According to VisitFortWayne.com visits, Visitors Center inquiries and

Lodging Guests............................................................................$133.29

ad responses, visitors come to Fort Wayne from the following states:

Visiting Friends & Relatives............................................................$70.87

Indiana..............................................................................................54%

Day Trip Visitors..............................................................................$29.47

Ohio....................................................................................................9% Illinois..................................................................................................8% Michigan..........................................................................................7.5% Other............................................................................................. 21.5%

Expenditures by Type

Food & Beverage........................36%

Shopping....................................25%

Visitors by Trip Characteristics

Lodging......................................17%

Typical Travel Party....................................................................3.2 people

Attractions..................................11%

Average Stay............................................................................... 1.8 days

Transportation...............................5%

First Visit to Fort Wayne.................................................................. 44.2%

Souvenirs......................................3%

Visitors by Travel Type

Top Visitor Attractions

Lodging Guests ........................... 44%

Travelers visited a number of attractions while in Fort Wayne.

Day Trip Visitors ........................... 25%

Visiting Friends and Relatives ...... 20%

Pass-Through Visitors .................. 11%

Respondents could choose more than one source of information.

927 S. Harrison Street, Suite 101, Fort Wayne, IN 46802 1-800-767-7752 • 260-424-3700 • www.VisitFortWayne.com

The top visited attractions were:

• Fort Wayne Children’s Zoo

• Spiece Fieldhouse

• Allen County Public Library (Genealogy Center)

• Parkview Field

• Shopping, Malls

• Local Restaurants

• Other Museums and Attractions

People Board of Directors - 2014

Management & Finance

Gary Shearer, Tower Private Advisors Board Chairperson

Dan O’Connell, President/CEO Dennis Robinson, Director of Industry Partner Relations Beth Monn, Bookkeeper/Administration Assistant

Mike Nutter, Fort Wayne TinCaps Vice Chairperson

Marketing

Michael Sperry, Gordon Food Service Treasurer Dawn Rosemond, Barnes & Thornburg Secretary

Board Members Jim Anderson, Fort Wayne Children’s Zoo

Kristen Guthrie, Director of Marketing Dan Kinnaley, Digital Marketing Manager John Felts, Marketing Specialist, Group Sales Katie Crabill, Marketing Assistant Group Sales Josie O’Donnell, Group Sales Manager Corey Ford, Group Sales Manager Emily Ecenbarger, Group Sales Assistant

Tim Beere, DeBrand Fine Chocolates

Information Services/Visitors Center

Randy Brown, Allen County War Memorial Coliseum

Megan Flohr, Director of Information Services Stephanie Essex, Receptionist/Visitor Information Specialist Megan Butler, Receptionist/Visitor Information Specialist

Danette Fitzgerald, Parkview Health Steve Gard, The Oyster Bar Restaurants Tim Hall, Don Hall’s Guesthouse Gil Haynie, Jr., Hawk, Haynie, Kammeyer & Chickedantz

We are pleased to bring you this report of our vibrant and successful Convention and Visitors Bureau. If you have any questions, please contact me – I would be happy to serve in any way.

Scott Hinderman, Fort Wayne/Allen County Airport Authority Don Osika, Indianas News Center Mac Parker, Faegre Baker Daniels Nelson Peters, Allen County Commissioner

Dan O’Connell President/CEO Visit Fort Wayne (260) 424-3700 dan@visitfortwayne.com

John Sampson, Northeast Indiana Regional Partnership Bart Shaw, Grand Wayne Center Melissa Schenkel, Vera Bradley Kelly Updike, Embassy Theatre John Urbahns, City of Fort Wayne Irene Walters, IPFW

Learn more on our organizational website: FortWayneCVB.com or on our consumer site: VisitFortWayne.com

927 S. Harrison Street, Suite 101, Fort Wayne, IN 46802 1-800-767-7752 • 260-424-3700

www.VisitFortWayne.com