Live The Life
What a way to kick off the week! Virginia Beach has been included in The New York Times in this feature of “Five Vacation Options If You Want to Pass on Disney World.” The feature ran online today on the front page of the NYT.com travel section!
CLICK HERE to check it out!
Opening day for the Visitor Information Centers Kiosks.
Both kiosks at 17th & 24th streets opened May 27 and will remain open daily from 9a-7p through Labor Day Weekend. Please stop by and say hi to our friendly Visitor Information Center staff members.
Congratulations to VBCC’s Culinary team and Executive Chef Paul Benson for an award winning night at Virginia Aquarium!
7th Annual Sensible Seafood Fest Award Winners:
People’s Choice: Tautog’s Restaurant
Sustainability Awards (this year guest-judged by Marah Hardt, author of Sex in the Sea)
Best Presentation of a Sustainable Dish: Distinctive Gourmet at the Virginia Beach Convention Center
Best Use Sustainable and Local: Culinary Institute of Virginia
Patrick’s Picks (judged by Patrick Evans-Hylton and his panel of judges)
Best in Show: Waterman’s Surfside Grille
Best Creative: Catch 31
Best Presentation: Sodexo at the Virginia Aquarium
Congratulations to all winners!
CLICK HERE to check out a great video of the wrestling event, which featured an estimated 4,000 athletes!
This event featured:
50 mats
323 teams
4,800 wrestlers
It has been a busy weekend at the VBCC!
CLICK HERE to check out the great coverage by Meetings Today writer Jeff Heilman. It ran both in print and online. Meetings Today magazine has 56,263 unique monthly visitors and a print circulation of 55,151.
Congratulations to Sports Marketing National Sales Manager, Dani Timm, for being named to the US Sports Congress Advisory Board. We are proud of Dani for being recognized as an sports tourism industry leader. Way to go, Dani!
When the CVB was invited to participate in a press conference in the lead up to the Memorial Day weekend, the PR Unit jumped at the chance to highlight our city as THE beach destination of choice for this huge travel weekend. In addition to sharing details about several major events scheduled across the city, Teresa Diaz, with the Communications Team, took the opportunity to announce the fantastic news that MSN.com ranked Virginia Beach at the top of the list for “Best Beach Destinations for Memorial Day Weekend.” Representatives from the AAA Richmond office, VDOT and the Virginia State Police shared safe driving tips and road construction/alternate route information during the press conference which took place at the New Kent Welcome Center early Wednesday morning and was covered by several Richmond news stations.
This past week, Brande Rumpf, Executive Assistant to the Director, was accepted into the Master’s Program for the annual International Association of Administrative Professional’s Leadership Summit, which will take place in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida this summer. The Master’s Program will consist of fifty professionals from across the world that will come together to collaborate, learn and network. The program creates unique opportunities in addition to reviewing case studies, participating in group discussions, and team based problem solving to challenge current knowledge into deeper understanding of issues that face administrative professionals.
Congratulations, Brande!!
City Manager, Dave Hansen, and the Joint Energy Committee set a city-wide goal to reduce the consumption of energy by 1% for FY16. The third quarter reports are in and the city as a whole has actually reduced energy usage by 1.9%, which is awesome news!
Even better, however, is that our CVB team has achieved the following reductions:
Electricity Usage (kWh) – reduced 6.9%
Natural Gas (Therms) – reduced 3.0%
These numbers are fiscal YTD thru March 2016, and show the amazing effort made by our team to conserve energy while at the VICs and VBCC.
Special shout-out to VBCC Sustainability Coordinator, Kimberlee Dobbins, who said it best: “We all have an impact – make it a positive one.”
Keep up the good work, everyone!
DCRT – Departmental Communications Representatives Team
Upcoming Member Conversations
July 28, 2:00 pm – 4:30 pm, Advanced Technology Center (ATC)
Anyone can attend as long as there is room, register through Karen Kephart
Topics to include Benefits Update for 2017
FY 16/17 Budget
On July 1, 2016 (effective June 22)
o Horizontal – $2.1M to about 3,000 employees (when senior employees with several years’ experience in their title are earning the same salaries as newly hired employees in the same title)
o Vertical – $850,000 to around 200 employees (when supervisor makes less money than those who report to them
On December 1, 2016
o All FT employees must receive an annual performance evaluation that “meets expectations” in calendar year 2016. No evaluation = no merit increase (until the evaluation is completed)
o Evaluations must be completed AND entered into InSITE no later than November 30, 2016
Misc Updates