A Word from Tiffany Russell

Dear CVB Team,

I am pleased to support the CVB and our tourism industry as your new VP Marketing Communications. This is an exciting time for all of us as we make several major transitions internally to support our growing marketing needs. I wanted to share the vision statement Brad prepared for person selected (which he also shared with the interview panel), as it will resonate with all of us regarding the future of this organization:

Vision for the new VP of Marketing & Communications

  • Someone to lead our restructuring who understands our vision and can move that vision to action.
  • Someone who can see the big picture while still able to evaluate the tactics and performance of the department.
  • Someone not afraid to challenge the status quo and not accept the past as a roadmap for our future.
  • Someone who will push the marketing and communications team to be creative and think beyond.
  • Someone committed to the organization’s success and has a passion for seeing Virginia Beach succeed.
  • Someone who will be well respected within our organization and with our stakeholders.

I ask for your support now more than ever as we internally undergo changes in process, procedures, communications, project management and even project assignment. Some things we’ve done before will not be the same moving forward. My 90-day plan is rather focused:

  • I will be looking to hire the new marketing director right away, as well as an assistant and my replacement as Director of Public Relations.
  • I will continue to work with Brad, my team and BCF to evolve our destination marketing message. “Three beaches, one vacation” will soon be replaced in order to improve top-of-mind awareness of our City as a vacation destination.
  • I will be working to develop the new look of VisitVirginiaBeach.com through our new vendor partner, Simpleview.
  • I will be involved with many of you in the DMAI DestinationNext workshop process.

I am setting up internal, scalable processes for this team to be able to serve you, as our internal “clients,” much like an in-house advertising agency. The new marketing director will be your account rep, so to speak, and will traffic projects requiring creative direction and brand oversight. We will work closely with you to ensure the strategy and product is meeting an end-goal, or encourage you to consider another avenue we think might work even better.

Additionally, I have appreciated your patience and understanding as I’ve worked to manage several roles and responsibilities since Chuck’s retirement in January. Thanks again for celebrating with me as I shape this new role under the vision presenting to me and grow my already awesome team!

— Tiffany

CVB in Chi-Town

Jim Coggin is in Chicago supporting the Virginia Arts Festival at the Mid-West Band Show. The Mid-West Band is the world’s largest international band and orchestra conference.

The Count is in!

The final count is in and a donation of 242 pairs of socks and gloves was accepted on behalf of the JCOC on Thursday, Dec. 8 at the Convention Center.

Way to go, team!

2016 sock glove drive

Pictured: CVB staff who participated in the drive and Krishna Loya, volunteer coordinator for the JCOC.

December at the VBCC

December is normally a quiet month at the convention center, but this year was the exception. Over 24,000 guests visited the center and in usual style, they came from a variety of places.  Virginia Society for Technology in education brought nearly 1,200 educators from across the state December 3-5.  For the second year in a row, and growing at a rapid pace, the Center hosted Virginia Holiday Duals 2016. This wrestling tournament with 2,400 athletes from 32 states generated 2,600 room nights. Both of these events are great examples of what the Convention and Visitors Bureau does for our citizens. While locals may not attend these events, or even be aware of them, these guests leave plenty of tax dollars behind and provide employment for our hospitality partners in December when it is most needed. To round the month out, VBCC hosted 11 holiday parties for local businesses and our military commands. The Center’s food service partner, Distinctive Gourmet fed over 8,000 guests, including 5,000 hungry Santas who will run the Surf-n-Santa 10 miler December 17th.

January kicks off with the 2017 National Judges Cup Gymnastics Meet January 6-8 followed by the annual Hampton Roads International Auto Show January 13-15. Rev your engines and come see us!

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Jamie Mitchell Volunteers for Second Harvest

Jamie Mitchell went to Nashville recently to conduct sales calls. While there, she volunteered with the Second Harvest Food Bank of Middle Tennessee and was joined by two clients, Kirk McNeill with the Virginia Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church and Dean Jones with the Religious Conference Management Association (RCMA). They (along with other volunteers) sorted, boxed, and stacked 14,000 lbs of food.

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City Manager’s Update Content Criteria

Every city department has been asked to focus on increasing participation in the weekly newsletter to City Council (City Manager’s Update). Examples of the news the content team in City Hall is looking for and deadline info follows:

Submissions:         Send all submissions to Stories@vbgov.com

Deadlines:           The deadline for submitting content is 5 pm each Wednesday

 Content:              As has been the case in the past, items submitted for the CMU may be edited and while not all submissions may end up in the Update, please send materials City Council will find informative and useful. They use the front cover for a feature story or two since that’s prime real estate. We encourage you to pitch good stories that should be on the front.

Bi-weekly, the front cover is a fun facts piece about Virginia Beach called “Who Knew?” Any fun facts for that is always welcome.

The remainder of the Update is separated into categories and you can direct submissions to one of these sections:

  • Awards and Recognition
  • City Improvements/Closures
  • New and Noteworthy
  • Upcoming Events
  • Attachments

Please contact Teresa Diaz with any questions.

M&C in Raleigh

Gina Parcells of Virginia Beach Resort & Conference Hotel, Colleen Briley of Hilton Oceanfront/Hilton Garden Inn Oceanfront, Don Meador of Holiday Inn Virginia Beach Norfolk Hotel & Conference Center and Linda Eisan, Virginia Beach CVB M&C , at Association Executives North Carolina Annual  Tradeshow.

NOA’s 2017 Fall Summit

The Nursing Organization Alliance was in Omaha NE this past November and Sally Noona was visiting with many of the Nursing specialties on the tradeshow floor! This picture represented the Emergency Nurses Association.

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Virginia Beach Named as Top Sports Vacation Nominee

Congratulations to Virginia Beach, VA! Your destination has been selected to be on the social media ballot for “Top Sports Vacation Spots”!!! Now, let the voting commence…

SportsEvents Magazine editors have evaluated each state carefully and have chosen only 30 destinations to be on the ballot for “Top Sports Vacation Spots”. Today we post the nominees on our Facebook page to begin voting! Please spread the word: share, like and comment on your image in order to be chosen to be featured in the coming February 2017 issue with the Sports Events & Vacations Special Feature, read by over 16,000 sports events planners. (We will take all into consideration in our final decision prior to choosing the featured group of Top Sports Vacation Spots!) We all know how powerful social media is these days, so the more we all participate, the better ROI for everyone!

Contest is now LIVE at https://www.facebook.com/pg/sportseventsmedia/photos/?tab=album&album_id=10153885281806441