Annual General Meeting 30 April 2019

• Date: Tuesday 30 April
• Time: 11.00 to 13.00
• Venue: Hillside Brewery, Longhope

We held our AGM at Hillside Brewery, Longhope with 73 members attending to showcase their businesses and to network. The formal minutes of the AGM can be downloaded.

Before and after the meeting 20 businesses from attractions, activities and food producers set up stands to showcase their business to attendees.  As well discussing the business, members could try their hand at a variety of activities including laser shooting and throwing a pot.

1. Yvette Farrell, co-chair, welcomed everyone to the meeting and thanked them everyone for attending and gave the chairmen’s report which can be downloaded. Special thanks were given to Hillside Brewery for hosting the event at what was a great venue for the event.
2. Six members were standing for election as directors with six vacancies so no election was necessary.  Details of members standing and elected.
3. Liz Marshall can a financial report and presented the accounts for 2018 which were approved.

The AGM was followed by two presentations.

Tolls Campaign Presentation by Fiona Reece, Claire Southern and Sarah Orchard.  The Tolls Campaign was funded by the Forest of Dean District Council to market the Forest of Dean following the removal of the Severn Bridge tolls and was aimed at the Bristol and South West England market with a view to changing its perception of the Forest of Dean. The target audience was identified mainly as millennials and families but the bloggers and influencers used covered a variety of ages and markets.

Sarah updated the meeting on the use of video in the digital campaign, our social media advertising campaign and the results. The focus going forward is how to continue the momentum generated by the campaign. The full presentation can be downloaded here.

Jo Butler, Tourist Consultant. Jo spoke about Visit England’s new emphasis on “bookable products” as opposed to purely focusing on accommodation as they have in the past. It is now recognised that visitors also want to book activities when they visit an area and that this is a growing market.

Jo encouraged members to engage with their local Tourist Information Centre to ensure that they are promoting them and also advised that activity providers should, like accommodation providers, have their products / experiences / activities bookable on line.