TMAC Board Present: Grant Fraser (president), John Geary, Suzie Loiselle and Yashy Murphy

TMAC Board Regrets: Tracy Ford, Dale Dunlop, Guy Thé©riault, Mary Tulle and Melody Wren                                       

ED: Elizabeth Kerr

1. Call to Order
GF called the meeting to order at 12:10 p.m. EST and welcomed all in attendance.

Since there wasn’t a quorum for this call, the minutes from the October 9 meeting still need approval. 

2. Financial Report as at end of October

On behalf of Mary, Elizabeth reported that we are tracking well – financials included in board package.  At this time, there is minimal spending and minimal revenue.  EK is the biggest expense at this time.  EK reported that there’s $43K in the Tangerine account and $75K in the TD account – total investments = $115K.  EK to update cash balance and investments and how we may use these for the future.  There may be re-investment opportunities.  EK will be discussing financials with Mary and Grant and present at the November 20 meeting.  It was agreed that we should discuss the 2019 budget at the December meeting.

3. Executive Director Update

EK reported that she has been speaking with the website rep and the online portal will be ready for membership applications, renewals, awards and conference procedures. The communications plan needs updating and we need to tighten scheduling.  No concerns going into year end.  Details about the conference are available under “events” on the website.  You MUST log in to access all details.  EK will be adding a countdown clock on the website.  She will also add some updates about the conference on the front page of website.

4. Membership

4.a.      Current Membership Stats and member feedback

To date, membership sits at 169 media, 206 industry and about ten in the works for a total of 375.  EK said that there were 55 members who did not renew and we will need to reach out.  Of the 55, about half are media and the other half are industry.  GF suggested that our target for 2019 should be 400 members. Once the criteria have been approved and automated on the website, we can promote to the membership.

4.b.      New Media Membership Criteria

Yashy worked very hard to pull together the new media membership criteria with the help of the following members; Candace Sampson (broadcaster and blogger), Ayngelina Brogan, Josh Rimer, Marc Smith (blogger/influencers) and Margaret Swaine (traditional journalist).  YM asked if everyone if they reviewed the criteria provided.  Need feedback.  Main changes relate to new media.  In order to become a new member, YM recommended that they must be active and own their platform for three years.  Apparently SATW has a three-year minimum so YM recommends we consider same.  Requalification for traditional media is 50 pts over two-year period.  For new media, it would be one year.  John prefers that both groups have same requal period.  There could be a combined submission – primary and secondary category – need to be consistent and not favour one over the other.  Therefore, a new member should have crossover opportunities.

The biggest change/issue relates to paid content and traditional writing.  The advertising standards guideline for Canada states that whether you got free or had to pay, you must disclose everything.  Yashy uses hashtag ad.  The feedback is divided.  If paid, member should only get 40% of the points = 20.  Josh had a concern since getting a press trip covered and be paid is not easy.  For traditional media, 50% of the points if on a press trip.  Margaret Swaine says that a journalist does not go on a free press trip and write content and a true journalist pays their own way and then writes about it.  Suzie who represents a destination says that counting articles from a press trip should count.  Yashy spoke about her recent Grey County press trip – it was covered and she was paid for content – no opinions.  How does a traditional journalist handle this? 

The big question is, “What is the definition of a free press trip as opposed to going on own?” Need to find a way for normal compensation vs Pay to Play – shouldn’t penalize them because they are not the same.  John said that there are a lot of traditional journalists who are opposed, but are they representing the entire membership?  If we don’t change and bring in new media, TMAC will not go on.  Suzie said that advertorials count as paid work therefore should be 50% of the points.  Yashy spoke with Marc Smith and he goes on many press trips with paid content arrangements and he qualifies for membership.

Pay to Play – Yashy outlined the issues such as difficulty being paid, how the money is used.  Yashy produces content as ongoing coverage while on a press trip – such as Instastories and afterwards, produces video footage and blog posts.  Tourism boards usually reach out and offer to pay for content and photos.  Suzie said she does work with digital journalists and bloggers – press trip covered but no paid content.  May reach out for photos for destination’s website – pay for it.

Yashy posed the question, “Do we keep, remove, not address or make changes to paid content?”  The survey should address how we assign points and breakdown points – see what membership wants.  Grant says that we need to hear from the Marc Smiths as well as Mary/Suzie who represent destinations.  John insists that the future of the organization needs to welcome new media.

Yashy suggested a Facebook live session to explain the issues and difficulties experienced by new content creators.  Grant mentioned that this is happening to everyone – new media and traditional media.

Grant asked about the survey status.  It will be sent out November 5th, but beforehand, Tracy and Guy need to provide feedback.  Industry members need to sell the idea of new media to traditional media.  This is the future and we need to be inclusive.  The survey will be a questionnaire – simple, multiple choice and when sent out there will be a tight deadline.  Board needs to provide feedback before deployed.  Those who do not complete, will not have a say.  The only way to know who is responding is to include a draw – names provided.  EK reported that the awards survey generated 110 responses.

Yashy asked Suzie about criteria on page 10 related to feedback for site traffic.  Is 5K view/month valuable?  Yashy’s site has 20-25K views/month.  Suzie doesn’t consider this but focuses on niche and engagement as being more important than number of views.  For larger destinations, they are looking for 50K views/month.  If paid for content, the number of views may take on more importance.

For video/YouTube content, Yashy suggested read-only access to Google Analytics – EK to check functionality for creating a link.

5. Chapter Business

There were no new Chapter business at this time.

6. Committees

There were no updates re: Awards at this time.

7. Conference Updates

There were no updates re: Conference at this time.

8. Conclusion

The meeting was adjourned at 1:37 p.m.