Topic: Initiate Process with Scion Advisors and Full Glass Research
In attendance: Deborah Steinthal, Christian Fuller, Sara Bayer, Steve Eadie, Barbara Steele
Sara presented agenda and then described her presentation of Deborah’s draft to the Exec Committee. Draft proposal and recommendation from Strategy committee was well received. Sara stated we want to formally move forward with Deborah and Christian, and is ready to discuss funding after the agenda. We jumped ahead and Sara asked if we can move forward with $10,000 of committed funds from Community Partners. She stated we also have $11,000 from Board Member contributions. Deborah said that is enough to get going on market research and needs assessment. Sara said a membership committee is moving forward but nothing is definite. Total amount that RVV is allocating is $18,000. Deborah asked that we not lose sight of a footnote in the proposal that we may desire an additional service early on for surveys, up to $1000.
Research Design:
Christian needs in writing from SOWA that Christian can release to RVV old market research which he completed for SOWA . Steve pointed out that information related to Umpqua is not related to Grants Pass and south; we would like any information that pertains specifically to Rogue Valley.
Sara presented an outline of a meeting being planned for July 9 in which Deborah would present a process for developing a strategy to a public meeting. The meeting is being positioned as a prospective meeting for industry people to hear what we are doing, to meet Deborah, and to leave the room with finding hope in joining RVV. Deborah said that we need to clearly present that this is a “beginning” and that nothing has started yet regarding strategy. Also, she said more Q&A time is a good idea. Sara said the Board wants a full house at this meeting and she and Ashley Cates are working to make that happen.
Deborah introduced Christian Fuller/Full Glass Research for food and beverage industries. Christian has completed trade and private research in Oregon wine and agriculture extensively. He also does consumer research, for example, pricing, consumer surveys. Steve asked how scope is determined for RVV project. Barbara said that the initial planning of research should include recognizing that AVOVA is an existing board and could have an impact on RVV membership. Christian said that this is a somewhat typical starting project. He said the research side should recognize that people already know “Applegate” and ask for information about that; he said we should find out if there are actually different impressions of Rogue vs Applegate. Sara said we have to begin with conversation that includes large, small, north, south, etc. Deborah will include that in her presentation, expressing that RVV brings assets that small wineries would not ordinarily have access to.
Deborah offered to do a second meeting titled, How to nurture a healthy wine business in today’s competitive wine market place? Sara said the Board would like to do that. She gave information that Ashley Cates is organizing with Sara to create a “symposium” style meeting in January. It would be RVV’s first substantive offering to membership. Targeting January 2019 to unveil strategic and marketing plans and to offer seminar.
Deborah asked that we clarify the timeline more fully. First, we are targeting July 9 meeting date as discussed earlier. For research design, we need to meet and formalize before July 15. Christian explained that he is considering gathering information from two groups of consumers, one is hospitality and one is regional visitor info. One brings more biased answers and second brings less bias. This will allow him to get an accurate picture of consumer perception at a reasonable cost. Process to secure valuable information is too lengthy to include in this document; Christian explained it in detail and clearly, despite the complexity. Sara asked that Deborah touch on this in the July 9 presentation. Next step is to schedule a call to discuss detail research design questions with Christian. Then he builds, then he launches and implements. Target is to complete research design by July 15 and launch on August 15.
Christian said that we should consider offering incentives to aid getting feedback. Sara said she will take that to the Board. Barbara and Sara will assemble a list of incentive possibilities to present in our next meeting. We should have this completed before our phone call with Deborah and Christian.
Regarding these pre-planning meetings, we decided that we should ask all of the Board to attend, but keep maximum attendees at 15 people. Both Christian and Deborah said their experience is too many people at this stage is costly and slow; greater participant levels will be necessary later. Sara provided a list of Board members and their affiliates plus a few key industry partners to Deborah.
To wrap up, we need to schedule a research kick off, get permission from SOWA to use data, complete engagement letter and invoice, define participants in pre-planning process, identify Deborah’s participants for needs assessment. July 9 at Inn at the Commons is on Deborah’s calendar. Sara and Barbara will provide additional info about event as it unfolds. Sara and Deborah will collaborate to tour Deborah on the afternoon of July 9.
Our working timeline as of today is:
July 9 RVV community town hall
Before July 15 Research design meeting
Sep – Oct Market research
Nov Strategic Planning Working Session 1
Dec Strategic Planning Working Session 2
Jan 2019 RVV “symposium” – reveal strategic plan and education seminar
For further information or clarification, please contact Barbara@cowhornwine.com