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November 5, 2008, from 9:00 am to 11:30 pm a meeting was conducted that has launched the beginnings of a Raleigh GLBT Visitor Program. The participants in this historic first meeting representing the Raleigh Convention & Visitors Bureau were Dennis Edwards, President and CEO; Jonathan Freeze, Director of Marketing; Ryan Smith, Director of Communications; Stephen Jackson, National Sales Manager. Representatives from Raleigh’s GLBT Community were Justine Hollingshead, Director of the GLBT Center at NCSU and Willie D. Pilkington, long time Raleigh GLBT Community Organizer / Activist & small business owner + Publisher of the Raleigh GLBT Cultural Report & News.
 
Among the many plans developed to launch this GLBT Raleigh CVB web page site was:

Form a Raleigh / Wake County GLBT Visitor Program Community Advisory Committee.

Supply the Raleigh CVB Staff a list of all Raleigh GLBT non-profit organizations, bars / nightclubs, and recognized Raleigh GLBT community leaders for the purpose of sending an official invitation letter to, from the Raleigh CVB to participate in the in the Community Advisory Committee.
Develop the Raleigh GLBT Visitor “Rainbow” web page to be ready to launch in February 2009 to be accessed anywhere on Earth there is a computer Internet connection.

Develop printed material such as a special GLBT edition of the publication Raleigh ; 2008 Official Visitors Guide to Raleigh, Cary and Wake County to be used at Visitor Centers, hotels, restaurants, bars and nightclubs and sent out in the mail.
Use the Raleigh GLBT Cultural Report & News along with other Raleigh GLBT information sources to provide the needed Raleigh Visitor event data for the new Raleigh GLBT web site.

Develop a Raleigh GLBT Ambassador list to help Visitors learn more about Raleigh and our local GLBT community and to also be used in news feature articles aimed toward the National and International GLBT media. These individual Ambassadors would be Raleigh / Wake County GLBT residents who are proud of their City and want to help spread the positive information about our history and current events from a positive personal perspective to attract visitors and to help those visitors feel more at ease and to help them locate sought after events, activities, services and accommodations … just generally enjoy their time spent in Raleigh.

Make sure that as this GLBT Visitor Program develops, that it is measured for it’s success regularly, a means of sustainable longevity is worked out, constantly examined to make sure all segments of the Raleigh / Wake County GLBT Community is represented and involved and that all GLBT information is included as the Raleigh / Wake County GLBT population & services increases over the life of the community.
 
Both Mr. Edwards and Mr. Freeze have a history of working at other Convention and Visitors Bureaus developing GLBT Visitor Programs. The meeting participants decided to use GLBT Visitor Program models from both Portland, Oregon and Cleveland, Ohio as examples of how to proceed here in Raleigh with designing and displaying Raleigh / Wake County GLBT data and community events. For the curious, Portland’s GLBT Visitor web site is http://www.travelportland.com/glbt/ , Cleveland’s GLBT Visitor web site is http://www.positivelycleveland.com/pdf/LBGT_VISITORS_GUIDE.pdf.
 
During the GLBT Visitor Program development meeting, Mr. Edwards asked if the Raleigh GLBT Community was well structured with an active Community Center and Business Organization, plus he asked if the GLBT Community had a good continuous working relationship with Raleigh’s City Council and Administrative City Staff as well as an equivalent relationship with Wake County Commissioners and County Administrative Staff. Both Willie and Justine reported that there is a strong, all though relatively new, GLBT Business and Professional Network organization with approximately 200 members; that there was a campus GLBT Center at NCSU, as well as two separate Raleigh GLBT Center organizations who have recently filed for 501-c-3 status and aiming to operate GLBT Community Centers in Raleigh. It was further reported that Raleigh’s GLBT Community consisted of a large number of very active organizations who produce community events on a regular basis and that the diversity of these organizations is wide spread. Willie pointed out that very little had been done to continuously cultivate a recognizable working relationship with Raleigh and Wake County Government since the early 1990’s. Mr. Pilkington shared some historic documents with the Raleigh CVB staff showing how in the early years of the Raleigh CVB as an organization, there was a very good and active working relationship and assistance with the city of Raleigh … unfortunately all that work was allowed to simply end and not further developed. It was recognized by all in attendance of the November 5 meeting, that with the new Visitor Program development being started and worked toward, that this would open the door again to renewing the much needed work with Raleigh’s and Wake County’s government.
 
Justine Hollingshead reported that she would be making a report to the next Raleigh Business and Professional Network’s executive board meeting. Both Willie Pilkington and Justine Hollingshead volunteered to start developing a list of individuals, businesses and non-profit organizations to be the beginning of the information for the GLBT Visitor Program web page. Justine and Willie also agreed to supply Jonathan Freeze with the RCVB a beginning list of people, organizations and businesses to contact to invite to be a part of the GLBT Visitor Program Community Advisory Committee. Willie agreed to issue a press release informing and alerting all of the Raleigh GLBT Community to the information from the first GLBT Visitor Program meeting.
 
The meeting closed with a strong sense of positive excitement about the project that we all will be working toward and launching for our City, Raleigh GLBT Visitors and residents. Everyone generally agreed that this first meeting to implement the Raleigh GLBT Visitor Program places Raleigh into the big leagues of USA cities working to attract GLBT visitors, businesses, meetings, events and conventions as well as informing the World that “Everyone Is Welcome” in Raleigh.
 
To learn more about the Raleigh GLBT Visitor Program, contact Willie D. Pilkington at WillieD.Pilkington@att.net , Justine Hollingshead at justine_hollingshead@ncsu.edu, Jonathan Freeze at jfreeze@visitRaleigh.com or Ryan Smith rsmith@visitRaleigh.com .
 

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