ESC IBS Consortium Minutes 062519

ESC IBS Consortium Minutes from June 25, 2019 Meeting was called to order at 2:03 pm Eastern Time Attendance: Audrey Okaneku Hawaii Gas Brian Yee Hawaii Gas Chris Strippplehoff Municipal Gas Authority of GA Marti Sawyer National Fuel Melissa Farrar Washington Gas Kiosk Vendors: Barb started the meeting by mentioning that of the 11 vendors that had exhibited in 2019 only 2 had opted out of exhibiting in 2020. However, one of the returning vendors took an additional kiosk. Since we were still short a vendor, a memo was sent to ESC affiliate members and three have stepped forward as wanting to exhibit in 2020; one has already returned their contract! The booth designers felt that we would most likely not to want to add anymore vendors at this point as we want to ensure a smooth traffic flow throughout the booth. Timing for 2021: Barb shared that the dates for the 2020 show are January 21 – 23 in Las Vegas. She wanted everyone to realize that we will need to decide shortly after the close of the 2020 show if we plan to continue the consortium for the 2021 show. Barb asked the group what would their respective companies need to see/hear to deem participation in the consortium a success? As this was brought up at the Montreal TMAF meeting she mentioned that the minutes from the 6/5 meeting pointed out what other members had to say. She also noted that we got a little “off track” and spent considerable time discussing what we would like to do for future shows. Several members liked the idea of hosting a luncheon for our “local” builders during the show. Members asked Barb to look into costs and to see if it was even an option for 2020. Barb did speak with a representative from NAHB and we could rent space for 2020 if members were willing to contribute extra money to the consortium. The cost to rent a room, in either the North or South hall, would run from $10,000 - $30,000. That does not include feeding anyone. If we wanted to entertain 50 – 75 builders the best guess is the cost would run closer to $50,000. The members on the call thought that idea should be tabled for now. Barb again asked what would make participation in the consortium a success? Chris expressed the sentiment that if we did not participate in the IBS, would the gas industry be forgotten? He likened it to trying to justify an ad campaign; it is not always easy to quantify. Audrey and Melissa agreed with Chris. Chris also added that he felt we would need to participate for 2-3 years before we could make an educated decision on whether or not we would continue the consortium. Barb noted that there will be future discussions on costs, both to members and kiosk vendors. We purposely left things alone for 2020 as ESC was just learning the ropes. We are also trying to get a handle on actual costs. Barb has been working with Tracy Burleson from AGA on actual figures for 2019; they appear to be higher than expected. More discussions will be held on this topic. Open Discussion: Barb asked if there were any other discussion items or questions about the minutes from June 5th. There was no further discussion so the call was ended at 2:33 pm. Members were encouraged to contact Barb directly with any questions or concerns.