Manatee tourist council OKs funding for millennial conference, Manatee Players

MANATEE

Supporting millennials and the Manatee County Performing Arts Center dominated the Manatee County Tourist Development Council discussion Monday.

The council approved $250,000 over five years for the Manatee Performing Arts Center and $7,500 for the first Millennial Conference, or MCon, as proposed by Bradenton Area Convention and Visitors Bureau executive director Elliott Falcione.

The council approved the five-year sponsorship for the Manatee Performing Arts Center at $50,000 annually. The sponsorship will benefit the marketing efforts of the Performing Arts Center and the Bradenton Area Convention and Visitors Bureau.

The convention and visitors bureau will receive a banner ad on the center's website during each of the five years, comp tickets and suite seats for travel writers, and space for visitor guides in the center's lobby. The Manatee Performing Arts Center also will provide the bureau with ZIP code data from ticket sales for five years, and within a year will "determine the need to integrate the destination brand elements with MPAC's brand elements by working with the BACVB," according to meeting documents.

The performing arts center sponsorship package is one of many marketing strategies employed by the bureau. The "Toes in the Sand" campaign run by the bureau, which included custom nail polish colors designed by OPI Products, brought in more than 460,000 impressions and more than 5,000 email leads. The bureau was aiming for at least 1,500 email leads at the beginning of the campaign.

MCon, set for April 1-3, will focus on issues important to millennials, including housing, networking, financial stability, entrepreneurship and community involvement.

"We want to try to pull in millennials within a 100-mile radius of the convention and visitors bureau," Falcione said. "We want to get feedback and ideas from the millennial group. We just feel like it is the right thing to do and the best thing to do to sponsor this."

A coalition of about 40 millennial-age professionals working in various county departments, known as M3, organized MCon. The coalition was established by the county in 2015.

Manatee County's at-large commissioner, Carol Whitmore, presided over her first meeting during her fourth term as TDC chairwoman. She first was appointed chairwoman in 2011.

Whitmore said the millennial conference serves a double purpose for

the county.

"If we can attract them to come here for conferences, hopefully they'll move here," she said. "We're holding a conference about issues that are important to their age group, but also to showcase Manatee County."

The county hopes millennial population will grow from 17 percent of the county's workforce to 25 percent.

In the future, MCon may be expanded as a millennial conference for the entire Southeast United States, Falcione said. Tickets and conference information can be found through the EventBrite website.

Janelle O'Dea, Herald business reporter, can be reached at 941-745-7095. Follow her on Twitter @jayohday.

This story was originally published February 22, 2016 at 7:59 PM with the headline "Manatee tourist council OKs funding for millennial conference, Manatee Players ."