Richard Craver did a follow up piece for the Winston-Salem Journal about the goings-on at the Tourism Development Authority and it is interesting to note that while things have been quiet since the stink-up last summer a lot has been going on behind the scenes.  One part of the article caught my attention in particular:

Kaplan plans to recommend that the board outsource some of its
marketing efforts as a way to reduce administrative costs. He
acknowledged that full-time jobs likely would be cut in the process.
McCoy vigorously fought Kaplan on this issue.

"I don't share the opinion that the TDA is the most cost-effective
source of bringing tourism to Winston-Salem and Forsyth County," Kaplan
said.

However, Kaplan is not clear of potential conflict in this request.

J.D. Wilson, a co-chairman of an arts-council fundraising campaign,
also served as Kaplan's campaign manager for his race for commissioner.

In February, Wilson urged the authority to provide grant money for a
projected $1 million campaign over three years by Mullen, a marketing
company, to brand Winston-Salem as the "City of the Arts." The
authority provided a smaller amount toward the request, citing as one
reason that the arts venues don't contribute significantly to putting
guests into local hotel rooms.

Kaplan also supported Mike Horn, a partner in the public-relations
company of Horn & Stronach, as a nominee for an authority board
seat. Kaplan paid Horn & Stronach more than $17,000 for campaign
work in his run for the county commissioners.

You don't have to read between the lines to see that Kaplan is going to push for downsizing of the staff which is currently at 15 full time positions.  Honestly there are functions in any organization like the TDA that can be effectively outsourced, particularly in marketing, communications, event management and back office support like bookkeeping, accounting, auditing, etc.  But if you cut back too far you end up paying an opportunity cost because you don't have enough hands on deck to really make things work.

I spent five years working with a non-profit as a consultant and as time passed I handled more and more on the organizations behalf as they cut payroll in order to survive a rather serious budget crunch. It was a lot easier to pay me a flat fee than it was to hire and fire people.  But, when I decided to move in a different direction I walked away with all the relationships with the businesses they were doing deals with (I acted as their Director of Business Development on contract).  Sure I left behind my records, but because I wasn't an employee and I didn't have a staffer working with me there was literally no one there with even a semblance of a relationship with the businesses so the person they hired had to start from scratch and it's hard to say how much that has affected their operations.

Now if the TDA's board really thinks they are overstaffed then by all means they need hire a professional executive director (or president or whatever you want to call the position) that can come in, evaluate the situation and then provide the board with a road map for getting the job done.  If that person thinks it takes 12 people then so be it, but if that person thinks it will take 20 then the board should try and find a way to help meet that need. Also, if that new person feels the existing staff isn't up to the job then the board should provide support as current staff is replaced with new blood.  In other words the board's job is not to involve itself in day-to-day management, but to provide oversight and general direction on behalf of the citizens and their elected leaders.

And as for whether or not the TDA is the most cost-effective way to bring tourists to Winston-Salem and Forsyth County, I have to respectively ask that if it isn't then why the heck do you have the office at all?  I think Mr. Kaplan might be implying that it's better to utilize existing organizations like the arts groups, but it seems to me that those groups have a much broader mission than encouraging visitors.  Do those groups really care if audience members come from Walkertown or Washington, DC?  No, they just care about creating art and putting butts in seats no matter where those butts come from.  If travel dollars are going to be granted to those groups then some very tight strings need to be attached that mandate those dollars be spent on developing festivals or other events targeted to broad audiences, and not for general operating funds. 

I do believe that a central development operation is key for any city or town, and I think it's a good thing that Kaplan stirred this pot because we're talking more about economic development via tourism as a result.  I'm not saying I agree with his methods necessarily, but I do think it's a good discussion to have.  Once they finish this part of the process I think there are some very large issues they need to address in order for Winston-Salem to generate more travel revenue.  Those include:

• A sub-par convention center.  Our current convention center is third-tier at best and in order to attract conferences and business groups we need to upgrade it.
• Not enough retail downtown to augment the restaurants.
• Insufficient messaging around our regional strengths.  From where I sit we don't do nearly enough to promote our proximity to the mountains or the burgeoning Yadkin Valley wine scene just to name two.