At the very beginning of the pandemic, we saw a significant need in our downtown community for reliable, timely, easily accessible information and resources related to the pandemic. Though we are a member-based organization, we decided that for the good of our broader community, we would offer anyone a daily email that distilled information, data/statistics, resources, and more. This email has been going out to more than 12,000 individuals every single business day for an entire year.
Reporting
Sub Categories: Reporting
Advancing Places: Marketing Your Downtown as Open for Business
Every downtown and district is struggling with how to support the businesses under their purview to provide much-needed foot traffic, sales and revenues, but the fact remains that we’re all “open for business”. From ongoing campaigns targeting locals, tourists and visitors to larger 40,000-foot view strategic planning, in this session you’ll learn from two very different place management practitioners and the strategic consultancy working with both of them to deploy data and technology.
BID Responses for Emergency
BID’s play an important role as a liaison between the public and private sector. Downtown stakeholders rely on BID’s to ensure they receive accurate information regarding critical incidents that affect the people working and living downtown. Join this session to hear from subject matter experts about the role BIDs can play in emergency preparedness, planning, response, and recovery. Become a BID with a robust emergency plan and notification system prepared to respond and recover effectively when a disaster strikes.
Transforming Downtown Transit Streets
Great streets are the hallmark of successful cities. In cities that lack underground rail, surface street buses are the lifeblood of downtown mobility, and one or two streets can act as dedicated busways. In addition to carrying people to and through downtown, these transit streets are also important pedestrian corridors. Learn how Denver, Minneapolis, and Seattle are reinventing the way they do transit and manage their transit streets.
Craft Data-Informed Persona in Places of All Sizes
Downtown associations know their attraction and retention results are due in part to their marketing efforts. But how do you produce content that helps your downtown stand out from the rest? In this panel, downtown regions like Bozeman, MT; Los Angeles, CA; and Memphis, TN will discuss how marketing their narrative started with understanding the unique pieces of their story – namely, their data.
NYC BID Trends Report – Telling the Story of NYC BIDs
The annual NYC BID Trends Report targets multiple audiences, serving both a promotional and educational role for the public and NYC BIDs themselves. SBS collects, analyzes, and features program output data, budget information, and highlights of exceptional programming in this report each year. The report highlights the overall impact and financial data for all BIDs and expense and output data organized by comparable BID cohorts. The report also provides financial and output data from individual BIDs.
Bonayo Open 311 Project
Bonayo.org is a unique and time-saving web application that Lower Polk Community Benefit District developed in-house. Bonayo works by taking 311 call data directly from the city and routing it to LPCBD’s workers. Bonayo is currently free to use, and users can choose to get receive live notifications via text and/or email. Each text and/or email shows the location of the service call, the service call type, and a photo when available.
DVBIA’s Ambassador Dashboard
The Downtown Vancouver Business Improvement Association (DVBIA) created a bespoke electronic dashboard to monitor and inform the DVBIA’s Clean & Safe team’s operations using collected data. The metrics on the dashboard focused on safety-related actions and observations such as reported theft from autos, open drug use, graffiti, and illegal encampments. The dashboard positively impacted the Clean & Safe team’s operations and accountability while also boosting the team’s morale.
2017 State of Downtown Opener
The Downtown Fresno Partnership (DFP) has utilized videos to help tell the story of downtown Fresno. To date, these videos have debuted at the yearly State of Downtown event as a vehicle to show what happened throughout the year with a nod to the exciting developments on the horizon. In 2017, the decision was made to take the video back to the beginning, revisiting the formation of DFP and charting some of the highlights downtown has seen over the last six years.
Downtown Santa Monica Annual Meeting Video
After many years of hosting annual meetings, Downtown Santa Monica, Inc. (DTSM) noticed that messaging about the day-to-day management of the district was getting lost between presentations about transit and development, shiny new programs, grant funding or controversial regional and national topics. DTSM asked themselves, How do we share our passions with the world in a way that doesnt put them to sleep?
The Minneapolis Big Build
The Mpls Downtown Improvement District (DID) tracks their progress with a perception survey of downtown workers, residents, and visitors. In 2015 and 2016 surveys showed significant decreases in the perception of downtown Minneapolis cleanliness. The #1 reason was construction. Led by the DID, the team developed a POV about all the construction called “The Minneapolis Big Build.” The campaign kicked off with www.MplsBuild.com which communicated the details of the projects.
Looking Ahead Video
Downtown Seattle is experiencing record growth and investment. It seems everywhere you look there are cranes. While most DSA members and stakeholders view this development as positive, there are those who remain frustrated with the impact on mobility. To focus attention on the future instead of the inconveniences the DSA Communications & Marketing team produced a video using renderings of major projects to paint a picture of the future, allowing people to see Seattle’s skyline post-construction.
Social Media: How to Tell the Story of a Place in Eight Seconds
There is an art and science to social media communications and marketing. Amy Blaschka, Founder and Storyteller at AmyBlaschka.com, Jason Gilbert, CEO at Saltwater Software, Ariana Gomez (former) Marketing Director at LA Fashion District BID, and Kerry Inserra, Associate Director at Walnut Creek Downtown Association share the secrets to effective communication on social media.
User-Tailored Tracking: From Data Collection to Stakeholder Presentation
Urban district management organizations do not always have technology staff capable of in-depth analyses and database development; if they do, they might collaborate with less tech-savvy partners who are responsible for data collection and tracking. This presentation explores simple and creative methods of collecting and sharing data that can be tailored to the individual user, while holding the safety and security of sensitive data to high standards.