Pocahontas County Convention & Visitor’s Bureau is Having a Very Active Spring

One of the busiest places in Pocahontas County this time of year is the Pocahontas County Convention & Visitor’s Bureau.  We visited with Cara Rose, the Executive Director of the Pocahontas County Convention and Visitor’s Bureau to find out a little bit about what’s happening there.

The first topic we discussed was the recent National Tourism Week and the selection of the Tourism Person of the Year.

“We did celebrate the National Tourism Week” Rose said. “And our primary way of doing that is hosting the annual Tourism Partner Luncheon which we hold the first week of May. This year we awarded the Tourism Person of the Year To Thomas Moore who owns and operated Jerico B&B and Pre-Civil War Cabins. Tom has been in the industry for over 20 years and it was a nice honor to give him for all he has contributed.”

Cara talked a little about the Tourism Partner Luncheon.

“The luncheon was very successful this year” said Rose. “We had about 60 guests attend. We were delighted to have all the partners that came and participated. We also had entertainment for the first time this year, the Elk River Ramblers, our Mountain Music partners provided some lovely music during lunch which everybody thoroughly enjoyed. They are great at performing in the traditional music, so we had a real good time with them.”

The luncheon also had some informative value.

“We also did share with our partners  some marketing information, a little more about some of the strategies that we’re putting in place this year, and opportunities for partnership Co-ops  that were making available.”

There were presenters at the Luncheon.

“Timothy Luce with Presidio Studios also presented on low cost marketing options for small businesses who may not have a lot of marketing dollars” said Rose. “But there is always something you can do, whether it’s with no money at all or a modest budget. You can achieve a lot if you focus on certain things.”

Luce is also offering training sessions to help small businesses achieve more with less.

“And he is offering some sessions with our partners over the course of this week and I think next week as well for a few days, giving them some tips and helpful information about how to develop and implement a one page marketing plan essentially” said Rosa.

The use of Facebook as a marketing tool was also discussed.

“What Timothy did talk about at the luncheon was the use of Facebook and social media and the impact it can have with just a modest amount of money” said Rosa. “And it doesn’t take a lot of time, it just takes a little thought and strategy in how to implement that Facebook use.”

Cara says that the CVB will also offer some training this week.

“The CVB does offer West Virginia Welcome training, which is customer service hospitality training” said Rose. “It’s free, it’s to the public. We’re offering numerous sessions through the year. It’s an introduction to basic customer service skills. That’s one way for us to set ourselves apart from other destinations. One of the key reasons people return to Pocahontas county –and spread the word about  a great place to vacation is the friendliness of the people.”

Cara says that they will offer a new Restaurant Service Training program by professional servers at Pocahontas County High School at 3:30 p.m. on Tuesday May 19^th.

“They will be instructing attendees on key points on how to provide really good service in a restaurant environment” said Rose. “So, hopefully a lot of high school students will attend. They generally are the folks- the kids who will enter into that workforce. We’ll probably offer it again in the late Fall, sometime in November before Snowshoe reopens for the ski season.”

Cara also talked about the Mountain Music Trail.

“The Mountain Music Trail, it’s heritage based, its cultural based, which is very important when marketing to outside audiences because they are looking for that experience” said Rose. “And they also like to have a connection with the place they’re visiting, so music for us is a way to do that.”