Hal L. offered our invocation. While the in person turn-out was a little light, there were five Noon members attending virtually, as well as Guy Olson from the Sunrise Club, joining from Switzerland with Keith. President Katie wished Keith a Happy Birthday. She also told us that the Action Plan Committee had met the prior week to prioritize goals set for the club as a result of our Club visioning process. Ryan W. told us of plans to distribute Josh the Otter to kindergartners. Katie also told us we are going to have a social on June 4th instead of our regular noon meeting, to be hosted by Lisa M. and Candi and her parents serving some Argentina food. On June 11, Candi will do her farewell presentation. We also learned that Steve L. and Cody O. had worked the soil at the Lake Region Community Garden.
Steve Austvold led off the bragging, saying he had volunteered that morning for Habitat for Humanity for the first time, joining nine others at the build. Steve Andrews told us he had a great trip to New York and that Alice was accepted at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and was named in the top 25 of leaders making energy deals. Buzz told us of a book signing (now past) by Ben Schierer for his new book, Perpich. Matt S. contributed for missing the prior week. Keith said he was turning 65 the next day and we sang Happy Birthday to him. He was also spending his last day in Switzerland and told us he would be at our next meeting in person. Katie paid for being casually attired, necessitated by an event at Lake Region for its Health Care Week.
Jamie L. introduced Tasha Rohlfs, now with Otter Tail Lakes Country Association, to talk about the Association's work. She talked about the organization's goal of putting Otter Tail County on the map of places people want to visit and asked those assembled to call out places where they take out-of-town guests. We need to recognize that tourism is not just about leisure, but it also contributes to our livelihood, adding to our tax base. We need to be intentional about tourism. Since 2015 there has been talk of brain drain and we want to change that into brain gain. Lake Country started in the 60's and 70's when a bunch of resort owners got together, expanding its efforts in 2015, asking other businesses to get involved. In 2016 the "Find Your Inner Otter" campaign kicked off. In 2017, the group had 72 partners and today that number is 205. A business member and our region are promoted through social networking, blogs, and newsletters. Tasha talked about the "halo" effect, indicating if people fall in love with the area, they are more likely to return. The mission of Lake Country is to make Otter Tail County nationally known. Over 500 events were posted on its website last year and 30,000 copies of its magazine, Otter Tail Lakes, are distributed annually (a member can receive copies to distribute). Right now, the website has 41,000 followers, up 7,000 from last year. The website is on track to have over 25 million impressions. This year, the Otter mascot will be at a lot of our County's various celebrations. Tasha also talked about having access to data driven decision making through a software program the County purchased for $25,000; it will allow one to track where customers are coming from to help target marketing efforts.