Spend a day with Red Wing VCB Executive Director Kathy Silverthorn
“I am fortunate enough to be the promoter of this beautiful, historic river city nestled among the bluffs… Life is good.”
“I am fortunate enough to be the promoter of this beautiful, historic river city nestled among the bluffs… Life is good.”
Wake up to my alarm at 6:30am and let the alarm ring as I have to get out of bed to shut it off. A trick I learned when I turned over to being a day person.
Hit my Keurig for my first cup of Starbucks coffee and hit the shower.
Did my daily routine of making myself cute or as cute as it gets at my age. Dried my hair, put my clothes on and out the door at 7:45am. Did a quick look at the Mississippi River to appreciate the wonderful city I have to promote.
Into the Depot, built in 1905, where my office is housed to set my things down, then out to the lobby to pick up brochures from the night train passengers and a good morning to my coworker Kelli and the director of the Red Wing Arts Association as I grab another cup of coffee. I have a discussion with Dan about putting their events, and maintaining them, on the EMT website. So to my desk to send him the EMT newsletter link so he has the information to do that.
My first couple of hours of work were checking emails, following up with a bus tour group from Sweden hoping to get a day visit for a couple of hours but am unable to snag them this trip. I will get them next time around. I put my important emails into the appropriate folders so if I get hit by a truck someone can make some sense of what I do. I try to keep my Inbox to under 200, an ongoing process.
Trying to get information for a final press release for our winter activities, the Holiday Stroll and our winter packages, Ski and Stay. I sent her last year’s to see if there are any updated facts.
Call Kelli to follow up with lodging properties as we need this for upcoming email blast we do with Explore Mississippi Bluffs partners.
I am getting ready to do my Explore Minnesota 2014 grant and gather information for my upcoming board meeting & marketing meeting with my committee. We are busy gathering our reports and marketing ideas for the upcoming year. Too many things going on in my head so I have to prepare a to-do list to prioritize and meet deadlines of my day. Too many balls in the air!
I am working on that when the phone rings and its Fred; Kelli is with visitors and the train is four hours late today. He has a short window of time in which he wants to do half of the Cannon Valley Trail and lunch in Red Wing tomorrow.
I was trained to do whatever it takes for guest service so I am going over the top to help Fred. He is going to start at Red Wing so I give him directions to the trail head and where to park. I will bring him his two bike passes as he begins his journey with a couple of bottles of water, if I get time a couple of energy bars. Then he will call me prior to his arrival to Welch which is about half way. I will borrow a van so I can load the bikes and bring them back to Red Wing as we do not have a shuttle service. They will have lunch and shop a little and make their 3:30 commitment an hour away. Love doing this kind of stuff!! Random acts of kindness go a long way.
Kelli is busy with visitor care so I need to book the fall MSAE retreat in Mankato so I can get the early-bird pricing and have a room at the event. Got my registration completed and my room booked. Off my list.
Next, email to Kelli to see if she touched base with our webmaster about replacing restaurant sections from our PDF to the website and how we are coming with the packages.
Time to do visitor care so Kelli can go to lunch. I set up a bus tour group for 2014 with a senior group from Wisconsin. Kelli to follow through with sample itinerary and communication.
Time for lunch although it is after 1pm.
I’m back… Have a couple of phone calls to return regarding a group of travel writers arriving this week. Showing them Red Wing and hosting them for lunch at the St James. Kelli will pull together our press releases and email our contact information and steer them to our website where they can check out our visitor guide.
Got the details on the Holiday Stroll to forward on. Waiting on packages still. Sent snowboarding photo and idea for winter ad to Whitney for the Live Play AAA Nov-Dec ad. We’ll see what she comes up with.
Went to get another cup of coffee for my 3:30 pm, 7th inning stretch.
I have to contact one of my properties about a customer service issue where they lost two room nights due to a problem with the front desk. I called her to discuss it and now have to document it so she can address her staff and contact the visitor.
Just received a last minute notice that I need to attend a meeting next Thursday for a regional bike trail.
Just got a Hump day email which plays over and over. “What day is it? Mike, Mike, Mike, Mike.” I tell you, humor is so good for the spirit! Great way to break up the day!
Now to my next task of wrapping up my responsibility as an MACVB treasurer. Making a few calls and emails to find some unreconciled accounts. Found the checks so they can go to the correct accounts and called UMCVB to see if the last $500 was a sponsorship from 2012. Success! Monica forwarded my request and check number to the accountant and she sent me a paid invoice receipt! One more problem solved.
Now my final task of the day is to respond to coordinater about our issues with the copy machine.
I refuse to sign another 5-year lease when the service I have received on the past machine has been less than satisfactory. I may keep this lemon to the end of the contract and move on unless we can come up with another solution. The price is sneaking up as well and I am the keeper of the purse strings here. There must be some small print I overlooked that allows for cost increases as the machine ages? You would think it would get less expensive as the machine gets older. I will think about it and see if I can come up with a solution tomorrow.
Off to dinner with the girls and then home to put my feet up.
Tomorrow is another day!
Hit my Keurig for my first cup of Starbucks coffee and hit the shower.
Did my daily routine of making myself cute or as cute as it gets at my age. Dried my hair, put my clothes on and out the door at 7:45am. Did a quick look at the Mississippi River to appreciate the wonderful city I have to promote.
Into the Depot, built in 1905, where my office is housed to set my things down, then out to the lobby to pick up brochures from the night train passengers and a good morning to my coworker Kelli and the director of the Red Wing Arts Association as I grab another cup of coffee. I have a discussion with Dan about putting their events, and maintaining them, on the EMT website. So to my desk to send him the EMT newsletter link so he has the information to do that.
My first couple of hours of work were checking emails, following up with a bus tour group from Sweden hoping to get a day visit for a couple of hours but am unable to snag them this trip. I will get them next time around. I put my important emails into the appropriate folders so if I get hit by a truck someone can make some sense of what I do. I try to keep my Inbox to under 200, an ongoing process.
Trying to get information for a final press release for our winter activities, the Holiday Stroll and our winter packages, Ski and Stay. I sent her last year’s to see if there are any updated facts.
Call Kelli to follow up with lodging properties as we need this for upcoming email blast we do with Explore Mississippi Bluffs partners.
I am getting ready to do my Explore Minnesota 2014 grant and gather information for my upcoming board meeting & marketing meeting with my committee. We are busy gathering our reports and marketing ideas for the upcoming year. Too many things going on in my head so I have to prepare a to-do list to prioritize and meet deadlines of my day. Too many balls in the air!
I am working on that when the phone rings and its Fred; Kelli is with visitors and the train is four hours late today. He has a short window of time in which he wants to do half of the Cannon Valley Trail and lunch in Red Wing tomorrow.
I was trained to do whatever it takes for guest service so I am going over the top to help Fred. He is going to start at Red Wing so I give him directions to the trail head and where to park. I will bring him his two bike passes as he begins his journey with a couple of bottles of water, if I get time a couple of energy bars. Then he will call me prior to his arrival to Welch which is about half way. I will borrow a van so I can load the bikes and bring them back to Red Wing as we do not have a shuttle service. They will have lunch and shop a little and make their 3:30 commitment an hour away. Love doing this kind of stuff!! Random acts of kindness go a long way.
Kelli is busy with visitor care so I need to book the fall MSAE retreat in Mankato so I can get the early-bird pricing and have a room at the event. Got my registration completed and my room booked. Off my list.
Next, email to Kelli to see if she touched base with our webmaster about replacing restaurant sections from our PDF to the website and how we are coming with the packages.
Time to do visitor care so Kelli can go to lunch. I set up a bus tour group for 2014 with a senior group from Wisconsin. Kelli to follow through with sample itinerary and communication.
Time for lunch although it is after 1pm.
I’m back… Have a couple of phone calls to return regarding a group of travel writers arriving this week. Showing them Red Wing and hosting them for lunch at the St James. Kelli will pull together our press releases and email our contact information and steer them to our website where they can check out our visitor guide.
Got the details on the Holiday Stroll to forward on. Waiting on packages still. Sent snowboarding photo and idea for winter ad to Whitney for the Live Play AAA Nov-Dec ad. We’ll see what she comes up with.
Went to get another cup of coffee for my 3:30 pm, 7th inning stretch.
I have to contact one of my properties about a customer service issue where they lost two room nights due to a problem with the front desk. I called her to discuss it and now have to document it so she can address her staff and contact the visitor.
Just received a last minute notice that I need to attend a meeting next Thursday for a regional bike trail.
Just got a Hump day email which plays over and over. “What day is it? Mike, Mike, Mike, Mike.” I tell you, humor is so good for the spirit! Great way to break up the day!
Now to my next task of wrapping up my responsibility as an MACVB treasurer. Making a few calls and emails to find some unreconciled accounts. Found the checks so they can go to the correct accounts and called UMCVB to see if the last $500 was a sponsorship from 2012. Success! Monica forwarded my request and check number to the accountant and she sent me a paid invoice receipt! One more problem solved.
Now my final task of the day is to respond to coordinater about our issues with the copy machine.
I refuse to sign another 5-year lease when the service I have received on the past machine has been less than satisfactory. I may keep this lemon to the end of the contract and move on unless we can come up with another solution. The price is sneaking up as well and I am the keeper of the purse strings here. There must be some small print I overlooked that allows for cost increases as the machine ages? You would think it would get less expensive as the machine gets older. I will think about it and see if I can come up with a solution tomorrow.
Off to dinner with the girls and then home to put my feet up.
Tomorrow is another day!