Welcome to DMAI’s 2016 Annual Convention
As the premier event for destination marketing and management professionals, DMAI’s 2016 Annual
Convention promises to inspire, educate and inform. This year’s convention will be nothing short of an
engaging, energetic and value-driven event featuring educational tracks focused on leadership,
marketing, sports, convention sales, and more moderated by dynamic thought leaders from inside and
outside the industry.
DMAI's Annual Convention provides:
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An exclusive opportunity to connect peers and thought leaders from inside and outside the
industry.
An integrated approach to learning regardless of your budget size or discipline focus.
Recognition for our leaders and their accomplishments on behalf of the industry.
Relationship-based exchanges among industry providers and DMOs.
Diversity of thought by assembling the best minds in local insight and global expertise.
We look forward to welcoming you to a new day at DMAI!
Thank You to Our Sponsors
Supported by
Schedule of Events
FRIDAY, JULY 29, 2016
8:00AM-5:00PM
HYATT HOTEL
CDME Core Course: Destination Leadership
An in-depth discourse on being an effective leading-edge DMO
with appropriate resource capabilities to meet our visitor and
community/industry expectations:
 DestinationNEXT leadership implications
 DMO value proposition, norms and future design
 Destination partnership development
 Future DMO leader profile
 DMO financial strategy and responsibilities
 DMO performance efforts and results
 DMO human resource strategy and responsibilities
SATURDAY, JULY 30, 2016
8:00AM-5:00PM
CDME Core Course: Destination Leadership
HYATT HOTEL
8:30AM-4:30PM
DMAP Board Meeting
5:00PM-6:30PM
CDME Board Meeting
7:00PM-9:00PM
DMAI 2016 and 2017 Executive Committee Dinner
SUNDAY, JULY 31, 2016
8:00AM-5:00PM
CONVENTION CENTER
CDME Core Course: Strategic Issues
8:00AM-9:00AM
Destination & Travel Foundation Executive Committee
Meeting
9:15AM-11:15AM
Destination & Travel Foundation Board Meeting
11:30AM-12:15PM
DMAI Executive Committee Meeting
12:30PM-1:15PM
Joint DMAI & Foundation Board Lunch
1:30PM-3:30PM
DMAI Board Meeting
3:45PM-5:45PM
New Board Member Orientation
Education Committee Meeting
Advocacy Committee Meetings
Partner Advisory Council
Convention Sales & Marketing Committee Meeting
Global Leadership Committee Meeting
7:00PM-9:00PM
DMAI Leadership Reception (Sponsored by ASAE)
*By invitation only
MONDAY, AUGUST 1, 2016
6:30AM-2:00PM
TOWN & COUNTRY
CLUB
8:00AM-5:00PM
DMAI Annual Golf Classic benefiting the Destination &
Travel Foundation
Open to all convention attendees, join industry leaders for the
DMAI Annual Golf Classic benefiting the Destination & Travel
Foundation.
Located on the bluffs of the Mississippi River just ten minutes
away from both downtown Saint Paul and Minneapolis, Town &
Country Club is a family-oriented Club with an 18-hole golf course
with some of the fastest greens in the state.
CDME Core Course: Strategic Issues
CONVENTION CENTER
8:30AM-5:30PM
9:00AM-12:00PM
2:00PM-3:30PM
2:00PM-3:30PM
Registration
PDM: Fundamentals in Destination Marketing
This course focuses on the evolving trends in the travel and
tourism industry and marketplace and how the DMO successfully
aligns with these changes.
* Required Course
Challenges and Solutions for Like Size DMOs
(Roundtables)
Facilitators will help guide a discussion in breakouts segmented by
Meetings/Convention Centers, Leisure and Sports to discuss key
questions and challenges to develop and brainstorm solutions and
take-aways during this session.
* For DMOs Only
30 under 30 Orientation (Sponsored by SearchWide, IMEX
& USAE)
The 2016 30 under 30 awardees will join DMAI staff and board
members for a presentation and introduction to the tourism industry
and DMAI, including a panel discussion of CDME Alumni.
2:00PM-3:30PM
New Attendee Orientation
For first time attendees, DMAI board and staff members will welcome
this group and share tips and insight on how to take advantage of the
DMAI annual convention.
3:45PM-5:15PM
Welcome & Opening Keynote featuring Abigail Posner
(General Session)
Cracking Creativity: Re-Engaging Our Innate Creativity for
Greater Productivity & Growth with Abigail Posner
You can be creative too. Yes, you. Now more than ever we have
access to a virtually endless topography to explore and reconnect us
to our innate creativity. Learn how the modern world can help actually
reconnect us to our pre-digital, if not pre-technological humanity and
yield a profound difference in both our professional and personal
lives.
5:30PM-6:30PM
DMAP Reception
*By invitation only
5:30PM-6:30PM
7:00PM-9:00PM
Exhibitor Kickoff Reception
Opening Celebration
US BANK STADIUM
Sponsor: Meet Minneapolis
Kick off your time in Minneapolis at U.S. Bank Stadium, the new
home of the Minnesota Vikings. Located in the heart of downtown
Minneapolis, the new U.S. Bank Stadium emerges on the city skyline
as a unique piece of sculpture, establishing itself as an iconic anchor
to the cityscape. Attendees are encouraged to wear jerseys and gear
from their local sports franchise, and whichever team is most
represented, that DMO will win an office tailgate party compliments of
DMAI. It’s going to be an incredible celebration, as we begin a new
day at DMAI. You won’t want to miss it!
9:00PM-11:00PM
Annual DMAI Wine Competition
Sponsor: IMEX, Sonoma County Tourism and Tourism Australia
The Annual DMAI Wine Competition is a great event that encourages
DMAI members to bring 2 bottles of the selected varietal wine,
preferably from their own destination. The wine varietal is chosen by
the previous year’s winner, Jayne Buck from Visit Denver. Jayne has
chosen Pinot Noir as this year’s varietal for the competition. All DMAI
members are welcome to attend and taste the wines for a chance to
win a beautiful trophy crystal wine decanter that rotates each year to
the winning DMO with medallions hanging from all of the previous
destination winners.
TUESDAY, AUGUST 2, 2016
7:30AM-5:00PM
7:30AM-8:30AM
8:00AM-5:00PM
8:00AM-5:00PM
8:30AM-9:30AM
Registration
Breakfast
CDME Elective Course: DMO Human Resources
CDME Elective Course: Destination Sales
Smarketing: How your sales and marketing teams can coexist to drive results featuring Jay Baer (General Session)
Jay Baer is the world's most retweeted person among digital
marketers. He is a renowned business strategist, keynote speaker
and the New York Times best-selling author of five books who travels
the world helping businesspeople get and keep more customers.
He is the founder of Convince & Convert, a strategy consulting firm
that helps prominent companies gain and keep more customers
through the smart intersection of technology, social media, and
customer service.
9:30AM-4:00PM
DMAP Lounge
Sponsor: Fuse Ideas
Join DMAP to unwind in their exclusive lounge for accredited DMOs.
Enjoy freshly brewed coffee, snacks and complimentary Wi-Fi as you
relax, network or catch up on that last bit of business before the next
session.
9:30AM-10:00AM
10:00AM-11:00AM
Networking Break
Concurrent Sessions
Cities at Crisis, Funding Management and Natural Disasters
(Mega Session)
CEO Leadership Track
Join the discussion as Stephen Perry leads a discussion with fellow
DMOs on crisis management, funding management and coping with
natural disasters.
Why Facebook is Leveraging Immersive Technology in
Destination Marketing (Mega Session)
Marketing Track
Sponsor: MMGY
Join a live recording of MMGY Global's Brands That Travel video
series featuring Kelly Frailey Covato, Client Partner, Facebook &
Instagram. In this episode Kelly will be joined by MMGY and a panel
of destination marketers to discuss how immersive technologies
across Facebook and Instagram like Canvas, 360 Video and Virtual
Reality are putting destinations at the center of mobile discovery.
Attendees will have an opportunity to weigh-in and ask questions
about the effectiveness and ability to measure these and other
platforms.
Sports & Entertainment as Demand Drivers (Mega Session)
Sports Track
Sponsor: Connect
Join Leonard Hoops as he moderates a panel of national sports
executives on the power and impact of sports and entertainment
events as demand drivers for a destination.
Doing Business Globally
International Track
With over 20 years of experience as the President and Managing
Director of Marriott International, Edwin Fuller has a passion for
sharing his vast amount of professional and personal knowledge with
students and business executives. As the President and Chief
Executive Officer of the Orange County (California) Visitors’
Association, Ed will lead a panel of industry experts on the
fundamentals of doing business globally from both inbound and
outbound markets.
Going Beyond FIND: 3 ways DMOs can keep from falling
short when serving planners
Convention Sales Track
Planners need DMOs so much more than lead distribution. In fact, it
could be argued, in the vast majority of cases, lead distribution would
not be on the top of the planners' list. We inherently know we need to
deliver so much more, but what exactly do planners value? Join
presenter Christine “Shimo” Shimasaki, Managing Director
empowerMINT & Event Impact Calculator, and hear directly from 3
distinguished planners as they share 3 key competencies every DMO
sales and service professionals should be fully prepared to execute.
11:15AM-12:30PM
Global All Stars, Sponsored by Miles (General Session)
Innovation Showcase – New Technology, New Marketing,
New Ideas
Sponsor: Miles
Global All-Stars 2016 is in its fifth year at DMAI’s Annual Convention
and will move to the main stage with world leading technology and
marketing trendsetters in the areas of virtual reality (VR), augmented
reality (AR), live streaming and lifestyle branding and marketing. The
lead keynote for the session, Jesse Desjardins, Global Head of Social
and Content for Tourism Australia will plot the evolution of Tourism
Australia’s global marketing success beginning over 30 years ago
with one of the most memorable destination marketing campaigns of
the 20th century (Paul Hogan and Wonders Downunder). Join us to
learn how they broke the mold, overcame controversy and are
reinventing destination marketing in the 21st century.
Global All Stars continues throughout the convention at the business
exchange the hands on ‘Innovation Lab’ – where attendees can try for
themselves the latest technologies including VR/AR, live streaming,
intelligent assistants and more.
12:30PM-5:00PM
12:30PM-2:30PM
2:30PM-3:30PM
Business Exchange
Lunch in the Business Exchange
Discipline Focused Best Practices (Roundtables)
Each session will be co-facilitated by respective committee chairs and
DMAI senior staff.
 Marketing, Communications & Public Relations
 Finance and Administration
 Convention Sales & Services
 Advocacy & Research
 Membership & Partnership
 Culture and Heritage
 CEO
3:30PM-4:00PM
4:00PM-5:00PM
Caffeine to Cocktails - Networking & Spirits Break
Embracing Innovation: How Destinations are figuring out
Airbnb and the Sharing Economy (General Session)
Chip Conley is the Head of Global Hospitality and Strategy at Airbnb
and formerly founded the award-winning, boutique hotel company,
Joie de Vivre Hospitality. For the past 27 years Chip has been a force
of innovation in the hospitality industry, he’s overseen the creation
and management of 52 boutique hotels and won numerous awards
for innovation in customer service and leadership. At Airbnb, Chip is
sharing his proven methods with hundreds of thousands of hosts in
over 190 countries around the world. Join Chip as he shares his story
from hotelier to innovation chief, along with panelists from domestic
and international destinations who have taken the risk to work with
Airbnb.
7:00PM-9:00PM
Former Chair’s Dinner
Sponsor: IMEX
*By invitation only
OPEN NIGHT
Attendee Dine Around Night
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 3, 2016
7:30AM-8:45AM
CDME Breakfast
*By Invitation Only
8:00AM-12:00PM
Registration
8:00AM-9:00AM
Breakfast
8:00AM-2:00PM
Business Exchange
9:00AM-4:00PM
DMAP Lounge
Join DMAP to unwind in their exclusive lounge for accredited DMOs.
Enjoy freshly brewed coffee, snacks and complimentary Wi-Fi as you
relax, network or catch up on that last bit of business before the next
session.
9:00AM-10:15AM
Global Trends (General Session)
10:15AM-10:30AM
Break
10:30AM-11:30AM
Concurrent Sessions
Future and Current State of Global Meetings & Conventions
(Mega Session)
International Track
Nan Marchand Beauvois from US Travel, will open with a
presentation on why “Meetings Mean Business” followed by a panel
discussion led by Fred Dixon from New York & Co. on the state of
global meetings and conventions.
Moderator: Fred Dixon, CEO & President, New York & Co.
Panelist: David Dubois, CEO & President, IAEE; Deborah Sexton,
CEO & President, PCMA; Paul Vandeventer, CEO & President, MPI;
Martin Sirk, CEO & President, ICCA
Leverage Your Destination Story (Mega Session)
Marketing Track
From small town Waco to global cities like Dubai, how are
destinations telling their stories to drive visitation? Join Caroline
Beteta, President and CEO of Visit California, and a panel of
destination experts to explore best practices and ways in which your
destination can leverage the power of storytelling.
DestinationNEXT: A Strategic Roadmap for communities
and the visitor economy (Mega Session)
Strategic Planning Track
Discover how DestinationNEXT Workshops are being implemented
by DMOs, Tourism Ministries and Convention Bureaus around the
globe to develop strategic plans, tourism master plans and community
and stakeholder engagement.
11:45AM-12:30PM
Concurrent Sessions
Tourism Master Planning: A Master Class
CEO Leadership Track
The session will address the following topics: Origin of TMPs;
Definition of a TMP; Reasons to Develop a TMP; Benefits &
Outcomes of a TMP; The Process of Developing a TMP: A Model;
and, a Living Case Study: Minneapolis
Speakers: Melvin Tennant, CEO & President, Meet Minneapolis; Bill
Deef, VP of Tourism Sales, Meet Minneapolis; Kevin Hanstead,
Director of Market Research & Public Policy, Meet Minneapolis
Oh the Places They Will Come From: Leveraging Social to
Increase International Visitors
International Track
For DMOs social media is one of the most important and most cost
effective ways to reach consumers. This session will give you the
framework needed to expand your domestic social media efforts to
international markets. Learn from peers that have already established
international social media programs on how to adapt content, which
social channels bring the best results and what legal pitfalls to avoid.
Reverse Engineering a City Culture through Social Data
Marketing Track
A seismic shift has recently happened in the travel industry.
Millennials are planning and booking travel via their mobile phones.
All the sudden, the old process of moving web page to web page is
obsolete. Where does this leave DMO's? Creating pages and pages
of rich content no longer works. Users need a way to gauge the city at
a glance on their mobile. And the only way to keep track of a city is to
leverage the existing data that is pouring out every day on social
media.
Join ethnographic researcher and TEDx speaker Lyden Foust to
understanding of how millennials and Gen Z users expect to engage
and act upon travel content, and the method for targeting and
personalizing content to attract influencer travelers.
Event Impact Analysis: Can the impact of fairs and festivals
be quantified?
Strategic Planning Track
Quantifying the impact of meetings and sports events is relatively
straightforward with the industry's standard Event Impact Calculator.
Is it really possible to measure and report on the important economic
contribution of fairs and festivals? Attend our session and be one the
of first DMOs to find out.
12:30PM-2:30PM
Business Exchange & Lunch
2:30PM-3:30PM
Concurrent Sessions
The F Words: From Failing, Funding to Fantastic
CEO Leadership Track
The top concern of DMOs in the DestinationNext assessments was
funding. Presenters will focus on how DMOs can secure a strong
future for their destination and fund innovative programs. This session
will also teach attendees how to create funding in destinations that do
not have an existing DMO.
Speakers: Gary Sherwin, CEO & President, Newport Beach & Co.;
John Lambath, CEO & President, Civitas; Susie Santo, CEO &
President, Visit Wichita; Kevin Kane, CEO & President, Memphis
CVB
Strategic Planning for Strategic Planning presented by
DMAP
Strategic Planning Track
Change and disruption continually impact our industry and the
traditional strategic plan is no different. The three to five-year plan is
often viewed as either a rare luxury or a dinosaur of the past.
Welcome to the age of special purpose plans, limited time frames,
adjustments to disruptions, and numerous other catalysts that dictate
a different take on strategic planning. Learn how to maximize your
strategic plan’s effectiveness and forge a bold new path for your
organization and destination.
Data Here, Data There, Data Everywhere! Proven methods
for harnessing data
Convention Sales Track
Every sales and marketing professional is reliant upon data to define
success, connect and inform stakeholders, and empower associates
with data driven decision making. But the road to data analysis can
quickly result in data paralysis if you're missing the right resources.
Discover how DMOs have made their transformations from traditional
research roles, disparate technology platforms, and external data
sources to a whole new world of actually measuring and
communicating on what matters.
Small Budgets – Big Ideas: Where Creativity Thrives
Marketing Track
This session will be a rapid fire hour of sharing the best ideas to come
out of DMOs with less than $2M. This is an interactive session and
participants will leave with lots of great takeaways!
3:30PM-4:00PM
Caffeine to Cocktails - Networking & Spirits Break
4:00PM-5:00PM
The Great DMO Debates (General Session)
Always an attendee favorite, join moderator Ted Sullivan from
ADARA, as he leads a discussion with industry experts on hot topics
that face the tourism industry today. This year for the first time, DMAI
will ask attendees to give us your feedback on which topics should be
part of the great debate. Check back for your chance to voice your
opinion.
5:15PM-6:00PM
Closing Keynote Sponsored by Brand USA (General
Session)
7:30PM-9:30PM
Closing Celebration - The Pourhouse Minneapolis
Signs of the prohibition era saturate your experience from secret
passageways to exposed brick, Edison light bulbs, and vintage
embellishments around every turn. As one of the most unique spaces
in the city, The Pourhouse features everything a great party bar
should, with tasty cocktails and craft beer, awesome live music,
secret doorways, and VIP areas. Join DMAI as we close out an
amazing convention with live music, food, drinks, friends, and so
much more.
THURSDAY, AUGUST 4, 2016
9:00AM-11:00AM
Post Conference Session: DMAI Leadership Town hall
Attendees are encouraged to drop in for an informal session with
DMAI CEO, Don Welsh and his leadership team, for an open Q&A
and sharing of needs and ideas.