Tourism Academy 2021
Full Conference Agenda
The tourism conference for professionals who are transforming the landscape of travel through technology and marketing.
Tuesday, October 12th (Pre-Conference)
Tuesday, October 12th (Pre-Conference) 3:00 PM - 4:00 PM
3:00 PM - 4:00 PM
Explore Philly With Us
Tuesday, October 12th (Pre-Conference)
Explore Philadelphia's iconic historical sites on a guided walking tour. More information and RSVP here.
Wednesday, October 13th (Day 1)
Wednesday, October 13th (Day 1) 8:00 AM - 9:00 AM
8:00 AM - 9:00 AM
Breakfast & Registration
Wednesday, October 13th (Day 1)
Ballroom D/E
Wednesday, October 13th (Day 1) 9:00 AM - 10:00 AM
9:00 AM - 10:00 AM
Welcome & Opening Remarks
Wednesday, October 13th (Day 1)
Ballroom B/C
We'll kick off with an overview of our goals for Tourism Academy 2021 and exciting developments from Tempest.
Featuring:
Alex Heimann
CEO
Tempest
Wednesday, October 13th (Day 1) 10:10 AM - 11:00 AM
10:10 AM - 11:00 AM
Creating a Community-Minded Business Model
Wednesday, October 13th (Day 1)
Ballroom B/C
As destination organizations shift to become community-focused entities, many are choosing to move away from traditional membership models and embrace a partnership approach. Hear from destination organizations who have navigated this change, and discover what they learned along the way.
Wednesday, October 13th (Day 1) 11:10 AM - 11:40 AM
11:10 AM - 11:40 AM
How to Build a Website for Your Community
Wednesday, October 13th (Day 1)
Ballroom B/C
See real examples of how other destinations are using their digital platforms to connect with and amplify their communities. We’ll share actionable ideas for using your organization's most valuable asset to better support and communicate with your residents, local businesses, and stakeholders.
Wednesday, October 13th (Day 1) 11:50 AM - 12:20 PM
11:50 AM - 12:20 PM
How to Build a CRM that Engages Your Community
Wednesday, October 13th (Day 1)
Ballroom B/C
You've built a website that uplifts your community. What next? Learn how destination organizations are structuring their CRM systems to engage with their local businesses and create prosperity for their communities.
Wednesday, October 13th (Day 1) 12:30 PM - 2:00 PM
12:30 PM - 2:00 PM
Lunch and Keynote Presentation: Speaking the Language of Community
Wednesday, October 13th (Day 1)
Ballroom B/C
Words matter in politics, and those words need to be chosen carefully. If we are going to be successful in changing the narrative surrounding our industry, it starts with a values-based approach. That means talking to stakeholders in a manner that is simple and emotional and connects their values to your organization. In this session, we demonstrate why our industry must utilize a new tourism vocabulary to connect with elected officials and residents in a meaningful way and how to implement the lexicon with your staff, your board, and your key stakeholders.
Wednesday, October 13th (Day 1) 2:10 PM - 3:00 PM
2:10 PM - 3:00 PM
Guiding Your Community Through the Perilous Road to Recovery
Wednesday, October 13th (Day 1)
Ballroom B/C
The leisure market is booming, and economic fundamentals point to a solid foundation for continued rebuilding. However, business and group travel remain suppressed and risks to the recovery loom large. Adam Sacks will share Tourism Economics’ latest views on the economy, the mindset of travelers, and expectations for how and when travel will fully recover.
Featuring:
Adam Sacks
President
Tourism Economics
Wednesday, October 13th (Day 1) 3:10 PM - 4:30 PM
3:10 PM - 4:30 PM
Interactive Workshop
Wednesday, October 13th (Day 1)
Ballroom B/C
Get to know your fellow Tourism Academy attendees in this fun, interactive workshop. We'll be getting the conversation going by discussing opportunities we see on the horizon, and sharing ideas about how we can create lasting success for our communities.
Wednesday, October 13th (Day 1) 4:30 PM - 5:15 PM
4:30 PM - 5:15 PM
Lend a Hand and Give Back to Philly
Wednesday, October 13th (Day 1)
Bromley/Claypoole
Help us give back to our host community by volunteering to support the Ronald McDonald House. We'll be assembling toiletry kits for families of seriously ill children and helping support this important community of comfort and hope in the Philadelphia region. More information and RSVP here.
Wednesday, October 13th (Day 1) 5:30 PM - 8:00 PM
5:30 PM - 8:00 PM
The Museum of the American Revolution
Wednesday, October 13th (Day 1)
Join us for an opening reception at The Museum of The American Revolution, one of Philly's hottest new attractions. We'll enjoy food, drinks, and full access to the exhibits. Just a quick walk from the hotel. Meet in the Marriott Old City lobby at 5:15 to head over!
Thursday, October 14th (Day 2)
Thursday, October 14th (Day 2) 6:30 AM - 8:00 AM
6:30 AM - 8:00 AM
Morning Fun Run
Thursday, October 14th (Day 2)
Marriott Lobby
Stretch your legs and explore Philadelphia with a guided fun run! More information and RSVP here.
Thursday, October 14th (Day 2) 8:00 AM - 9:00 AM
8:00 AM - 9:00 AM
Breakfast & Registration
Thursday, October 14th (Day 2)
Ballroom D/E
Thursday, October 14th (Day 2) 9:00 AM - 9:30 AM
9:00 AM - 9:30 AM
Beginner Basics
Thursday, October 14th (Day 2)
Ballroom B/C
Need a basic overview or refresh of iDSS? This session is perfect for new users to understand how iDSS can help you to save time and create effective workflows.
Featuring:
Chris Mateer
Client Success Manager
Tempest
Roundtable: Sales Session
Thursday, October 14th (Day 2)
Ballroom E
In this interactive shirtsleeves-style session, we'll walk through common destination sales challenges and kickstart peer-to-peer discussions to share ideas and best practices for maximizing your success.
Delivering a Brand Story with Big Impact
Thursday, October 14th (Day 2)
Ballroom D
It's every marketer's dream: to launch a big idea and capture viral engagement. Learn how marketers with firsthand experience launching big brands organize and execute to maximize impact.
One-on-One Meetings
Thursday, October 14th (Day 2)
Frampton
Schedule time to meet individually with Tempest experts. Request a meeting here.
Thursday, October 14th (Day 2) 9:40 AM - 10:10 AM
9:40 AM - 10:10 AM
Beginner Sales
Thursday, October 14th (Day 2)
Ballroom B/C
A refresher on how to manage sales leads in iDSS. Get familiar with lead distribution and take home actionable ways to improve your leads workflow so you can win new business.
Roundtable: Membership & Accounting
Thursday, October 14th (Day 2)
Ballroom E
An interactive shirtsleeves-style conversation where you'll hear real examples about how your peers use iDSS. Take away new ideas and best practices for improving your membership and accounting workflows.
Big Thinking for Community-Minded DMOs
Thursday, October 14th (Day 2)
Ballroom D
Hear from destination organizations about how they maximize their resources and use innovative strategies to drive success. Take away tips and frameworks for thinking big when it comes to leadership, focusing on your community, and more.
One-on-One Meetings
Thursday, October 14th (Day 2)
Frampton
Schedule time to meet individually with Tempest experts. Request a meeting here.
Thursday, October 14th (Day 2) 10:20 AM - 10:50 AM
10:20 AM - 10:50 AM
Managing Partners and Members in iDSS
Thursday, October 14th (Day 2)
Ballroom B/C
This session is an introduction to managing partners and members within iDSS. Learn to manage terms, categories, ROI and much more within iDSS.
Featuring:
John Barnett
Client Success Manager
Tempest
Roundtable Session: Engaging Your Members & Partners with iDSS
Thursday, October 14th (Day 2)
Ballroom E
In this interactive shirtsleeves-style session, see examples of how the iDSS community uses the platform to drive greater member and partner engagement. From leveraging data to identifying new outreach opportunities, learn how to increase your community's engagement.
Community-Minded Funding Strategies
Thursday, October 14th (Day 2)
Ballroom D
As Destination Organizations become community organizations, we are being asked to do more and serve our communities in new ways. Learn how leaders are using revolutionary thinking to completely change their approach to their organization's funding models, and diversify their services in the process.
Featuring:
Wes Rhea
CEO
Visit Stockton
One-on-One Meetings
Thursday, October 14th (Day 2)
Frampton
Schedule time to meet individually with Tempest experts. Request a meeting here.
Thursday, October 14th (Day 2) 11:00 AM - 11:30 PM
11:00 AM - 11:30 PM
Visitor Centers & Inquiries
Thursday, October 14th (Day 2)
Ballroom B/C
Our CRM experts give you an introduction to managing Visitor Center and consumer data, along with the basics of inventory. You'll also learn how to get started with the iDSS Welcome Auto Responder.
Featuring:
Chris Mateer
Client Success Manager
Tempest
Roundtable Discussion: Services
Thursday, October 14th (Day 2)
Ballroom E
In this interactive workshop, you'll hear how your peers are using iDSS Services to achieve their business goals.
Featuring:
Mark Lynch
Chief Client Officer
Tempest
Where to Find Inspiration?
Thursday, October 14th (Day 2)
Ballroom D
How do you ensure your marketing and visuals are fresh and inspiring? In this session, Mike will share strategies and resources for renewing your approach to branding and visual storytelling, plus case studies from destinations doing stunning work.
Featuring:
Michael Tripi
Creative Director
Tempest
One-on-One Meetings
Thursday, October 14th (Day 2)
Frampton
Schedule time to meet individually with Tempest experts. Request a meeting here.
Thursday, October 14th (Day 2) 11:40 AM - 12:10 PM
11:40 AM - 12:10 PM
iDSS Extranet
Thursday, October 14th (Day 2)
Ballroom B/C
The iDSS Extranet can help you to maximize partner engagement. We'll showcase the latest iDSS Extranet developments and share case studies and best practices for increasing engagement with your community.
Media and Advertising
Thursday, October 14th (Day 2)
Ballroom E
How are you using iDSS to track your media and advertising efforts? Our CRM experts will guide an interactive discussion and share tips and best practices for tracking your ROI and reporting results.
How to Plan & Execute Your Most Successful Photo Shoot
Thursday, October 14th (Day 2)
Ballroom D
What goes into a succesful destination photo shoot? Veteran commercial photgrapher Grant Taylor will walk through tips for a successful shoot from working out technical logisitcs to developing a creative strategy.
One-on-One Meetings
Thursday, October 14th (Day 2)
Frampton
Schedule time to meet individually with Tempest experts. Request a meeting here.
Thursday, October 14th (Day 2) 12:10 PM - 1:30 PM
12:10 PM - 1:30 PM
Lunch and Keynote Presentation: Data-Driven Decision Making in Sports Tourism
Thursday, October 14th (Day 2)
Ballroom B/C
Do you know where your community ranks for sports tourism against your competitive set? In your region? In your state? How do you stack up against destinations with the same market size? Or those with similar budgets? What is your facility development game plan and how does data factor in? In this session, we'll look at tools and benchmarks to measure how your destination stacks up, and learn where you can enhance your current efforts in the growing sports tourism market.
Featuring:
Jon Schmieder
Huddle Up Group
Founder + CEO
Thursday, October 14th (Day 2) 1:40 PM - 2:10 PM
1:40 PM - 2:10 PM
iDSS Admin
Thursday, October 14th (Day 2)
Ballroom B/C
Learn the basics to admin functionality within iDSS, setting permissions, customizing layouts and fields, and other administrative workflows.
Featuring:
Chris Mateer
Client Success Manager
Tempest
Introducing Team Activity
Thursday, October 14th (Day 2)
Ballroom E
Get an inside look into the exciting new developments that are coming to iDSS Team Activity, and how it will help you revolutionize your on-sites, FAMs, and tradeshow efforts.
Defining Your Destination Through Content
Thursday, October 14th (Day 2)
Ballroom D
How can you differentiate your destination online? In this discussion, we'll explore ways to craft your website content to create maximum impact and create opportunity for your community.
One-on-One Meetings
Thursday, October 14th (Day 2)
Frampton
Schedule time to meet individually with Tempest experts. Request a meeting here.
Thursday, October 14th (Day 2) 2:20 PM - 2:50 PM
2:20 PM - 2:50 PM
iDSS Send
Thursday, October 14th (Day 2)
Ballroom B/C
Have you sent emails with iDSS Send yet? Our CRM experts walk you through the things you'll want to know when creating and sending responsive emails to your audience through iDSS.
So Fresh & So Clean: Data Hygiene
Thursday, October 14th (Day 2)
Ballroom E
A clean and consistently updated database is a cornerstone for your organization's success. Learn from other DMOs along with iDSS Client Success on best practices to keep your iDSS instance clean and up to date. Get the most out of reporting by cleaning up your data and learn from others who have gone through these audits on their process, tips, and how data cleansing has positively impacted their CRM experience.
Content Architecture that Drives Growth
Thursday, October 14th (Day 2)
Ballroom D
You've defined your pillars. What next? We explore innovative ways to structure your website's content architecture to achieve maximum exposure online.
One-on-One Meetings
Thursday, October 14th (Day 2)
Frampton
Schedule time to meet individually with Tempest experts. Request a meeting here.
Thursday, October 14th (Day 2) 3:10 PM - 3:50 PM
3:10 PM - 3:50 PM
Networking Break
Thursday, October 14th (Day 2)
Ballroom Foyer
Thursday, October 14th (Day 2) 3:50 PM - 4:20 PM
3:50 PM - 4:20 PM
Sales & Reporting Best Practices
Thursday, October 14th (Day 2)
Ballroom B/C
If you're working as part of a sales team, find out how to use reporting and best practices in iDSS to improve your day-to-day sales activities. We'll share tips for tracking your teams success, using data to lead sales meetings, and more.
Featuring:
John Barnett
Client Success Manager
Tempest
iDSS API
Thursday, October 14th (Day 2)
Ballroom E
Learn from peers creative and functional ways they have implemented various integrations with forms, 3rd parties, websites, etc leveraging the iDSS API.
Sculpting Content to Maximize Results
Thursday, October 14th (Day 2)
Ballroom D
Your content is in tip-top shape. But is it really? We dive into real-world examples of ways destinations have catapulted website performance by strategically shaping their content.
One-on-One Meetings
Thursday, October 14th (Day 2)
Frampton
Schedule time to meet individually with Tempest experts. Request a meeting here.
Thursday, October 14th (Day 2) 4:30 PM - 5:00 PM
4:30 PM - 5:00 PM
iDSS Tips & Tricks
Thursday, October 14th (Day 2)
Ballroom B/C
When working with the iDSS user community, our team sees a lot of innovative tips and workflows and cool ideas. The iDSS Client Success Team will walk you through some of the tips and tricks within iDSS which will help you with your everyday workflows.
Featuring:
Chris Mateer
Client Success Manager
Tempest
iDSS Attend
Thursday, October 14th (Day 2)
Ballroom E
See the exciting new tools we're building into the all-new Attend feature in iDSS Cyclone. This revamped housing and registration platform will revolutionize how you are creating meetings sales success in your community.
Featuring:
Christian Glaude
Development Manager
Tempest
Harnessing Collective Resources to Revitalize Your Community
Thursday, October 14th (Day 2)
Ballroom D
Destinations across North America are facing workforce challenges as communities get back to work. Hear how Philadelphia is collaborating to support local businesses, and discover ways you can help support your destination navigate the ever-changing landscape of the post-pandemic workforce.
One-on-One Meetings
Thursday, October 14th (Day 2)
Frampton
Schedule time to meet individually with Tempest experts. Request a meeting here.
Thursday, October 14th (Day 2) 5:30 PM - 7:30 PM
5:30 PM - 7:30 PM
Dinner on Your Own
Thursday, October 14th (Day 2)
Experience Philly's award-winning dining scene. Then head to the big Tourism Academy Party at 7:30 pm.
Thursday, October 14th (Day 2) 7:30 PM - 11:59 PM
7:30 PM - 11:59 PM
Party at Theater of The Living Arts
Thursday, October 14th (Day 2)
Bring your dancing shoes! The house band will headlining at Philly's Theatre of the Living Arts on historic South Street! Live music, drinks, fun and surprises.
Friday, October 15th (Day 3)
Friday, October 15th (Day 3) 8:00 AM - 9:00 AM
8:00 AM - 9:00 AM
Breakfast & Networking
Friday, October 15th (Day 3)
Ballroom D/E
Friday, October 15th (Day 3) 9:00 AM - 10:00 AM
9:00 AM - 10:00 AM
Keynote Presentation: Using Data to Engage Your Community
Friday, October 15th (Day 3)
Ballroom B/C
As the travel industry looks ahead to 2022, we're looking for ways to create opportunity and help our neighbors understand the impacts of tourism. In this discussion, we'll explore destination organizations are using the power of data analytics to share their stories with their stakeholders, and use insights to drive growth and prosperity for their communities.
Friday, October 15th (Day 3) 10:10 AM - 10:30 AM
10:10 AM - 10:30 AM
Networking Break
Friday, October 15th (Day 3)
Ballroom Foyer
Friday, October 15th (Day 3) 10:30 AM - 11:00 AM
10:30 AM - 11:00 AM
iDSS Publish Show & Tell
Friday, October 15th (Day 3)
Ballroom D/E
iDSS Publish can help your team generate consistent, elegant, branded communications on-the-fly. See case studies from destinations currently leveraging Publish and learn how to get started with Publish in your organization.
Featuring:
John Barnett
Client Success Manager
Tempest
Marketing to Meetings
Friday, October 15th (Day 3)
Ballroom B/C
How do you capture the elusive meeting and group market? We share strategies destination organizations are using to streamline their performance and create impact for their communities through meetings marketing.
Featuring:
Taylor Ander
Account Manager
Tempest
Samantha Mehlinger
Vice President of Communication
Long Beach Convention & Visitors Bureau
Kristen Pepper
Marketing Director
Huntsville/Madison County Convention & Visitors Bureau
Christine Spencer
Director of Marketing
Philadelphia Convention and Visitors Bureau
One-on-One Meetings
Friday, October 15th (Day 3)
Frampton
Schedule time to meet individually with Tempest experts. Request a meeting here.
Friday, October 15th (Day 3) 11:10 AM - 11:40 AM
11:10 AM - 11:40 AM
Integrate Your Email with iDSS
Friday, October 15th (Day 3)
Ballroom D/E
Have you explored the iDSS integration for Outlook and Gmail yet? Our expert CRM team shows you how your team can share touchpoints with leads, customers, and travel writers at the touch of a button.
Roundtable Discussion: Marketing to Meetings
Friday, October 15th (Day 3)
Ballroom B/C
In this interactive roundtable, we'll keep the discussion going by talking through the unique opportunities destinations are discovering and sharing successful ways they've connected with meetings and group travel organizers.
Featuring:
Taylor Ander
Account Manager
Tempest
One-on-One Meetings
Friday, October 15th (Day 3)
Frampton
Schedule time to meet individually with Tempest experts. Request a meeting here.
Friday, October 15th (Day 3) 11:40 AM - 12:00 PM
11:40 AM - 12:00 PM
Networking Break
Friday, October 15th (Day 3)
Ballroom Foyer
Friday, October 15th (Day 3) 12:00 PM - 12:30 PM
12:00 PM - 12:30 PM
Get the Inside Scoop on the Cvent Integration
Friday, October 15th (Day 3)
Ballroom D/E
Our team takes you through an exciting new development on the iDSS roadmap: a brand-new integration with Cvent!
Best Practices for a Remote Workforce
Friday, October 15th (Day 3)
Ballroom B/C
What we've learned being a... remote-friendly? Hybrid? Remote first with an office? Organization. We might not be 100% sure what to call it, but we'll share the tools and tips we've used to make it work for us for more than 10 years, and how you can adapt to the evolving idea of work culture.
One-on-One Meetings
Friday, October 15th (Day 3)
Frampton
Schedule time to meet individually with Tempest experts. Request a meeting here.