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Destination organizations are a community asset responsible for programs promoting their community as an attractive travel destination and enhancing its public image as a dynamic place to live and work. Through their knowledge of the destination, brand management, promotional programs, and the resulting impacts of visits by people, destination organizations strengthen the community’s economic position and vitality which provides opportunity for all the people in a destination.
Recognizing residents as their ultimate customers, destination organizations have an expanded leadership role to play within their communities. This includes playing a supporting role in efforts led by others on issues that, for too long, organizations have avoided and claimed were not within their scope.
As the 2021 DestinationNEXT Futures Study states, “Destination organizations are expanding their roles in many directions. They are aligning with government and community organizations more intentionally to support initiatives designed to improve social issues and local quality of life; fuel priority sector development; attract outside investment and high-value talent; and elevate the overall destination brand beyond a tourism lens.”
The Summit presents ideas, strategies, and tactics for destination organizations to successfully embrace their role as a community asset that aligns with their residents and advocates for their needs.
Bloomington Convention & Visitors Bureau looks forward to welcoming Advocacy Summit attendees with their famous Minnesota hospitality! Bloomington is centrally located in the Twin Cities metro area and just 10 minutes away from downtown Minneapolis and Saint Paul, making it the perfect destination as your home base to explore the area. Check out Bloomington CVB's microsite for itinerary ideas, dining options, their visitor guide, and more information about the destination.
Help spread the word about Advocacy Summit with our social media toolkit. The toolkit includes sample social media posts and graphics for attendees, partners and speakers. Thank you for spreading the word on social media!
Optional Professional Development Opportunities

Sunday, October 23 - Wednesday, October 26
View Courses | Register Now

Wednesday, October 26 | 1:30 PM - 4:00 PM CT
Add the workshop on to your Summit registration during the checkout process
Member Rate | Non-Member Rate | |
Advocacy Summit | US$895 | US$1345 |
EDI Workshop Add-On | US$199 | US$299 |
Attendees by Budget Size
Attendees come from destinations of all shapes and sizes. The summit offers unparalleled opportunity to network with peers facing the same challenges that you are.
Attendees by Job Level
The summit is geared towards destination leaders who are responsible for marketing, community engagement and destination development. Take a look at the breakdown of attendees by job level.

The EDI Workshop is approved for up to three (3) CDME CE credits. Learn about CDME recertification.
Wednesday, October 26

Chief Diversity Officer
Destinations International

The Advocacy Summit is approved for up to sixteen (16) CDME CE credits. Learn about CDME recertification.
Wednesday, October 26

President & CEO
Bloomington CVB

Mayor
City of Bloomington

Chief Equity & Inclusion Officer
City of Bloomington

Racial & Health Equity Administrator
Ramsey County

Equity & Inclusion Manager
City of Golden Valley

Associate VP of Equity
Normandale Community College

Food Scientist, Serial Entrepreneur
Sizije Travel
Note: Shuttle busses will run from the Hyatt Regency to Mall of America from 5:30 PM - 10:00 PM. The mall's retail hours are 11:00 AM - 8:00 PM; most restaurants stay open until 9:00 or 10:00 PM.
Presented by the Bloomington CVB
The Fair on 4 is located on the fourth floor of the Mall of America. Buses will run back to the Hyatt Regency until 10:00 PM.
Thursday, October 27
Complimentary registration required. You may add the session during the registration process for the summit, or add the session to your existing summit registration.
Complimentary registration required. Limited to 25 participants. You may add the session during the registration process for the summit, or add the session to your existing summit registration.

President & CEO
Destinations International

President & CEO
Visit Baltimore

SVP, Global Business Development & Marketing
STR

Summit Facilitator

Chief Advocacy Officer
Destinations International

President & CEO
Longwoods International

Senior Vice President of Marketing & Communications
Destinations International

Executive Director
Charlottesville Albemarle Convention and Visitors Bureau

President & CEO
Visit Anchorage

Director of Community & Visitor Engagement
Tourism Kelowna

Vice President of Research & Advocacy
Destinations International
Facilitators:

Chief of Staff
Simpleview

Chief Instigator
DMOproz

President & CEO
Visit Baltimore

President & CEO
Visit Jackson

Director, Community Engagement & Advocacy
Discover the Palm Beaches

President & CEO
Destination Door County

Senior Manager of Advocacy Research & Content
Destinations International
Facilitators:

Chief of Staff
Simpleview

Chief Instigator
DMOproz

Co-Founder & CEO
Quorum

Chief Advocacy Officer
Destinations International

VP, Public Policy & Government Affairs
TIAC-AITC

Director, Government Affairs
CLIA

CEO
Association of Australian Convention Bureaux

VP, Political Affairs
US Travel Association

President & CEO
Tourism Economics

Chief Diversity Officer
Destinations International

Summit Facilitator
Friday, October 28
What is the Opportunity Cost of Not Collecting Bed Tax?
Location: Ballroom 3
Unlike most Florida counties, Martin County had no ordinance for vacation rental bed tax. This put the destination organization at odds with tax collectors, and missed opportunities to support local stakeholders. See how Martin County used Arrivalist's location data to build a data-driven case which aligned the community and resulted in funding approval to implement the missing bed tax.
- Jason Fulvi, Chief Sales Officer, Arrivalist
- Nerissa Okiye, Tourism Director, Martin County Tourism & Marketing Office
Location: Ballroom 4-5
This session will educate destination organizations on a new way to showcase their destination. By displaying this new form of passive consumption, destination organizations can learn how to slice and dice content in more ways than one—allowing them to get the most use out of one medium.
- Adam Stoker, President & CEO, Relic Agency
- Wes Rhea, CDME, President & CEO, Visit Stockton
Location: Stone Arch
Ben Vadasz of Destination Think will share breakthrough research on a KPI for visitor sentiment that correlates to the growth in visitor spend. Ben will share how destinations use Tourism Sentiment Index (TSI) to prove the economic impact of their destination organization, lead their industry to develop and improve the visitor experience and destination brand, and defend and grow budgets.
- Ben Vadasz, Founding Partner, Destination Think
Building Political Capital with Destination Intelligence
Location: Ballroom 1-2
Join Kalene Griffith and Matt Clement as they share a case study blueprint for building political capital and stimulating destination development using destination intelligence. They will share details of using the data resources at Visit Bentonville’s disposal in their work with local city government, chamber of commerce and the Walton family in a time of unprecedented growth, including what have been the most useful data sources and the strategies to employ when communicating those resources.
- Matt Clement, CDME, Managing Partner, Madden Media
- Kalene Griffith, CDME, President & CEO, Visit Bentonville
Location: Ballroom 3
The Aspen Chamber and Resort Association needed to build a visual indicator of the destination’s seasonality and ability to accommodate guests while sustaining the quality of life of residents. Working collaboratively with the Colorado Tourism Office, Clarity of Place created a data visualization tool to document Capacity, Compression, and Comfort (CAPCOM2) to strategically determine market needs and apply appropriate direction to either build visitor business or manage visitor volume.
- David Holder, CDME, CEO, Clarity of Place
- Eliza Voss, VP of Marketing, Aspen Chamber and Resort Association
Location: Ballroom 4-5
Discover how Charlottesville, VA leverages their website as an advocacy platform through strategic content planning, partner marketing opportunities, and community engagement.
- Sidney Abramson, Community Engagement Specialist, Tempest
- Courtney Cacatian, Executive Director, Visit Charlottesville
Location: Stone Arch
Bandwango products can be used in a multitude of ways but one of the most impactful is enhancing a community’s appeal. Examples of advocacy through passes include driving people to local businesses through a gamified trail or giving exclusive discounts to local heroes (i.e healthcare workers, teachers, etc). Take your destination to the next level through paid and free Bandwango passports.
- Erin Griss, Senior Marketing Manager, Bandwango
- Wes Rhea, CDME, President & CEO, Visit Stockton
- Peggy Coleman, VP of Tourism & Community Relations, Ithaca/Tompkins County Convention & Visitors Bureau
Transform Your Community Into Allies
Location: Ballroom 1-2
Advocacy will always be a critical component of a destination organization's DNA, whether you’re fighting legislation, funding, championing new development, or defending your existence. To provide destinations with relevant and actionable insights, Destinations International and Tourism Economics are working together to deliver high-frequency analyses of relevant metrics for your community within the SYMPHONY market intelligence platform. This session will provide real-world use cases on how to arm yourself with data to drive your advocacy strategy and turn doubters into believers and community into allies to deliver on community shared values.
- Erik Evjen, Director of Data Analytics and Insights, Tourism Economics
- Hilina D. Ajakaiye, Executive Vice President, Greater Boston Convention & Visitors Bureau
- Bennish Brown, President & CEO, Augusta Convention & Visitors Bureau
Location: Ballroom 3
Paul will give an update on the DestinationNEXT program and recent findings and trends. He will discuss how the program can be used to support strategic planning and destination master planning initiatives.
- Paul Ouimet, President & Partner, MMGY NextFactor
Location: Ballroom 4-5
- Sophia Hyder Hock, Chief Diversity Officer, Destinations International
Using Insights and Data to Steward and Grow Community Shared Values and Advocacy
Location: Ballroom 1-2
Bar charts and pie graphs do not tell a story on their own. Destinations have the data and insights to weave a narrative that builds trust and advocacy within their communities. This session will detail how one destination organization worked closely with their regional partners to better understand the movement of visitors and residents. Visit Sacramento convened community stakeholders and earned a seat at the table through stories of their key learnings: visitors who drove vs. flew, how seasonality did or did not affect visitation and resident and visitor downtown compression on specific dates and times. Now a valued and trusted source of intelligence, Visit Sacramento created community advocacy and support to help steward future efforts to build a better experience for visitors and life for its fellow residents.
- Sarah Lehman, CEO, Zartico
- Sonya Bradley, Chief Diversity Officer, Visit Sacramento
Location: Ballroom 3
When Destination Toronto and Simpleview teamed up to build a dine-out microsite in 30 days, the redesign transformed into a twisting and turning tale of a binding relationship between the DMO and the community. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Destination Toronto collaborated with the city to support the ever-changing needs of restaurants; learn how a strong partnership led to the development of a new perspective on the role of the DMO, resulting in a cohesive visual brand identity, logo, and website content.
- David Peacock, Senior Advisor to the Future Tourism Group, Simpleview
- Scott Beck, President & CEO, Destination Toronto (via video)
Location: Ballroom 4-5
As destination marketing organizations continue to evolve their roles around destination management, a critical need is providing stakeholders and partners time sensitive information when natural disasters strike. Destination Analysts and Discover Puerto Rico will show how sentiment tracking research informs an organization’s response and recovery approach as well as positions them as proactive, rather than reactive, leaders in a time of crisis.
- David Reichbach, Senior Director - Analytics & Data Security, Destination Analysts
- Alisha Valentine, Director, Research and Analytics, Discover Puerto Rico
Progress & Pipeline: Support Your Sales Strategy With This Data Deep-Dive
Location: Ballroom 1-2
Using exclusive meetings and sales data, Simpleview and the Pasadena CVB will share how industry benchmarks were used to advocate for the destination organization, and how your organization can use this new key resource to develop your future sales strategies. We’ll dive deep into the insights offered about the progress and pipeline health of U.S. and Canadian destination organizations, divided into geographical regions and size based on GSF of exhibit space. Support your sales strategy by focusing on key data relevant to you and understand how to use it to advocate for your organization.
- Cara Frank, Chief of Staff, Simpleview
- Kristin McGrath, CDME, Executive Director, Pasadena Convention & Visitors Bureau
Location: Ballroom 3
This session will provide case studies to demonstrate how the use of powerful personal assessment tools will allow destination organization professionals to become aware of their key individual strengths in order to develop strategies to improve their overall advocacy success.
- Linda John, CDME, ACC, Vice President, Destination & Travel Practice, FiredUp! Culture
- Anna Tanksi, Summit Facilitator
- Dave Parulo, President & CEO, Washington County Visitors Association
Location: Ballroom 4-5
Time for DMOcracy is a major global research study defining community engagement best practices for destination organizations. We will share key insights and practical examples of successful community engagement by destiantion organizations across North America and Europe. Join us for a first peek of the results and resources from this study, which is wrapping up in late 2022. This global study is being led by Miles Partnership and Group Nao (the European lead and program creator) in collaboration with Destinations International, the City Destination Alliance in Europe and 44 leading North American and European DMOs.
- Chris Adams, Head of Research & Insights, Miles Partnership
- Laura Libby, SVP, Miles Partnership
- Whitney Knollenberg, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Parks, Recreation & Tourism Management, North Carolina State University
- Ashley Schroeder, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, School of Hotel, Restaurant and Tourism Management University of South Carolina

Vice President of Research & Advocacy
Destinations International
Facilitators:

Chief of Staff
Simpleview

Chief Instigator
DMOproz

Vice President of Research & Advocacy
Destinations International

Founder
Cultivar Brands

President & CEO
Glacier County Tourism

Chief Advocacy Officer
Destinations International
Facilitators:

Chief of Staff
Simpleview

Chief Instigator
DMOproz

Summit Facilitator

Chief Advocacy Officer
Destinations International

Vice President of Research & Advocacy
Destinations International
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