Marketing & Communications Summit

Destination storytelling is a team sport — and this immersive workshop proves it. Hosted at The Foundry, a state-of-the-art indoor rowing facility repurposed from a historic Cleveland foundry, this half-day experience blends movement, strategy and real-world dialogue to explore how alignment — both physical and strategic — powers collective impact.

Attendees will rotate between two unique components: a hands-on rowing session led by expert coaches in The Foundry’s indoor tanks and a behind-the-scenes tour of the venue’s innovative facilities. Then, everyone will come together for a high-energy panel featuring local leaders from destination organizations, cultural institutions, philanthropic partners and the sports community — all sharing how collaboration and shared storytelling can amplify impact and strengthen communities.

Leave with a unique perspective, practical insights and a deeper understanding of how to foster collective impact — within your team, across your partnerships and throughout your destination.

Rowing optional, insights guaranteed.

Key Learnings:

• How teamwork principles from The Foundry’s rowing experience can strengthen collaboration and communication across your team and partner organizations
• Ways to leverage cross-sector collaboration to expand reach and engagement
• Best practices for co-creating content and campaigns that elevate the entire destination
• Approaches to translating marketing success into community and economic impact
• How to align unified messaging across diverse community partners to tell your destination story 

NOTE: Comfortable, athletic clothing and shoes are recommended. Space to store outerwear and a locker room will be available. Transportation provided.

Additional registration for this pre-summit workshop is required. Member Price: $295 | Destination Non-Member Price: $395

Come ready to rock as we kick off the 2026 Marketing & Communications Summit with an unforgettable evening at Cleveland’s iconic Rock & Roll Hall of Fame!

You’ll mix and mingle among legendary memorabilia—from John Lennon’s guitar to Beyoncé’s stage outfits—as you enjoy locally inspired food and drinks, interactive exhibits and high-energy entertainment. Whether you're a die-hard for Pearl Jam or pledge loyalty to Journey, one thing’s for sure: you’ll have plenty to debate, discover and dance about.

This isn’t just a reception—it’s a full-on Cleveland welcome, set against the backdrop of one of music’s most hallowed halls. Let the destination storytelling begin.

Destination Cleveland is hosting “The Land Lounge” for all attendees of the Summit at the Huntington Convention Center.  The lounge will provide a space to catch up on work, network with fellow attendees and the Destination Cleveland team and you’ll find plenty of locally-inspired snacks, beverages and complimentary experiences from local makers.

Join Destinations International leadership for a brief introduction to EXPLORE, the overarching theme guiding all DI events in 2026. More than a creative concept, EXPLORE represents a mindset—one centered on curiosity, growth and shared progress. Attendees will learn the thinking behind the theme, why DI chose it and how it reflects the evolving needs of destination professionals today, setting the stage for a year of learning, connection and impact.

Join Allison Howard, President of Business Operations for Cleveland WNBA and Chief Commercial Officer of Rock Entertainment Group, for an inspiring keynote conversation on human-centered, people-first leadership and the evolving role of sports in community and global engagement. As she leads the launch of the WNBA’s 16th expansion team—tipping off in Cleveland at Rocket Arena in 2028—Howard will share insights on building a brand grounded in purpose and connection. Discover how a “For More than Profit” approach can redefine destination success and how sports can serve as a powerful platform to unite communities, amplify inclusion and capture worldwide attention.

Allison Howard

President of Business Operations for Cleveland WNBA and Chief Commercial Officer of Rock Entertainment Group

Emily Lauer (Moderator)

Vice President of PR & Communications

Destination Cleveland

 

 

Societal issues are increasingly shaping how destinations are perceived and selected. This session highlights key findings from Destinations International’s Destination Reputation research and explores what they mean for marketing and communications leaders responsible for building trust, shaping narrative and protecting brand reputation.

Andreas Weissenborn

VP of Research & Advocacy

Destinations International

 

 

 

 

A compelling story can inspire, evoke emotion and build connection in ways that statistics alone cannot. But not all stories stick. The most powerful stories are simple, attention-grabbing, emotionally resonant and make people care. Cities like Chicago and Washington, D.C. have shown how stories can unite communities even in challenging times. When the National Guard was deployed, Chicago launched the “All for the Love of Chicago” campaign, inviting residents and visitors to share photos, videos, and personal stories about what they love most about the city. This session explores how you too can harness the stories of your key stakeholders to foster civic pride, strengthen engagement and effectively market your destination.

Andrea Doyle

Executive Editor

Skift Meetings

 

 

 

 

Wahn Yoon, co-founder of unique consultancy L'Institut, will present findings from a fascinating futurism project where his company used their renowned proprietary technique, the Structural Mapping Process (SMP) to reveal the key emotional drivers for travelers in the next decade. What emotional benefits will a new era of travelers be looking for when it comes to choosing where and how they travel? What should travel destinations be prepared to offer in the future and why? Themes such as "inclusive travel" and "24-hour mystique" are among the themes they discovered, and these findings form an essential blueprint for destinations as they prepare for the future.

Wahn Yoon

Co-Founder

L'Institut Idée

 

 

 

 

Disruption Lab Case Study: From Setback to Strength

In this 45-minute session, destination professionals share how they navigated two major disruptions, one challenging and one unexpectedly positive, and emerged stronger. Travel Portland examines how recent political and civil disruptions affected community trust, visitor perception, and stakeholder alignment, and how transparent, values-driven, and community-centered responses can help destinations move forward. Visit Tallahassee then shares how an unlikely local celebrity, Chip the Armadillo, became a positive disruptor that reshaped place-based storytelling and visitor engagement. Attendees will learn how to identify different types of disruptors, respond with intention, collaborate across departments and agencies, and begin building a practical disruption toolkit for their own destination.

Disruption Lab Work Session: Build Your Destination’s Response Playbook

After absorbing real case studies, it’s your turn to step into the hot seat. This highly interactive session pairs marketing and PR professionals at each table to work through real-life disruption scenarios—from sudden safety concerns to cultural flare-ups to viral “positive disruptors” that shift public attention.

Guided by facilitators, teams will practice rapid assessment, message development, stakeholder alignment, and community-centered storytelling. The exercises simulate real-world urgency and encourage cross-functional thinking, helping participants build confidence in navigating sudden shifts in tourism and reputation.

Attendees will leave with tangible skills, a draft disruption tool kit, and a tested framework for turning any disruption—good or bad—into an opportunity for clarity, connection, and destination resilience.

Hosted by Cleveland – local Soul Yoga, an inclusive and welcoming studio, this all-levels flow class builds gentle heat through mindful movement, followed by an extended floor-based stretch series to restore and rejuvenate the body. The experience concludes with a 5–10 minute soundbath, offering deep relaxation and calm for the mind and nervous system.

Destination Cleveland is hosting “The Land Lounge” for all attendees of the Summit at the Huntington Convention Center.  The lounge will provide a space to catch up on work, network with fellow attendees and the Destination Cleveland team and you’ll find plenty of locally-inspired snacks, beverages and complimentary experiences from local makers.

How Baby-Boomers and Travelers with Disabilities Are Reshaping Travel Demand. And Elevating Destinations That Lead

Accessibility is no longer a niche—it’s a global driver of travel demand. As the senior segment grows and more travelers expect inclusive experiences, destinations that make accessibility visible, verified, and easy to act on are gaining trust faster and converting new audiences earlier. In this session, Wheel the World shares a practical, repeatable approach for DMOs to turn accessibility into a measurable growth advantage. We’ll explore how the “Accessibility Verified” standard helps destinations continuously assess, promote, and improve accessibility—reducing planning friction and increasing traveler confidence. We’ll also break down a real statewide campaign example that shows how combining verified supply with the right narrative can shift perception, boost visibility, and generate real demand—ultimately helping one state become the first “Accessibility Verified” destination in the U.S. 

• Andres Villagran, Chief Marketing Officer, Wheel the World

Tripadvisor Trendcast 2026: The Forces Shaping the Future of Travel

Travel never stands still—and neither can we if we want to understand where it’s headed. In this session, we’ll unveil Tripadvisor Trendcast 2026, our latest deep dive into the forces shaping how and why people explore the world. Drawing on decades of traveler insights, this report highlights 10 emerging trends that reveal what’s gaining traction, what’s shifting, and what’s set to guide future travel decisions. We’ll touch on each trend —why it matters today, and how it’s already transforming real travel experiences.

• Mallory Smith, Senior Client Partner, TripAdvisor
• Scott Caufield, Senior Principal Client Partner, TripAdvisor

Stop Making Collateral. Start Winning Meetings: Rethinking B2B Marketing for DMOs

We’re challenging DMOs to rethink meetings marketing in today’s marketing landscape. As meeting planners face information overload, AI-driven search, and endless destination content, creating new collateral for sales teams is no longer enough to influence decisions or support the buying journey. In this fast-paced session, we’ll talk about important shifts to move your marketing to an audience-first, trust-driven model that empowers sales teams, builds credibility with planners, leads your destination community and ensures destinations remain visible and relevant in an AI-influenced search environment. Grounded in data and tourism, meetings, and digital marketing expertise, the session delivers practical frameworks and actionable insights to strengthen B2B performance and improve meetings marketing outcomes. Key Takeaways: Planner Pain Points: Gain insights into what planners want today, and how DMOs can influence their buying journey. AI-Driven Visibility: How is AI changing destination discovery—and what that means for B2B Tourism Marketing. Strategy shift: Move from a collateral and media buy led strategy to a fully integrated approach.

• Jaimie Hart, VP Marketing Strategy, Digital Edge

Stewardship-Driven Marketing: Using Tech to Build Brands That Last

Branding and communications will always matter in destination marketing, but today’s challenges demand more. The field is evolving toward purpose, values, and local impact, reshaping how destinations stay relevant and competitive. In this session, we explore the connection between destination marketing, stewardship and technology, showing how community-centered storytelling and data-driven branding can future-proof destinations and deliver on a more authentic visitor experience. Attendees will walk away with new insights, tips and best practices for how to integrate stewardship principles into branding, marketing and communications, not just to promote responsibly, but to differentiate, build trust and drive more meaningful engagement with travelers and residents alike. We’ll also showcase how Destination Wayfinder provides a collaborative platform to help destination leaders build capability for stewardship-driven marketing.

• Rachel Brown, Destination Stewardship Director, Destination Wayfinder

Driving Visibility: How Layered OOH Wins Feeder Markets

Join Jessica Spindler, Director of Tourism Partnerships at Carvertise, alongside Lindsey Norment, Managing Director, Brand and Creative of the Virginia Tourism Corporation, for an in-depth look at how Virginia Tourism executed a bold, market-dominating out-of-home campaign in Philadelphia. This session will explore how Virginia Tourism moved beyond a single-channel approach to deliver a fully integrated OOH takeover—layering wrapped vehicles, stadium takeovers and public transit placements to create sustained visibility and repeated exposure into a complete Philly takeover. Jessica and Lindsey will walk attendees through the strategic thinking behind the campaign, including market selection, audience targeting, and how each OOH format played a distinct role within the broader media mix. The discussion will also highlight how aligning campaigns with key cultural and sporting moments helped Virginia Tourism break through a competitive advertising landscape and drive meaningful engagement. Attendees will leave with actionable insights on how to plan and execute cohesive, high-impact OOH strategies, evaluate performance across multiple formats, and apply these learnings to their own destination marketing efforts, especially in high-value drive markets.

• Jessica Spindler, Director of Tourism Partnerships, Carvertise, Inc.
• Lindsey Norment, Managing Director, Brand and Creative, Virginia Tourism Corporation

Mapping the Match: Navigating the Travel Trends of 2026 Soccer Tournaments

With a global tournament approaching this summer, soccer is set to have an unprecedented influence on global travel behaviors in the U.S. In this session, Sojern will share timely insights from our Soccer Insights Dashboard, highlighting how this major sporting event is shaping travel intent, booking patterns and destination choices. This presentation will focus on key trends we are seeing across markets and demographics, offering attendees a data-driven look into how the most anticipated soccer events will impact travel planning at scale. We will provide actionable takeaways that showcase the power of timely, real-time event-driven insights.

• Angie Kimmel, Sales Director, Sojern
• Brenda Armstrong, Senior Director, Co-Op Development, Sojern

The DMO world is evolving, but are we keeping up? Marketing leaders are being asked to do far more than drive visitation. Today’s CMOs and CEOs are expected to speak to elected officials, collaborate with community partners, defend funding and prove value in ways that go well beyond hotel stays.

At the same time, many destinations are still relying on outdated strategies and hollow metrics that do not reflect impact or inspire trust. Consumer behavior is shifting rapidly, technology is moving faster than many organizations can keep up with, and internal alignment often falls behind the pace of change.

In this live session, Stuart Butler and Adam Stoker bring their Destination Discourse podcast format to the stage for a candid and highly interactive conversation about the most important issues facing DMOs right now. We will explore inflated KPIs, the shift from awareness to attention and whether we are truly doing the work required to earn ongoing relevance, funding and community support. The conversation will be guided by live audience polling and input.

Attendees will not only hear bold perspectives but also help shape the direction of the discussion.

Key Takeaways & Learning Objectives:

• Understand how DMO roles are shifting to include deeper collaboration with stakeholders, political leaders and community organizations
• Examine the risks of relying on vanity metrics and consider what stronger accountability could look like
• Explore how changes in consumer behavior and technology demand faster and more adaptive strategies
• Reflect on what it takes to build trust, demonstrate value and protect funding in today’s environment
• Engage in real-time discussion with peers to uncover blind spots and share practical ideas

Stuart Butler

Visit Myrtle Beach

Adam Stoker

Brand Revolt

 

 

 

Hear from destination organization communications leaders who have experienced a crisis – from natural disaster to violent acts and civil disturbances – to hear how they supported their organization and community through communications and engagement. Get tips on what you need to do now to be prepared, elements of a crisis situation that will surprise you and the sometimes-conflicting needs of stakeholders and how to address them.

Julie Freeman

Executive VP, Public Relations, Americas

MMGY Global

(Moderator)

Christine Susa

Director of Marketing & Communications

Visit Pasadena

Sarajane Case

Director of Marketing

Explore Asheville

Jordoun Eatman

VP of Engagement and Inclusion

Experience Grand Rapids

 

From AVE to the Barcelona Principles, there are many different approaches to measuring the impact of public relations and communications. Hear the latest on best practice, from media stories to social media engagement, as well as how to make the case to leadership for moving away from impressions and ad value equivalency. The session will explore LLM tracking with a focus on best practices for using it and why it’s an important metric to track/show. 

Brianna Francis

Director of Public Relations

Madden Media

(Moderator)

Claire Koenig

VP of Communications

Visit Milwaukee

Matt Maxey

Senior Director of Public Relations

Visit Franklin

Joyce Kiehl

Director of Communications

Visit Greater Palm Springs

 

Turning Cultural Moments into Destination Momentum examines how Discover Puerto Rico transformed the global buzz around Bad Bunny’s residency into measurable destination impact. In this case-study session, the CMO breaks down the strategy behind leveraging a cultural moment to educate travelers, activate new markets, and drive demand across both leisure and MICE segments. Attendees will see industry metrics, a testimonial video, economic outcomes and the “missing markets” framework that guided the campaign—and will walk away with a blueprint for turning major cultural events into long-tail destination value.

Today, destination marketing plays an essential role in the future of the communities we serve. We know this: demand generation, brand support, Halo Effect etc. Yet, the attacks on our budgets have increased to historic highs. How do we manage this new tension to maintain our valuable impact? The rise of advocacy actions and destination stewardship are the response to this growing reality and will require our best marketing minds to craft the messaging and campaigns locally. Learn the mindsets, frameworks and top case studies of how we will protect our marketing budgets and organizational relevancy into the future.

Josiah Brown

National Advocacy Liaison