The 2008 UMCVB Conference in St. Cloud MN will feature tracks based around the 2008 Futures Study recently published by the Destination Marketing Association International (DMAI).

•   Tourism Funding
•   Going Green:  Tourism and a sustainable environment
•   The economy:  Future of the US economy and its relationship to tourism
•   City Hall:  Keeping relevant
•   Customer Service
•   Destination Product Development
•   Industry Panel:  The working relationship between hotels & DMOs
•   Convention sales through both ends of the binoculars
•   DMAI Board Chair Maura Gast:  The Futures Study

Check out the list of speakers & Topics below!

Bill Geist:

Bill's Topics:

Diversifying DMO Resources

With increasing pressures for government to tap into Room Tax, smart Destination Marketing Organizations are looking for unique ways to build their budgets. In this session, Zeitgeist Consulting's Bill Geist shares case studies of innovative new funding mechanisms and the impact they've had on DMO bottom lines. He'll also discuss changes in State funding models that could mean added resources for local DMOs.

It's Time to Lead

For years, many Destination Marketers have been frustrated at not being respected enough to be invited to sit "at the table" of community development discussions. Author of Destination Leadership for Boards, Bill Geist turns his focus to DMO Professionals in this lively general session designed to encourage you to build a public persona that gets you that invitation. You'll learn how to better position yourself in the public eye by developing a personal brand that will elevate your standing in the community.

Ross Ament: Ross is a 25-year veteran of tourism and education.  Currently he combines both of those fields in his position at Northern Illinois University. 

Ross' Topics:

Agritourism: Bumper Crop or Bust?

Learn the essence of attracting total strangers to your area’s farms or agri-businesses.  Get an overview of agritourism, learn what it takes to be successful in this arena, find out how to look at your operation through the customers’ perspective

How to Market and Communicate with Today’s Meeting Professionals

Forging strong partnerships between association professionals and suppliers is crucial to everyone’s success.  Getting your message across is imperative to suppliers, wading through all of that information with limited time is key to planners.  Create stronger planner/supplier relationships, analyze what is working and what is not in reaching meeting decision makers

Tracy Knofla: Inspiration and humor all wrapped into one! Who could ask for more?  Tracy’s entertaining style will bring you to your feet. No snoozin’ during her presentations. Over the past 20 years, Tracy Knofla has conducted thousands of energizing presentations.

Tracy's Topic:

Breakfast Keynote
Thriving in Chaos

CVB’s are continually expected to more with less. Thriving in Chaos encourages participants to face the big challenges and provides the tools necessary to be more productive, all while staying sane and happy

Trends and Observations From the Road  
Being on the road over 200 times per year Tracy has seen it all. Enjoy Tracy’s candid presentation about her experiences with the travel industry.

Change Management
This uplifting session will help participants understand the process of change and how to become more effective in times of change within the industry.

King Banaian:  Professor King Banaian is professor and chairman of the Department of Economics at St. Cloud State University.  He holds the Ph.D. in economics from the Claremont Graduate School.  He has consulted at the central banks of Ukraine, Egypt and Macedonia and the ministries of finance of Indonesia, Macedonia and Armenia.  He is author of The Ukrainian Economy since Independence (Edward Elgar, 1998), co-editor of The Design and Use of Political Economy Indicators (Palgrave, 2008) and more than thirty-five articles and book chapters discussing monetary policy and political economy. He is also co-host of the Final Word of the Northern Alliance Radio Network, broadcast in Minneapolis, and co-author of the St. Cloud Quarterly Business Report. 

King's Topic:

"Dodging economic asteroids
Future of the us economy and its effect on tourism.

Robert, Aaron or Ryan Weber: From their dorm rooms at St. Cloud State University, Robert and Ryan created the concept for the multi-million dollar Freeze.com. Now with their brother Aaron, they specialize in interactive online media, and through their company W3i own many popular .com sites. W3i now provides online marketing strategies to numerous clients, such as AARP, Burger King, Cingular, Crown Royal, Golf Magazine, Sears, Sprint, T-Mobile, Visa, Sony, the U.S. Army, CheapTrips.com, Club Med, and Yahoo

The Weber's Topic:

Marketing Through Social Networks

Greg Ayers: President , Kalamazoo County CVB

Greg's Topic:

Sports Commissions vs. CVB Sports Departments

Barclay Kruse: Assoc. Director of the Minnesota Amateur Sports Commission and current president of the National Congress of State Games

Braclay's Topic:

Working with CVB’s and Sports Commission – A Planners Perspective

Cole Carley, CDME: Cole is a past president of both the Destination Marketing Association of North Dakota and the Minnesota Associations of Convention & Visitors Bureaus.  He is also a cofounder of the North Dakota Tourism Alliance Partnership and the UMCVB Conference.  He has been the President of the Fargo-Moorhead CVB since 1990 and defines his duties there as: Relationship building, creativity, leadership, helping the staff, and being the keeper of the vision.'

Cole's Topic:

Destination Product Development.
Every sales person needs a product to sell.  Destinations---like products in every other industry---have a life cycle of change.  This course examines product life cycle and how a contemporary DMO facilitates the development of destination attractions.  Learn about “placemaking,” creating products from available resources, community visioning and the relationship that product development has with the Futures Study and DMO accreditation

Maura Allen Gast, FCDME:   Executive Director of the Irving TX CVB. Maura recently became the Board Chair of the Destination Marketing Association International (DMAI).  She has developed curriculum for the DMAI Program in Destination Management and regularly facilitates one of its courses.  She was also Chair of the DMAI Futures Study and helped create DMAI’s current DMO certification program.  A Texas native, Maura is also active in her community as well as other segments of the tourism industry.

Maura's Topic:

The Future of Destination Marketing:  Tradition, Transition, and Transformation
This session explores the recently-released major study of our industry that will set the tone of destination marketing for years to come.  The study identifies eight globally-focused “super trends” and provides a new “strategic map” that clarifies the role and contribution a DMO provides to the destination it serves.

Panel Discussion (Political Sector)
A variety of current and past legislators will participate on a panel to discuss to their impression of DMO’s and the issue of “the quest for relevance”