There's a ton of nuance to the story I'm about to tell that anyone from the outside would never understand. Suffice to say that Prince William County VA is a cauldron of agendas.
The origins of last evening's vote to fold Discover Prince William/Manassas into County Government can be traced to the business decision to close an under-performing Visitors Center. The County Supervisor representing that region lost her shit over the perceived slight and, in no time, the County ordered an audit of its DMO.
Nevermind that this DMO has been posting seriously impressive numbers, collecting a treasure trove of hardware in "Best of" awards and just earned DMAP Accreditation, the County engaged a firm to analyze its effectiveness. The primary finding: the Board was dysfunctional.
Uh-huh...the Board that was appointed by the very same Commissioners that ordered the audit.
Ignoring the mirror that should have said to them, "hey, let's try again to appoint better Board members," they voted to take the enterprise in-house (retaining the award-winning staff) and appoint an Advisory Board.
Which makes absolutely no sense. Why not simply appoint a real Board using the solid selection criteria that the County had in place but had ignored? Unless, of course, there are agendas at work (did I mention that 5 of the 14 members of the DMO's Board were County/City Staffers?).
The County has a DMO that works...so, let's screw that up because we screwed up by appointing an ineffective Board.
Just another reason why appointed Boards suck.
'And another one bites the dust'...again and again and again...did I say 'again'? Will local government ever get the point that your DMO, so critical to your locality's economic sustainability, needs to be left in the hands of the trained professionals in the field?! Why do local government officials, who have no training in such a specialized field as destination marketing, so often have the mindset they can take a proven, successful, award-winning program and do it better? THEY CAN'T. And unfortunately agendas, both political and personal, are most often at the bottom of it all. The best government for a DMO is the one that operates on this 4-step philosophy: 1) Hire talented, experienced professionals in their field. 2) Give them the resources they need to do their job. 3) Get out of their way and watch them fly. 4) Reap the benefits!
Posted by: Beckie Nix, DM Strategist and Consultant | August 02, 2017 at 08:14
Nailed it.
Posted by: Bill Geist | August 02, 2017 at 10:14
Um, yes...
Posted by: Susan Estler | August 02, 2017 at 12:11
History repeats itself time and time again.
Kicker is the industry seldom reacts to the press and abuse. A wish, perhaps of many, can leadership representing the "union" of Destinations descend on a community and create news, create national support? Can we not review the merit of having a crisis emergency team that arrives post haste and meets with leaders, media and fights for the Destination? Having been in the cross hairs I certainly would have enjoyed my peers paid to advance the cause arrive at the or need and help fight, the good fight.
Not sure I ever understood why a PR and Education effort in time of great need has not been addressed. Yep, I hold a Seal Team is needed. Too easy to push around a beholding CVB....bring in the Big Dogs from DC.
Posted by: Dave Nolan | August 02, 2017 at 18:07