Bill Geist's Zeitgeist

The Three A's

One of my regular morning reads is Fortune's CEO Daily. Editor Alan Murray has been in Davos the past few days, hanging with CEOs from around the world. Last night, Fortune sponsored a dinner with 80 of them...from Amazon to Intel to Williams Sonoma.

They asked the CEOs to discuss, at their tables, the biggest risks and the biggest opportunities facing business in 2024. The discussions were held under Chatham House rules, so individual comments aren't attributable. But the answers are fascinating.

My favorite quote: “In terms of risk, we talked about three A’s—asteroids, AI and assholes…assholes meaning politicians, misinformation, deep fakes—you name it."

A to that.

The Other Side of Ai

Earlier this year, we dropped an episode of the DMOU Podcast featuring PCMA's Sherrif Karamat, encouraging DMO pros to engage with Ai, as a growing number of his members (our clients) were well ahead of us in utilizing this new technology.

Then, there is the other side. Richard Turen owns Churchill & Turen, a luxury vacation-planning firm based in Naples FL. He is a frequent contributor to Travel Weekly. And, he has recently been on a tear against the negative and harmful side of Ai in travel. First, he shared results from a New York Times investigation that the top travel guidebooks on Amazon are "written" by non-existent authors.

In today's opinion post, he goes even further, saying that, once again, travel agents will likely sit passively by as a dehumanizing technology takes another bite out of what makes travel advisors so vital to consumer satisfaction.

Both are fascinating takes.

New on DMOU: PCMA's Sherrif Karamat on AI

PCMA CEO Sherrif Karamat is one of the deepest thinkers in the business events space on the planet. And, not unlike those old EF Hutton commercials, when Sherrif talks, I listen. So, when he said that DMOs were falling behind his members in the adoption of AI at Destinations International’s Annual Conference this summer, that was more than enough to earn an invitation to DMOU. Join us for a fascinating discussion of how he believes AI can reduce the mundane and better connect us to our clients…and where Sherrif believes the future of DMOs lies.

It's just one of over 120 powerful conversations you'll find in the DMOU Vault.