Bill Geist's Zeitgeist

Turning the Tables

It's always dangerous to base an opinion regarding a destination news story on one source; nuance is everything.

But, the story coming out of Putnam County NY over the past few weeks is almost too weird not to believe it. I mean, you simply can't make some of this stuff up.

The Putnam County Legislature has been pressuring its CVB for more accountability over the past year. The CVB has, for whatever reason resisted. Frustrated, the County placed an ad for a new Executive Director in May, even though the CVB is an independent agency.

At some point, the CVB Board and its CEO decided to close up shop, shut down the website, close the office and returned State grant funds. And, sometime around July 1, they actually did it. Now, County Legislators are facing the rest of the summer season with no destination website and no Plan B.

Destination Marketing Organizations have often had to tread carefully with their funding partners for fear of retribution in the form of canceling a contract, regardless of the pain that shuttering a DMO would have on local businesses.

Now, government will have to weigh whether messing with a DMO could result in the same pain visited upon their constituents if the organization says, "screw it," and closes up shop. 

Crazy...

On Destination Leadership

A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to guest on a travel industry podcast hosted by Nicole Mahoney called Destination on the Left. Beyond the honor of being asked to riff about the state of our industry, the conversation with Nicole was a blast.

But it's a great reminder about paying it forward. Not unlike the daisy chain that Tom Martin recounts in his book, "The Invisible Sale," that ultimately resulted in a great friendship (and inclusion in his book), this opportunity had a similar genesis. 

A few months ago, Saint Paul's Adam Johnson was the featured guest and he mentioned me in one of his stories about how the DMO there is rockin' it. Nicole made a subtle note to add me to her list of future guests, which spans all facets of the travel sector (not just DMOs). And, I'm guessing some of the protagonists of some of the stories I told will be getting a call from Nicole down the line. Just paying it forward.

If you want to listen in to my thoughts on the evolution of Destination Marketing (or any of her amazing 100+ episodes online), click HERE. 

And, thanks again, Nicole. It was an honor and a pleasure!

The Power of Onboarding

When Boomers shake their heads at all the things that Millennials and Gen Z don't understand or know, they should shoulder the blame for much of it. My generation has gone through its adult life simply assuming that those who follow us in the generational chain instinctively know what we know. They don't. We didn't. We were taught by our parents and mentors. So, why would we expect that some of the most basic tasks of life would magically be embued in our kids?

I thought of our collective guilt as I read an article the other day about customer service and onboarding (we called it orientation in the day). A staggering statistic confronted me:

91 percent of employees remain with a company for at least a year (and  69 percent remain for at least three years) if a company has a well-structured onboarding program.

It's not that young professionals are flighty that makes them flight risks. It's that we failed to prepare them for our expectations and the importance of the job at hand.

Taking this a step further, are our Boards of Directors being effectively onboarded? Can they be the influencers in our community (for that is their most important role) if they are not immersed in the organization's history, culture and mission? When we shake our heads at their misplaced interest in directing programming, is it because we haven't shown them a higher calling?

Intentionality is a concept we hear more and more. Effective onboarding sounds like something about which we should be much more intentional.

N'est-ce pas?

 

The Role of the DMO Board

We talk of it often. How today's DMO Boards seem to struggle with their role.

Some seem to believe it's benign oversight. Others think they should be directing Sales & Marketing.

The best DMO Boards, as we contend in Destination Leadership, open doors, make things happen and advocate for destination development and organizational support.

Which is pretty much what Bill Hoffman says in this great post on GuideStar.

Just in a different way.

 

Rethinking Trade Show Strategies

I had the distinct pleasure to hang with a DMO Board this morning in Chicago...the day after many of them walked the floor at ASAE, often called the Super Bowl of Meetings and Conventions oriented Trade Shows. As one could imagine, this was the first time many have ever experienced such an event...and I asked what their primary takeaway was.

With as much one-upmanship technology and swag that is on display at the show, one shouldn't be surprised if the glitz was what turned heads. But it wasn't.

The first-timers came away pointing to the booths in which the destination representatives actively engaged in conversation with them. Yeah...pure old-time salespersonship (which, as Jack Carroll once wrote "is the absence of salesmanship - characterized by a quiet, relaxed, well-prepared salesperson who forgets every aspect of technique and just listens and reacts in real time").

Just people who love their town encouraging those passing by to consider a visit. Even from a 10x10 booth.

As one Board member opined, "I was surprised at how competitive it was out there on the floor...because any size budget can compete if they have the right personnel out front."

Refreshing.

 

 

A New Entrant in the School Start Debate

In those States where the subject of when School Start falls on the calendar is still a contentious one, the familiar combatants are typically the Tourism and Hospitality Industry on one side and School Boards and Administrators on the other. Teachers are rarely in the mix (but, in my experience, generally disagree with the School Administrators' push for an earlier start). And, in States where Tina Bruno is working, parents are a meaningful participant in fighting for a later start.

City Councils? They're typically content to hang on the sidelines and stay out of the fray. But, not the Village Council in Geneva-on-the-Lake OH. They recently passed a resolution urging the School Board there to return to a post-Labor Day start. And, passed it unanimously. 

Mayor Dwayne Bennett said area residents need to understand that the county's tourism industry is growing...and manufacturing is not. He said starting school in mid-August puts the brakes on many families’ incomes...not just student workers. “We’ve met with the school board a few times to explain all of this but, so far, nothing has been done to change things. We’re hoping they can at least understand why businesses and student workers need a later school start date.”

The resolution holds that “businesses (that) earn their living from May to October incur serious losses from the exodus of student workers.” It also said that an August start date has shown “no educational benefit to students, discouraged local employers from hiring students and threatened to undermine and erode the health of businesses, which support and pay school levies.”

For a Village Council, this is a pretty sophisticated take. It also suggests to me that those of us in the fight may not have considered asking our local government to weigh in on a topic that is critical to the community they serve.

Can't hurt asking.

One More Myrtle...

What's happened this week in Myrtle Beach will likely be remembered as the moment in time when community leaders there decided that it was time, once again, to lead. 

Indeed, it was community leadership (both public and private) that set the tone and the table for Myrtle Beach to become one of the premier destinations in the country over the past 30 years. And then, not unlike in other communities across the nation, they suffered silently as the media and agenda-fueled wingnuts took potshot after potshot at them.

Old school public and community relations wonks told all of us to "turn the other cheek;" that, by engaging in a tit-for-tat confrontation in front of an audience that doesn't understand the nuance of community development, you do nothing more than fuel the fire and keep the issue alive. Nothing could be further from the truth. We'll go deeper on this concept in next week's edition of the Z-News (if you're not already a subscriber, you can join our family HERE).

To recap the story: On Tuesday, the City approved a 10-year extension of a penny sales tax that has provided an 82% property tax rebate to residents and powered the region's tourism industry and job growth to record heights. The approval came after the Mayor's rejection of a call from a small minority (less than 400 people signed an online petition) for the question to be put to referendum. 

Timed to coincide with this week's vote, a disgruntled ex-Chamber member brought a lawsuit against the Chamber of Commerce (which holds the Destination Marketing contract with the City) alleging misuse of tax revenues and "cronyism." Naturally, the media jumps all over the story, splattering the Chamber and several of its local contractors with incendiary innuendo.

Of course, within a day or so, a local TV station ran the numbers behind the allegations and found them to be wildly miscalculated and intentionally misleading. 

And then, the Chamber Board did something totally out-of-character for a body that had been proud of its ability to turn the other cheek...it pushed back. Hard. In a 15-minute news conference (starting at the 9:30 mark), several members of the Chamber Board punched back with the truth. If you're short on time, start at the 23:40 mark. Game on.

But, of course, the damage has been done. The community can't un-hear these allegations. But, the free pass to slander community leaders that Chamber and City critics have enjoyed for the past few years has just been revoked.

Referendums Are for the Weak

For the most part, elected officials that support Referendums are abdicating their responsibility to govern. While there are the rare instances of a question coming up that nobody could have anticipated in the last general election (thus, votes cast for candidates weren't influenced by their potential support or opposition of the question), most of the time, a Referendum is an elected body's way to dodge taking a public stand on a difficult issue.

Which is why what went down earlier today in Myrtle Beach SC is so damn refreshing. Despite public (and even editorial) calls for a Referendum to decide whether to continue a penny sales tax that has been an unequivocal win for the region's residents and taxpayers, the Mayor and City Council passed the resolution into law this afternoon.

Recently elected Mayor Brenda Bethune said that she made no attempt to hide her support of continuing the tax during her campaign last autumn. And, when she won in a landslide vote, "that basically was a referendum," she said. Thus, there was no reason to hold another.

True dat.

A Political Shell Game

It doesn't matter the destination. Fingering them publiclly won't make the political gamesmanship there any better or worse. Suffice to say that it is a community that recently lost their DMO CEO...and the political scurry for reallocating Room Tax revenues has begun. 

Last week, a member of the Convention Center Board suggested that the DMO come under the Convention Center's wing. He said that "merging these two tourism entities is a win for (this community's) tourism and, therefore, a win for the city.”

Oh, puh-leeze.

Later in the article, this "champion of the public good" is quoted as saying that the $2 million now held by the DMO in its reserve account could help the City with its budget problems. Interesting that the local taxpayer subsidy of the Convention Center is, yes...$2 million. 

Bingo. The Convention Center Board likely doesn't really covet the DMO...just its money. And City Council members are lining up to support the concept. This isn't good government. This is expedient greed being sold as good government. And, without the CEO to explain why this is bad government, that sound you're hearing is the train preparing to leave the station.

Oh yeah...and one of the Board Members in the article I saw said the DMO could save rent money by moving into the room in the Convention Center where the Board meets each month.

It better be a big room...as the DMO staff numbers 9. 

Wow. Just, wow.

Drafting Tomorrow's Top Talent

One of the most frequent complaints I hear from the Boards with which I work is the difficulty they seem to experience when trying to recruit new Board members. I hear that the talent pool just isn't out there anymore. The best people are already overcommitted, they'll say. Or, they'll blame the dearth of candidates on an increasing lack of interest by young professionals to serve.

I often respond by suggesting that they haven't tossed their net wide enough...which puts us both in the awkward position of figuring out just how to do that. It's like trying to actively find entrepreneurs to start independent, experiential businesses for our destinations. It's not like there are large trade shows where these first-timers congregate. So, how do you find them?

A CEO of a Healthcare and Social Services nonprofit in Madison thinks he has an answer. What if you threw that net across the entire region through Social Media and great PR. But, not just for one nonprofit...for 30. And, then you throw your own version of the NFL Draft.

That's exactly what Kevin Dwyer has done with the help of a team of educators, consultants, creatives and disruptors and sponsorships from Edgewood College and a number of small businesses in the area. It's called Non-Profit Draft Day and it's coming up on January 20th.

34 volunteers have already registered, with twice that expected by Draft Day. As I perused the resumes online, I had to admit I was impressed. And, I don't know a single one of them. But, that certainly wouldn't stop me from drafting any number of them, if I had a nonprofit.

The answer to a lot of dilemmas lies in the fact that we often don't think big enough. Don't wrestle with how you're going to fill your Board roster. Think about how you can partner with others to fill all your seats with top talent from the next generation of innovators and disruptors.

I absolutely love this idea.