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This case study explores how forward-thinking destinations are disrupting traditional placeholder marketing by centering authentic, culturally rooted storytelling. Moving beyond generic promotion, successful destination marketing organizations (DMOs) are aligning tourism, community stakeholders, and economic development around a shared narrative that reflects local identity and lived experience. 

Attendees will learn how these purpose-driven campaigns are built from the ground up, rolled out to residents first, and scaled to drive external demand. This session offers practical, actionable blueprints for destinations of any size looking to transform their local culture into their greatest competitive advantage.

Takeaways: 

• Lived Culture Audits: A repeatable framework to tap into local subcultures and resident sentiment so your brand is built from the inside out, not in a vacuum.
• Economic Development Alignment: Actionable blueprints to tie your rebrand to talent recruitment and resident retention—plus the non-tourism metrics needed to win city council buy-in.
• Stakeholder Friction Management: Practical strategies for expanding your narrative beyond legacy pillars (like horse racing or generic beach imagery) without alienating traditional stakeholders.

After a seven-year absence, the format of the Great Debates are returning and not for small talk.

This is a reimagined Rumor Session built for the world we’re actually living in: AI-fueled narratives, half-truths, and leaders who too often dodge reality. So let’s ask the only question that matters:

What are the facts and what’s real?

We’re putting the industry’s biggest rumors on the table and calling them what they are: fact, fiction, or somewhere uncomfortably in between. No panels hiding behind safe answers. No vague consensus. Just sharp debate, real perspective, and clarity. Debaters will provide facts, receipts and the occasional industry expert testimony to prove their points.

The goal:
To confront the rumors shaping our industry and arm every attendee with the truth, so WE ALL can go back to our destinations and cut through the noise with confidence to our stakeholders and residents.

These rumors have gone on long enough.

So we brought Ted out of “retirement” to lead the debates on what's fact and what's fiction.

Let’s clear the air.

Destination marketing organizations are operating in an environment that demands more alignment, agility, accountability, and cross-functional collaboration than ever before. As expectations from boards, communities, partners, visitors, and internal teams continue to expand, many DMOs are rethinking how talent is organized, how roles are defined, and how accountability is shared across the organization. This session explores how leading organizations are redesigning team structures and staffing models to better meet today’s demands. 

Through real-world examples, candid observations, and facilitated discussion, attendees will examine what is driving these organizational shifts, what changes some DMOs are making, where those changes are succeeding or struggling, and what lessons can be applied in their own contexts. The session is designed to spark peer exchange on how destination organizations can better align people, structure, and expectations to achieve stronger performance.

Takeaways: 

• Understand the larger organizational pressures driving changes in DMO team structures.
• Examine emerging approaches to talent design, staffing models, and cross-functional accountability.
• Learn from real examples, including lessons, tradeoffs, and common mistakes.
• Compare how peers are structuring teams and identify ideas to consider within their own organizations.

Resilient optimism is a performance advantage—especially for leaders navigating constant pressure, competing priorities, and rising expectations.

In destination marketing, where teams are balancing stakeholder demands, proving value, and adapting to rapid change, the ability to maintain clarity and momentum isn’t optional—it’s critical.

In this closing keynote, Michelle will share research-backed strategies to help leaders sustain energy, think clearly under pressure, and lead with confidence.

Drawing on Michelle’s work with leading institutions and research conducted with the U.S. Travel Association, the session connects optimism directly to performance—showing how recovery, mindset, and behavior drive measurable outcomes.

More importantly, it reinforces the role this industry plays: travel isn’t just an experience—it’s a driver of resilience, helping people recharge, refocus, and perform at their best.

Takeaways: 

• Sustain energy and focus under pressure
• Build resilient, high-performing teams
• Turn insight into consistent forward momentum