Schedule



ESTO delivers bold content, dynamic learning formats and opportunities to connect and equip destination marketing leaders with insights they can immediately put into action.

Explore the full schedule to start planning your experience at ESTO.

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Tuesday, August 25
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3:45pm - 4:15pm

Concurrent Session: Take Off Talk

  • Beyond the Bid: Building a Destination That Can Win
    Franklin 9-10
    Philadelphia Marriott Downtown
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    Winning major events isn't just about writing the strongest proposal. It's about building the relationships, partnerships, and organizational alignment that make a destination ready long before an opportunity appears.
    In this Take Off Talk, Kevin Hinton sits down with Larry Needle to explore what happens behind the scenes before a destination ever submits a bid. Drawing on decades of experience—and Philadelphia's unprecedented lineup of major events—Larry will discuss how destinations bring together venues, sports organizations, universities, civic leaders, elected officials, and industry partners around a shared vision.
    Attendees will gain practical insights into stakeholder alignment, long-term relationship building, strategic decision-making, and collaborative leadership that apply far beyond sports tourism.

  • How Can You Reach Travelers in a World of AI? Exploring the Science of Wanderlust
    Franklin 1-2
    Philadelphia Marriott Downtown
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    Join Expedia Group Advertising to discover what resonates most with today’s travelers. Drawing on the Science of Wanderlust research, you’ll see how partners are creating content that inspires, builds trust, and drives bookings - from short-form videos to inclusive and authentic storytelling. Learn actionable strategies for leveraging AI, media networks, and creative partnerships to deliver measurable results across the entire traveler journey. 

     

    Takeaways: 

    • Learn how DMOs can create impactful, compelling content to reach travelers and drive bookings.
    • Understand travelers’ attitudes and preferences to the role of AI in the travel booking journey to enhance campaigns while maintaining creativity.
    • Explore new ways to build content through creative partnerships and leverage media networks to extend your reach even further.

     

  • Reputation, Relevance & Readiness: The New PR Mandate for Destination Organizations
    Franklin 11-13
    Philadelphia Marriott Downtown
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    Destination organizations face rising scrutiny, shifting politics and growing resident expectations. This session reframes PR as a leadership function, equipping teams to build stakeholder trust, align visitor promotion with community priorities and respond confidently to disruption. Attendees will leave with practical frameworks to strengthen credibility, readiness and long-term relevance regardless of destination size.

    Takeaways:
    Exchange candid peer-driven Data & Insights on what organizations are cutting, evolving or deprioritizing — and where they are choosing to reinvest instead.

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4:15pm - 4:45pm

Concurrent Session: Take Off Talk

  • Breaking the Safe Playbook: Inside Chicago's Brand Revolution.
    Franklin 11-13
    Philadelphia Marriott Downtown
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    Let’s be honest: most destination brands tend to be polite, predictable, and painfully interchangeable. This session unpacks how Choose Chicago broke from convention to create “Never Done. Never Outdone.”—a bold, research-driven brand platform built from real community voices, insights, and buy-in. Through fearless creativity and early stakeholder alignment, Chicago launched a brand that shows up with edge across leisure travel, meetings and conventions, and global markets.

     

    Takeaways: 

    • Turn research and community listening into creative fuel—not a constraint.   
    • Build one brand that flexes across leisure, meetings, partners, and global markets without dilution. 
    • Use stakeholder previews to sharpen the work, build ownership, and launch loud.
  • Lights, Camera, Tourism: How TV Moments Drive Big Bucks
    Franklin 3-4
    Philadelphia Marriott Downtown
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    Do your DMO and state have a hard time winning together? Do you need to galvanize stakeholders behind you? Have you met the power of reality TV? What started with hope and a creative pitch turned into a powerful integrated marketing and PR campaign when we hosted Top Chef. This case study will spur tactical ideas and spew food puns. Learn how reach, impressions and heads in beds led to a bipartisan film tax credit. Get inspired to turn TV clicks into bookable trips.

     

    Takeaways: 

    • Marketing and PR practitioners will learn to implement integrated strategies that convert viewers into visitors and clicks into dollars. 
    • Destination managers will be inspired to capitalize on mass media moments to strengthen their relationships with their partners and stakeholders. 
    • States and destinations will be inspired to work together on any project to stretch their budgets and win bigger than they could on their own.

     

  • The Trust Gap: Why Policymakers Don’t Believe Marketing — and How to Win Them Back
    Franklin 9-10
    Philadelphia Marriott Downtown
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    Many policymakers view tourism marketing claims with skepticism, shaped by inconsistent metrics and inflated success stories. This trust gap makes it harder for destinations to secure funding and long-term support. This session explores why the gap exists and how destinations can close it through transparency, independent data, and economic grounding—equipping attendees to communicate results in policy-relevant language and rebuild credibility with decision-makers.

     

    Takeaways: 

    • A communication framework for elected officials
    • Common credibility traps to avoid
    • Language for policy-aligned reporting
    • Tools to restore trust in tourism outcomes