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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Wednesday, August 26
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9:45am - 10:45am

Concurrent Session: Presentation and Discussion

  • Rebranding With Purpose: Turning Cultural Identity Into Destination Demand
    Franklin 3-4
    Philadelphia Marriott Downtown
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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.
  • Rumor Has It — Let’s Align & Clear the Air
    Franklin 11-13
    Philadelphia Marriott Downtown
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    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.

  • The Group Playbook: Marketing Destinations to Meeting Professionals
    Franklin 9-10
    Philadelphia Marriott Downtown
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    Unlike leisure buyers, meeting professionals are buying a successful meeting: safe arrivals, flawless logistics, strict adherence to budgets, and measurable business success. In this hybrid session, we'll discuss how to adapt your visuals, messaging, and unique selling proposition to capture the growing group segment.