Industry Confabs Approach

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

That's how it is for this year's Destination Marketing Assn. Intl. Annual Convention July 18–20 in Pittsburgh.

One education session that's back with a big crowd already signed up? "Contemporary Attributes of Today's CEO," about the skill set needed to lead a destination marketing organization. "It's something we offered a few years ago," said Kristen Clemens, DMAI's vice president of marketing and communications.

Another session attendees signed up for in big numbers is "Best Practices in Convention Sales & Operations," about the relationship between DMOs and convention center management.

DMAI joined forces with the Intl. Assn. of Assembly Managers, Clemens said.

The session includes a panel with representative DMOs from San Jose, Calif.; Kansas City, Mo.; and Arlington, Texas.

"That's probably going to be big news out of our convention," Clemens said of the session.

Also getting attention at this year's convention is the Destination Marketing Accreditation Program and an accompanying session on why DMOs should apply for accreditation, the how-to of completing the application and the benefits DMOs see from applying.

"It's a way for DMOs to do an internal evaluation of themselves," Clemens said.

Twelve additional DMOs received notice in June that they were accredited after applying in the first three months of the year, she added. Now, 27 DMOs have the designation, including those in Augusta, Ga.; Cleveland; Dublin, Ohio; Durham, N.C.; Des Moines, Iowa; Rochester, N.Y.; Memphis, Tenn.; and Puerto Rico.

The Certified Destination Management Executive program elective course, "Destination Accreditation & Performance Reporting," was sold out by the beginning of the month.

"It means a lot for their county government or mayor ... as a source of pride," Clemens added. Some of the nation's larger DMOs have also said they intend to apply, but putting together the paperwork takes a while.

Justifying the investment in events will be an important point for the Corporate Event Marketing Assn. at the CEMA Summit 2007 July 22–24 at the Hilton La Jolla Torrey Pines in La Jolla, Calif.

Executive Director Erika Brunke said several sessions at this year's summit would be about measuring the success of events with solid information, including "CRM on the Show Floor: A Killer App for Event Management," which will look at advanced closed-loop systems of customer tracking and qualification, and "Event Engagement Study: What's the Latest?" about the strength of events in generating engagement.

"Proving the value of events is by far No. 1," Brunke said. "We really want to empower our members to be able to intelligently represent events and the importance of them."

The summit also features four keynote addresses, including one by Brian Corcoran, managing director of corporate marketing for NASCAR. Corcoran was instrumental in NASCAR's securing Nextel as the sponsor for the Nextel Cup.

"And what's interesting is, NASCAR has more Fortune 500 companies, including business-to-business, than any other entertainment property in the world," Brunke said. "I think that NASCAR is the No. 1 most recognized brand ... He'll have examples that will help the members increase brand exposure."

Andy Sernovitz, author of "Word of Mouth Marketing: How Smart Companies Get People Talking," also will be a keynote speaker.

"He's basically going to give specific strategies to engage with your audience and generate positive word of mouth about your company and its events," Brunke said.