A New CEO in Town

Gary Sain, president and CEO of the Orlando/Orange County Convention & Visitors Bureau, did a little of everything before he went to work as the No. 1 cheerleader for Orlando in February.

He describes his most recent position, chief marketing officer and partner at hospitality advertising and public relations firm Yesawich, Pepperdine, Brown and Russell in Orlando, as merely a consultant.

But the one place he never worked — until now — was at a CVB. His skill set for the top job in Orlando comes from his previous experiences in branding, marketing — and through osmosis.

"It's in the blood, I guess," Sain said. Although he had no direct CVB experience before his current job, he spent 20 years absorbing the wisdom of his father, Frank Sain, who headed the Chicago Convention & Tourism Bureau for 10 years before being wooed by the bright lights of Las Vegas, where he headed the Las Vegas Convention & Visitors Authority for 10 more years.

"Just hearing my dad speak about his work, his challenges through the years, it gave me great insight into how CVBs are run," he said.

Filling the shoes of Bill Peeper, who founded the Orlando CVB and retired at the end of 2006, Sain has a few plays in his book: Tell a compelling story. Listen to your customers. Keep improving.

Sain spoke with TSW Assistant Editor Stephanie Corbin about what it's like to manage a destination, how it feels to fill Peeper's shoes and what's in the future for Orlando.

Question: How did you get here?

Answer: That's a great question because this is my first CVB experience, as well as my first experience as a president and CEO. So how I got here is really because of my background ... sort of a combination of several industries. It's the hotel industry, the cruise industry, the convention industry, as well as the branding-marketing-advertising industry.

And quite honestly, I think when you combine all those it provides for a good background. All my businesses have been in marketing and sales and, when you look at what a CVB is, it's pretty much a branding-marketing-sales organization.

Q: You have been in Orlando for a while now, working as a consultant. How will that influence you as CEO?

A: When you're a consultant, you can lead a horse to water but can't make him drink. You're constantly providing unbiased input, insights, direction, but you can't force a decision. So being a consultant for eight years, it taught me how you build consensus.

If I didn't have that, I think it would have been a tougher transition. Having the YPBR experience, you had to move the agenda forward through other people, and that was great training. Also being a PR firm, it taught me the importance of branding. It taught me the importance of marketing; it taught me the importance of telling a good story, a compelling story. It taught me about how to be relevant and meaningful to distinctive audiences, that one size does not fit all.

Q: You also have some background in service contracting, hotels and travel. How will that help?

A: I have 1,400 CVB members. We're the second-largest CVB in the country as far as budget ... size, staff. Twenty-five percent of those (members) are hotel combinations. How we go after business — whether it's meetings and conventions, whether it's small corporate groups, leisure, incentive — having that background in the hotel business is critical.

The key to success in any position is to be able to walk in someone else's shoes, to see it from their perspective. And because of my background, and since I haven't come from a CVB, I don't look at it just from a CVB background. Because of all my different experiences, I can put myself in the shoes of our members and have a greater appreciation and a greater respect for where they're coming from versus if I only had a CVB background.

Q: How is your average day different now?

A: It's night and day. When I went through the interview process, people who are close to me said that I would be good for this kind of work. I never really thought much about that, but now that I'm in it I don't think there's another job in the country that I would like to do.

The last job I had, although I enjoyed it too, was not nearly the same pace, not nearly the same intellectual challenge. This job every day intellectually challenges you because of the complexity and demands of the world's most desired — well, you could debate that, but from my perspective — the world's greatest destination.

Really what I am is, No. 1, I'm the biggest cheerleader for the destination. No. 2, I'm a consensus builder, and No. 3, I manage expectations. Those are three key focuses that I took into the job when I first started six months ago, and that I continue to take through it even now.

Q: Bill Peeper retired at the end of last year after founding the CVB in 1984 with a two-person staff. When he left, there were 170 people working there. Is it intimidating?

A: There's no question that it can be intimidating. He did a wonderful job. He gets all the credit in the world for taking this destination from where it was to where it is today.

But I don't look at it that way, and it doesn't bother me. I don't get intimidated by it because my job now is to build on what he did and take it to the next level.

The way you have to look at it is almost like a coach of a football team or of a baseball team. Obviously, Bill brought it to the Super Bowl (level), and my job's now to continue to make sure we're in the Super Bowl and that we win the Super Bowl on a consistent basis. I may call different plays, as any new coach would. My job is to make sure I build on the foundation.

Q: How does your management style differ from Peeper's?

A: That's a tough one. That's a self-serving question sometimes because it's in the eyes of the beholder. I think there are differences, no question, because no two people are the same. It doesn't mean the differences are good or bad.

My style's different. One style, his style, proved to extremely successful. The jury is out because I'm new, and time will tell if my style will be as successful and as rewarding as Bill's.

Q: How significant is it that a Hilton with 1,400 rooms is being built as the first hotel connected to the convention center?

A: We have great brands now. We have great hotel offerings now; offering more is a sign of success. New construction affords you opportunities that can take you to the next level, which you cannot always get from existing product offerings. We're competing with Chicago, Vegas, Atlanta, (Washington) D.C., San Diego. They're continually adding new product. They're continually pushing the needle forward. We need to do the same.

Q: There are other hotels that have either just opened or will open soon in Orlando as well. Is there going to be the demand for all those new rooms?

A: All I can say is Orlando has incredible potential that still lies ahead of it. Granted, we have a lot of product; we have a lot of infrastructure here. But it continually will morph and change and get better in time. That's the mark of a great destination with vision. I believe we will be able to fill that product. That new product will attract new opportunities.

Q: A couple years ago, the Orlando CVB launched a campaign emphasizing the sophisticated side of Orlando, its spas, fine dining, high-end golf resorts, etc. Has that campaign run its course?

A: No, not at all. In fact, we call it the other side of Orlando. We're going to be getting into a whole new brand platform for that side. I call it the new Orlando, for lack of a better terminology right now. We really offer the best of all worlds here. And what we need is a brand platform, brand architecture, on the M&C (meetings and conventions) side that really, truly tells that story in a compelling way.

Orlando has been known for many years as a leisure destination and, quite honestly, leisure will always be the core for Orlando because of the great attractions we offer here that you can go nowhere else in the world for.

But having said that, there is how we again continue to evolve by offering more options, more variety, so it's not just about one sector of the destination. That is developing very quickly. That story needs to be told in a more compelling way.

Q: What is your current marketing message to the meetings and conventions business?

A: "We promise great meetings." That's a good position to have. On a scale of one to five, we get rated by meeting planners at a 4.8 for delivering great service. And we're top in the country for that. Delivering the brand promise and delivering it to the expectation and exceeding the expectation of your customer — in this case, the meeting planner — to me, that's where the rubber hits the road.

It's something that we track often. We're constantly spending a lot of money on research here to understand what our customers are saying about us, how can we improve, what's good, what's bad, how we make it better. We just don't take anything for granted, we continually try to move the ratings up, whatever they are. Even as high as 4.8 on a scale of five, my feeling is, "Well, let's get to five."

Q: How do you plan to contend with competitors Chicago and Las Vegas?

A: They're great cities. They're great competitors. We're all very distinctive. Every city has distinctions. It has attributes.

We have to make sure we communicate and educate our discernable differences as a destination. If we can do that ... everyone can be successful because everyone offers something different.

It doesn't mean that one has to be successful over someone else. No one has to fail in this.

Q: But seriously, what's the No. 1 thing Orlando can improve on?

A: Listening to what our customers have to say. I think we do that very well, but I think (we need to) continue to hear and accept criticism. As good as we may be, we're not perfect. No destination is.