General Presentations
2021 Travel Forecast & Hot Topics
A panel of national experts offer insights into what the Louisiana travel industry can expect in 2021 and discuss how we can plan for success. What does travel demand look like in 2021? How will economic recovery evolve throughout the year? When can we expect different segments of travelers to return? Click here to view.
Attractions Lunch & Learn
Creation and Integration of Content into Your Social Media and Marketing Strategy.
Compass Media
Experts from Compass Media explain how to reach your target market digitally through Custom Audience Targeting.
HOW MOBILE DEVICE ID MARKETING CAN DRIVE TARGETED TRAVELERS TO YOUR BUSINESS
AAA discusses how to successfully use and maximize mobile devices to market to travelers/customers. Click here for audio.
iExplore
iExplore explains why you don't have to be a massive organization to reach a large audience and to grab the attention of active US travelers. Download the presentation, then follow along with the audio.
Madden Media
This webcast presentation showcases some of the opportunities that Madden Media has with Louisiana via LTA. Download the presentation, then follow along with the audio.
Miles
Content experts from Miles explain how to do a keyword audit and develop a content creation strategy.
OTT Targeting by Gray Television
TV advertising has changed forever with the widespread popularity of streaming media services. In this webinar, we’ll dive into OTT (over-the-top) and Connected TV, learning who the audiences are for each and how you can use these platforms to reach your audience. You’ll also learn about these affordable platforms’ targeting and measurement abilities.
View recording. Access Passcode: 9xn!vDB1
State of the American Traveler: 2016 Technology Edition
This presentation highlights the most positive and optimistic travel outlook for US leisure travel in the history of the 10-year study. Access the video to follow along.
THE ADVOCATE
The Advocate shares content tips and tricks and how to incorporate them into a successful marketing strategy.
Travel Summit-2022
Advocacy panel
Tourism Matters to Your Local Stakeholders
Management/Service, Professional Development
In this session moderated by New Orleans & Co’s Walt Leger, our expert panelists Former Louisiana Speaker Chuck Kleckley, Livingston Mayor JT Taylor, hotelier Chris Landry and Monroe-West Monroe CVB President Alana Cooper will teach you the importance of building local stakeholders. The discussion will center around working with mayors, building local partnerships, building a brand for your community and more.
Doug Bourgeois
LOT General Session
A panel of the Louisiana Office of Tourism’s international reps will give market updates from the UK, Germany, France, Brazil, Netherlands and Canada, and discuss how the international visitor’s expectations have changed in recent years.
Dr. Angelique Feaster Evans
The Art of Curating A Group Experience
Marketing/Sales
With experiential tourism on the rise, make your destination or attraction stand out with a curated group experience. Join cultural leadership expert, Dr. Angelique Feaster Evans as she shares the art of creating authentic and diverse group experiences. Learn about experiential tourism including types of experiences, components of group experiences, and designing experiential products. This engaging speech will inspire you to create a one-of-a-kind group experience masterpiece.
Facilitated by Anne Klenke
The Transformation of Visitor Centers
Product Development
Are visitor centers still relevant? For every destination that shutters its visitor center, another expands or innovates, so maybe the right answer is — it depends. In this panel, we’ll discuss innovative strategies for evolving visitor centers into the next era — and when it might be time to change course completely.
Jim Mathis
How to Hire & Market Like a Generational Genius
Marketing/Sales, Management/Service
Anyone can become a “Generational Genius” in today’s tourism climate. The Millennials are the largest generation in human history and already playing a major role in successful management and marketing strategy, but they present challenges that have never been faced. McDonald's, Starbucks, Wendy’s, cable tv, Fiat, Target and many other corporations are attempting to reach this group in the way they uniquely hear and communicate. They use social media, are mobile in every possible instance and have distinct marketing needs and language. And with Gen Z coming of age, you can be sure…Millennials and Gen Z will be running your travel/guest business one day!
Julie Austin
How to Think Like an Inventor to Generate New Ideas
Product Development
Payroll is your biggest expense. Why not utilize the collective brain power you’re already paying for, and let your employees have some fun at the same time. Inventor and innovator Julie Austin shows you how to turn every member of your organization into creative problem solvers. This is a high energy speech with some fun and interactive exercises.
Keep Louisiana Beautiful
Letting Louisiana Shine Through Litter Prevention
In this session, hear about the latest efforts from Keep Louisiana Beautiful, the state’s anti-litter and community improvement organization. With momentum from a very successful Love the Boot Week, the organization has launched the “Let Louisiana Shine” campaign. Learn how you can get involved and help beautify your community to make it more welcoming to visitors.
LT. GOVERNOR BILLY NUNGESSER
LT. GOVERNOR'S BREAKFAST
A state of the industry address is the best way to kick-off Summit and inspire your efforts moving forward. Learn how Lt. Governor Nungesser, working with the Department of Culture, Recreation and Tourism, is elevating the state in the world marketplace.
Rita Suiter
Are You a Leader or Manager?
Management/Service, Professional Development
Are you leading or managing? Are you helping employees stay alive and engaged in their work? Are you role-modeling the behaviors you want to see? Do you have defined internal and external service guidelines? Is motivating employees on the front burner? Shifting one’s mindset of being responsible for the job to being responsible for the people who are responsible for the job, is vital in today’s challenging workplace. The leader’s role is to create a supportive workplace environment which will, in turn, increase productivity, improve morale, and help recruit and retain top talent. This session will provide tips to help grow your leadership skills with a focus on boosting employee engagement and provide practical strategies to help motivate your team.
Travel Counselor Lunch & Learn: Revisiting the Visitor Experience..A Fresh Focus
*Current & past Certified Travel Specialist (CTS) participants only
Travel trends continue to emerge, and a renewed sense of urgency, for visitors to ‘hit the road,’ is at an all-time high. According to Expedia, we’re in the “Year of the GOAT – Greatest of All Trips,” so it is prime time for travel counselors to refresh, reenergize, and renew their skill sets to help create a memorable experience. This session will emphasize how staff engagements influence visitor engagements and impact social media reviews The strengths and challenges of Louisiana’s Visitor Centers will be discussed with a challenge to replace ‘best practices,’ ‘better practices.’ Join Rita and learn more about the vital role you play in creating a positive and contagious Visitor Experience.
Shelley Brown
The Art of Belonging
Professional Development
Travel, tourism and events are on the rise! Great news, right? Whoa! Wait a minute, we’ve been through a lot. We’re a little burned out, stressed out, short staffed, we’ve lost jobs, found new jobs and some of us are still dealing with some difficult emotions and overwhelm from the unpredictability of the past couple years. How do we move forward when we’re still bouncing back?
The key to resilience, wellbeing and happiness is belonging. All human beings have a fundamental need to belong—and the pandemic intensified it. We have more responsibility, less connection, increased burnout and a significant rise in mental health issues. So what will fuel us personally and professionally as well as positively impact our day to day experience? Belonging.
When we feel like we can be ourselves, we feel valued and appreciated for who we are; we are happier, we feel more comfortable: and we feel safer. We feel like we belong, and that’s good for each one of us as well as our collective experience. When we feel like we belong, we show up better for each other.
Let Shelley take you on a journey and inspire you to make a difference and build true belonging that starts from each one of us.
Sophia Hyder Hock
Intentional Inclusion: How to Create Welcoming Places for All
Management/Service
Timothy Bush and Sophia Hyder Hock will have a candid discussion about what it takes to cultivate community and a sense of belonging within a destination, how to genuinely attract diverse visitors, and common pitfalls of DEI. They will address DEI-related scenarios and curiosities that travel businesses are working through and provide insight on how emotional intelligence can create meaningful impact moving forward.
Stan Phelps
Excel Under Pressure & Thrive in the Game of Business
Management/Service, Marketing/Sales
In a world where we lose one out of every four customers each year and only close one out of every four sales opportunities, the session provides a guide to driving sales and deepening relationships powered by the Market Force Global Styles framework.
Closing Lunch
Little things make a big difference in customer experience. In this keynote presentation, Stan shares the key ingredients of creating signature added value. Stan is very engaging and will challenge you to think about how to position your services/service experience to customers in some new ways.
Theresa Overby & Vanessa Snider
How to Use the Travel Story Format to Reach Today's Traveler
Communications
From Spotify to TikTok to Instagram stories and reels, the story format has captivated the minds of consumers, travelers, and marketers. Join this session to learn how to take advantage of this popular visual format to get in front of travelers, increase engagement, and drive traffic to your destination.
Travel Summit-2021
Bob Wendover
Managing the Generational Divide in Today's Digital Workplace
Management
This entertaining and interactive session will show you how to foster engagement, communication and trust between today’s digital immigrants and digital natives. Learn how to balance the demands of emerging contributors with the practices of seasoned professionals. Loaded with practical examples from managers on the front line, you’ll walk away with simple but powerful strategies for integrating the most diverse workforce the nation has ever seen.
Work Wise: Boosting Productivity in Today's Driven, Demanding and Distracting Workplace
Professional Development
Do constant interruptions rob you of time and energy? Does discomfort fog your thinking when you’re making decisions? Let decisions expert, Bob Wendover, show you what the best thinkers do to manage the pressures we all feel in navigating today’s crazy-busy workplace. Attend this high-energy session and overcome the obstacles that thwart effective problem-solving.
Doug Bourgeois
LOT General Session
Assistant Secretary Doug Bourgeois will cover the sales and marketing plan for the Office of Tourism for 2021-2022 including programs, key market events, shows and opportunities for partnership
Facilitated by Mark Romig
Travel Talks
Join industy experts as they present "Tedx-style" talks on what's ahead for Louisiana's travel industry. This glimpse into the post-pandemic future will inspire attendees to take advantage of partnerships and find new ways to promote your destination, meeting space or attractions.
Jon Schmieder
Sports Tourism: COVID Happened, Now What?
Marketing/Sales
Sports Tourism is a major economic driver for many destinations across the country. Now that COVID has disrupted the marketplace, what should destinations do to bring sports tourism back to life in their communities? In this interactive session, sports tourism industry consultant Jon Schmieder of the Huddle Up Group will cover national trends and present action items for destinations to implement to strengthen sports tourism in their communities.
Kevin Snyder
BREAKFAST GENERAL SESSION
Become a Shift Thinker™: Leadership Amidst Adversity
We’ll kick Wednesday off with high-energy professional speaker and best-selling author Dr. Kevin Snyder who will energize, uplift and remind us all about the power we have to make a difference, lead others and grow amidst any adversity. Kevin will share ShiftThinker™ insights helping us and our organizations view change differently, envision new possibilities and achieve success in 2021 and beyond. Learn why developing a growth mindset is key to P.U.S.H.ing through adversity, how envisioning N.O. is actually key to building stronger teams and what types of A.C.T.ion are essential for achieving new heights. Get excited for a refreshing and uplifting keynote to start your day!
The E.D.G.E Factor: Four Keys that Unleash Success
Professional Development
Extraordinary success doesn’t just occur; rather it is a result and byproduct from applying four key action concepts within “The E.D.G.E. Factor.” Understanding E.D.G.E. and its four success strategies will ensure you are equipped with the problem-solving skills and strategies enabling you to excel in any situation while also empowering others to do the same. This motivational program will focus on leadership secrets from top performing professionals proven to ignite extraordinary motivation and a magnetic team culture at all levels. You’ll learn how to stand out, differentiate yourself and create intrigue and awesomeness within your organization!
Lisa Mitchell
Mastering Your First Impression
Professional Development, Communications
Join body language expert, Lisa Mitchell, as she shares with you the science behind first impressions. Learn how to improve your presentation skills, communicate confidence and power your presence! You’ll leave with applicable skills to help you master your first impression and increase your influence.
Rita Suiter
TRAVEL COUNSELOR LUNCH & LEARN
*Certified Travel Specialist (CTS) participants only
Interested in creating raving fans, customer advocates who go out of their way to spread the good word about the experiences they have had with you? Service-oriented organizations know and apply certain practices that other companies overlook differentiating them from the pack giving them a leading edge. These companies do things that exceed vs. meet customer expectations. They solve issues before customers even know they exist – they fill needs before customers know they have a need – they offer value without hesitation – the understand the customer is not always right and that the customer often doesn’t know what they want until they see it. How are memorable positive experiences rare to some – but a natural way of doing business for others? Customer service is not a department – it is an attitude – a culture – an exception vs. the norm.
Customer Emotions Drive the Customer Experience
For brands to compete and win in sales, service reps must focus on making emotional connections with customers and prospects. Emotive Customer Experience (CX) recognizes that our decisions are driven by deep-seated motivation – the things that really matter to us. Instilling safety, comfort, confidence, and competence at every touchpoint is more important than ever before in today’s emotional climate. This workshop will provide practical tools to give you a real advantage in today’s competitive marketplace.
What’s New With DCRT?
What's New With DCRT?
Marketing/Sales, Communications
Join panelists from Louisiana State Parks, the Office of Cultural Development and Louisiana State Museums to hear about the recovery effort throughout each department. Learn about new developments that are underway in Louisiana's State Parks, new ways visitors can experience arts and culture and new experiences that are popping up in our state museums.
Travel Summit-2020
Chris Thompson
Closing Lunch General Session
Chris Thompson, president and CEO of Brand USA, will discuss how the destination marketing organization is helping the U.S. travel and tourism industry reengage and attract international visitors in a post-COVID-19 era. Learn more about the international market and how Brand USA is deploying its innovative campaigns, best-in-class partnerships, and global voice to help navigate the industry through the “next normal.”
Doug Bourgeois
LOT General Session
Assistant Secretary Doug Bourgeois will cover the sales and marketing plan for the Office of Tourism for 2020-2021 including programs, key market events, shows and opportunities for partnership.
Facilitated by Jill Kidder
Workshop: Thought Leaders on Leadership & Advocacy
Management, Professional Development
Join us for the second of three roundtable workshops as seasoned tourism professionals share tips and trade secrets with emerging leaders in an intimate setting. Industry thought leaders on organizational leadership, advocacy and board management answer relevant open-ended questions and give participants the opportunity to discuss.
Facilitated by Laine Garner
Workshop: Thought Leaders on Sales & Group Tours
Marketing/Sales
Join us for the final roundtable workshop as seasoned tourism professionals share tips and trade secrets with emerging leaders in an intimate setting. Industry thought leaders on sales and group tours answer relevant open-ended questions and give participants the opportunity to discuss.
Facilitated by Laura Cating
Workshop: Thought Leaders on Communications & Marketing
Communications
Join us for the first of three roundtable workshops as seasoned tourism professionals share tips and trade secrets with emerging leaders in an intimate setting. Industry thought leaders on communications, PR, media and government relations answer relevant open-ended questions and give participants the opportunity to discuss.
Holly Russell
A Fresh Vision in an Altered Universe
Marketing/Sales
COVID-19 has not only altered our lives, it has also impacted how today’s consumer interacts and engages with media. Now is the time to wipe the slate clean and take a fresh approach in developing and implementing your marketing strategy. If you have maintained the same media plan year after year or have only made a tweak or two, this session is for you. Faced with smaller advertising budgets, it is more important than ever to ensure you are getting your message in front of the right audience.
Jim Mathis
Hire and Market like a Generational Genius
Management, Marketing/Sales
Millennials are the largest generation in human history and already playing a major role in successful management and marketing strategy, but they present challenges that have never been faced. Learn how to work with Millennials’ unique style as they enter your workforce, and how you can communicate with this group to make a more productive workplace.
Lt. Governor Billy Nungesser
Lt. Governor's Luncheon
A state of the industry address is the best way to kick-off Summit and inspire your efforts moving forward. Learn how Lt. Governor Nungesser, working with the Department of Culture, Recreation and Tourism, is elevating the state in the world marketplace in the midst of a pandemic.