Skift Take
On this video from the Skift Conferences Discussion board 2023, we hear from Lorne Edwards, chief gross sales officer for Go to Phoenix, concerning the evolving position of vacation spot advertising and marketing organizations (DMOs) in connecting development trade sectors and analysis experience to occasion organizers, in flip uplifting the area people and driving international innovation.
This content material was created collaboratively by Go to Phoenix and Skift’s branded content material studio, SkiftX.
On this video:
Figuring out development trade sectors that provide alternatives for conventions and occasions. As Edwards says, “By understanding the place town has mentioned they need to be one of the best – whether or not that’s healthcare, STEM improvement, or one thing else – and speaking to group improvement specialists and financial councils, you may perceive which industries to go after.” In Phoenix, its rising prominence in microchip manufacturing led to a profitable effort to win Semicon West for a number of years in Downtown Phoenix. Equally, the brand new Phoenix Bioscience Core (PBC) — already rising healthcare enterprise development by 42 % — is attracting medical analysis occasions to Phoenix.
Leaving a legacy and uplifting the group. DMOs have an important position to play in connecting underserved populations in the neighborhood with occasion initiatives within the metropolis, elevating communities and making them higher locations to stay, work, go to, and spend money on. For instance, the Diabetes Educators Affiliation Convention partnered with the Phoenix Indian Medical Council to handle diabetes training and testing in Native tribal populations. Equally, the Golf Course Superintendents Affiliation of America conference will handle water conservation, with Go to Phoenix enjoying a serious position in coordination efforts.
Tapping into the evolving position of DMOs in vacation spot administration. As Edwards says, the outdated adage of “placing heads on beds” is giving strategy to a brand new crucial for DMOs to change into “vacation spot stewards,” connecting assembly planners with elected officers, numerous stakeholder teams, lecturers, and thought leaders. By participating with DMOs by early discovery calls and seeing them as group connectors, planners can uncover native sources and alternatives. The forthcoming American Affiliation for Microbiology occasion, for instance, will deliver 5,000 minority STEM college students to Phoenix, opening up conversations on instructional and profession alternatives within the sector.
Phoenix is the fifth-largest metropolis in the US, and amongst that high 5, it’s the one which’s rising the quickest. This speedy improvement is attracting an rising variety of international guests in search of genuine and different experiences, in addition to industrial development in a lot of rising sectors like microchip manufacturing and bioscience. Its DMO, Go to Phoenix, is seizing the chance to redefine its position from merely filling lodge rooms to changing into vacation spot stewards, making a protected and welcoming group for guests whereas aligning with financial improvement entities to extend its competitiveness.
On this video from the Skift Conferences Discussion board 2023, we hear from Lorne Edwards, chief gross sales officer for Go to Phoenix, in dialog with Skift Conferences branded content material editor, Angela Tupper, about how DMOs can keep related by appearing as a conduit between the group and assembly planners — figuring out alternatives for development and making a optimistic affect for each guests and people who stay and work within the metropolis.
This content material was created collaboratively by Go to Phoenix and Skift’s branded content material studio, SkiftX.