Sunshine Matters

Can you believe Governor’s Conference is only a little more than a month away?  This year’s event will be held September 26-28 at the Omni Orlando Resort at ChampionsGate.

As many of you know, for more than four decades, this event has been recognized as the premier educational conference for the Florida tourism industry, providing the opportunity for participants to learn the latest in marketing strategy, receive critical research data and share best practices.  Given the year the industry has had, I think it’s safe to say they’ll be no shortage of lessons learned and great ideas to build off of when we gather together next month. 

The theme of this year’s conference is “Florida 360° – Get Connected,” which underscores how vital it is for the Florida tourism industry to work together, sharing resources and speaking with one voice, to ensure the Sunshine State is the No. 1 destination in the world.  With a host of expert speakers – including Terry Jones, founder of Travelocity.com, Eric Qualman, author of Socialnomics, Philip Wolf, President of PhoCusWright, Peter Yesawich, Chairman of Ypartnership and Alan Moss, Director of Online Sales for Google, Inc. – as well as more than a dozen hands-on educational breakout sessions designed for tourism professionals at all stages of their careers, I’m confident this conference will stimulate conversation and offer tangible integrated marketing solutions for destination marketers around the state.

This line-up of speakers is among the most impressive we’ve ever had, and each brings such a high level of knowledge and expertise that attendees will have the benefit of learning about cutting-edge information from the leaders in their fields. With the expanded educational breakout sessions covering topics such as niche marketing, social media, international strategies and meetings being lead by experts like Brenda Anderson, President of SITE and Deborah Sexton, President of PCMA, there’s truly something for everyone this year.

The conference will also feature an expanded tradeshow floor, including a CyberCafe, and increased social media interaction through Twitter that will allow comments and questions to be addressed by the experts during all the sessions.  In addition, the outstanding tourism marketing achievements of individuals and organizations in the Florida tourism industry will be recognized with the presentation of this year’s Flagler Awards, Iris Larson Awards and Florida Tourism Hall of Fame inductees.

With such a great lineup of speakers, session topics and new features, I truly hope you’ll all plan to attend this year’s conference.   To see the entire list of speakers, view the complete agenda and register for the conference, please go to www.FloridaTourismConference.com.

I look forward to seeing you in Orlando next month!