City Nation Place Americas

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    Optional Tours - Please note these tours are now full. Please email martin@citynationplace.com to be added to the waiting list.

    • 08:30

      Option One: Space Center – A focus of tourism and investment attraction, workforce development and community engagement

      Join the 8:00am coach leaving the C Baldwin Hotel taking you to the Space Center Houston for a VIP tour.
      You’ll arrive in time for a morning coffee, before an exclusive Presentation from the Space Center Leadership team where you'll gain a unique perspective on collaboration, community engagement, and how this international tourism attraction provides a focal point for economic development. You'll then join a VIP Behind the Scene Tour of Mission Control, and either the Rocket Park or the Astronaut Training Facility. You'll also have the opportunity for a self-guided Museum Tour before the coach departs back to the hotel at 11:30am.

    • Option Two: Downtown Houston Mural Tour – How art and placeshaping are contributing to Central Houston Inc’s vision for re-energising Downtown

      Over the last three years, Central Houston Inc. has brought together leadership from the public and private sector to deliver dozens of murals that have transformed Downtown Houston into an open-air art gallery. Each of the murals is a thematic expression of the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals.
      Join our open top bus tour to be inspired by the murals that are engaging visitors and the community and adding vibrancy to the city and hear how the team are working to ensure the sustainable attractiveness of the city center. Join this open top bus tour from 10.30am to 12.30pm.

  • 13:30

    Welcome & introduction to the conference

  • 14:00

    Working together with a unifying narrative: Houston

    Two years ago, following prompting from the then Mayor, Houston First Corporation led a project to develop a unified place brand narrative for the city.

    • What’s been learned about the challenges and advantages of implementing this?
    • How are the teams at Houston First and the Greater Houston Partnership managing their collaborative approach?
    Michael Heckman
    Michael Heckman President & CEO, Houston First Corporation
  • 14:25

    The new economic landscape: How place branding collaboration and marketing will power the response of cities and regions

    • How CHIPS, tech hubs, and reindustrialization are driving the growth and perceptions of 2nd tier and mid tier cities
    • How are cities leveraging place brand strategies and marketing narratives to benefit from the potential opportunity
  • 15:05

    Refreshments

  • 15:35

    Round Table discussions

    Join your fellow delegates in focused discussions on topics of most relevance to your organization – expertly moderated by our expert partners. Topics to be covered include…

    How do you measure place brand success? Setting strategic goals, evaluating outcomes, demonstrating impact. Moderated by Brand Finance. 

    Placemaking – how could your place brand be reflected in your built environment? Moderated by CivicBrand

    Who should lead talent attraction campaigns? What works, what doesn’t and solutions for collaboration. Moderated by Development Counsellors International

    Is the future success of your city brand hidden in your neighbourhood brands, and how can you best harness them? Moderated by DNCO

    Maximising marketing budgets: strategies for leveraging past visitor data to grow the tourism economy. Moderated by Epsilon

    Strategies for leveraging outdoor recreation assets to benefit your place economy. Moderated by Fourth Economy

    Placemaking action plans: how DMOs and EDOs can work better together to lead the creation of great places. Moderated by Hunden Partners

    Tourism impact narratives beyond quantifying visitor spend: How should we tell our stories? Moderated by HVS

    Interrogate to innovate: how to bring stakeholders together to ask hard questions and shape unique solutions together. Moderated by LMNL

    Experimenting with AI tools for marketing: how is this impacting on how you tell your brand story? Moderated by MMGY NextFactor

    Empowering Responsible Travel: What strategies can you implement to educate locals and visitors on sustainable tourism practices? Moderated by Miles Partnership

    Concepts in District Management and reinventing the “Place”. Moderated by New City America

    Place-based Sustainability & Stewardship. Moderated by Resonance

    Reinventing your role as a DMO - embracing innovation, social responsibility, and community engagement. Moderated by Simpleview

    Placemaking: The Experience Imperative, converting the stories, attributes, and essence of place into unforgettable experiences for visitors and locals. Moderated by Veneto Collaboratory 

    Data holds the answers to your board’s questions… If you dare to share! Moderated by Zartico

  • 16:25

    Finding our story and building a unique and unifying place narrative: Niagara Benchlands

    Britnie Bazylewski
    Britnie Bazylewski Tourism Development Officer, Corporation of the Town of Lincoln, Niagara Benchlands Tourism
  • 16:50

    Working WITH rather than FOR your stakeholders: How Destination Cleveland has shifted its destination engagement strategy to advance community priorities

    • Reframing the partnership program
    • Building local engagement coalitions to leverage the expertise and capabilities of locals
    • Co-creating, sharing responsibility and power, and holding each other accountable 
    Chloe Irish
    Chloe Irish Director of Destination Experience, Destination Cleveland
  • 17:20

    Conference close

  • 18:00

    Welcome Reception, hosted by Houston First

    Join us for an evening reception celebrating the performing and visual arts with light bites, entertainment and fun at downtown’s newest greenspace.  

    The recently opened Lynn Wyatt Square for the Performing Arts serves as a focal point of synergy for the performing arts resident companies housed in the city’s Theater District. Developed and managed by Houston First, the new $26.5 million green space includes a flexible performance lawn for concerts and other free programs, a cascading water feature, accessible entries, gardens, trees, one-of-a-kind tête-à-tête rockers/seating, lighting and sound elements. Lynn Wyatt Square offers year-round programming inspired by Houston’s cultural diversity and the award-winning performing arts organizations surrounding the park.

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    08:00

    Optional breakfast briefing sessions (Please note, the Hunden Partners briefing is now full. Please email martin@citynationplace.com to join the MMGY NextFactor briefing.)

    • 08:00

      Room 2: Defining the big picture outlook for generative AI

      Trillion-dollar tech companies are pivoting their business models around AI. Why? It’s not so we can all write press releases faster. The long-term scenario is a shift from using traditional apps to developing our own fully customized personal agents to help navigate our personal and professional lives. In a travel and tourism context, DMOs are launching new generative AI platforms to connect visitors and destination partners like never before. 

      • Discuss how generative AI is eating the entire travel funnel
      • Learn how DMO AI platforms are performing and the future of customer service and conversion strategy
      • Explore how we will book travel in the future without a screen and fewer middlemen, and how that will impact the future of DMOs and everything they do 
    • 08:00

      Room 3: Placemaking Action Plans: How DMO's and EDO's are coming together to lead the creation of great places

      Historically, elected officials have led city and county placemaking efforts. DMOs and EDOs have marketed the existing place and product but have not often influenced what the place and product are. Today it’s different.  DMOs and EDOs should be at the forefront of leading placemaking and destination development efforts for optimal visitation and quality of life. 

      • Hear how, through placemaking asset mapping assessments, place-vision, and execution, you can determine what the opportunities are and how to develop them
      • Learn the steps in the placemaking process, from assessment to strategy to tactics to execution, and understand how your colleagues across the country are reinventing their places
  • 09:00

    Welcome to Day Two

  • 09:10

    Panel: How leaders of place brand and marketing organizations are responding to the challenge to deliver more effective collaboration

    In our pre-conference survey, the most frequently cited obstacle to effective collaboration with other place stakeholders was the lack of the right leadership – the wrong personalities, or perhaps a protectionist approach to retaining control or funding. This panel will therefore focus on the skills that leadership teams need to foster the right collaboration, and to win over politicians or other stakeholders who may be resistant. 

    • What tactics work in terms of introducing organizational approaches with place partners that can start to build collaboration from the ground up
    • Plus – how can the development of a strategic plan cut through the politics and bring stakeholders together?
    Brad Parry
    Brad Parry President & CEO, Calgary Economic Development
  • 09:50

    Delivering sustainable economic success through effective collaboration as separate organizations: Charleston

    Hear how Explore Charleston and Charleston Regional Development Alliance align their organizational objectives and work together to deliver sustainable growth in tourism and economic development

    • Focusing on quality vs quantity
    • Leveraging a strong quality of life proposition 
    • Working together on workforce development and talent attraction
  • 10:15

    Meeting the challenge to attract and develop talent through community and private sector collaboration: Saint John

    As an integrated organization working to deliver growth for the region, Envision Saint John can deliver a clear unified vision and brand narrative – but how do you unify a diverse rural and urban community to work together to meet the talent challenge?

    • Effective ways to listen and understand diverse community priorities
    • Developing a data-based framework for workforce development and talent attraction
    • Harnessing “people power” - engaging the community and private sector 
  • 10:35

    Refreshments

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    11:05

    Expert-led breakout sessions

    • 11:05

      Place power: Understanding the key forces driving migration, visitation and business formation today

      Why do some places seem to easily snare new talent, coveted investment, eager visitors and the headlines that laud it all?

      After more than a decade of studying global city performance, Resonance will share insights on this seemingly secret formula: the ingredients shaping the livability, lovability and prosperity of countries, cities and communities today, based on their latest 2024 America’s Best Cities report.

      You’ll learn:

      • The essential attributes that make regions livable and attractive for residents
      • Key factors driving visitor attraction and expenditure
      • The characteristics driving start-up formation and business attraction today and in the
      years ahead

    • 11:05

      Navigating regional place branding: Lessons from the trenches

      Whether you're responsible for upholding the identity of a particular city within a larger region or for driving marketing and economic development across the entire region, this session will provide the practical steps needed to successfully achieve your objectives.

      • Exploring the challenges and triumphs faced by communities striving to balance their unique identities with the demands and opportunities of regional place branding
      • Understanding the potential pitfalls and the "how" of navigating the intricate landscape of regional place branding
      • See first-hand how Pine County, MN, balanced the identity of the county with the needs of individual cities within the county, how the Chickasaw Nation in Oklahoma developed a 10-city tourism-oriented placemaking playbook, and how a collection of towns around Park Rapids, MN, came together to create the Heartland Lakes regional brand and DMO
      • Learn how you can convert neighboring communities from competitors into both an audience and assets
    • 11:05

      Destination placemaking: Houston First signature experiences: Converting the history, accomplishments, and stories of multicultural communities into unforgettable experiences.

      Today’s experience junkie travelers are searching for the richness, flavors, and textures of destinations which many times are embodied in the communities and cultures of a place. 

      • Discover how to transform the essence, assets, and attributes of a place into unique, authentic offerings. 
      • Explore how the stories, people and accomplishments of a place provide the ingredients to design and develop unforgettable experiences. 
      • Learn how Houston First developed the Houston First Signature Experiences Collection, a group Experiences that showcase the history, heritage, and contributions of the city’s African American Community
      • Hear about local businesses that embraced the process to amplify their stories and create new revenue-producing experiences. 
      • Uncover how to transfer the placemaking learnings of Houston to your destination. 
      Jorge Franz
      Jorge Franz Senior VP Tourism & Industry Relations, Houston First Corporation
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    11:45

    Expert-led breakout sessions

    • 11:45

      How to attract talent to your destination: Fresh research on what matters in relocation decisions

      Faced with labor challenges across all industries, destinations want to know, now more than ever, where and why is talent relocating? In this session, DCI will unveil the results of the eighth edition of their annual research, “Talent Wars,” which sets out to better understand how to attract, and ultimately retain, talent. 

      • What matters most to talent when considering a relocation
      • How hot topics like crime and politics affect relocations
      • Where people are moving
      • How to get in front of move-ready talent
      • Case studies on effective talent attraction programs
    • 11:45

      Interactive infusions: Leveraging art installations to rejuvenate urban experiences, attract visitors, and support local businesses

      Join this session to hear why and how cities are embracing the potential of interactive art installations to excite locals, attract visitors, and add new dimensions to the narrative of place brands.

      • How creating memorable experiences can resonate beyond the physical presence
      • Engaging the community in the vision
      • Measuring the impact of the investment
    • 11:45

      Destination stewardship – Putting the roadmap into action

      Today’s destinations are seeking greater balance between tourism’s economic benefits and its potential impacts on the environment, local culture, and residents’ quality of life. 

      • Hear how destination organizations are developing strategic plans to turn that aspirational balance into real action
      • Learn about the activation stages of destination stewardship plans, exploring their development, implementation, and overall impact
      • Hear valuable insights from the Town of Vail as they share their innovative approach to integrating stewardship goals into their marketing strategies and tactics
  • 12:20

    Lunch - Supported by Sugar Land Office of Economic Development and Tourism

  • 13:30

    How Visit California is working with indigenous cultural and tourism leaders to build new opportunities for more equitable benefits within the visitor economy

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    14:00

    Expert-led breakout sessions

    • 14:00

      Place brand diagnostic - worldwide launch of a new tool to assess the strength of your city brand model

      What questions should you be asking to assess the success of your city brand? Join this session to hear about a new way to assess your city brand’s distinctiveness and to understand if you’ve created the right framework to enable it to thrive. 

      This free new place brand diagnostic tool will demonstrate how to:

      • Critically assess the strength of your brand’s design and strategy
      • Identify specific areas of weakness and learn how to turn them into strengths with actionable insights
      • Measure your place brand’s performance over time and demonstrate progress
      Joy Nazzari
      Joy Nazzari Founder and Executive Chair, DNCO
      Simon Yewdall
      Simon Yewdall Strategy Director, DNCO
    • 14:00

      Place making and rebranding through retail mall adaptive reuse: MacArthur Center redevelopment, Norfolk Virginia

      Join this session to delve into the dynamic transformation of the urban landscape of Norfolk, Virginia. The City of Norfolk’s recent acquisition of the MacArthur Center, a once-struggling downtown retail mall, presents an intriguing opportunity for adaptive reuse. 

      • Exploring the potential for placemaking inherent in this endeavor, dissecting the myriad challenges and opportunities that accompany the revitalization process
      • Breathing new life into this space to revitalize Norfolk’s downtown core and to redefine its identity on a broader scale
    • 14:00

      Data holds the answers to your Board’s questions… if you dare to share!

      Join this session to see how to glean more meaningful insights and provide the answers right away - ending skepticism, gaining trust and increasing support for our efforts. Hear how three destinations now report insights on visitor spend, resident to visitor ratio, community movement and marketing effectiveness in real-time. 

      • Which data anomalies are opportunities. 
      • Which data streams are the most effective for storytelling
      • Which insights are the most impactful for their boards
      • Which data sources are no longer as effective
      • Which questions they frequently get asked by their boards and how they answer them
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    14:40

    Expert-led breakout sessions

    • 14:40

      Best US city brands – The launch of America’s definitive city perceptions index

      The inaugural Brand Finance US City Index provides a complete dataset on perceptions of cities in the eyes of a representative nationwide sample. With opinions gathered from 10,000+ respondents on 50+ cities in the United States, it offers robust insights to guide the brand strategy of any American city – whether big or small.

      • See how the top 50 US cities rank as places to invest in, live, work, study, retire to, or visit
      • Learn what attributes are key to drive reputation and consideration of your city brand among key audiences
      • Understand how market research perceptions data can inform your city brand strategy
    • 14:40

      Delivering on the potential of your outdoor recreation assets to grow your place economy

      • Join this session to hear from a group of outdoor economy leaders sharing best practice case study examples 
      • Learn how to leverage outdoor recreation assets to foster increased tourism, inclusive participation, local business development opportunities and to attract and retain top talent
    • 14:40

      Your story IS your strategy: Bring your narrative to life to activate your places

      Your narrative is the central driver of every decision in your placemaking strategy (or it should be). The challenge arises when a story is just a story and it isn't felt across every touchpoint of the spatial environment and community experience. Join this session to understand how an innovative process to designing place shaping and experiential strategies – called omnispatial design - can address this need. 

      • How to ensure your place brand narrative lives beyond the brand book and media campaign
      • Why engaging multiple disciplines in the process can deliver more effective and impactful solutions – and secure community engagement and stakeholder investment
  • 15:15

    Refreshments

  • 15:40

    How tourism can pursue community engagement beyond listening and lip service: Fort Worth

    Hear how Visit Fort Worth is working with partners across their community to change perceptions and offer more authentic ways to experience and represent the city

  • 16:05

    Exploring and implementing AI in your marketing engagement strategy

    Hear how Destination Vancouver are developing a digital concierge to engage visitors before and during their stay – with learnings for any destination or economic development marketer on building AI-driven engagement into your digital presence.

  • 16:25

    Why it takes collaboration to challenge perceptions and change the narrative: Boston

    It takes more than a marketing campaign to change a place brand narrative – hear how a collaborative approach to initiatives, policy, and communication is creating change in Boston, and in perceptions of Boston.

  • 17:00

    Key Takeaways

  • 17:10

    Close of conference & drinks reception