September 17, 2019
 
1:00 pm - 6:00 pm
 
St. John Community Center, 2900 Highway 51, LaPlace, LA 70068
 
Hosted in conjunction with St. John the Baptist Parish Economic Development

Schedule

Opening Session
1:00 pm – 1:15pm       Welcome
Natalie Robottom
Parish President, St. John the Baptist Parish
Peggy Joseph
Chairperson, River Parishes Tourist Commission

Track 1 – Sales/Marketing
1:15pm – 1:45pm       Working With Local Experts: The CVB
Brian Jewel
Executive Editor of The Group Travel Leader

1:45pm – 2:15pm        Destination Selling: Sales Techniques & Methods
Willma Harvey
Director of Sales & Business Development @ RPTC

2:15pm – 2:30pm        BREAK

2:30pm – 3:00pm        Social Media isn’t Sexy, but it Works.
Jesse Lambert
Director of Sales and Marketing @ Houmas House

3:00pm – 3:30pm        Packaging and Partnering with  Online Travel Agencies (OTAs)
Greg Fisher
Owner and Founder of Tripshock

3:30pm – 4:00pm        Packaged Travel Itineraries:  What Tour Operators Want
Bob Rouse
VP of Communications @ the National Tour Association

Track 2 – Destination Development
1:15pm – 2:15pm       Why a strong tourism organization is important to Destination Development
Shelly Green
Past President/CEO @ Discover Durham

2:15pm – 2:30pm        BREAK

2:30pm – 1:453:00pm        History sells: Why preserving history makes business sense
William Prince
Director of Development @ LA Trust for Historic Preservation

3:00pm – 3:30pm        Preserving the Destination: A Case Study
Alyssa Phares
Marketing Director @ Visit Cape

3:30pm-4:00pm        Creating Festivals that deliver memorable experiences 
Cleveland Spears
CEO @ Spears Consulting Group

General Session
4:15pm – 5:00pm        Tourism Matters
Lt. Gov. Billy Nungesser & Buddy Boe, Exec Dir, RPTC

Closing Sessions
5:00pm – 5:30pm        Closing Reception 5:30pm – 8:30pm       
Taste of Tourism
6:00pm    River Parishes Leadership in Tourism Awards
Presented by Doug Bourgeois
Louisiana Office of Tourism