Education Committee HUB

2025 Meeting Schedule // UPCOMING MEETINGS:

  • June 27th 2:00pm - finalize breakout schedule, speakers, session descriptions; TACVB to post agenda online
  • July - quick meeting if necessary to finalize any logistical needs 
  • September 2 - 5: Annual Conference at the Omni Downtown Fort Worth 
    • Sales/Sports: Tiffaney, Heather & Jordyn
      • Public Speaking - building confidence, elevator pitch workshop, etc.
      • Get your cold e-mail opened - e-mail marketing 
    • Marketing/AI/Data: Sydney, Chris, Sadie
      • Travel Texas - PR angle from a state initiative level (i.e: big music scene pop-ups in UK)
    • Leadership: Aaron, Megan, Kathleen
      • Big DMO Lessons Learned Panel
      • Small DMO Lessons Learned Panel
    • Services: Aaron, David Taylor
    • "LOUD TABLE" TOPIC IDEAS: Lindsay and April maybe? (deep dives, ask the expert, etc.) Each loud table has a table leader who brings agenda and/or group question prompts to get the table talking. Ideally these tables have roughly 15 attendees and meet for 30 minutes. Attendees PICK TWO. Utilize Past Chairs as Table Hosts. Get brightly colored t-shirts & hand held signs for directives. 
      1. Small DMO Roundtable
      2. Big DMO Roundtable
      3. Marketing to FIFA attendees for surrounding cities 
      4. Canva 101 - Best Practices, tips, tricks, templates & more
      5. Content Creation/Photography 101 - lighting, camera angles, short form video editing
      6. Texas Film 
      7. HOT Fund Guidance, Grant Best Practices, etc.
      8. Chat GPT 101 & the importance of prompting
      9. Servicing topic
      10. Events Production/Management Best Practices
      11. Creative Site Tours 
      12. Historic Preservation / Heritage Tourism   
      13. DMS Roundtable
      14. TACVB Membership / Committee Table (ways to get involved)  
      15. HR / Talent Acquisition & Retention 


Monday, March 10th notes: 
committee will email Kathleen with Keynote Speaker suggestions (we have 2/3 open), narrowed down education topics, tracks & delegated who wants to lead which sessions, set next meeting date. View accordion below for additional details.

Members came with at least two session ideas. Aaron & Lindsay will combine the session ideas with available breakout session slots leaving room for sponsor presentations and bring the full preliminary schedule to the next meeting. Members are to send their session ideas to Aaron as well as check potential availability of speakers/panelists. 

Documents

2024 Annual Conference Survey Response - Future Education Ideas

2024 Annual Conference Agenda - for Reference

Co-Chairs

  • Aaron Werner

    Aaron Werner

    MPA

    Executive Director, Visit McKinney

    Co-Chair

  • Heather Egan

    Heather Egan

    Director of Leisure and International Sales, Grapevine Convention & Visitors Bureau

    Co-Chair

Members

  • April Romero

    April Romero

    CDME

    Director of Communications & Destination Development, Visit South Padre Island

    Member

  • Tiffaney Gonzales, CTA

    Sales Manager, Visit Galveston

    Member

  • Chris Riggins

    Director of Marketing & Communications, Destination Bryan

    Member

  • Sadie Atha

    Sadie Atha

    Director of Marketing, Beaumont Convention & Visitors Bureau

    Member

  • Sydney Patterson

    Marketing Coordinator, Visit Fort Worth

    Member

  • Megan Payne

    Megan Payne

    Tourism Manager, Visit Kilgore

    Member

  • Jordyn Almendarez

    Sports Sales Manager, Austin Sports Commission, Visit Austin

    Member

  • David Taylor

    Director of Destination Services and Facility Experiences, Grapevine Convention & Visitors Bureau

    Member

  • Tanida Mullen

    Association Sales Manager, Killeen Convention & Visitors Bureau

    Member