THE SET-UP
Every county, community, downtown, or district wants to become an outstanding destination – a more desirable place for people to live, work, operate a business or visit. Being a sought-after location is the lifeblood of a successful community, and this is the front door to both your tourism and non-tourism economic development efforts.

That is exactly what this three-day Official Destination Development Boot Camp is all about – providing you with the step-by-step instructions to brand, develop and market your own outstanding destination.

WHY NOW?
There are still ghost towns in the making. Nearly every community in North America and abroad was founded on either a natural resource or transportation. Locations along rivers, shorelines, major highways or rail have created many hubs of commerce, but with a global economy and fierce competition, how are you doing now? And as communities lose their timber, fishing, agriculture, mining, manufacturing, or other industry, they are all looking for a solution: economic diversification.

Every year 1,500 more communities across North America look to diversify their economies. That means every three years there are another 4,500 communities looking for new forms of economic development: tourism, recreation, new industries, residential development, etc.

THE PROBLEM
All these communities are saying the same thing. When it comes to traditional economic development, they all promote the same old list:

  • Great place to live, work and play
  • Workforce training
  • Available workforce
  • Inexpensive land/permitting/construction/warehouse space
  • Quality infrastructure
  • Educated workforce
  • Good schools
  • Close to major markets/freeway system/rail/ports
  • Quality infrastructure
  • Incentive programs

When it comes to tourism, once again, they all market themselves the same way:

  • Historic downtown
  • Outdoor recreation
  • Something for everyone
  • The four season destination
  • Special events
  • Variety of lodging options
  • Shops & restaurants
  • Museums, galleries, antiques, etc.
  • State/local/national parks nearby
  • Rivers/shoreline/lakes nearby
  • Lots to see and do

How do these lists make you stand out from the competition?

What makes a community an outstanding destination -- a place where locals hang out and visitors come back time and time again? What have successful communities done? And how can you apply that to your hometown?

THE CHALLENGE
In these days of advertising over-saturation, communities need to stand out from the crowd. This is the age of specialization, being known for something specific -- something that puts you on the map.  How can you make your community stand out from the competition? And how do you cut through the politics of trying to be all things to all people?

The second challenge is that every community has many outstanding organizations, but each is working from their own agenda, and very rarely is everyone on the same page, pulling in the same direction. Sound familiar?

Yet downtowns, destination marketing organizations, event organizers, historical societies, garden clubs, economic development practitioners, and local governments should be joined at the hip. Your community will be far more effective as one loud voice than a bunch of small individual voices. Getting everyone on the same page can make the process fun and far more effective.

That’s what the Official Destination Development Boot Camp is all about. We give you the tools and step-by-step instructions to make a difference – to make your community stand out from the crowd – to make something happen.

WHY ROGER BROOKS & THE DDI TEAM?
Roger Brooks and the Destination Development International (DDI) Team have worked with nearly a thousand communities throughout North America over the past 25 years, and we’ve learned some valuable lessons along the way. We will share these stories, case histories, and real life examples with you. We present ideas, action items and steps you can take to make a positive difference in your community today.

Roger is the top-rated keynote speaker in North America on the subjects of community branding, tourism, product development and marketing. Speaking at nearly 120 events each year, Roger has been internationally recognized for providing attendees with things they can do today to make a difference tomorrow. He’ll have you laughing, crying, and feeling empowered to make something happen. Using “Roger’s Rules,” you’ll see real-life case histories, humorous video clips and stories, dozens of photographic examples, and you’ll find him and his cohorts engaging, entertaining, and educational.
This Boot Camp covers bottom-line things you can do to increase tourism spending locally, encourage investment in the community and build a strong brand that sets your community apart from the competition.

WHAT YOU’LL LEARN
We will focus on practical strategies and steps you can implement immediately to make a difference in your community.
Here’s a sample schedule:

DAY ONE – Travel and lay of the land

  • 3:00 – 4:00:
      • Welcome, what to expect at the camp, introductions.
  • 4:00 – 6:00:
      • Walking or driving tour of the town.
  • 6:00 – 8:00:                       
      • Dinner, welcome from community leaders at the camp location
      • Tourism, downtowns, economic development. What’s in it for you?

DAY TWO – Here we go!

  • Continental breakfast and lunch provided, on your own for dinner. Explore!
  • Morning concentration: The New Age of Tourism & Community Development
  • 8:00 – 9:45:
      • Who are you? The Art of Branding a Destination. The ten things you need to know. What works, what doesn’t. Branding gone bad.
  • 10:00 – 10:45:
      • Where are you? Postcard branding: A group exercise.
  • 10:45 – Noon:
      • Developing a successful destination brand. The step-by-step guide and team exercise.
  • Working lunch:
      • Case histories and how they did it.
      • Your brand revealed: The Q&A session.
  • Afternoon concentration: Product development.
  • 1:00 – 2:30:
      • The 20 Ingredients of an outstanding destination. We surveyed and researched 400 successful destinations (downtowns, downtown districts, communities) and found the 20 common ingredients they shared.
  • 2:45 – 4:45:
      • What’s wrong with this picture? First impressions, gateways, wayfinding, signage, curb appeal, critical mass, amenities – applying many of the 25 Immutable Rules from Roger’s book “Your Town: A Destination” to attendee communities.
  • 4:45 – 5:15:
      • Exercise: The 10 missing ingredients in your community. The priority list. The 10 ingredients you’ve got right.

DAY THREE:

  • Continental breakfast and lunch provided, on your own for dinner.
  • Concentration: Telling the world – Marketing.
  • 8:00 – 9:00:
      • The Internet & social media. Thirteen things you need to do online to “close the sale.”
  • 9:00 – 10:00:
      • Creating effective marketing materials. The rules of partnerships, advertorial, distribution, photography, and text travesties to avoid.
  • 10:15 – Noon:
      • The power of public relations. How to get publicity, creating an online pressroom, itineraries & niche group marketing.
  • Lunchtime game:
      • Advertising that works? The good, the bad, the ugly. Developing effective advertising – an exercise.
  • 1:00 – 1:45:
      • Logos, slogans and taglines – oh my! A look at effective brand graphics and key marketing messages.
  • 1:45 – 3:00:
      • Your Branding, Development & Marketing Action Plan – building it right here, right now and testing it among your peers.
  • 3:15 – 4:00:
      • Your brand – shared! The critique.
  • 4:00 – 5:00:
      • The Jeopardy Game! Graduation & gift exchange.

While the exact schedule may vary, this provides you with a glimpse of what’s included in the Boot Camp.
Things you’ll learn include:

  • Signage: public, private and the use of billboards.
  • Developing a wayfinding system: costs, timelines, partnerships, examples and ideas and how this effort plays into the branding process.
  • Gateways: entry points into the community, including ideas and suggestions regarding locations, beautification, lighting, maintenance, sizes and general rules.
  • Branding: how to create a strong brand, including product development initiatives, identities, slogans and marketing messages. Step-by-step how-to’s, costs and how to “sell” the concept locally.
  • How and when to market to niche groups.
  • Downtown development: initiatives and funding options, retail signage, beautification, gathering spaces, exterior window displays, sandwich boards, parking, how to bring property owners into the program, changing the retail mix and downtown branding efforts.
  • How to recruit private investment into the community.
  • Marketing materials: how to create marketing materials and websites that are good enough to close the sale, including brochures and sales materials, website development and online marketing, advertising, and more.
  • Visitor amenities: costs of development as well as funding sources for public restrooms, visitor information kiosks and parking.
  • “How they did it” examples and case histories using video clips, photography, costs and timelines.
  • When, who, where, how and what needs to be done to achieve success.

WHO SHOULD ATTEND
Each Boot Camp will be limited to no more than 55 attendees, from no more than six or seven communities. This way we can concentrate on each community specifically. When a community sends one or two representatives, they must then go back home and try to educate an entire community and numerous organizations. These limited efforts usually yield poor results.

You will be far more effective if you have between six and ten people attend the boot camp so each can go back to their home organizations to bring them into the process. There is ALWAYS strength in numbers.

So who should attend? We recommend that a community send representatives from the following organizations:

  • Destination marketing organization executives and board members
  • Chamber of Commerce executives (President, director, staff)
  • Economic development practitioners
  • Local jurisdiction elected officials and management staff
  • Planning department staff members
  • Main Street and downtown organizations
  • Other local organizations and business interests that play a role in tourism and economic development programs
  • Historical societies and other local non-profit organizations
  • Downtown property owners, businesses

The Destination Development Boot Camp is also available for a single community and can be integrated into DDI’s Community Assessment Program, providing a very powerful community development tool  Ask and we can send you some information about a combined week-long program.
State organizations can also sponsor the boot camp, which can be hosted in various communities throughout the state, for regional attendance. Call DDI for more information at (206) 241-4770.

WHAT YOU’LL GET FOR ATTENDING

  • Graduation certificate.
  • Two-hour confidential assessment of your marketing and downtown efforts with ideas and suggestions on how to increase tourism locally.
  • “Your Town: A Destination - The 25 Immutable Rules of Successful Tourism”
  • “The Downtown Idea Book,” which features hundreds of ideas and photographic examples you can take back home with you.
  • The “Tourism Development Handbook,” a workbook with the key messages presented in the Boot Camp, along with worksheets to guide you in your community efforts.

WHAT YOU NEED TO DO PRIOR TO THE BOOT CAMP:

  • Send marketing materials from your community (or communities).
  • Send photos of your favorite things about your town, downtown.
  • Bring something representative of your community. You will trade this with things from other communities attending the camp.
  • If possible, bring a laptop computer with wireless Internet card. (not mandatory)

WHEN AND WHERE? AND WHAT TO WEAR?
Official Destination Development Boot Camps will be held throughout North America each year, and in some cases, states or provinces may host boot camps for their communities. Check the schedule at www.DestinationDevelopment.com. Boot Camps are held in successful destinations where being there is half the fun. Part of the learning experience is seeing what these successful communities did, first hand.
Suggestion: Make a week of it! Learn how the locals put it all together. Boot Camps may be hosted at outstanding destinations including:

  • Mackinac Island, Michigan
  • Whistler Resort, British Columbia (which Roger helped to develop)
  • Park City, Utah
  • Incline Village, Nevada
  • Savannah, Georgia
  • Asheville, North Carolina
  • Jonesborough, Tennessee
  • Lake Coeur d’Alene, Idaho
  • Carmel, California
  • Sedona, Arizona
  • Fredericksburg, Texas

If you know of some outstanding destinations we should consider, please let us know!
Dress is casual. No suits, no ties, this is roll up the sleeves time.

COST TO ATTEND
The cost of the boot camp is $1,200 per person.  We suggest that a community consider spending at least $15,000, which would cover the cost of six attendees plus typical travel, lodging and meals costs.

The cost may be funded by several organizations, which each contribute to the funding of this extraordinary, educational experience for the benefit of the community.

WHERE DO WE SIGN UP?
Go to www.DestinationDevelopment.com and click on the Official Destination Development Boot Camp link on the home page to sign up.