Save the Date!


9:00 am to 12:00 pm:		Registration

11:30 am to 12:30 pm:		Networking Lunch with Sponsors Welcome from Elected Officials & Opening Remarks

1:00 pm to 2:00 pm:		Kick-off General Session: LIZ FITZSIMMONS, State of State Tourism Liz Fitzsimmons, Managing Director of the Division of Tourism Film & the Arts and Maryland Office of Tourism Development, will share Maryland’s recent Tourism success in attracting visitors, generating revenue and creating jobs. She will also preview the state’s official marketing strategy for 2017.

2:00 pm to 3:30 pm:		MD Tourism Coalition Annual Meeting & Town Hall The Maryland Tourism Industry Town Hall gives attendees the opportunity to celebrate the accomplishments of the Maryland Tourism Coalition in 2016 and hear from a panel of elected officials and legislative insiders on the outlook of the 2017 MD General Assembly and MTC’s top legislative priorities for the upcoming session. Q&A encouraged!

5:00 pm to 7:00 pm:		Welcome Reception at Baltimore Visitor Center Evening: Dine Around Charm City

7:00 pm to 11:00 pm:		Late Night Lounge at Horseshoe Casino

Thursday, November 3


8:00 am to 9:00 am:		Networking Breakfast with Sponsors

9:00 am to 10:00 am:		General Session-BILL GEIST, Marketing Tactics to Reach Today’s Traveler Consumers are bombarded with marketing messages thousands of times a day. Yet, there is a region of the human brain that is specifically designed to ignore the familiar. So, how to capture the eye and ear of your target market with a message that resonates with your brand? DMO consultant and author Bill Geist will share case studies and examples of ways you can turn these disruptive times to your favor.

10:15 am to 11:15 am:		General Session- ADAM SACKS Tourism & Economic Development A Win-Win Adam Sacks is the Founder and CEO of Tourism Economics and works with tourism agencies from all over the globe. He will share findings from a recent study on the positive effect on a community when tourism and economic development factions collaborate and strategize for success.

11:15 am to 12:00 pm:		Networking Break with Sponsors

12:00 pm to 1:15 pm:		MD Office of Tourism Awards & Sponsor Recognition Luncheon

1:30 pm to 2:30 pm:		General Session- TOM GEDDES-Plank Industries-Investing in Baltimore’s Future, Hear how the visionaries behind the Under Armour brand are working to transform Baltimore’s future with new brands, business incubators and a 5 billion dollar development including exciting new destinations for visitors.

3:00 pm to 5:00 pm:		Off-Site Educational Tours African-American Heritage Tour Camden Yards Behind the Scenes Port Covington/City Garage Spirit Harbor Cruise

5:00 pm to 6:30 pm:		Afternoon Break

6:30 pm to 7:30 pm:		Awards Attendee Banquet Reception with Sponsors

7:30 pm to 9:45 pm:		Maryland Tourism Coalition Awards Banquet

9:45 pm to late		Meredith Celebrates Maryland After-party

Friday, November 4


8:00 am to 9:00 am:		Networking Breakfast with Sponsors

9:00 am to 10:00 am:		General Session with ANIRBAN BASU- Economic Forecast Back by popular demand, Anirban Basu continues to be one of the Nation’s foremost economists and MTC’s favorite funny prognosticator! Delivering a presentation titled, “The Economist Who Loved Me” the Mr. Basu provides a detailed, data driven update of the performance of the global, national, and relevant regional economy.

10:00 am to 10:45am:		Pete’s Pictures & Closing Remarks

11:00 am to 1:00 pm:		Lunch and Learn Workshops with the MD Office of Tourism Development Join the staff of the Maryland Office of Tourism to learn more about opportunities to partner with their office and leverage resources. Enjoy presentations on International Pow Wow(IPW) coming to DC in 2017 IPW is the travel industry’s premier international marketplace and the largest generator of travel to the U.S. A private sector marketing grant program, and cooperative marketing opportunities.

Please Note: Program is as of Sept 20, 2016 and is subject to change without notice- check back for updates.

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Guest Presenters

Bill Geist

President of DMOproz

Bill Geist is the President of DMOproz (formerly Zeitgeist Consulting), a firm specializing in strategic planning, governance, marketing and legislative issues for convention and visitor bureaus, tourism-focused chambers of commerce, economic development organizations and communities. He has provided consulting services to nearly 200 Destination Marketing Organizations since 1995 and is a popular speaker on marketing, trends and customer service across North America. He is the author of Destination Leadership for Boards and a contributor to Fundamentals of Destination Marketing. Prior to forming Zeitgeist Consulting, Bill served as the President/CEO of the Greater Madison (WI) Convention & Visitors Bureau from 1990-1995. During his tenure, he was the lead spokesperson and co-strategist for the successful public referendum fight to build the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Monona Terrace Convention Center. He also succeeded in doubling the Bureau’s sales and marketing budget and oversaw the launch of one of the Top 25 Marathons in the nation. Before moving to the Madison CVB, Bill led the Kankakee County (IL) CVB and landed the first multi-year contract ever awarded for the American Power Boat Association’s National Outboard Championships. Prior to his CVB work, he held various management and programming positions with broadcast media in the Chicago area. Bill has served as the President of the Wisconsin Association of Convention & Visitors Bureaus and the Vice-Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Wisconsin Tourism Federation. Past associations have included stints as Vice-Chair of the Wisconsin Governor’s Council on Tourism and the past Chair of the Wisconsin Professional Speakers Association. Bill holds an Executive MBA from the University of Wisconsin and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from Kenyon College.

Tom Geddes

Chief Executive Officer, Plank Industries

Tom Geddes was born and raised in England and came to the United States as a Morehead Scholar at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. After graduating with highest honors and highest distinction, Tom went on to earn Masters Degrees from the University of Cambridge, England, and Johns Hopkins University, as well as a management certificate from the Georgetown University School of Public Policy. Following a varied career in the nonprofit sector, including teaching at the high school and college levels, organizational development, and government relations, Tom joined Passive Capital Management, LLC, a Baltimore-based investment advisory firm, as a partner and investment advisor serving high-net-worth individuals and institutional endowments. In 2012, Tom founded KDP Investments (later renamed Plank Industries), the private holding company of Kevin A. Plank – the founder, Chairman and CEO of Under Armour, Inc. In his role as CEO of Plank Industries, Tom oversees the Sagamore operating companies as well as the Plank family’s investments, wealth management, HR, philanthropy, legal and estate planning needs, and major acquisitions and transactions. Tom holds the position of Vice-Chair on the Board at MedStar Harbor Hospital and is a Board Member of the Greater Baltimore Committee. Tom is married with two young children and lives in Baltimore, MD.

Adam Sacks

Founder and President of Tourism Economics

Adam Sacks is the founder and President of Tourism Economics; an Oxford Economics company dedicated to analytically-based consulting to the tourism sector. Over the past seventeen years, Adam has worked with hundreds of travel sector clients to address fundamental economic questions. On the public sector side, Adam has worked with national, provincial/state and local tourism offices throughout the world. He is an authority on measuring the economic impact of tourism activity–both broadly and for specific initiatives and projects. He has advised destinations on tourism investment policy, the effects of proposed entry procedures, tourism taxation, and marketing strategies. He has provided numerous destinations with analysis on market positioning and emerging opportunities. Adam has consulted with multi-national hotel chains, airlines, aircraft manufacturers, theme parks, resort developers, and retail operators to measure current and future market opportunities. He has presented to numerous corporate strategic planning teams on the threats and opportunities facing their businesses within the projected travel and economic climate. He is an expert in developing custom systems for quantifying relevant tourism market segments and tracking the competitive landscape for clients. Adam has developed tourism forecasting models with unrivalled track records. Adam is a compelling and sought-after speaker on issues related to the outlook for travel and the economic importance of travel & tourism. He is a member of the US Department of Commerce Travel & Tourism Advisory Board.

Liz Fitzsimmons

Managing Director – Division of Tourism, Film & the Arts

Liz has been a destination marketing professional for more than 20 years where she has effectively communicated to consumers through a variety of marketing platforms, to encourage visitation for the economic benefit of retail entities, Main Streets, and assets state-wide. Liz earned her Bachelor of Science in Radio and TV/Mass Communications from Southern Illinois University. She joined the Maryland Office of Tourism in 1999 as a Public Relations Coordinator, and in 2011 was named Maryland Tourism Person of the Year at the Maryland Travel and Tourism Summit. Liz was raised on Long Island, and lived in Austin, Texas before choosing Maryland as her home, where she and her husband raise their son. Liz has previously served as Executive Director of the Office of Tourism Development where she led a team of advertising, communications, tourism development, sales, and interactive services professionals to grow Maryland as a competitive, desirable and successful travel destination. Liz currently serves as Managing Director of the Division of Tourism, Film & the Arts.

Anirban Basu

SGP’s Chief Economist and Chairman/CEO of Sage Policy Group

Anirban Basu is one of the Mid-Atlantic Region’s most recognizable economists. Basu shares his insights and analysis with SGP clients on a wide variety of topics that affect the business of health care. As SGP’s Chief Economist and Chairman/CEO of Sage Policy Group, an economic and policy consulting firm, Basu has written several high-profile economic development strategies. In recent years, he has focused upon health economics, the economics of education and economic development. He currently lectures at Johns Hopkins University in micro-, macro-, international and urban economics. In 2007, Basu was selected by the Daily Record newspaper as one of Maryland’s 50 most influential people. The Baltimore Business Journal named him one of the region’s 20 most powerful business leaders in 2010. Basu is involved with numerous organizations in a voluntary capacity, including serving as a Baltimore City Public School System board member and as a board member to the Baltimore Children’s Museum and to the Baltimore School for the Arts. Basu is also on the board of First Mariner Bank. He is also chairman of the Baltimore County Economic Advisory Committee and economic advisor to the Baltimore-Washington Corridor Chamber of Commerce. Basu earned his B.S. in Foreign Service at Georgetown University in 1990. He earned his Master’s in Public Policy from Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, and his Master’s in Economics from the University of Maryland, College Park. His Juris Doctor was earned at the University of Maryland School of Law in 2003.