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Pennsylvania's
CVBs Flex their Influence Last month, DMOU for Management featured a teleseminar on “Trends in State CVB Associations” featuring Missouri’s Marci Bennett and Ohio’s Phil Craig. While we talked about many of the programs offered by State CVB Associations (from marketing to professional development), we talked a lot about political advocacy. Both Marci
and Phil manage CVB Associations that have successful advocacy programs.
The OACVB even maintains a PAC. And Phil was pretty forceful when he
shared his belief that advocacy was the most important service a State
Association could offer its membership. And, I couldn’t agree
more. So I was excited to be invited to the Pennsylvania Association of CVB’s annual Legislative Reception and Dinner this month, the evening before I was to speak at their Spring Education Day. I’m not sure I had a preconceived notion of what the evening would entail…but, even if somebody had told me ahead of time, I wouldn’t have believed it. But that’s just it. The folks at PACVB didn’t consider this event to be a big deal. After all, they had been hosting this reception and dinner for 29 years. And, when you do something for that long, I guess you can be forgiven for thinking that it’s just one more event. Trust me. It’s not. 600 people crowded into the Harrisburg Hilton that snowy evening. Well over 150 legislators were there. Even more sent staff. Bureau CEOs, staff and Board members were there. Other hospitality industry leaders rounded out the guest list that was a veritable who’s who of Pennsylvania Tourism…at $110 a plate! As I wandered through the reception crowd, virtually every Bureau CEO I recognized was too busy working their legislators to shoot the breeze with me. We both knew there would be time enough for that the next day. Right now, the target was in their sight and they would not miss the shot. 90 minutes later, as we finished dinner, Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell strode into the room and delivered a rousing keynote speech in which he outlined his vision for tourism in the destination now known as “The State of Independence.” A lot of what he said, the gathered faithful loved. On a few things they disagreed…but both sides respected the other enough to be up front about it. It was, for somebody who thinks they’ve seen it all, a pretty exhilarating evening. And I told members of PACVB just that as we waited in lines to retrieve our coats. They looked at me quizzically. Don’t all State Associations do this, they asked? When I told them that most states don’t get 600 people to their annual State Tourism Conference (much less get 100 and/or the Governor to their legislative events), they began to realize the incredible impact of this event that they simply take for granted. It’s who we are, they replied, somewhat sheepishly. It’s what we know we have to do to survive. Hey Pennsylvania…thanks for showing an old dog a cool trick. You can be sure that we’ll be asking you to share your story on a future edition of DMOU! Bill
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