EDUCATIONAL SEMINARS
Travel Exchange is designed for business, but you can also find your next solution or big idea here! Watch this page for updated information about topics and speakers. Expect to see some familiar faces of highly rated presenters as well as a new experts in Tulsa for TREX ’26. And of course, you can count on peer-led sessions for member network forums.
SEMINAR DESCRIPTIONS
Key Note: Trailer Park University: Leadership Lessons from an Unlikely Classroom
Tracy Spears
What if some of the most valuable leadership lessons came not from a classroom, but from real life? In this engaging keynote, bestselling author and leadership expert Tracy Spears shares the experiences that shaped her journey—from growing up in a trailer park to competing as a Division I athlete, building a successful corporate career, and overcoming an unexpected setback that changed everything. Through humor, authenticity, and powerful storytelling, Tracy challenges conventional ideas about leadership and success. Attendees will discover that leadership is less about titles and credentials than how we show up, connect with others, and respond to adversity. You’ll leave energized and ready to lead with purpose.
The Gift of Connection: Reclaiming Presence in the Age of Distraction
Mark Ostach
In a world where distraction is constant and genuine connection is becoming harder to find, this session helps attendees reclaim their focus, restore their energy, and reconnect with what matters most. Through powerful storytelling, practical tools, and interactive experiences, Mark Ostach shows how to move from distraction and disconnection to greater clarity, trust, and presence. Participants will learn strategies to strengthen focus, build trust, deepen team connections, and improve engagement, wellbeing, and collaboration. They will leave inspired and equipped to create healthier cultures, communicate with greater intention, and make a more meaningful impact—one connection at a time.
Micro-Campaigns That Work: Big Visibility Without Big Budgets
Michelle Stark
You know your experience is worth the trip—but standing out in a crowded marketplace is more challenging than ever. Travelers are overwhelmed with options, attention spans are shrinking, and many suppliers don’t have the budget to compete with larger brands. In this interactive session, Michelle Stark of Red Sage explores how targeted micro-campaigns can help attractions, hotels, restaurants, and other tourism businesses break through the noise. Through practical examples and real-world scenarios, attendees will learn ways to promote seasonal offers, drive demand during slower periods, and maximize every advertising dollar. You’ll leave with actionable ideas that can be implemented immediately—without a massive media budget.
Micro-Campaigns That Work: Stretching Every Marketing Dollar Further
Michelle Stark
Today’s DMOs are under pressure to do it all: drive visitation, support stakeholders, fill need periods, reach new audiences, and demonstrate results—all while budgets face increasing scrutiny. In this lively, hands-on session, Michelle Stark of Red Sage explores how strategic micro-campaigns can help destinations tackle specific challenges without the cost and complexity of large-scale campaigns. Drawing from Red Sag’s destination marketing experience, she’ll share practical approaches for amplifying events, supporting partners, testing new audiences, and extending the reach of broader marketing efforts. You’ll leave with fresh ideas for making paid media more flexible, measurable, and effective.
Marketing to Multilingual Travelers: Strategies for Global Reach on a Local Budget
Wendy MacKenzie Pease
Imagine this: a traveler from Tokyo is captivated by the allure and photos of Route 66 on Instagram—but when she clicks through, the website is only in English. The interest is there, but the connection breaks. Every day, tour operators, businesses, and destinations lose prospective visitors not for lack of interest, but because the message doesn’t cross languages or cultures. Wendy MacKenzie Pease leads this interactive session on how tourism organizations can attract and engage international or non-English speaking travelers without breaking the bank. Drawing on 20 years of experience helping brands communicate across 200-plus languages, Wendy will guide participants through practical ways to make their marketing more inclusive, culturally fluent, and conversion-ready, and show how small changes can drive major increases in visitor engagement.
Best Pitch
International destinations are the focus of this informational session, when DMOs and receptive operators from outside North America will present five-minute pitches to a group of tour operators, detailing travel ideas and opportunities in their country of expertise. Come learn all the reasons you should start taking groups (or continue to take groups) to these destinations.
DMO Network Forum
You love the destination you represent, and you want others to love it, too. As you promote the place you love, you’ll find it helpful to hear what works for your DMO peers. Whether you’re attending Travel Exchange on behalf of a small city, a large metropolitan area, a state, a province, or an entire country, this forum is a chance for you to get ideas from others who are doing the same thing you’re doing … only in a different place. (This session is open to NTA DMO members only.)
Tour Supplier Network Forum
No segment of the NTA membership is as varied as the tour supplier category, which includes hotels, attractions, passenger vessels, restaurants, and casinos, among other types of businesses. And yet, there are principles that hold true for all tour suppliers with marketing, staffing, reaching tour operators, and handling the everyday issues. Come ready to share what has or hasn’t worked for you, and you’ll hear from your peers the strategies they’re using. (This session is open to NTA tour supplier members only).
What Tour Operators Wish DMOs Knew
If you represent a destination, you joined NTA with one primary goal: to connect with tour operators. This means making sure that they know all about what your city, state, province, region, or country has to offer. But what do operators want you to know about them? This session will feature a panel of NTA tour operators sharing the most important things that DMOs can know about working with groups. You’ll hear about everything from itinerary assistance to aiding with tour promotion, and you’ll have the chance to ask the operators any questions about the best ways you can partner with them.
What Tour Operators Wish Tour Suppliers Knew
Want to increase the group business at your attraction, restaurant, hotel, etc.? Then you need to know what tour operators are looking for when they seek partners to build an itinerary. In this session, NTA tour operators will explain how meeting their needs can increase your group sales. Topics can range from the best ways to stay in touch to the best places to park a motorcoach … and everything in between. And of course, there will be time for questions from the floor.