Destination On The Left

In this episode, you will learn about collaboration across county lines with a FAM tour from Rhonda Vaccaro, Vice President and Senior Consultant at Break The Ice Media. Today Rhonda brings more than 20 years of sales and new business development to the table. She's a master at creating relationships and has a deep understanding of sales strategies, creating win-win opportunities for BTI's tourism clients. Rhonda and her staff are able to act as a much-needed sales arm for Convention and Visitors Bureaus (CVBs), providing management, tracking and reporting, and of course-- closing those sales successfully. With her easy-going personality and high attention to detail, Rhonda is able to put her management skills to work as BTI's HR person, and Office and Operations manager. A transcript of this episode is available here: destinationontheleft.com/rhonda-vaccaro-fam-tour

In this episode, you will learn everything you need to know to get started working with a travel influencer from Colleen Knopeck, Associate Consultant at Break The Ice Media. Imagine being a Kindergartener and winning a writing award from a national PBS Kids show. Or by fifth grade, regularly writing for the Buffalo News' Kids Page — and having the chance to interview Buffalo Sabres hockey players. And yet, that's exactly what Colleen Knopeck did. It's like she came fully hatched as a writer. As the Communications Specialist for Perry's, a New York State maker of ice cream, Colleen handled Perry's sponsorships, public relations, and media relations. She wrote everything from customer and consumer e-newsletters, the blog, social media, annual reports, to writing and directing an in-house video. If you were a blogger or members of media that were lucky enough to have ice cream dropped off to you — you could thank Colleen for coordinating it. Her gift for writing articles and short stories translated into Colleen's ability at Break the Ice to find the essential story in each client's industry, and develop targeted messages. Because clients are often so close to their technical side or information, they can have a hard time sorting it all out. Clients may feel it's hard to explain or put into words. With great listening skills, Colleen helps each client save time by doing that required distilling. She's able to get that information to the consumer, or the media, that works best for a particular audience. Her innate ease with and understanding of social media allows her to see opportunities for effective advertising. A transcript of this episode is available here: destinationontheleft.com/colleen-knopeck-travel-influencers

In this episode, you will learn about the best social media tips from Jessica Reilly, Associate Consultant, at Break The Ice Media. Jessica is a graduate of SUNY Plattsburgh with a Bachelor of Arts in Public Relations and Political Science. She started at Break The Ice Media in 2016 and brings with her a duality of knowledge, combining her classical PR training with marketing skills. She has a passion for social media and analytics. Her personal strengths include a love of research, and a strong sense of curiosity. She brings a fresh perspective and attention to detail to all the client projects she works on. A transcript of this episode is available here: destinationontheleft.com/jessica-reilly-social-media-marketing-tips

In this episode, you will learn about how to create a fiercely loyal team from Larry Broughton. Larry Broughton is an award-winning hotelier and entrepreneur, CEO, bestselling author, keynote speaker, and former US Army Green Beret. As Founder and CEO of Orange County, California-based broughtonHOTELS, CBS News has called Larry the nation's foremost expert on leadership and entrepreneurship, while the host of Travel Channels hit show, Hotel Impossible, says he is, among the top hospitality experts in the country. His upbeat, creative approach to business and life has been featured in newspaper and magazine articles across the country and he has been a recurring guest expert on news and TV programs on every major television and cable network, including MSNBC, CNN, CNBC, CBS, and Travel Channel. Larry's awards include: Ernst & Young's Entrepreneur of the Year®; the National Veteran-Owned Business Associations Vetrepreneur® of the Year; Coastline Foundations Visionary of the Year; and Passkeys Foundations National Business Leader of Integrity. A transcript of this episode is available here: destinationontheleft.com/larry-broughton

In this episode, you will learn about family travel and the options families have beyond Disney World, from Rainer Jenss. Rainer Jenss brings a wealth of experience and expertise as President and Founder of the Family Travel Association. Before putting his professional expertise and personal passion to the ultimate test by traveling around the world for a year with his wife and two young children in 2009, Rainer was a Vice President and thirteen-year veteran of the National Geographic Society. As Publisher of National Geographic Kids from 2002-2008, Rainer helped transform the publication into the most widely read consumer magazine for children throughout the world. Prior to National Geographic, Rainer worked for CNN International and Business Traveler International. A transcript of this episode is available here: destinationontheleft.com/rainer-jenss

In this episode, you will learn about America's first wine trail from Cassandra Harrington, Executive Director of the Cayuga Lake Wine Trail. Cassandra has been director of the CLWT since December of 2014. In her time with the Trail, she and her coworker Kathy have completely rebranded the organization, have increased event attendance and have generated a solid social media presence. Cassandra has years of experience working in the tourism industry, having held positions at various wineries as well as the local Chamber of Commerce. When not working, she like likes to remain active by working out and traveling whenever and wherever possible. A transcript of this episode is available here: destinationontheleft.com/cassandra-harrington

In this episode, you will learn about how social media helped Casa Larga Vineyards have a great 2016 from Camille Zess, consultant at Break the Ice Media. By the time Camille left college she was already an accomplished writer. As a writing minor, she took many classes in different types of writing including memoir, which involves real storytelling. And storytelling is key in marketing communications, advertising and public relations. She also trained intensively in grammar and in teaching the subject of writing where she learned to strengthen others' writing while preserving their style. An early adopter in social media, she has long experienced using Facebook, Facebook advertising, Linkedin, and Twitter. As someone particular adept at working in the digital media space, Camille focused on social media when she first joined Break the Ice. She's able to sense changes in social media as they begin and to view its future. This ability gives our clients the help and advantage they need in social media marketing. Now Camille uses her creative magic with words to write content for social media, websites, blogs, and advertising that Break the Ice provides for our clients. That isn't all. She's also able to act as a journalist or write a case study or capture the voice of brands we work with, and she produces high quality, creative online and email marketing campaigns for our clients. A transcript of this episode is available here: destinationontheleft.com/camille-zess-social-media-case-studies

In this episode, you will learn about generating return visits from customers who stop at a stopover destination from Rose Hapanowich. Rose Hapanowich is director of travel and tourism for Destiny USA. Rose has an extensive background in retail as a result of working in department store, specialty shop and outlet shopping venues prior to joining the management team of Carousel Center, initially as Assistant Marketing Director and later as Director of Marketing, where she successfully assisted in the transformation of the property into Destiny USA. She initiated tourism outreach efforts to expand Destiny USA's presence internationally, resulting in her promotion to Director of Travel and Tourism for Destiny USA. Rose continually attends travel trade and consumer-focused shows all over the world resulting in high visibility for Destiny USA as a tourist destination. The property has received a great response from both the group and FIT markets as a result of her efforts. She holds a degree in Economics from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University. Her professional affiliations include: member of the I Love New York International Marketing Committee, member of the Shop America Alliance Advisory Board, a member of SKAL, and a member of WITTI (Women in Tourism and Travel International). Well-versed in both tourism and retail, she has spoken at a number of shopping tourism conferences, shows, and functions. A transcript of this episode is available here: destinationontheleft.com/rose-hapanowich

In this episode, you will learn about managing a destination through all four season from Drew Broderick. No day is ever the same for Drew Broderick, director of sales and marketing for Bristol Mountain and Roseland Adventure Attractions, which is comprised of Bristol Mountain Ski Area and Fall Sky Rides, Bristol Mountain Aerial Adventures and Zip Line Canopy Tours, Roseland Waterpark, and Roseland Wake Park. Her enthusiasm for tourism and attractions began with a summer college internship at Walt Disney World. She spent ten years in upper management in the hotel industry and later as the owner of a successful meeting planning and consulting firm, On-Site Meeting Solutions in Dallas, Texas, before relocating to Upstate New York. One of Drew's most memorable events was supervising the VIP hospitality venues for Anheuser-Busch during the 1994 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. She also traveled the globe as a consultant for an international training company. Some of those places included: Dubai, Singapore, Brazil, Australia, Chile, Bermuda, Spain, and Poland to name a few. She earned a Bachelor of Science in Tourism Management with a Minor in Marketing from Northeastern State University in Oklahoma. Drew has been with Bristol Mountain and Roseland Adventure Attractions for eight years and serves as the media liaison as well as handles all advertising, marketing initiatives, photography and video assets, social media for multiple attractions, and oversees the group sales efforts. Currently, Bristol Mountain has six former Freestyle athletes competing on the US Ski Team and with the next winter Olympics taking place in February of 2018, Bristol Mountain hopes to see one or more of these athletes competing for Team USA. One of Drew's passions is getting people involved in outdoor activities such as skiing, snowboarding, wakeboarding, zip lining, and climbing the courses in the aerial adventure park. Drew says, "There is so much to do right here that we've adopted the tagline of Adventure Capital of the Finger Lakes." A transcript of this episode is available here: destinationontheleft.com/drew-broderick

In this episode, you will learn about programs that bring together counties, hotels, amusement parks, and more from Sarah Blackwell. Sarah Blackwell joined BTI in 2013, bringing a fresh perspective, creativity and attention to detail to every client project she works on. A highly talented writer, she becomes the "voice" of many diverse clients for their stories and blogs — no easy trick. It takes tremendous imagination to write about winter attractions when it's eighty degrees and summer outside. Or to write as the "voice" of a season. There's also the constant need to come up with new angles and pitch stories for clients, and Sarah hits the mark each time. She also finds, researches and implements new media. All this to help get our clients great exposure and effectively connect with their target audiences. There's nothing like working with travel and tourism giants Southwest Airlines and Disney to put real-world, "icing on the cake" experience on top of an education in journalism and public relations. Sarah had — and continues to have — a passion for PR, writing and storytelling. And because she worked with the best in the business in media relations, she knows just how to cultivate relationships with journalists full of mutual respect and benefit. Sarah sums it up: "Pitching story ideas is about knowing who you're talking to — knowing your client's audience and finding compelling subjects." A transcript of this episode is available here: destinationontheleft.com/sarah-blackwell-program-case-studies