483. Leading with Authenticity and Resilience, with Lauren Bennett McGinty

Speaker A: You have arrived at Destination on the Left, a show where destination marketers, accommodations, attractions, tour operators, travel agents and industry consultants can learn from each other and grow stronger together. I am Nicole Mahoney and I have had the pleasure of hosting this show since 2016. My team and I believe that community, collaboration and partnerships are essential for the growth and prosperity of every organization in the travel, tourism and hospitality industry. That is why we have been dedicated to bringing you this show for so many years. Our listeners and guests make up a community that believes we are stronger together and we champion tourism and support economic growth because we know that tourism is critical to economic development and and makes or breaks entire regions. Thank you for tuning in. Let's get to the show.

Speaker B: Hello listeners, and welcome to this week's episode where we connect with Lauren Bennett

Speaker C: McGinty, executive director of Explore Minnesota.

Speaker B: In our conversation, Lauren walks us through

Speaker C: the philosophy behind Minnesota's Star of the

Speaker B: north brand and how the brand has helped her destination stand out and attract visitors and residents alike. Uh, we talk about the reputation challenges that were brought on by the immigration spotlight that made Minnesota center stage in the national and international news earlier this year. Lauren provides very candid and practical advice for destinations that may have external challenges arise on a moment's notice. Her advice? Take care of yourself and your team first, then move on to the industry as a whole. I appreciated this suggestion to take a beat before jumping into problem solving. Just like they say to put on your own oxygen mask on first. This is sound advice. Lauren tells us about the neighborism campaign that her team is using to help attract visitors to Minnesota, and she shares a number of exciting developments that are happening across the state this summer and how the season has brought new hope to her stakeholders and the Minnesota tourism industry. We end our conversation learning about Minnesota's Outdoor Recreation Industry Partnership, which connects internal state agencies and a collaboration designed to support the outdoor ecosystem. It is a different approach to recreation and outdoor and has become a model for other states to follow. A Little More About Lauren Bennett McGinty appointed as the executive director of Explore Minnesota by Governor Tim Waltz in 2021, Lauren shepherds one of the country's most dynamic tourism economies, strategically guiding the sector through both growth and challenge. She's reshaped how Minnesota approaches stakeholder alignment, narrative and resilience, steering the state's story not just for visitors, but for talent, business and civic confidence. Lauren's approach moves beyond the old paradigms of tourism marketing. She leans into storytelling, inclusivity and reputation leadership. And she's led Minnesota through national scrutiny by recalibrating strategy in real time. There are so many golden nuggets in

Speaker C: this interview that you will want to

Speaker B: have your pencil ready to take notes. But first, I want to share this important message with you.

Speaker A: Okay. I wanted to take time out of this episode to make sure that you know about our weekly Tap Into Travel newsletter, created just for travel professionals like you. If you want to stay up to date on emerging trends, learn about collaborations, and be inspired to grow and expand, this newsletter is for you. Each week we feature a new blog, podcast and relevant industry news. Stay connected to the community and sign up by visiting travelalliancepartnership.com newsletter. Now let's get back to the show.

Speaker C: Lauren, so nice to see you again. Thank you so much for joining me on my show today.

Speaker D: Yeah, thank you for having me.

Speaker C: Yes, I'm so looking forward to, uh,

Speaker B: speaking with you and to learning all

Speaker C: about Explore Minnesota and all the good things you have going on in the great state of Minnesota. But before we get to that, I'd love to have you tell us a

Speaker D: little bit about yourself and your journey

Speaker C: in your own words. I think it adds just so much more context to our conversation.

Speaker D: Yeah, I would be happy to. So, you know, currently the executive director of Explore Minnesota, which my role there has evolved pretty significantly over the last five years. But as I got started long time ago in marketing and communication, I was really drawn to positions that allowed me to kind of talk about the intersection of place, purpose, storytelling, and really supporting passionate people in their work. And so this role came about as I was in the middle of the pandemic, running another nonprofit organization, the Minnesota Craft Brewers Guild, which really focused on supporting small businesses throughout the state, breweries and other craft beverage businesses, but telling their stories, story, trying to get more people excited about the work they were doing. And this opportunity came about and I thought, you know, I am in the middle of the pandemic. I am supporting all these businesses, trying to help keep them afloat, tell their stories so that they, you know, don't go under, and that everyone keeps supporting their communities. And this was a role where I could take that on a bigger scale and really try to ensure that the state of Minnesota's hospitality industries and communities were thriving in a time of fear and strangeness that nobody predicted. So I have really taken that seriously throughout my time at Explore Minnesota. And we've been able to grow the work that we've done to see significant ROI to build our tourism economy to be $24.7 billion to add on a whole new film office and an outdoor recreation office. But also, I think the sort of piece that brings it all together is that we also get to market the state for quality of life. And that is where all of our pat passion sort of align at Explore Minnesota is that we love what we do, we love talking about Minnesota, and we all have really unique skill sets there, but we get to do it in a space that allows us to be creative, to share those stories with the world. And I think that just kind of tells you what you need to know about me, but also about my colleagues, is that we just. We are Minnesota's biggest champions, biggest cheerleaders. And that's how we kind of all arrived at Explore Minnesota. And that's what keeps the work exciting and keeps us going.

Speaker C: Oh, yeah. I love that we're going to dig into so much of this, and I love that journey that you came from the Craft Brewers Guild into the tourism, uh, office, and how that aligns so much with not just the storytelling that you were talking about, but this idea of small, you know, small businesses which really make up the fabric of a place and how that kind of translates into the role that you have today. So that's amazing. And I have a little secret, but it's not really a secret, because I'm going to say it here. I live in upstate New York, but I married someone who is a Minnesota Vikings fan. So we are a Vikings family. We love going to Minnesota, and it is a beautiful state, and it reminds us a lot of what upstate, uh, New York looks like, you know, our home as well. So I just wanted to share that with you. Big fans.

Speaker D: That's awesome. Yeah. Well, it's hard to be a Minnesota Vikings fan, so I'm glad that you've stuck with it for this.

Speaker C: We have, yes. We're in it for the long haul. So I live in Bill's country, and I say there are bad backup team. So same kind of same vibe.

Speaker D: Yeah, exactly.

Speaker C: Oh, I love it. All right, so, uh, Lauren, let's. Let's dive in here and talk a little bit about creativity and just understanding that our industry can be very competitive. Although I like to say friendly competition, not really cutthroat competition, but, um, can be competitive. There are so many choices of places people can go and things that people can do. And so I'm curious what you're doing at Explore Minnesota to really help stand out and break through all of those choices and help Minnesota stand out.

Speaker D: Yeah, I think that's something that all of the Tourism industry struggles with right now because there's only so many dollars to go around. So creativity is the thing that really wins out in the end. And, uh, you know, we've been really fortunate in the last several years to get some one time funding and really invest that in our materials and creating a new brand for Explore Minnesota that can last a lifet time instead of just one season. And so that, I think, has made us be more competitive and thoughtful with our creativity. And our Star of the north brand came about as we were coming out of, you know, a year of growth at Explore Minnesota and, you know, in the hospitality sector and tourism sector in Minnesota. And we were saying to ourselves, you know, one of the things we hear so often, especially after the pandemic when people were coming and exploring outdoor recreation so much more, is that people are always shocked by what they find in Minnesota. You can have some beautiful urban settings and kind of be at every sports game you can imagine, or you can be out in nature just 20 minutes outside the Twin Cities. You, uh, can also kind of be in the woods or in the prairie lands, right? So it's always this kind of awe when people come here and pleasant surprise. And that was really what we wanted to do as we entered Star of the north and built that brand up. And it was also a way for us to marry all of the different pieces that we were working on. So we have what is called Explore Minnesota for business and that focuses on resident attraction and business attraction. But then knowing that potentially we would get a film office someday and that we were working on outdoor recreation, we really wanted a brand that could house all of that. And so our team really wanted to focus on what is that real lived experience when people come here. And so it was kind of twofold as we started pulling this together is that we really wanted to avoid the classic tourism ads that were sort of a voiceover and like quick shots of all the different places, we wanted to tell a longer story. So we looked into long form video which, uh, when we first started this Star of the north journey had become really popular and it still is. YouTube is still crushing it when it comes to views. But we brought visitors here who had either never been here before or spent very little time here in the past to run through itineraries that we built for them. And we filmed it all. We filmed their first time experiencing all these things. And it was really special because it showed that you can, can experience a variety of things in Minnesota, but it also showed this, like, pleasant surprise and joy that they Had. And then, um, on the livability side, we found folks who had been living in Minnesota for 10 years or less typically, and we filmed them at their work and kind of living their lives, which really translated well to tourism too, because they got to go to all the spots that, you know, a local would take somebody visiting. And it was fun to hear them say, you know, what stood out in Minnesota and why they're still here 10 years later, why they built their life here and why they settled down. And so our creativity really lies in the unexpected, I think at Explore Minnesota. And it's been really fun to show people that we aren't who you think we are. We are kind of more than that. And I've really enjoyed being able to kind of pull together some of those itineraries and ideas and letting our team grow and explore those. Well, no pun intended, but explore the Star of the north in that way.

Speaker C: Yeah, absolutely. I just love this approach so much because it gives. Everyone talks a lot about authenticity and how important authenticity is right. In marketing now, especially in destination marketing. But you kind of taken it a step further in terms of actually bringing those first time visitors and those newer residents kind of to the forefront to tell the story for you. And that seems to have really worked. Yeah, yeah.

Speaker D: And I think it, it's, to me, it's a more realistic experience. And of course there's cameras on them. Um, and of course you've helped plan the itinerary. But if I was someone who saw that and saw these places they could go to and map out a plan for me, I'm a very busy person. Right. It's hard to make those plans. So whether it's two people on a fishing trip or we had a multi generational family, being able to see, spend five minutes watching a video that plans your vacation for you and you get to see real people doing it, it's so much easier to kind of make that decision and come visit Minnesota.

Speaker C: Yeah, absolutely. That's fantastic. All right, let's talk about this next question. Because I know you've got a lot to share on this next one, especially, you know, from your experience of going through the pandemic, but then even more recently. So I really appreciate the creativity that we are challenged to come up with when we're face. Faced with some sort of adversity. And I am curious if there is, you know, a situation or some adversity or a challenge that you could share with us and then kind of your creative solution to how you were moving through that.

Speaker D: Yeah. So I Don't think it's a secret that earlier this year, Minnesota experienced, uh, pretty significant disruption tied to federal immigration enforcement. And for us as Minnesotans, it was a really challenging time to see what was happening to our neighbors and sort of of trying to figure out how we could not only help in our personal lives, but from a state perspective and supporting the hospitality industry. It was a huge challenge, I think, for everyone. And while we saw a lot of the headlines focused specifically on Minneapolis or the Twin Cities, it really affected the entire state. And cities across the state were grappling with this and trying to help their neighbors and small businesses. And, you know, we really saw that a large portion of the businesses were just trying to keep up, trying to ensure that their employees felt safe, trying to ensure that visitors felt safe, trying to be in the community and support the community. And so, for us looking at this situation, there are only so many things that we can do as a state entity. One of them was that we sort of gathered information from everyone to be able to at least share it with other policymakers or the administration to ensure that their story was being told. But the other piece of it was coming up with a campaign that sort of drove home the idea that we in Minnesota support one another, and we wanted to really move it beyond what the headlines were. And so our response, in effort to drive visitation, but also help be the state storytellers that we are, was to put out a campaign called come visit your neighbors in Minnesota. It started very simply. You know, we didn't want to take advantage of the situation. We don't want to gloss over what happened or pretend everything was okay and business as usual, because it wasn't. We were all still coming out of it. But we did know that we needed to move forward in a way that reflected the state and the character of the people, because I think that part was somewhat showing through in the headlines, but, uh, a lot of it was getting politicized and kind of lost in the political rhetoric. And so we kept coming to this idea of neighborism. What were. Were we doing in our personal lives at the time? How were we sort of feeling and grappling with everything? And Adam Serwer put in an Atlantic article that we sort of define the word neighborism, right? And for us, it was taking all of the experiences we had as people of Minnesota and putting that out in sort of what I like to call our love letter to Minnesota, encouraging people to come experience the neighbors here for themselves and really be able to say that we care about the restaurants and the shops and the small businesses and everyone here does. So we want to invite people to be a part of that fabric in that ecosystem. And it was really authentic. And I think the star of the north, all the work that we had done there to kind of build those truly authentic experiences and have those people tell the story. We had that content, we had the stories, and we were able to use that in this campaign because it was all realistic. It was all Minnesotans or kind of people experiencing that neighborism for themselves. And so it wasn't anything that we fabricated. It was just already there. And I think it made it so much more powerful to help us really get the word out that Minnesota needs support, but also that we are friendly and welcoming and we want to show you who we are.

Speaker C: Yeah. And I mean, I think that's come through loud and clear in articles and things that I've seen since that time. And I know a lot of folks, especially in the industry, wanted to support you, but I think I've even seen those types of messages come out in, you know, a mainstream media and with the attention even that's been given to you by, you know, people like Bruce Springsteen and some of the. Some of the others. But I'm kind of curious if you're able to share a little bit of more of the behind the scenes, like, just for our listeners who may end up in a similar situation like this, whether it's immigration or something else, but it's a sensitive situation that's causing your destination to be, uh, in the national news, in the international spotlight, actually.

Speaker B: And what would you tell them in

Speaker C: terms of, like, how a tourism office can assist? Like, what are some of the first steps, maybe that you would share with them if something like this is bubbling up in their community?

Speaker D: Yeah, I mean, I don't think anybody could have been prepared for it. And I think what's hard is understanding your role as a tourism office. And one of the things that I remember at the time sharing with colleagues at DMOs and CV across the state was, uh, take care of yourselves and your teams. I think it's really hard for us as leaders to be able to take a breath and a moment to kind of assess what's going on. And it's always kind of this instinct to come up with a solution. I really wanted to make sure that folks on our team felt safe and that they felt, you know, okay mentally and tried to give them space to, uh, you know, do what they needed to do to take care of themselves and their families, because it was impacting folks who were like taking their kids to date daycare or they had family members who were afraid to leave their homes. Right. And so we really wanted to do that first and then I think, assessing the situation, figuring out what are the impacts on your industries that you touch because you can't fix everything, staying in touch with community partners like associations that were doing a lot of work as well, and figuring out where you can partner. As a state entity, we can't do a lot of advocacy. There's not training opportunities. But we had partners in other organizations that were helping with that. So being able to kind of help, elevate or share information where necessary. And then, you know, I had sent out a message to folks and really the core of it was that we're community leaders and our goal might be to sell our destination and sell like, you know, our largest ball of twine or the Mall of America. But ultimately, at the end of the day, people really look to us to tell their stories in a way that matters. And so we had kind of said, said take stock of what you're seeing in your community, try to be there for people in your community and when they're ready and when you're ready, find ways to get creative about telling that story and really emphasizing the importance of the community members that are being impacted. And so some of it was talking about immigrant owned businesses and how those are a huge part of our fabric here in Minnesota. But I think other ways too were maybe a little bit more silent about, uh, for Explore Minnesota, being able to kind of work with other industry partners to talk about communications. So we kind of held a webinar at one point that was more of just, here's an update of what we know and how things are going. Here's some survey data that we have so that people could just remain informed. But we also just gave a quick update on marketing tactics in a time of this, you know, distress that people were facing and letting them know that, you know, be careful, be thoughtful and approach this in a way that makes sense for you and your community. So, you know, we tried to give some information, but it really was a huge team effort. And not just a, uh, team at Explore Minnesota, but it was us working with our governor's office, our colleagues in other departments, but also just statewide organizations to ensure that people felt like they had the things they needed and that we were learning updates from folks and what they were working on. So I think behind the scenes there were just a lot of people trying to help one another and trying to just Kind of ensure that we're at some level telling the same story and promoting each other's stories too.

Speaker C: Mhm, absolutely. That's a really, really, ah, good breakdown that I think can be applied to almost anything in terms of, you know, stepping back. And I love that you said take care of yourself and your team first because we are natural problem solvers. And so you kind of are naturally, uh, drawn just to dig in and figure it out, but without taking a step back and making sure that foundationally everyone's okay before you do that. I think that's such an important step. So I love that you started with that and what a great kind of process that you just spelled out for us in terms of starting with that, figuring out, you know, your lane, what are the, like you said, the industries that you touch, what is your lanes, because you can't do everything for everyone. And then where you can partner and how you can tell the story once everyone is ready and then be able to support, you know, with the knowledge that you have in the access that you have to information. So I think that's just really, really fabulous. I'm curious because it has settled out in the national headlines, um, but I'm curious if you're experiencing, you know, still experiencing strain or anything from that, because sometimes it goes out of the national headlines and then people think, oh, it's solved, it's moved on. What is that kind of long tail impact from what happened?

Speaker D: Yeah, I think, you know, we, we likely don't know the full impact even just yet. There's a lot of folks who have put some time into doing different surveys or studies. And I know at the legislature at one point, I'm not sure if it's moving forward at this juncture or not, but at the legislature there was conversation about potentially getting a study going about what that economic impact was, but I think, you know, no, it hasn't fully gone away and there are certainly other states and cities who are also experiencing some increase in presence. But for us, I think what's interesting and that has happened now is that there are so many groups that are trying to work together for the first time to solve some of the problems that have come out of this. So we've been working with some partners in sort of the economic development space to try to say, you know, how are we able to bring more conferences to Minnesota so that we can elevate the presence of, you know, Minnesota as a destination for your conference and all the things that like the Minneapolis area and Twin Cities area have to Offer. We've been partnering with Minnesota Sports and Events to be able to talk about some of the big events that they have coming up. And those always get some really great primetime coverage. We've been very fortunate to have, up until I think a day or two ago, we had three of our pro sports teams in the championships for their respective sports. Unfortunately, the Frosts lost, but we still have the Wild and the Timberwolves. And so that's been really fun to be able to kind of play off of those experiences and just show like how vibrant we are and how much fun we can have. And so, you know, I think there are still things that have lingered and we know businesses are still hurting, but I think that was part of why we did the come visit your neighbors. Because we know summer in Minnesota is something that is hard to beat. And as we all sort of come out of the woodwork, you know, we're seeing more and more people stay close to home and kind of want to travel closer to home. So we're trying to kind of convinced there and I think summer is a good time to invest in the communities by visiting them. But we still won't know the full impact. And we have seen closures and of course we've seen some folks who have maybe had to scale back their operations. But I do think that there is a level of optimism that I don't know, I would have expected a few months ago. And I think that just speaks to who Minnesotans are and how we sort of look at the world for the most part as half full. And, and it's been really nice to just see various community groups coming together to try to solve these problems, to try to bring more people here. And it's been really fun to be a part of those conversations and see some of that creativity. Mhm.

Speaker C: Absolutely. Love it. All right, well, next question. This is your chance to talk about something exciting. If there's anything new or exciting coming, uh, your way that you're working on that you would love to share with our listeners, we'd love to hear about it.

Speaker D: Absolutely. I love talking about all new exciting things. Right. So Minnesota is home to a phenomenal food scene and I think again, sort of underrated. Uh, one of my colleagues at uh, Minneapolis calls it our best kept secret. And if you can't tell, we at Explore Minnesota love spilling all the secrets. So we have tons of James Beard recognized chefs and even like drink programs at bars and we've just gotten a lot of major recognition there. And then as part of the Great Lakes USA and other Great Lakes cities. We uh, just recently announced that Minneapolis will be included in the next round of the Michelin guide review process. So we're hoping to see some Michelin stars in the next year or so. So the food scene is incredible. I mean all across the state we have some truly awesome chefs and restaurants and just fun experiences. But we also have really great opportunities to go to events and festivals in Minnesot. How to throw a good summer festival. So we're excited to welcome WWE SummerSlam later this year. It's supposed to bring over 100,000 people to the city over a few days. And we've been really fortunate. They're a great group to work with. They bring, you know, little exhibits around the state. So we've been fortunate to be able to kind of carry that throughout a couple of other cities. But the big event is happening in August. We also have the women's pga, uh, coming for a championship and we are excited about that because Minnesota truly has become a sports mecca for women. We have a lot of really great women's sports team here. I mentioned the Frosts who have been champions twice in a uh, three year time period, which is incredible. So we're just really thrilled to be able to support women's sports. We're a sponsor of the Lynx basketball team and they just kicked off their season as well. And then we've got got fun concert festivals coming up too. We've got the Minnesota Yacht Club Festival. I'm going, I'm excited. Passion Pit and the Strokes are going to be there. It is sort of a elder millennial's dream I think as we see that come. But we, we've got a lot of things coming up this summer. Summer, like I said before, is where we really shine in Minnesota and we kind of try to cram literally all you can do in like a, ah, three month time period. So just, just thrilled to be able to kind of shake off the winter and kind of get in the sun and hang out all summer.

Speaker C: Yeah. And how refreshing too after everything you've been through. Right. And then you have all of these really amazing things still happening. Of course you do. And uh, just a good time for the neighbors to come out. Right. For us to visit the neighbors, but also for the neighbors to be out. And it just really does lift the spirits. I love that. It's amazing. Yeah. Now I wanted to talk to you a little bit about collaboration and as you know, because you and I met at the Great Lakes USA annual meeting and I gave my keynote talk there about collaboration. And one of the things that I really like to learn about from my guests is this concept of coopetition where perceived competitors come together because they can do more together than they can on their own. And so I'm curious if you have an example or some examples of where coopetition or collaboration has worked for you.

Speaker A: You.

Speaker D: Yeah, it's so funny. When we had met and you shared that concept, I don't know how familiar other people are with it, but I have been saying that word for a long time before I was ever in this job. In the beer industry, coopetition is very real because you want all of your colleagues to. To thrive so that the scene itself can grow, but you also want to have better beer than them. Um, right. So I've been very familiar with this for a long time. And in tourism, it is the same, obviously on a much larger scale, but constantly kind of looking at what your other states and colleagues are doing and you're trying to a little bit one up them, but just take ideas and try to use them on your own. And I would say Great Lakes USA is a fantastic example of that, as we all work together to promote the region, because we know when people visit the US and they're coming to a place like the Midwest or the Great Lakes area, they are not just staying in one state for 14 days. If they did, that would be amazing. But typically they're not. So being able to create those itineraries for those international guests to kind of experience, uh, the whole Great Lakes region, or at least part of it, has been something we've done really well. And I will say, it's just. It's so funny that Wisconsin is my favorite example of coopetition to Minnesota, because Ann and I talk all the time and we both uplift each other and the work that we're doing and support each other. But we're also like, how much money did you get last year at the Legislature? Because I want more. And so we're constantly sharing ideas and making sure that we're kind of pushing each other to be our best. And I think that's what makes this industry really special, is that your colleague can win an award and m. My team will go and immediately look at what that is and be like, okay, why did they win and how can we replicate it or do better? And this industry is filled with so many people who are just so passionate about the work that they're doing. And it comes through in their advertising work or in their email campaigns or whatever that looks like, and so I think coopetition is just the best word to describe it. And uh, it really shows that, you know, when you're working together to do something to elevate like the people and places that you're passionate about, all the other sort of competition part just falls away and you're really just making each other work better and more creatively.

Speaker B: Mhm.

Speaker C: Yeah. I love how you, you where you took this question because you're right. Without kind of those benchmarks or those, you know, peers that push you to do better, you know, you might be, not that you would be, especially after meeting you, but you might be mediocre. Right. You're constantly needing to see what other people are doing and trying to keep up to a certain degree, but also, as you point out in this industry and like your example with you and your colleague in Wisconsin is, it's a playful kind of competition because all in all we think, think, you know, we want everyone to do well. Um, and the rising tide really does lift all boats and we really do believe that. And so I love how you describe that. And yeah, I think that's a great way to put it. Absolutely. It's amazing. All right, so last question and this one I'll be really interested, uh, to hear your take on this, but this has to do with kind of the evolution of destination marketing organizations, or in your case, state destination marketing organizations, and kind of the evolution beyond just the marketing. And you talked a little bit about it earlier when we were talking about creativity, you talked about quality of life. And I'm curious how just in the six years or so that you've been in your position, how you've seen the role evolve beyond just the creativity and the marketing that we've been talking about and more into maybe destination management or you know, other types of roles that you've taken on. What are you seeing?

Speaker D: Absolutely. There's been such an evolution, I mean, there's been an evolution maybe in the last year or two too of just how, how much more important it is to engage on a personal level with people. And I think that can sort of present itself in a few different ways. But one of the things that I've learned along the way is that it really takes a village to get some of this stuff done. And so when we're talking about the evolution of the role of the office in of terms talking about quality of life, the reason why, you know, a tourism office might be picked to do that is because we know every inch, right. Of our state or our destination. We Know who those people are behind it. We can tell their story. It's what we do in our spare time. Like if I learn something new about a business, I'm telling all my friends. And it's not even in a marketing context. So when you get Peg to talk about quality of life or outdoor recreation or film or whatever it is, it's because you are a good storyteller and you know what you're doing. But it all sort of starts with being in those communities and listening to people and understanding, like, what challenges they have or what unique assets they have and how you can kind of help them with that. And so I think, uh, for us and Star of the north, we're still continuing to build those community connections as we go. We just got off of a roundtable circuit throughout the state where we are in different regions hearing from people. And everybody has a different challenge and everybody has a different idea of kind of what's next for them. But I think the core component is that everyone wants to, uh, score high points in customer service and visitor expectations. And they are all working really hard to do that. And so for us, it's how do we evolve our messaging to sort of help them and make their lives easier, but also put out a brand that Minnesotans can feel proud of. They can see themselves there, they can have enough pride that they're inviting everybody else to come visit. And that's a really intentional dual purpose for how we work. And it also just makes the messaging more sustainable. So when you see the passion from us or our colleagues at DMOs, you are feeling that yourself and you want to be a part of it. And so I think there is this evolution. You know, things like AI are trying to in some cases make our lives easier, some cases making our lives a little more difficult. We have to adapt to that. But I think as long as you can kind of keep that core passion there and you're continuing to connect with communities and hear where their challenges are, it sort of drives that innovation and growth. Even when maybe your budget isn't there or you have other sort of political struggles that you're dealing with, you can sort of set yourself up with a really good framework.

Speaker C: Mhm, absolutely. I think that's so important in that you're talking about these roundtables and getting out into those communities and hearing their challenges, where I'm sure you're hearing themes. But to your point, where you're also hearing very unique, you know, unique to my destination, this is what I'm grappling with. And Trying to figure out how you can support that. Lauren, I want to back up because you mentioned it before and I forgot to ask. And you just mentioned it again. You had talked about how you started a outdoor recreation Commission, I think you called it. Talk a little bit about that because you've said it now a couple times. I'm like, oh, I need to dig into that and understand that a little bit more. The film commission I get, but the outdoor recreation piece, that's a little unique. So I really would love to hear about that and how you've structured that.

Speaker D: Yeah, absolutely. There are about, I think I want to say about 30 other states who have some sort of outdoor recreation director or office or something similar to that. And we did it a little more uniquely here, as we do in Minnesota. And we had several years ago, there was a group that sort of pulled together all these ideas around creating a new, a brand new office of outdoor recreation that would sort of sit outside of our agency or any other state agency. And my colleague at the dnr, the commissioner there, we worked together on lots of different projects and we kind of thought, well, here's one more that we can work together on. And created a single position that sits within Explore Minnesota, but supports the sort of outdoor recreation ecosystem and network. And their goal. It's, uh, called the Outdoor Recreation Industry Partnership. And so it combines four state agencies who have already been doing something related to it. Whether it was was providing grants for small businesses or supporting things like parks and trails, or marketing it, it sort of brought together all of these groups that were already doing the work and this position. Their role is to connect with the external stakeholders and sort of see what are some growth opportunities, how can we support the industry, how can we continue to drive revenue in that area? And it's very unique, but it's been really fun to kind of see, like, how we can grow and how many different people are working in the space. And so one of the things that has come out of this is that my colleague, the commissioner of DNR and I have a podcast and we just talk about all of the really fun outdoor recreation opportunities in Minnesota, but also the businesses or the people who are doing unique and interesting things. You know, we've got some folks who are from a group called Melanin in Motion, and it's getting more people of color out into outdoor recreation spaces. And we have down in Winona, in the winter, they flood a, uh, giant cliffside and they do ice climbing. And it's one of the only ice walls that you can climb in the world. And, you know, we get to tell those really unique stories. And so that is kind of part of the component of the Outdoor Recreation Partnership is just kind of bringing together all these different groups and then figuring out how can we continue to grow that, uh, it is, to my knowledge, has become. People in the industry have named it the Minnesota Model. And I think other states aren't continuing to kind of build their programs that way, too. So it's been really fun to see that take off and see, you know, what is the economic impact which is in the billions of dollars for outdoor recreation in the state of Minnesota.

Speaker C: Yeah, that's awesome. And I love how it brings together all of those agencies that are serving that industry into one spot and then connects them, um, to the external stakeholders. That's, uh, that's really cool. And you're a podcast host, so no wonder you're such a great podcast guest. And I have really enjoyed having you here. And as we kind of bring this to a close, feel free to share any final thoughts that you might have for our listeners. Anything, maybe that we didn't cover. And then also if you could share where our listeners can find out more about you about Explore Minnesota and all the good things there are to do there.

Speaker D: Yeah, so I think final thoughts. Come visit your neighbors in Minnesota this summer or fall or winter. We do winter very well here. And if you are interested in what that looks like, head to Explore Minnesota DOT and you can learn all about all the great things we've got going on.

Speaker C: Amazing. Thank you so much, Lauren.

Speaker D: Thank you, Nicole. I really appreciate the conversation.

Speaker A: It's time to hit the road again. Visit travelalliancepartnership.com for more industry, education and other learning resources to help you stay two steps ahead. Community and collaboration lead to greater success for all. So dive in, listen, read, and watch along to future Proof your organization. Thanks for listening.

Speaker D: M.

Speaker C: Sam.