DESTINATIONCAMP 2011
DAS destinationcamp and the "werkstatt" sub-section
"Actually..." That's how I could start this post. "Actually, BarCamps don't have a tagline." Yes; that's true; actually. And I'm always happy—in every phone call, every negotiation, every discussion—when the person I'm talking to starts with "actually." Because that means they're saying: In principle, that's how it is, but it could also be different.
“Actually” also means that something might conform to an unwritten rule and might be what the majority expects. And yet it has been shown time and again that precisely what is “actually” not expected can lead to success. And that brings us to the point: “Actually,” DestinationCamp isn’t a traditional BarCamp either—and this is entirely intentional.
The DestinationCamp should not be viewed as a hybrid. And we certainly don’t want to “reinvent the wheel.” I’d like to compare the original idea and the resulting concept to my very active time in equestrian sports: Throughout the year, there were a great many training camps and development events. The more teams you were on, the more often you attended training camps. That was definitely a good thing, since you had the chance to train with renowned and experienced instructors and learn from them. But here’s the thing: the coaches’ approaches sometimes differed greatly—one taught in conferences, another in BarCamps. And as a result, I’d completely change my riding style from one coach to the next. It goes without saying that this was highly disconcerting—not just for me, but especially for my equine partner. Success was no longer there—at least not the way it should have been. Eventually, I realized that no single trainer, taken individually, provided all the right tips and tricks; rather, you had to take away from each one what suited both the horse and the rider—a little more each time, building up bit by bit. So, the advantages of conferences and BarCamps were combined. The difference was that it wasn’t an undifferentiated hybrid, but rather that many other factors played a role.
And that’s exactly what we’re trying to do at DestinationCamp. We aim to leverage the advantages of both types of events without simply creating a standard mix, but rather by introducing additional factors into the equation. Shortly after ITB, we’ll conduct a survey—not to provide a platform for a handful of (to put it bluntly) eloquent speakers to present themselves and their approaches, nor to impose a rigid program on participants in advance. The survey is intended to gauge the mood of the industry—and that means everyone is asked, from service providers to tour operators to tourist information staff—and to identify the current “hot topics.” These will serve as the guiding principles for the event—they will define the thematic areas.
Within the thematic areas (guidelines), participants are encouraged to work in a truly active manner—with a distinct “open-space” feel—to tinker, brainstorm ideas, and spend 2.5 days in a “workshop.” And participants are more essential than ever, because through the (albeit restrained, yet still very important) facilitation of the sessions, all participants are encouraged to contribute, so that the desired results can be built upon the interplay of many small tips and tricks from a wide variety of trainers, thereby guaranteeing a solid foundation for long-term success.
Perhaps as a supplement: The name “DestinationCamp” was chosen quite deliberately. The aim is to fully harness the creative potential of BarCamps—while simultaneously broadening the range of topics and making the presentation of results more professional. And: the event is not called “DMOCamp”! Rather, the point is that for a destination to function effectively, many different cogs must mesh together so that the “Guest Project” is and remains sustainably successful. That’s why we want to bring everyone together at DestinationCamp:
- the public tourism sector
- Tourism Associations
- Private and municipal tourist information offices
- Tour Operators and Travel Agents
- Tourism Service Providers - Hotel and Restaurant Industry
- Agencies and system integrators, as well as
- Institutes and universities.
Specialists, managers, division heads, and project managers will spend 2.5 days discussing and evaluating key industry issues, developing measures, and—above all—formulating creative and forward-looking recommendations for action under the motto “Without ‘WE,’ ‘I’ is nothing, ” all while having fun—just like in a real workshop.