Destination Roadmapping

Send us Fan Mail In Episode 50 of Destination Roadmapping , we’re talking about the small details, honest experiences, and unexpected moments that make visitors remember a community long after they leave. Because memorable places usually aren’t trying to be everything to everyone. They know what they do well, they make it easy to enjoy, and they give people something worth talking about later. And...

Send us Fan Mail How many opportunities has your organization lost because nobody answered an email? You'll probably never know. A sponsor looking for partnership information. A vendor asking about booth space. A volunteer ready to help. A performer hoping to be part of your event. They reached out because they wanted to work with your organization—and then, silence. In this episode, Vicky ex...

Send us Fan Mail What if the problem isn't that you need more vendors? What if you already have too many? In this episode of Destination Roadmapping, Vicky challenges one of the most common assumptions in event planning: Bigger is always better. More vendors may sound impressive, but if attendance and spending aren't keeping pace, you could be creating a tougher environment for both vend...

Send us Fan Mail Many community organizations have a phrase they rely on when resources get tight: "We'll figure it out." At first, it sounds admirable. Resourceful. Resilient. But what happens when "we'll figure it out" stops being an occasional response to unexpected challenges and becomes the way your organization operates every single day? In this episode of Desti...

Send us Fan Mail Getting someone to visit once is great. Getting them to come back is where the real magic (and sustainability) happens. This week, Vicky dives into The Return Visit Formula : seven practical strategies for turning one-time visitors into repeat guests. Learn how to build experiences that aren't easy to finish in one visit, market your destination through the seasons, create co...

Send us Fan Mail Sometimes the most exasperating phrase in tourism, events, and community development is: “We tried that already.” In this episode of Destination Roadmapping, Vicky explores why communities often abandon potentially good ideas because a similar version failed once before. Over time, complicated situations get reduced to simple conclusions: “Live music doesn’t work here.” “Nobody co...

Send us Fan Mail Every successful event eventually faces the same dangerous question: “What should we add next year?” In this episode of Destination Roadmapping, Vicky dives into the Expectation Escalation Problem, when communities stop focusing on creating a great experience and start chasing bigger, busier, and more complicated. From overcrowded layouts and volunteer burnout to events losing the...

Send us Fan Mail Some communities spend years trying to turn downtown into the star attraction while visitors are actually coming for the lake, the sports complex, the trails, the rodeo, or the hospital In this episode of Destination Roadmapping, Vicky Soderberg digs into one of the hardest truths in tourism strategy: just because downtown matters emotionally to residents doesn’t mean it’s what dr...

Send us Fan Mail Some communities are building tourism experiences for visitors they WISH they had instead of the visitors already showing up. And that disconnect creates problems fast. In this episode of Destination Roadmapping, we’re unpacking what happens when tourism planning becomes too aspirational:  designing for “ideal” travelers instead of actual visitors  overlooking practical visitor ne...

Send us Fan Mail What makes visitors stay longer in a community? It may not be your attractions, your branding, or your event calendar. It might be something much simpler: Shade. Seating. Snacks. In this episode of Destination Roadmapping, Vicky breaks down one of the most overlooked parts of visitor experience design, the comfort needs that quietly determine whether people linger, explore, spend...

Send us Fan Mail If your vendors are complaining about low traffic, but your event felt busy, you don’t have an attendance problem. You have a layout problem. In this episode of Destination Roadmapping, we’re digging into The Booth Maze. The all-too-common setup where attendees walk your event and somehow miss half your vendors. Not because they didn’t want to see them. Because your layout made it...

Send us Fan Mail Are people visiting your town or just passing through it? Many communities see constant traffic and assume that means tourism is healthy. Cars are moving. Gas stations are busy. Drive-thrus stay packed. But pass-through traffic and visitor engagement are not the same thing. In this episode of Destination Roadmapping, we’re unpacking the difference between being on the route and be...

Send us Fan Mail What if the thing you think makes your event “family-friendly" is actually holding it back? In this episode of Destination Roadmapping , we’re challenging one of the most automatic decisions in event planning: The Kids Zone. Most events have one.  Most planners feel like they should. But what if removing it actually improves the experience for families, vendors, and your over...

Send us Fan Mail Some of the best experiences in your community might be the hardest for visitors to step into. Not because they’re bad.  Because they’re built on familiarity. In this episode, we’re unpacking the “locals only” vibe. The feeling visitors get when everything works, as long as they already know how it works. And here’s the twist:  That local feel? It’s not the problem. It’s actually...

Send us Fan Mail We’ve all experienced it. The meeting ends. Everyone nods. “Great discussion.” Chairs slide back. And then the real conversation starts, in the hallway, in the parking lot. In this episode of Destination Roadmapping , we’re unpacking “the meeting after the meeting," why it happens, what it signals about your team dynamics, and how it quietly undermines your tourism plans and...

Send us Fan Mail Tourism seasons rarely unfold exactly the way we expect. Gas prices shift, travel habits change, weather refuses to cooperate, and sometimes a random 12-second video sends visitors somewhere you never saw coming. In this episode of Destination Roadmapping , we revisit the idea from Episode 20, the “What If” plan for events and apply it to an entire tourism season. Because just lik...

Send us Fan Mail Most small-town events are incredibly organized. But they’re organized for the committee, not the crowd. If your layout makes sense to the board but confuses first-timers  If vendors are placed based on history instead of flow  If guests need a volunteer just to figure out where to start You may have designed an insider event. In this episode, we break down: The difference between...

Send us Fan Mail If someone pulled into your town at 3:00 p.m. on a Friday, no wedding, no meeting, no relatives to visit, would they stay 24 hours? Or would they quietly keep driving? In this episode, we’re walking through a simple but revealing diagnostic: the 24-Hour Visitor Test. Because there’s a difference between attracting visitors and structuring your community to hold them overnight and...

Send us Fan Mail Ever leave a meeting uncertain if anything actually got decided? You’re not alone. In small towns, meetings are where vision, risk, nostalgia, and practicality all collide, and without clear purpose and defined roles, they spin. Same conversation. Different month. In this episode, we break down:  • Why looping meetings are actually unclear expectations  • How role confusion quietl...

Send us Fan Mail Not every struggling event crashes. Some just quietly fade away. Attendance dips slightly.  Sponsors still sign, but ask more questions.  Volunteers respond a little slower.  Energy feels softer. Nothing breaks badly enough to force a decision.  So it stays on the calendar. In this episode, we unpack the difference between a failing event and a fading one, and why fading is actual...

Send us Fan Mail Your town isn’t falling behind.  It’s overwhelmed. In this episode, we unpack a truth most small-town leaders quietly carry but rarely say out loud: overwhelm is not a failure of effort, it’s a failure of clarity. When the same handful of people are carrying the operational load, the emotional load, and the political load all at once, it’s no wonder progress feels slippery. The pr...

Send us Fan Mail When something goes sideways at an event (and it always will) why does everyone freeze? A line backs up. A performer is late. A guest asks a simple question. Staff look at volunteers. Volunteers look at staff. Someone says, “Let me check with…,” and five minutes later the problem is still standing there, arms crossed. In this episode, Vicky digs into the real reason staff and volu...

Send us Fan Mail Vendors make a decision about your event long before the last attendee leaves and it quietly determines your event’s quality, revenue, and reputation. In this episode, we unpack the vendor experience nobody talks about: load-in chaos, unclear communication, uneven enforcement, poor sales flow, and the tiny frictions that add up to “never again.” Vendors rarely complain. They just...

Send us Fan Mail “We don’t have the budget.” It’s one of the most common phrases in community planning. In this episode, I unpack The Budget Mirage : the idea that a lack of money is usually standing in for something else, unclear priorities, fuzzy outcomes, or discomfort making a visible choice. This conversation isn’t about finding more funding.  It’s about spending with intention. We’ll talk ab...

Send us Fan Mail Every event ends with a crash. Not the bad kind, the adrenaline kind. When the last guest leaves and the radios go quiet, there’s a letdown that most teams rush past or ignore. In this episode, Vicky breaks down the post-event hangover as a real, predictable phase, one that starts with adrenaline dropping and evolves into clarity, reflection, and smarter decisions. You’ll learn ho...