Curate Update: Design Thinking, Innovation, and Resilience

By Christopher Durso, Vice President of Content Development, Hospitality Sales & Marketing Association International (HSMAI)

As we’ve always said, Curate never ends. Our exclusive Executive Insights Forum for HSMAI Organizational Members exists in conversation with itself, with presentations, discussions, and collaborations that build from one event to the next. Fall Curate 2019 will be no exception. Scheduled for The Breakers Palm Beach on Sept. 4–5, the program blends high-level education and networking with unique activities — creating an innovative cross-disciplinary experience for hospitality sales, marketing, and revenue optimization executives.

DESIGN THINKING: In last month’s issue of Executive Insights, we offered a primer on design thinking, which we explained would be a part of Fall Curate 2019. But how exactly? We’ve partnered with DesignThinkersGroup USA to present a custom workshop that will do two things: one, ground attendees in the basics of design thinking, including how they might apply it to seemingly insoluble problems in their own organizations; and two, lead them through an in-depth exercise using design thinking to address convergence and collaboration among the sales, marketing, and revenue optimization disciplines.

Not coincidentally, collaboration across teams is one of the top industry challenges that Organizational Members identified when we first launched Curate last year. This is a way for us to continue exploring this issue, potentially develop best practices for solving it that could benefit the entire industry, and introduce our attendees to a process that might help their teams respond to other issues.

INNOVATION: Speaking of top industry challenges — another one of them was (and is) innovation, which has been a linchpin topic for Curate, including speakers from Alibaba at Spring Curate 2018, Under Armour and Amazon at Fall Curate 2018, and Ryman Hospitality Properties and Warner Music Nashville at Spring Curate 2019, not to mention our monthly Curate (formerly Innovation) Book Club here, which this month spotlights Range by David Epstein. Now, we’re taking the next logical step: conducting original research. We’re partnering with professors from École hôtelière de Lausanne (EHL) who last year produced the Hospitality Innovation Industry Report, on a similar study for the United States. EHL’s Elisa Chan, Ph.D., will take the stage at Fall Curate 2019 to discuss this new project, including soliciting input from attendees.

RESILIENCE: Yet another top challenge? Talent development and retention, which is of particular concern as the record-setting economy shows signs of slowing down — and a sizable portion of today’s hospitality workforce has only sold, marketed, and revenue-optimized during a growth cycle. To help prepare them — and everyone else — for what might lie ahead, MMGY Global President Katie Briscoe will present an economic outlook for hospitality and travel, including a panel discussion with industry veterans who have experienced booms, busts, and everything in between, and will discuss strategies for staying resilient no matter what happens.

Curate will be held at The Breakers Palm Beach on Sept. 4–5 as an exclusive benefit for HSMAI Organizational Members. Make sure your company’s delegates have been assigned and are registered.


Categories: Marketing
Insight Type: Articles