Destination Roadmapping

Vicky Soderberg
  • ٠٫٠ (٠)
  • الأماكن والسفر

A 10-minute spark of inspiration with a side of tough love—helping small towns create big impact through tourism, events, and unforgettable visitor experiences.

  1. قبل ٤ أيام

    The Email Nobody Answered

    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 explores why unanswered emails are more than an administrative headache. They're missed opportunities that can quietly affect sponsorships, vendor recruitment, volunteer engagement, and your community's reputation. You'll learn five simple ways to make sure inquiries don't fall through the cracks, including how to assign ownership, improve response times, and create a system that keeps opportunities from slipping away. Because sometimes the biggest opportunity for your community isn't finding new people. It's responding to the ones who have already found you. Coming next week: Episode 50! Join us as we celebrate with giveaways, free resources, and a chance to win a one-hour Destination Roadmapping Strategy Session. Thanks for listening! Look for new episodes each Wednesday wherever you get your podcasts, and in the meantime... Connect with Vicky on LinkedIn

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  2. Do You Have Too Many Vendors?

    ٢٤ يونيو

    Do You Have Too Many Vendors?

    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 vendors and visitors. Learn how to recognize the warning signs that your vendor marketplace has outgrown your audience, why vendor success is a better metric than vendor count, and five practical ways to create a stronger event experience. In this episode: Three signs you may have too many vendorsWhy visitors don't care about your vendor countHow to measure vendor successThe importance of variety and vendor curationWhy shrinking your footprint may improve the experienceHow to know when your event has earned the right to growBecause the healthiest events aren't the ones with the most vendors, they're the ones where visitors leave happy, vendors make money, and everyone wants to come back next year. #EventPlanning #TourismMarketing #DestinationManagement #MainStreet #CommunityEvents #SmallTownTourism #EventExperience #DestinationRoadmapping Thanks for listening! Look for new episodes each Wednesday wherever you get your podcasts, and in the meantime... Connect with Vicky on LinkedIn

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  3. The Capacity Mirage

    ١٧ يونيو

    The Capacity Mirage

    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 Destination Roadmapping, Vicky explores The Capacity Mirage, the illusion that everything is fine simply because the work keeps getting done. However, behind the scenes, organizations are being held together by a handful of exhausted people who continuously fill the gaps, prevent crises, and quietly compensate for systems that no longer work. You'll learn how to: Conduct an honest capacity audit to identify hidden vulnerabilitiesRecognize the "hero systems" that rely too heavily on one personDetermine what can be simplified, sunsetted, or removed entirelyProtect staff and volunteers from chronic burnoutRedefine success beyond simply surviving another seasonBecause resilience should help organizations navigate occasional challenges. It should never become their long-term staffing plan. If your team is running on determination, duct tape, and the hope that somebody will save the day one more time, this episode is for you. Thanks for listening! Look for new episodes each Wednesday wherever you get your podcasts, and in the meantime... Connect with Vicky on LinkedIn

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  4. The Return Visit Formula

    ١٠ يونيو

    The Return Visit Formula

    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 collections and trails that inspire return trips, and leverage the small-town advantage of making people feel known. If you've ever wondered why some communities develop fiercely loyal visitors while others struggle to generate repeat business, this episode is for you. Because the goal isn't just getting people to visit. It's making them ask, "When can we come back?" Thanks for listening! Look for new episodes each Wednesday wherever you get your podcasts, and in the meantime... Connect with Vicky on LinkedIn

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  5. Rethinking "That Won't Work Here"

    ٣ يونيو

    Rethinking "That Won't Work Here"

    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 comes downtown at night.”“Food trucks failed.”“People won’t pay for tickets.”But are those actually facts or just stories that have been repeated long enough to become accepted as truth? You'll learn how communities develop organizational folklore, why past failures create fear-based decision-making, and how current leaders often inherit assumptions they were never around to question. Along the way, you'll discover practical ways to challenge outdated conclusions, evaluate ideas more effectively, document lessons learned, distinguish between failed concepts and failed execution, and use small-scale experiments to test new opportunities without taking unnecessary risks. Because sometimes the thing holding a community back isn't a lack of ideas. It's a conclusion they stopped questioning years ago. And that might be worth revisiting. Thanks for listening! Look for new episodes each Wednesday wherever you get your podcasts, and in the meantime... Connect with Vicky on LinkedIn

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  6. The Expectation Escalation Problem

    ٢٧ مايو

    The Expectation Escalation Problem

    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 their identity entirely, this episode explores why growth is not always improvement and why some festivals quietly collapse under the weight of their own success. Importantly, Vicky doesn't just identify the problem she breaks down practical ways communities can avoid and mitigate the escalation trap by: improving comfort before complexityediting aggressively instead of endlessly expandingprotecting the personality of the eventbuilding around realistic volunteer capacityand redefining what sustainable success actually looks likeBecause sometimes the smartest thing an event can do is stop trying to outdo itself every single year. Thanks for listening! Look for new episodes each Wednesday wherever you get your podcasts, and in the meantime... Connect with Vicky on LinkedIn

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  7. What if Your Downtown isn't the Main Draw?

    ٢١ مايو

    What if Your Downtown isn't the Main Draw?

    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 drives visitor behavior. This episode explores: Why communities misidentify their true visitor anchorThe difference between community identity and visitor flowWhy downtown may work better as an “enhancer” instead of the primary drawHow to connect downtown naturally into the visitor experiencePractical ways to capture spending from sports tourism, outdoor recreation, and other visitor marketsBecause tourism success isn’t about forcing visitors to care about downtown. It’s about making the entire experience flow naturally enough that people stay longer, spend more, and actually want to come back. Thanks for listening! Look for new episodes each Wednesday wherever you get your podcasts, and in the meantime... Connect with Vicky on LinkedIn

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  8. When Your Visitor Experience is Built Around Assumptions

    ١٣ مايو

    When Your Visitor Experience is Built Around Assumptions

    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 needs  chasing upscale branding while basics are still broken, and ignoring the opportunities already sitting right in front of you Because visitor behavior tells the truth. If your destination struggles with short stays, low exploration, weak downtown engagement, or visitors who never quite connect with the community, this episode is for you. Small towns do not need to become someone else to build stronger tourism. They need to understand who they already serve and build from there. Thanks for listening! Look for new episodes each Wednesday wherever you get your podcasts, and in the meantime... Connect with Vicky on LinkedIn

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مشاهدة الكل (٤٩)

حول

A 10-minute spark of inspiration with a side of tough love—helping small towns create big impact through tourism, events, and unforgettable visitor experiences.

المعلومات

  • صناع العمل
    Vicky Soderberg
  • سنوات النشاط
    ٢٠٢٥ - ٢٠٢٦
  • الحلقات
    ٤٩
  • التقييم
    ملائم
  • حقوق النشر
    © 2026 Destination Roadmapping
  • موقع البرنامج على الويب
    Destination Roadmapping