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, ...

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 De...

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 fl...

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 di...

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. Sam...

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.Nothin...

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 s...

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 ...

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, unc...

“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, ...

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...

January has a reputation problem.Too many destinations treat January like a dead zone: quiet, unimportant, or something to simply get through until spring. But that thinking quietly undermines momentum for the rest of the year.In ...

A new year or a new season doesn’t magically reset anything.Most communities walk straight into January carrying the same meetings, the same tired events, and the same frustrations they were juggling the month before. And adding more goa...

Most visitors don’t fall in love with a destination because of one big attraction.They fall in love because of how a place feels, because of how it makes them feelIn this episode of Destination Roadmapping, we’re talking abo...

Most tourism and event websites don’t fail because they’re ugly or outdated.They fail because they make people work too hard to decide.In this episode of Destination Roadmapping, we’re taking a tough-love look at what your web...

Nothing derails an event faster than discovering another organization has scheduled their big event on your exact date. Sometimes it’s innocent. Sometimes it’s political. Sometimes it’s a whole thing.In this episode of ...

It doesn’t matter how polished your event is. Every festival, tournament, parade, or downtown weekend has one thing in common: the unpredictable.From sudden storms to fainting visitors, lost kids, or full evacuations, every commun...

It’s Thanksgiving week in the States, and there’s no better time to talk about something every community thinks it’s doing well, but many are quietly struggling with: gratitude.In this episode, Vicky digs into The Gratitude Ga...

Since it's my birthday this week, I thought we should take a look at how communities do and don't celebrate THEIR birthdays. In today’s episode of Destination Roadmapping, we’re digging into why your community’s birthday is one of t...

You don’t need a convention center or a six-figure budget to compete in the meetings market.You just need to know who you’re built for — and how to prove it.In Part 2 of Can Your Small Town host Conferences and Meetings? ...

Small towns can host mighty gatherings, no convention center required. In this episode of Destination Roadmapping™, Vicky shares how rural communities can attract smaller conferences, retreats, and meetings by leaning into authenticity...

Micromanagement is fear in disguise, and it’s quietly killing your community’s creativity.In this episode of Destination Roadmapping, Vicky unpacks the truth behind overcontrol: it doesn’t protect quality, it limits capacity. Yo...

Your town doesn’t have a volunteer shortage, it has a volunteer retention problem. In this episode of Destination Roadmapping, we’re cracking open one of the most painful but fixable community event issues: the rev...

If your event or visitor experience looks good on paper but falls flat in person, it might be missing the magic ingredient — sensory design.In this episode of Destination Roadmapping, Vicky Soderberg breaks down why the most unf...

QR codes aren’t the enemy.But when they lead to broken links, cluttered homepages, or pages that make visitors pinch and zoom until they give up? That’s not innovation—that’s aggravation.In this episode of Destination Roadmapping...