Past Connect Sessions

Did you attend one of our Connect sessions? We hope you found it valuable. Here are the materials from the sessions. New materials will be added after each meeting.

CONNECT: Ask a Travel Journalist

Tuesday, July 23 | 2-3:30 pm
Zoom Virtual Session

Video Recording

Visit Fort Wayne raises the community’s profile and destination awareness through our work with national travel media.

Join us for a virtual session to learn more about how we work with travel media and hear from three travel and food journalists, including the Senior Travel Editor of Midwest Living, who will share their insights, interests, and what they look for in travel stories. We’ll follow a panel discussion, with questions and answers, and allow attendees to pitch a story idea.

Participating Journalists Include:

Julia Sayers Gokhale, Senior Travel Editor of Midwest Living

Julia Sayers Gokhale is the Senior Travel Editor at Midwest Living, where she specializes in traveling the Midwest and sharing its fascinating stories. Currently based in Des Moines, Iowa, Julia has spent the last 12 years of her career working across print and digital publications, primarily covering travel, food and lifestyle. Her work has appeared in Birmingham Magazine, Cooking with Paula Deen, Travel + Leisure, Southern Living, The Culture Trip and more. When she's not traveling, she's cooking, hiking or hanging out with her French Bulldog—and Instagramming it all.

Julekha Dash, Writer and Editor

Julekha Dash is a Maryland journalist who covers food, travel, and art, specializing in the mid-Atlantic, with bylines in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Food and Wine, Conde Nast Traveler, Travel & Leisure, Hemispheres, Plate, and others. She also covers adaptive reuse, retail, and other commercial real estate topics as a longtime business reporter who held staff positions at the Baltimore Business Journal and Computerworld. A Pittsburgh native, Dash attended college in Chicago and lived in Boston, Birmingham, Ala., Charlottesville, Va., and Southern Delaware before making Maryland her home. She has visited more than two dozen countries, most recently Norway, and takes Zumba classes and swims in her spare time.

Melissa Corbin, Food and Travel Journalist

A Tennessee-based travel, food, and beverage journalist, Melissa Corbin comes from a long line of storytellers. So, when she got her first writing assignment in 2012, she knew that she had found her people. She enjoys introducing readers to the people and places that make their corner of the world unique with bylines such as Wine Enthusiast, Food and Wine, Lonely Planet, and Garden and Gun. Corbin has also recently added branding and PR consultation to her list of services to help others tell their stories in the most compelling ways possible. You can follow her adventures on Instagram @MelCorbin – she’d be happy that you gave her a holler.

Recent Articles We’ve Placed Include:

The sweetest airport wants to be the most accessible airport too – The Points Guy
The disabled traveller market represents billions in untapped revenue – BBC
Travel: Find vibrant arts, vintage cars, river trips in Fort Wayne, Indiana – The Knoxville News-Sentinel
Road Trips from Toledo: 10 Things to Do in Fort Wayne – Toledo Area Parent
I Went to the Biggest Vera Bradley Sale in the World – Shondaland.com
This Overlooked Midwest City is Full of Hidden Treasures – Daily Beast

CONNECT: The Power of Fort Wayne's Story

Wednesday, November 15, 2024 | 11 a.m.

We all play a role in building upon the momentum of our community and sharing Fort Wayne’s story. Join us to learn about current trends setting Fort Wayne apart and updates on the hottest developments in town, including The Pearl, Riverfront, Electric Works, and Downtown Fort Wayne.

Access the tools and talking points to help you as you sell and promote Fort Wayne

Watch Video

CONNECT with Travel Data

8:00 am, Thursday, February 9, 2023

STR, formerly Smith Travel Research, provided premium data benchmarking, analytics, and marketplace insights for the global hospitality industry. See Presentation.

CONNECT with Visit Fort Wayne, September 14, 2022

CONNECT with Visit Fort Wayne

11:30am, Wednesday, September 14, 2022

SALES AND MARKETING SYMPOSIUM

Derek Laliberte – Owner and Founder of Disruptur – workshop held discovering new ways our industry can look at marketing and sales processes.

CONNECT 2022

CONNECT with Visit Fort Wayne

11:30am – 1:30pm, Thursday, March 24, 2022

Open house of the Visit Fort Wayne offices.

CONNECT with The Hospitality Industry

11:30am – 1pm, Wednesday, August 11

CONNECT with STR

8am - 10am, Wednesday, February 26, 2020 at Parkview Mirro Center

Kelsey Fenerty, Research Analyst with STR, shared hotel performance news, hospitality data insights, trends, and forecasts.

CONNECT with the Hospitality Industry

11:30am – 1pm, Wednesday, July 31, 2019 at Conner's Rooftop

CONNECT with the Hospitality Industry

11:30am–1:00pm, June 21 at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse

CONNECT with Travel Data

8:30am–10:00am, March 22 at the Grand Wayne Convention Center

Melissa Holm, Business Development Executive at Smith Travel Research, shared insight into U.S. travel trends.

Extras

Visit hotelnewsnow.com to create a free account and download the presentation.

Ins and Outs of Contracts

8:30am–10:00am, September 14, 2017 at Holiday Inn at IPFW and the Memorial Coliseum

Contracts can be confusing. But they are an important part of booking new and returning groups into our city!

Extras

CONNECT with Contracts Presentation

Frontline Training Workshop

8:30am–10:30am, May 11, 2017 at Courtyard Marriott Downtown

Our annual workshop for Frontline staff featured Mike Nutter from the Fort Wayne TinCaps talking about providing excellent customer experiences, and the Visitors Center's Jen Brown talking about how to talk to and engage with visitors