Skills, Training, and Experiences Associated with Success in the Role of a Convention and Visitors Bureau Executive: An Exploratory Study

Abstract

The convention and visitors bureau executive plays a number of managerial roles. Selecting the right person to perform these roles necessitates identifying the skills, abilities, training, and experiences that lead to success as a convention and visitors bureau executive. This exploratory study reports data from both a survey of roles and interviews with 22 convention and visitors bureau executives chosen to represent more successful and less successful leaders of small, medium, and large U.S. convention and visitors bureaus. As part of a larger study, this article reports their responses to questions about their perceptions of managerial roles, needed skills, experiences, and training in the effort to identify the competencies needed for their jobs and the reasons that some are successful and others are not. As an exploratory study, this research raises interesting questions about the differences between more successful and less successful convention and visitors bureau executives and the need for further research on this industry and profession.

KEYWORDS:

• convention and visitors bureau executives
• Destination Marketing Organizations (DMOs)
• roles
• job description