I don’t know about you...but I thought the conversations (both from the stage and on the tradeshow floor) were significantly more insightful than in years past. That’s probably because DMO pros are facing challenges like none we have ever seen...and we’re searching for solutions from both friends and competitors.

And then, there was the closing speech from outgoing DMAI Chair Maura Gast. As with her comments to kick off her reign as DMAI Chair last year in Vegas, they were peppered with lyrics (just one of the reasons I so love her). The best: a line from Jim Steinman that sums up why we all do what we do:

"I don't ever want to be rescued. I don't ever want to be saved. I got a feeling that I'm gonna be alive for ever. Dancing on the Edge of a Grave."

But, as much as I’m a lyrics guy, Maura penned an even more compelling compilation of words which, if you were there you need to recall and if you were not you need to hear:

"The strength and stability of the future...lies in our ability to make the most of those visitors. And there is no one better equipped to do that than this (the DMO) industry.

"If you build a place people want to visit, you build a place where people want to live.

If you build a place where people want to live, you’ll build a place where people want to work.

If you build a place where people want to work, you’ll build a place where business has to be.

And if you build a place where business has to be, you’ll build a place where people have to visit."

If you’re in the DMO world and trying to communicate relevance...I suggest you appropriate Maura’s lyric.

I’m guessing she won’t mind.