And, as much as I could have individually parsed them into three days worth of blog posts, something kept telling me that they were somehow connected. You can be the judge:

“There’s a Reason why Your Windshield is Bigger than your Rear-view Mirror.” While it’s important to periodically check to see if the competition is gaining on you, Dan made it clear that there are a lot more opportunities in front of us than behind us. And yet, I am consistently amazed at how fiercely we hold on to the way we used to sell and market.

“My Favorite Thing About My Harley? There’s No Reverse Gear.” Going back to the “Tried and True” is a recipe to get “Tried and Bruised.” Unless it’s getting back to the basics of relationship building to build fans and sales, going back may feel safe and warm for a while, but it completely ignores the opportunity to stay fresh and current with your target markets. And speaking of those target markets...

“Junk Mail is Good Mail That Went to the Wrong Person.” One of Dan’s biggest laughs of the morning...but one of his most salient points. It’s all about understanding the differences in how your many customers process marketing messages and make decisions. Ask most Boomers if the like Direct Mail, and you’ll get a responding “no.” Yet 75% of Millennials say they like Direct Mail. 25% of consumers are willing to share their mobile phone numbers to get deals and updates from the businesses and destinations they like. While we share the same DNA, none of us are really the same. Thus, the way we communicate needs to be surgically refined for each target.

Dan’s three quotes reinforce the zeitgeist (“spirit of the time,” “essence of the moment”) in which we find ourselves. The answers aren’t behind us...they are before us. Just ask Blockbuster Video. Had they been looking out the windshield instead of concerning themselves with knocking back their traditional competitors, they would have seen the future that was Netflix.

It’s an exciting time out there for all of us, evidenced by 14 DMO CEO leadership changes in the past month. Change is good. It refreshes us. It brings new ideas to the table. It’s an exciting time to be alive.

Or, at least it can be, if you take Dan’s comments to heart.