Putting Your Best Foot Forward: Tourism Planning through First Impressions

	Speakers:
	Myra Moss District Specialist & Program Leader, Community Development Ohio State University Extension		Bill Grunkemeyer
	Description: Communities who choose tourism as an economic development strategy usually have in mind the image they want to project to visitors. They have identified attributes, themes or features that they market as the unique attractions to their community and tourism plans reflect this emphasis. How do communities then discover if their intended message is received by the visitor, or if some unintended impression is the one that remains instead? Candid feedback from visitors is difficult to obtain making it difficult for the community to determine the effectiveness of their tourism. We propose to share an effective method for the tourism industry to use in evaluating the success of tourism objectives. By obtaining first-hand visitor feedback through the First Impressions Program, a community can evaluate the effectiveness of tourism planning. Originally developed by the Wisconsin Extension Service, OSU Extension modified and expanded First Impressions and, during the past three years, has assisted 22 Ohio communities. Partnerships have been formed with Downtown Ohio, Inc., the umbrella organization for Main Street Ohio, and Ohio Byway Links, Inc., representative of 18 Ohio's scenic byways. Through the First Impressions process two communities are matched and, using volunteer visitors, conduct anonymous surveys of each other. Resulting observations help each community evaluate the effectiveness of tourism planning and progress toward reaching tourism objectives. This presentation will involve participants in reaching a greater knowledge of how the First Impressions program works, implementation in their own communities, and ways the results can be used to further their community's tourism planning. Participants will also come to understand the critical role that the Extension professional plays in facilitation and guidance to communities engaged in First Impressions. Finally, the need for partnerships and what it takes to make them effective will be discussed. Delivery techniques will include power point presentation and dialogue.