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Share Your Story and Engage the Future of Tourism

Visit OP recently announced the launch of our signature workforce development initiative called PATH, Professions Across Tourism & Hospitality.  An integral part of this program is the partnership between Visit Overland Park and local school districts. We're scheduling in-class speakers to inspire and educate middle and high school students about careers in the tourism industry.

The Blue Valley School District (BVSD) has reached out on behalf of its teachers, planning the curriculum for the upcoming school year starting in Spring 2024. With 11 middle schools and 8 high schools offering college and career exploration courses, we're eager to start scheduling speakers. In addition, each high school offers an introduction to culinary arts, and select campuses offer marketing and sales, entrepreneurship, digital communication, and graphic design courses, among others.

 

THIS IS WHERE YOU COME IN!

We're looking for tourism-related businesses and tourism professionals to speak about their careers in our exciting industry. These individuals will be:

  • Visionaries, insightful, and practical speakers who help their audiences understand and prepare for the changing nature of work in the digital age. They offer valuable advice and guidance on how to adapt, innovate, and thrive in the new world of work. 
  • Compassionate, knowledgeable, and inspiring speakers who can share their personal and professional insights on how to cope with stress, overcome adversity, and achieve happiness and fulfillment.
  • Experienced, inspiring, and influential speakers who help their audiences understand and improve the culture of their organizations. Offering practical and proven solutions on how to build and maintain a workplace culture that supports teamwork, innovation, and excellence.
  • Leaders, inventors, and disruptors who share their knowledge and skills on how to innovate and transform your company. These speakers can help your audience discover how to generate new ideas, solve problems, and create incredible value.
  • Experts, and thought leaders who share their knowledge and insights on how to market effectively with practical and proven tips and techniques on how to create and execute successful marketing strategies, campaigns, and tactics that drive results and growth.

If you are interested in inspiring the next generation of tourism professionals, please reach out to a member of the Visit OP team with the right team member at your business who will be coordinating these efforts. 

If you have any questions or need further information, please contact Warren Wilkinson at wwilkinson@visitop.com. 

Thank you for your consideration. We're excited to partner with you on this significant initiative!

 

SIGN UP TODAY

Warren Wilkinson Headshot

Warren Wilkinson President & CEO

(913) 553-2878

A passionate travel and tourism advocate he serves as President of Visit Overland Park. Prior to his joining the organization he served in senior roles with several advertising agencies including Kansas City based Barkley, leading the travel and tourism practice as well as serving as Managing Director for the global travel and tourism practice at MBuy. He also served as Chief Marketing Officer for Choose Chicago where he helped lead the consolidation of tourism efforts for the city of Chicago into one entity from three and permanently increased the annual budget by $18 million dollars via additional state and city resources. At Choose Chicago, he led the marketing effort to increase tourism for Chicago resulting in 2012 visitation to Chicago totaling 46.37 million visitors, a 6.2% increase from 2011. The growth was fueled by a significant increase of 10.2 percent in overnight leisure visitation (which exceeded the national growth rate by three percentage points). International visitation to Chicago rose 14.2% in 2012 more than twice the national average. Additionally, he led the redesign and digital consolidation of Chicago’s visitor focused web presence to the ChooseChicago.com website. This new multilingual site saw a 250% growth in visitation to over five million annual visitors. Prior to joining Choose Chicago, Wilkinson served as the Senior Vice President of Marketing and Communications at Visit Indy, responsible for directing the marketing and communications efforts for the official destination marketing organization for greater Indianapolis. Mr. Wilkinson has more than 20 years of experience in the airline industry, having served in key senior marketing and communications positions for national and regional airline companies. From 2001 through 2008 he served as Vice President of Marketing, Communications and Government Affairs for Republic Airways, second largest regional airline in the world. Warren lives in Leawood, Kansas with his wife and kids but on the weekends can be seen at Overland Park’s Scheel’s soccer complex watching his son play soccer or Lacrosse or at Oak Park Mall with his wife enjoying watching their daughter perform at Culture House.