Skift Take
Convention bureaus are shifting their priorities to connect more people from disparate backgrounds, cultures and industries in an effort to drive new business development, competitive advantage, and knowledge sharing.
Julie Coker Graham assumed her role as president and CEO of the Philadelphia Convention & Visitors Bureau on January 1 this year, making her the first female African American in that position in the U.S.
Previous to that, Graham was executive VP of the CVB in charge of managing all departments and operations. She began her hospitality and tourism career with Hyatt Hotels over two decades ago, where she rose to general manager by the age of 30, and twice she was nominated as Hyatt GM of the year in 2004 and 2006.
Philadelphia is unusual in American tourism promotion because the city has both a destination marketing organization for the domestic market, Visit Philadelphia, and the Philadelphia CVB that services the meetings industry and long-haul markets. The primary mandate for the CVB is to fill the Pennsylvania Convention Center and 12,000 surrounding hotel rooms.
Up until the end of 2013, Philadelphia had somewhat of a perception challenge among meeting planners for its uncooperative labor unions, much like other cities in the northeast have had. But in December of that year, SMG Conference Venue Management took over operations. And then in 2014, the city and SMG initiated a sweeping Customer Satisfaction Agreement that renegotiated the draconian labor union work rules present at the time.
Convention business rebounded in 2014 with a 42% rise in convention-related economic impact based on 28 new event bookings, which the CVB directly attributes to the new labor work rules. Graham was instrumental in stewarding those changes through various stages of advocacy and negotiation. She was also on the local host committee that won the bid for the upcoming Democratic National Convention in July.
In 2014 and early ‘15, the Philadelphia CVB’s message to the meeting planning community revolved around transitional themes, including “We Heard You” and “Making It a New Day.” Now, the theme is “Progress & Partnerships,” illustrated by initiatives like the town hall event that Graham hosted in September last year. It gave the city’s major convention industry partners a platform to present Philly as one unit working in collaboration together.
A video of that town hall anchors the CVB’s comprehensive website, which sets the standard in the U.S. for online destination promotion targeting the meetings industry. Specifically, the Digital Convention Services Kit is among the most thorough set of online tools we've seen to en
