ROOST staffers Ashley Andrews and Kerry Blinn had an educational and exciting experience at Destination Marketing Association International's annual conference last week in Minneapolis. The conference began Monday, Aug. 1, and ran through Wednesday, Aug. 3. It included a variety of interesting speakers, workshops, and opportunities to meet people from other destination marketing organizations throughout the country. Ashley, ROOST’s conference sales and service manager, was officially introduced at the conference as one of DMAI’s 30 Under 30, a prestigious program that identifies and provides opportunities for young professionals in the destination marketing field. Ashley said that being recognized as part of that program was one of the highlights of the conference for her. She was the first to be called onstage, since the announcement was done in alphabetical order, which was both exciting and nerve-racking. She got to do a lot of great networking with her 30 Under 30 peers throughout the conference. She thought the various keynote speakers at the conference were great, including the closing one with Andrew Zimmern on the transformative power of travel, and one by digital marketing guru Jay Baer, who encouraged sales and marketing teams to work together. This gave her some great ideas about how ROOST can tighten up the relationship between its sales and marketing teams to get better results for both. Other key points she took away from the experience: • Sales must embrace social media - leads are more likely to close when utilizing social media • Sales people who use social media are more likely to out sell their peers who don't. • There's still a divide with salespeople on if they use their personal Facebook pages to connect with clients. • I also took away reasons why a Meeting Planner needs a DMO - we are a one stop shop, have expertise in the area, communicate with the hotels, one point of contact, offer site tours & exclusive experiences and have connection with venues. For Ashley, who spends her days planning conferences but isn’t used to attending them, the event was a huge learning experience just by seeing how the conference was run and what idea she could pull from its organizers. Kerry, destination master planning coordinator and administrative assistant to ROOST’s CEO, was excited about a few sessions that had a lot of information about planning — one about tourism master planning and one about strategic planning. She got some great ideas from those workshops that she expects to put into practice as she tours the region with CEO James McKenna working on destination master planning. Kerry spent a ton of time networking at the conference. She attended a session about events as a demand driver, and at it she talked with a man who is on the committee for site selection for the Gay Games, similar to to the Olympics but with an LGBT focus. She also talked with a woman from a county CVB in Maryland who was having trouble with marketing her entire county as a whole. The woman was intrigued by the way ROOST markets its various regions within its counties by highlighting the various differentiating characteristics of each area, and she told Kerry she would contact her to use that as a model for her restructuring efforts. Kerry also spent a lot of time talking to the crew from Visit Syracuse, and she learned that they keep their eyes on innovative DMOs in the area and counts ROOST among those. Both Kerry and Ashley said it was a highlight of the conference to visit the new U.S. Bank Stadium during the conference’s opening celebration. The stadium is the new home for the Minnesota Vikings professional football team, and the DMAI event there was the first private event in the building — Ashley said it even smelled new. A drum line welcomed the group to the new stadium. [gallery size="medium" ids="19304,19305,19306,19307,19308,19309,19310,19311,19312,19313,19314,19315,19316,19318,19319,19320,19322,19323,19324,19325,19326,19327,19328,19329,19330,19331,19332,19333,19336,19338,19340,19341,19342,19343,19344,19345,19346,19347,19348,19350,19351,19352,19354,19355,19357"]

ROOST staffers have enjoyed the company of three wonderful interns this summer. The interns have added a lot to the office, and we hope they've learned plenty from their experience here! Emilee Hazelden 23, graduated from SUNY Potsdam in December 2015 with a BFA in Digital Design and New Media From Bloomingdale, went to Saranac Lake High School and Northwood School What did you do at ROOST? Assisted Designer Dan Cash with design work. Created web banner ads, Tupper Lake Recreation Guide, Adventure Outdoors Magazine Ad, Brand Bigfoot Festival and Essex Initiatives logo, several info-graphics, maps, blogs and posters. I've been able to take part in staff meetings and give/receive input and feedback. What did you learn from your time here? I've really enjoyed the opportunity to become part of the team here at ROOST. Everyone is very supportive of one another and positive. It is great to be able to work and collaborate with a team to reach objectives and goals. I've learned a lot about how to market events and tourist destinations, particularly the regions ROOST is responsible for. Looking forward, ROOST has certainly given me the confidence and resources to further my career path. Emilee, left, and Billy, right William Bellos 22, entering his junior year at Rochester Institute of Technology, studying New Media Design From Lake Placid What did you do at ROOST? I worked with Director of Marketing Jasen Lawrence and Web Developers John Huttlinger and Zach Lacourse to create and update a few pages on adkdata, and developed a virtual reality application to show off some 360-degree photos of the region. What did you learn from your time here? I hope the experience I gained in PHP and working with the Oculus Rift will help me out in the job market. Connor Manning 22, graduated from St. Bonaventure University in May 2016 with a BA in Sociology, now seeking an MA in Integrated Marketing Communications From Upper Jay What did you do at ROOST? After ROOST destination sites recently moved to a new reservation software platform through Inntopia, I was presented with the opportunity to work closely with the Advertising Sales and Service Manager in efforts to promote the new booking platform. Duties included organizing and attending meetings with various lodging sites and local businesses to setup and review the new software. I helped the suppliers upload company and product information as well as assist them in managing their inventory on their destination site through Inntopia. What did you learn from your time here? How to communicate effectively with business professionals. I developed a general understanding of how to operate and manage reservation software platforms. I am seeking a career in advertising and or real-estate with hopes of starting my own business down the road, so the knowledge and experience I’ve gained in my time here at ROOST has helped me a great deal.

Have you been to Wilmington, home of Whiteface Mountain lately? If you have, you might have noticed some fancy new signs, an even fancier new bridge and some other notable improvements that really gussy the community up! Curb appeal is an important aspect of a community - especially a community that relies heavily on tourism. It reflects a sense of pride, boosts local morale, makes a great impression on visitors and who knows; it could catch the eye of potential investors, too. A collaborative effort by the Town of Wilmington, the Whiteface Region Visitors Bureau, local businesses, organizations and volunteers over the past few years, many small changes are having a big visual impact, and they aren't done yet! HERE ARE SOME HIGHLIGHTS: The new bridge on Route 86 over the Ausable River right in the middle of Wilmington opened this spring, and included some improvements, including wider shoulders to allow for safer bicycle use and decorative lighting. New, attractive light posts Welcome signs reflect the town's Adirondack location and feature Whiteface Mountain! Street light banners - sponsored by local businesses, these banners reflect a consistent brand and link to the destination website, whitefaceregion.com. Park signs at all of the public parks - with landscaping that is maintained by a generous local volunteer. Birdhouses, made and donated by Mountain Lake Services, appear in various locations throughout the town parks and add a nice splash of color! The Poor Man’s Downhill sign has been designed for this popular biking trail. Businesses have gotten into the act, too! (Examples below - the new sign at Up A Creek Restaurant and the outdoor terrace added at the Hungry Trout.) Stay tuned: the quest to upgrade Wilmington's curb appeal isn't over yet! - Kim Rielly is the director of communications for ROOST

Wilmington spruce-up, millennial marketing, county fairs, DMAI and more - check out the latest ROOST News! ow.ly/SRoi30398ov

Origin Coffee Co. proprietor Jecinda Hughes is one of the newest additions to the ROOST board, starting in January of this year. The Saranac Lake businesswoman adds a youthful voice to the group. Jecinda grew up in northeastern Tennessee, venturing to the Adirondacks in 2000 to attend Paul Smith's College. She earned an associate degree there as the college was transitioning into a four-year school, and she took some time off to let the kinks of the program be worked out before returning there to earn a bachelor's degree. During her time at Paul Smith's, she got the opportunity to travel to Costa Rica as part of a travel tourism program, and she stayed on a coffee farm there. She found out that coffee has as many complexities to it as wine does, and started to get into learning about it as a hobby. In typical Adirondack fashion, Jecinda generally worked in a restaurant as a second job while doing office work as a her day job. She always found that she was more passionate about the restaurant work, though, and would wish she was there while in the office each day. She always loved Saranac Lake, and she bought a house here six years ago, knowing it was where she wanted to raise her daughter and stay for the foreseeable future. But she knew she needed to turn her passion into her full-time job. She had always loved Bean-to, Saranac Lake's previous coffee shop, and felt a void in the community when it closed, since coffee shops often serve as such an important community gathering space. So she started working on a business plan, and when the space became available, she took over the lease at 77 Main St. For about four-and-a-half months, she was busy all the time managing and helping with the complete conversion of the space from a retail store to a coffee shop, and finally, Origin Coffee Co. opened on June 11, 2015. In the year the coffee shop has been open, Jecinda has been pleased with space it has carved out in the community. A strong core of local customers helped the shop break even through one of the most difficult winters, tourism-wise, in recent memory. And she looks forward to the Hotel Saranac's reopening, which she hopes will inspire a more vibrant downtown and will take Origin to a whole new level. Getting involved with ROOST Jecinda jumped at the chance to join the ROOST board. She had worked with ROOST in the past, especially when she worked at the Adirondack North Country Association for two years — the two organizations collaborate frequently, since ANCA focuses on economic development, and tourism is such an important part of economic development in the North Country. She was aware that the impact that ROOST has on the region is huge, so she was happy to get a chance to be able to help with that in any way. She has spent her time on the board so far getting familiar with the back end of how ROOST works as an organization and learning its larger, overarching goals that sometimes get lost in general public discussion. Then she expects to be able to contribute more and see where her voice fits in the big picture. Since ROOST's reach has grown significantly and covers so much area, Jecinda thinks it's important to have representatives from each region in that area, and she wants to be a strong voice for Saranac Lake on the board. She also wants to be a voice for the younger generation of business owners, noting that Saranac Lake has seen a whole slew of younger entrepreneurs lately, accounting for 40 new jobs in the area. Check out this video that ROOST created before Jecinda joined the board: