Getting folks around the table

Last week I was invited to attend some community input meetings being held as part of the Tourism Foundations program for the Tourism Cowichan region. When Geoff Millar invited me, I was pleasantly surprised that the communities had requested to go at this as a region - particularly because some of the communities are quite different in size and engagement with tourism already.

The sessions were facilitated by Jennifer Houiellebecq of the Tourism Planning Group. I have been to many of these types of meetings and am always impressed to see people from public/private sectors and all areas of tourism sit in the same room together. It is one of the critical components to overall success in tourism - if folks can't get around the table, and stay around the table to discuss their vision for tourism and strategies to get there - they are unlikely to meet with success.

So - for those out there who are either trying to get tourism going in a rural area, or trying to get it on track - you may want to take note. But here are some critical points to remember when it comes to engaging stakeholders in tourism planning work:

Never assume a meeting is a group - just because people come to one meeting, that does not mean that they are a cohesive group, nor does it mean they share a common goal or that they will be committed to moving ideas generated along. Multiple gatherings where the same people return time and time again are evidence that you have a group of people involved and interested in the activity. Mutual work being done in between is even stronger evidence.

Who is not around the table may be more important than who is - I have been to many meetings where the guest list is hand picked local dignitaries and public positions who engage in great discussions about tourism, but who may not be the champions required to move things forward. Business must be around the table and if possible, leading the charge - and public leaders need to recognize that tourism is an industry driven, community supported and planned activity. Trust is critical to success - and therefore time needs to be built into the process to ensure that this evolves with those at the table - otherwise well intentioned initiatives can be doomed for failure. Memories about attempted collaboration can have a long shelf life in rural communities, particularly if the people involved remain in leadership positions - so err on the side of inclusion and a slower process in favor of strong results.

So go forth and rally your stakeholders to the table, invite widely, make sure meetings are accessible for different people (i.e. time of day/date/seasons are different for businesses who are not paid for participation) take time to build a process that works for everyone, keep the meetings productive, monitor how they are working for people (do people keep coming? do certain groups fall off?)and be willing to modify as you move along to keep the spirit of trust and momentum going.

Best of success!