What past cities have made the most of hosting a World's Fair and why?

I think that most cities have used Expos to transform themselves, but the big stories that are great to dive into are the ways that Seattle and Vancouver went from virtually unknown to global players overnight. Spokane was another story all together - it was going down, down, down as a city and the “town leaders” were desperate to find a way to pull themselves out of a nosedive. They hired a community development specialist who had a very specific idea that included hosting a World’s Fair like Seattle and they did. In the opinion of the residents, it saved Spokane. Milan has done well, as did Yoseu Korea in 2012 and of course Shanghai became a global powerhouse as a result of their hosting in 2010. Most have been transformative - including things like the Riverwalk in San Antonio and the Expo needle in Montreal.

How will hosting Expo 2023 augment convention and tourism marketing efforts for our region?

In each year leading up to Expo there will be a number of major events held in Minnesota related to the theme - for example there is already a plan to host a big US-Italy Health and Wellness Summit in the next year to build on relations that have grown in this Expo Milano and to link this to Expo 2023. Milan became the #1 tourist destination according the Kayak searches this last year and the New York Times named it the #1 tourist destination this year due to Expo. But in 2023 there will be 10-12 million visitors. That includes 8-10 million from the general region (one-day drive) and 2-4 million from overseas or long distances. In addition there will be literally hundreds of other meetings, conventions, congresses, symposiums, trade shows, etc. For example, Aveda will host a Global Congress of their top partners - over 10,000 now and more in the future and they are talking about bringing that to Minnesota in 2023. The “long tail” of how this impacts tourism and conventions long-term is the big unknown but I think it is safe to say that if 10 million people come to Minnesota for Expo some will be back, and back, and back again.

What can we do to help the Expo 2023 leadership land the event for Minnesota?

The big factors are in two categories. One is letting our U.S. government know that Minnesota wants to bid on a “level playing field” and this would be enhanced by re-engagement by either Commerce or State department in the global organization - the Bureau of International Expositions. Second, encouraging major players in our region to express their support and where possible to become small, medium, or large sponsors. We are two-thirds of the way to completing our budget and want to complete this part of the work soon so we can just focus on the bid process itself.

What past cities have made the most of hosting a World's Fair and why?

I think that most cities have used Expos to transform themselves, but the big stories that are great to dive into are the ways that Seattle and Vancouver went from virtually unknown to global players overnight. Spokane was another story all together - it was going down, down, down as a city and the “town leaders” were desperate to find a way to pull themselves out of a nosedive. They hired a community development specialist who had a very specific idea that included hosting a World’s Fair like Seattle and they did. In the opinion of the residents, it saved Spokane. Milan has done well, as did Yoseu Korea in 2012 and of course Shanghai became a global powerhouse as a result of their hosting in 2010. Most have been transformative - including things like the Riverwalk in San Antonio and the Expo needle in Montreal.

How will hosting Expo 2023 augment convention and tourism marketing efforts for our region?

In each year leading up to Expo there will be a number of major events held in Minnesota related to the theme - for example there is already a plan to host a big US-Italy Health and Wellness Summit in the next year to build on relations that have grown in this Expo Milano and to link this to Expo 2023. Milan became the #1 tourist destination according the Kayak searches this last year and the New York Times named it the #1 tourist destination this year due to Expo. But in 2023 there will be 10-12 million visitors. That includes 8-10 million from the general region (one-day drive) and 2-4 million from overseas or long distances. In addition there will be literally hundreds of other meetings, conventions, congresses, symposiums, trade shows, etc. For example, Aveda will host a Global Congress of their top partners - over 10,000 now and more in the future and they are talking about bringing that to Minnesota in 2023. The “long tail” of how this impacts tourism and conventions long-term is the big unknown but I think it is safe to say that if 10 million people come to Minnesota for Expo some will be back, and back, and back again.

What can we do to help the Expo 2023 leadership land the event for Minnesota?

The big factors are in two categories. One is letting our U.S. government know that Minnesota wants to bid on a “level playing field” and this would be enhanced by re-engagement by either Commerce or State department in the global organization - the Bureau of International Expositions. Second, encouraging major players in our region to express their support and where possible to become small, medium, or large sponsors. We are two-thirds of the way to completing our budget and want to complete this part of the work soon so we can just focus on the bid process itself.