The 2021 Annual Meet Minneapolis Customer Advisory Board (CAB) meeting took place on Nov. 17-19. It was Meet Minneapolis’ third such meeting with the board and the second in-person gathering.

According to our CAB facilitator, David Kliman, “Strategic feedback and advice from customer thought leaders helps improve and leverage sales, marketing and operational activities.” Kliman, an industry thought-leader in his own right, is the founder of the Kliman Group. His company’s mission is to help organizations transform their businesses by mining and implementing customer feedback.

Stephanie Grimaldi, Meet Minneapolis’ Director of Convention Sales, was the team lead for the CAB with major support from her destination sales, destination services and destination branding and strategy teammates.

During our fast-paced meeting, our team shared presentations on Reputation Management, the Future of Marketing and Values-based Marketing. The CAB members provided candid feedback with actionable items that will impact how we present our destination to our customers.

While the members of our CAB willingly shared their expertise and perspective with our Meet Minneapolis team during their nearly three days with us, we wanted the CAB members to have the opportunity mutually benefit them by providing some thought-provoking content. That came in the form of a presentation from Dr. Simone Ajuha, founder of Minneapolis-based Blood Orange, a consultancy focused on leveraging the intersection of innovation and disruption.

Dr. Ahuja joined us remotely from Vienna, Austria, where she was a facilitator and participant in the Global Peter Drucker Forum. That event’s theme was “The Human Imperative: Navigating Uncertainty in the Digital Age.” Dr. Ahuja asserts that optimizing innovation and disruption requires democratized innovation so that everyone can have a role in problem-solving. Dr. Ajuha’s presentation impacted both our CAB members and the staff in attendance.

Several partner businesses and organizations supported us in our CAB activities, including the Minneapolis Convention Center, Delta Air Lines, Hyatt Regency Minneapolis, Hilton Minneapolis, Renee’s Limousines and Paisley Park.

In reflecting on the just-completed CAB meeting, Stephanie noted that, “Seeing the CAB members again, after a two-year absence of not being together in-person, was heartwarming. It was so fun to catch up with everyone and share a lot of laughs. More importantly, it was an incredibly productive two-and-a-half days that brought about great dialogue about how we position Minneapolis as a destination moving forward.”

Our Meet Minneapolis team is confident that the learnings and interactions during the CAB activities will help us to serve the needs of our partner businesses and other stakeholders even better.

We wish you all a safe and peaceful Thanksgiving.