SoMeT is held in a new destination each year but we have an innovative way of choosing a host city: where most conferences have a complicated process behind the scenes, we do it in the open.

The organizing team determines the criteria that we need from a host destination and outlines them in a publicly released Request for Proposal (RFP).  The

RFP for SoMeT Australia went out last December, and by the end of January we received incredible responses from all over the country. Our team short-listed the responses down to seven finalists that really impressed us through their passion and creativity in the way they met the criteria. This is where the real fun begins. After we were satisfied with all of the destinations, we turned the decision over to the online community through an online voting process run entirely through Facebook. The process for choosing the US host destination is similar.

This year, we held three rounds.  In round one, all seven destinations competed head-to-head. The bottom three were knocked out and the remaining four went into the semi finals.  In the semis, Wollongong played Brisbane and Margaret River played Townsville.  Each destination had to rally as many people as possible to vote for them to host SoMeT.

The winners of the semis went into the final round; Townsville vs. Wollongong. More and more momentum built throughouthe voting process. The final alone attracted nearly 10,000 votes to determine the host city and the process also attracted a significant amount of press along the way.

Wollongong was named our winner and is very excited to host SoMeT Australia on 17-18 July.

What are the benefits for a destination for turning its planning over to a community? 

Turning the destination selection over to our community gets a large amount of exposure for SoMeT. Asking peoples’ opinion builds advocacy. Getting people involved in the process before it’s determined for them is hugely valuable. We let our delegates choose where they’d like to go rather than making a decision for them, and then trying to sell them tickets later. Through the process, we also find that the destination becomes even more passionate about hosting us. A host community that’s engaged and welcoming also creates a much better conference experience for attendees.

The principles behind planning through crowdsourcing can be applied to many functions that destination marketing organizations are accustomed to doing behind closed doors. Getting your community’s buy-in to decisions builds advocacy. Now that everyone has an audience in social media, rallying your local community through advocacy can get you massive exposure.

Best of all, getting your community to make decisions for you can often mitigate a lot of risk. You get the wisdom of a crowd, rather than relying on your own judgment. This can become a self-fulfilling prophecy that dictates success. This process can also be very cost-effective and allows you to build buzz and momentum along the way.

Social media also removes barriers to entry for smaller destinations. It’s usually easier to rally a small, passionate community.

Said Lisa Budd from Townsville Enterprise Limited: “The campaign has given us so much exposure as an organisation and destination! The community really got behind the entire campaign which is great to see – and it ticks off so many boxes with regards to our goals in building local awareness.”

How can DMOs apply something like this?

DMOs could apply this learning to their day-to-day activities. You could crowd source a lot of the decisions around campaign planning. We helped Northern BC with a campaign that let fans choose which images to use in their brochures.

like we did as part of an Outback Queensland campaign. Or you could crowd-source images and footage for a campaign like we did with Tourism Ottawa.  Or you could crowd-source the itinerary for a family trip, and build a whole campaign around it, as with Unmapped in Australia.

Turning over your planning to the community totally disrupts the traditional creative process. It can be scary, but with experience you’ll see that the risks are all manageable (that’s why we vet our finalists before voting). But putting social media at the core of all of your activities can really amplify everything you do.

As Tabitha Galvin from Destination Wollongong says: “The most incredible and unexpected benefit of this journey has been the incredible sense of strength and unity throughout the Wollongong community that continued to build as more and more people jumped on board.”

 To learn more about #SoMeT13AUS and #SoMeT13US, please visit sometourism.com or SoMeT’s Facebook page.