And Speaking Of… Virtuoso Travel Week

The largest global gathering of luxury travel advisors and providers is in the books. The word on the street was that this was a resounding success on a multitude of fronts, and from a Gifted Travel Network (GTN) perspective, it was our best one to date. GTN showed up in full force with five team members (three from the exec team), and 50+ of our travel advisors.

Overall, Virtuoso Travel Week (VTW) boasted 5000+ attendees from 105 countries, with 2086 companies represented and 185,000 total appointments. Beyond the numbers, countless meaningful conversations and genuine connections contributed to a wildly productive week in Vegas!

VTW 2023 reinforced that I have the distinct pleasure of working in the greatest industry in the world. The deep impact travel has on a global and local level is unlike any other industry. I feel compelled to share stories and messages of positive change through travel and to make a difference in the industry I love beyond what I’ve built at GTN. Attending VTW reminds us of our impact and influence; this year, it hit a little harder than previous years.

?For my weekly LinkedIn series, I will share my top highlights of the week.

Meeting Julie Simpson from World Travel & Tourism Council

When Erica Whitaker , GTN’s Director of Partner Relations, and I met with Andrea Grisdale of IC Bellagio , she shared the work she was involved in with the World Travel & Tourism Council. I loved learning about the Community Conscious Travel movement and how we need to be solution-focused to tackle the real challenge of overcrowding in highly visited destinations such as Italy, Greece, and many more hot spots in Europe and beyond.

Andrea’s passion was inspiring, and her stories led me to ask how I could get involved to help spread this vital message. Andrea graciously connected Erica and me to Julia Simpson, and we met Julia a few hours later.

Talking to Julia was a true highlight. I could feel my soul stirring as this is the caliber of contribution I want to make in the industry. The power of connections is real at Virtuoso Travel Week. I would never have had the chance to meet and learn from this incredible leader doing critical work in our industry if it wasn’t for Andrea and attending VTW.

More on what will come of my meeting with Julia in future LinkedIn articles!

Learning from Sophia Kianni , Founder of Climate Cardinals , and Youngest UN Advisor?

On Sunday morning, Jennifer Cochrane , Sandy Adcox Saburn , Erica Whitaker, and I were invited to participate in a leadership breakfast hosted by 雅高 . The guest speaker was Sofia Kianni, a 21-year-old Iranian-American social entrepreneur and activist studying at Stanford University.

Sofia is the founder and executive director of Climate Cardinals, the world’s largest youth-led climate nonprofit, with 10,000 volunteers in 80+ countries. She has sat on boards and advisory councils for The New York Times, World Economic Forum, Ashoka, American Lung Association, and Lady Gaga’s Born This Way Foundation. She is the youngest United Nations advisor in US history.

If that isn’t enough, she has been named VICE Media’s youngest Human of the Year, a National Geographic Young Explorer, among Business Insider’s Climate Action 30, one of Teen Vogue’s 21 under 21, and a Forbes 30 under 30 honorees.?

Jennifer Wilson-Buttigieg from Chase Travel said it best during our Q&A session after hearing from this young global leader, “We are all feeling very unaccomplished right now!”

I was so charged up and inspired to dig in and learn more about the work Sofia is doing. On the heels of the devasting wildfires on Maui and a category 4 hurricane barreling to Southern California along with record highs globally this summer, how can we be complacent and ignore the realities of climate change?

Sofia inspired us to start small, so I am on a mission to understand why my town of Mooresville, NC, doesn’t recycle glass. I also want to see how my kids can get involved in Climate Cardinals, and we will sit down as a family and watch her Ted Talk.

It is our duty as travel professionals to lead the charge with this message. Sofia’s heart-felt and well-spoken presentation was incredibly inspiring and sparked the need to take inspired action.

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Evan Upchurch Collaboration Project

A week before VTW 2023, I shared a post on Facebook and LinkedIn about my experience when I told my boss I was pregnant with my son Ethan (now 12). Matthew Upchurch , CEO of Virtuoso Travel, commented and shared that my post reminded him of an idea he’s had for a project to share stories of women in the Virtuoso network who overcame adversity in their career and used their pain to find their purpose.

Matthew’s daughter, Evan Upchurch Upchurch, is a full-time writer, and we met in the Pinnacle Lounge to discuss how to bring this idea of sharing stories to life. We are in the early stages of this potential project, but meeting with Evan was energizing and felt aligned with the work I want to do to empower women in our industry.

Connecting with fellow female leaders

I had several open-hearted conversations with fellow female leaders at Virtuoso Travel Week. This was hugely meaningful to me that I could go beyond surface-level conversations and get to the heart of many important issues. Female leaders who impacted me were Neen James, Carmen Corvos-Roig, Katherine Ferrari, Kristien Deleersnijder, Katina Athanasiou, Melissa Krueger, Laura Hodges Bethge, Jacki Marks, Jennifer Campbell, Mary Clifford, and so many more. I am truly blessed to know so many amazing female leaders!

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National Accounts Recognition by Virtuoso Executive Team

Gifted Travel Network is now proudly part of the highest level of account status at Virtuoso, National Accounts. We were the only account to recieve an invitation since 2018, and it is remarkable considering we only joined in 2019 (and there was a whole global pandemic in the middle of that!).

Matthew Upchurch and the Virtuoso leadership team invited Jen, Sandy, and I (with Meredith Calloway dialed in) to join them for a boardroom meeting to celebrate our new status. When we arrived at the meeting we were met with huge smiles, applause, and champagne to toast to our success!

Once we sat down, we were asked to share our entrepreneurial journey with the team, and it was humbling to have a seat at that table. We also snuck in a few strategic initiatives, such as new advisor recruitment strategies, to secure the succession of our profession. This meeting was the absolute highlight of our in-person experience and we are grateful for this special moment.

There were many more highlights, great conversations, and meetings to share from my time at Virtuoso Travel Week. I love seeing my LinkedIn news feed full of posts from colleagues who attended VTW with their insights and takeaways from this global gathering.

The level of support from the Virtuoso team, Virtuoso partner, and fellow host agency colleagues, is unmatched. We love our Virtuoso family and look forward to our next event!

If you attended VTW 2023, please drop a note to share your insights and takeaways. If you didn’t, and something I wrote about struck a chord, please share it in the comments below. Thanks for reading!

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