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The purpose of this paper is to analyse the divergence between the tasks and roles of convention bureaux (CB) in North America and Europe.

A survey among 55 CB’ managers was conducted. A total of 75% of respondents represented institutions operating in European cities, 25% – in North American ones. This research mainly focused on managers’ opinions about the importance of tasks and roles performed by CB and the degree to which the institutions manage to fulfil them. Therefore, importance-performance analysis was used in the study.

CB in North America and Europe broadly differ as to the characteristics of both groups of institutions. They include their time of operation, number of employees, annual budget and types of events that CB try to attract to the cities that they represent. There are no such differences when it comes to the importance and performance of institutions’ tasks and roles. The way in which managers evaluate them is quite similar because the respondents pay the closest attention to the roles of a marketer and an agent of a city played by a convention bureau. Differences lie in the meaning assigned by managers to the particular tasks of surveyed institutions.

The survey was carried out on a relatively small sample dominated by European institutions. However, the study attempts at investigating the roles and tasks of CB, with only few previous studies on this topic, including the ones comparing CB’ activity in different countries or on different continents. Moreover, proposed recommendations might be useful for a large group of managers and do not have to be limited only to institutions from Europe and North America.

The purpose of this paper is to offer insights and lessons learned about how to successfully balance the interests of the many competing stakeholders who can or do influence the CVB's strategy for marketing a destination.

The study uses a qualitative case study approach utilizing an extensive interview as the method for data collection. A series of structured questions specifically designed to focus the interview on the topic of interest was used to facilitate data collection.

The paper presents insights from Mr William C. Peeper, the person largely responsible for building the Orlando Orange County Convention and Visitors Bureau from a two‐person organization into the multi million‐dollar operation it became by the time he retired 25 years later. Since the focus of the paper is on how to successfully balance the differing goals of stakeholders to achieve organizational goals, this interview offers a number of lessons learned that can be used by any organizational leader seeking to balance the interests of diverse stakeholders.

This study provides fresh ideas and new insights into how to successfully manage an organization's stakeholders in ways that make it possible to achieve an organization's mission across time. The success Mr Peeper had in gaining sustained support for the mission and goals of the Orlando CVB provides important lessons on how to manage all stakeholders especially the corporate governance structure that is pertinent to any organization that has to accommodate many diverse viewpoints and interests. There is little existing knowledge on managing stakeholders across time as their interests and needs change and the management of them must also adapt.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a review of the factors and forces that led the creation of the convention and visitor bureau industry and profession to illustrate how historical events influence managerial outcomes.

A variety of historical documents and records discovered and reviewed offer insights into identifying the factors that led to the need for and type of organizational outcomes.

This review allows an extrapolation of the past onto the future to illustrate how social, technological, and economic changes created the need for organizational responses for those who are geographical dispersed in small organizations.

By tracing the evolution of one profession, it is possible to see the value and logic of professional organizations. Since the research literature and the available records are incomplete, the review is as well. This lack of a complete record makes any conclusions drawn or forecasting problematic.

Any historical review offers insights into the present status of the phenomena under review and some insights into its future. This review provides an understanding of how and why professional organizations are created and identifies how the key inducements they offer their members must, like any organization, induce their continuing support.

This paper reviews the history and evolution of a profession and its associated professional organization that is now large and growing larger but to date has received little academic attention or interest.

Identifying, attracting, and maintaining the engagement of the right composition of people for a non‐profit Board is a major challenge. Executives should ensure that their Boards accurately represent the stakeholders that matter, both from industry and the community. The purpose of this paper is to describe ways and offer propositions for effective non‐profit executives to identify, recruit, and motivate the continuing engagement of the members needed on their Boards in order to acquire resources critical to their sustained success.

The Convention and Visitors Bureaus (CVBs) are used as an example, since at least 93 percent of CVBs have a governance structure that includes a Board of Directors. Successfully attracting the right mix of stakeholders is a result of an extensive recruitment effort by the CVB executive. Prior research reports that successful executives take great care in making selection decisions that reflect the interests of the community in the Board's composition. Based on the literature on Boards and governance, the authors develop propositions regarding the composition of CVB Boards.

While the research is exploratory, it is found that CVBs with more diverse Boards are more successful than those with less diverse Boards. It is argued that effective CVBs use a thoughtful process for heterogeneous Board selection. It is also suggested that Board performance should be evaluated on an annual basis to recognize the need for active involvement in the Board selection process.

The successful selection of Board members is important because of the implications for Board effectiveness. While there is a large body of literature offering advice on Board selection, there is little on recruitment. Moreover, there is little discussion of Board composition strategy based on balancing access to critical resources of stakeholders.

Books serve as important information resources and provide space for reflection and identity-building for many lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer/questioning (LGBTQ+) people. Many in this community have experienced reduced feelings of isolation through engagement with the writings of others. Providing a safe space for such engagement is vital. Library and information science (LIS) professionals are in an optimal position to meet such needs, particularly when efforts are made to implement changes based on explicitly expressed concerns.

This chapter provides a case study of the LGBTQ Center of Durham, North Carolina, to illustrate how the organization is integrating the local LGBTQ+ community into its library by using the community’s own vocabulary and interests to inform the center’s practices and policies. The chapter also offers a guide to the locally responsive, LGBTQ+-specific classification system created for the LGBTQ Center of Durham’s library collection. This classification system was designed to represent library materials for its Durham and surrounding-area users in a useful, accessible, and respectful manner – a feat that the library committee did not feel could be accomplished using existing classification systems.

Building on the case study for applicability, the author makes recommendations for how LIS professionals who wish to better serve LGBTQ+ users can incorporate the community into their library and/or collection. The author provides additional suggestions for action, with varying levels of commitment, for library professionals and volunteers. Through resource development, training, collection development, and classification revision, libraries can more closely align their practices with the needs of users of all gender identities and sexual orientations.

This paper presents findings from an ethnographic study of Christian hip hop music performed and practiced in Central Texas. I examine the emerging Christian rap scene through the experiences of members of the local social group known as The 51210 Movement. The 51210 Movement includes various Christian rappers, singers, songwriters, musicians, producers, and sound technicians. Their activities center on the multiple uses of Christian rap within their local communities. The central Texas Christian rap scene is situated within the musically rich city of Austin, the “Live Music Capitol of the World,” and San Antonio, a culturally and religiously diverse city. I focus on how members of The 51210 Movement use Christian rap as a proselytizing and pedagogical tool, how Christian rappers work together to create a self-perpetuating Christian rap scene, and how members of The 51210 Movement negotiate the interplay between the sacred and secular forms of rap to maintain religious authenticity.

The aim of this paper is to investigate the relationship between consumer self‐confidence, product expertise, and travel experience in the context of travel information search during vacation planning.

The research design is based on a panel study to monitor trip planning processes of Austrian travelers. A structural model is used to assess to what degree consumer self‐confidence, product expertise, and travel experience affect travel information search and to examine the influence of consumer self‐confidence on product expertise.

Findings from the study show that consumer self‐confidence significantly affects product expertise. Travel experience, on the other hand, positively influences product expertise that again is positively related to travel information search. No significant relationship is established between travel experience and travel information search.

While most of the previous studies investigated information search using cross‐sectional data, this study addresses the need for more accurate research on information search adopting a panel design. One major limitation of the study is the small sample size. Results from a larger sample might be different in regards to the magnitude of the relationships.

This study contributes to the overall understanding of how knowledge and ability‐related factors impact travel information sourcing. The tourism literature reveals no other study that has simultaneously quantified consumer self‐confidence and product expertise during trip planning.

The purpose of this paper is to understand the relative importance of ICT (Information and Communication Technology) based features and services at conference centers and underlying dimensions which could impact their selection by meeting planners. Further, it tests the relationship between types of meeting planners and their perceived importance of ICT‐based features.

A total of 17 ICT‐based features and services were identified through extensive literature content analysis. Meeting planners were asked to rate the importance of each item when they select a conference center. Factor analysis was then performed to identify underlying dimension of the items and ANOVA was used to test any difference of perceived importance by the type of meeting planners.

Meeting planners consider “availability of technical support”, “high‐speed internet”, “wireless connectivity”, and ”e‐mail station” as important features/service when they select a conference center. However, they show significant lack of knowledge in terms related to network infrastructure that are used in meeting venue marketing materials. The results show that there is no significant difference in their perceived importance of ICT‐based feature/service by the type of meeting planner.

This study provides meaningful new dimensions of important ICT‐based features and services in site selection by both researchers and meeting facility professionals. In addition, this study compared three types of meeting planners including rarely studied corporate and government meeting planners regarding their perceived importance of ICT‐based features and services in their site selection.

The Meetings, Incentive, Conventions and Exhibitions (MICE) industry has long been recognised as a sector that provides lucrative direct and indirect expenditure for host destinations. Within Australia, Federal and State governments have recognised the opportunity afforded by this sector and have put in place a number of marketing initiatives to attract MICE business to particular high profile destinations. The issue of how regional Australia might benefit from this highly attractive market is only now beginning to be addressed. This paper examines how an Australian regional university with an established reputation for the delivery of MICE‐related subjects introduced the issue of attracting MICE business to a regional area into its curriculum through the use of experiential learning. Students were given responsibility for the planning, management and delivery of a corporate‐style conference titled “Managing Conferences in Regional Areas”, while local MICE industry representatives participated in its delivery.