Attendees at the Campground Owners Expo (COE) remained busy on Wednesday (Dec. 3) as the event hosted a wide array of educational sessions, networking events and more.
COE’s expo opened on Wednesday afternoon with 170 booths, a record for the five-year-old show. Vendors Woodall’s Campground Magazine (WCM) spoke with were very excited about the traffic flow and conversations they were having with attendees.
Craig Kirby, president of the RV Industry Association, spoke briefly during dinner about the importance of RV dealers, manufacturers and parks working together to help RVers enjoy their camping experiences. He also gave attendees updates on the GMI issue and other industry issues.
Anderson’s Brochure Distribution Service handed out its inaugural ANDIES AWARDS, which highlighted parks and associations do an excellent job providing basic print marketing materials – like rack cards or magazines. WCM has a brief list of winners below, but will be publishing a story with more details in the coming days.
Winners included:
- Large Format Print Publication, Destination Marketing Organization: Orleans County Tourism, Albany, N.Y.
- Large Format Print Publication, Campground Association: Maine Association of Campground Owners
- Large Format Print Publication, Campground Association: New Jersey Campground Owners Association
- Large Format Print Publication, RV Parks & Campgrounds: Lake George RV Park, New York
- Large Format Print Publication, RV Parks & Campgrounds: Big Pine Key RV, Florida
- Small Format Print Publication, Destination Marketing Organization: Endless Mountain Visitors Bureau, Pennsylvania
- Small Format Print Publication, Campground Association: Camp Jellystone
- Small Format Print Publication, Campground Association: Missouri Association of RV Parks and Campgrounds
- Small Format Print Publication, RV Parks & Campgrounds: Catskill Mountains/Gilboa KOA Holiday, New York
- Small Format Print Publication, RV Parks & Campgrounds: Country Bend Campground, Illinois
Today, COE attendees will have opportunities to meet face-to-face with travel industry influencers in a fast-paced speed dating format.
Influencers include Green Bay Packer Hall of Famer Donald Driver, who is also a New York Times best-selling author and content creator and his son, Christian Driver, a football player and content creator for the Minnesota Golden Gophers and his fiance, Maggie Golder, an influencer and college lacrosse player who has over 300,000 followers on TikTok.
Other influencers include Sara Broers, a cofounder of the Midwest Travel Network who also has her own travel blog at TravelWithSara.com; Dannelle Gay, a travel writer, podcast host, publisher and producer of “The Traveling Cheesehead”; Brandy Gleason, publisher of Gleason Family Adventure; Lori Helke, a Wisconsin-based author and travel writer with a blog titled “Lori Loves Adventure“; Dorsey Levens, a retired Green Bay Packers Superbowl champion and current CEO of The ReMind School of Life where he provides mindset training; Eugene Robinson, a Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post columnist and associate editor, and current MSNBC commentator and contributor to other outlets, including The Atlantic; and Mark Rose, an Emmy Award-winning CEO at Discover MediaWorks who can market parks under three brands, including Discover Wisconsin, Boondock Nation and Into the Outdoors.
Park operators who attend the Speed Networking Event will also have their names entered into a drawing to win up to $5,000 to spend with any exhibitor at COE.
COE is also going to host more educational sessions and wrap up its expo.
More information about COE is available at CampgroundOwnersExpo.com.
