Come for a visit, stay for a convention

Since 2015, Sheri Grossman has been chief executive officer of the Bismarck-Mandan Convention & Visitors Bureau. In this Q&A, she talks about the challenges of North Dakota tourism and the joy of convincing people to visit the community she loves.

TELL US ABOUT YOUR BACKGROUND AND EDUCATION. ARE YOU FROM NORTH DAKOTA ORIGINALLY?

I am a North Dakota native. I was born and raised in Linton, N.D., and have lived in North Dakota all my life. My husband and I lived in Grand Forks for seven years and have been in Bismarck since 1994.

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I have a bachelor’s degree in management from the University of Mary in Bismarck. I’m also a certified destination management executive, which means I graduated from the Destination Marketing International Association’s executive training program. The program is recognized as the highest educational achievement for destination management professionals. It’s designed to better prepare senior destination marketing organization executives and managers for increasing change and competition and to become more effective organizational and community leaders.

I’m only the second graduate from the CDME program in the Dakotas.

I have been with the Convention & Visitors Bureau since 1997 and took over the reins as the CEO in 2015, after serving as the CVB’s chief operating officer.

WHAT WAS IT ABOUT YOUR BACKGROUND THAT DREW YOU TO WORK FOR THE CONVENTION AND VISITORS BUREAU?

I worked for the Energy & Environmental Research Center in Grand Forks, and part of my duties included planning conferences outside of North Dakota. It was my first glimpse of the tourism industry. I really enjoyed the planning side, and it sparked my interest in working on the destination side, including services, marketing and sales.

In addition, if you are engaged in sales, you really have to believe in your product – and “selling” BismarckMandan as a destination was just such an exciting fit for my skills and career interests.

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WHAT ROLE DOES TOURISM PLAY IN THE BISMARCK-MANDAN ECONOMY?

Tourism plays a very significant role in the BismarckMandan economy. In 2016, we hosted more than 450 multi-day meetings and events, drawing 314,000 attendees. These attendees spent $31.2 million while in our community. Some $9.8 million of these expenditures came from regional and national groups; that’s a significant amount of out-of-state dollars injected into our economy.

In addition, leisure travelers are very important to Bismarck-Mandan, too. Whether visiting friends and family, shopping or just enjoying a weekend getaway, the leisure travelers contribute to our economy.

Visitors also positively impact people who don’t own businesses. Visitors generate sales and taxes that that are used by city government to fund not only roads and other infrastructure, but also property tax relief. This additional revenue helps ease the financial burden for our local citizens.

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WHAT CATEGORIES OF LOCAL TOURISM DO YOU FOCUS ON, AND WHICH ONES SHOW THE POTENTIAL FOR THE MOST GROWTH?

Our target markets include meetings, conventions, sports, events, international leisure travel and domestic leisure travel. We focus mostly on sports, events and conventions. This is the area where we devote the majority of our time and resources. Sports, events and conventions are the easiest to measure and have the largest financial impact on our community.

Our CVB has a lot of experience in bidding and securing meetings and events. We work with groups from all over the world, selling them on the outstanding attributes of Bismarck-Mandan.

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WHAT DO YOU LIKE MOST ABOUT TOURISM?

I really love North Dakota, and most important, I love Bismarck and Mandan. Working in the tourism industry gives me the chance to help educate the rest of the country and even the world on the many things our state and community offers.

Plus, tourism plays a significant role in generating economic income for Bismarck-Mandan. I am very proud to be a part of that role and goal.

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EVERYONE IN NORTH DAKOTA TOURISM FACES THE CHALLENGE OF

Overcoming Stereotypes About The

STATE. HOW DO YOU MEET THAT CHALLENGE FOR THE BISMARCK-MANDAN AREA?

Finding out the needs of the meeting or event planner is the first step; then we can work on helping overcome their misconceptions. We focus on what we have and what we can do, instead of any minor challenges or hurdles.

We have so many exceptional sporting facilities throughout Bismarck and Mandan. The Bismarck Event Center is ideally located for meeting and event planners, and it’s within walking distance of a downtown full of unique shopping and dining opportunities and a mall that can accommodate all of their other shopping needs.

There are very few communities that can offer this perfect complement, and certainly not with as much unique variety, excitement, and hospitality.

The best way to overcome some of the stereotypes is to get the meeting or event planners to come to Bismarck-Mandan for a site visit. They need to experience us firsthand to really believe we can deliver an exceptional experience for their group or event. They usually leave impressed. The majority of the groups book after they spend time in our community. This is a great compliment to our business community.

The CVB sells the community and helps put together the package, but we can’t solely deliver on the promise. It is up to the local residents and businesses to do that!

We are a change of pace destination – something different from the fast-paced large destinations. Groups like to know they will be a priority while they are here and not just one of many groups here at the same time. We strive to give them that experience.

Visitors and local residents all want many of the same things – good restaurants, green space, recreational opportunities, shopping, signage and a safe community. These are all things Bismarck-Mandan offers and provides.

General Steel & Supply Company is the manufacturing division of Fisher Industries. We have been designing and fabricating high-quality aggregate processing equipment in southwest North Dakota for the past 50 years. Our equipment pieces are being used by numerous companies all over the world.

We strongly believe in inspiring the next generation of manufacturers, which we do by providing hands-on shop tours to area students, donating materials to welding programs, and sponsoring Manufacturing Day events. Learn more about us at www.fisherind.com.

FISHER INDUSTRIES

3020 ENERGY DRIVE - DICKINSON, ND 58601

701.456.9184 | 800.932.8740

WWW.FISHERIND.COM

Manufacturing supports more than 18.5 Million U.S. Jobs

$1.00 = $1.40

$1.00 spent in manufacturing creates $1.40 for the U.S. economy

$77k+

Annual average salary of manufacturing workers in the U.S.