Truth Behind Travel Podcast

Redefining Travel Conferences: The Future of Content, Connection, and Tech with Brooke Gilbertson

• Season 4 • Episode 83

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Welcome back to Truth Behind Travel Podcast! 

Dolores Semeraro interviews the person leading the conference programme across the the World Travel Market Portfolio, in London and Dubai Brooke Gilbertson. 

On today’s conversation we have gone through the digital, the physical, the relevancy and buzz of the conference space, to understand what keeps them going, what makes them successful - a space where people want to go and learn, be inspired, connect and grow - all this in the spirit of innovation, creativity and technology. 

WTM London 4-6 November 2025

ATM Dubai 4-7 May 2026

Questions featured in this episode:

1. How is technology affecting the event industry today - what do you keep what do you not keep?

2. What is it that attendees can do at the show that can’t do by themselves? 

3. How do you stay above the buzz words?

4. How do you ensure that there is genuine interaction with the content that is being delivered on stage?

5. How do you appeal to a more senior audience, the CEOs the trade show people?

6. stressing the point of DEA - how do you make sure that the conference topics and the trade show attendance are aligned?

7. Travel power theme - how did the concept of the theme came about?


Host of Truth Behind Travel Podcast, Dolores Semeraro is a sought-after international tourism keynote speaker and sustainable tourism marketing professional.

Dolores actively works in the tourism and travel conference space as a keynote speaker and moderator, gracing the stages of international tourism summits and trade shows.

As a professional keynote speaker, Dolores’ speaking topics encompass sustainability in tourism, digital marketing and how to identify today’s traveler’s needs through technology and innovation.

5 years ago, Dolores launched her podcast show named ‘Truth Behind Travel Podcast’ where she regularly interviews tourism and travel industry leaders and representatives on how to rebuild the future of travel.

www.doloressemeraro.com

dolores@doloressemeraro.com

Instagram @dolores_semeraro

LinkedIn @dolores.sem

Dolores Semeraro:

Welcome to Truth Behind travel podcast, a platform for tourism, travel and hospitality professionals and enthusiasts to share, learn and unlearn what we need to create better tourism, protect the environment and become better humans. I'm your host, Dolores Semeraro, and every week, I bring on the podcast the voices of those out there making a difference to learn the hard truth behind the world of travel and tourism, what works and what we can collectively do better. Welcome to Season Four, a series of conversations fully dedicated to women in travel, the trailblazers, the visionaries who have been and continue to be the force for good. We need to hear more from Welcome back to truth behind travel podcast the trade shows. The conference season is already in full swing, and my guest today is someone who knows the conference space is inside out on today's conversation, we've gone through the digital, the physical, the relevancy and the buzz of the conference space to understand what keeps them going, what makes them successful, a space where people want to go and learn, be inspired, connect, grow, and all this in The spirit of innovation, creativity and technology. She is currently leading the conference program across the world, travel market portfolio in London and Dubai. Welcome Brooke Gilbertson, we're back on the podcast with a very special guest, someone that I've met in one of the most important conference spaces in Europe, WTM, in London, and today she's here to tell us a little bit about the do's and don'ts of the conference space, and also what we need to know to make sure that the whole technology and artificial intelligence adoption doesn't take over, or if it does take Over, we do it consciously. Welcome. Brooke, I'm so happy to have you on the podcast.

Brooke Gilbertson:

Finally. Well, it's fantastic to be with you, Dolores, and I'm sure that we'll have some great conversations every time we meet up. I know that we are always talking for hours, so we'll try and keep this short and to the point, but I'm really excited to be here. Thank you.

Dolores Semeraro:

Well, as a conference manager, you are managing the portfolio of WTM and ATM at the same time, so it's quite a lot on your plate every time that you that it comes to approaching the conference dates. I'm curious. How did you end up in the conference space? Why don't you give us before we start diving into the things that we need to know about. How does a conference work? Why don't you tell us a little bit about your journey and how did you end up in the conference space to begin with,

Brooke Gilbertson:

when I was straight out of college, instead of going down the traditional route of university, I did an apprenticeship in just administration for the Chamber of Commerce in my local town, and I basically started running events with them, and it fell into an event coordinator role. I basically ran events across the whole county of Somerset, traveling probably once a week to deliver B to be dinners, ladies, afternoon teas, lots of networking events type thing. Then obviously the dreaded covid hit, and everything moved on to laptops, and I think that from that moment, I was looking at something that was more stable, that was online. So I transitioned to another company that hosted online trade shows, and my role then fell into the conference production side of things. That was my first taste for the sort of production of different conferences working on things across Australia, things in South America. I was working sort of 7pm until 7am because I was behind my laptop running all the conferences on this sort of basically digital platform as we slowly rolled back into face to face. I knew that personal touch was so important and that, you know, events were my bread and butter. Physical events were what I really wanted to do, and having the foot in the door for the conference space meant that I could then move into a conference production role that was face to face. So I transitioned to a company that did technology events and technology conferences. I did that for about six months, and then I saw an alert on LinkedIn saying WTM was hiring. I actually had worked with WTM in my sort of online platform role, and so I knew the brand. I knew what kind of speakers they had. I knew that it was in the travel space, and I just wanted to blend my passion for travel with my skill sets that are directly linked to event management and to conference management. And I remember I was in Cornwall at the time, I was sitting outside on a picnic bench, and I got the phone call from who was then would have been my manager, saying, you've got the job. And I just remember sitting out, it was sunshine. I was just like, I can't wait to just hit the ground running. And really, you know, put my stamp on WTM and bring it into a new, new phase, I guess.

Dolores Semeraro:

And you really did hit the ground running, because since the trade shows came back into an in person series of events, everybody just rejoined, like pretty much the literal virtual parenthesis never happened, in a way. In 2020, WTM, London went virtual for the first time, after having an experience of after having a history of events that were hugely attended. And also at some point, the show itself had to move location to make sure that they could cater for more and more attendance, as they were experiencing a surge, so to speak, in 2020 when the show went viral for the first time, not just WTM, but pretty much every conference that was in person before had to sort of fast track the tech the tech education, right? So their knowledge about, okay, how do we do these things? We need to get online. How do we get connected with people? And today, as the conference space came back in full force, into in person, attendance, right? Physical attendance. The technology element didn't just disappear, didn't go away. In fact, today we're talking about artificial intelligence adoption, innovation and technology. We want to make smarter events, better events. How do you think this is affecting the events industry today.

Brooke Gilbertson:

At the beginning, when WTM London came back face to face, we basically just did everything we could to move away from zoom fatigue, and we didn't do any additional live streaming. We literally went straight back full and forth come to WTM, this is exclusive content for you, and you have to be in person, otherwise you'll miss it. And then slowly, we saw that people were getting more getting more interest in, you know, watching things online, watching the content back, content as a concept, became more interactive, and people were interacting with stuff post show as well as at show. And so we've started to really integrate more of the live streaming aspect. And we're actually this year, going to be launching WTM TV, which is a concept where we will be going around interviewing different exhibitors, taking videos live of different conference programs and different conference sessions so that we can actually live stream it on our YouTube channel. We have a few sort of TVs around the around the exhibition halls so people can watch that content live. When we first came back to events hybrid, we almost saw die. We saw the death of hybrid, and then suddenly hybrid has come back into fashion. You know, we see these cycles, and we see that technology is able to support them in new ways, for the new generations, right? You know, WTM is seeing much more millennial and Gen Z attendance, because those are the people that are moving into those mid senior to more senior roles, because, firstly about ages, but also because maybe they're starting out in startups, and their startup was in a gap that was created by covid, and they filled that gap. And so they use technology, they use their initiative and ambition, and used covid as an excuse to start that job. And now we have a lot more millennial and Gen Zs at the show. So we need to adapt to their wants and needs and really provide them with the tools in front of them. We obviously have the WTM app, the actual tools that we use, and speaking from a conference perspective, using tools such as the translation tools, this is something that we introduced a few years back for an inclusivity perspective. But actually when you look at the neurodiverse needs. People enjoy reading the subtitles. Now, I don't know the statistic, but I feel like it's a very high percentage of people put subtitles on their Netflix, you know. So why weren't we putting subtitles on our conference program? It is to be more inclusive, and technology has allowed us to do that, and do it in a way that spreads very easily. You know, not only do we have the English subtitles now, but we also have the access to different languages through AI, so people will be able to scan the QR code and listen long in their own language, making sure that we're able to be more inclusive to not just different generations and generational needs, but to different cultures and different languages. So we can really provide a better opportunity for everyone to get involved in WTM and ATM,

Dolores Semeraro:

this is where the conference space merges with the trade show aspects of the attendance. And right now, I love how you identify right away that the type of attendees that you're now seeing coming through the gate. So millennials Gen Z and then adapting accordingly the technology that they use at home, into incorporating it into the technology that they can find at the show. So trade show attendees are now seeming less becoming conference attendees. So you bring this wealth of technology for inclusivity into the conference space, but then they go back to their boots and do their job at the trade show element. So what is it that they seek and expect in this super highly connected time that they can't do by themselves just by simply being on the net?

Brooke Gilbertson:

I think we're seeing more and more of that personal connection being important. I think that with the term AI and artificial intelligence, it is sometimes in a scaremongering way, thinking, Oh, it's going to take our jobs, but realistically, it's going to take the personal connection away, and it's going to do the menial tasks in the background. So that does actually give us more time for the personal touch by having a trade show as large as WTM and ATM both very much similar scale. At the moment, they are those opportunities for you to meet people from around the world in three or four days. That is, that personal one to one time, that physical connection that we have lacked so much since covid, and people are craving it. And I think that when we talk about technology and how technology is enabling new things, it's enabling us to be more connected physically, because it's doing stuff in the background, and it's working on those menial tasks, and it's automating our day to day, which means that we then can spend more time physically in meetings, physically seeing each other and physically connecting. And I think that how we've adapted our conference programs over the years is to introduce more networking opportunities, more conversations where we ask the audience questions and the audience can then, you know, discuss amongst themselves, and then within that, we hope that you can make new connections with people that maybe you didn't have a physical meeting booked with if you're in a conference session around Green Tech, and you get posed a question by the moderator, and then you start talking to someone who you're sat next to. Maybe that person could be your next business connection, but you didn't know that they existed. So we are trying to facilitate more connection within the conference program, through networking and through posing that connections and networking facilitation so that you don't have to just book loads of meetings back to back. You know, you can come to the conference session, you can learn, you can be educated on topic, and then you can converse about it as well.

Dolores Semeraro:

I love the fact that many stands and the trade show areas, the booths, the personal, you know, the private businesses areas where they are exhibiting, they can also, on occasions, become gathering spots for a tiny talk or an impromptu panel. And people just naturally flow into, you know, throughout the conference space, where, basically, they can stop by, even if they have a calendar, two things to follow, they can just be inspired by what goes on at the trade show itself. And that's, I think, is because, in a way the conference space is nailing the topics that people want to hear more about, that people want to learn more about, and definitely bringing in speakers and experts that can add value. We do have this ability in the tourism space, to categorize everything, to jump on the buzzword, to jump on the trend, and to sort of even monetize it in a way. So sustainability is an example, to greenwashing access behind it. Technology is one. Innovation is one. So we want to stay true to the value of the conference space, but also we want to offer what people are asking. So where is the balance between, you know, the trend, the buzz, and how do you stay above that buzz word trend and deliver quality content?

Brooke Gilbertson:

I really do believe in integrity of content, and since I came into the kind of conference space for WTM and ATM, I actually eliminated the sponsorship aspect to a very minimal amount before we were seeing quite a lot of people coming in pay to play sponsorship of sessions. Of course, we would monitor what they were saying and make sure that it was, you know, legit. We would never work with companies that were misrepresenting certain topics. However, I think that by re taking control over the program itself, creating the full skeleton, and working alongside advisors who we pay to make sure are able to deliver the strongest content possible that we use as our sounding boards to make sure that we are not greenwashing, that we are covering every aspect of diversity and inclusion, that we are making sure that the right speakers are on the stage and that their vetting process is a lot more thorough. By having that control back in my seat and working with people that are experts in the field, it really does mean that we can cover those topics with with integrity. And you know, we saw session attendance rise by 29% last year. And the sustainability summit itself, it was our second year running it, and we saw over 120% hike in attendee numbers. Hopefully, we're delivering these topics in a way that resonates with our audiences. We do a lot of research. The shows have a six month cycle, probably an eight month cycle. Now, during the sort of four months post show, I spend a lot of time researching different topics and other events and finding the gaps you know, looking at what isn't being spoken about and why it's not being spoken about. For example, I've recently attended quite a lot of events within the sustainability space, and one thing that we've been discussing internally with our advisors is the lack of representation of conversations on race. You know, we have really shifted our perspective to be around accessibility, which I think is fantastic, because that was the gap that wasn't spoken around quite enough in travel. But I do think that we need to return to race. We need to return to conversing about the importance of inclusion and racial diversity, and so we are taking that leap and making sure that there's going to be a session dedicated to race at WTM this year. But we've also got so many other topics where we think that the industry isn't talking about it yet, so we should be the first people to talk about it. So finding the gaps, identifying why they're not being spoken around. If there are experts in that space that we can bring to WTM, if they're not in travel, then you know, let's bring them in and speak anyway. We need to highlight and elevate these topics that aren't being spoken about. It's a lot of market research event attendance and conversations with our experts to identify, you know, the right speakers, the right conversations, the right way to propose those sessions as well. Is it a keynote? Is it a conversation? Are we going to have a debate. That's another thing that we're introducing this year at WTM, is the debate style. So having, you know, three people for and three people against a certain topic, and then having the audience decide at the end which which they're for, you know, are they for or against it, you might go in with preconceptions of what your your outcome will be. You go into the debate thinking, Oh, I'm 100% for this, this subject, and actually, by the end of it, maybe the speakers will change your mind. So the whole point of the conference program is to educate, to impart knowledge, but also to identify those gaps and give the audience members more things to think about and more ways to apply that knowledge when they leave.

Dolores Semeraro:

I love the idea of a debate! Normally in a conference, when you attend a panel discussion, you often see a general agreement in the line of what has been discussed or what has been shared, and they tend to agree with each other, maybe too much, in a way. And I also see that panel discussions often don't invite a lot of questions from the audience, very little, because a lot of it's been said and done and there's little interaction. How do you ensure that there is that kind of interaction? I mean, I've seen people standing up asking questions after keynotes or after panel discussions, in this case, happy to see the debate coming up, how do you make sure you encourage that interaction from the audience into the content that has been delivered on stage?

Brooke Gilbertson:

I think I'll definitely hold my hands up and say that this isn't something that we have been good at in the past. It has been something that has been feedback from our audience members. You know, post show, we've been getting feedback saying panels are dead. You know, we need more interaction. So we listened. I've been to a few different events that have provided paddles on tables, where people interact with a smiley face and an upset face, depending on what side of the argument they're on. And we are definitely tackling it in a new way this year that I am trying to innovate and work on as we speak, I think that conceptually, we're trying to create this debate format because we want the audience to engage more. We want to ask the questions to the audience, and this is what we're discussing with each moderator, is to make sure that you have time for the audience. We also have limited conversations to 45 minutes, with an hour blocked out. So that really does give that extra 15 minutes at the end of each session to identify time to speak to the audience as well. So not only do we brief the moderators now to say this is our time to engage. You know, panel discussions have their place. Of course they do. And the moderator may decide that they're going to continue their conversation because they're moving into something very deep and interesting, but I think that we are going to be more cautious when we do fireside chats, for example, or changing formats, you know, introducing a quick fire Q A style as well. It basically will show the audience which sessions they can come to for engagement and which sessions they can come to for education. So we really give them the choice when they're looking through the conference program, if they see something tagged with the big debate or see something tagged with Quick Fire Q and A, they know that they will have more of a voice there. We also are introducing meet the speaker sessions, which will follow on from each Summit. So after each three hour Summit, yes, it's a long time, and we will be giving the opportunity for about half an hour of networking. During that time, some of the speakers will actually be part of that networking, and so audience members can directly have a conversation with these speakers. Because we also do find that despite giving the time for Q A more people prefer to ask it privately and to give a better flow to the sessions. Give a better flow to the conference. You know, we really have had a look at how we're delivering things and how we can do things different. You know, I think that I've definitely run a few of these kinds of events previously, in previous positions and in previous roles, but never a conference this scale. So I'm really interested to see how this will work, and I hope that this solves the queries or the expectations of our audiences. We really do listen to feedback. We've had these queries saying we need more time with the speakers, or we want more interaction, so we're really trying our hardest to listen to those and deliver it in a way that works for everyone. It's all trial and error. Of course. You know, we have all these big ambitions. We try our hardest to deliver in the best ways possible, and I think that it's exciting and we've got new new ways to engage. Technology has really enabled us to allow more engagement with with the audiences. You know, we can have polling and interaction and interactive polling, so that halfway through the summits, the audience members can actually put their thoughts in as well. I've seen that done really nicely at other conferences. And just giving a shout out to Women in Travel. They did a really great conference a few months ago, and they actually had a poll after every session, and I think that that really made the audience heard. You know, they felt heard. And I think that that's what I really want to give a sense of. I want to give a sense of feeling, a sense of community and a sense of belonging within the conference program itself.

Dolores Semeraro:

I do notice that there's a lot of interaction where people are not shy to express their opinions, and in fact, I do think if you agree with me, but I feel that people coming to these conferences are more prepared, more knowledgeable than ever, and certainly opinionated and not shy to express their opinion. So the polls actually helps. It's true. What I notice is that sometimes you may join the conference of the trade show event because you just want to go to the conference, and you use the trade show event as an opportunity to join a conference and to see speakers and to learn in an environment that otherwise you wouldn't have access to and the trade show people, you know, the salesman, the representatives, the the MDS, the CEOs that go there just really to sell, to do business. They look at the conference space and they go, like, what is that that they're talking about that I don't already know. What is it that they can teach me that I don't already know? So how do you grab that side of the that, that slice of the cake, you know, to join in

Brooke Gilbertson:

a lot of my time out of planning the conference program. I do network quite a lot, and I get around to a lot of these CEOs and recently attending different conferences and speaking to these CEOs who attend these physical conferences but never step foot in the room. I like to ask them why, and a lot of them do hesitate and think, oh, it's no benefit to me. So it is hard to get through to them, even when you've got rugby players who are their favorite celebrities on stage, or whatever it is, you still can't seem to get them in the room. So that is definitely been one of my challenges. And one of the things that I've been trying to tackle, I think that working with advisors has really helped me kind of see a pathway into the brains of these CEOs and to also give us access to speakers that would appeal more to that that level, I also think that scheduling is really important, so making sure that we're scheduling the sessions at the right time. For example, you know, lunchtime, everyone seems to think, oh, we should put a lunch break in there, when, in actuality, people are more likely to. Schedule in a lunch break for themselves to go get food. Why not put in the best session for the CEOs at lunchtime, so that, if they're, you know, scheduling time for lunch anyway, they can hop into the conference room and, you know, get some content at the same time.

Dolores Semeraro:

It's so true. I mean, the last thing you want to have is to create a space in the conference where the big guys come together with the other big guys and complement each other on their own glories and their own achievements, and then what does the audience get to learn from it? Really? I mean, if anything, we want to be inspired by the presence of a great leader or and get to learn something from it. If you think of, I loved your point earlier, when you made up the you know you're making a point to include, really to stress the importance of dei especially in terms of inclusivity, diversity and equity. But I wonder, I often see this as a great topic discussed in the conference space. But then you exit the conference room and you enter the traditional space, and it's not quite aligned. So how are you making sure that these talks are aligned with the attendance as well, so that there is an a cohesive environment to people saying, oh, okay, well, we just thought, we just heard a talk about Dei, but then I go into the conference space and all I see is a majority, let's say 80% of luxury operator that do very little about inclusivity and equity and diversity. But So how do you make sure that these two elements of the event are equal?

Brooke Gilbertson:

So DEAI is one of the bigger things for me. I think that it is something that I have had a real focus on. And a few years ago, we made a decision at WTM to basically bring in 50% of speakers from underrepresented backgrounds in travel, whether that be your sexuality, whether that be your cultural upbringing, whether that be your age, because people forget age is a diversity too, and also accessibility. So we introduced ramps on stages so that we can ensure that when we were welcoming people with accessibility needs onto the stage. The stage is already built that way. We don't have to put in special requests. So every single year from then, we have been aiming towards 50% and each year that's actually increased. So the first year was 51% last year it was 53% so hopefully this year it'll be 58% maybe, or maybe realistically, 55% but we are really trying our hardest to create a representative across not just the deaI track, but across the whole conference program itself. You know, the deai track cannot just hold the diversity we actually spoke earlier last week around the conference program being more representative of different cultures, and so we actually looked at the call for content from different applicants. All of those who applied for the DEI track obviously hit different diversity quotas. And actually they're experts in their field. They aren't just diversity speakers, they aren't just accessibility speakers, they are travel leaders. So we actually kind of spread them out and said, How can we place them within other tracks? You know, are they technology specialists? But have put themselves forward for the diversity track because they fit a certain box. You know, we're trying to really think outside the box. We have these applications in front of us for people saying, Yes, I am a diversity speaker, they do fall into other categories that we can definitely use their skills and knowledge in and to really create representation across across the whole conference program. Now, speaking across the whole show in itself. Each year, we try to really provide more of an inclusive environment. You know, we have our our quiet rooms so we have these spaces which are for people who are overwhelmed. We appreciate that the that the show is very big and people with neurodiversity needs may feel overwhelmed. I know that I certainly do when I walk around that show floor. I wish I could jump into one of those, one of those quiet rooms, and I think that by introducing that, that's increased popularity. And you know, through word of mouth, we had a lot of people last year speaking about how impactful it was to be able to take a step away from the show floor and to just relax. But also this year, a new launch that I'm really happy to be leading on is our tours. So WTM tours, we will be providing, on the hour, every hour, a tour of WTM, either the north or south halls, you can book in on them. They will be led by Women in Travel CIC. So they are trained tour guides. However, they will be trained in touring around WTM, and that will be for anyone. So anyone who wants to get a head start on WTM wants to know who's where, what's where, they can have a little wonder around with the tour guide and be identified. This is this, and this is that, and that will be really impactful for these people who may be first time in attendance of WTM. And in addition to that, they will also be having ad hoc drop ins for anyone with accessibility needs. So if you want to have an accessibility tour, if you will need to be shown around to a certain location, we will have two women who are available to show those people around. And I think that by providing, each year, new initiatives to create a safe and inclusive environment, considering that we are seeing less diversity around the show floor, hopefully, by introducing these new initiatives, we can encourage more people to feel comfortable coming to the show floor.

Dolores Semeraro:

It's brilliant. I mean, I've never thought about a tour of the trade show during the trade show, the theme of the upcoming show in November. For those listening to the podcast, ahead of November 2025 we have WTM London coming on the between the fourth and the sixth of November this year. And really is the travel power. Like, I love that line. It's like, what is your travel power? What motivates us? What propels us to to work and live and breathe in this industry that connects so many people. So I love that. The question, the tagline of this year event is, what are you how are you going to use your travel power? Because everyone has a travel power. What is the concept behind the this year theme? What were you guys thinking in that meeting room when you come up with this brilliant idea?

Brooke Gilbertson:

travel power has been something we have kind of carried through the past few years, because we do believe that everyone on that show floor, whether you're a visitor, whether you're an exhibitor, you know, it doesn't matter what your role is in travel, you have some power to make some change. You know, power to change is what we had as our strap line a few years ago. And so travel power came out of that. You know, what is your travel power and how are you going to use it? How are you going to use your power to change the world, right? How are you, as a small sort of tour operator, working with the local community to change the way that potentially travel is being done in your destination, you know. How are you making the conscious decisions to change that are powering a wider change? Because travel is everywhere. Travel is everything. You know. So many people are involved in the travel industry. So many people travel. How are the travelers using their travel power, and how are the sort of travel organizations and companies using their power to change that as well and always change for good? You know, we're trying really hard here to create more of an environment for sustainable travel, for inclusive travel. How are we facilitating those conversations? You know, we need to look at how we are providing the knowledge to those audience members to then use their travel power to make that change. And then actually, you know that being the wider scope of WTM, the conference program, for the first time ever, is actually having its own theme that fits under that. And we're reimagining travel in a changing world. And I think that the reimagining, for me was the one word that stood out so much. You know, we were brainstorming all the different themes that we wanted to do for the conference program, and reimagining was just something that I thought really says what it does on the tin. We are looking at a completely new travel landscape. The world is changing. People's preferences are changing, and I think that we need to look at how we are reimagining, how

Dolores Semeraro:

The results of the theme out of the conference will be the perfect working ground to really assess, what travel is represented, how travel is done, how travel is are the changes, where are the shifts happening, and then work towards a proactive change, not just reactive, but proactively. Put it out there. Brilliant. I love it. marketed, how geopolitical issues are impacting travel, and I really wanted to thank you for joining me today on the podcast. You shared so much value. You brought so many insights behind so all of those things will be encompassed in what we're able the scene of how a conference works. Because many times we just go to the trade show as attendees, as speakers, as exhibitors, and there's so much going on behind the scenes of to do. And hopefully, by looking at how travel can be reimagined, putting together a program that doesn't just entertain but delivers value and makes an impact that, you know, you can go home and say, Well, you know what I really learned this. How people will be inspired to use their travel power for good. does a successful show look like to you after it's finished? You know, when you have that day of decompression?

Brooke Gilbertson:

Right when you see people posting on LinkedIn saying, I went to this session and I learned XYZ, or you see them in a few months time, and actually they say I learned this at WTM, and actually my business is pivoting. Are people turned on to the new topics, the new trends. Are they exploring the new and are they actioning the issues that we're addressed? We don't want to just address issues. We want people to action the issues that have been addressed. And I think that that's the key, key measure for me.

Dolores Semeraro:

Thank you so much, Brooke, for joining me on truth behind travel. I learned so much myself and as an attendee, as a speaker, and now I know even more of the behind the scenes, so I appreciate it, and I'm very grateful that people like you and your team are bringing together a calendar of content that really resonates with the audience and delivers with impact. So thank you so much, and all the best for the upcoming show.

Brooke Gilbertson:

Thank you so much. It was fantastic speaking with you. Thank you for joining this episode of truth behind travel podcast and to learn more about the behind the scenes of the conference space and how technology is envisioned to enhance connections rather than replace them. In the words of Brooke, travel is everywhere. Travel is everything, and how are you making the most of your travel power? See you soon on the next episode you.