The Minneapolis community has endured a lot over the past three years. Beyond the global pandemic that brought the world to its knees, Minneapolis was the site of the well-documented murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer. That event sparked a renewed social justice movement globally. Books will no doubt be written about the individual and collective experiences of our community’s recent past and its future journey toward authentic equity and inclusion.

Many people in our community have had the opportunity and duty to share our crucible lessons, and our ability to persevere, to inform and inspire others. Sharing these lessons has also been vital for our own community catharsis.

I recently had the opportunity to join my colleague Peter Frosch, CEO of the Greater MSP Partnership, in sharing some of these lessons. We participated as panelists at the City Nation Place Americas23 conference in New Orleans on a panel entitled, “Collaborating to Deliver on a Bolder, Differentiated Vision.” Panel highlights included:

• Developing a place brand strategy that evolves organically.
• Managing change: Evolving objectives for destination marketing and economic development organizations.
• Building on partnerships to drive organizational evolution.

City Nation Place has created a forum where destination marketers and economic development professionals can come together to deepen the oft forgotten nexus of their respective specialties. Economic development successes such as business relocations or expansions often begin with a positive tourism experience in a destination.

Destination management organizations and economic development organizations from cities such as Anaheim, Cleveland, Denver, Houston, Nashville, New Orleans, New York City, Ottawa, and Toronto were in attendance. Meet Minneapolis has intentionally expanded touchpoints with our local and regional economic development partners, and the organizations in attendance at City Nation Place Americas23 could discern the depth of our relationships.

Many attendees were among those who had given up on us or had no idea we were a viable city in which to live, work and visit. Peter and I had a chance to share a story of a city where the killing of George Floyd is a part of our story, but not our whole story.