The last 4 days were a full whirlwind of events. We Heart Tours crew was invited to an annual event for Tour Directors and Tour Operators - the 27th ITMI Symposium & Reunion in Nashville, TN! This was our first time in Nashville and we had a great time in Music City. But the most amazing part of our trip was the Symposium. We have met a lot of great folks and have learned, learned, and learned. Everyone was so welcoming, kind and relaxed so the general atmosphere has been that of a great family reunion.


This was our first year attending and the sessions we attended were a lot of fun. Rick Steve's keynote was truly inspirational. Travel is a great tool to gain knowledge of other people's dreams and their way of life which helps us understand each other, learn to resolve our differences and make this world a better place. The Tour Operator Open Forum provided great insights into the behind-the-scenes happenings of the industry. There were also a number of sponsors with booths and wish we had more time to check all of them out! We had a table set up as well and had fun talking to other attendees. Thank you all that came by to say hi!

We Heart Tours was invited to speak on the "Insights into Tour Planning/Starting your Own Tour Company" panel alongside Taunya Wolfe Finn, CTP, Owner & President of Wolfe Adventures & Tours, LLC and Phil Sheldon, president of HE Travel (merging the worlds of Hanns Ebensten Travel & Alyson Adventures): two amazing tour operators who shared their stories from the road of running a tour operator business. The panel presented a wealth of useful information to tour operator hopefuls in attendance and we provided a couple of useful tips on how to utilize freely available technology to make operations run smoother from day 1.


The next Symposium is slated for January 25-27, 2015 in Newport, RI and we cannot wait to see everyone again!

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