Social media is visual marketing at its finest. The lodging industry is uniquely positioned to take advantage of social media because everything we do is visual. 80% of guests make booking decisions based on the first impressions of what they see online. Once you can grab someone's initial attention, it's relatively easy to convince them to research your offering further and take action to learn more. When you pair that with the fact that social media is the new TV station, it means that you can easily get your message out to a huge audience on a reasonable budget. In this session, we'll talk about how to use great visual marketing and storytelling to promote your lodging property as a place to stay or to tell your story and how you support the community.

Do you feel like you (or your coworkers) start a million things, but rarely finish them? Many people think the problem is that they aren’t trying hard enough. So they get up earlier, guzzle energy drinks, or hire a life coach. For many, though, nothing works. In this session, based on the book by the same title, you’ll learn something surprising: The most effective strategies to help people complete their goals are not those that pushed people to work harder. The ones that got people to the finish line did just the opposite— they took the pressure off. If you’re tired of being a chronic starter and want to become a consistent finisher, you have two options: You can continue to beat yourself up and try harder, since this time that will work. Or you can come to this session and give yourself the gift of done.

Lodging professionals and industry suppliers are invited to join the OH&LA Board of Directors on April 30 for an OH&LA Member Event to discuss industry issues and formulate association activities. These discussions will be followed by an educational luncheon. This event will be held at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Tulsa Downtown. We hope you'll take this opportunity to get more involved in OH&LA and gather to visit with existing and prospective members. Members are invited to stay for the OH&LA Board of Directors meeting to hear about association and lodging industry activities and initiatives.

The Oklahoma Conference on Tourism is an annual event that helps Oklahoma's tourism industry work together to grow our attractions and communities. With the help of a line-up of experts, attendees are kept abreast of the latest trends, tactics and tools needed to maximize opportunity, energize marketing efforts and set the path to sustained growth. They gain insight into current and coming travel trends, share best practices with industry peers, and get real ideas on how to reach more prospective travelers every day. The Oklahoma Conference on Tourism is held in conjunction with the RedBud Awards.