The Wisconsin Governor’s Conference on Tourism was hosted this past week in Lake Geneva, which celebrates one of Wisconsin’s leading industries and shares the Department of Tourism’s outlook and plans for the future.

This year the conference was held at the Grand Geneva Resort and Spa in Lake Geneva, and featured a unique commercial debut. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Robert Hays teamed up to make a spoof of the movie “Airplane!” in a commercial promoting the beauty of Wisconsin and the state as a travel destination. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel jumped in with commentary on the commercial as well, explaining that the ad’s angle in reference to the movie hopes to cut in against tourism ads from other states that concentrate on views of scenery.

The agenda included a keynote presentation by Eric Whitacre, the creator of the Virtual Choirs, which combines thousands of user-submitted videos into a single choral performance every year. Other speakers included Jim Knight presenting on how to differentiate one’s organization from the rest in their relative market and a talk by Robert Lynch, the president and CEO of Americans for the Arts about the arts industry in the state. Workshops and breakout sessions were also held on things such as arts and agri-tourism, the importance of the travel industry in advocacy, and revitalization of downtown areas.

The complete agenda for the three day conference and more information about attendees can be found on the conference’s website.

This post was authored by Jake Heyka, an intern at the Hamilton Consulting Group.