If you’re in charge of your organization’s guest speakers, then I have the man for you.
New Joplin Convention and Visitors Bureau Director Vincent Lindstrom wants to meet you. He wants to meet your club members. He wants to help you find ways to get your group to hold conventions and annual meetings here in Joplin.
And, after spending about an hour with Lindstrom, I’m convinced that he’ll convince you.
Joplin’s new CVB director is in charge of promoting the region’s selling points and then getting heads into beds in our hotels and motels, thus keeping the hotel/motel tax dollars flowing.
Lindstrom succeeds Mike McAfee, who left Joplin for a similar position in Bloomington, Ind. Lindstrom’s wife is a Joplin native, and they moved here from Las Vegas, Nev. He had been working as sales director of Legal iGaming in Tulsa, Okla., and had been commuting from Joplin.
He was director of corporate development for Mikohn Gaming in Las Vegas before moving to Joplin.
He has some 30 years of experience in the tourism industry, and in sales and marketing in the travel industry.
He formerly was executive director of the Quad Cities Convention and Visitors Bureau of Davenport and Bettendorf, Iowa, and Moline and Rock Island, Ill. There, he led a campaign to build a convention center. He might be one of the most enthusiastic people I’ve met in quite some time.
Here’s the top four things he thinks the Joplin area has to offer to visitors.
n Location. Interstate 44 is the perfect tool to bring tourists close enough to Joplin to encourage them to stay a night or two.
Vibrancy. “Aside from ice storms, this is a beautiful area in which to live and visit,” said Lindstrom. Art. Lindstrom is enthralled by the number of artists living in the area. He said he was practically speechless when he saw the Thomas Hart Benton mural hanging at Joplin City Hall.
History. With Route 66 running right through the town and a number of Civil War battlefields in the area, Lindstrom believes history buffs need to put Joplin on their travel agendas.
I might stop here and tell you that even though Lindstrom’s title has the word Joplin in it, he is very much a believer in regional cooperation. He wisely notes that tourists don’t know where the city limits end and neither should he.
So, what could Joplin be doing better?
Lindstrom believes our town could make a better first impression, but he gives the city big creds on what it’s done from First Street to Seventh Street.
He thinks we make it too hard for tourists to navigate. He sees a signage program as a big need.
He thinks that Missouri Southern State University could offer up a world of resources and says a closer relationship between the city and the university is needed.
Lindstrom quickly admits that “quiet” is not his strong suit.
I’d suggest the community take the new CVB director up on his guest-speaker offer.
He certainly doesn’t need me to put words in his mouth. Lindstrom has a vision for the Joplin area and is ready to pitch it to Joplin.
Carol Stark is editor of The Joplin Globe. Address correspondence to her, c/o The Joplin Globe, P.O. Box 7, Joplin, Mo. 64802 or e-mail cstark@joplinglobe.com.
Opinion
Carol Stark: CVB director wants to talk
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