We are at a crossroads with the integration of AI with human insight and passion, and as I ponder the next three days of MCing the 2025 South Australian Visitor Information Services Network State Conference, I decided to pool all my AI tools together to weave a theme through the event.
There will be speakers and sessions dedicated to innovation and communication, reflection, learning, and customer service. Then it struck me, there’s something grand and operatic about the scope of content planned and the variety of singers, err, speakers (and even a chorus when it comes to the final panel) who will be taking to the stage.
So, instead of doing what I was meant to be doing and finalising my MC notes, I crafted a pitch to the spirit of Mozart for Il Turismo Parlato, The Tourism That Speaks. Maybe, just maybe, this might open some ideas that could work for you when you’re looking for new ways of communicating concepts?
As an aside, if you’re interested in exploring practical, innovative, and creative uses of AI in your business, contact me today to ask about our next AI Crew program, which is an affordably-priced, 3-month journey of experimentation and productivity for a small cluster of participants at a time.
The Tourism Conference Opera (My Imaginery Pitch To Mozart)
Maestro, picture this. Not La Scala, but South Australia’s breathtaking coastline as your stage, where visitor centre representatives unknowingly audition for their own operatic transformation.
The Overture opens at McCracken Conference Centre. These aren’t desperate marketers, they’re the frontline heroes from visitor centres across our state, arriving with quiet confidence and clipboards. They think it’s just another conference. We know better.
Act One erupts when Chris Ball’s innovation aria – ‘Embrace the Beautiful Chaos’ – transforms registration into revelation. The governmental trio appears: Miranda Lang flanked by Aubra Guevara and Louise Magor from the South Australian Tourism Commission, their three-part harmony delivering funding futures in perfect counterpoint. Rebecca Uphill presents TICSA‘s Tourism Business Barometer like a musical score; insights, accreditation benefits, mentoring programs building to her finale: ‘One Action to Implement Immediately.’ The AGM follows like a formal coda.
Then, the bus journey to d’Arenberg Cube. Imagine a moving chorus through McLaren Vale as Chester Osborne materialises like Virgil guiding Dante, except through wine rather than hell. The Cube itself becomes our set; Salvador Dalà meets South Australian shiraz. Canapes float past like edible dreams while the CEO and Mayor trade arias from level three. Dessert literally ascends to level four, defying both gravity and convention.
Act Two dawns with chair yoga as morning meditation. Susie Ford’s haunting ‘Finding Your Purpose’ peels away decades of tourism routine. Charlotte Gilfillan’s coloratura masterpiece ‘Content Creation Carousel’ has our representatives dancing with smartphones. Then Steve Davis (referred to as Stefano Davissimo when in operatic mode) ‘The Customer Service Serenade’, part education, part confession, wholly unexpected. The act concludes at McCracken Estate’s BBQ, where Laura Hill’s guitar transforms sausage sizzles into folk opera under the stars. Finally, our heroes exhale.
Act Three, brief but transcendent. Friday morning finds our representatives transformed but exhausted. Nicole Clark sings accessibility into action. Mark Koolmatrie channels the Coorong’s ancient wisdom through bass notes that shake the earth. AOK’s digital sorcery provides the catalyst. During the visitor centres’ Q&A quartet, something miraculous happens. Our weary representatives literally rise, spirits ascending as luminous angels above South Australia, proclaiming our state’s wonders in celestial harmony.
It’s The Magic Flute meets Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, where tourism’s everyday heroes become transcendent troubadours, proving the real magic isn’t in the metrics but in the metamorphosis.
Behold, The Opera
And here is the opera itself, with a patched together video background to fill the gaps.
And here’s to a successful and invigorating conference, that will send passion and energy throughout the regions, ready to be infused into the hearts and minds of visitors from everywhere.