Happy New Year and welcome back! We’re excited to share our updated Intranet and our new internal blog, The Harbour. Our first blog posts can be found below.

Welcome to the Harbour

The Intranet has a new look! It now includes an internal blog called The Harbour. Stay tuned for exciting content curated to keep staff in the loop on all things DT!

Spaghetti and Marshmallows

The December 2022 All-Hands Holiday Edition was a huge success. Thank you to everyone that participated both in-person and virtually!

Mandatory Upgrade to Office 365

Everyone must install Office 365, and remove Office 2013 from their computers by January 31st, 2023.

Employee Pulse Survey

The Destination Toronto 2022 End of Year Employee Pulse Survey is now available. Please respond to the anonymous survey by Friday, January 20, 2023. Your feedback is appreciated.

Getting to Know You

In each edition of PULSE, we’re asking 3 questions to 3 phenomenal DT team members. You can see their answers in the latest Harbour article.

CONGRATULATIONS!

Regina Rink was awarded the PCMA President’s Star Award for her contributions and accomplishments as the Chair of the Community Service Committee. This is Regina’s third time receiving the President’s Star Award. 

Amy Shen has successfully completed the Destination International PDM (Professional in Destination Management) Certificate Program. 

An at-a-glance look at the month ahead for the DT teams.

DEPARTMENT NEWS: WHAT'S ON THIS MONTH

GLOBAL SALES AND SERVICES 

• The Global Sales & Service team is ramping up for the PCMA Convening Leaders scheduled over the dates of Jan 8 – 11 2023 in Columbus Ohio.
• Our team presence at PCMA includes 15 participants from Destination Toronto which includes team members from Sales & Service, Global Marketing & Leadership. In addition we have 9 DT partners attending as well.
• At PCMA Convening Leaders, GSS will participate in the Hosted Buyer program with 12 scheduled appointments to date. GSS has secured space within the Destination Canada Business Events booth at the PCMA Marketplace. The team will attend the DCBE Canada night on Monday, Jan 9 & Tuesday Jan 10 as we host our own client event for 50 people, including 35 high value clients.

DESTINATION SERVICES UPDATES

• As part of our PCMA Convening Leaders activation we will be hosting a client event ‘Toronto Remixer’.  We will be hosting approximately 30 of our corporate, 3rd Party and association clients.  The event will include an interactive mixology experience.

GLOBAL MARKETING

• Now Playing TO interviewed TSO Conductor Daniel Bartholomew-Poyser and CEO Mark Williams. Read their articles in our Backstage Blog here.
• U.S. culinary freelancer Erik Trinidad for an exploration of the city's food scene and an overnight visit to Niagara's IceWine Festival, Jan 12-15. 
• Attending IMM North America's Media Marketplace and Summit, Jan 24-26.
• BE Marketing supporting PCMA - Convening Leaders (Jan 8-11) sales activity with a newly developed "real-time" content and social plan (a similar approach will be taken for major GSS strategic partnership events in 2023).
• TikTok pilot project and brand lift study is in-market through to mid-Jan (featuring You Gotta See What We See).
• Redesigned eNews template. 
• Winter season ambassador picks to be featured on social.
• Redesigned Intranet.
• NEW! Launching the 2023 Business Events campaign, Culture Remixes – including a video featuring Randell Adjei (Ontario's first Poet Laureate), plus supporting print and digital creative assets.
• In anticipation of PCMA Convening Leaders (Jan 8 to 11)  a collection of custom articles have been published on the Meetings hub to align with the conference's overarching themes: sustainability, DEI, embracing uncertainty, and encouraging original thinking. These are also clear leading themes in the industry going into 2023.
• 12 Group Activities that Will Give Your Team New Perspectives
• Team-Building Workshops from Toronto’s Creative Community
• 5 Ways the Metro Toronto Convention Centre is Leading the Sustainable F&B Movement  
• How to Make Your Event More Inclusive (and Make Everyone Feel Welcome)
• Toronto DEI Advocates to Add to Your Keynote Speaker Wish List
• In final phases of production for new Sales trade show booth and activation, in collaboration with Destination Services.
• Launching new ICCA Association Partnership as the first North American partner in the program, provides the opportunity to drive awareness and engagement with the international association audience.
• Attendance building campaign and support for key 2023 groups including HITEC, ULI, Esports Travel Summit and Association for Computing Machinery (ACM).

DESTINATION DEVELOPMENT 

• The Relax, Recharge, Renew program is reactivated and our first family will be hosted for a weekend getaway on Feb 3-5. Huong Tran and her husband, a couple  with two kids, will stay at the InterContinental Hotel and are excited to explore Toronto's museums and live theatre. More families are booked throughout the year as RRR returns in full force in 2023.
• Destination Toronto has joined Destination Canada and other Canadian DMOs in a project to help measure our destinations' sustainability, based on the Global Destination Sustainability Index that compares the sustainability performance of DMOs, municipalities, and tourism supply chains worldwide. In late January, members of the team will attend the IMPACT Sustainability Travel & Tourism conference in Victoria, BC to learn more best practices alongside peers across North America.
• DT's membership program is set to restart on Feb 1. While we continue to sell and market the destination as a whole, membership enables DT to stay more closely connected to many of the businesses, products and services of the destination. Watch for more details this month on definitions and processes and how everyone can support the membership effort.
• The Business Intelligence team is preparing a 2022 year-end report on the key Market Performance data to help our stakeholders understand the visitor economy and the impact it has on our community. The report will be shared internally and can be a useful tool for discussion with stakeholders.  

FINANCE & ADMIN

Happy New Fiscal Year and thanks to everyone's effort in closing the 2022 fiscal accurately.  

The January Board and Committee meeting dates are as follows: 

• Jan 12  Marketing Committee
• Jan 16  Community Engagement Committee
• Jan 16  Convention Sales Committee
• Jan 16  Travel Trade Advisory Council
• Jan 19  Finance & Audit Committee
• Jan 26  Board of Directors Meeting

PERFORMANCE REVIEWS

Our annual Performance Review cycle starts January 3, 2023 in Culture Amp. Key milestones are: 

• Employee Self-Reflections to be completed by January 20:
  You will receive a notice from Culture Amp to complete your self-reflection.  Self-reflections are an opportunity to provide your feedback and thoughts by reflecting on your past achievements and future areas of growth as part of the review process. There are 3-4 open-ended questions for you to complete. 
• Manager Reviews are to be completed in Culture Amp by February 10

Your manager will use your self-reflection to complete their review in Culture Amp. There are 3-4 open-ended questions for your manager to complete based on your self-reflection responses and their own feedback on your performance, past achievements and areas of future growth.

• Performance Review Meeting to be completed by February 24: After your manager has submitted their review in Culture Amp, a performance appraisal meeting can be set up.

Given that the new year gets underway quickly it is advised that you plan now to meet the deadlines above.

Drop in Q & A sessions related to Culture Amp and our Performance Management process at 1:30 pm on January 9, 23, 30 and February 6.

There are additional videos, training and FAQ resources available on our Intranet for you to review.

CELEBRATING WORK ANNIVERSARIES!

Denise Belgrove - nineteen year anniversary (January 19, 2004)

Catalina Matamoros - six year anniversary (January 4, 2017)

Cherisse Ebanks - one year anniversary (January 11, 2022)

Tahnee Malazdrewicz - one year anniversary (January 31, 2022)

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