Inside Spark Orlando: A Recap of Our Operators’ Top Discoveries
We asked our clients their top learnings from Spark 2023 — see what they said!
We’re still soaking up the moments from Spark Orlando, the biggest FareHarbor event to date. With over 500 operators in attendance, 14 unique sessions, and a networking reception to end each day— we are officially calling this conference a major success.
The team behind Spark works hard all year to put this event on and our Vice President of North America, Josh Halperin, notes that:
“What I learned the most is that our clients are incredible. They are not just amazing people, but they’re amazing business operators and incredibly supportive [to one another]. I saw clients opening up their Dashboards and sharing ideas and strategies with each other. There is so much inherent knowledge inside the minds of our clients that we should be leveraging how to grow together and how to harness that community aspect between our clients and partners.”
And that’s just it — FareHarbor Spark does not exist without each of our incredible clients! Read on to learn some of the major takeaways and learnings from a few of our Spark attendees.
Leveraging local partnerships with the FareHarbor Distribution Network
“I’ve learned more about the FareHarbor Distribution Network. They really cleared up some questions that I had about the program which really makes me excited because now other tours in our market aren’t competitors — instead we can all be a team where I can sell their tours and they can sell mine.”
Matt Marberry | OBX Ghost Tours | Manteo, NC
How to save time with AI
“The AI session was really fantastic for me. It opens up a whole new world for everybody in this business. Personally I’m struggling coming up with tour descriptions — now you can have them in seconds. And then all you need is to put in your expertise in the field to actually fine tune them and you’re good to go. You can’t believe how many nights I’ve spent working on these kinds of things and now I can use my time in the actual job rather than behind the computer.”
Theodoros Velmachos | Athens Experiences | Athens, Greece
It’s time to start a TikTok account
“There’s so many takeaways from Spark, but the big one is starting a TikTok channel for Eat Seattle and getting more into that video aspect. I think that we’re lacking on other channels and it is nice to see that a lot of companies can benefit from great social.”
Liz Philpot | Eat Seattle Tours | Seattle, WA
In’s and out’s of the FareHarbor Dashboard
“Just learning about the functionality of FareHarbor has been so useful. There’s so much on the back end of the platform that you can use to increase efficiencies for whatever business you’re running. I learned that Fareharbor connects to all the apps you are using which makes it so much easier to run your business.”
Scott | Boggy Creek Airboat Rides | Kissimmee, FL
The vast marketing resources available to FareHarbor clients
“We are not taking advantage of the multiple resources that FareHarbor offers us! We found out so much about Compass, SEO, reviews, and other marketing resources.”
Shelby Victoria and Yashmin | Silent World Dive Center | Key Largo, FL
Importance of website optimizations
“I met one-on-one with an account manager who just really opened my mind to how we could optimize our website — and we’re actually going to get a new FareHarbor website. I learned about optimizing the basics on my website – things I didn’t even know I hadn’t been doing – which will help my business many times over.”
Julian Buxton | Tour Charleston | Charleston, SC
Seeing the growth mindset in action
“I think my favorite part of Spark is the growth mindset and being able to see all of the other operators experiencing success. One of the biggest integrators in that success is setting up your website and SEO. Although we already know we need to do those things, it certainly has been helpful to hear that from people who are actually doing it day in and out.”
Tim Smith and Cassandra | Adventure Elevated | Midway, UT
If you couldn’t make it to Spark Orlando this year — stay tuned for select recorded sessions that will be available in the coming weeks and months on our exclusive learning hub, Compass!
