2023 Tour Director & Guide Symposium

Get Hired • Build your network • Unparalleled Learning

November 12-15, 2023 • Shreveport, LA

In partnership with ITMI & NTA (National Tour Association)

Join us for two conferences in one!

It’s a big industry out there, and today’s travel professional can work year-round as a guide, tour director, and entrepreneur, filling their year with a variety of industry-related work. How do you fill your year with travel-related work? You make connections across the entire tour industry.

For that reason, we’re excited to be partnering with ITMI & NTA (the National Tour Association) to welcome the TripSchool community to a conference that gets you hired as a tour director, plus offers networking to a thousand other industry professionals who can change the course of your career.

Tour Director Symposium

  • A separate event-within-an event specifically for tour directors & guides, hosted & programmed by ITMI & TripSchool

  • Interviews with 40+ group tour operators who are there specifically to hire you.

  • Practical, innovative education sessions that inspires and motivates you.

  • Parties & experiences just for the tour director & guide community

NTA Travel Exchange

  • Attended by hundreds of regional tour operators + travel industry professionals: tour operators, destination representatives, attractions, museums, historic sites and more.

  • Book meetings with representatives of destination boards, museums & historical attractions, National Parks, and more

  • Find industry partners if you’re interested in entrepreneurship in the travel industry.

Get work as a tour director!

  • Nothing beats making in-person connections with new tour companies.

  • Interview with 40+ group tour operators attending to hire tour directors.

  • Small group interviews, + opportunity for one-on-ones, and our Marketing Mixer where you can schmooze with operators in a small group environment!

  • Choose to book meetings with hundreds of other tour operators, destinations, and attractions and historic sites.

Education that changes how you do your job.

  • Over 20 hands-on, practical education sessions focused on topics specifically for tour directors. 100% no-fluff, totally interactive.

  • Gems & Nuggets: Destination insights from established tour directors.

  • Technology Workshops: don’t just listen, do. Practical hands-on technology.

  • Career Talks: from entrepreneurship to tax strategies, plus panels about travel the industry’s future.

  • Tour Operator Fireside Chat: hear from tour operator leaders in the industry as they respond to your questions.

  • “Career Confessional”: get 1-on-1 time with experienced tour directors offering advice

Community, community, community.

  • Community and connection is what we care most about at TripSchool.

  • Come connect, bond and commiserate with fellow colleagues!

  • In addition to education & hiring, there will be three spectacular parties (with drinks & food included), plus sightseeing/FAM trips, shows, end-of-day cocktail mixers, a TD “lounge” and more!

Part of a larger event that opens new doors.

  • Book individual meetings with travel industry organizations relevant to your career goals, from historic sites to destinations.

  • We’ll hold orientation and training meetings before the event to teach you how (and with whom) to network!

A dynamic destination.

  • Shreveport dates from 1836, and has a dynamic arts and food scene + history including everything from the Civil War to the steamboat industry

So much included!

  • This event doesn’t leave you on the hook for lots of extras

  • Breakfasts included

  • Daily plated lunches + special event dinners

  • Shows & 3 parties with drinks & food included

  • Tours & experiences

  • Free airport transfers

Optional New Orleans Destination Training after!

  • Stay in Shreveport, and join us for three days of destination training!

  • We’ll board a bus from Shreveport, and visit Natchitoches, Baton Rouge, and some special hidden stops along the way!

  • Two more days in New Orleans, seeing Mardi Gras World, the French Quarter, WWII museum, Garden District, Warehouse District, and more!

Practical stuff.

  • Includes so much: Includes breakfasts, lunches, some dinners, parties & entertainment

  • Full admission to both NTA Travel Exchange and Symposium programming.

  • Hosted by the National Tour Association: registration, hotel booking info, and everything else happens through NTA’s website.

  • Cost is $495 for full admission to both events + $100 if you’d like to participate in hiring interviews and special hiring mixer.

Get early bird pricing right now!

You’ll be redirected to NTA’s website, which handles registration.