SUBMIT AN RFP
For more than 90 years, OWAA has helped writers, photographers, bloggers and other outdoor storytellers hone their craft. A key component of achieving these goals is our annual conference which educates, inspires, shares best practices and establishes meaningful B2B connections. Submit an RFP to host this important event.
Hosts are positioned at the forefront of the outdoor market and hold the attention of the outdoor industry before, during and after the conference. Even before the first attendees arrive, the exposure a host destination receives is substantial.
Once the 250 attendees do arrive, this event will continue to pay positive dividends for your destination. There’s the immediate impact of infusing nearly $200,000 into your local economy. Then there’s the social media bump you’ll get as these professional storytellers continuously share your destination with all their followers. After the event, you’ll reap the most significant impact as attendees continue to promote your destination in their outlets, including newspapers, magazines, podcasts, broadcast media, blogs and more – sometimes for years after.
OWAA’s conference will put your destination front and center before passionate outdoorspeople around the nation – and even the globe – by providing millions of dollars in outdoor media exposure.
OWAA selects the site of its conference two to three years out and moves locations around North America. While OWAA’s conference was traditionally held in June, we are open to proposals in spring and fall too, if that time offers better rates for OWAA and our members. The conference is (generally) structured as a 3-day peak night pattern over the course of a weekend.
Please work with your partners to fill out the three forms that constitute our ‘RFP,’ and submit them by the 1 April deadline. If everything is in order and you make the short-list, we would arrange a site inspection as soon as scheduling permits.
We look forward to seeing your proposal and hope to be able to work with your team to have a very successful OWAA conference in your destination someday!
Our RFP is now split into four parts: an introduction and a Google Form each for the host tourism board, the venue itself and the hotel(s). The host tourism board would fill out its own form as would the hotel(s) interested in this conference. The venue form would be filled out by whatever entity is appropriate, based on who manages/owns the meeting venue (tourism board, hotel, or possibly another agency).
These forms MUST be filled out for your bid to be complete! You can send additional information separately if you like (especially F&B menus) but your bid is reviewed primarily by what you and your partners submit in these forms. And each bidding destination must submit at least three forms; one form from the tourism board, one from the meeting venue (be it convention center, hotel, or some other meeting space), and at least one from a hotel. Multiple hotels in your destination can all submit their own individual hotel bids though. Bids from a destination that don’t include at least one form from the tourism board, one from a venue and one from a hotel are incomplete.
OWAA has secured a location for 2024 and has closed bids for 2025. Our next bid cycle will be for 2026.
- Proposal submission deadline | 1 April
- Review of proposals (possible interviews, follow up, etc.) | Throughout April
- Shortlist chosen | 30 April
- Site inspections | May/June
- Signed Contract | July
- Host announced (to host conference two years later) | At conference