At ESTO 2026, we’re shaping the future of destination marketing together. This is your chance to spark creativity, share transformative strategies and elevate the industry alongside peers and thought leaders. We’re calling on passionate professionals to craft compelling content and join us in rewriting what’s possible for destinations.

Who Can Submit? 

• Eligibility: Submissions are open to all U.S. Travel members and non-members.  
• Guidelines for Partners: Ally members and partners are welcome, but sessions must focus on insights and solutions—not sales. Content should showcase real-world case studies that inspire action and must include at least one destination as part of the session. Sessions accepted through the call for content for our Ally members and partners do not count towards any sponsor fulfillment obligations. 
• Speaker Cap: U.S. Travel will only accept a maximum of 2 speakers from any one organization to speak in concurrent programming to ensure diversity of perspectives across our agenda. The main stage/featured sessions and sponsored content will be considered separately.

Session Content Expectations 

• Provide three actionable takeaways for attendees. 
• Ensure content is scalable for destinations of all sizes—large, medium and small. 
• All content must align with U.S. Travel’s ESTO theme, Ideas that Travel.

Focus Areas for 2026

Your proposal should align with at least one of these high-impact categories:

• Destination Management
• Communications
• Innovation
• Insights
• Marketing
• Sales
• State-Focused

Session Formats

90-minute Peer-to-Peer Roundtable: Imagine an informal focus group, where participants gather in a relaxed, roundtable setting. There’s no formal speaker - instead, a facilitator introduces a broad question or prompt, encouraging natural, engaging conversation.

25-minute Take-Off Talk: A Take-Off Talk is inspired, fun, and makes you think big and small - in 25 minutes or less! Presenters with a specific story, discovery, or revelation who want to hone their ability to impact participants in a condensed amount of time are encouraged to consider this session format. Note: Take-Off Talks are limited to 1 speaker.

NEW! 25-minute How We Did It: Take-Off Talk: These are a spin-off of our Take-Off Talks where we’d like you to share how you did something, whether it’s how you launched a campaign or how you were able to get buy-in from all your stakeholders, we want to hear from you! Note: Take-Off Talks are limited to 1 speaker.

For more information and FAQs: https://esto.ustravel.org/call-for-content  

Discounted registration for accepted speakers, subject to U.S. Travel approval.