Denver Media Event showcases the best of California travel

Visit California and 20 tourism partners from the Golden State hosted top media and influencers for a California-inspired evening at The Thompson in Denver, Colorado. The Denver media event offered the opportunity to exclusively network in an intimate setting while learning about new and newsworthy stories from destinations across the state. 

Attendees included 26 top-tier journalists and influencers representing outlets like Armchair Explorer, Lonely Planet, Smithsonian Magazine, The Meetings Magazine, GoNOMAD, Virtuoso Life and more. Throughout the evening, guests enjoyed California wine and partook in a chocolate tasting by California-native, but now Denver-local, Keith Meyers of Sugar Jones, who crafted unique truffles inspired by the diverse California landscape. 

Angie Pappas, Associate Vice President of External Affairs and Media at Visit California, shared highlights from the organization’s latest campaign, “Playful Journeys,” and provided updates on what’s new across the state. Partners split up into small groups around the venue, while media rotated around each group throughout the evening. The casual, yet structured format allowed for connection and conversation with each attendee. 

The evening concluded with open networking, plus raffles for two special California getaways courtesy of Visit Carlsbad and Visit Yosemite | Mariposa County. Visit Santa Barbara also contributed wine to the event’s branded gift bags from Rareform, a Los Angeles-based company that recycles old billboard material into reusable tote bags. 

Feedback from attendees was overwhelmingly positive:

• Mindy Sink, freelance: “I really enjoyed the event and my only feedback is that I was so impressed how the gift bag did not have any plastic items - so creative!”
• Aaron Miller, Armchair Explorer: “I had a great night and found it very useful. That was a new format for me, and I really loved how it was a little more structured than an open networking event.”
• Juliana Broste, TravelingJules: “Thanks so much for the invite--the party was fabulous!  Loved meeting all your partners and hearing what's new!”
• @sweetlittlejourney: “Thank you so much for hosting - it was super fun and I loved the speed-dating format for networking. Thanks so much for sending over the contact information for the destination partners - we can't wait to work with some of these destinations!”
• @colorado_kristin: “Thank you so much for having me. I really liked the ‘speed dating’ concept & had a great time meeting everyone.” 

The Denver Media Event was the second of two smaller-scale events in FY 24/25 focused on intimate, high-impact engagement. The first was held earlier this year in Atlanta.

To learn more about upcoming opportunities, sign up for Visit California’s Public Relations newsletter, or contact Visit California’s Director of Public Relations Kristen Bonilla.