Foundational Technical Assistance Workshop: Kona
Description
This Foundational Technical Assistance (FTA) Workshop is designed for Hawaiʻi Island businesses, entrepreneurs, cultural practitioners, nonprofits, stewardship organizations, and community initiatives interested in better understanding and engaging with Hawaiʻi’s visitor industry.
This registration is for Day 1 of the two-day event. Day 1 will be hosted in Kona, and Day 2 will be hosted in Hilo. You can register for Day 2 at https://events.humanitix.com/fta-2026-hilo.
Content of the workshop's two days complement one another, but participants may register for either day individually or attend both. Those who register for Day 1 will receive a discount code that can be used for Day 2 in Hilo.
Day 1 (Kona): Finding Your Place in Hawaiʻi’s Visitor Industry
Understanding Hawaiʻi’s Visitor Industry, Visitors & Opportunities
Learn how Hawaiʻi’s visitor industry works, where opportunities exist, who Hawaiʻi’s visitors are, and what influences their choices. Through practical activities and insights from industry professionals, you’ll identify the visitors who are the right fit for what you offer and strengthen how you reach and communicate with them.
Day 2 (Hilo): Creating Visitor Products, Experiences & Opportunities
Designing Things Visitors Want While Staying Rooted in Place, Community & Culture
Explore how to develop or strengthen visitor-facing products and experiences that advance your goals while remaining rooted in Hawaiʻi as a place, community, and culture. Work through practical considerations including product and experience design, pricing and viability, and visitor engagement.
FTA is part of HTA’s Technical Assistance & Capacity Building (TACB) programs, supporting the development of a more regenerative visitor industry by strengthening local businesses and nonprofits, fostering meaningful visitor experiences, and helping ensure tourism creates greater value for Hawaiʻi’s people, places, and culture.
Agenda
- 9:00 am - 9:30 am
Registration, Coffee & Talk Story
- 9:30 am - 10:10 am
Welcome & Setting the Day's Foundation
The workshop begins by grounding you in you own goals rather than tourism itself. O ke kahua ma mua, ma hope ke kūkulu. “First the foundation, then the building.”
- 10:10 am - 10:55 am
Understanding Hawaiʻi’s Visitor Industry
We'll build a practical understanding of Hawaiʻi’s visitor industry, the resources tourism brings into Hawaiʻi, and the many ways businesses and organizations participate in the industry.
- 11:00 am - 12:15 pm
Visitor Industry Panel and Q&A
Industry professionals share how their sectors work, how they connect with visitors, and how your business or organization can work with them.
- 12:15 pm - 12:45 pm
Lunch & Networking
- 12:45 pm - 1:50 pm
Understanding Our Visitors
We'll explore who visits Hawaiʻi, what they are looking for, where they encounter opportunities, and what influences what they choose to do and buy.
- 2:40 pm - 3:45 pm
Storytelling, Marketing & Communications
We'll explore how to communicate what they offer in ways that capture the interest of the visitors you want to reach and give them a reason to choose you.
- 3:45 pm - 4:00 pm
Reflections & Next Steps
Speaker Lineup
Brandon Fairchild, PhD., Ward Research & Solutions Pacific
Hānau to Ohio and home in Hawaiʻi, Brandon serves as Program Manager for the Foundational Technical Assistance (FTA) program. This role aligns with much of Brandon's work in tourism, which focuses on directing greater resources from Hawaiʻi's largest economic driver into the regeneration of ʻāina and kaiāulu by bridging the gap between industry and community. In addition to FTA, Brandon was the lead researcher and author of HTA's 2026-2028 Destination Management Action Plans, manages HTA's Community Tourism Collaborative (CTC) programs, and has conducted research in regenerative tourism for Kamehameha Schools. He lives in Salt Lake, Oʻahu with his husband and holds a PhD in Sociology from Temple University in Philadelphia. His dissertation research focused on community, healing, and resilience with Puʻuhonua ʻo Waiʻanae houseless village led by the late Aunty Twinkle Borge. He aliʻi ka ʻāina; he kauwā ke kanaka.
Lindsay Sanborn, Hawaiʻi Tourism Authority
Born and raised in Kāneʻohe, Oʻahu, Lindsay is a passionate and compassionate advocate for regenerative tourism and destination stewardship in Hawaiʻi. Through her work with the Hawaiʻi Tourism Authority, she oversees both the Technical Assistance & Capacity Building (TACB) and Workforce Development programs, helping strengthen the people, organizations, and partnerships that contribute to more resilient visitor economies across the pae ʻāina. Lindsay is also heavily involved with HTA's Community Partnership Programs, supporting grant and event support initiatives for community, industry, and government partners that reflect Hawaiʻi's unique places, cultures, and values. Known for her collaborative spirit and unwavering encouragement of others, Lindsay is deeply committed to helping individuals and organizations grow in ways that create lasting benefits for ʻāina, kamaʻāina, and visitors.
Rebecca J. ʻI. Soon, Ward Research & Solutions Pacific
With ancestral roots connecting back to Waiheʻe, Maui, Massachusetts, the Azores, East Asia, and throughout Europe, Becky was born and raised on Oʻahu. Across her prolific career in housing, homelessness, civil rights, immigration, health access, environmental protection, small business advocacy, and community-based planning, she focuses on systems change rooted firmly in improving community well-being. An attorney, entrepreneur, and aspiring mahiʻai now living in Hilo, she brings a deep ability to translate information, data, and ʻike across sectors, build bridges, and move complex ideas toward practical action in service of Native Hawaiian communities and more just, place-rooted futures for Hawaiʻi nei.
Jennifer Chun, Department of Business, Economic Developmetn, and Tourism (Speaker)
Jennifer Chun is the Director of Tourism Research for the State of Hawai‘i Department of Business Economic Development and Tourism (DBEDT), leading the Research & Economic Analysis Division’s Tourism Research Branch, which provides strategic analytical information about Hawai‘i tourism and conducts special research that supports the state’s marketing and product development efforts, planning by industry partners, and policy making. Since December 2025, she serves as the Acting Administrator for the Research and Economic Analysis Division. Jennifer is the chair of the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) Hawai‘i Chapter and is the Secretary/Treasurer for PATA International. She is on the board of Skål International Hawai‘i and was a past president. She is the treasurer for Travel and Tourism Research Association (TTRA) Hawai‘i Chapter and is a TTRA International board member. Jennifer is also secretary for the Hawai‘i Economic Association. She is a member of the Hawai‘i Women’s Forum. Jennifer was in the 14th class of the Pacific Century Fellows and is the corresponding secretary for the Associated Chinese University Women. She is a graduate of the Kamehameha Schools, Dartmouth College, and Cornell University School of Hotel Administration.
Travis Watanabe, Hawaiʻi Visitors & Convention Bureau (Speaker)
Travis Watanabe serves as the Chief Brand and Narrative Officer of the Hawaiʻi Visitors and Convention Bureau (HVCB), a newly established role that marks a significant evolution in the organization’s executive brand leadership. He oversees brand and marketing strategy, destination storytelling, creative direction, audience engagement, and reputation management across all domestic and international markets. Travis joined HVCB after an accomplished career with Red Bull, most recently as Senior Director of Athlete Marketing, where he led global athlete engagement, partnerships with major sports franchises, and brand and storytelling initiatives across some of the world’s most prominent sports and cultural platforms. Travis works closely with the Hawaiʻi Tourism Authority, HVCB’s island leadership, industry partners, cultural practitioners, and community stakeholders to shape how Hawaiʻi is understood and experienced around the world. His focus is on ensuring the destination’s story is told accurately and with respect for the culture and communities at its heart, while securing Hawaiʻi’s long-term competitiveness as a place people choose to visit and return.
Sandra Gibson, Kona Salt Farm (Panelist)
Sandra Gibson is responsible for the Kona Salt Farm by Sea Salts of Hawaiʻi located on the Hawaii Ocean Science Technology Park. The Salt Farm is committed to sharing cultural traditions and to ocean science & stewardship. Through the farm's products, educational tours, and community partnerships, she aims to bring innovation and traditional knowledge together to create meaningful economic, cultural and environmental value for Hawaiʻi.
Catherine Cambra, Island of Hawai‘i Visitors Bureau (Panelist)
Catherine “Cat” Cambra serves as the Island Director of the Island of Hawaiʻi Visitors Bureau, where she manages relationships with county leadership, community partners, and industry members while advancing the Bureau’s strategy across Hawaiʻi Island. She most recently served as Director of Marketing at Fairmont Orchid Hawaiʻi, where she led initiatives that earned the resort a No. 1 Hawaiʻi ranking in Condé Nast Traveler’s 2025 Readers’ Choice Awards and helped launch a coral reef restoration partnership in Pauoa Bay. Cat began her career in broadcast journalism, anchoring newscasts and hosting live radio before moving into destination marketing. For the past 15 years, Cat has worked to build trust between Hawaiʻi Island’s hospitality industry and the community it depends on, cultivating longstanding relationships with county leaders, cultural practitioners, and local partners along the way. A former board chair of the Island of Hawaiʻi Visitors Bureau, she is dedicated to connecting tourism with environmental stewardship and ensuring the visitor industry gives back to the island and the people who sustain it.
Additional speaker announcements coming soon.
FAQs
- I don’t live on Hawaiʻi Island. Are workshops available on my island?
FTA workshops will also be offered on:
Maui: October 30–31
Oʻahu: November 13–14
Kauaʻi: December 4-5
Check out the other events by clicking our host name.
- Can I attend virtually?
No. These are in-person workshops, and virtual participation is not available.
- Do I have to attend both days?
No. Each day is designed as a standalone workshop, so you may register for either day individually. However, we strongly encourage attending both if you can.
The workshops are designed to build on one another, with Day 1 helping you understand Hawaiʻi’s visitor industry, visitors, and opportunities, and Day 2 helping you apply that understanding to strengthen what you offer.
A discounted two-day registration is available.
- Are meals included with registration?
Yes. Registration includes a light continental breakfast and coffee (such as pastries) and lunch each day.
- What time should I arrive?
Please plan to arrive between 8:30 and 9:00 AM for check-in, coffee, and networking. The workshop will begin promptly at 9:00 AM.
Tickets for good, not greed Humanitix dedicates 100% of profits from booking fees to charity
