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In the lead-up to the NFL Draft, Visit Detroit helped host events for the local community. Photo courtesy Charles Falsetti.
For the first time in decades of Visionary Awards history, the PCMA Foundation accepted group nominations in three Professional Excellence Award categories — Impact Award, Experience Design of the Year, and Digital Experience Strategist of the Year — to acknowledge the efforts of many that fuel groundbreaking achievements.
“By introducing team and group nominations, we’re honoring the collective brilliance, creativity, and dedication that drive our industry forward,” said Meredith Rollins, PCMA’s chief community officer and executive director of the PCMA Foundation. “This enhancement ensures that the people behind the most impactful experiences — whether from one organization or across multiple — receive the recognition they deserve.”
Before the ceremony on April 10 in Washington, D.C., Convene spoke with Claude Molinari, Visit Detroit president and CEO, and co-chair of the Detroit Local Organizing Committee for the NFL Draft about how his team came together to make that event so successful, earning them a finalist spot for the Impact Award.
Working Nights and Weekends — And Loving Every Minute of It
When analyzing the impact of Detroit’s role as a host destination for the 2024 NFL Draft, the numbers almost say it all. More than 775,000 fans descended on Motor City — smashing previous attendance records for the event — and the city’s hotel partners enjoyed more than $100 million of revenue growth, according to Claude Molinari. However, the surrounding local communities were celebrating touchdowns long before any draft action began.
Claude Molinari, Visit Detroit President and CEO
From January through April, Visit Detroit and the local draft committee hosted “On the Clock” events at 60 sites that included food trucks, games, arts and crafts, and opportunities for kids to showcase their skills. “We wanted to make sure that not just everybody around the world who was coming, but also Michiganders themselves, would feel very welcome that this experience was for them as much as anybody else,” Molinari told Convene.
For Molinari’s team of 60 employees, the lift involved turning a three-day draft into every-weekend events. “That’s a lot of nights and weekends,” Molinari said, “and a lot of demands.”
Despite that punishing schedule, Visit Detroit still managed to win the Best Workplace award from the city’s local paper. Part of that may be due to team members’ enthusiasm for putting their city on the global stage, and part of it may be attributed to feeling a sense of empowerment in the office.
“I encourage our teammates to go out there and take risks without being reckless,” Molinari said. “There is an obligation to be vocal. I don’t care what your position is here. If you have a point of view, we want to take it into consideration.”
Whether those team members are raising their hands in the office or on a remote video call, they have a clear understanding that their jobs are critical for the well-being of many of their neighbors. “We’re not curing cancer, and we’re not saving people, but in many situations, we are the reason why people come to work,” Molinari said. “Whatever the event may be, it could be the difference between people being able to pay their mortgage or have health benefits. It’s so important that we don’t lose sight of the fact that what we do matters to a lot of people’s livelihoods.”
In addition to helping many Detroiters put more money in their pockets last April — 70 percent of the draft jobs went to local residents — the city will benefit from an enduring impact. Molinari said the organization donated $500,000 of the proceeds from the NFL Draft to Beyond Basics, a nonprofit that works to increase literacy rates and reading scores in local schools, and $500,000 to Project Play, a nonprofit that encourages children to be active and healthy. It’s a pay-it-forward approach to shape the next generation of local ambassadors who may one day find themselves part of Molinari’s team.
“The unsung MVPs of the draft were the citizens of Detroit and Southeast Michigan who were so welcoming,” he said. “There has been an undertone of safety [concerns] in Detroit, but when 775,000 people descended upon the city from all over the world, there was zero misbehavior. The destination has been validated as a really great place to come.”
David McMillin is a former Convene editor and freelance writer.
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