AMANDA HEIDECKER

DMO/Sports Commission Profile

What is your title, and how long have you held the position with Visit Tallahassee?

I’m the Senior Director of Sales and Sports for Visit Tallahassee. I joined the team as the Assistant Director of Sports in 2013 and became the Director of Sports in 2017. Recently, I was promoted to the Senior Director of Sales and Sports. It is an honor to do what I love every day and share all that Tallahassee has to offer to visitors in our community.

Visit Tallahassee is part of Leon County Government that operates as the Division of Tourism.

What is the structure of your Board of Directors?

We report to two separate boards – the Tallahassee Sports Council and Tourist Development Council. The Tallahassee Sports Council is an 18 member fact-finding committee that provides community input, technical resources, and help staff develop recommendations regarding sports tourism-related matters. The Tourist Development Council is a 9-member council authorized under Chapter 125.0104 Florida Statutes to oversee the Tourist Development Tax expenditure and report to the Leon County Board of County Commissioners.

What is the % breakdown of your revenue?

Visit Tallahassee is 100% funded by a 5% Tourist Development Tax (aka bed tax) on commercial lodging in Leon County.

Is your organization focused on the quality of life events, room night creation, or both?

Visit Tallahassee’s primary focus is economic development through tourism by promoting visitation to the destination and generating room nights. However, increasing the quality of life through financial support for

events is a core part of what we do. Our grants program supports community events of all genres and sizes. We also host ticketed concerts year-round at the outdoor amphitheater and sponsor a series of free community concerts that add to the quality of life in our community and attract visitors.

What would you say are your “bread and butter” sports?

Cross-country, softball, and basketball are top-performing sports in Tallahassee. They would best describe our “bread and butter” sports. However, in addition to these sports, we host over 100+ local, state, regional, and national championship sporting events a year across 32 different sports types.

Are they so because you have state of the art facilities catering to those sports? What annual projects/events do you work on, and how do you enhance them from year to year?

Our team prides ourselves on creating relationships with event organizers and helping their event grow year after year, becoming an annual event in Tallahassee. We repeatedly hear that the number one reason visitors and event organizers come back is the level of hospitality and attention to detail we put into each event.

Describe the seasonality of Visit Tallahassee tourism and how you use it in your approach to recruit and create new events.

Although Tallahassee is mainly known for football (Florida State University and Florida A&M University) and the legislative session, the reality is that we are a year-round destination with spring festivals and summer sports tournaments providing fairly consistent visitation levels each quarter.

Tell us about the process you undertook years ago to build the country’s best cross-country facility and turned that vision into a cross country event factory.

I am so proud to be a part of the success that has made Apalachee Regional Park arguably one of the best cross-country courses in the nation. As a Division 1 Track and Field athlete, I had the fantastic opportunity to take my love for the sport to help develop Apalachee Regional Park with our community partners. In 2009, Apalachee Regional Park hosted its first meet. Since that time, the course has hosted over 50 large scale state, regional and national championships. These events have generated over $30 million in direct spending to the local community. They are expected to create another $24 million over the next five years.

The success of these events has led to the most significant renovation of the park to date, a 3 million dollar con

Running has been a big part of your life outside of work and family responsibilities. How has the sport impacted your life, and what positive attributes do you take from it?

Sports have been part of my life for as long as I can remember, and behind being a mother and wife, I identify with being an athlete. Sports have molded me into the person I am today and made me a dedicated and driven professional.

Besides your hobbies, what do you enjoy doing when you are not working?

Spending time with my three super energetic kids puts a smile on my face no matter what type of day I’m having. struction enhancement project, including the addition of a multipurpose building and restroom facility, a permanent finish line structure, an awards stage, sidewalks, landscaping as well as wildlife viewing platforms.

Future events at the park include the 2020 Amateur Athletic Union Cross-Country National Championships, the USA Track & Field Club Cross-Country National Championship, the 2021 National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I Cross-Country National Championships, and the 2022 National Junior Collegiate Athletic Association Division I & II Cross-Country National Championships.

Amanda, what are you most proud of throughout this professional experience?

The support and healthy relationships with all our community partners have established Tallahassee/Leon County as a significant force in sports tourism and a national leader in cross-country through the emergence of Apalachee Regional Park. With the community’s support over the past eight years, I’m honored to lead the exponential growth of sports tourism in Leon County.

I’ve focused on and take great pride in the commonly asked question by event organizers, “Why Tallahassee?” The answers time after time are the same. That is, you and your staff take the attention to detail to the next level and have the ability to exceed the participants and the

FUN PERSONAL QUESTIONS

organizer’s expectations consistently.

What’s the most prized possession you have in your office?

First, of course, a picture of my children. Second a photo of my Florida State Track and Field family, which consists of lifelong friends from across the world. This team never saw lines, and we were a family no matter where we came from or the color of our skin. The photo gives me hope that there can be change and

acceptance of all in the world.

What is your favorite sporting event annually?

The Florida State Cross Country Invitational, as it marks the start of the cross-country season and is one of the largest events we operate throughout the year.