For more than a century, Atlanta Convention & Visitors Bureau (ACVB) has served the Atlanta area as the primary organization that drives economic growth through conventions and tourism. In 2020, as travel came to a staggering halt, conferences were virtually reworked and the hospitality industry took a plunge due to the COVID-19 pandemic. ACVB had to quickly rethink the year ahead and pivot from hosting more than 50 million in-person visitors to the city to an entirely digital model for the near future.

1. Learn how the premier conference and
tourism organization in Atlanta was
positioned to power through an
unprecedented change to their industry
“It’s about communication and transparency. It’s important to know
everything that's going on—when it's happening, who's involved, who's
on first, who's on second for that matter. BasicOps helps us run our
projects much more efficiently, especially when the team is operating
remotely.”

2. -Sheretha Bell, VP of Brand, Atlanta Convention & Visitors
Bureau
Meet Atlanta Convention & Visitors
Bureau:
• Industry: Tourism & Hospitality
• Location: Atlanta, GA
• Team Size: 100
• Founded: 1913
For more than a century, Atlanta Convention & Visitors Bureau
(ACVB) has served the Atlanta area as the primary organization that
drives economic growth through conventions and tourism. In 2020,
as travel came to a staggering halt, conferences were virtually
reworked and the hospitality industry took a plunge due to the
COVID-19 pandemic. ACVB had to quickly rethink the year ahead and
pivot from hosting more than 50 million in-person visitors to the city
to an entirely digital model for the near future.
Unlike other organizations who also found themselves needing to
instantly pivot from in-office to at-home work models, ACVB’s
marketing group had been using BasicOps for several years to
manage projects and collaborate as a team. ACVB’s Chief Marketing
Officer, Andrew Wilson explained that BasicOps met two, clear
business needs for them, “One was to communicate internally within
our organization and externally with multiple agencies specifically on
project delivery. Everyone uses email as the common denominator,
but on technical projects that had many tasks and deliverables,
agencies would have their own preferred tool and we were suffering
through the use of too many platforms. The second need was the

3. institutional knowledge that was being developed over the course of
each project that was captured and archived by the agency. That
body of knowledge from previous work is key to refer back to in the
interest of better work in the future and we needed to own those
elements. BasicOps was an opportunity for a system that would serve
our internal needs but also standardize our communication with
various agencies.”
BasicOps is an integral part of how the marketing team at ACVB
functions. As they navigated uncharted territory, they were well
positioned to power through the disruption.
A Quick Pivot
ACVB, like all hospitality-driven organizations, had to quickly rethink
their year ahead at the start of 2020. As the entire team began to
work from home and conferences and tourism were turned on its
head, ACVB had to take an audit of every single marketing asset at
their disposal to determine how to optimize what was available and
fill newly identified gaps.
VP of Brand, Sheretha Bell explained, “We ran a marketing asset audit
in BasicOps which could have been complex and difficult, but it
became very simple. It was: ‘Here's the project, here’s the due date,
here is what needs to get done, now let’s take a look, review and
approve. Do we need to do anything else with this piece? Check,
check, check.’”
Traditionally, the ACVB sales team focuses on long-lead business, and
by extension, the marketing team creates content that speaks to what
Atlanta will be like well into the future. That has shifted to content
development for immediate needs that reflect what coming to

4. Atlanta will look like today, including new policies that speak to
pandemic-induced cancellations and new safety measures. Materials
are entirely digital and due dates are constantly shifting which means
timelines are also shifting.
During this period, ACVB has come to heavily rely on the BasicOps
board view which makes adjusting timelines as easy as a drag and
drop. As a remote team, they are able to see who has made updates to
their piece of the work without a flood of follow-ups, emails and calls.
They can communicate without having to, which makes their
dedicated time to connect during meetings, far more effective.
What are the considerable differences for
ACVB since adopting BasicOps?
ACVB has used the Enterprise version of BasicOps for several years,
longer than any other Enterprise user group. During that time, they
have touched each and every feature which has led to the following
improvements:
1. Reviews. As a Team Leader, Sheretha uses BasicOps for
snapshots of the team and quick approvals of the work being
produced in her department. “I am able to jump into the system,
review discussions and deliverables, and easily see where
things stand. I use the dashboard to make sure that projects are
moving forward at-a-glance and to also give input and quick
approval at any given time, no matter where I am. And that is
extremely helpful for our entire team and our agencies.”
2. Work Assignments. With a small and agile team, project leads
are able to assign and reassign directly within the system. The
deliverables and tasks might not change, but if a single person

5. is overloaded, they can rework who owns various pieces of a
project. This keeps momentum up by ensuring that each team
member is working at a balanced capacity.
3. Optimize Communication. BasicOps has focused the team's
internal and external communication. It drastically reduces
unproductive back and forth by offering constant visibility into
updates and milestones. According to Graphic Designer Melissa
McApline, “I check every morning to see if I have mentions and
respond directly within the discussions on tasks. Minimizing
communication lets me focus on producing my work especially
during times when I’m receiving a high volume of design
requests.”
What ACVB workstreams are being
managed in BasicOps?
There are four key categories of work that the marketing department
manages in BasicOps:
• Design. The marketing team began using BasicOps primarily
for design projects. The team recently produced a multi-
platform campaign, ATL Unguided (more information below)
with a print brochure, social media amplification and a portal
on the website. The design piece of the project was always
intended to be managed in BasicOps, but eventually the entire
launch of the campaign was run through the platform.
• Website. The website discoveratlanta.com was recently
redesigned and relaunched. Now that the site is live, they work
with their agency and vendors to manage content updates with
BasicOps, including new imagery, copy refreshes, article and
blog content, maintenance and support.

6. • Social Media. BasicOps ensures that social content is aligned
with larger marketing campaigns. The team can work with their
social media agency to plan for media campaigns, review
content plans and what’s coming on social, see how long it will
run, where there are opportunities to amplify partnerships, and
determine the content to publish. They most often use links to
Google Drive docs which integrates seamlessly with BasicOps.
• Collateral Management. Collateral is organized and managed
in BasicOps which ensures version control, coordinated access
and minimal time spent on finding what is needed.
Result: ATL Unguided
As the marketing team began to assess how to best meet their goal of
the economic development of Atlanta through conferences and
tourism, they shifted their strategic thinking on the types of
campaigns and collateral that would add the most value. ATL
Unguided is a multi-platform configuration of content that illustrates
Atlanta’s rich Black heritage and the collection of Black institutions,
landmarks and businesses in the area. The guide serves as a planning
tool for trips to Atlanta, a cultural destination, as people begin to plan
post-pandemic domestic travel. With a three month turn around
from November to February, the team had to navigate an evolving
scope, shifting deadlines and a substantial task list to take this
campaign across the finish line. “There was continuous pivoting
throughout this project and there is no doubt that in addition to
having an amazing team, BasicOps was the system we needed to stay
on track and on the same page to get it done. We met our deadline
because of how we worked in BasicOps,” said Sheretha. The team
tracked each step with BasicOps, from every draft of content design
to website updates and various versions of messaging and copy.

7. “A majority of our marketing team and agencies are collaborating in
BasicOps every day, all day. Most other departments currently use it to
work with us. But as more departments get in and get used to the
platform, they start to see that it’s not a marketing tool, it’s just a user-
friendly project and task management tool. That’s it, plain and simple.”
-Sheretha Bell, VP of Brand, Atlanta Convention & Visitors
Bureau