Representing Springfield at trade shows and training are in the future for CVB staff. Here's a sample of what we're doing and where we're going to attract business to Springfield and get better at our jobs.

• Sales manager Diane Gillespie will attend the Missouri Society for Association Executives Funfest in September in Jefferson City and host the association's board of directors retreat Oct. 26 in Springfield.
• Public relations manager Susan Wade hosted three travel bloggers in August. Wade also will host David R. Chan, a man who has dined at more than 6,000 Chinese restaurants, Aug. 24-27 in an effort to garner publicity for Springfield. She also will attend the PR & Media Relations Best Practices Summit training conference in Washington, DC, and represent Springfield at the Association of Great Lakes Outdoor Writers Conference in Branson and Missouri Press Association conference in Columbia in September.
• CVB president Tracy Kimberlin, interactive media manager Sean Dixon and public relations manager Susan Wade will attend the Missouri Governor's Conference on Tourism in September in Kansas City.
• Lance Kettering, sports sales manager for the CVB and executive director of the Springfield Sports Commission, will represent Springfield at the S.P.O.R.T.S. trade show in Oklahoma City and U.S. Olympic SportsLink & Assembly in Colorado Springs in September. In October, he will represent the city at the TEAMS Conference in Detroit.