Nov. 6--APPLETON -- Countless hours and months of work paid off in two ways for the Fox Cities Convention & Visitors Bureau and the Green Bay Area Convention & Visitors Bureau.

Representatives from both organizations say collaboration helped the region land the 2011 U.S. Midwest Regional Championship. That effort also stood out in the eyes of the Wisconsin Association of Convention & Visitors Bureaus, which presented them its Trailblazer award for outstanding partnership Thursday at the association's annual meeting hosted by the Radisson Paper Valley Hotel.

"It was a lot of work to land the soccer tournament," said Pete Schueppert, sports sales director for the Fox Cities visitor's bureau, who accepted the award along side Joel Everts from the Greater Green Bay CVB. "Getting this award is like the cherry on top."

Everts said working along side the Fox Cities CVB allowed the groups to pool its marketing resources.

"I think it was a unique opportunity for two visitors' bureaus to work together to bring in something that would benefit an entire region," he said.

The 2011 soccer tournament is expected to generate more than 10,000 hotel room nights across the greater Fox Valley area. The Valley beat out Des Moines, Iowa and Springfield, Mo.

The visitors bureaus had collaborated on a bid to land 2010 U.S. Midwest Regional Championship but lost out to Beaver Creek, Ohio, which is near Dayton.

Everts and Schueppert said their respective CVBs will continue to look at other events that will benefit the region.

"We learned a lot from working on the 2011 soccer tournament bid together," Schueppert said. "Now we will see what else we can pursue together."

Trailblazer awards also were presented to the Door County Visitors Bureau for its Festival of Blossoms marketing campaign and the Green County Tourism and New Glarus Chamber of Commerce for the Bounty of Green County event, which featured foods unique to their market.

Bill Geist, president of Zeitgeist Consulting of Madison, also was presented a Trailblazer award for his work in advocating and promoting Wisconsin Tourism.

Geist has served on many tourism group boards and is a former vice chairman of the Wisconsin Tourism Federation and Wisconsin Governor's Council on Tourism.

Collaboration and thinking outside the box were encouraged by Kelli Trumble, secretary of the state Department of Tourism.

In her keynote address, Trumble said her department's budget was cut 14 percent, from $15 million to $13 million. That led to closure of the state-run visitors centers.

She said Wisconsin, which spends about $8 million to market the state's tourism destinations, faces heavy competition from Michigan, which spends about $30 million on tourism marketing.

"We have to continue to work at exceeding expectations," Trumble said.

The state also is examining whether tourism promotions should evolve into a public-private partnership as another cost-savings initiative.

"We're not ruling out anything," she said.

Larry Avila: 920-993-1000, ext. 292, or lavila@postcrescent.com

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