NAO × Edinburgh Futures Institute
17–18 Sept · Edinburgh

17–18 September
Edinburgh Futures Institute

AI Opener BOTCAMP 2026: DESTINATION BETA

Because the destination organisation was built for yesterday. And AI has changed tomorrow.
v01 (Day 1 · Morning)
DIAGNOSE (Work In Progress)
09:00 Kickstarter

What happens when the world your organisation was built for no longer exists?

09:45 Kickstarter

The moment nobody noticed the DMO wasn't there.

10:00 Workshop

Destination Beta, 2036. Part One: Signal Mapping

We reconstruct the sequence of events that made the destination organisation obsolete. What were the early signs? What got ignored? What was the moment of no return? Output: a shared signal map that becomes the raw material for Destination Beta 2036.

Destination Beta, 2036. Part Two: Your Destination

From the signals mapped and the choices they forced, a destination has taken shape. Now bring it to life — the visitors, the tensions, the fault lines that ran through every decision that got you here. This is not a vision statement. It's the world the DMO-athon will have to work to shape or rewrite.

11:30 BYOs

1ˢᵗ Round of BYOs: Bring Your Own Case Galore!

v02 (Day 1 · Afternoon)
PROTOTYPE (Work In Progress)
13:15 Kickstarter

Botcamp Hackfest: Prototyping for Destination Beta

Collaborate to co-create, share unique tools, and push your prototypes further together with our experts.

You get to build the…
…DMO Without a Website
AI overviews have collapsed your organic traffic. The visitor journey starts in a conversation you are not part of. What if your destination became a service for AI instead?
…One Person AI DMO
What if AI handled 90% of the DMO work? What would be automated and handled with AI to leave only 10% for humans?
…Destination Copilot
What if everyone in the destination had an AI assistant for better decisions?
…Most Distinctive AI Native DMO in Europe
What if every destination used the same AI tools – and you had to find a way to be both AI-native and unmistakably distinct?
16:00

Pitches, Glitches & Dilemmas Panel

17:00

The Big Beta Simulation

Bronze guardian dog with a single oversized eye

Speakers

Janette Roush

SVP Innovation & Chief AI Officer, Brand USA

Joshua Ryan-Saha

Director, Traveltech for Scotland

Lynne Craig

Director of Innovation, Edinburgh Futures Institute

CA Clark

Vice President of AI, Miles Partnership

Signe Jungersted

CEO & Founder, Group NAO

Junanto Xu

Creative and Tech Lead, Group NAO

More speakers will be announced soon.

Where it happens

Venue & Stay

Venue

Edinburgh Futures Institute

Housed in the beautifully restored buildings of the former Old Royal Infirmary, in the heart of Edinburgh's Old Town.

1 Lauriston Place, Edinburgh EH3 9EF

Where to stay

ibis Edinburgh Centre South Bridge

We have a room block here — booking details to come.

77 South Bridge, Edinburgh EH1 1HN

  • · Edinburgh Old Town is delightfully walkable — anywhere in the centre works well.
  • · Stay an extra day or two. Edinburgh rewards wandering.

See you
in Edinburgh!

✱ ✱ ✱

€1250 for first participants
€950 for second participants
Register Now →

Contact

junanto@groupnao.com

AI Opener Botcamp · 17–18 September

Edinburgh Futures Institute

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© 2026 Group NAO.

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