Greetings from a chilly and festive Scottsdale. (All photos by David Cogswell)

Mother Nature played a trick on the U.S. Tour Operators Association at its 2013 Annual Conference and Marketplace in at the Scottdale, Ariz. Fairmont Princess Hotel Dec. 5-7.

The normal average temperature for early December ranges from about 45 to 75 Fahrenheit but this time it was frigid.

One night it went down to 25 degrees Fahrenheit and most evenings it seemed to hover around 30 degrees. Events that were planned for mild evenings outdoors turned out to be wintry cold, and conference attendees were often ill prepared for cold weather and had packed too few warm clothes.

The Fairmont Princess is a large, spread-out resort with two TPC golf courses on the grounds. The heated pool emitted clouds of steam in the cold mornings. There was also an ice skating rink on the grounds.

Christmas decorations in warm climes often seem incongruous with northern, snowy Christmas themes of reindeer and evergreen trees superimposed over palm trees and bare ground without a trace of snow.

But in cold Scottsdale this December, when the Christmas music played “The weather outside is frightful,” it didn’t seem incongruous at all.

Thankfully, he resort had fiery gas heating units placed around the event areas to help warm things up.

The opening session was a tightly packed program of presentations set up in the round in a conference room with a stage in the middle, a four-sided screen above and conference attendees on all sides of the stage.

It was the setting for USTOA to present its annual report, in a sense, to attendees, to show what it had done during the year and what it planned for the next year.

The session was hosted by USTOA President Terry Dale (left above) and included appearances by outgoing Chairman John Hanratty, “Socialnomics” author Eric Qualman (below), viral video dance sensation Matt Harding (right above) and Google’s managing director of travel, Rob Torres.

The conference was frenetic, as always, with some 800 delegates networking intensely for three days or more.

Events were back to back, including receptions ...  

Sponsored meal events ... 

Non-stop networking in any and every corridor ...

A trade show with tour operators set up at tables receiving associate members for scheduled meetings ...

And of course, the theme night events. Time to cowboy up!

After three days of tightly packed schedules, the delegates were tired and ready to say goodbye to the last conference of the year and to head home for some down time for the holidays.