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• CTPA at the Brand Museum

  • When
    8 Oct 2026
  •  
    1:00 PM - 2:30 PM
  • Location
    The Chicago Brand Museum

  Register

  

  CTPA at the Chicago Brand Museum

  
  

  Join us for an afternoon at the Chicago Brand Museum on October 8, 2026, from 1:00 pm to 2:30 pm. Fred Richards, founder and curator will lead us through his passion on how this museum was brought together and how it lives today. The museum features several exciting exhibits including the following:

  • Your favorite breakfast cereals
  • Soft drinks
  • Beer bottles
  • Detergents
  • Toothpaste from yesteryear
  • Any brand you could imagine
  • And a tribute to Andy Warhol

  Here are the event details:

  • Begins at 1:00 pm on Thursday, Octobber 8, 2026. 
  • Fred will be available to guide us through the museum.
  • After the tour concludes, CTPA members are free to explore all of the exhibits found throughout the museum.
  • The Chicago Brand Museum is sharing this experience for free with the CTPA, so please consider making a donation or buying something from their gift shop. 

  The museum is located at 2412 South Michigan Avenue. Find your way to a Green Line stop. Exit at the Cermak McCormick Place stop. walk east to Michigan and then south to 2412 South Michigan Avenue.  Any Michigan Avenue bus that goes as far south/north as Cermak is another option. Capacity is limited to the first 30 registrants, and a waitlist will be enabled. If you can no longer attend the event, please cancel your own registration on the calendar tab of the CTPA website or through the WildApricot app. If you have any questions, please reach out to the event's organizer, CTPA member Dave Zino (chicagoman20@comcast.net). 

  
  

  I hope you can join us at the Chicago Brand Museum for this special experience!

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• NFTGA Conference Kick-off

  • When
    15 Oct 2026
  •  
    7:30 PM
  • Location
    Zoom (register to get the link)

  Register

  
  

  NFTGA Conference Kick-off

  Thursday, October 15
  

  Starting at 8:30 pm EST / 7:30 pm CST / 6:30 pm MST / 5:30 pm PST

  Register to get the Zoom instructions for this virtual event

  
  

  Learn about the NFTGA biennial conference in Salt Lake City on January 13-15, 2027 from Conference Chair Kevin Earl of the Utah Tour Guides Association, and then get ready to register. Kevin and his planning team will introduce us to Salt Lake City, the speakers and venues, the activities and tour opportunities, and the pre- and post-conference tour options. Here’s a sneak peek of what he will cover:

  • Keynoters Pete Sands, a Filmmaker, Musician, and Cultural Advocate, and Marilyn Jackson, President and CEO of the American Alliance of Museums
    
  • A panel on telling forgotten stories featuring experts on Utah women’s history, Black history, Indigenous Utahns, and WWII Japanese internment in Utah
    
  • Visits to the famous Temple Square and the new Museum of Utah
    
  • A multi-day tour to Utah’s "Mighty 5" National Parks: Arches, Canyonlands, Capitol Reef, Bryce Canyon, Zion

  At the end of the session, Kevin will open the registration app, which features discounted conference rates for early registrants.

  
  

  If you are unable to attend the live-stream, the recording will be available to watch for the following 30 days and that recording link will be sent to your designated tour guide association contact(s). If you have any feedback, including changes to the contact information for future NFTGA Education Programs, please email Mike McMains (mike@tourswithmike.com) from the Chicago Tour Guide Professionals Association.

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• NFTGA 2027 Conference

  • Start
    13 Jan 2027
  • End
    15 Jan 2027
  • Location
    Salt Lake City

  

  The Utah Tour Guide Association invites you to join tour guides from across the country in Salt Lake City, January 13-15, 2027, for the next National Federation of Tourist Guide Associations conference. This conference will help you hone your skills as a tour guide, give you the chance to network and socialize with your peers, and connect you to Utah’s natural wonders and curious history. Engaging sessions, interactive workshops, and interesting panels will feature speakers from all backgrounds and many areas of expertise from museum officials and historian authors to tour guide partners and passionate advocates. Sessions topics include vetting sources our information comes from, sharing forgotten stories, using genealogy to enhance your tours, working with online travel agencies (OTAs), issues facing guide associations, and more. You won’t want to miss a single one.

  Here is the agenda:

  https://www.nftga.com/conference/

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