Speaker Roster and Hot Topics Announced for Canada-e-Connect Conference -- On-line Registration Still Available

The Canadian Tourism Commission (CTC) announces the line-up of influential speakers and program highlights for Canada-e-Connect, the first and only e-Tourism Strategy Conference with a Canadian perspective, held in conjunction with the Canadian e-Tourism Awards. The conference will be held in Vancouver, BC November 7-9.

(PRWEB) November 2, 2007 -- The Canadian Tourism Commission (CTC) announces the line-up of influential speakers and program highlights for Canada-e-Connect, the first and only e-Tourism Strategy Conference with a Canadian perspective, held in conjunction with the Canadian e-Tourism Awards. The conference will be held in Vancouver, BC November 7-9.

"This conference aims to focus on marketing strategy. Issues abound as consumers migrate online for travel research and purchase, Canada-e-Connect attendees will take from this conference rare knowledge about how to improve efficiency," says Jens Thraenhart, Chair of Canada-e-Connect and Executive Director of Marketing Strategy and CRM at the CTC.

"This conference is more than a seminar about hands-on, web-tool training. We will do that but more. For example, we will showcase the latest applications allowing real-time mobile phone polling and messaging right at the conference."

Presenters include best-selling authors and media personalities:

+ Geoffrey Lipman

Assistant Secretary General, UN World Tourism Organization addresses climate change and technology in global tourism

+ Anthony Williams

Author of Wikinomics discusses social media and mass collaboration

+ Jeremy Gutsche

CEO of Trendhunter Magazine leads a thrill-ride of the latest in consumer behaviour and merchandising trends

+ Alan Gregg

Chairman, Harris Interactive and Canadian political commentator, presents the Canadian travel behaviour poll, exclusively conducted for Canada-e-Connect

+ Bryan Eisenberg

Author of bestselling books "Waiting for Your Cat to Bark" and "Call to Action" as well as co-founder of FutureNow offers priceless revenue enhancing tips and tricks through usability, copy writing, and web design

+ Doug Quimby

Online travel research firm Phocuswright representative presents highlights and analysis of the new Canadian Online Travel Report (available exclusively for attendees at a discount), and discusses Travel 2.0 trends

+ Mike Pusateri

Former Chief Operating Officer of the Travel Industry Association of America sheds light on US travel patterns and increasing Canadian visitation by Americans

+ Jim Brody

From Tripadvisor.com enlightens attendees about the good, bad, and ugly of reputation management online

+ Greg Klassen

VP of Marketing of the Canadian Tourism Commission presents the CTC's new, suggested way to reach consumers and articulate Canada's brand message through research, segmentation, web technologies and personalization

+ Anita Gandhi

Web market research firm Hitwise executive presents the latest in web consumer behaviour and competitive intelligence

+ Ryan Bifulco

CEO of Travelspike takes attendees on a global journey of web marketing best practices

+ Butch Langlois

CEO of Planet Eye, the winner of the Entrepreneur Spotlight presents his start-up with a mission to inspire travellers via visual imaging.

In addition to these keynote presenters, panels stimulate lively discussion and debate about:

+ The Evolution of Distribution

Experts Sean Shannon of Expedia Canada, Jason Houle of Meta Search Engine Lixto and Sean Sutherland of Flight Centre discuss with moderation by Tim O'Neil-Dunne, the distribution guru from T2 Impact.

+ The Evolution of Advertising

Experts Hunter Madsen of Yahoo! Canada), Sean Moffit of Influencers.ca and DDB Canada, and Paula Prociuk Blacklock of Canadian Geographic Magazine are moderated by Steve Wright, co-founder of Radar DDB, the innovative and new social media division of agency.

+ The Development of Canadian e-Tourism Strategies from the national (Jens Thraenhart, CTC), provincial (Aaron Nissen, Travel Alberta), and city level (Carmen Ciotola, Tourism Montreal), and how they compare globally, moderated by Alex Rayner, e-Tourism Advisor for the UN World Tourism Organization. Jens Thraenhart of the Canadian Tourism Commission, Aaron Nissen of Travel Alberta and Carmen Ciotola of Tourism Montreal are moderated by Alex Rayner from the UN World Tourism Organization as they compare Canada's competitiveness with others globally

+ The Value of Traditional versus Social Media

Famed travel journalist and author of "Adventures with Purpose" Richard Bangs, David Beaupre of the Washington Post and Ken Leeder of Realtravel.com are moderated by Heather Kirk of Immedia Inc., publisher of online communities Media Kitty and Newsbureau.ca.

+ Travelers Sharing Experiences

Answering what turns travelers on and off when sharing travel experiences online are J.R. Johnson of travel community site VirtualTourist.com, Patricia Brusha of new Canadian travel community for women ChicksAway.com, and Laura Hubber, travel journalist from BBC World moderation by Sympatico MSN.

+ The Future of Mobile Marketing in Travel and Tourism

Especially crucial as Canada approaching the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games.

Both days are closed with executive panels with top leaders of the travel and tourism industry, including Michele McKenzie (CEO of the Canadian Tourism Commission), Rod Harris (CEO of Tourism BC), Ted Lee (CFO of Tourism Vancouver), Richard Miller (CEO of Tourism ROI and former EVP of the World Travel and Tourism Council), Joe Buehler (Analyst with Phocuswright and formerly with Tourism Switzerland), as well as some surprise guests.

"The presenters, networking opportunities and value for delegates - leaders in tourism from large to start-up organizations - combine in Canada-c-Connect to create a forum for the tourism profession that Canada needs and the Canadian Tourism Commission is proud to help realize," says Michelle McKenzie, Canadian Tourism Commission President & CEO. "This conference is a must for those seeking to tap the myriad opportunities available for tourism online."

In addition to an unprecedented speaker roster, Canada-e-Connect delegate registration includes the chance to network at the welcome reception, the Canadian e-Tourism awards show and an award celebration after-party. Plus, registered delegates receive a copy of the bestselling book: Wikinomics, a copy of the Executive Summary of PhoCusWright's Canadian Online Travel Overview ($295 value), $800 savings when ordering the PhoCusWright Canadian Online Travel Overview, and a copy of the ground-braking new book "Tips from the T-List", which is a collection of the top travel marketing blog posts.

More Conference Highlights

Canadian e-Tourism Awards

The Canada-e-Connect Conference is held in conjunction with the first Canadian e-Tourism Awards that recognize excellence in website design, online campaigns and innovation for three sectors: public, private and small- and medium-sized enterprise. Recognition is also going out to travellers by showcasing the best in user-generated content with awards for the best story telling, the best photo, and the best video or short-film.The finalists in the Industry categories and the Travellers categories have been announced at http://www.canadianetourismawards.com.

Exclusive Pre-Screening of Canadian Destination IMAX Film

Part of the Canada-e-Connect conference agenda is an exclusive pre-screening of the first Canadian IMAX Destination movie. More information about the film, scheduled for 2009 release, is available at: http://www.stephenlow.com/films/rockymountainexpress/index.html.

UNWTO e-Tourism Climate Change Award

Launching at the Canadian e-Tourism Awards inaugural celebration is the UN World Tourism Organization E-Tourism Climate Change Award. Geoffrey Lipman, the Assistant Secretary General of the UNWTO and Alexander Rayner, the e-Tourism Advisor of the UNWTO will both join the conference from Madrid to present the award. Mr. Lipman will also deliver the luncheon keynote address, and participate on the Executive CEO Panel. Award details are available here: http://www.canadianetourismawards.com/awards-unwto.php.

Canadian e-Tourism Council

The Canadian e-Tourism Council, a forum of around 50 marketing strategy experts and e-commerce executives from the different sectors of the Canadian tourism profession, will participate in full-day by-invite-only summit on November 7. Members of the council that act as advisors to the conference and judged the Canadian e-Tourism Awards will act as "industry challengers" to ask controversial questions to select speakers and panels, include companies such as Air Canada, West Jet, Fairmont Hotels & Resorts, Via Rail, Rocky Mountaineer, Intrawest, iTravel 2000, Expedia, Brewster, Ryerson University, University of Calgary, Parks Canada, Aeroplan, Yahoo! Canada, many of the destination marketing organizations in Canada, and others. For a detailed list of members, please visit http://www.canadaeconnect.com/about-etourismcouncil.php.

Student Competition

Canadian graduate and senior undergraduate students in Canada and abroad were invited to present their views about "how the Internet and new emerging technologies can be leveraged to market Canadian travel experiences to the world." Those with exemplary submissions will attend the conference and are eligible for a bursary.

Canadian Entrepreneur Spotlight

The Canada-e-Connect Entrepreneur Competition offered Canadian online travel start-ups the opportunity to showcase in front of the coveted Canada-e-Connect audience.

About Canada-e-Connect

Hosted in Vancouver from November 7-9, Canada-e-Connect looks at how to leverage contemporary tools and technologies to help delegates move into the future of travel and tourism marketing. The main elements of the travel distribution life cycle - Consumer Acquisition, Consumer Experience, and Customer Intelligence - will be addressed in order to tackle the bigger question: how do we effectively market Canadian travel experiences to the world? Information about Canada-e-Connect, the Canadian e-Tourism Awards and related initiatives can be found at http://www.canadaeconnect.com. In addition, visit http://spaceshare.com/canadaeconnect/ a unique online community that engages attendees, speakers, and tourism marketers in Canada and around the world. See http://www.canadaeconnectblog.com for behind-the-scenes insight - independently edited by Vancouver-based hospitality blogger Chris Clarke - into the making of the Canada-e-Connect e-tourism strategy conference and latest conference developments through interviews, news updates and more.

In partnership with our industry partners TIAC, HSMAI, UNWTO, IFITT, and the CTC, we thank all our sponsors and partners that make the idea of Canada-e-Connect and the Canadian e-Tourism Awards a reality, including Yahoo! Canada, Contac Travel Marketing, Radar DDB, Fairmont Hotels & Resorts, FCV Technologies, Travel Alberta, Harris Decima Research, Deloitte, Tripadvisor, New York Times, Washington Post, Phocuswright, Glowbal Restaurant Group, and many more. http://www.canadaeconnect.com/about-conference.php.

Media Contacts

Gloria Loree, Executive Director (Acting) Communications & Public Relations

Canadian Tourism Commission (CTC)

tel: 604-638-8407

William Harding, Senior Communications Advisor Communications & Public Relations

Canadian Tourism Commission (CTC)

tel: 604-638-8406

Canada-e-Connect

Mimi Chan, Canada-e-Connect Project Manager

Canadian Tourism Commission (CTC)

tel: 604-638-8402

Canada-e-Connect

Jens Thraenhart, Chair, Canada-e-Connect

Executive Director Marketing Strategy & CRM

Canadian Tourism Commission (CTC)

tel: 604-638-8404

Note to journalists:

1. Media accreditation for the event is available online or by contacting Mimi Chan.

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