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Online Revealed Canada Travel Marketing Conference Exceeds Expectations with Hands on Training for Practical Application Written by Alicia Whalen on June 11, 2007
With over 200 participants, last week’s Online Revealed Canada Online Marketing Conference in Toronto created a unique Social Community Education forum for the Canadian Travel Industry.
Toronto, On, June 7, 2007 -- Making Web 2.0 a reality, the second annual Conference incorporated the online social community feel in an offline conference event. Canadian tourism professionals had more than 14 solid hours of content and over 200 outstanding speakers to digest after the first “User Generated Conference” was held May 28 & 29th at The Sheraton Centre in Toronto.
“Although we officially had 30 speakers scheduled for our panels and for the 16 workshops, our unique and original educational format provided a forum for all participants to engage in the conversation,” commented Patricia Brusha, Co-founder and Co-Chair of the event. “Unlike other conferences where information is just presented out to the audience, what made the event come alive was the social and educational interaction from the entire conference community.”
Organized and produced as a “grass roots” effort to recognize Canada as special and unique when it comes to Online Travel distribution, Online Revealed Canada 2007 brought together travel professionals, individual hotels, hotel brands, agencies, destination marketing organizations and suppliers to stake claim on the multi-billion dollar .
The impact of social media on Canadian Travel was outlined by social media guru Dr. Hunter Madsen from Yahoo! Canada, along with a discussion about how Canadians prepare and book travel by Martin Byrne, National Director Search Marketing Operations – Yahoo! Canada. The first ever Canadian Travel Study, by PhoCus Wright and sponsored by the Canadian Tourism Commission was also presented, with valuable insight into travel trends specific to the Canadian market.
Interactive dialogues among the conference community included such pertinent topics as: selling complex products online, the impact of behavioral targeting, blogs and other social media tools, and search marketing. Sixteen workshops offering hands on practical applications in organic search, paid placement, new media and travel provided participants the tools to immediately impact their own planning. The Travel Track produced by HSMAI Canada recognized the role of the Revenue Manager within the online marketing space with a workshop from Victoria Edwards of Buckheister Management.
The Online Revealed Canada Conference provides a unique venue in order to facilitate its mission of hands-on education within the travel industry with interactive participation from the Canadian tourism community.
“In order to provide an ongoing educational exchange to the Canadian community,” said Alan Young, Co-Chair and Vice President of Online Revealed, “We were pleased to reveal the dates of six regional Online Revealed Road Shows to be held across Canada throughout 2008, including May 13-14 in Calgary, Alberta. In addition to the expansion of the Canadian Educational Road Shows, we are also excited to announce the dates and location of the first Online Revealed Caribbean to be held this November 28-30 in San Juan, Puerto Rico.”
For details about future Online Revealed Events, Sponsorship and other Conference Information, visit .
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