As Chair of the Advisory Committee, I had well over one thousand emails related to Canada-e-Connect eTourism Strategy 2009 by the time the conference started last Wednesday evening with a networking cocktail reception sponsored by TripAdvisor. I did not keep count of phone calls and conference calls but there were many. But all the time and effort put into this edition of the conference was worth it, if comments I've received already about the conference are any indication (e.g. many "it was a great conference !!" comments).
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While the conference is still fresh in my mind, I thought of writing a brief overview of my impressions of it.
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Given the economic atmosphere we are living in these days, it was rather gratifying to see a decent turn out for the conference (over 200 attendees).
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Not only did we have a good turn out but the quality of attendees was also very good, meaning, we had emarketers and decision makers from all areas of Canada attend plus representatives from many very innovative digital marketing companies.
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I think the big theme or motif, to borrow a term from the music world, was the area of social media and content independent of delivery channel (see Dr Ian Fenwick's video at the end of this post).
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For me there were many highlights during the conference. Most of our speakers were excellent particularly the keynote and luncheon speakers who provided some anchoring, some focus on the strategic nature of the conference:
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1. Dr. Ian Fenwick, an experienced consultant and academic in business provided an objective overview of the state of Marketing and Digital Marketing as well as where it may be going in the future with a clear, articulate and sometimes humorous presentation which included examples from around the world (see video). I strongly recommend his book DigiMarketing.
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2. Diane Clarkson, a brilliant analyst from Forrester research, brought home the issue of custiomer service, of making sure that we make our customers, guests, feel valued in this era of Travel and Tourism 2.0 when complaints or compliments can and are posted to the web in seconds. Her clear and engaging presentation was definitely on the money.
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3. Joe Buhler of Buhlerworks and analyst for PhoCusWright reminded DMO's about staying current, about looking ahead and try to lead as oppose to follow when it comes to innovation in the digital space. He made the point that many a time DMO's are reactive to what's going on in the space and therefore are always at risk of playing catch-up. For example, as DMO's are now incorporating (or some of them are at any rate) social media capabilities to their strategies, the eTravel private sector is already somewhere else providing new innovations in trip planning as the market of consumers/and travelers moves from "finding the best deal" to "finding the perfect travel experience" (e.g. Kayak vs NileGuide; Expedia vs. TravelMuse.)
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4. Rob Hughes from Brewster talked about VacationsCanadaTV, a great example of innovative canadian tourism digital marketing grounded in solid strategic insight.
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5. Greg Klassen VP Marketing for the Canadian Tourism Commission gave an impressive presentation of what the CTC is doing in the space, where it is going and how it will leverage the Olympics for the benefit of the entire country. He showed us examples of CTC initiatives like the Influencer Program for the Mexican Market, which I really liked. By the way, Walid Salem, Executive Director of eMarketing for the CTC, who was one of our panellists and moderators made very good points in the sessions he participated. It bears mentioning that Walid and his team are working on great inititatives that will help canadian DMO's and businesses take advantage of the immense work the CTC is doing behind the scenes. He encouraged everyone (as I do now here) to visit the CTC's Corporate site and take a look at the Canada Brand kit.
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5. Ted Souder of Google (head of Industry Travel Mid West). Ted is a vey engaging man (named "25 most extraordinary minds in sales and marketing" by HSMAI in 2006). I was fortunate to meet him the night before his presentation when a group of us were having a drink at the InterContinental Toronto Centre's bar. His presentation was not only fun but very informative. He talked about the 6 megatrends that influence Google, from Moore's law to the long tail to the wisdom of the crowds. Definitely a highlight of the conference and something to think about going forward.
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5. Terry O'Reilly. Terry is a legend in Canadian marketing who will be officially inducted into the Canadian Marketing Hall of Legends this coming week. He is the founder of Pirate Radio and TV and creator of the CBC program the Age of Persuasion. Terry's presentation, I think, was a great way to end the conference. His topic, "Ideas Move Mountains," reminded everyone that it does not matter what vehicle or technology is used to market a product, a service or a destination if your idea is weak. Terry provided us with numerous examples of BIG (not necessarily expensive) IDEAS in marketing and digital marketing.
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As for concurrent sessions and panel presentations, the conference covered the major aspects of eTourism strategy from eMarketing (don't target, engage), to Mobile Strategies and Social Media. There was a palpable strong interest in blogging, forums, twitter and social media, but many speakers, including Ted Souder, kept bringing up the fact that mobile marketing and communications will continue to grow and that mobile will not only be ubitquitous in the future but it may become the number one way for consumers to use the Web. As for Social Media (panel in which I presented http://www.canadamigos.com/ as an example of niche social media marketing), it was clear that most panellists agreed that tourism businesses must have a social media strategy (IHG is doing a great job at this) if they want to remain relevant and competitive. This does not mean that you must go out and launch a social networking site, but you must join and participate in the conversation via the most appropriate social media platforms for your organization.
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I do want to make a special mention of Tourisme Montreal. Emmanuelle Legault and Carmen Ciotola gave impressive presentations about Tourisme Montreal's strategy in digital marketing and distribution. Prior to seeing these presentations, my favourite Canadian DMO vis a vis digital marketing was HelloBC (under William Bakker's direction), but now, it is Montreal. I look forward to following Tourisme Montreal's progress this year and beyond and encourage all in our industry to do the same.
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Overall, and given the current economic climate, I am very pleased with the success of Canada-e-Connect 2009. I did not go over each and every panellist/speakers' participation on this post for brevity's sake, but I will blog about all of them as time goes by (thank you all). I look forward to future Canada-e-Connect conferences. Stay in touch and connect by joining the Canada-e-Connect 2009 Facebook page and the Canada-e-Connect 2009 LinkedIn Group. Visit the Canada-e-Connect 2009 website if you want more info on the speakers bios.
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Visit the Tourism Industry Association of Canada website to keep up to date on industry initiatives and the most important canadian tourism industry events throughout the year.
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Dr. Ian Fenwick, speaking about Digital as today's standard gauge in marketing.
Jaime Horwitz MBA
Chair Advisory Committee Canada-e-Connect 2009
President Cactus Rock New Media Ltd.
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