A special thank-you to the delegates, organizing team, volunteers, presenters, partners and sponsors for making the 4th Annual Victoria County Tourism Conference a success. To the conference delegates thank-you for your attendance, participation and understanding with last minute venue move due to power outage.

To my organizing team – Kimberley Macaulay, Gerard MacNeil, Bob Harrison and volunteers – Donna MacDonald, Zina MacNeil, Glen MacDonald, Kim Lemky and Bill Danielson thank-you for making this happen. To my presenters – Malcolm Fraser, Michelle Sears, Shawn Dunlop, Dan Coffin, Eleanor Anderson thanks for a great program and presentations . To my partners – New Media Team, NS Tourism Culture & Heritage, Tourism Technology & TIANS, Aliant and Victoria County Recreation & Tourism Dept. and sponsors - Cape Breton Highlands National Park, Oshan Whale Cruise, Tourism Technology  and Lobsterpalooza Festival,  Thank-you for your important contributions to this conference.

The New Media Team, Kimberley MacAulay, Bob Harrison and Gerard MacNeil, part of the 2007 Tourism conference team , produced a short video of photos on YouTube, to illustrated New Media and Web 2.0. Enjoy some of the memories of Tourism 2.0- Understanding the New Web” conference, November 6th at St. Michael’s Parish Hall, Baddeck.

High winds and rain passed through Victoria County this past weekend from Tropical Storm Noel and caused quite a bit damaged with the power lines. Many of the communities were without power and some just got it back on Tuesday evening, 3 days later.  Needlessly to say the last few days before the Tourism 2.0 conference were very interesting.

On Sunday, I had lost my power at Jersey Cove for almost 6 hours. I began to get worried when NS Power said for my area, power would be restored on Tuesday at 11:00 am.  Off to work on Monday and as I crossed on the Ferry I overheard Englishtown still has no power. By 9:00 am. I had pretty well got the whole scoop – more communities still without power – South Haven, Middle River, parts of Big Baddeck, Baddeck and St. Ann’s.  The conference was at the Gaelic College in St. Ann’s so I began to get really worried. 

I managed to call a friend to check into things and later that afternoon I found the power might be on later in the evening.  By mid afternoon I went up to the subdivision where the problem was and managed to talk to the supervisor who said he hoped to have the power on that evening but would call in the evening for an update.

Things look promising but it always pays to have a back-up plan. I managed to get a hold of Anne Regina, the person who books the hall and told her my story. I booked the St. Michael’s Parish Hall as a back-up just in case the power was not restored. In the meantime, I stayed in touch with Gaelic College informing them of what was happening throughout the day and evening. That evening I got a call from NS Power around 7:45 pm.  the power would not be restored that evening.  My wife and I spent the next 2.5 hours calling as many people to tell them the conference venue had changed and was now in Baddeck. Later I e-mailed everyone as well.

The next day, my team was in Baddeck early to setup the hall and get ready. My wife stayed at Gaelic College for an hour to let people know the venue had changed. Luckily St. Ann’s is only 15 minutes away. I borrowed our coffee and tea machine and put got coffee and tea on. One less thing to worry about. Next it was food for breaks, one of our team members, Kim went for supplies at local co-op store. Down to the big one – lunch. Kim came up with a great idea – call the restaurant and have lunch there. He had limited staff on and he was closing this week but just maybe he could do it. After a few calls and Kim’s help, he agreed and we were in business. Now we could all relax. Thanks to my team, and volunteers the conference went on and people enjoyed it as well the beautiful sunny day.

One of the smartest marketing campaigns you can do for your web site is on-line marketing using adwords, pay per click and on-line advertising.  Ms. Kelly Deveaux, Account Manager, ICON Communications, will take you through Google Adwords and pay per click – Yahoo Search Marketing along with on-line ads in her presentation at the 4th Annual Victoria County Tourism Conference, November 6th at the Gaelic College, St. Ann’s

Kelly’s presentation will be one of the nine presentations featured in the one day conference – Tourism 2.0 – “Understanding the New Web”.    After several years with the Nova Scotia Department of Tourism, Culture & Heritage in various roles, including media relations, communications and ministerial support, Kelly joined the ICON team in 2003. During her early tenure with ICON, she managed successful print, broadcast, marketing and e-marketing projects and campaigns for a variety of tourism related clients. Kelly assumed the role of Account Manager at ICON in 2006 where her skills and experience continue to lead a full range of marketing, e-marketing and communications projects for Cape Breton University, Canada’s Marble, Inverness County Tourism, Le Conseil des Arts de Chéticamp, and the Cabot Trail Working Association. Her interests in online marketing and advertising led to training which is proving to have immediate positive impacts on her client’s online efforts.

Kelly earned a Bachelor of Public Relations Degree from Mount Saint Vincent University and now calls St. Joseph du Moine, Inverness County home, working from ICON’s satellite office on the world renowned Cabot Trail.

One of the sessions feature at Victoria County’s 4th Annual Tourism Conference is Successful Websites and Tourism Technology New Initiative. Michelle Sears, TIANS Technology Co-ordinator, will provide you with an overview of Tourism Technology’s new Intiative – a half day session – one on one with tourism operator to help educate and explain the importance of on-line booking, quality website design structure and an on-line marketing.

Tourism Techniology and TIANS are offering a half day session, one on one with tourism operator, that includes all educational materials , a CD and a checklist on your web site for $100 plus HST . Registration forms will be available at the County’s Tourism Conference.

novascotia.com is a finalist in the innovations category for the Canadian E-Tourism Awards on November 8 in Vancouver, BC.  Nova Scotia’s vignettes and use of Google earth mapping has made them a finalist. Our keynote speaker for Victoria County’s 4th Annual Tourism Conference  – Mr. Malcolm Fraser and his company ISL, played a key role in developing this innovated approach of making the customer lure, sample and buy.

Learn more about .novascotia.com and Google Maps by attending Mr. Fraser’s keynote address and Google Maps presentation at the County’s 4th Annual Tourism Conference – Tourism 2.0 – Understanding the New Web on Tuesday, November 6th at Gaelic College, St. Ann’s.

You can register on-line and pay at the door at Registration desk, Great Hall of Clans. 

One of the highlights of this year’s tourism conference will be the presentation given by Eleanor Anderson, Festival Co-ordinator, on how the first Lobster Palooza Festival went in 2007. This festival was created to provide new attraction for to visitors to Cabot Trail in the month of June and create more activities and venues open.

Eleanor is currently taking her masters in Tourism Destination Management at George Washington University. She is the only certified Special Events Co-ordinator and Special Events Manager in Nova Scotia.

The Municipality of Victoria County is pleased to announce Malcolm Fraser, President & CEO of ISL as their keynote speaker for the 4th Annual Tourism Conference, Tuesday, November 6th at Gaelic College, St. Ann’s. The theme for this year’s conference is “Tourism 2.0 – Understanding the New Web”.

As the President and Managing Partner of ISL, Malcolm is a leading entrepreneur with 12 years of Internet industry experience. Focusing on creative technology solutions that leverage the Internet to solve complex business and marketing problems has earned him local and national recognition.

Malcolm is responsible for driving Internet initiatives that generate significant business results for clients such as NS Tourism – novascotia.com, NS Heritage, Jacques Whitford, Big Brothers Big Sisters, Steele Auto Group and Nova Scotia Business Inc.

He holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from Mount Allison University and has long be involved in the development o the information technology industry provincially and nationally. He is currently the Chairman of the Information Technology Alliance of Nova Scotia (ITANS), a member of the Premier’s Council on Innovation, past chair of the Canadian Information Communications and Technology Federation, member of the Atlantic Canada Internet Marketing Association, and has been recognized as one of Atlantic Canada’s top 50 CEOs.