Speaker Bios
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Tuesday August 17
Hot Industry Trends
Presenter: Stephen Dempsey – Publisher & Editor, Meetings & Incentive Travel & General Manager, Conferences & Events
With more than 15 years of industry experience, Steve is a recognized expert in meetings, incentives, media and expositions. Steve is publisher and editor of Meetings & Incentive Travel magazine / IncentiveWorks and general manager, conferences and events, for Rogers’ Business and Professional Publishing division.
Social Media Marketing: Tips & Trends to Start a Conversation
Presenter: Kevin Durkee – Executive Vice-President, The Jetstar Group
Kevin Durkee has been leading the client services team since 2007, with such clients as Pepsi, Doritos and Sennheiser. The Jetstar Group is Canada’s leading engagement agency, specializing in connecting brands to communities and influencers by engaging passions. Jetstar creates innovative marketing programs that engage consumers with authentic brand experiences they want to share socially with their communities.
Prior to joining The Jetstar Group, Kevin was with Segal, where he was part of their licensing team and managed DreamWorks Animation, United Media's Peanuts, Granada's POCOYO and the return of Peter Puck for the agency. In addition, he was sales and retail director with The Walt Disney Co. (Disney Interactive), the studio's PC gaming and software division.
Event Budgeting and Forecasting 101
Presenter: Marsha Jones – CMP CMM, President, The Spot Inc.
Marsha Jones was the Founder of MCC Planners Inc., a meeting, special events and destination management firm from 1988 to 2008. She sold the company after 20 successful years and has now started another chapter in her life with her new company The Spot Inc. offering services in site selection, consulting and training.
Marsha has held many key leadership positions for MPI, SITE, CHMSE, Tourism Toronto and BizBash Toronto. She has also received honors as Toronto Chapter Supplier (1990), Planner (1998), Volunteer of the Year (2002) and Inaugural M&IT Hall of Fame Award for Industry Volunteer 2009. She is a past nominee for MPI Marion N. Kershner Memorial Chapter Leader Award and has been featured in The Financial Post and CBC's Venture.
The Virtual Event Debate
Moderator: Chris Cummins – Facilitator, L(earn)2
Chris Cummins has been transforming individuals for over 10 years through sales training experiences, strategic facilitation and keynote speaking.
Chris is committed to working with people and organizations who want to shape their tomorrows and "get out of their own way." His passion, humour and commitment to delivering a strong message in a fun and engaging manner makes him an excellent motivator. His warm and approachable demeanor enables him to bridge the gap between 20-year veterans and 17 year-old seasonal hires.
Chris has delivered webinars, tele-seminars and hundreds of in-person experiences across Canada and beyond.
Panelists:
Andrew Wilson – Vice-President, Sales & Distribution, Porter Airlines
Andrew leads Porter Airlines' North American business-to-business and business-to-trade sales and distribution expansion strategy. His broad reaching accountabilities and responsibilities include customer acquisition, relations and retention through a variety of channels including the Porter Call Centre.
Previously, and in addition to the sales and distribution portfolio, Andrew had responsibility for brand management, marketing, communications, and loyalty. Under Andrew's leadership Porter successfully entered new markets, such as Montreal, New York, Chicago, Halifax and Quebec City. Andrew has held positions at Wardair and Carlson Companies' managed travel division CWT.
He is a member of the Toronto Board of Trade, Association of Corporate Travel Executives, and graduate of CCI's Executive Leadership Program at Curt Carlson School of Business at University of Minnesota.
Penni Holdham, CSEP – President, The Display Connection Inc.
Penni Holdham has been in the business of creating and producing event solutions since the early 1980's. In addition to the numerous national and international recognition Awards for her event work, Penni is an active industry volunteer serving as the 2010-2011 Immediate Past Chair of ISES Canada and, as an active Founding Board member of the Business Events Industry Coalition of Canada (BEICC).
In the fall of 2009, Penni presented a challenge to the ISES Canada Board to hold a national Annual General Meeting that was accessible to all Canadian Members of ISES within their own Chapter regions. This meant resolving the logistics of holding one meeting than spanned three time zones for members spread over a 3,000-mile distance located in three key chapter regions of Toronto, Calgary and Vancouver. A successful AGM was held using available Internet technology in an 'out-of-the-box' fashion embracing a combination of simultaneous 'uploading and downloading' of signals produced at each of three meeting locations. The successful delivery of this meeting resulted in a real-time format where all members were able to hear and see presenters from all regions live and at the same time.
Gerry Letourneau – Field Sales Executive & Consultant, Citrix Online
Gerry Letourneau has several years experience offering on-line collaboration solutions to the North American market, consulting companies on best practices and competitive advantages in the industry. He is an expert in GoToMeeting, web-conferencing and webinars, which offer simple-to-use and reliable technology to virtually meet or present anytime and anywhere.
Brand Abuse: Why So Much Marketing Fails
Presenter: Ken Wong – Professor, Queen's School of Business
Ken Wong is an award-winning professor and one of Canada’s most frequently cited marketing authorities. He is 2006 inductee into the Canadian Marketing Hall of Legends and a partner in Level 5 Strategic Brand Consulting, which was named on Profit Magazine’s list of 100 fastest-growing firms. One of IncentiveWorks most popular speakers, Ken is an expert in marketing and business strategy and a columnist for Meetings & Incentive Travel, Marketing magazine, and The Globe & Mail.
The Executive Perspective
Moderator: Les Selby – Carlson Marketing
Les has more than 20 years experience as a corporate, independent and 3rd party event manager. For seven years, he sat on the board of directors for the MPI Toronto Chapter. Currently, he supports a team of event managers and transportation coordinators as manager, strategic delivery at Carlson Marketing and sits on the event management advisory board at Fleming College.
Panelists:
Paul Williams – Vice-President, Financial Publishing, Brand Extension & Online Development/Services
Paul is Vice-President, Financial Publishing, Brand Extension & Online Development/Services, Rogers Publishing. He joined Maclean Hunter Publishing in 1989 as editor of Benefits Canada. He is a former editor of the Canadian Investment Review. In 1995 he was appointed publisher of Benefits Canada. In 1998, he launched Advisor¹s Edge magazine, and followed that in 1999 with the launch of advisor.ca and Objectif Conseiller. He is a graduate of the University of Waterloo.
In addition to his duties in financial publishing, he is responsible for developing online, custom and face-to-face initiatives across our properties in the Business & Professional Publishing Group.
Kevin Press – Assistant Vice-president, Canadian Marketing, Sun Life Financial
Kevin Press is an award-winning marketer and journalist. His current role is Assistant Vice-President, Canadian Marketing at Sun Life Financial. His responsibilities include aligning Sun Life customer touch points with the organization¹s global brand promise. He also blogs at sunlife.ca/todayseconomyblog.
Kevin is an active volunteer for the Canadian Pension and Benefits Institute. He served on CPBI¹s Ontario Regional Council in various capacities, including chairman. He then joined CPBI¹s National Board, where he currently serves as chairman.
Jill Donahue, Excellerate
, author of PERSUASION Rx: How to Influence Ethically, is fascinated with behaviour change. As the National Manager of Continuing Health Education for a large pharma company, Jill was responsible for millions of dollars of educational meetings. Her frustrations led her to research why physicians did not change behaviour from these meetings and she went on to teach others what she learned through her own company - Excellerate. Through her energizing keynotes, workshops, coaching and consulting, she now brings the ah-ha's on how to influence others ethically
- your audience, your clients, your team, even your spouse!
Engaging the Human Dimension
Presenters:
Gayle Duncan – Vice-President of Marketing, Maritz Canada Inc
Gayle Duncan is the leader of the engagement marketing solution set, one of three critical solutions Maritz offers to its clients. She also oversees the management of Maritz¹ marketing communications offering. Gayle has more than 17 years of consultative and operational experience launching, building and managing businesses and brands.
Her roster of clients includes IMAX, Bell, Rogers Communications, Telus, Fritolay Canada, Microsoft Canada, Pepsi Foods Canada, Pfizer, GSK, Winners Merchants Inc., Trizechahn and Canadian Tire and a vast array of private and public marketing communications agencies. Her board-level experiences include 41-street.com, ZOG Company, Koben Homes and Radiate Coaching.
Gayle has an MBA in International Business and Marketing from Western Business School and a BSc. in Psychology from McGill University.
Alissa Hurley – Director of Events, Maritz Canada Inc
With over 18 years of consultative and operational experience, Alissa Hurley oversees Maritz¹s events practice which focuses on driving measurable business results by applying disciplines of meetings, incentive travel, experiential marketing and virtual events towards driving rewarding customer experiences for key audiences: employees, channel partners, sales representatives and customers.
Alissa¹s team manages more than 500 events a year across several industry sectors including such leading brands as Cisco Systems, LG, RIM, Novartis, J&J, TELUS, Allergan, Canaccord Adams, Ricoh and Purolator.
Alissa has been an active member of Meeting Professionals International for over 10 years and achieved her Certification in Meetings Management (CMM) in 2003.
Keynote Address: Start With Why
Presenter: Simon Sinek – Leadership expert and Author
Simon Sinek is leading a movement to inspire people to do the things that inspire them. He writes, consults and speaks all over the world about the power of why the purpose, cause or belief that drives every one of us. If everyone knew why they do what they do, and if everyone only did the things that inspired them, Sinek believes this world would be an amazing place.
His amazingly simple idea, 'The Golden Circle,' is grounded in the biology of human decision-making and is changing how leaders and companies think and act. His unconventional and innovative views on business and leadership have attracted international attention.
Wednesday August 18
Contract Clauses & Relationships Simplified
Presenters:
Greg Genest – Partner, Meeting Encore Group
Greg Genest started working in the hospitality industry more than 30 years ago. He spent his early years on the F&B side of the business, working in restaurants and hotels throughout Montreal and Toronto. In 1995, Greg put his advancing career on hold to join his wife Linda and assist in the unstoppable growth of their meeting site locator company: The Meeting Encore Group.
This year Meeting Encore is celebrating 20 years in business. In addition to managing the day-to-day operations of the business, Greg also enjoys contributing and collaborating on the many panels he¹s asked participate on. Sharing his years of experience and insights into the future of this industry is a passion of his.
"We negotiate over 1,000 contracts annually and use the great relationships we have with our hotel partners to ensure that our client¹s expectations are surpassed during each and every one of their meetings."
Joe Nishi – Regional Director, Meeting Encore Group
Joe Nishi began his hotel career in Japan in 1990. He moved to North America and worked for Hyatt Hotels & Resorts in Vancouver, then San Diego for 10 years. Joe joined Starwood Hotels in 2001 as Director of Sales & Marketing at Westin Bayshore Vancouver, then transferred to Toronto to take on the same role at the mammoth Sheraton Centre Toronto. Nishi was promoted to Senior Director of Global Sales for Starwood in 2004, where he headed up the Canadian Global Sales Team.
After 18 years on the hotel-side, Joe was thrilled to accept a brilliant position as Regional Director with Meeting Encore. This groundbreaking company was founded in 1990 and boasts the rights to being Canada¹s first meeting site locator company. With multitudes of goals and opportunities available to Joe through Meeting Encore, he's thriving in his new role by assisting his many clients in securing great locations for their meetings.
Joe has always been an active member in the industry and most recently is Past-Chair for the MPI Foundation Canada.
Creating Value for Meetings
Presenter: Richard Flanagan, PhD – Author and Professor
Richard Flanagan is the co-author of The Six Disciplines of Breakthrough
Learning: How to Turn Training and Development into Business Results. Richard¹s career has focused on developing ways to help people and organizations change and improve. He has worked with and taught the Six Disciplines process to a wide range of Fortune 1000 companies. He is an adjunct professor at the Lerner College of Business and Economics and was previously senior vice-president of the Fort Hill Company.
Peer-to-Peer Roundtable Discussions
Presenters:
Julian Kearney – Security Specialist, Hilton Toronto
Julian Kearney has more than 25 years experience in the field of security and personal protection. Having worked in film, hospital, corporate and hotel settings he has a broad base of knowledge in event, building and personal security. He coordinates with all levels of law enforcement and security agencies and creates protocols and procedures for emergency and non-emergency response and risk and threat assessment. Julian works with event leaders to ensure delegates and participants are in a safe and secure environment during on-site functions. He is often asked to lead seminars on event security and comment on security issues facing the hotel industry.
Alice Parnis – Founder of Event Fusion Inc.
Alice Parnis has built a nationally recognized, successful event business, based on her innovative designs and creative concepts. As a previous business owner of a retail fashion boutique, Alice has garnered an extensive background in styling and trend forecasting, along with clothing and accessory design. Alice is a master at pulling expertise from a multitude of creative outlets, which enable her to conceptualize inspiring, fun and original event designs, and with that has been deemed a leader in ground breaking creative events and décor.
Jeniffer Bissett – Canadian corporate account director for Tourism Toronto
With over 20 years in the hospitality/tourism industry she knows how to make your groups, events and meetings both creative and successful. As a “Destination Expert” for Toronto, Mississauga and Brampton, she is always sourcing new and unique venues for her clients’ meetings, events & conventions. Jeniffer obtained a Bachelor in Commerce degree from Queen’s University and a sales and marketing degree from St. Lawrence College. She is also a committee member with MPI Toronto Chapter and the President-Elect for CHMSE (Canadian Hotel Marketing & Sales Executives) and past Director of Memberships for CHMSE. When not researching and sharing all the amazing things Toronto and regions have to offer – she relishes her time in Port Credit with her husband Frank and three children Liam, Marah & Michael.
Trevor Lui – Director of Operations at International Centre
Trevor Lui’s current role encompasses direct management of all event operations/logistics, corporate sustainability, client experience, consultation and project development overseeing over 200 employees.
His experience comes from both the private and public sector. For more than 10 years, he has held different management positions within major gaming/entertainment, hotel and convention venues overseeing the planning and execution of many high profile events for likes of the National Hockey League, Andrea Bocelli, David Foster, Wayne Newton, LL Cool J, Michael Buble, Paul Anka, international dignitaries and many top tier corporations and associations.
Alissa Hurley – Director of Events, Maritz Canada Inc
With over 18 years of consultative and operational experience, Alissa Hurley oversees Maritz’s events practice. Alissa’s team manages more than 500 events a year across several industry sectors including such leading brands as Cisco Systems, LG, RIM, Novartis, J&J, TELUS, Allergan, Canaccord Adams, Ricoh and Purolator. Alissa has been an active member of Meeting Professionals International for over 10 years and achieved her Certification in Meetings Management (CMM) in 2003.
Keynote Address: Can You Get to That One Spot?
Presenter: Gary Vaynerchuk – Social Media, Marketing and Personal Branding Guru
Known as the ‘Social Media Sommelier,’ Gary Vaynerchuk has become one of the most popular and best-known social media and personal branding experts out there. Gaining notoriety from the successful attempt to grow a family-owned wine business, Gary used various online social media marketing techniques to draw impressive amounts of attention to the wine industry and his video blog, Wine Library TV. He has garnered praise from established web denizens and earned the admiration of countless bloggers and aspiring entrepreneurs.
Gary’s unconventional marketing ideas have captured attention with his multi-faceted approach to personal branding and business. His unique views on social media, marketing, commerce, the wine industry, life, family and the New York Jets have captivated viewers all over the globe and are even more inspiring live.
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