Publications, Manuals, Presentations and Awards
Sharing the experience we have gained on the variety of assignments we have been retained on over the past 20 years has been an important way for us to pass on the learning. We have authored many articles and even some book chapters, we have prepared industry manuals and we have shared through creative presentations at industry conferences and gatherings. The following is a partial list of the ways the Partners have shared their experience and expertise.
Jill Vandal
Industry Development Training, Manuals and Workshops:
Signature Experience Development Advanced Webinar and 1:1 coaching, City of Kawartha Lakes (with BC Hughes)
Experience Development Workshops – winter and shoulder season – Tourism Industry Association of Ontario, on behalf of Tourism Industry Association of Canada (with BC Hughes)
Master Trainer, Tourism Excellence North, Destination Northern Ontario
Tourism Saskatchewan’s product development AWEShop program and related materials, workshops and coaching
A Guide to Building Successful Packages and series of related workshops.
How to Sell Through the Travel Trade and series of related workshops.
HHBRTA Pan Am/Parapan Am Games Tourism Opportunities Handbook
Toolkit for Project and Event Management for Ontario Parks ‘Friends of’ organizations; speaker at conference.
War of 1812-1814 Bicentennial – A Handbook for Tourism Partners’ and workshops for stakeholders in Hamilton, Halton Brant Regional Tourism Association
Best Practices Missions for Travel Manitoba industry: Agri-tourism (Ontario, October 2009); Destination Development (Alberta, June 2010); Culinary Tourism (Ontario, October 2010)
Beacons of Effective Sustainable Tourism (BEST) a workshop and supporting manual for the Gros Morne Institute of Sustainable Development.
Understanding and Attracting the RV Tourism Market to Northern Ontario
Understanding and Attracting the On-road Motorcycle Tourism Market to Northern Ontario
Tourism Keys.ca – Unlock the Door to a Higher Performing Web Presence in partnership with Todd Lucier, Tourism Cafe
Tourism Keys: Web-enhancement and Customer Relationship Management Training Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan
Lead programmer for Canadian Tourism Commission’s innovative winter product development forum held in Whitehorse, Yukon “Winterchange 2003
Tourism Industry Investment Manual, 1997 — Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC)
Resource Based Tourism Diversification Program — Business Enhancement Workshops, Ontario Ministry of Northern Development and Mines
Invited Speaker
The Business of Experiential Travel, Hamilton Halton Brant Tourism Symposium 2018
Product Development Symposium, Northern Ontario Tourism Summit 2015; 2017
Little Details, Big Dividends, Hamilton Halton Brant Tourism Symposium 2016
Turning the TO2015 Games into Tourism Opportunities, HHBRTA Pan Am/Parapan Am Tourism Symposium, 2014
Making the most of social media for your tourism business or organization” Orillia and Area Community Futures Development and Ontario’s Lake Country, 2012
“Making the most of social media for your tourism business or organization” Orillia and Area Community Futures Development and Ontario’s Lake Country, 2012
“How to Design and Deliver Great Cultural Tourism Experiences” Norfolk Museum Network, 2012
“Positioning Barrie for the future…one great experience at a time” Tourism Barrie AGM 2012
“Tourism Packaging for Today’s Customer: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly”, Ontario’s Highlands Tourism Organization (RT0 11) 2011 Annual General Meeting
“The Resort Business Model, Today and Tomorrow”, Resorts of Ontario 2011 AGM
“The Power of Packaging” Clarington Marketing Minds AGM 2011
“Quality Assurance: Does it Really Matter?”, Saskatchewan Tourism Annual HOST Conference 2010
“Succeeding on the Web:10 Easy-to-do steps to extend your Internet Reach”, Saskatchewan Tourism Annual Conference HOST 2009
“Website Wizardry – 9 Steps to Reach Out and Engage Your Customer Saskatchewan Tourism Annual HOST Conference 2008
“Mobilizing Your Potential” – four separate sessions on how to use the web more effectively, delivered at the Travel Manitoba Annual Conference, 2007
“Partnering Outside Your Hallowed Halls” – Canadian University and College Conference Officers Association; 2000
“Markets and Marketing” – Ontario Camping Association, Annual Conference, 1999
“Green Marketing”, Third Annual Ecotourism Conference, Sir Sanford Fleming College, 1997
“Continuous Learning”, Ontario Camping Association, Annual Conference, 1996
“Customer Service”, Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Recreation mini-conference, 1995
“Leadership Development”, Ontario Camping Association Annual Conference, 1995
“Beyond 2001 – A Simulation of a Camp of the Future” KUMBAYAH 1994, The Third International Camping Congress, 1994
Facilitation of Board/Staff Retreat, Support Initiative for Residents in the County of Haliburton, (SIRCH), 1994
“Cultivating Alumni” Association of Independent Camps, 1994
Workshop for Management Staff, Ontario Place, 1993, 1994, 1995 and 1996
“Creative Solutions to Manage Conflict”, Toronto Board of Education, 1993
“Year Round Camp Directors’ Calendar”, Ontario Camping Association Annual Conference, 1993
“Long Range Strategic Planning”, Ontario Camp Director’s Workshop, 1992
“Camp Courageous – A Simulation”, Ontario Camping Association Annual Conference, 1992
“Campers/Directors: Closer Together”, Ontario Camping Association Annual Conference, 1991 and 1992
Mike Robbins
Invited Speaker
Keynote Speaker at the 5th International Seminar on Tourism in Amazon Protected Areas hosted by ICMBio and USFS, Rio Branco Brazil, 2018, presenting Learning from Community-Based Tourism in Remote Indigenous Communities
Presented a paper titled Creating lasting solutions for coastal conservation and ‘communities of place’ through responsible tourism at the Executive Symposium for Innovators in Coastal Tourism Development organized jointly by the Center for Responsible Travel and Stanford University’s Center for Global Business & Latin American Studies, Los Cabos Mexico, 2013
Participated as an Ecotourism Expert in the government sponsored Ecotourism FAM Trip and Ecotourism Conference and Workshop in the eastern Black Sea Region of Turkey, May 2012.
Community-based Ecotourism in Arviat at the International Polar Tourism Research Network Conference held in Nain Labrador, April 2012.
ACE: Real Community-Based Tourism at the ‘Canada-Russia Northern Trade and the Role of Ecotourism’ roundtable in Toronto on March 7, 2012.
Preserving Inuit Cultural Traditions Through Tourism in Arviat, Nunavut & Melding Travel, Career, Philanthropy & Passion at the 3rd International Traveler’s Philanthropy Conference hosted by CREST in Costa Rica, July 2011.
Certification for Aboriginal Cultural Tourism at the 2007 North American Ecotourism Conference in Madison Wisconsin
Mixing Business and Philanthropy at the 2008 Ecotourism and Sustainable Tourism Conference in Vancouver
Authored
Author of a Chapter entitled Development of Tourism In Arctic Canada published in 2007 by CABI Press UK in Prospects for Polar Tourism, Edited by John Snyder & Bernard Stonehouse of the Scott Polar Research Institute.
Author of a Chapter entitled The Arviat Community Ecotourism Initiative: Creating a Local Tourism Economy and Pride in Culture in a Remote Inuit Community published in 2013 by the Lakehead University Centre for Northern Studies in From Talk to Action: How Tourism is Changing the Polar Regions, proceedings from the 3rd International Polar Tourism research Network (IPTRN) Conference held April 16-21 in Nain Labrador.
Industry Development Training
Project Manager responsible for coordinating all training related to the award winning Arviat Community Ecotourism initiative in Nunavut. Training programs administered included the following:
- Introductory Hospitality and Ecotourism
- Cooking and Caring for Visitors
- Cultural Performance and Staging
- Ecoguiding
- Tourism Marketing
- Business Entrepreneurship
- Community Hosting
