Breakout sessions dive into detail about specific topics that are top-of-mind for Forum attendees.

Wednesday, March 29

2:00pm - 2:45pm Breakout Sessions

The Lodging Landscape

From hotels to vacation rentals and home shares, the lodging landscape in mountain destinations is complicated at best. We’ll sit down with leaders in the accommodations space to talk trends, innovation, booking practices and more.

Tom Foley, SVP Business Intelligence, Inntopia

Gen Z: A Follow Up Workshop

Building on his General Session presentation, Issa will explore how the information shared earlier could apply to your business. This workshop will provide an opportunity for Q&A and group discussion focused on reaching Gen Z.

Issa Sawabini, Partner, Fuse

Best Practices for Indigenous Partnerships

As a follow up to the main stage segment, this workshop will provide best practices for forming relationships with indigenous groups in your mountain destination.

Tom Babin, Director of Marketing, Indigenous Tourism Alberta

2:45pm - 3:00pm BREAK

3:00pm - 3:45pm Breakout Sessions

Using Data to Tell Stories to Inject Smarter Thinking into your Mountain Place Vision

This workshop will open your eyes to the power of data and how place brand, destination marketing, and economic development teams can work together to tell better stories. With these stories, you will learn how to engage stakeholders in the vision for the place economy and demonstrate the impact of your strategies.

Nicole Brownell, Vice President of Strategy, Zartico

Stories with Purpose

Once upon a time, marketers relied on clever copy, ripe with witty puns, to attract potential clients. The goal for any product was a story well told. As marketers, storytelling is at the core of our profession. It is our job to learn our products and to share their benefits in an engaging manner that helps attract new clients, while retaining legacy clients. With so much noise and focus on viral micro-trend marketing, we as marketers have a unique ability to stand out through combining clever storytelling with smart analytics. In this session, Kendra will share her storytelling secrets to help you bring your campaigns to life (no matter the medium).

Kendra Scurfield, Director of Brand & Communications, Banff Sunshine Village

David Weiss, CEO, Whimstay

THURSDAY, MARCH 30

11:15am - 12:00pm Breakout Sessions

Becca Madigan, Solutions Consultants Manager, PriceLabs

Kimberly Miles, Executive Director, Vacation Rental Management Association

Dani Loewenstein, COO, Great Canadian Heli-Skiing

Bill Obreiter, Vice President, Destinations, US & Caribbean, Zartico

Optimizing Stay Restrictions to Boost Revenue

While most discussions about revenue management focus on pricing, many vacation rental managers have also been creative in using stay restrictions (min-stay, check-in and check-out restrictions) to get the kind of bookings that are right for their properties and revenue. Strategies can differ depending on location, season, and several other factors. We'll discuss how companies in a varied set of markets have found the right balance between not having any restrictions and having too many of them.

Selling in a Post-COVID World

Hugh Lawson, Head of Business Development, EHN Canada

Mark Kristofic, Executive Producer, Ascend Television

Matt Sartor, Sr. Director, Partner Success, Vacation Rental,Vrbo

Megan Lohmann, Co-Owner, IceWalks

Travis Weber, Regional Director of Sales, Duetto

Tim Patterson, Owner/Lead Guide, Zucmin Guiding

Kevin Whitfield, Director, Marketing & Sales, Heather Mountain Lodge

Increasing Occupancy Rates and RevPAR in the Mountains

Bookings in the mountains are unique to say the least. We’ll cover how these stays differ from those in other destinations regarding booking windows, vacancies, and last-minute reservations. Understanding these trends and characteristics will help you maximize bookings and generate incremental revenue and profitability. In addition, learn how strategic partners like Google and others are helping focused channels accomplish this mission.

Hugh Lawson has decades of experience in sales and account management through his career with Staples and in the private healthcare sector. In recent years, he’s learned to retool his selling tactics to fit the post-COVID world. Buyers are no longer looking to be sold to. The buyer relies upon the seller to be a trusted advisor who adds value to the transaction. Learn the methodologies and analytics behind a more human-centric sales approach.

Promoting with Video... Authentically

Videos can be a highly effective way to engage viewers in an authentic manner. Recognizing the current media trends and leveraging them can provide an incredible promotional tool that is cost effective, efficient and impactful. Whether it’s a cinematic commercial, a short social hit or a long-format story, use of authentic video promotion will often help your brand stand out and leave a lasting impression on your potential visitors.

View General Sessions