Originally from Belcarra, British Columbia, Canada, Kyle MacDonald has planted more than one hundred thousand trees, delivered more than one thousand pizzas, but eaten only one scorpion. He has also traded one red paperclip for a house only once.

Inspired by "Bigger and Better," a game he played as a child, MacDonald came up with the idea of trading objects over the Internet. He posted a red paper clip on Craig's List and waited for offers. The buzz was almost instant, showing how a unique story can capture the minds and imaginations of people all over the world, and create a movement unto itself.

In one year and 14 trades, which involved a fish pen, a keg of beer, a cube van, a recording contract and a snow globe, MacDonald's dream came true.

He traded a KISS snow globe for a speaking part in a Corbin Bernsen film. As luck would have it, Bernsen collects snow globes. Then, the town of Kipling, Saskatchewan offered up a house in exchange for the movie role.

MacDonald traveled extensively in Canada and the US to make his trades, meeting people in Massachusetts, Queens, Los Angeles and Seattle, to name a few. Each trade had a unique place, person and story to tell, including trading a camp stove to a US marine sergeant and meeting Alice Cooper.

Along the way, MacDonald and his paperclip caught worldwide attention from the likes of ABC, 20/20 and Hollywood. Visitors from as far away as Australia flew to Kipling to watch him make the final trade for his new house, and his story has inspired many others to dream big and begin their own Internet trades. He has made hundreds of media appearances including, The Today Show, Good Morning America, 20/20, The Hour, MSNBC, BBC, CBS, CNN, CBC, City TV, Global, and has been featured in USA Today, Maclean's, The New York Times, In Touch Magazine, VH1, MTV, The National Examiner, Reader's Digest, LA Times, The Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Toronto Star, among others.

When he's not stealing a flag from the Prime Minister's office or promoting Alberta Beef by hitch-hiking in a parade, you might find him leaving his wallet in El Segundo or hanging out in Bangkok

Kerry Munro - Yahoo! Keynote, General Manager, Yahoo! Canada

Kerry Munro joined Yahoo Canada as General Manager in 2005 after more than 20 years of executive management experience in the technology products and services sectors. In his role at Yahoo! Canada he is responsible for the company's overall operation and strategic growth, and in the latter capacity he has significantly increased the size and influence of Yahoo!'s presence in Canada by expanding the operational staff, increasing revenue and making Yahoo! Canada one of the fastest growing Yahoo! business units worldwide.

His previous experience includes both corporate and entrepreneurial leadership positions such as leading new ventures, alliances and applications as a Senior Director at Bell Canada, and prior to that as founder and President of KBM Marketing which provided market analysis and business unit turnaround strategy for numerous Canadian corporations. He has also held executive marketing positions at leading technology companies including ACC TelEnterprises and Allstream. Mr. Munro is a graduate of the University of Toronto and has an MBA from Queen's University. He is a frequent speaker at industry conferences and an in-demand media interview on the business of the Internet. He is also a member of the Young Presidents Organization (YPO) and was recently appointed to the Board of Directors of the Duke of Edinburgh's Awards program.

Noreen Henry - 2nd Day Keynote, VP, Hotels & Packaging, Travelocity.com

A good time to catch Noreen Henry is on one of her early morning runs around Lake Grapevine in suburban Dallas / Fort Worth - that is when she's not busy running Travelocity's hotel and packaging businesses. In her role, Noreen oversees Travelocity's hotel and packaging strategy, product marketing, merchandising, business financials and revenue management and works closely with Travelocity's partner marketing alliances team on supplier strategy.

A 16-year veteran of the travel industry, Noreen has spent most of her career with Travelocity's parent company Sabre Holdings, joining Travelocity in 2001. Noreen played an integral role in the launch of Travelocity's industry leading net rate hotel program in October 2002 and led the management of Travelocity's key hotel global accounts and operations team.

Noreen first joined Sabre in 1987 and her work there in the ensuing years gave her exposure to numerous aspects of the electronic distribution business, including time spent in product development, customer experience, and eventually finding her way into marketing as senior director of Sabre's technology solutions where she was responsible for the Qik-Access Reservation product line managing more than 60 airline and hotel clients worldwide.

Noreen earned a Bachelor of Arts in communications from the University of North Texas in Denton.

Favorite Travel Moments:
"Running around the Opera House in Sydney with the sun rising over the waters; running through the city of Barcelona; and running down the majestic Mount Hood in Portland, Oregon at dusk."

Henry Woodman - Closing Keynote, Founder and President, ICE Portal

Florida-born Henry Woodman, a University of Arizona graduate, is fluently tri-lingual (English, Spanish, French), and a natural entrepreneur. He began his first business venture as a college student, and continued to perfect his entrepreneurial talent by founding two successful corporations before deciding to focus on travel.

Initially, Woodman worked in film and television production earning four Emmy nominations in network TV. Next, in international travel promotion, he produced and directed films and videos of leading worldwide destinations for major travel companies including: American Airlines, American Express, Eastern Airlines, government tourism boards, and leading cruise lines.

In 1998, to pioneer the production and Internet distribution of Digital Brochures and Virtual Reality 360° Panoramic Photography, Woodman founded World Travelvision (WTV). In 2003 he formed the Internet Content Exchange (ICE Portal) now the travel industry's leading rich content management and distribution platform.

ICE Portal's client list now includes major international hotel chains and leading government tourist boards, and Woodman has become the travel industry's premiere expert on visual internet content. Also, under his leadership, ICE powers the rich content to major travel websites including Expedia, Orbitz, Travelocity, Priceline, and is the technological force behind Pegasus Rich Media Service.

Martin has spent the last 15 years of his career building online business for a wide variety of Canadian and international organizations. Martin worked for several Canadian internet presence agencies building websites for TD Bank, BMW Canada, Bank of New York, Deutchbank and more. Martin eventually moved from building online businesses' to managing them as Director of The National Post's online news business, Director of media sales operations for Sympatico/MSN Canada and most recently taking on the role as National Director for Yahoo's Canada's Search Marketing operations. Martin also holds an executive MBA from the Rotman School of Business.

Patricia Brusha - E-Analyst & Co-Founder - A Couple of Chicks e-Marketing

Patricia Brusha is the co-chair and co-founder of Online Revealed Canada - the Canadian Tourism e-Marketing Conference produced in association with Yahoo! Canada and www.acoupleofchicks.com - an Internet Marketing Company focused on travel and tourism. She has spent 26 years working in the Hospitality Industry in the United States and Canada in the fields of Sales, Hotel Marketing, Internet Distribution and Revenue Management. Together, the "Chicks" have published over 30 articles, launched www.chicksaway.com - a new social media portal for women who travel. The Chicks have worked with such notable brands as Marriott International and Fairmont Hotels and Resorts, to develop innovative online marketing strategies, and their popular e-marketing workshops have also lead to the upcoming book focused on the "Chicks" non-intimidating approach to marketing online to be launched Spring 2008. Patricia is a Google Certified Professional and a Yahoo Search Ambassador. She has also been on numerous industry panels including; the Distribution Summit in Chicago www.eyefortravel.com , and the Search Engine Strategy Conference in Toronto, www.searchenginewatch.com., and is a regular speaker at leading industry events such as the Travel Alberta Annual Conference, and the Hotel Conference Association of Canada.

Scott Allison - Vice President, Sales & Marketing, Marriott Lodging Canada

Eric Barber - Senior Director of Operations, Realstar Hospitality

With over 18 years of experience in the industry, Eric is proud to be a third generation hotelier. In his capacity at Realstar Hospitality, Eric manages the revenue management, distribution strategy, national training syllabus and quality assurance programs, working with the Days Inn, Novotel and Motel 6 brands in Canada.

The longest serving member of the Realstar Hospitality team, Eric originally joined the company in August 1995.

Prior to joining Realstar Hospitality, Eric worked in a variety of management positions in Europe with Renaissance Hotels, Steigenberger Hotels and Vienna International.

He currently co-chairs the Tour Committee at HEDNA, which has been formed to deal with the automation of the FIT markets between hotel chains and tour operators.

Eric is the proud father of two sons, five year old Matthias and three year old Felix. He is a fanatical soccer supporter and enjoys attending motor sports events with his sons.

Scott Bowie - Co-Founder, Virtual Visit Presentations

Scott is a co-founder of Virtual Visit Presentations and leads the development and support arm of the company. Prior to starting Virtual Visit in 1996, Scott had a background in electrical engineering and years of software development experience in the pharmaceutical manufacturing industry. When not plugged in to his computer, Scott is a roller bladder, a glider, a diver and a devoted family guy.

Chris Breikss - Co-Founder and President of 6S Marketing

Chris Breikss is the co-founder and President of 6S Marketing, a Vancouver based Internet Marketing company that specializes in search engine marketing (SEM) and web analytics. Since 2001, 6S has been involved in the marketing of more than 300 Web sites across North America. 6S Marketing has achieved numerous awards and certifications and is active in the online marketing community. Chris has been involved in the Internet marketing Industry for 11 years and prior to starting 6S, Chris worked in online marketing for Infowave Software, and Stratford Internet Technologies.

Phil Caines - Rezgo

Mr. Caines has been working with the Travel and Tourism industry since 2002. His previous work includes working with DMO's and travel agencies with reservation systems and visitor services. This work led him to his current focus; developing distribution solutions for tour and activity providers. One solution, www.Rezgo.com has empowered numerous tour providers and resellers to sell their travel and tourism products through their existing website, through POS / call centres as well their traditional sales channels.

Laura Callow - Senior Search Analyst, Epiar

Laura has been involved in online advertising for eleven years. Prior to joining Epiar as their Senior Search Analyst she was the SEM Manager for Critical Mass in Calgary where her clients included Rolex, Dell, Hyatt Hotels & Resorts, Pampers, Mercedes Benz USA, Moen, and USAA. At Epiar Laura's responsibilities include the provision of full technical audits for Microsoft's Independent Software Vendors.

While SEO research, audits, gap analyses, application, integration and web analytics are her forte, Laura has also successfully worked with numerous multi-million dollar paid search campaigns across all the major advertising platforms. Laura has worked in South Africa, the UK and Canada, and has provided her SEM knowledge to clients around the globe.

Mandy Gresh - Country Manager, Travelzoo Canada

Mandy Gresh has served as Country Manager, Canada for online travel deal publisher, Travelzoo since leading the company's expansion into Canada in March 2006.

Gresh has been responsible for attaining over 600,000 active Canadian leisure travellers and has helped over 100 Canadian travel companies leverage Travelzoo.ca and the Travelzoo Top 20.

From 2004 to 2006 Gresh served as a producer at Travelzoo's headquarters in New York. From 2002 - 2004, Gresh worked in media relations for Fairmont Hotels & Resorts in New York. Between 2001 and 2002, Gresh was an account executive at Ruder Finn Public Relations in New York and was responsible for hotel brands such as Four Seasons, The Roosevelt New York and Rome Caveleri Hilton in Italy.

Gresh holds a B.A. in Mass Communications from the State University of New York College at Oswego.

Rogier Gruys -

Product Specialist, Canadian Tourism Commission

Rogier Gruys is a product specialist in the Canadian Tourism Commission's Product Innovation and Enhancement team in Vancouver, BC, specializing in adventure travel. Previously, Gruys worked in e-marketing, managing the CTC's consumer website. Before joining the CTC, he managed the main website at the University of Victoria, and taught web design at a Victoria college. Earlier, Gruys worked on various United Nations and Canadian aid projects in Bhutan, Mongolia, Indonesia and Malaysia. In Mongolia, he also worked as a tour leader and an adventure tourism product consultant. In his spare time, Gruys is an avid travel and outdoor photographer. His work has appeared in several magazines and books.

Ken Headrick - Director of Marketing MSN Canada

Ken Headrick is the Director of Products and Marketing at MSN Canada. Since joining Microsoft over 12 years ago, Ken has played an integral role in various marketing communications and product management projects, including the launches of Microsoft adCenter, Windows 95 and Office 97. Additionally, Ken managed Microsoft's partner relationships with various enterprise systems integration partners, large account resellers and OEM partners. For seven years, Ken worked in Microsoft's SMB sector, which included managing the Small Business, Partner Marketing and Mid Market sales and marketing teams. Prior to Microsoft, Ken worked in the financial services industry. He has a Bachelor of Commerce degree from Queen's University.

Stephen Joyce -

Co-Founder and CEO, Sentias Software Corp

Stephen has been working as a travel & tourism technology consultant since 1995. In 2005 Mr. Joyce and his company, Sentias Software Corp., began development of Rezgo.com, a next generation Web 2.0 tour and activity booking engine for small and medium sized tour suppliers and resellers. In June of 2007, Rezgo.com was officially released and has grown a user base of 450+ travel suppliers.

Stephen is also very active in fostering tourism technology and is the founding President of the North American Chapter of the International Federation for IT and Travel & Tourism (IFITT North America). He is the creator and publisher of the Tips from the T-List book, the worlds first collaborative travel industry book. In addition to his tourism initiatives, Mr. Joyce is also Vice-Chair of the North Vancouver Chamber of Commerce.

Prior to co-founding Sentias, Stephen was a Managing Consultant with a large IT Consultancy in Chicago as well as a Creative Director for one of Vancouver's premier web development studios.

Stephen is a graduate of Capilano College, holds a commercial pilot's licence, and a Certificate in IT Management. Stephen is married and is the proud father of two girls.

Ken Jurina - President - Top Draw

As president and founder of Top Draw and Epiar, Ken Jurina has more than fifteen years of experience in traditional advertising and Internet marketing. In 1993, he founded Top Draw which has become a leading advertising, graphic design, and web development firm in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

In 2002, Ken co-founded Epiar, an Internet marketing and search engine optimization (SEO) company that has pioneered techniques merging web development technology with online marketing strategies to drive qualified traffic and sales.

As president of Epiar, Ken oversees the company's growth and helps drive the marketing strategies and creative tactics that are delivering better lead generation and client retention for Epiar clients, some of which include: Microsoft, Sierra Trading Post, ArtVan Furniture, Quikcard, & Sentinel Storage. In addition to leading the Epiar team, Ken's role at Epiar comprises senior-level client counsel, strategic marketing, and creative direction.

Ken is also involved with various professional organizations and industry associations. He has served as a judge at the Canadian New Media Association awards for the past four years, and has spoken on the topic of SEO/SEM (Search Engine Optimization & Marketing) at various international conferences:

• Search Engine Strategies New York, Chicago, San Jose, and Toronto since 2002;
• SMX Conference Seattle 2007, Santa Clara California 2008
• Shop.org conference in Las Vegas 2007; Scottsdale Arizona
• Pubcon conference in Las Vegas 2007

Shir Kalmanson - Channel Manager, Yahoo! Search Marketing Canada

Shir Kalmanson is Channel Manager with Yahoo! Search Marketing Canada responsible for the launch and operations of the Y!SM reseller channel focusing on Small Medium Businesses. Prior to joining Yahoo! Canada Ms. Kalmanson was involved in the development of generic Web products for telecom clients in Europe, the U.S. and Asia and she has online experience from front-end client consulting to technical back-end operations. She has also worked with large multinational corporations such as Philips and MSN where she developed and implemented strategic Public Relations programs.

Shir holds an MBA from the Rotman School of Business and is fluent in English, Spanish and Hebrew, and gets a passing grade in conversational French.

Richard Kunz - Principal Consultant, Travel & Hospitality, T4G

Richard Kunz leads T4G's travel and hospitality consulting practice and provides management consulting for corporate strategies, multi-channel distribution, eCommerce strategies & solutions, reservation systems and marketing programs.

Prior to joining T4G Mr. Kunz was the Vice President of Advance Sales Technology at Intrawest, one of the world's biggest resort operators, where he was responsible for the development and support of the company's reservation systems, and eCommerce platform.

Mr. Kunz has twenty five years of experience as a consultant and senior executive for leading travel and hospitality firms around the world in areas such as IT, marketing, sales, strategic planning and supply chain optimization. His skills span most travel industry verticals including retail and wholesale travel, hospitality firms, cruise lines, airlines, technology providers and global distribution systems.

Mr. Kunz's accomplishments include the development of various IT solutions involving central reservation systems (CRSs), global distribution systems (GDSs), eCommerce solutions, as well as tour, hotel and fares distribution systems. On the business side his background includes the authorship and implementation of an array of corporate strategies and marketing programs.

Having been involved with travel eCommerce for over ten years Mr. Kunz was a pioneer in dynamic packaging and most recently he is focused on defining strategies for clients around the latest trends such as Web 2.0, multi-channel supply chain optimization, experiential travel solutions and catalogue-driven shopping.

Mr. Kunz has been a guest lecturer in the past at Humber College, Toronto, Canada, and with Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia. He holds a MA-Marketing from the Macquarie Graduate School of Management.

Stephen Paganelli , CDME - Vice President - DMO's, TIG Global

Steven Paganelli, CDME, serves as Vice President - DMOs for TIG Global, a Washington, DC-based technology firm serving the Travel Industry. Prior to joining TIG Global, Steve spent 13 years leading Destination Marketing Organizations. He has served on numerous boards including those of the Destination Marketing Association International, New England Society of Convention & Visitors Bureaus and Connecticut Tourism Association. Among others, Steve's DMOs have twice been recognized with HSMAI's prestigious Adrian Award for web marketing achievements along with "Best of Show" in DMAI's Idea Fair and numerous awards by the Northeast Economic Development Association.

TIG Global is the leading provider of interactive marketing services for the Travel Industry with an extensive portfolio of worldwide clients including hotels, resorts, spas, destinations, restaurants and hospitality associations. Our proven best practices in website design, web marketing, search engine optimization, and innovative Web 2.0 strategies generate more Internet visibility, increase visitor conversion and deliver unrivaled ROI - totaling $600 million in online revenues for our clients in 2007.

Ed Perry - Director of e-Commerce, WORLDHOTELS

With over 20 years of industry exposure, Edward Perry has been with WORLDHOTELS for over six years. During his tenure at WORLDHOTELS, he began in the corporate sales division, managing sales for the Northeastern USA . His most current appointment is as Director of E-Commerce, based in the Americas . In this position, Edward manages strategic alliances between online booking and technology partners and WORLDHOTELS' portfolio.

Prior to his work at WORLDHOTELS, Edward took on a variety of industry positions in sales and marketing at various hotel levels, including travel manager for Macy's West in San Francisco . Edward has a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations and German from Schiller International University in Heidelberg , Germany and a MBA in Global Business Management from the University of Phoenix . He currently chairs the HEDNA subcommittee for group online distribution and is a HEDNA Board member.

Michael Pettler - Co-Founder, Virtual Visit Presentations

Michael is a co-founder of Virtual Visit Presentations, a company that has been focused on providing innovative sales tools to the hospitality industry since 1996. With a Bachelor of Science in Hospitality Management and 10 years of hotel operational and sales experience with Marriott International and Inter-Continental Hotels Group, Michael brings industry knowledge and a passion for 'the business' to the team. His love affair with hotels began while traveling to play amateur hockey in his youth. The traveling continues, but the skates have been hung up and traded in for a camera... photography is now Michael's sport of choice!

Carson Pierce - Project Manager, Point B Marketing

Since beginning his professional website development career seven years ago, Carson has been involved in nearly every facet of the industry: from marketing to design to coding. By 2004, he realized that he just wasn´t that good of a designer and teamed up with someone who was to form Idea Market Design. Within a few years, a second company - Point B Marketing - was created to focus in on the needs of the marketing and design needs of the tourism industry.

While Carson still ends up doing a bit of everything, his day-to-day role now is Project Manager. His breadth of experience helps him understand each stage of the website development process... and get them done.

Carson has a BComm in Marketing, parents two small children and has won his fantasy hockey league two years in a row.

Ian Ross - Vice-President / Eastern Region, Orbitz Worldwide

Ian has spent more than 25 years in media/advertising sales and sales management. Currently, Ian heads up all online ad sales efforts in the East and Canada for Orbitz Worldwide, which includes Orbitz, CheapTickets and The Away Network. Prior to this, Ian spent 4 years at The Walt Disney Company, where he was Senior Sales Director in NY for Disney Online.

In addition to Orbitz, Ian has also held several senior sales positions within the travel industry for the online properties of travel industry leader Sabre. There, he opened the East coast sales office for Preview Travel, the predecessor of Travelocity and he built the media sales unit for GetThere.com.

Ian has also held posts in advertising sales at several other notable companies, including Softbank Interactive Marketing, a leading interactive sales rep firm, The Washington Post and International Data Group.

Ian earned his Bachelor's of Arts degree in Journalism from State University College at Buffalo. He is a founding member of both the Boston Interactive Media Association and 212, where he served on the Board of Directors, and was 212's President up until January 2008.

Lindsay Smith - CEO, Massive Technology

Lindsay Smith is the CEO and founder of Massive Events Co., the producer of Canada's largest technology show for business (Massive Technology Show).

Prior to starting Massive Events Co. in 2005, Smith was the CEO and co-founder of Techvibes.com, a portal that markets high-tech companies to the masses. Drawing on her extensive experience in communications and information technology, Smith used forward innovative methods for helping companies grow their business by using both new and established technologies.

In 2004, Smith joined the National board of directors for Wired Woman, a Canadian association for women in technology. There she volunteered her time as CTO until she was elected to President of the association in 2005 where she is still actively supporting women in IT.

Smith's role as one of Canada's leading women in technology made her a popular guest of Business News Networks' GetConnected TV and Radio where she is now a co-host. Her easy to understand approach will continue to help Canadians adopt new digital solutions in their everyday lives.

Smith's experience has been rooted in the high-tech sector for over 7 years. Her career in technology began in 2000 when she co-founded GeekRave Productions in order to build more networking opportunities in the height of the tech boom. Originally Director of Public Relations and quickly promoted to President for the company, Smith and her team successfully attracted thousands of people to their high-tech industry events. Considered an expert in her field, Smith has been quoted countless times by local and national media. She holds a Bachelor of Applied Sciences from Simon Fraser University and resides in Vancouver, BC.

Awards & Nominations
In 2005, Smith was awarded by Business In Vancouver Magazine as a "Top Forty Under 40" for outstanding achievement in business.
In 2004, she was nominated for Woman of Vision at the Canadian New Media Awards.

Robert Swick, CSO (Chief Strategic Officer), AlphaSearch

Robert Swick is an Internet Marketing Expert with over 11 years in Internet marketing consulting and leadership roles. Co-founder of AlphaSearch Internet Marketing, Mr. Swick has been strategic consultant on hundreds of websites for marketing, promotion, education, and information delivery to special audiences.

A frequent speaker on Internet marketing techniques, Online branding and smart website promotion, his focus is to evangelize good practice in Internet marketing and offer hands-on practical approaches to improving the bottom-line of websites and web campaigns.

Recently returning to Atlantic Canada from 10 years in Montreal Mr. Swick has quickly become a force in the Atlantic Canadian marketing scene by:

• Conceiving and producing the first ever Atlantic Internet Marketing Conference.
• Founding the Atlantic Canada Internet Marketing Association (ACIMA.ca), an association of Internet Marketers that includes the four Atlantic Provinces.
• Co-founding AlphaSearch Internet Marketing, selected the Halifax Chamber of Commerce "New Business of the Year" for 2007.

Keith Tandy, Regional Online Trainer, Canwest Digital Media

At Canwest Digital Media it's Keith's passion to educate both the media rep and their clients as to the online me dium as well as the other multiple mediums available at Canwest. Specifically, he helps the clients identify their target audience, choose the correct medium(s) for an advertising campaign, advises them on targeting and creative and all the while keeping ROI on the forefront of the agenda.

Keith brings a unique perspective to this year's conference. In a former lifetime he held multiple positions in the travel & tourism industry positions as diverse as GM, Sales Manager, Marketing Manager and Owner with companies ranging from Airlines, Tour Operators and Travel Agencies. Having visited over 60 countries, this background combined with his current expertise is sure to provide an educational and exciting discussion about the online travel & tourism world.

Keith sits on the board of GEMs Alberta, a global charity concentrating on micro loans to females in developing countries. Having completed his College and University education he is also currently working on an Adult Education Diploma. In his spare time he pilots his plane to presentations but is disappointed that he has yet to find a conference that he can sail to.

Jens Thraenhart - President, August Hotels & Blogger, TourismInternetMarketing.com.

Jens Thraenhart has over 15 years of international hospitality experience which includes hotel and restaurant operations, revenue management, sales & marketing, e-business, strategic planning, and hospitality consulting. He has worked with such companies as Fairmont, Four Seasons, Ian Schrager Hotels, Kempinski and Marriott.

Early in his career Jens's entrepreneurial edge was sharpened with him founding and operating a successful food catering company, starting a New York-based Internet leisure travel Internet company and managing an independent luxury golf resort in Germany.

Later in the corporate world, Jens has been instrumental in directing e-marketing and marketing automation programs in the hospitality and tourism industries, most recently with Fairmont Hotels & Resorts in heading up E-Commerce as well as Marketing and CRM for Fairmont's Vacation Ownership and Residences division.

Jens is today regarded as a thought-leader by his peers, as he is the founding chair of the HSMAI Travel Internet Marketing Organization and the HSMAI Hotel Internet Marketing Committee. Moreover, he co-chaired the first Online Revealed Canada conference in May 2006, founded and chairs the Canadian E-Tourism Strategy Conference, Canada-e-Connect, which is held in conjunction with the first ever Canadian E-Tourism Awards, which he created.

He also established and chairs the Canadian E-Tourism Council, consisting of the "who's who" in travel and tourism marketing and e-commerce in Canada, spanning through all industry sectors and all over Canada. In addition, he is quoted and has contributed to numerous articles, white papers, and text books, and is a speaker at many industry conferences and events. Thraenhart has served on various industry boards, including both the Global Board and the Americas Board of Directors of the Hospitality Sales & Marketing Association International (HSMAI), as well as North America Board for the International Federation for IT and Travel & Tourism (IFITT). In his spare time, he operates the "Tourism Internet Marketing Blog".

Originally from Germany, Thraenhart holds an MBA-accredited Masters of Management in Hospitality from the School of Hotel Administration at Cornell University, and a joint Bachelor of Science in International Hospitality Management from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and the University Center 'Cesar Ritz' at Brig, Switzerland. He was recognized as one of the 'travel industry's top 100 rising stars' by Travel Agent Magazine in 2003, and was listed as one of the '25 Most Extraordinary Sales and Marketing Minds in Hospitality and Travel' in 2004 and 2005.

Most importantly, he has a wicked sense of humour and can usually be spotted in some of the most exotic locations in the world helping to define the next great trend!

Douglas Walker - Experiential Marketing Manager - Venture Communications

As the Experiential Marketing Manager for Venture Communications, Doug Walker is responsible for developing the agency's online and digital practice. Doug is the key client consultant on all matters pertaining to social and experiential media.

Prior to joining Venture he spent over twelve years developing and implementing online strategies for some of Canada's highest profile brands including General Motors, Molson Breweries, IBM, Microsoft, Rogers AT&T and Scotiabank.

In his spare time Doug has conducted a unique viral experiment to become the world's leading authority on the subject of Rock Paper Scissors. The experiment was a massive success and led to interviews by hundreds of media outlets including Rolling Stone, CNN, BBC, New York Times, Wall Street Journal and the Today Show to name a few. He is the author of The Official Rock Paper Scissors Strategy Guide (Simon & Schuster 2004) and is the subject of a feature film documentary to be released in 2007. He continues to run the annual World Championships of Rock Paper Scissors in Toronto.

Doug runs RPS Events (www.worldrps.com/events), which provides professionally managed, referee-run rock paper scissors (RPS) networking tournaments at corporate gatherings such as conferences, office parties and other business events. He is a recognized expert on viral, word-of-mouth and social media having spoken at several conferences including Word Up (Toronto) and was a keynote speaker at the 2006 Word of Mouth Marketing Summit in Washington, DC. He is an active participant in Canadian social media circles and maintains the Advertising and Culture Blog webwalker.ca and the Social Media Today podcast.

Doug makes his home in Calgary, along with his wife Lisa and three-year old daughter Charlotte.

Alicia Whalen - Co-Founder, A Couple of Chicks e-Marketing

Alicia Whalen is the co-founder of www.acoupleofchicks.com and www.onlinerevealed.com - recognized as the prominent hospitality and travel Internet marketing strategy consultancy firm in Canada and beyond. She has also developed a successful online tourism marketing Blog; www.ideahatching.com and continues to educate about search engine optimization and Online Marketing best practices with the "Chicks" popular e-Marketing workshops and speaking engagements, which include; Quebec Tourism Annual Conference, the Student Youth and Travel Association Conference, and the Travel Media Association of Canada Conference. Alicia has worked to develop online marketing strategies for such notable companies and Marriott International, Nova Scotia Tourism, Niagara Falls Tourism and Fairmont Hotels and Resorts. Together, the "Chicks" have published over 30 articles on search marketing best practices and they are currently working on their first Online Marketing Guide to be published this spring 2008.

Tom C. Wilson - Director, Recreation & Tourism, Municipality of County Victoria

Tom C. Wilson is the Director of Recreation & Tourism for the Municipality of Victoria County on Cape Breton Island. He has over twenty-five years of experience working with community groups, public agencies & businesses in rural communities and has extensive experience in project management and IT.

Since 2002, Mr. Wilson has been the Project Co-ordinator for Broadband Solutions for Rural Development, Victoria County's Broadband Project, bringing Broadband to 90 plus rural communities. This 6 million dollar project will make the County the most connected rural county in North America. Victoria County has also been a leader in Broadband Applications with two projects - Enhancing Tourism with Broadband and Moving Forward with New Media with two more planned in 2008.

Mr. Wilson is a graduate of Dalhousie University with graduate work at University of North Texas. He has a Certificate in Leading Innovation from St. Mary's University, Certificate in Tourism Destination Management from George Washington University, as well Certificate of Community Economic Development from NSCC.

He has been a leader in technology and broadband since 1998 and has been involved in community portals, CAP Sites, tourism resource centre portal for operators, e-business, broadband surveys, e-commerce, new media, and e-marketing. Winner of the Tourism Atlantic Technology Award for Nova Scotia - November 2007.

In his free time, he is chair of the Hike the Highlands Festival, a 10 day festival held in September each year. Mr. Wilson successfully developed & implemented an e-marketing strategy in 2007 using Web 2.0 tools - a blog, monthly e-newsletters, google maps, podcasts, video, wiki etc. This festival has been named a signature event for Nova Scotia in 2008.

Alan E. Young - VP Sales, Canada, IBS Software Services Americas, Inc

Mr. Young began his hospitality focused career approximately 24 years ago. Alan entered into the hospitality industry working mainly in a management capacity with General Mills Restaurants, The Four Seasons Hotels Group and Weller Hotels, based in Australia. Alan then transitioned his operational experience into the hospitality technology environment moving to the Caribbean to head up the implementation and business direction for a Micros / Fidelio partner where he was the Business Development Manager. Returning to Canada, in 1997, Alan was the Industry Sales Manager for Sweda, Canada based in Toronto concentrating on providing technology solutions for the Canadian hotel vertical marketplace.

Alan's focus during the past years, has been to aid hospitality technology start-up companies within the on-line travel distribution arena, most notably Newtrade Technologies where he was Vice President of Hotel Systems and Integration.

Recently, Alan held the position of Vice President, Supplier Sales for Hotel Booking Solutions Incorporated (HBSi). Alan was instrumental in developing relationships for HBSi with Hyatt, Fairmont, Sandals Resorts, Intrawest, Elite Island Resorts and SynXis.

Most recently, Alan held the position of President, Kuikene Inc. the parent company of A Couple of Chicks eMarketing Ltd., Chicksaway.com and Online Revealed. Alan had the opportunity to Co-Chair Online Revealed's 2007 event held in Toronto that was deemed a great success.

Alan sits on the board as Chair, Communications Committee of the Open Travel Alliance. Alan has been involved with many industry associations most notably AHLA, HTNG and HEDNA. Alan has been a guest speaker at such events as World Travel Mart, HITEC, HEDNA, The HOT Conference and a number of other industry gatherings.