TMAC CONFERENCE Keynote & Professional Development Sessions
The TMAC Conference Committee in conjunction with our National Professional Development Committee have prepared a thoughtful, insightful and dynamic collection of sessions for our 2022 Conference. As you review these session descriptions, please note that while some indicate Media or Industry, as a delegate you are welcome to select the session of your preference (subject to capacity maximums).
When you register for the Conference, you will be asked to indicate which sessions you plan to attend, be sure to provide your preference.
June 24, 2:00pm - 3:00pm
June 24, 3:30pm - 4:30pm
Media: Video Skills Every Creator Needs to Know
Presenters: Bri Mitchell
SPONSORED BY Taste of Nova ScotiaDon’t be left behind. Stay competitive and grow your audience. Video content creation is more important than ever and has drastically evolved. It is the fastest growing storytelling feature all freelancers need to grasp to stay current. Reimagine how you work with editors and destinations by propelling yourself to the next level by offering a complete story package with photos and video. In this session, members will be guided through the steps to create engaging videos for TikTok, stories and reels on Instagram or Facebook (now known as Meta), YouTube Shorts, Web Stories and Pinterest. This session will focus on the latest trends and tips for creating videos that are more valuable and entertaining to optimize success. Following the presentation, moderators will help members put their new skills into action by creating social posts using footage gathered during pre-conference tours. One-on-one will be available as time allows.
*Note: TMAC Virtual sessions Video Skills 101 on June 2 was recommended as a foundation builder.
If you missed it, please watch the recording now, before you arrive in Yarmouth.
About our Speaker:
Bri Mitchell is a travel content creator and freelance writer from Toronto. She is a regular contributor and social media manager for the websites travelingmitch, Ultimate Ontario and We Explore Canada. She routinely works with Canadian tourism boards to increase exposure and access to local tourism, and focuses on using Instagram and TikTok to reach new audiences.
Industry/Media: The Future of Travel Media Relations: The Positive Impact of Regenerative Tourism
Presenters: Norie Quintos, Julia Cosgrove and Lily Girma
PRESENTED BY Destination Canada
WACTH THE RECORDING OF THIS SESSION NOW
The future of tourism requires an industry that is adaptable and sustainable with a more holistic approach to travel, one that benefits both travelers and the communities they visit. This session will bring together a panel of experts to discuss the future of travel, regenerative tourism and highlight destinations leading by example. Industry will walk away with a better understanding of regenerative tourism and the role storytelling and travel media relations can play in helping develop a more sustainable and resilient renewed future.
About our Speaker(s)
The panel is composed of top writers and editors includingNorie Quintos, editorial consultant and Contributing Editor, National Geographic Travel
Norie Quintos is an award-winning independent journalist and editor. She is a contributing editor to National Geographic Travel Media and the former executive editor of National Geographic Traveler. She is also a consultant for the travel industry on communications strategy and custom content. She helps clients find and tell their stories through seminars, coaching, and print and pixel projects. She has spoken and presented at conferences including the Adventure Travel World Summit, the New York Times Travel Show, International Media Marketplace, the International Indigenous Tourism Conference, the Travel Unity Summit, and the World Bank World Tourism Day Forum. Her work is focused on the areas of sustainable, indigenous, regenerative, transformational, and responsible travel.
She is a member of the Board of Directors of the Adventure Travel Conservation Fund and an advisor to Adventure Media, the Transformational Travel Council, Impact Travel Alliance, and the social enterprise startup Giving Way. She is the former executive editor of National Geographic Traveler and was an editor at U.S. News and World Report and Caribbean Travel and Life. She has lived abroad and is working on her Spanish fluency. She bikes, hikes, and tweets @noriecicerone. www.noriequintos.comJulia Cosgrove, Vice President and Editor in Chief of AFAR Media
As the Vice President and Editor in Chief of AFAR Media, Julia Cosgrove has defined the brand voice of AFAR Media’s award-winning and profitable products, including AFAR magazine, AFAR.com, events, email newsletters, podcasts, social channels, video, and new, emerging platforms. She oversees a team of editors, writers, art and photo/video directors, and designers and works closely with AFAR Media’s sales and marketing teams on revenue-generating franchises, cross-platform proposals, custom content programs, and strategic partnerships. Julia is also an expert and thought leader on travel and media, and has shared her vision and expertise on stages around the globe. She has led panels, interviewed industry leaders, and delivered keynote addresses at the Travel Classics conference, the Society of American Travel Writers Editors’ Council, the Skift Global Forum, the IMAG Conference, the Women’s Travel Fest, the Tourism Australia Summit, the American Society of Journalists and Authors Writers Conference, the Symposium for Professional Wine Writers, the Public Relations Society of America Travel and Tourism Section Conference, and more.
Lebawit Lily Girma, Global Tourism Report at SKIFTLebawit Lily Girma is Skift’s Global Tourism Reporter. Prior to joining Skift, she built a distinguished career as an award-winning Ethiopian-American travel journalist and photographer focused primarily on sustainable travel in the Caribbean region. Born in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, raised in Cote d’Ivoire and educated in the UK and U.S., plus nearly decade of exploring and living in the Caribbean region, including Belize, Girma’s “third culture” life journey has shaped Lily’s work and her philosophy on tourism as a vehicle for cross cultural exchange and social impact. A former corporate attorney who ditched her Washington DC office for the road in 2008 to follow her passion for storytelling, Lily’s writing and photography have been published in major publications including BBC, CNN, Travel & Leisure, Conde Nast Traveler, AFAR, Sierra Magazine, Lonely Planet, The Guardian, and multiple in-flight magazines. You will also find her quoted on her expertise as a solo traveler and sustainable Caribbean advocate in a range of outlets ranging from Oprah to Readers’ Digest Canada and National Geographic Traveler. Lily has authored guidebooks for Moon Travel Guides and produced content for travel brands and tourism boards, including Marriott Bonvoy, AA Vacations, TripAdvisor, the Belize Tourism Board, and the Dominican Republic Ministry of Tourism. Forbes magazine featured her as one of “15 Black Travel Writers to Read Now” in 2020. She is also the recipient of the Caribbean Tourism Organization’s Marcia Vickery Wallace award for excellence in travel journalism. Follow her adventures on social media @sunandstilettos and on her award-winning travel and photography blog, Sunshine and Stilettos.
June 25, 10:00am - 11:00am
Sorting through the continuously changing world of search engine optimization (SEO) is complicated. Arm yourself with the latest tactics to gain market share in the game of SEO in 2022. Content is still king, but there are other important key elements that you need to know to decipher this labyrinth. In a world where more than 50% of searches end without a click away from Google, understanding how modern search engines work is essential to your success. We can no longer rely on the tactics of the past and much embrace the E-A-T methodology. Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness. Get ready to walk away with an action plan you can use to achieve success. About our Speaker:
Matt Rouse is the host of the Digital Marketing Masters Podcast and co-host of the Business Builder Throwdown LIVE. He is also the co-founder of two marketing agencies Hook SEO LLC in the USA and Hook Digital Marketing Canada, based out of Nova Scotia.
Matt started out his business book career by crowdfunding his first book, Crush SEO: Learn To Market Your Local Business Online in 2015 and followed that up with two Amazon Category Bestsellers, Start Saying Yes, and Flattening the Hamster Wheel. He is also the author of Inbox Mastery, an email marketing course, Podcast Mastery, and several other business courses for entrepreneurs and SMBs. His latest book, How We've Always Done It, was released on April 1st, 2022.
He lives the hobby farmer life in his spare time, with his lovely wife, Kari Rouse who runs a Dahlia flower farm, and their young daughter Faith Magnolia Rouse, along with a dozen hens in the hills of the Annapolis Valley.
Media: Calling All Content Creators! Discover Paid Opportunities to Spin your Tale Post Pandemic
Panel: Wing Sze Tang, Toronto Star, Adrian Brijassi Vacay, and Gillian Marx of Tourism Newfoundland & Labrador
SPONSORED BY Tourism KingstonThis informative session will help you discover new opportunities and inspiration to showcase the travel content you produce.
Meet a panel of editors from traditional, digital and curators of travel content to discuss the kinds of storytelling materials they are looking for. Learn tips on how to establish a successful working relationship with these editors and how to promote your unique skills as a creator.
About our Presenters:
Wing Sze Tang
Wing is an award-winning writer and editor who has worked at some of Canada’s most well-known lifestyle magazines, including FASHION and FLARE. She has been editing the Toronto Star’s travel section since February 2021.Adrian Brijbassi
Adrian is the editor of Vacay.ca, a publication dedicated to Canadian destinations and culture. It annually publishes the "20 Best Places to Travel in Canada", an indicator of tourism trends in the country. Adrian has won multiple awards for his fiction, travel writing, photography, and journalism. He has worked as an editor for major media outlets in Canada and the United States, including New York Newsday, the Toronto Star, and the Vancouver Sun, and directed the social media program for Destination Canada. Adrian is the editor of the cancer-fighting cookbook “Inspired Cooking”. It has been called “the best cookbook of its kind”. In 2020, he launched the travel-trivia app, Trippzy, described as “America’s next great time-killer app” by Matador Network. Adrian has an MFA degree from Southampton College in New York and a journalism degree from Ryerson University.
Gillian Marx, Media Relations, Newfoundland & Labrador TourismGillian is the Media Relations contact for Newfoundland and Labrador Tourism for over 25 years. She is so passionate about selling stories about her beloved province that she says it’s like getting paid to do her hobby. Gillian started with the Cabot 500 Celebrations and worked on numerous special celebrations over the course of her tenure. Gillian came from the media side of things and feels it has brought a special insight into how to best deliver the experiences that tell the story. The media landscape has changed quite a bit over her years in Media Relations and she says if she has learned anything it is to roll with the punches, get to know your journalists so you can match the story with the storyteller, and most importantly, keep human relations a priority in Media relations and you will never go wrong.
June 25, 1:30pm - 3:00pm