Podcasts about travel alberta

Trixie Pacis is an emerging Filipina-Canadian filmmaker based in Kimberley, British Columbia. Her work revolves around documenting unheard personal and environmental stories, including her latest documentaries Wildflowers and Wild Aerial. Building on script development experience at Drive Films, she now works as the Director of Acquisitions and Original Programming at ChimeTV, America's only Asian American and Pacific Islander cable channel delivered in English. Trixie's writing and photography have appeared on Mapped, Inside Himalayas and Travel Alberta. You'll find her climbing, hiking, surfing, or skiing with a camera in hand. Natalie Gillis's Portfolio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Lizzie Pierce is a Toronto-based business owner, content creator, and passionate advocate for young creatives. Lizzie took a leap of faith, leaving her full-time job at a production company to build her own entrepreneurial empire. Alongside fellow YouTuber Chris Hau, Lizzie co-founded Know Hau Media Operations Inc., a successful creative agency that has partnered with global brands like Corona, Toyota, Mercedes-Benz, Meridian Credit Union, and The Scotland Tourism Board. With a background as a Producer/Director in the corporate world, combined with her expertise in photography and cinematography, Lizzie launched her own company, Aluna Media. Through Aluna Media, she began producing educational content on YouTube, from short films to photography and video tutorials. Lizzie also shares fun vlogs and Q&A sessions, showcasing her authentic sense of humor and engaging personality. Lizzie's mission is to inspire and empower young creators, particularly women, to pursue their own creative businesses. She offers practical tips, guidance, and motivation to help her audience start their own projects and take control of their futures. Her YouTube channel has garnered over 300,000 followers, and she has formed partnerships with industry-leading brands such as Adobe, Google, and Travel Alberta. Through her work, Lizzie wants to show that creative careers can be fulfilling, fun, and financially rewarding. Her goal is for young women to look at her journey and think, "If she can do it, I can do it too.”   During the show we discuss: Transitioning from Full-Time Production to Running Your Own Creative Business Overcoming Imposter Syndrome and Building Confidence First Steps for Turning a Side Hustle into a Full-Time Creative Business Systems/Tools for Organizing, Tracking Expenses, and Managing Projects Attracting and Working with High-Profile Clients (e.g., Toyota, Mercedes Benz, Google) Building Efficient Systems for Editing and Client Communication Importance of Mentorship in Growing Your Creative Business Creating a Social Media Strategy to Convert Followers into Paying Clients   Show resource/s: https://www.lizziepeirce.com/meet-lizzie  

The newest member of the Poulin family, Vannessa just recently married my cousin, Clayton.  For this podcast, she made the long journey across the alley to join me.  Currently pursuing her PHD in Clinical child Psychology,  Vannessa is a busy person overall.  We find out what it takes to pursue that path and learn a lot about her research into Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder.  Plus her fun view on local tourist attractions she learned about while working for Travel Alberta!

Want to work with tourism companies? Incorporate travel with your work? Build a personal brand online? Meet someone who has done it just in the last three years:@dusty.cressey Dusty grew up in a small town in the prairies and worked as a wildfire firefighter for years, but always had the dream of pursuing his business full-time. He took the leap and never looked back: and it's paying off. He works full-time with brands and tourism companies like Travel Alberta, Subaru, Jasper, GMC, New Zealand Tourism etc. He's a Creativ Rise Mastermind graduate & you'll love this refreshing episode. This episode he shares what that experience has been like for him, tips for growing on socials and a candid approach to viewing money in your business. You can follow Dusty at @dusty.cressey

Tannis Gaffney, senior vice president and chief marketing officer for Travel Alberta, shows Alan Fine of Insider Travel Report two videos depicting the inclusion and welcoming nature of her province. Gaffney explains how Travel Alberta is a destination management organization, and discusses how it markets, invests in route development and how it plans new products. For more information, email info@TravelAlberta.com or visit www.TravelAlberta.com.  If interested, the original video of this podcast can be found on the Insider Travel Report Youtube channel or by searching for the podcast's title on Youtube.

Tannis Gaffney, chief marketing officer, Travel Alberta. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We're joined in this episode by Canadian photographer Dusty Cressey (@dusty.cressey). Dusty creates authentic imagery for brands and more specifically hospitality and tourism organizations. Dusty has worked with Travel Alberta, Baffin, and Subaru among others. In this episode we talk about how you can be massively successful as both a part-time or full-time creator. We discuss avoiding glorifying being a "full time content creator" and avoiding undermining generating income in addition to your other job. Both can be incredibly rewarding and fruitful based on who you are as an individual. We also get into how to differentiate yourself amongst the hundreds of other photographers in an authentic way when introducing and pitching your ideas and shoots to new clients.Thanks to Tamron Americas for sponsoring this episode! You can check out their website below to see their full lineup of camera lenses or visit your nearest photo retailer to purchase their products:https://tamron-usa.com/Thanks to iStorage for sponsoring this episode!Check out their External Password Encrypted Hard Drives : http://www.istorage-us.com/Use Code "TPM15" for a 15% discount!Make a donation via PayPal for any amount you feel is equal to the value you receive from our podcast episodes! Donations help with the fees related to hosting the show: https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=Z36E4SCB6D3LWThanks for listening!Go get shooting, go get editing, and stay focused.@sethmacey@mantis_photography@thephotographermindsetSupport the show

How do you become the kind of creator that brands trust with a steady paycheck? With more than 10 years of experience in both public relations and influencer marketing, this week's guest on The Videocraft Show Presented By Video Husky can offer some guidance. Kristyn Snell is the founder of ModernSpeak, a global creator management agency based in Alberta, Canada. They represent and manage brand deals for more than a dozen creators specializing in lifestyle and travel content (including Lizzie Peirce, who appeared on episode 49 of the show). Before ModernSpeak, Kristyn served as an account manager for a boutique PR firm representing clients in the hospitality industry. She later went on to cut her teeth as a media specialist for tourism boards like Tourism Calgary and Travel Alberta. In this episode, Jon Santiago connects with Kristyn to discuss: The inner-workings of how ModernSpeak empowers creators to earn a living from their content. How creators should approach negotiations in terms of pay and in-kind agreements with companies. Her recommendations for creators hoping to earn repeat business from brands. And much more…   Relevant Links   MODERNSPEAK'S Website Setting Boundaries as a creator with LIzzie Peirce (Episode 49 of The Videocraft Show) MODERNSPEAK on Instagram Email Kristyn! Having trouble organizing ideas for your videos? Download a copy of our free script template by joining our email list: http://bit.ly/vc-script-template Production Credits Producer/Editor: Gio Fernandez Graphics: Paolo Lopez

Guest: Tannis Gaffney, Chief Marketing Officer, Travel Alberta 

There is something special about Alberta that keeps people coming back for more. It might be the stunning landscapes or the friendly spirit of the locals, but whatever it is, once you experience it, you'll never want to leave! Travel Alberta works with organizations like Tourism Calgary and Explore Edmonton to promote our province as a world-class destination for leisure travel as well as for conferences and events. This not only attracts tourists, but also helps boost the economy with key partnerships. Even during times of crisis, like the pandemic, Alberta led the charge in bringing back meetings, conventions, sporting events and even the Stampede. While Alberta may not be the biggest tourism fish in the Canadian pond, we are certainly the smartest - allowing us to compete on alignment and value.

We begin with an update on the Russian Invasion of Ukraine. Just over three-months into the conflict, what is the Russian ‘endgame' and are Ukrainian allies doing enough to help the war-torn country? We get the thoughts of Robert Huish, Professor of International Development Studies from Dalhousie University. Many women in Calgary are feeling unsafe on city streets these days and are taking steps to protect themselves against a possible assault. But what are the legal implications of carrying a weapon for self-defense? We discuss with Calgary based Defense Attorney, Balfour Der. Continuing the conversation on personal safety, we catch up with Lorna Selig, owner and creator of “Safe4Life”, a program which teaches women ‘real world' self-defense techniques. Lorna shares her personal story, on how the program came to be. Finally, it's “Tourism Week”. We speak with the CEO of ‘Travel Alberta', David Goldstein  on what's planned for the week and the importance of supporting the Provincial tourism industry, after an incredibly difficult two years. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode of Checking In, Rosanna Caira, editor and publisher of Hotelier magazine speaks with David Goldstein, president and CEO of Travel Alberta about the continuing efforts of his company to promote the western province as a place that features more than moose, mountains and Mounties, but rather as a place where nature comes together with the urban and urbane experience.

Hello everyone! We're BACK for Season 3 with even more goodies from our cross-Canada tour in 2021. Today we talk about Jasper, Alberta. More specifically:The places you need to pay to play (or drive)Length restrictions in CampgroundsThe town of JasperThings to doHow to add another province to your list in less than an hourWhere to shower;...and much more!

Well, we did it. Teahouse Challenge is Complete and we are all better off for it. In today's episode we cover:The parking problem at National ParksThe closest campgrounds to Lake LouiseHow the Chateau is the nicest hotel you'll never see (maybe)Why Lake Louise is SO turquoiseWho Lake Louise is named afterthe Lake Agnes Tea Housethe Plain of Six Glaciers TeahouseWhat the Teahouse challenge isOur two favourite tips and tools for this trekEverything you wanted to know about alpine outhouses

Today, we review three quick days camping in Banff National Park and the town of Banff.We'll talk Parking, food, park entry and campgrounds for RVs as well as tips for making sure you can snag that coveted Parks Canada Booking.Helpful tips included in this episode:Booking a National Park VideoBest Pizza EVER!Banff Ave. Brewing CompanyBanff Trail RidersBanff Gondola

That first $5 typewriter Nicole Robertson got when she was a little girl helped put her on the path to becoming a network television journalist. But she went far beyond those early reporting days to become a leading communications pro focusing on national and regional Indigenous organizations. Nicole, a Cree member of Mathias Colomb First Nation, has dedicated her life to creating awareness about Indigenous peoples through the media. Robertson is a national speaker and has been invited on many occasions to present master classes on communications, as well in lending her voice as a master of ceremonies or keynote speaker for many national conferences. Her journalism career has taken across North America and into the United Kingdom; writing, directing, producing, and reporting on issues that encompass Indigenous communities. In 2001, Nicole created and founded Muskwa Productions & Consulting, which specializes in communication advisory services that include media and public relations, media training, social media, event and video production. Muskwa Productions is assisting Indigenous peoples in their communication strategies and needs to create accurate representations of their news and events in educating and informing mainstream media, Canadians and the world in sharing their stories. Nicole Robertson's story was published in a book on Phenomenal Female Entrepreneurs by Second Story Press. The Cree Entrepreneur is serving as a Board Director for Travel Alberta which is under the Ministry of Culture and Tourism through the Province of Alberta. Ms. Robertson recently completed her term as a member of the First Nations Women's Council on Economic Security through the Province of Alberta. Links: Nicole"s email Linkedin profile --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/indigitech/message

On this week's episode, we discuss some of the top headlines from the week of September 26th, including:Annamie paul says goodbye and likely good riddance to The GreensCanada's first National Day of Reconciliation, and Trudeau's TravelAlberta's sorry state of affairsBig Brother gets its first Black winnerParty infighting takes a toll on the U.S. DemocratsFood prices are too damn high… And plenty more.Tap here to access our script with links to the articles we discussed in each segment. Remember, if you like what you hear, subscribe and share.Support us on Patreon See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This is episode two of our two-part series where we visit the Alberta Badlands. In Episode One, we covered Drumheller, Dinosaurs, and the Royal Tyrrell Museum. In today's episode we dive into the fascinating, storied, and sometimes tragic past of Coal mining in Canada, as well as travel to the world-famous hoodoos and go for a walkabout in Horseshoe Canyon.

Guest: David Goldstein, CEO of Travel Alberta.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome to the MWSA Podcast for Wednesday, June 16th. We begin with another edition of “Ask The Doctor,” focusing on COVID-19 questions sent in by listeners. We're joined by Dr. Craig Jenne, Infectious Disease Specialist with the University of Calgary. Next we head “across the pond” for a COVID-19 update. We speak with Kenni James, UK Broadcaster & Business owner. We get details on Prime Minister Boris Johnson's announcement earlier this week, that the “re-opening plan” for the region is now being pushed-back one month due to concerns over the “Delta Variant”. As Albertans see COVID restrictions lifted, Travel Alberta is beginning to ramp-up promotion for both local travelers and international visitors. We speak with Tannis Gaffney, VP of Destination Promotion for Travel Alberta. And finally, most people 'run' in the other direction when they see severe weather like a thunderstorm or tornado coming their way, but not Matt Melnyk. We speak with the Alberta-based storm chaser on when his love for storm chasing began and just how popular the past-time is here in our Province. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I met Jon while interviewing for the role of CMO of the Emirate of Dubai. In this interview we talked about his path to being the chief marketer for the country of Canada. Tomorrow we cover details on how destination marketing differs from more traditional “company marketing”You can also listen to these interviews in your podcast player of choice: Apple, Sticher, TuneIn, Overcast , Spotify. Private Feed (for premium episodes).TranscriptEdward: My guest today is Jon Mamela. Today, we covered Jon's path to CMO. Procter & Gamble, Fairmount, Four Seasons, Destination Canada. Jon is now CMO of Destination Toronto, the partnership that's focused on growing tourism in the greater Toronto area. I'm excited to have this conversation and where it's going to go today. Jon, you were Director of Customer Experience at Four Seasons when you got the CMO role for Destination Canada. How did you get that job from where you were?Jon: The opportunity at Destination Canada presented itself through actually a bit of my past when I was prior to working at Four Seasons, I was with Travel Alberta. An organization who worked closely with Destination Canada at the time. I got to know the National Tourism Group through collaboration, partnership, co-investment in marketing, got to know the leadership and on my time at Destination Alberta, leaving over to go to Four Seasons, I received a call about 2, 2 ½ years into my role at Four Seasons. From then, at the time, the CMO who is ascending into taking an interim CEO responsibility and at the same time they had another individual leave and opened it up as an opportunity to the marketing department and was approached to interview. The opportunity to take and put on the Team Canada Sweater was intriguing enough to do something. You normally don't get too many chances in a lifetime to market an entire country. This enthusiasm, I put my name and the hat, went to the process and was successful in landing the role. Edward: You had destination marketing experience before that role, but in the meantime, you had built out expertise in more end of the funnel even retention marketing. That end of the funnel retention marketing experience at Four Seasons, was that considered valuable or were they really hiring you based on your Alberta experience?Jon: I think a bit of both. I would say that the opportunity with which I had to work in Destination Canada had responsibilities on both ends. In terms of the experience with Destination, our Travel Alberta which was important for appreciating and understanding the industry and the industry dynamics and that upper funnel engagements and approach and strategies. But at the same time, with which the responsibilities and the work that we did at Destination Canada and is still being done, there is lower funnel activity going on and that's working with the trade channels and the conversion channels with which where the path leads a customer to make an actual booking is a very important relationship to hold with the likes of travel agencies, tour operators, OCAs and the like. Having that experience at a hotel side and appreciating that dynamic in mixing and melding the two was invaluable in the time spent at Destination Canada. A bit of both.Edward: Was there any skill you were missing you took that CMO role that you had to develop after you're there?Jon: Yeah. The biggest skill or the opportunity to grow into was the dynamic of when representing a country as large as Canada and complex as it is, the number of partners that we were bringing into the fold to help coinvest and help us go to market was very key. I would say a skill to build was the relationship building and the importance of staying in touch and engaging and building the business case as to why a destination like where I'm now in Toronto to Alberta to Ontario, British Columbia, Vancouver. Why would they come on and market with Destination Canada when they themselves have their own independent brand, they have their own focus strategy, where and how do we add complementary value. The building the business case and building consensus. Clearly having learned a little bit of that at the hotel level and working at a brand level in the hospitality industry, you're doing similar commitment behind building commitment with hotels under your management. But a little bit different when these are pretty independent organizations. With different boards and different mandates. That skill of building the business case to bring everyone in together and operating as Team Canada was something that I would say I didn't have a great deal, a little bit of exposure in Alberta. But during the course of my time was built over my tenure. Edward: Jon, I want to go back to the path that got you there. You grew up in Canada but you chose to go to college in the United States. Someone who also grew up in Canada, I know that's fairly unusual. How did you come to that decision?Jon: It was a pursuit of my interest in playing sports that took me to the United States and there are certainly many Canadian athletes in the US university and college in the CWA system. The opportunity to take my passion playing soccer alongside with the opportunity to go to university took me down to the US. At the time too, when playing soccer while schooling maybe is not as popular as playing hockey in Canada as it still is today. But soccer certainly has grown in popularity. But the opportunity to broaden my exposure to the world, so to speak, in the early ‘90s, getting down to the US, playing on a team of international teammates from around the globe and pursuing my education at the same time got me down to the US at the time when it wasn't too popular thing to do. But invaluable as it led me to continue on my education and to my MBA and then on to Procter & Gamble in Cincinnati. Edward: That's my next question, having done that, you decided to stay in Canada, you went to University of Toronto, how do you think your career path would've been different?Jon: That's a very good question though. Looking back at it in terms of the interesting and if everyone looking back at their career looks at what doors opened at what points in time and who you meet in the circumstances of it. I don't anticipate I would probably have a breath of career maybe in terms of the companies I would've worked for necessarily. Not that P&G isn't here in Canada. Clearly my career took me back to Canada working with the hospitality and tourism industry where I am today for a great extent of it. But I don't know if the same doors would've maybe been made available to me. At the same time, a door can open but you have to be able to make an entrance and make an impact at the same time when it comes to your career and working through past engagements and relationships in your network and the successes you've had. I don't know if I'd be where I am today just based on the nature of where I may have studied and where that would've lent to it. To our question, something tells me there could've been [...] that I could have landed in a similar path and career. But it's probably not, I would probably maybe find myself if either maybe in a banking industry, which is pretty financial services which is pretty significant here in Toronto. Or I had stayed out west, maybe in the agricultural sector or something, who knows where it's quite common. I look back at it and just bewildered a little bit and turns out things always play themselves out when you take a look back at what's been across your desk and what passions and enthusiasm you have and what connections can lead you to. Edward: You started your career at Procter & Gamble. In 1996, you were Brand Manager for Digital Marketing. This was back before even people were even calling it digital marketing. What did you guys call digital marketing back then?Jon: Interactive. P&G Interactive was the group name.Edward: So you're Brand Manager for Interactive Marketing. What were the big problems you were trying to solve back then?Jon: On the group, I had a particular focus on the consumer market intelligence side of the group's focus and working closely with everybody in the small team that we were. It was an interesting time in the sense that we were looking at determining with this advent at this channel what would be the migration and the migration strategy to bring brands under the P&G umbrella into those channels and how do we effectively show as this was always being taunted then, their flaunted story that it was the most measurable channel, you can get the ROI, it's so much better than anything else you could.The degree of which P&G measures and monitors investment in spend for media and programs is extensive and well documented within the organization. This was an improving ground. We considered it the next evolution in step of the new media channel. Like going from print to radio, to radio into television, and to television to internet. This was a means with which we were showcasing the incremental value that was going to be enabled by two way conversations with customers, the building of databases. Unlike we would've been able to build before, the opportunity for different forms of contents, trying to determine the ways with which traditional means of marketing and selling CBG based products was going to work in the ad model spaces and channels that were options that were available then. It was pretty broad. It was really making the compelling case that we needed to be there and it wasn't just an environment for new startups and the like be a technology based startups or content plays that a package goods company could capitalize on the creativity that was permitted. The data was now at a level that we didn't have direct access to before and the means with which the measurement was lining up to similar measures where we would test advertising efficacy all the way through close model purchasing systems that we were very ahead of our time back then.Edward: Part of what you're responsible is for is attribution. How did you do attribution back then? Attribution today is hard enough. Back then I imagine the tools you had to work with were pretty limited.Jon: They were. Attribution primarily done with the means with which we succeeded in it in a very interesting pilot test with a variety of technology players and data panel providers. Working with the legs of AC Nielsen. At the time, there was just starting to become the means with which you could create internet panels which were then cookied or tagged in terms of being able to witness, monitor your web browsing behavior way back then. A means with which we could close the loop in terms of the investment and spend of the marketing and insurances that in splitting a shop per panel who committed to participate in various research and split that panel in a maybe fashion that allowed us to expose by being able to serve ads to one audience versus another and watch exactly also what they were—these same panels used by Nielsen at the time—would come home and just scan their groceries. We're doing so in terms of being able to then serve that grocery buying data off their receipts and the like. We had a means with which a central foreplayers, the advertiser, the shopper in panel, the ad serving media company, and the publishers got together in the means with which we effectively created an online digital close environment for the degree with which we'd be able to adjust spend, expose certain audiences to certain communication messaging and then watch what their behavior was by virtue of what they were scanning and bringing home back from the grocery shopping bag. Edward: That's amazing. I was going to say, I feel like now, so much of attribution is based on last touch attribution. I push companies to do more and more randomized control trials. You guys are effectively doing a randomized control trial back in 1996 to measure the effectiveness. Clicks didn't even factor into it. It was a matter of hey, did these guys actually buy more or did they not? And then you just assume that whatever impact you had on that panel was broadly applicable and then just rolled it out more broad.Jon: Correct, yeah. Clearly with the modeling on any other means of incremental exposure to other advertising was also considered and factored in, correct. Edward: P&G tries to keep people around for life. That's their motto. But you left in 2001. Why did you leave?Jon: Procter & Gamble, a lot of people make that decision early on in their careers to commit to an outstanding career that can be provided by the organization or people leave at that point of the five year mark and around that five year mark in many instances. For me, it was really taking a hard look where my passion was with the work we were doing in the interactive space. The group itself was, the P&G interactive group, we had a mandate that the need and necessity of that functioning unit inside as an internal consulting group for the brands didn't need and hopefully it wouldn't have to exist after about five years that the brands and the organization would and by the growth of the internet was going to make us obsolete and that the need of group, we would just migrate back into other line function opportunities. I took a look around and at the time, there was the pre internet bubble and at that point a lot of P&G expertise and brand marketing and other functions were leaving to go to Silicon Valley and other parts of the country. Taking a look at what my colleagues were going to and where I was looking to expand my opportunities and my passion of what doing this versus getting on to a brand was a decision of taking a risk of exploring options outside the business. Unlike P&G-ers being recruited directly to something else, I took the opportunity into parting the organization to assess multiple options to really appreciate whether this was an environment and a place that I was moving into the internet space was going to be something I was truly enthusiastic as much as I was in Procter & Gamble. Inside P&G, the opportunity to experiment, you're the biggest fish clearly inside of an environment, in terms of the media spend, you're sought after by so many publishers and so many technology brands wanting to prove their business case on the benefit of what they could serve P&G as a client, and the like. But when you leave, you're pretty independent. It was a big change. But it was a risk that paid off ultimately in an interesting way. For me, it was pursuing what I thought was going to be of a long term career in the internet space itself. Edward: Now, I also heard that you met someone on an airplane. Jon: Yeah. That's part of the continuing part of the story in terms of speaking to the doors that opened, so to speak, although we didn't want to open the door in the airplane at least while in the air. But the opportunity when I left Procter & Gamble and just doing independent work with various brands that I had got to know and organizations, a conversation on an airplane led to a path in a career shift and pivot to the hospitality, tours, and travel space. That just simply occurred by being, you always say, ignore your neighbor on your plane. You don't want to be the Joe talker and bothering anybody, and it was mutual respect, we hardly chatted much at all in a flight at the time from Toronto to Denver. But having a mutual common interest in sports. The individual, he was reading the sports pages. The Toronto Newspaper at the time. I struck a brief conversation, it was near playoff time. Through that short conversation, a quick why you're flying, where are you coming from, led to a love to stay in touch should be back in Toronto and led to an introduction into Fairmont Hotels. Which I didn't appreciate knowing a lot about even though we're Toronto based at the time during the merger at a buy out that they were in the midst of. But it led to a great career and a start in hospitality. Had I not struck up a conversation, I was sitting next to this fellow, I would not be where I am today. Edward: You hear these stories from time to time about a chance meeting on an airplane leads to something. I never talk to the person sitting next to me. Am I making a mistake? How do you make stuff like this happen?Jon: As I said, I wouldn't be the guy that you'd be like, my gosh, tell this guy to shut up and pay attention. I don't know. It was one of those you don't know in terms of where conversations can take you. The enthusiasm to have and have them, being open to wherever it goes and a lot of them don't lead to anything other than just being cordial and striking up a discussion. But if you don't try, you don't know. You'll neve realize what could be on the other side of it. I'm not suggesting to everybody to say that's the secret sauce to driving your career forward. But it was something that worked out at that point in time. Again, it wasn't from a conversation of here's a job. It was clearly the opportunity of introduction that led to further discussion of then let's your process of engaging with the VP of Marketing at the time for Fairmont Hotels and Resorts and the opening they had that my background was a suitable fit. The opportunity presented itself. I would just only encourage when you can strike up a conversation with what might be a stranger or someone whom you might only know by a third degree connection on LinkedIn to where it could lead. You'll just never know. You just need to be pretty open to it. Edward: Jon, at Fairmont, you oversaw loyalty. Fairmont's loyalty program is very different from what people might be familiar with, at say Marriott or SPG. Why was it so different? What were guys thinking?Jon: Yeah. Certainly, it's a different structure. Fairmont as a brand still exists, it's now woven underneath Accor, which is a larger global hotel, hospitality player based out of Paris. But back when I was with Fairmont as an independent company and a brand, it at the time, as I alluded earlier it was an interesting point and its history, Canadian Pacific Hotels had acquired Fairmont Hotels out in the United States along with Princess Hotels in terms of an acquisition. The amalgamation of those three brands led to, at that point, of going forward, three separate programs that were coming in that each hotel brand had a loyalty based program functioned and ran differently. They're just similar to what the industry had been on a points basis, of a spend, receive X points and the currency and through redemption of that currency was with which the benefits primarily are realized. Fairmont recognized at the time that this expansion, this opportunity was going to present itself with a unique marketing challenge of which did not sit with a lot of cash on hand to be out there competing with the likes of Marriott, Hilton Heights of the world and that the opportunity to build and engage with customer directly through means of the loyalty initiative was going to be one that which we could do more smartly in terms of the cost model behind it. But at the same time count on the customer to be the voice of the brand and to engage others to speak about the experience they had at the Fairmont. The avenue we went which was purely based on annulating with the luxury brands, most luxury brands were doing in terms of offering personalized service and attention, doing it at scale, doing it in very large hotels which was a new proposition because we had large room properties versus most property brands or smaller room counts. But doing it with that attention of personal benefit and recognizing that you, Edward, are the same Edward going to multiple properties under the same banner and building upon the knowledge built and understood by one property to parlay that into ways with which we could customize your experience going forward. That proposition of personalized attention enhanced in stay benefits that we launched in various ways and capacities in partnership with a lot of other brands that wanted to get in front of an affluent customer led to a unique positioning in the market that was welcomed once people understood it was in the program. Clearly, everyone's comparison to what the industry standard was or what I was getting at Marriott or as I said, a Westin at the time, part of their merger, Hilton and the like. We really found to our customers that it was more meaningful to know who you were, how important you are to our business, and how we personalize your experience with what was most meaningful to you. And not simply just reward you with a cash currency that was sitting as a liability to the hotel company and was looking like everyone else's programs primarily. Edward: Jon, what were the biggest failure points in your career? Where did things not go as expected?Jon: That's a great question. I don't think anyone asked that one of me before. I'll answer from the perspective of maybe first career path and then secondarily maybe from a progress in terms of a success of the work that has led with many successful and talented people. From a career path standpoint, I would say maybe, I'm not going to look at it as a failure, but I look at it as maybe an opportunity. You give up opportunities as much as you pursue and take others. Again, I don't classify it as a failure, but I do undertake and look back had I stayed in some of the organizations a little bit longer as to where my career would have progressed inside those organizations. Be at Procter & Gamble as we talked earlier, but leaving around that five year mark or sticking around with Four Seasons or a Fairmont longer than I had in the past and building up my career in that capacity. But I was always leaned in and most attracted to the opportunity of additional growth and responsibility and broadening and enhancing skills. I always felt maybe the accelerator to get that outcome was through a move ultimately. But you can take a look back and see some of my colleges were still with those organizations doing very well and do wonder a little bit. Classification as a failure, maybe not so much. But opportunity in terms of one given up to pursue another. On the side of that question to the pursuit of what may not have occurred in terms of the production or the delivery of work and success or failure in the business. I look at that one too and I'm a little bit struggling to say I would lean on something, I'm not suggesting by any means perfect hit the homerun every time I'm up to batting. Maybe I always challenge myself with expediency which the work that I'm leading is getting out the door on behalf of the organizations trying to be faster and more nimble and the like. I look back at the level of accomplishment of maybe not being as either as much as I anticipated we could've gotten to or at means with which the work itself was either passing the baton at some point on to others to carry on after I left. But I don't look at it particularly as a significant failure. But I have to give that one more thought. It's a great question. I'm sure if I spend more time at it I'd come up with something for you. Edward: Jon, what are your productivity tricks? What do you do to be productive that most people don't do?Jon: One that I find in terms of the amount of information I like to peruse, and keep up to date and read. I have a pretty consistent means with which I organize and file information and a system in terms of the devices and where I hold stuff so that it's not scattered in terms of multiple devices and content being placed in multiple places. I go through a pretty regimented approach in terms of unifying nomenclature and filing systems, so to speak, on multiple platforms from Evernote to Google Drive and others that I use. I find that means of quick access and application of something I'll be there I've read in the past. Bookmark red, taking personal notes to be able to ease up access in finding and applying it on a regular database would certainly be a big part of what I find that helps me personally on my productivity side of things. And that being diligent in doing so on that front. Which takes a little bit of additional time because I appreciate the business of everyday life to everything from the general environment to recall something. I read something somewhere, I've done something somewhere. I definitely capitalize on the means while trying to have great consistency and where I put anything I learn, anything I observe, anything I listen to in a pretty consistent fashion for easy retrieval. I try to remember it and apply it would certainly be one of the big things I find from my productivity hack, I guess, if you call it that. Edward: Jon, this has been great. We're going to pick this up tomorrow with a dive into Destination Marketing.Jon: Great. Thank you, Edward. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit marketingbs.substack.com

As the saying goes "there is nothing more constant than change" and in today's world, that's an understatement! Today's Tech Talk features Len Nanjad, an expert who has been involved in the organizational change management space for over two decades as both a practitioner and an instructor at the university level. He and Morley discuss the field, what it takes to be successful in the role and how to identify both the right opportunities and professionals.  Skip right to the interview: 00:01:50 About Len Len Nanjad has twenty years of provoking dramatic performance breakthroughs. Describing that experience, he says “I have always been inspired by blending science and art to achieve winning results through the design of people systems.”  Before consulting with boutique firms and on his own, Len was the Senior Director, Business Change, Retail Operations for Loblaw Companies Ltd. There he worked closely with senior leaders across several functions to address top priority people, talent and organization issues through change management, organizational design, team effectiveness, and facilitation of strategic planning sessions. Prior to this, Len spent five years as a Senior Managing Consultant, Organizational Change Strategy with IBM Global Business Services, three years with Deloitte as a Senior Consultant, People and Organization Performance, plus some time with Accenture Business Process Outsourcing.  Organizations in retail, energy, telecommunications and financial services have achieved impressive results working with Len. Some of his past clients include TJX, Canadian Tire, Spectra Energy Transmission West, TELUS, The Co-Operators, and Travel Alberta. He has also taught and guest lectured at several Canadian universities including University of Lethbridge and University of Calgary.  Get in Touch with Len www.nanjad.com Email: len@nanjad.com LinkedIn 

Move over LeLacheur, we've got one more to add to the Top Cheddar podcast. Rob and Cam were thrilled to have Rick LeLacheur join us on this episode. He started his sporting life as a hockey player but switched sports through the years all the way to his current position as team president of the BC Lions in 2020 bringing a wealth of business and professional sports experience to the role. A native of Edmonton, Rick was formerly the president and CEO of the Edmonton Eskimos from 2002 to 2011. In that time, the Eskimos enjoyed two Grey Cup wins in 2003 and 2005 and hosted tremendously successful Grey Cup Festivals in 2002 and 2010. His duties in Edmonton also included serving as an alternate on the CFL Board of Governors as well as chairman of the CFL's Audit Committee and a member of the league's Executive Committee. An accomplished business executive, Rick's passion for sports dates back to his junior hockey days. He was the AJHL rookie of the year with the Edmonton Western Movers before moving on to become a member of the Edmonton Oil Kings. When his playing days ended, he joined the family business Western Moving and Storage in 1967. He was named president in 1982 and served in that capacity until 1992 when the company was sold. From 1992 to 1998, he served as president and CEO of Economic Development Edmonton (EDE). Skillfully building a vast network of influential business owners and volunteers, he played a critical role in Edmonton's winning bid to host the incredibly successful 2001 World Championships in Athletics. Rick's highly-respected and influential business practices have been sought out numerous companies and an organizations. As a result, he's spent time on a number of boards including a six-year term as chairman of Alberta's Workers Compensation Board (WCB), Chair of Horse Racing Alberta and six years on the board of Travel Alberta, including a two-year term as chair. He has also served on the boards of the Alberta Economic Development Authority, TELUS Corporation, Allied Van Lines Ltd and Prairie Land Corporation. Please support and enjoy everything our great sponsor Twig and Barrys has to offer. They are a Canadian company, they've got all kinds of apparel including mens underwear. Essentials for the modern day caveman. No judgement, no shaming, no fancy words. Just real men! So go check them out TwigandBarrys.ca Use the code: TOPCHEDDAR and get 15% off your entire order. Top Cheddar is hosted by Cam Moon (Mooner) & Rob LeLacheur (Lolly) who chat with those who have excelled in hockey and the world of business. The entertainment is plenty as we get to hear some terrific hockey stories from all of the different hockey leagues and some Stanley Cup tales for good measure. In addition to the great hockey stories, we chat about the career(s) they've enjoyed since leaving the ice and we get to learn how hockey has helped them through their time in business and entrepreneurship. The Top Cheddar podcast is produced by Road 55, a content creation marketing firm located in downtown Edmonton, Alberta. Learn more at: https://road55.ca

If you love photos of beautiful and majestic animals roaming the canadian wilderness, then you're in for a treat because today we are talking with canadian wildlife photographer, Colleen Gara, who has had her work published in places like the Canadian Geographic Magazine, BBC Wildlife Magazine, and Wild Planet photo magazine to name a few. Colleen has worked with National Geographic and Mattel as a mentor for their “you can be anything” campaign, is a content provider for Travel Alberta, and is a workshop leader for Offbeat, and Canadian Wildlife  Photography Tours. In this episode Colleen shares her love for the wilderness and what it's like to photograph wild bears, wolves, lynx's and more, and shares some tips and advice on how to get started photographing wildlife yourself. Enjoy! Links & Resources @colleengaraphoto – Follow Colleen on Instagram to stay up to date with her latest images ColleenGaraPhotography.com – For futher info about Colleen, images galleries, and more. Talking Points Growing up loving animals and the great outdoors and how photography was a natural extension to that Colleens first steps towards professional wildlife photography work Planning and organising a wildlife photography shoot Going beyond capturing single images of an animal to tell stories over time How to identify individual animals over time What issues some wild animals are facing The excitement of getting the first glimpse of a rare animal you've been waiting for days to see Searching for specific animals versus picking a destination first and seeing what you see How it feels to see a bear staring down the barrel of your lens Colleens favourite wildlife images and why they mean so much Colleens advice for photographers who want to start photographing wildlife  

On Opinions That Don't Matter this week, we cover a lot of ground, starting with advertising on Podcasts & thanks to Podcorn for sponsoring this episode. Explore sponsorship opportunities and start monetizing your podcast by signing up here: https://podcorn.com/podcasters/Next up...How ‘Sober October’ went for us.Traveling during quarantine… Airplane air Is still dirty. Is it dust? What is it?Laundry is the bane of Sean’s existence but why? Sean worked as a chambermaid and in the laundry department of a hotel while living in Jasper, Alberta. How do you fold a fitted sheet?How to fold jeans? James Blackwood - The Raccoon Whispererhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ofp26_oc4CARebecca Zamolo designed merit badge vests…The sequin underwear chaffed me.Roommate Horror Stories…Boxed wine is a daddy’s little helper.Ned’s premium hemp oils are rich in powerful cannabinoids and terpenes to help you feel and live better without getting high. Restore balance, reduce stress, and get the rest you want.https://helloned.com/kati15 Reminiscing about Santa Monica... will we return?Yiddish words are great! What a putz!Kati talks to Sean in French….Let’s talk about Mormons….Folding your jeans: https://www.instagram.com/p/CHA0QDeL52F/?igshid=1jlnn22cwjf8tThe Pierrefonds Quebec BMX trackEmbarrassing middle school stories… Sean explains why he is no longer a dancerLevi’s flannel lined jeans are the most amazing gift.Alex French Guy Cooking / The Cornerstone of Eggs Benedict (full recipe)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLLiiOjKqukhttps://www.youtube.com/user/FrenchGuyCookingHow to DATE a Royal - Become the next Meghan Markle!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aIvvvG_PfIUhttps://www.youtube.com/user/CaptRiyadhOld school tv watching… Kati is a Yagi antenna master. Bowser and Blue: https://www.youtube.com/user/bowserandbluehttps://tabs.ultimate-guitar.com/tab/bowser-and-blue/if-they-cant-take-a-joke-chords-3212390------Kati’s Tik Tok @KatimortonSean’s Tik Tok @hatori_seanzo------The audio version of Opinions That Don't Matterhttps://opinonsthatdontmatter.buzzsprout.com/Ask Kati Anything! (2nd podcast)audio: https://askkatianything.buzzsprout.com/ BUSINESS EMAIL linnea@toneymedia.com MAIL PO Box #665 1223 Wilshire Blvd. Santa Monica, CA 90403

Meet Avinash Kaushik. Avinash helps executive teams, marketers, and data analysts leverage innovative digital strategies and emerging technologies to outsmart their competitors. He's the Digital Marketing Evangelist for Google, and a passionate teacher who shares his perspective frequently via multiple channels: a weekly newsletter (The Marketing Analytics Intersect), a bi-monthly blog (Occam's Razor), and two best-selling books that have been translated into over a dozen languages (Web Analytics: An Hour A Day and Web Analytics 2.0). * Visit Avinash on the Web at https://kaushik.net * Need help growth hacking your business, visit Sabir at https://growthbysabir.com * Check out all episodes of #ThisWeekWithSabir at https://growthbysabir.com/#articles Chapters 00:00 Sabir Welcomes Avinash Kaushik 12:48 Write to Teach 14:27 Think Book not Diary 16:29 Specificity is Important When Building a Brand 29:30 Product Analytics vs Web Analytics 30:21 Web Analytics vs Customer Analytics 31:31 Why Customer Analytics Are Important 36:35 Metrics vs KPIs 38:43 How Many KPIs Should You Have? 40:15 CPM is Useless, Stop Using It 41:28 What Are CPA and CAC? 42:45 One Efficiency Metric and One Effectiveness Metric 51:46 The Two Metrics that Matter 54:10 You Have More Homepages Than You Think 59:30 Stop Overvaluing Paid Media Currently, he is delving into all the ways artificial intelligence can speed up the generation of insights to inform strategy and automate day-to-day decision-making. Over the last couple of years, he has lead and contributed to the application of machine learning algorithms, both inside Google and for external developers. As always, Avinash passionately advocates for a smarter balance between faith and data. In service of that goal, he has pushed the industry to use a broader set of data – own, competitive, qualitative, quantitative – along with new applications of classic statistical models that form the foundation of data science. Avinash has received rave reviews for bringing his energetic, inspiring, and actionable insights to companies like Unilever, Chase, Hyatt, Porsche, IBM, Naspers, and Chanel. He has delivered keynotes at conferences in every corner of the world, including the Monaco Media Forum, The Art of Marketing, Synergy Digital, Travel Alberta, Resultados Digitais Summit, and Healthcare Strategy Summit. He is on the Advisory Boards of the University of Toronto Rotman School of Management, the University of California at Irvine's program on Web Intelligence, USC's Annenberg School's Media Impact Project, Udacity, and the charity Health4theWorld. Additionally, he is a frequent guest lecturer at universities such as Stanford, the University of Virginia, UCLA, and the University of Utah. Avinash has received industry honors including the Statistical Advocate of the Year award from the American Statistical Association, Rising Star award from the Direct Marketing Educational Foundation, and Most Influential Industry Contributor from the Digital Analytics Association. #ThisWeekWithSabir --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/sabir-semerkant/support

Guest: Shelley Grollmuss, Vice President - Destination Development for Travel Alberta. 

Travel Alberta's vice president of tourism strategy Karen Soyka joins The Drive on 770 CHQR to discuss the province's current tourism outlook amid the COVID-19 pandemic. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Stephen Robinovitch, Pd.D., Professor, Department of Biomedical Physiology and Kinesiology, Simon Fraser University joins the guy sto talk about improving the quality of life for seniors by helping prevent broken hips.  Marty Ebert, Director, Experience Development, Travel Alberta talks about some hidden gems in our province for those who can't or do not want to travel abroad.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Guest: Shelley Grollmuss, Vice President, Industry Development at Travel Alberta corporation. 

Guest: Royce Chwin - CEO of Travel Alberta

Welcome to The Morning News Podcast for Monday, March 10th. The show begins with an update on City Council ahead of Tuesday's Finance Committee meeting. Sue and Andrew take a look at the agenda with 770 Reporter Aurelio Perri - including city run golf courses and the pensions of public servants. Next, coverage of COVID-19 continues with a look at the impact it is having on tourism in Alberta. The president of "Travel Alberta" joins The Morning News with what plans are in place to keep the industry rolling during this time of uncertainty. And finally, it's a new book focusing on those "not so happy" times in our lives - shared by real people from across the globe. Author Margie Taylor joins the show to discuss "Love & Loss."  

Host of the YEG Me podcast, Rob LeLacheur sat down with his dad Rick to discuss so many great Edmonton topics. Rick has had a front row seat or has been sitting at the table for many of Edmonton's great events, organizations and companies. He's beginning his third year as team president of the BC Lions in 2020 bringing a wealth of business and professional sports experience to the role. A native of Edmonton, Rick was formerly the president and CEO of the Edmonton Eskimos from 2002 to 2011. In that time, the Eskimos enjoyed two Grey Cup wins in 2003 and 2005 and hosted tremendously successful Grey Cup Festivals in 2002 and 2010. His duties in Edmonton also included serving as an alternate on the CFL Board of Governors as well as chairman of the CFL’s Audit Committee and a member of the league’s Executive Committee. An accomplished business executive, Rick’s passion for sports dates back to his junior hockey days as a member of the Edmonton Oil Kings. When his playing days ended, he joined the family business Western Moving and Storage in 1967. He was named president in 1982 and served in that capacity until 1992 when the company was sold. From 1992 to 1998, he served as president and CEO of Economic Development Edmonton (EDE). Skillfully building a vast network of influential business owners and volunteers, he played a critical role in Edmonton’s winning bid to host the incredibly successful 2001 World Championships in Athletics. Rick’s highly-respected and influential business practices have been sought out numerous companies and an organizations. As a result, he’s spent time on a number of boards including a six-year term as chairman of Alberta’s Workers Compensation Board (WCB), Chair of Horse Racing Alberta and six years on the board of Travel Alberta, including a two-year term as chair. He has also served on the boards of the Alberta Economic Development Authority, TELUS Corporation, Allied Van Lines Ltd and Prairie Land Corporation. Rick and his wife, Joan Forge, reside in the Vancouver area. Together, they have three children and eight grandchildren. We look forward to the day he returns to the YEG but will patiently wait while he is having some fun working in Vancouver. So what is Yeg Me all about? Edmonton is a great city and we wanted to connect with some Edmontonians to learn more about them and more importantly, some of their thoughts and insight about Edmonton (YEG). So...what better way to do that than to host a podcast on said topic. Yeg Me is sponsored in party by Road 55. If you or someone you know is looking to grow your business through marketing and strategy, please connect with Road 55. https://road55.ca The Podcasts were filmed in the Werkstatt Studio. You can learn more about the studio, located in the heart of the Ice District in Downtown Edmonton by going here: https://www.werkstatt-yeg.com

Travel Alberta CEO, Royce Chwin, speaks about an industry gathering in Banff which gets underway today.

Albertans are invited to upload a "picture Alberta" moment to #itravelalberta as part of national tourism week.

Travel Alberta made a big pitch this week to market the winter tourism experience to tour operators from across North America.

Flying Dinosaurs as Tall as Giraffes If you're a regular listener of this podcast, then you know that I love dinosaurs. Living in Alberta is the perfect mix because we have one of the best landscapes for finding dino remains and there are new discoveries happening all the time. The Royal Tyrell Museum in Drumheller is one of the leading research centres in the world and for many visitors to Alberta, it is there first real opportunity to look at some of the most unique fossils that have been placed on display. One of their most recent exhibits shows the most well preserved dinosaur ever found, a Nodosaur, essentially an armoured dinosaur similar to the more well known Ankylosaurs. You can learn more about it in episode 30 at www.mountainnaturepodcast.com/ep030. Now comes an even stranger story from the Royal Tyrell Museum that has to do with those strange flying dinosaurs known as pterosaurs. These were formidable creatures, in some cases being as tall as a modern giraffe but potentially soaring on wingspans similar to airplanes. No creature, before or since has ever been a more fearsome presence soaring overhead. Donald Henderson is the curator of dinosaurs at the Royal Tyrell, and he came across an artist's rendering of the largest of pterosaurs, Arambourgiania philadelphiae, placed next to, and as tall as, a giraffe. The giraffe weighs in at 1,500 kg but a similarly sized pterosaur, Quetzalcoatlus northropi, was thought to weigh far far less, perhaps as little as 70 kg. For Henderson, he felt that a pterosaur that tall had to weigh far more than 70 kg, and he did his own math and came up with an estimate of some 550 kg. This immense weight also meant that it was highly unlikely that the Arambourgiania could fly at all. He concluded that, like penguins, it had likely evolved to be flightless. A bird of this mass would have needed incredible muscle strength in order to take to the air. Based on his research, he was clipping its wings and grounding it. Well his paper got little response from fellow researchers…oh wait, it was like he'd said something crazy like pterosaurs can't fly. Well the opposition to his research was not long in coming. Mark Witton is one of the most recognized authorities on pterosaurs, and it was his rendering that Henderson had encountered that started this whole process. As he was quoted in a recent interview in the publication Inverse: “There’s a handful of people who sort of dip in and out of pterosaurs, who have suggested that they can’t fly, but most people who work on pterosaurs have never really questioned this. And that’s not in the sense of, they’ve not ever wondered it, but they’ve never seen any reason to think it’s a good hypothesis.” When Witton looked at the fossil physiology, his estimate showed these pterosaurs to be less than half of Henderson's estimate, closer to 250 kg. Pterosaurs had many of the same adaptations that modern-day birds have to help them fly. They had small torsos, hollow bones, and interior air sacs. All of these things combined to dramatically reduce their weight specifically to enable the ability to fly. As Witton put it: “All the ducks line up in a row, and it’s actually far more complicated for us to think of a reason why they’re not flying,” Working with Witton to refute Henderson's estimate was paleontologist Michael Habib. He is a recognized expert on the biomechanics of pterosaur flight but has now partnered with Henderson to take a renewed look at the Quetzalcoatlus based on new skeletal reconstructions. Their work has led Habib to the conclusion that they may have weighed far more than he previously thought, although not as big as Henderson's original estimate. Despite this, he's still two thumbs up on flight. I love science. The proper scientific method forces researchers to constantly challenge established research in order to test, verify and update previous peer-reviewed papers. Good research should be repeatable if it is to be proven correct. Good scientists embrace dissent and Habib and Henderson's recent work proves this. The thought of these massive predatory birds flying around, seeing small tyrannosaurs as a light snack is a visual that even the producers of Jurassic Park couldn't have conceived. As these two scientists continue their research it seems that a middle ground may be appearing. Habib believes that these pterosaurs did still fly, but that some of the largest ones may have been mostly ground dwelling but that the young would have flown immediately since the eggs were not tended by their parents. Young pterosaurs that lingered were essentially dinner for larger dinosaurs. The model that's emerging has these giant pterosaurs flying when they were young, and spending more time on terra firma as their large size made it harder to fly but also made them large enough that they didn't have to worry about becoming a meal for tyrannosaurs. They may have still been capable of short flights, perhaps to move between prime hunting grounds. Conversely, they may have become completely terrestrial as they aged. Comparing the bones of these giants to smaller pterosaurs, the bones show all the same adaptations to flight that their smaller relatives display. If it looks like a duck, and quacks like a duck…well you get the idea. Really, what is needed is an complete fossil. Pterosaur fossils are rare simply because the bones are so delicate that they rarely are preserved in the fossil record. Thinking of such huge creatures soaring overhead would have been a truly magical thing to see - all from the safety of a pterosaur proof bunker of course. Next up…loving the mountains to death. Loving the Mountains to Death As the 2017 tourism season begins to wane, This is a good time to take stock of what we have learned from the growing influx of tourists and how we can better manage the parks that we all love so that our grandchildren's grandchildren will be able to experience the same wonders that we do. Ideally, we could create a world in which the landscape they visit is even better than it is today, with more ecological integrity and less personal self-interest. Seeing the huge crowds at many mountain viewpoints these days makes me sad. When you can't take a photo without people crawling over railings and swarming over the very scene that has brought you soooo far to photograph. If you've gotten to the point where you really believe, in the pit of your stomach, that something's gotta give, then you're in good company. Many, many local people, people like me that earn their entire income from tourism, have come to the same conclusion. And we're not alone. Parks across Canada and the US are collapsing under their popularity and run the risk of being loved to death. Parks like Yellowstone, Grand Teton, Yosemite, and Great Smokey Mountains in the US are feeling the same pressures that parks like Banff, Jasper, Yoho, and Kootenay are. Visit Peyto Lake in Banff or the Natural Bridge in Yoho, and you can't even take a photo without clowns going out of the designated viewing areas to do selfies in areas that are either sensitive to disturbance or downright dangerous. If we look at Banff and Jasper National Parks, we can see time and time again where the Harper Government allowed developments that have no place in a national park to move forward. These include developments like the Glacier Skywalk at the Columbia Icefields, new 'roofed accommodation' at Maligne Lake in Jasper, glamping (glamorous camping) sites in Two Jack Lake in Banff, and even a paved bike path from Jasper to the Columbia Icefields through critical habitat for endangered caribou. Thankfully, this last development is currently on hold due to the strong negative public reaction. The Harper years were characterized by budget cuts for classic backcountry trail networks and over-emphasis on getting more cars through the park gates. $8/person, kaching, thank you very much…next! This creates a situation where 95% of the visitors see the same 2% of the park, the paved corridors. As locations like Moraine Lake and Lake Louise collapse under sheer numbers and parking lots and feeder roads clog up due to traffic, what kind of experience are visitors to the area getting? What kind of image is it giving the mountain national parks? What do we do when people flood to sites like TripAdvisor to say: "don't go to Banff, it's overrun, why not go to…?" In a Globe and Mail article, former Banff Park Superintendent Kevin Van Tighem stated that Canada's National Parks are being used merely as: "raw material to be commodified into a bundle of Disneyesque visitor attractions and marketing packages." It is as if "nature was no longer enough" Parks Canada's mandate, and I've harped on this time and again on this podcast, is that parks: "shall be maintained and made use of so as to leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations." More importantly, the role of the federal minister of parks shall be the: "maintenance or restoration of ecological integrity, through the protection of natural resources and natural processes." I don't know anyone, either within parks or within the communities that serve to provide the services to park visitors that feels that this goal is even being attempted. Even the Liberal government of Justin Trudeau has made some huge blunders. Seriously…free park passes! I can guarantee that nobody working in the mountain national parks thought this was a good idea. While the numbers aren't in yet, I'm betting that we added another half a million visitors to an already overburdened landscape. They could have said: "here are 10 parks that are underutilized and so we're going to offer free access to them to celebrate Canada's 150th birthday", but alas no, the gates were tossed wide open. I'll give Justin this one giant oops. He did send out an intergovernmental panel to the mountain parks last year to see how people living and working in the parks felt about the current park management. They got an earful. If you'd like to learn more about the panel, check out episode 26 at www.mountainnaturepodcast.com/ep026. Parks Canada received failing marks for its lack of transparency in its decision making process. Projects like the Glacier Skywalk in Jasper were approved despite overwhelming negative feedback. The panel couldn't find any logic in the way decisions within the organization were being made at the highest levels. Again, I stand with the parks employees working locally, because they are merely the receiver of directives from on high and to a man (or woman), most would agree that developments like this should never have been approved. Has Justin done better than Harper? Somewhat. He allowed all government scientists across the nation to publish their research, whether or not it was supportive of current government goals. He also immediately removed the muzzle that the Harper government had put on park wardens from speaking to the media. As a guide, I can't do my job without the amazing work being done by park wardens and scientists. The wardens of the mountain national parks are responsible for incredible research into the wildlife and ecosystems that are critical to these mountain landscapes. If I'm critical of something that Parks Canada approves, it is often because of the good science their rank and file perform on a daily basis has helped to contradict the justification for those approvals. When discussing another national park development, Van Tighem stated: "Rules? We don't actually have those anymore, so what did you have in mind as a money-making idea for our park? We'll dress it up in heritage language and funky marketing-speak to persuade ourselves it's good for national parks, and then you can have at 'er." I'll leave a link to the Globe and Mail article in the show notes a mountainnaturepodcast.com/ep044. (https://beta.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/the-disneyfication-of-canadas-national-parks/article28359840/?ref=https://www.theglobeandmail.com&service=mobile) Tourism doesn't have to mean sacrificing the very thing that you're trying to showcase. There has to be another way. Thankfully, we don't have to muddle our way through the challenges of excess alone. We can look to other jurisdictions that are also doing some muddling of their own. One of those is Yellowstone. Like the mountain national parks, they are drowning in visitors and seeing their most iconic locations swamped with an ocean of tourists. One of the things that is hampering any discussion into limiting visitors has to do with the simple fact that nobody wants to be the guy (or girl) that says: "No, you can't visit Lake Louise" Most of the focus over the past decade has been to bring more and more and more and more visitors. I think anyone visiting these sites would agree that this hasn't worked. There is an inverse relationship between the number of visitors and the visitor's experience. The busier a site becomes, there will be a threshold where the visitor experience begins to suffer. Someone has to say the word! NO! I will say that things have been much better this year. Because of the Canada 150th, Parks put out an army of people working for an amazing company, ATS Traffic, that have done an impressive job reducing the amount of vehicles in places like Lake Louise and Moraine Lake this summer. In past years, I have had days where it's taken me two and a half hours to drive the 3 or 4 km between the village of Lake Louise and the actual lake. That has not happened this year at all, mainly because of the amazing work being done by ATS Traffic. The traffic control has been supplemented by the shuttle service that the park has sponsored this summer. There are free shuttles everywhere, and they have been working. I've spoken numerous times to the staff organizing the shuttles to Lake Louise from the Overflow Campground to the east of the village along the Trans Canada Highway. They have been doing impressive numbers, in the range of 2,000 plus people on busy days. That's some 1,000 cars or so that are NOT trying to drive to Lake Louise. Moraine Lake has been even more dramatic. In past years, there would be cars parked for kilometres along the all too narrow road. It made the road almost impossible for buses or wide vehicles to navigate. This year, the road has essentially been closed to cars by 9 am. The road and associated parking area can only accommodate so many cars. When the lots are full, the road is closed. Has that had any impacts on the shoreline of Lake Louise and Moraine Lake? It's been impressive. Closing the roads and parking areas when they reach a capacity, and preventing miles and miles of roadside parking means that there are fewer people at the actual sites. This means that the people that did arrive early enough presumably are having a much better experience. What about those that didn't? Those are the visitors that will leave the park with a negative experience. I've met them. I've walked past traffic jams and had people ask why they can't get to Lake Louise. The fact that it was simply too busy did not compute when they had traveled all the way from Toronto to see it. The traffic management is a key first step to creating a balance between expectation and experience. As a guide, I've been pushing my groups ever earlier in the morning to try to manage the experience they will have when they arrive. Unfortunately, hotels, will only make breakfasts available at certain times, so you can't always be 'early enough'. One thing that is an unknown at this point is whether ATS traffic will be hired to do the same job next year. So many things were tied to the funding for Canada 150, that the funds that are paying for their critical work may only be a one-time deal. If that is the case, then we go back to endless traffic jams again next year. If you applaud the work done by these mountain heroes this year, then be sure to let your elected officials know that we need this to be the new norm. There is no going back. In addition to traffic management, we also saw extensive parking restrictions implemented in 2017. Long sections of road approaching places like Johnston Canyon and Moraine Lake are now tow away zones with parking barriers. Managing traffic and parking are two of the critical pillars towards capacity management, but how do we manage the visitor experience? What we need to do for the long-term is to sit down, and create a comprehensive visitor experience plan. What do we, as tourism professionals, park managers, and stakeholders want people to say about our destinations when they leave? How do we create that experience? The only way that can happen is if we place a finite limit on the number of people that can visit certain locations. It's not too late to decide the kind of destination that we want to be when we grow up. I like to think that we're in the adolescence of our role as keepers of the ecological jewels of the mountain landscape. We started slowly some 130 years ago. We marketed our butts off to try to carve our little piece of the world tourism market. We coerced, cajoled and click baited until the dreams of many hoteliers, restaurants, gift shops and tour companies were given the taste of success. Like a drug addict, that first taste is always free. Twenty years ago, I believed it was time to stop building hotels. The number of hotel rooms provide a natural limit to the number of visitors to a destination. We are still building hotels like a drunken sailor. Destination Marketing organizations like Banff Lake Louise Tourism and Travel Alberta are still singing the siren song of more, more, more. However we're now at a tipping point. Can we learn anything from this summer that can help us to start to navigate towards a better, more sustainable future? I think we can. I know we can! This year we managed traffic. Now we need to envision a future where the experience is managed in such a way that the traffic is pre-managed for us. There is only one way - quotas. Fabulous destinations around the world have had to deal with these questions decades ago. We need to look at their examples. Did people stop going when they created quotas? Or did they plan their trips in such a way to make sure they had the experiences they saw in their Lonely Planet guide? In Banff National Park, we have four places that jump to the top of the list, in order of priority 1. Moraine Lake 2. Johnston Canyon 3. Lake Louise 4. Sulphur Mountain Gondola Three of the four are a challenge because they are at the end of one-way-in and one-way-out roads that back up very quickly. Johnston Canyon is simply a victim of its incredible popularity. The list contains four of the most popular destinations in Banff. We can add Emerald Lake In Yoho to this list, along with Mount Edith Cavell in Jasper Are limits bad? Hockey games have them. There are only so many seats at the stadium. We are surrounded by limits, but when it comes to a natural feature, the prevailing wisdom is to squeeze as many people and cars as possible. More, more, more! Well Lake Louise, is not a dairy cow. We can't keep squeezing the unique landscape. The environment around Lake Louise also contains the highest concentration of breeding female grizzlies in the central Rockies. There is something in that landscape that is just a good place to raise a family if you're a grizzly bear. OK. Here's my pitch. How do we create finite limits? For many sites, we create parking lots designed to collect visitors that are NOT at the destination. We make sure that shuttle buses can take them to the site with minimal inconvenience. Do you want to visit Lake Louise? Click this link to book your shuttle bus. The shuttle system this year has been awesome in showing that this works. Here's how I would supercharge it. Take away all public parking at Lake Louise, or Sulphur Mountain, or Moraine Lake. Those lots are for tour and shuttle buses only, and the tour buses would also be limited. If shutting parking down is too hard a sell, than create a financial disincentive to park at the destination. The option of a free shuttle versus a $20 parking fee will likely help to shift the trend towards free, scheduled shuttles and away from driving directly to the destination. If a parking rate can be found that provides a sufficient disincentive to driving but still helps to fund the resource, I'm all for that. One scenario might be that there are 200 parking spots for Lake Louise and they cost $10 or $40. What will the market bear? Ideally though, most of the visitors should arrive on shuttle or tour buses. One of the final things I would like to see the mountain parks do is to try to implement more active restrictions to people moving beyond the designated visitor corridors and start climbing over barriers to get ever closer to the view. . We can't stop determined visitors from forcing their way beyond barriers to do their worst, but we can create better discouragement barriers. As Canadians, we have perhaps been too polite. In places like Peyto Lake, it would not be too hard to create a pretty convincible barrier to prevent tourists from swarming the cliff below the public viewpoint. The viewpoint is there because it's designed to reduce the impact on this lower cliff. Alternatively, the park could extend the viewpoint to include this lower outcrop. The most important thing is to manage the visitor experience while also managing the visitor. A recent article on Yellowstone National Park in the publication Mountain Journal, really has had me thinking more about this issue. So far in this story, I focused on simple human use management to address the issue of ecological integrity. If the mountain national parks have to look anywhere for an example, the first national park in the world might be a great place to start. This article, penned by long-time Yellowstone advocate Todd Wilkinson really ties into my philosophy of how we might combine a better visitor experience with better ecological integrity within the mountain park landscape. One of Wilkinson's key concepts requires "saying yes to saying no". We have a finite limit on the number of people that can visit Old Faithful on a given day. Get your permit here! His article contains some pretty inflammatory statements, but I agree with them all. One of the most challenging for a community like Banff is: "The irony, of course, is that some of the biggest financial beneficiaries of the dividends of conservation are people who, for their own ideological reasons and motivations of rational self-interest, are today opposed to limits.  It’s probably fair to say that most possess no malicious intent, but the needs of wildlife, the underpinnings of what enables biological diversity to thrive, do not register with them." Wilkinson also states: "There is no example on Earth where conservation of nature, over time, has not generated huge ecological, economic, social, cultural, and spiritual benefits." Did you say economic benefits? Yellowstone and its surrounding landscapes are a billion dollar a year industry. Like our mountain parks, Yellowstone has one word that it has yet to utter: NO. According to Wilkinson: "We live in times, which some commentators describe as America’s new regression back to adolescence, where it is not fashionable to ever say no.  It is an age when some claim that natural landscapes have no limits for the amount and intensity of human activity that can occur on them without serious ecological harm being done. We live in a time of climate change and population growth in which users of landscapes (for profit, recreation or lifestyle) conclude that unless they can actually see impacts being caused by their own actions or by the larger acumulating wave of human presence, such impacts, therefore, do not exist. He sees three big challenges that parks like Yellowstone, and by extension, Banff face: • The deepening impacts of climate change and what they predict, especially where water in the arid west is concerned. • The deepening inexorable impacts of human growth (both an unprecedented rise in people migrating to live in the Greater Yellowstone from other nature deprived areas, and accompanied by a somewhat related surge in unprecedented numbers of visitors and recreationists to public lands. • The inability or reluctance of land management agencies to see the writing on the wall. Yellowstone, unlike Banff, still hosts every major mammal and bird species that was there before the arrival of the Europeans. Banff gets points for the 2017 reintroduction of wild bison back to the park, but loses points because it was not able to keep its northern mountain caribou herd. Now Jasper's remaining caribou are also at serious risk of vanishing. Wilkonsin states: "The 22.5-million-acre Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem is actually pretty small. Functionally, it will be made ever smaller, squeezed by climate change altering its ecological carrying capacity because of less winter snowpack, hotter and drier conditions, and further fragmented by a doubling or tripling of the human population likely to occur in just two human generations." I know that for me, this could just as easily be said about the Bow River Valley. Combine growth without proper cumulative impact assessments, with vast increases in visitation, and we can see real challenges in our future. According to Wilkinson: "If we don’t get the “growth” component of Greater Yellowstone addressed, experts have told me, it won’t matter how fond we are of thinking about ecological processes playing out at the landscape level, like terrestrial migrations of ungulates, protecting wide-ranging species like grizzly bears, wolverines and elk that need escape cover free of intensive human intrusion." These are problems that are apparent throughout the entire Mountain National Park and surrounding areas. Canmore is in the middle of the battle to protect continentally significant wildlife corridors. If we don't get this right, nothing else matters. We, as a community, need to continue to fight to make sure that big development does not get to compromise critical connecting routes that are a key component of the much larger Rocky Mountain ecosystem. Even now, the town of Canmore is not only negotiating wildlife corridors, but developing within metres of them. The new bike trail being designed adjacent to Quarry Lake is a folly that the town cannot afford. Already, bears like 148 are being removed from the landscape for spending time on corridors dedicated to their movement. Having more and more and more development encroaching on these corridors will lead to a continued eroding of the ecological viability of the town of Canmore corridors - and maybe that's exactly what development focused mayors like John Borrowman want. Once the corridor is gone, he can promote the valley to his heart's content. Canmore has an election coming up. Make a better decision this time Canmore! You may not have many more chances. One advantage that Canada has over Yellowstone at the moment is that we are no longer afraid of science. We can look to great research being done within our parks that shows that the current trends are simply unsustainable. Wilkinson quotes Thomas Roffe, the former National Chief of wildlife health for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service: “Science doesn’t define what the proper thing to do is. Science helps to define what the conditions will be if you choose one vision or another. Science will help you understand what the advantages or disadvantages are to your perspective. But it doesn’t tell you what’s right or what’s wrong.” We have the science. We can all see the changes. What are we going to do? Will we make the right choice? And with that, it's time to wrap this episode up. If you'd like to hit me up personally, you can email me at info@wardcameron.com or send me a message on Twitter @wardcameron. Ward Cameron Enterprises is your source for step-on and hiking guides as well as wildlife biology safaris, snowshoe animal tracking and corporate speaking programs. We've been sharing the stories behind the scenery for more than 30 years and we can help to make sure your visit to the Rockies is one that you'll be talking about for years. You can visit our website at www.WardCameron.com for more details. And with that said, the rain has thankfully come and now stopped so it's time to go hiking. I'll talk to you next week.

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