With the Canada-e-Connect conference only a week away, many delegates (including myself!) are busy organizing meet-ups with colleagues and generally planning activities for November 7th - 9th.

Get Organized with Mobile Phone Alerts!

We’ll be able to access at-hand information and stay connected throughout the conference via mobile phone and FREE Mobile Alerts/Information powered by QuickMobile:

• Receive real time updates on activities, events, and breaking news

• Send event details and logistics directly to your phone

• Participate in real-time mobile polling and mobile Q&A sessions

To start the service, conference delegates simply need to text START to 604-318-0512. This activates your mobile alerts.

Mobile Alerts Menu:

START - Subscribe to Canada-e-Connect’s Mobile Alerts.

STOP - To be removed from the service.

HELP - Receive the full list of keywords

BUS - Bus transportation details for the evening activities.

TAXI - Contact details for local taxi companies.

PARTY - Time and location details for tonight’s reception and party.

KEYNOTE - Morning keynote details, including time and location.

HOTEL - Location and contact details for the conference.

*Mobile Alerts are a free service at the Canada-e-Connect conference, however, text messages may be charged according to your cell phone usage plan.

And…the finalists for the Industry awards are:

WEBSITE CATEGORY:

Large Private Sector

• Silver Star Mountain Resort
• Big White Ski Resort
• Sunshine Village Ski & Snowboard Resort

Public Sector

• Government of Newfoundland and Labrador
• Tourism Prince Edward Island
• Tourism Vancouver

Small Private Sector

• Nahanni River Adventures
• White Point Beach Resort
• Opus Hotel Vancouver

CAMPAIGN CATEGORY:

Large Private Sector

• Spafax Canada
• Mastercard Canada
• Best Western Hotels

Public Sector

• Travel Alberta
• Canadian Tourism Commission
• Quebec City Tourism

Small Private Sector

• Bellstar Hotels & Resorts
• Antigonish Eastern Shore Tourist Association
• Harbour Tide Inn

INNOVATION CATEGORY:

Large Private Sector

• Kicking Horse Mountain Resort
• Air Canada
• Iceberg Finder

Public Sector

• Tourism British Columbia
• Kootenay Rockies Tourism
• Nova Scotia Department of Tourism

Small Private Sector

• GPS Tour Guide
• metroCode
• RezGo.com
• Adventure Engine

The Canada-e-Connect Entrepreneur Competition was launched to give online travel start-ups the opportunity to win a scholarship to participate in the conference.

The chosen start-up would be able to present their value proposition in 10 minutes in front of the coveted Canada-e-Connect audience.

Yesterday I received word from Jens Thraenhart that a winner was announced for the Entrepreneur Spotlight competition, and today it is my pleasure to announce the name of this really interesting organization.

The company is called PlanetEye.com, and the concept is very exciting.

PlanetEye is dedicated to inspiring travellers to discover captivating destinations around the world specifically through photographs, videos and valuable advice from independent travelers and locals.

So…what’s the buzz about PlanetEye?

We’ve all heard the adage “a picture is worth a thousand words”, right?

This is a concept that PlanetEye has really embraced as their core offering as they work to develop a truly different kind of travel guide featuring beautiful photographs and videos that immerse viewers in a destination.

Imagine looking at a photo that evokes the seductive aroma of a Parisian bakery, or a photo that captures the hustle, bustle and noise of Times Square in New York. These are the kinds of photos that will be featured on PlanetEye.

Butch Langlois, President & CEO of PlanetEye Inc., will be presenting PlanetEye during the Canada-e-Connect Entrepreneur Spotlight on Thursday, November 8th, 2007 at 12pm.

Butch had this to say about PlanetEye during a welcome message on his excellent company blog:

“While many Web sites provide incredible value to travel consumers, we believe there is an exciting opportunity for PlanetEye to leverage many of the emerging elements of the Web such as photo-sharing, geo-tagging and mapping to create something that will inspire travelers to discover the most captivating destinations around the world.

We’re not trying to be everything to everyone. We see our core mission as helping people plan their trips by providing them with the essence of a destination through beautiful photographs, insider tips and innovative mapping technology that puts everything into context.”

As geotagging technology becomes increasingly popular and available, more people are realizing there is tremendous value in being able to accurately pinpoint the location of their photographs. Travellers, for example, are discovering that geotags are a great way to track their journeys, while businesses are learning there is huge value in being able to tag all kinds of data to provide consumers with an aggregated view of the world.

I’ve long been a huge fan and advocate for photography-sharing communities such as flickr, and I am delighted that PlanetEye is making waves in the travel space by converging photos, video, UGC and mapping/geotagging.

The concept of geotagging is fast moving beyond geek-ville, and it’s exciting to seeing all of these technologies brought together for the purpose of inspiring travellers to share their experiences so that other viewers may create new ones.

I can’t wait to hear more about PlanetEye.com.

French blogger Claude Benard is a prolific (and popular) writer on the topic of Travel 2.0 and e-Tourism on his excellent Les Explorers website.

Claude writes mostly in French, but he has featured some excellent english-language interviews with an impressive list of e-Tourism CEO’s and operators.

In a recent post on Les Explorers, Claude offers the upcoming Canada-e-Connect conference as a shining example of bringing the public and private sectors together in a single venue to strategize about the future of e-tourism.

Claude mentions the following reasons why he believes that France and other nations should look to the Canada-e-Connect program model as the standard when planning their own e-tourism strategy events:

>> They use Web 2.0 tools: blog, wiki
>> They use Facebook and travel blogs network to make event promotion
>> They have a Entrepreneur Spotlight
>> They have a Student Contest
>> They mix panel representatives from DMO’s and private sector
>> They have a strong focus on social media impact

Claude and I met many months ago through the blogosphere, and Jens Thraenhart (CEC Conference Chair & Founder), met both of us independently also through blogging activity.

Being a part of such a rich wealth of knowledge is very rewarding, and I was delighted to read Claude’s positive perspective on what Jens and the Canada-e-Connect conference team are accomplishing with this premiere event.

It’s True. The team at Canada-e-Connect just released the newest conference program agenda (PDF) for November 7th to the 9th.

New speakers announced. New panel topics. It’s all coming together. There are only a few spots left to confirm for conference day, so you’re almost looking at the complete package with still a month to go.

Wait, only a month?

I’m lucky since I can walk to the Fairmont Waterfront Hotel, host hotel for the Canada-e-Connect conference in twenty minutes from home. Many of you, however, are travelling from across Canada, the U.S. and even Europe to attend…so now might be the time to firm up those travel plans!

Last week I managed to twist Jens Thraenhart’s arm into going for a drink after work to talk about developments with the Canada-e-Connect conference program. As expected, a whole lot is happening!

If you haven’t yet perused the bios for CEC keynotes and speakers, I highly recommend that you take a peek here. And you’ll find the conference agenda posted on the Canada-e-Connect website, or by clicking here (PDF).

Jens and the conference team are busy confirming and finalizing the CEC speaker list and conference agenda, so we can expect a revised version very soon with some exciting new speaker announcements.

I’ll be sure to post the link to the revised agenda here on the blog the moment it goes live.

UPDATE: Revised Conference Agenda PDF, October 10, 2007

A preview of Canada-e-Connect content will be featured during a panel discussion next week in Vancouver.

The tourism networking group Vancouver AM holds regular breakfast meetings featuring keynote industry speakers and Jens Thraenhart, Executive Director, Marketing Strategy & Customer Relationship Management (and founder of CEC) was invited to share his thoughts about the strategic integration of e-marketing for tourism businesses with the Vancouver AM audience.

Joining Jens on the e-strategy panel will be William Bakker, Director of eBusiness at Tourism British Columbia, and myself, Chris Clarke–social media developer and hospitality blogger.

If you live in Vancouver or will be in town on October 12th, please do c’mon down and join the Vancouver AM audience at 7:00am, at the Empire Landmark Hotel on Robson Street for a hot breakfast, and what will surely be a terrific discussion.

The meetings cost $20 for members, and guests are welcome at $25 (includes breakfast).

Industry category finalists for the prestigious new Canadian e-Tourism Awards have been determined!

The Industry Awards recognize excellence in website design, on-line campaigns and innovation for three sectors: public, private and small and medium-sized enterprises.

Consumers from around the world can now view the submissions from 18 finalists within the Website Design and Online Campaigns categories.

Help determine who will receive the Yahoo! “Big Ideas Chair Award”

Yahoo!’s “Big Ideas Chair Award” is the Industry category’s best-in-show accolade. And it’s YOUR votes that will help decide which e-Travel organization will be bestowed this honour.

Votes can now be cast at CanadianEtourismAwards.com until October 21st.

It’s so easy to vote. What are YOU waiting for?

October 14th, 2007 is the deadline for the e-Tourism Awards Traveller categories, so if you have not yet submitted your favorite travel picture, video or story…you only have 9 days left!

If you’re using new and emerging technologies to inspire fellow travellers to explore Canada, the Canadian e-Travel Awards wants to to recognize your work! The Awards team is looking for stories, photos and videos that reveal Canada for what it really is: an exciting and totally unique tourism destination.

Story Telling
Submit a link to an experience that you posted on your or somebody else’s blog.

Photo
Submit a link to a photo that you posted on a blog, or on photo websites such as Flickr, or Picasa.

Video
Submit a link to a video that you posted on a blog, or on video websites such as YouTube or Travelistic.

High scores will be awarded to entries that are thrilling, captivating, and, not least of all, contemporary. You know—the kind of images you enjoy seeing yourself!

Hopefully this little collage of some hotel guests in British Columbia “maximizing” their guest experience will inspire you to explore your image files to see what YOU have in the there!

These are from a little project I manage with HotelsByCity.net, called BedJump.