A Destination Management Blog for Meetings, Events Inbound Tours in Canada

Cantrav Event Highlights 2011

Tahira Endean — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 16:35:00 GMT

2011 was a fantastic year that was full of great experiences for our team, which all translate down to great experiences for our clients and your guests. Below we have shared some of these highlights for you to enjoy.

From "Miss Alaska", Teresa's highlights included 24 hours in Alaska with Discovery Channel – helicopter sightseeing and dogmushing on a glacier followed by canyoneering and goldpanning!

Also included are a Site Inspection where we made the beluga whales appear! We also flew through a 360-degree rainbow! More helicopters, glaciers, Beavers/Otters, jetboating, scenic train rides, glacier cruises, trams, rivers, lakes, lodges and Mt McKinley. Also, very large food portions and awesome characters added to the experience.

From our Conference Services team, Missy notes

2011 was such an incredible year for so many reasons but if I had to choose just one it would be the how these tricky economic times have provided abundant opportunities to innovate our company’s value added services.

The old saying that “necessity is the mother of invention” rings more true than ever. It is our honour and privilege to continue to partner with our clients and industry peers to come up with innovative and trustworthy solutions to deliver and exceed their guests’ expectations. Whether it be developing a registration platform that gives clients direct real time access to their own registrants information; or unusual new ways to set up a plenary session that creates true collaboration and dialogue or something as modern as creating a custom social media app to teach and engage. This past year has really proven to be the best examples of the power of possibility and to never settle for just making do.

From our Banff office, Kim says "Hanging out with Will and Kate at Stampede!"

From our Travel Department, Selene's highlight was coordinating the travel for Mayor Diane Watts Business Mission to India in February.

Production Manager Kelly tweeted in December "5 years ago today I started at Cantrav Services on a bus to Sun Peaks. Today I fly to London. Thanks for taking me places!"

These are just a few of our highlights of 2011, look out for more, and please, comment and share your highlights with us too!

In the Spirit of Giving

Tahira Endean — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 22:34:00 GMT

At this time of year we are overwhelmed with the generosity of people in our industry, and we enjoy many delightful treats. This year we collected many things which are off to their new homes to be used by others not as fortunate inVancouver. We would have had one additional bag, but while producing one of our holiday parties this year, a homeless man spent the evening keeping an eye on one of our cars, and in return he received one bag of men's clothes destined for the office charity drive, but instead finding their way directly to him.

We have over $125 in cash
6 Boxes of food.
2 Boxes of toiletries.
7 Boxes and giant construction bags of clothing for men and women.
2 Boxes of household items.
3 bags of children’s items
1 giant box of napkins

We thank everyone for their support and generosity! Happy Holidays!

Alberta Events and Incentives - AMAZING

Tahira Endean — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 16:27:00 GMT

We are raving fans of Alberta and the Rocky Mountains for both meetings and incentive programs. Guests expect to see the flat prairie landscape that makes up much of the middle of North America, and are left breathless at the beauty that is the Rocky Mountains. The experiences they have here are memorable and return visits often included in their cycle, because guests want to come back!

This was sent to us the other day, and like they say, a picture is worth about a million words... see for yourself!

Alberta is Amazing - VIDEO

Holiday Parties - Event Planning Fun!

Tahira Endean — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 15:35:00 GMT

We LOVE this time of year, the sun sparkling off the snow-capped mountains, the carolers on the streets of the City, the holiday train running through Stanley Park and the many opportunities to enjoy time with friends at the cornucopia of holiday gatherings. Occasionally we also get to plan holiday parties, and last night we had two that were so different, and both so much fun, we had to share.

The first party began actually in the morning, as our group of 14 ascended to the top of Grouse Mountain (seen here) and started they day with a delicious hot breakfast overlooking the city, followed by skating outdoors under a blue and sunny sky. In the evening they gathered under the gingerbread house at the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver for sparkling beverages, before heading to the 14th floor for dinner with another view. Here the table was set with deep reds and accents of frosted white snowflakes and silver reindeer, holiday crackers and a jingle bell for everyone, with naturally dinner served family style. For the vegetarians, the hotel prepared a gourmet tofurkey - delicious! So wrapped up in the spirit of family traditions, they even broke into a spontaneous game of charades, and the hilarity continued into the evening.

On the other end of the spectrum, our creative team also produced a Naughty Santa evening for a group of one hundred nice guests. Greeted by performers wrapped in flaming hula hoops, they were then led down the stairs where body - painted elves greeted them with a special cocktail, and Santa, bemoaning the recent separation from Mrs Claus, toyed with the guests. A gorgeous buffet, beautiful burlesque dancers glittering brighter than the holiday trees, and a Cuban cigar lounge set on the patio above (including a shimmering chandelier and faux fur accents) all added to the fun. For these guests, the gorgeous stone cellar imbued with festive delights ensured that the frivolity and conviality were what will be remembered!

For our team, it is about ensuring that the guests get the experience they want and that expectations are exceeded, with enough delightful surprises that they can't wait to see what we come up with next year!

Team Cantrav - charity, hybrid events, South America and more

Tahira Endean — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 02:27:00 GMT

We have been having a blast lately, and wanted to share some highlights with all of you! The summer was full of great programs throughout Western Canada culminating in an event for 900 in Stanley Park.

When we had a little down time we took on some fall cleaning, with all the items first going into our small boardroom where for a donation our staff could choose some treasures. This netted $110 which we donated to the Vancouver Food Bank (where the value they can purchase in food with this roughly triples its value), and the balance of the items were picked up by a local organization where they would again be turned into dollars they can use.

Just this month we were collaborators on Event Camp, a meeting that brought together event professionals from the region to talk about subjects ranging from corporate social responsibility and ethics to hybrid meetings and event design. This was a hybrid meeting that also involved meeting professionals from across the globe, so many ideas and opinions were shared among these thought leaders.

This fall also saw Janice, our VP of Sales and Tahira, our Creative Director heading to San Antonio for FICP, an annual conference that brings together financial and insurance meeting planners and their hospitality partners to discuss issues and share relevant education. This included a session presented by Tahira and Andrea Sullivan titled Brain-Friendly Food, Changing your Meeting one Meal at a Time which looks at improving menus at your meetings, something we did successfully at EventCamp with the Vancouver Convention Centre. They had the opportunity to share in the education and to see fantastic and inspiring keynote presentations from Gary Mungor on the differences between male and female brains, journalist Lisa Ling and the incredible story of Aron Ralston, who inspired the film 127 hours. The opportunity to share relevant knowledge and build connections is something most of us spend time planning for others so it is really nice to be able to experience it from this side too!

We have also just seen Heather head off to South America, our fourth team member in a year to enjoy a trip to this exciting continent. On the flip side, this year we have welcomed groups to Canada from Brazil and Venezuela. Ask us... we are always happy to share stories of memories created across borders.

We look forward to the fantastic winter programs we have coming up in Whistler and Banff and to sharing our incredible corner of the world with your guests - follow along for ideas you can bring to your own events!

Virtual-ly Amazing - Creating a Hybrid Event for Event Planners!

Tahira Endean — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 04:18:00 GMT

This past weekend EventCamp Vancouver took place. Cantrav was fortunate to be a member of the host committee who collaborated to create a weekend of learning and education designed for meeting and event professionals exploring event innovation, social media and event design and who seek continued growth in our exciting industry.

It began at the Westin Bayshore Vancouver on Friday where formats that inspire trust and fun were introduced, and sessions that explored topics including Ethics, CSR, Fair Trade and Sustainability and the Future of Hybrid Events were participated in before attending the Connection Reception.

That evening our creative and production team went to work with our partners setting up for a hybrid event that would be live streamed from the main session room on both Saturday and Sunday mornings to an audience that included people from Canada, the US and across Europe. The program also included presenters who joined via livelink from Switzerland, Chicago, and New York, extending the opportunity for learning from global meeting professionals. The production was designed to serve both the live and the remote audiences and the diverse needs of these audiences, and in the end offered interesting interaction with our social media concierge in the room, a remote host based out of New York, a connection to our pod in Montreal and the live audience. By all accounts this production was a seamless experience for the guests that created engagement on a variety of levels through both the whole group sessions and small group interactions.

The education focused on a diversity of areas, and took a hard look at collaboration, industry challenges, design and meeting design and flow including genius bars with industry experts, and the use of social media for personal and organizational branding. Sunday we took a hard look at the use of mobile apps, hybrid meetings and sustainability. Speaking of sustainability, the mobile app and its associated game, Get your Green On saw our very own Kelly Clarke committing to the most acts of green over Camp, where we had in excess of 1,600 individual acts of green from our face to face and remote audience showing the true power of the small decisions made by event attendees can have a huge impact when accumulated.

At Cantrav we understand sustainability is important and not only do we have to work with our clients sustainability initiatives and make responsible decisions in the overall planning, we can choose well and encourage our partners along the way to work with us and together, the power to make change is incredible.

With takeaways both diverse and relevant across many sectors of the industry, EventCamp Vancouver is an event we are proud to have been part of and we look forward to sharing our knowledge with you for your events.

IMEX America11 and Vancouver Events

Tahira Endean — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 14:15:00 GMT

Last week we had the opportunity to join the Vancouver Convention Centre, Tourism Vancouver and many other industry partners at IMEX America11 in Las Vegas. Over 2,000 hosted buyers met with 1,800 exhibitors representing the best of the meeting, event and incentive destination possibilities from around the globe. It was excellent to see many old friends and to meet with many others who are keenly interested in bringing their events to Canada where we can ably support their needs on the ground.

We have worked also to develop an incredible touch screen application for the Vancouver booth, and everyone involved had fun playing with it and using it intuitively to navigate through what a program could look like here, from your arrival at our award winning airport to the choice of four and five star properties, along with the many tours, activities and on and off-site events it really is a destination that can inspire, educate, engage and motivate.

The Vancouver booth was also a social media live hub during the three days of the trade show, with Kiki L'Italien, well known particularly with associations through her work with Delcor and her weekly Social Media Sweet Spot show was live in the booth, collecting many interviews representing a broad spectrum of the industry including Chris Gowe of the Vancouver Convention Centre, Glenn Thayer – the voice of meetings and events, Paul Salinger of Oracle and the current President of the Green Meetings Industry Council, Sam Smith – virtual and hybrid meeting expert who was there for MPI's SmartMeeting Monday, Lenny Talarico and King Dahl of MGM Events (fantastic work from this group), Leonora Valvo, the CEO of etouches who had just presented at the Women’s Leadership Seminar at IMEX, and so many more.

Check out the recap of her time at IMEX here – http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/17872155

For the full list of interviews, http://www.ustream.tv/channel/delcor-social-media-sweet-spot/videos and you can connect to watch them here. There are some really great perspectives from many deeply involved in the meeting and event industry, so we encourage you to check these out. They are also available on youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNBisp0GUmE

All in all we had a great time at IMEX and look forward to meeting you there next year!

Vancouver Event Planning - A Night in Stanley Park

Tahira Endean — Sat, 08 Oct 2011 21:40:00 GMT

Picture yourself on the edge of Stanley Park, 1000 acres of green in the heart of Vancouver, your views returning to the city over the harbour that separates you. You arrive (approximately 10 minutes on the luxury coach) and are greeted with BC wine and a band whose energizing music brings the awesome tented space to life. Next to our tent are incredible totem poles that tell the story of First Nations history in this land, and inside the tent this theme is continued, the reds and blacks of the art brought to life on the tables.

As one song finishes on stage the sound of drumbeats is heard, and a First Nations drum and dance troupe enters the tent and shares their stories of the totems, their land and leaves the group with a blessing and friendship song.

The buffets open, and the fresh, seasoned, delicious local food is enjoyed. The tenderloins, the salmon, the salads and vegetables all perfection, but this went beyond. For this event, the caterer froze fresh fruit at the peak of the summer season with the fruit galettes and crumbles that would be served tonight in mind. (Editor's note: blueberry peach galette was the best I have ever eaten!)

Then the dance band takes the stage and for two solid hours the dance floor is packed, the energy incredible and the high of a great event is relished!

What does it take to make this happen? First a client that wants to create something incredibly special, a local partner (in this case us) that can make it happen, and then the work begins. Working with the City of Vancouver, the Vancouver Parks Board, the Province of BC and various permitting entities is required as we go through structural, electrical, food health and safety, liquor permits, and more to ensure the event is entirely safe and appropriate. We choose vendor partners that know how to deliver an excellent off-site experience that will leave the Park at the end exactly as we found it, and the fun begins. Months of planning, weeks of detail work, five days to build it, and three days to return it to normal... for us, all in a day's work, for the group, an unforgettable experience!

See you at IMEX America!

Tahira Endean — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 18:30:00 GMT

We are so excited to participate in IMEX America in Las Vegas next week. This is the first time this show will be in America and with all the education and networking available - we know it is going to be great!

Tom Ebner will be in the Canada Tourism Commission stand 431, directly across from the Vancouver stand - keep an eye out for the giant sails of Vancouver and drop by for a snack and to meet our Creative Director, Tahira!

On Wednesday at IMEX the Vancouver Booth will be the host location for Kiki L'Italien's Social Media Sweet Spot and we invite you to stop by and say hi, or even answer a question or two!

We hope to see you there.

Great Event Management Takes Great Talent

Tahira Endean — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 23:44:00 GMT

On a recent site inspection, the client sent a lovely thank you note, and included this sentence that in many ways sums up what we believe about our organization, and why working with us reflects so well on you!

You two are the type of employees and wonderful ladies that every DMC should strive to have on their staff. You’re knowledgeable, informative, fun and truly, just a pleasure to work and travel with.

We know that in meeting and event management, from the first receipt of an RFP, to a site selection trip, to the actual operation of the program it all comes back to people. We need to first understand your group and their needs, your stakeholders and their objectives, and then translate this knowledge into a program that creates relevant experiences and memories for your guests, the kind of epxeriences that make you shine and ultimately build loyalty and retention for the organization.

We are truly fortunate to have a team of thoughtful people here that care passionately about creating these experiences. I see every day a team who will stop at nothing when working closely with you to develop meetings and incentive programs that generate this kind of positive response from every participant.

We look forward to hearing from you when you have need of a great partner to support your events in Western Canada and Alaska.

Family Friendly Meetings, Conferences and Events

Tahira Endean — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 13:55:00 GMT

When an either an association meeting or incentive program is designed, it often includes family members for two distinct reasons and we will look at the reasons why it works. We will also look at how much fun everyone has when we incorporate activities into the programs that create added opportunities for families, and members of families to bond.

With association conferences where the group has members of long standing an annual meeting that involves families who get to see each other every year provides added incentive for the member to attend, and allows the families to keep long standing friendships alive. Typically these meetings are held in destinations nationally or internationally that you would want to share with your family. If we look at the destinations we play in from the Rockies to Whistler, Vancouver to Victoria, the Okanagan and our coastal regions, there are so many adventures to be shared at any time of the year. From skiing and dogsledding in the winter, to fishing and rafting in the summer, to ziplining and hiking / snowshoeing and more, the opportunities for shared enjoyment abound.

Patient meetings are another interesting way we have seen families brought together, where people across all ages and spectrums united by a similarity they would not have anticipated can come together and receive not only education, but unity. Often this comes from the activities arranged which can include outings to places such as Capilano Suspension Bridge and the Aquarium, Grouse Mountain or the seawall in Vancouver as examples of great places to enjoy in Vancouver. Informal areas such as kids craft / activity rooms to tween and teen lounges let kids just enjoy time with others their own age, with facilitation provided to the degree required by the ages included. Evening events offer an opportunity to really let loose and when the facilities and activities are well thought out - these are the meetings that provide the most magic for the attendees.

Incentive program developers have long recognized that the majority of top achievers are in the top because of the support of their family, and when travel reward programs are well designed to provide fun for the whole family, loyalty to the organization is deepened. There is nothing more powerful than developing relationships with colleagues, their spouses and among your children through fantastic shared experiences to provide impetus for continued high performance.

So what makes it fun? First, understanding that all parents have different comfort levels for what their children do and building levels into the activities is critical. We like to bring in things that are unique to Western Canada, that fit your overall objectives and viewpoint, and that offer challenges and rewards. Creating a balance of learning and fun in the overall program will provide the best experience and leave the families wanting to know what comes next.

Our team has children ranging from 1 to 31, and we have much experience to draw upon when we start planning programs with you - so bring it on - we want to make sure everyone has a blast taking advantage of the amenities, activities and awesome natural locations in Western Canada!

Conference Services - Two Success Stories

Tahira Endean — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 19:02:00 GMT

A natural extension of our traditional DMC support from transportion to activities, team building to special evening events for our clients is our ability to support their basic conference planning needs, freeing their time to focus on program content beforehand and on-site; connecting with their colleagues, rather than managing logistics.

This year, in June and again in August we had the opportunity to work with two very different corporate groups and successfully support them. The groups, both in the range of 200+ guests, coming from across Canada and as far away as Australia, had multiple layers of logistics, and some really fun programming. The commonalities in the conference requirements our service delivery and production teams provided included:

program development
website content and setup
air travel
registration
pre and post leisure travel support
ground transfers Vancouver to Whistler return as well as for all activities
hotel negotiation and management
room block and function space management
unique off site event venues and experiences
group activities
golf tournaments and other team exercise experiences
food and beverage across multiple days of programming
audio visual support including imag and dvd archives for future training
branding support - from signage to unique opportunities
speaker support
photography including "happy snaps"
gala events including inspired entertainment
production support across all levels, including name acts
graphic support and printing / electronic delivery of program materials
decor and environment creation appropriate to event needs - welcome, gala, networking, connecting, celebrating
teambuilding that exceeded objectives

The client comments were positive across the board, as the busy executives appreciated the holistic, thorough, value-driven and thoughtful approach our entire team brought to delivering their events. When you have a committed group of people who have the experience to work with you on delivering memorable and relevant group events, you are off to a great start. When we add in open communication that gets us to the heart of the objectives, success is inevitable.

The AIBTM Experience - Vancouver Conference Planning

Tahira Endean — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 14:00:00 GMT

Why Vancouver? When you have a conference, incentive or event to plan, Vancouver is an excellent blend of cosmopolitan city and beautiful natural environment, and the possibilities are many. Here is a short video that tells you a little more.

Our Creative Director, Tahira Endean, CMP shares her thoughts on Vancouver and AIBTM

Team Building Wild West Style

Tahira Endean — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 13:54:00 GMT

The client's objective: Provide our partners with the tools to go back to their business units after the conference and make them stronger.

The method: Give our partners the opportunity to share knowledge, build trust and brainstorm solutions throughout the entire conference.

Teambuilding Event - The Story: To survive in business is one thing, to thrive takes moxie and drive. The kind of drive that those that took the challenge to go west into unchartered territory needed. To test your mettle today your teams will have to take on the same challenges that may have been found in years gone by as you bring a product to market. The product? Moonshine of course!

The challenges: As we collaborated to create something unique, the ideas just kept growing and the final ideas implemented, along with relevant and fun stations exceeded the objectives as well as generated a ton of positive energy! Imagine your team going through stations where they need to

build tents with canvas and sticks - and not only do they need to be well designed they need to withstand a 5-gallon rainstorm!
keep the enemy at bay with your archery skills
hunt some dinner at the air pistol range
lasso the horses
build a fire from scratch with flint
boil up enough water for a mug 'o moonshine
then when it is time to rest it is horseshoes and lemonade

Not only was this a heck of a lot of fun in general, it specifically showed the teams how to share responsibility, take turns leading, jump in when your team needs support, and be able to do it all with a sense of humour.

If you are looking for something that is completely "out of the box" that will get your team working together and having a great time doing it, then we would love to talk with you and share ideas!

Vancouver Event Planning - a Magical Forest

Tahira Endean — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 23:10:00 GMT

The Event Challenge and One Incredible Solution!

"We want to create something that has not been seen before and we feel as though what is being offered is simply not interesting enough. What can YOU do that is better?" This is an honest and heartfelt client response to a wide reaching RFP where many responses were received, and it just wasn't hitting the mark. This is also the kind of response we LOVE, as we want to elevate experiences, and create events that are always a little different than what we have all seen before.

We started with a fantastic outdoor venue, put in a spectacular clear-topped tent, and then added wood sprites, mischevious fairies, and even a sasquatch spotting... When combined with an incredible dinner, in this lush setting, and for the group, excellent company that shared both the anticipation of what was coming next as well as the gasps of delight as the evening unfolded... all around an evening that exceeded expectations.

We love to be challenged to create events that will be right for your groups needs and objectives - let's start the discussion!

Vancouver Event Planning - Welcome 4,500 Guests!

Tahira Endean — Sun, 17 Jul 2011 15:23:00 GMT

What an opportunity -to provide a welcome that speaks to what Canada offers for more than 4,000 participants from more than 120 countries! This experience took place under the iconic sails that make up the East Halls at the Vancouver Convention Centre in May. Given the vast amount of space at nearly 100,000 square feet, and a fair but finite budget we got to work! After presenting several "Canadian" concepts that our client liked, we started to plan out the space knowing that we had to "go big or go home" to maximize the look and feel for the participants and make a memorable impact on the first night of this week long conference.

It began in the West Building, with a local First Nations group greeting guests with traditional song as they entered the Opening General Session, where they got down to business, for a while. Leaving the Plenary session they moved over to the East Halls, greeted along the way by gorgeous Canadian StiltWalkers, then the very fun Mounties, both fantastic photo opportunities. As they entered the hall, the first show-stopping moment was on the main stage with a youth choir, their high energy moves drawing people in. As they came to a finish it was time for yes... A FLASH MOB. Choreographed by the local host committee hundreds had gone on line and learned the moves, and then joined in on site!

The fun continued with fortune tellers, a local Canadian band entertaining guests with both well-known Canadian songs, and their own historic tunes that tell our stories through song on one side of the room, balanced with an excellent jazz guitar duo in a quieter west coast forest zone on the other side. Added fun came from the fisherman anchored 23' above the crowd, throwing his net to catch guests and bring them to the wine fairies below, but look out for the men in the canoe - especially when they stop to portage... each other - in a fantastic hand to hand performance! The guests came, they listened, networked and enjoyed their first glimpse of Canada.

Vancouver Event Planning - Studio 54 Cool!

Tahira Endean — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 14:53:00 GMT

Make it as "cool as Vegas" they said. We delivered! One of the main reasons we keep loving what we do is that it is never the same two days in a row, and Vancouver offers so many things for so many diverse types of groups. So when they said "we want a dinner reception with stellar views, then an awesome disco where we have entertainment that brings the house down" we sat down with our client, got to the heart of what needed to be included and worked together to build out an environment that would meet the many needs of the evening and truly wow this well traveled and highly discerning group.

Hosted on the Summit Level of the Vancouver Convention Centre, the location, the views, the excellent service and the flexibility, along with a stellar team of partners and entertainers led to a truly incredible evening. Nothing makes us smile like seeing the guests over the moon happy when the event design and environment created are so much more than imagined!

We haven't even touched here on the possibilities in Banff, Calgary, Jasper, Alaska, the Okanagan, Tofino, Whistler and the other places we bring alive for groups - just know that if it needs to be unique and memorable, we will deliver!

Vancouver rocks Meetings - AIBTM show!

Tahira Endean — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 16:01:00 GMT

This past week we had the opportunity to check in at the PCMA Education Conference (#PCMAEC for those on twitter) and the first ever AIBTM show (#AIBTM) in Baltimore. Baltimore, like Vancouver is a harbour city, and has some lovely historical architecture. For the attendees of these shows however it was about opening up the world, as the education ran the gamut from mobile applications, to creativity, creating value, and the new Internatioal Event Management Standards. It was a great turnout and a show floor full of relevant services and global destinations. Vancouver launched its new booth and with Tourism Vancouver, the gorgeous Vancouver Convention Centre, and many of our fabulous partner hotels there to tell people out our destination, they definitely kept Vancouver on the meeting and incentive planners' map!

Kiki L'Italien hosted the Delcor weekly Social Media Sweet Spot live from the Vancouver booth. Check it out here for a ton of great interviews with Jeff and Dave from Velvet Chainsaw, Joan Eisenstodt, Ken Cretney from the Vancouver Convention Centre, Traci Browne and more. http://bit.ly/5WEg4R!

The booth offered brain-friendly snacks, an opportunity to meet @BrainStrength's Andrea Sullivan, and friendly smiles and warm hugs as we saw many friends on the floor. It was all there to keep attendees going through the long and productive days, as well as the tools to recharge your blackberrys and iPhones - just like our city, it was a great place to "Park and Recharge". We look forward to seeing you next year!

Vancouver Event Planning - "Starry Gala"

Tahira Endean — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 13:13:00 GMT

Over the last few weeks our team has been incredibly busy producing a wide variety of fantastic events and it is going to take a few posts to tell you about all of them!

We are going to start with a gala evening in May where the theme was Fuego y Cielo, which we interpreted first with ice and then moving into a red-hot gala room. Beginning in the reception area guests had their signature drink run through the ice luge affixed to the logo'd ice bar, with the lighting shimmering off the silver linens and a contact juggler weaving through the crowd entertaining guests.

As the doors opened, the Latin band heated up the stage in a room that had been set up with long tables forming a star around the dance floor, dressed with fiery red florals setting a true tone of celebration. After a feature "fiery" performance, a fantastic dinner was presented by the stellar chefs at the Fairmont Pacific Rim, then the awards, earned for spectacular customer service were presented and the floor was turned over to dancing.

In destination management we have had the opportunity to produced dozens of galas and we will continue to love seeing how we can interpret each with fresh eyes, ensuring the guests who have worked to earn this award over a time period that may be a year or more feel truly special and rewarded by what is often a final memory of a program. Let's share ideas!

debrand- Specializing in Recycling of Corporate Materials

Lauren Marghetti — Mon, 30 May 2011 20:19:00 GMT

Every so often you come across a business or an idea that makes you stop and think “Huh. Why didn’t we think of that?”

debrand is exactly that business.

Recently we worked on a 2500+ attendee city wide conference which had many branded items for guests including tote bags, memory sticks, pens, notepads, etc. While the guests appreciated the items, at the end of the conference, there was an excess of collateral left behind. We brought these unused items to our office with no organized plan on what to do with them. As deep rooted Vancouverites, and Vancouver being a Green Capital, we could not bring ourselves to simply throw these items in the garbage. We also had a corporate responsibility to our clients to ensure these items were not wasted. In researching ways to dispose of these items (responsibly) we came across the company debrand.

debrand offers the service of "physical removal of an identifying mark from any product, material, asset or good".

debrand is an essential step in the reuse and recycling process. They specialize in the secure and responsible disposal of branded goods and materials. The de-branding process involves removing any identifying marks which allows the goods to be recovered and reused securely and responsibly. Beyond the conference goods, they also accept outdated uniforms, marketing displays, tradeshow booths, retail fixtures, used movie sets and so much more. Their services protect the environment, avoiding the clearly recognizable branded layer in the landfill.

Perfect.

Thank you debrand for giving us the option and means of recycling.

http://debrand.ca

Vancouver Continues as North America’s Top Destination for International Meetings

Lauren Marghetti — Tue, 24 May 2011 22:25:00 GMT

Blog article courtesy of Diana Rowe

Each year, the International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA) ranks cities based on the nuPhoto Courtesy Tourism Vancouvermber of international meetings hosted in the previous year. In 2010, Vancouver hosted 58 meetings, more than any other North America City, earning them the ICCA distinction for more than three years as North America’s Top Destination for International Meetings.

Vancouver’s stellar reputation in the meetings world has kept them at the forefront. Planners booking a meeting in Vancouver can easily incorporate the latest meeting trends, such as sustainability. The Vancouver Convention Centre is the world’s only LEED Platinum-certified convention centre. As the host of the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, the Vancouver Convention Centre’s 2009 expansion tripled their size to 1.1 million square feet (four city blocks) with a total of 466,500 square feet meeting, exhibit and function space.

Vancouver also boasts 13,000 hotel rooms in the downtown area, most with walkable access to the Convention Centre. The eco-conscious Four Seasons Hotel Vancouver attained the Five Green Keys rating, joining three other Vancouver properties: The Fairmont Pacific Rim, The Fairmont Waterfront and the Hyatt Regency Vancouver. Eighteen (18) additional Vancouver hotels have already been awarded the Four Green Keys rating, including The Listel Hotel, the Coast Coal Harbour Hotel and The Fairmont Hotel Vancouver.

Photo Credit: Tourism Vancouver

Special Events - What Makes them Special?

Tahira Endean — Tue, 17 May 2011 18:46:00 GMT

The appeal of special events is precisely this: they are special. They elevate the everyday and allow people to live out a different way or being for a brief period of time.

If you are producing an event for the public, then you seek to promote and celebrate the special because special events hold public media appeal. They make good stories. The stories other people tell about an event are the realm of public relations. Now some of us are in the business of public relations, and kudos to you, for successfully sharing messages that bring brands to life and create connections for people to these.

From a pure Producer's point of view we want to create environments that allow escape from the everyday, where great company, food, beverage and engaging entertainment lets us not focus for a while... where we can put aside the every day things (and we all have them) and relax.

In the case of an evening event, one where the focus is on relationship building through shared experience, this would be an approach.

We create environments by first finding the "right" venue - whether it is the top of a mountain, inside an Aquarium, under a tent overlooking a sunset, or a purely blank space - dependant on where you are, the size of your group, the expectations, and so much more...

Once the venue is selected we combine furniture, linens, lighting, light, darkness, fabric, space, flow to create a sense of place that sets a tone and sends a specific message to the brain that you have arrived somewhere that is not "regular" and where you can allow yourself to be in the moment of where you are.

We use food and beverage in different ways in the evening than during the day. Through the day we want to use brain-friendly, lighter fare that allows us to produce the chemicals that provide a more alert state, allowing for greater contribution, learning and retention. In the evening however, we want beverages that say as you sip, relax. We can serve food that is richer, more luxurious in taste and texture and that send the messages that breaking bread in great company with great food is an excellent way to induce meaningful and thoughtful, relaxed discussion.

Entertainment can be used to set a background ambience, to provide close-up or interactive experiences, to provide a show that wows, get people moving on a dance floor, and to deliver key messages in ways that surprise. The entertainment when tied to the key objectives and integrated through the whole event is a layer that enhances in ways nothing else can, leaving lasting memories.

What really makes an event special though is a combination of all the above, and the small moments... a great takeway from a speaker, the person you meet and connect with instantly, a shared laugh over a moment of delight, a hand brushed in harmony during a powerful moment...

What memories will you create?

For more postings by Tahira Endean, go to http://tahiralovesevents.blogspot.com

Cantrav Staff Excels at City Wide Conference

Lauren Marghetti — Tue, 10 May 2011 17:32:00 GMT

This past week Vancouver hosted RIMS, a city wide conference which saw Vancouver welcome over 3,000 participants for one of this meeting’s few forays outside the United States, and a welcome delight for many who had never been before. In true city-wide style, the guests had jam-packed schedules for four days, with formal meetings, activities, an exhibition to explore, more meetings and late nights, as many organizations took this opportunity to host this audience to a variety of fabulous evening networking functions.

On the second night of the conference I had the pleasure of helping out at one of the several events we provided support to, working with our wonderful and talented program managers and our travel staff. On this particular evening one of the functions was a conference favorite, the dessert reception. In this case, it was at the historic Commodore Ballroom, one of our favorite venues for a number of reasons. One of the core functions of a DMC is transportation management, but in my normal day-to-day role working with the sales team, it is not something I am often privy to seeing up close. Tonight included layering our shuttle transfers for 1200+ people to the Commodore Ballroom into the regular RIMS schedule. As with most city-wides, the conference attendees were scattered throughout the downtown core, and we had created a schedule with shuttle stops at six different downtown hotels and the host venue, the gorgeous Vancouver Convention Centre, utilizing ten motor coaches. Our team of nine met an hour before the event with our team leader and discussed the logistics of handling such a large group. I was amazed by the caliber of questions and sincerity each member of the group displayed towards this group. Each detail was dissected to the ‘nth’ degree, no stone was left unturned. These are real professionals, committed to customer service and client satisfaction.

Thank you for doing what you love. Thank you for treating each and every person you meet with utmost professionalism. And thank you for making Cantrav look good! This past week was a crazy busy week. We not only handled it, we rocked it!!

Banff National Park Rated # 1 in Canada

Lauren Marghetti — Fri, 06 May 2011 19:12:00 GMT

Article Courtesy of Tricia Woikin, Banff Lake Louise Tourism

TripAdvisor Announces Top Canadian Destinations
Banff National Park Rated # 1 in Canada

Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada (May 4, 2011) – The annual TripAdvisor Travelers’ Choice Best Destinations Awards have just been released for 2011 – and Banff National Park is rated # 1 amongst the Top 25 Destinations in Canada.

Winners are determined by a combination of TripAdvisor's Popularity Index and through the unbiased opinions of millions of traveller ratings. The Popularity Index is a well-defined decision matrix that determines traveller satisfaction based on hotel reviews, travel articles and opinions found throughout the web.
“We are thrilled to be recognized in the TripAdvisor Travelers' Choice Destinations Awards as the top destination in Canada,” says Julie Canning, president and CEO of Banff Lake Louise Tourism. “These awards celebrate our country’s top destinations and it is indeed a great honor to be ranked number one by the world’s largest travel community.”
The results of the TripAdvisor Travelers' Choice Destinations reconfirms Banff National Park as one of the finest places on Earth, a dynamic destination with rare outdoor adventures, breathtaking mountain scenery, and authentic historical depth.

To download the full list of winners visit http://www.tripadvisor.com/TCDestinations-g153339-cTop25-Canada.html or to learn more about Banff National Park visit www.banfflakelouise.com.

Incentive Planning and Metrics

Tahira Endean — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 16:59:00 GMT

Very simply, without measurement, no meeting, incentive or exhibition can be judged for its effectiveness. Given the cost to plan and run any face to face (or hybrid or virtual) experience that connects guests to your brand and creates deeper loyalty to and within organizations, it is imperative that from the beginning, it is understood what you want to achieve, and that this event is the best tool for success.

This article was one in a series and was contributed by Maritz, Nicola Kastner, CMM, CMP and we could not have articulated this more clearly ourselves, so we are sharing the following article with you.

Designing effective incentive programs

As destination managers, we are part of the process and by understanding your key objectives, we can support you in designing the program that makes sense for your group - the organization and the participants. We understand that we are all always measured by our last event, and are committed to each and every one standing up to scrutiny, and delivering the results your stakeholders need to see.

Let's chat!