We’re delighted to highlight the profiles of our remaining speakers for TBEX Europe 2016 in Stockholm.
In case you missed it, we made a previous speaker announcement, and have announced that our keynote speakers will be Ian Cleary, Spud Hilton, and Lola Akinmade Akerstrom.
Take a look at who else you’ll see in Stockholm:
Ajay Sood – Ajay is a Canon Photo Mentor, a photo tour leaders (with tours to Tanzanaia, Goa, and Ladakh), and a photo educator who has conducted master classes on photography across India. He has also served as a photo jurist for phography contests, including those sponsored by Canon. Ajay has had his photography featured in a variety of publications and was the grand prize winner of National Geographic Traveller’s Get Out There Photo Essay Contest.
Ajay will be leading a session in the content track about architectural photography.
Gabriel Dorch – Gabriel is the Marketing Manager at VisitSweden in the UK.
Gabriel will be co-presenting in the industry track about destinations branding around responsible tourism.
Ilanit Melchoir – Ilanit Melchior is the Director of Tourism for the Jerusalem Development Authority (JDA). The JDA is responsible for economic progress and development of the city, a key part of which is tourism that represents an economic engine of growth across the different socio-economic groups in Jerusalem. As Director of Tourism, she oversees the strategic development and implementation of the national and international projects aimed at promoting tourism in Jerusalem.
Ilanit will be speaking in the industry track about re-branding a city.
Gemma Suñer – Gemma Suñer is the Online Marketing Manager of the Costa Brava Girona Tourist Board in Spain. #inCostaBrava and #inPyrenees are some of the most innovative destinations when it comes to relationships with content creators, and were home of TBEX 2012 and 2015. She has led more than 60 blogtrips and other innovative projects such as Instagram Your City or Resident Bloggers, with successful results.
Gemma will be co-presenting with her colleague Jaume Marin in the industry track about how destinations can engage content creator with love.
Jaume Marin – Jaume Marin is the Marketing Director of the Costa Brava Girona Tourist Board in Spain. As one of the most innovative destinations on the online Marketing, Costa Brava is known as a home for many travel bloggers from all over the world. Jaume has been leading successful projects as a pioneer in the relations with travel bloggers, including the co-organisation of TBEX 2012 and 2015. Lecturer in the University of Girona and speaker in tourism conferences over the globe, Jaume is a proud supporter of storytelling and engagement, with a strong trust in the power of blogging, communication and relationships.
Jaume will be co-presenting with his colleague Gemma Suner in the industry track about how destinations can engage content creator with love.
Jerry Engstrom – Jerry Engstrom is a passionate entrepreneur in the Outdoor and nature tourism niche. He is the former global marketing director for Fjallraven that is now building a destination – Friluftsbyn in the High Coast area of Sweden. He has expertise in the area of building a destination from the ground up, including product and brand development and social media marketing.
Jerry will be co-presenting in the industry track about destinations branding around responsible tourism.
Kamil Mehmet Ozman – Kamil Mehmet is the Coordinator of Digital Publications for Turkish Airlines. Kamil has a PhD in Public Relations and Advertising from Istanbul Aydın University, and is speaker and writer on new media and content strategy and marketing.
Kamil will be leading a session in the Industry track about how travel brands can manage all their digital content to maximum success.
Katie Hammel – Katie Hammel is the Content Marketing Manager for TripCreator, an Iceland-based interactive travel planning site. She was previously the Content Marketing Manager for Viator and she contributes on a freelance basis to BBC Travel, the San Francisco Chronicle, NY Daily News, and other publications.
Katie will be speaking in the industry track with advice on how brands and destinations can work with bloggers.
Kerwin McKenzie – Kerwin logs over 200,000 miles a year writing up-to-date airport, destination and ground transportation guides plus airline flight and hotel reviews. He’s visited 114 countries and flown 162 airlines with a mission to motivate airline employees to use their travel benefits. He also provides information on the benefits of being loyal to travel brands to a general audience.
Kerwin will be speaking in the community track, leading a session for first time TBEX attendees.
Larissa Milne – Larissa loves Entrepreneurship and Travel, and is happiest when the two coincide. A former CEO of two life science startups, she and her husband Michael began traveling full-time in 2011. They parlayed their award-winning travel blog, “Changes in Longitude,” into a weekly travel column in the Philadelphia Inquirer and its online counterpart, Philly.com, as well as a book deal showcasing the historic sights in their hometown. She continues to evaluate startup companies for venture capitalists and frequent judges business plan competitions. When she needs a break from constant travel, Larissa teaches startup strategies at Drexel University’s Close School of Entrepreneurship.
Larissa will be speaking in the commerce track on clearing out the blogging clutter.
Leslie Graham – Leslie has 25 years in working in TV and online media as Set Designer, Cameraman, Video Editor and Producer/Director. During his career he has worked as a design assistant on Eurovision, cameraman, and video editor for news organsiations. Setting up a TV Outside company in the 1980s, Leslie covered sports events for Irish Broadcasters. As owner of a helicopter aerial filming business with gyro stabilized film and TV camera mounts, Leslie worked on projects in Ireland, Spain and the UAE. Following production of global property TV shows Leslie moved into producing and directing TV travel and online video.
Leslie will be co-presenting in the community track on building your YouTube community.
Linda Aksomitis – Linda Aksomitis has published 30+ books, including three travel guides and a textbook, with traditional publishers in five countries, and as an independent publisher. Her courses on writing and publishing on the Web are offered at over 4000 colleges and libraries around the world through the ed2go network. As well as writing, she presents at conferences across Canada, including a recent workshop on publishing e-books for the Travel Media Association of Canada (TMAC). She has a Masters degree in adult education and works as an Instructional Designer
Linda will be presenting in the content track on the topic of e-books.
Liyana Jamil – Liyana Jamil is Director of Partner Marketing at Agoda, one of the world’s leading accommodation sites and part of Nasdaq-listed Priceline Group. She oversees Agoda’s non-accommodation partnerships including its sophisticated affiliate marketing program, aimed to drive greater businesses to independent partners. A travel & tourism expert, she was previously a consultant with the Boston Consulting Group where she advised governments on their tourism plans; and strategy lead for Jetstar Airlines, a leading low cost airline in Asia-Pacific. She has a double major from the University of Chicago and has lived in Chicago, Paris, Amsterdam, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and now Bangkok.
Liyana will be speaking in the commerce track about ways to utilize affiliate marketing outside of your blog.
Murat Ozbilgi – Murat has worked as a software developer/network engineer implementing the first high-speed Internet backbone of Turkey between 1992 and 1996. In 1999, he founded Odeva Internet Tecnologies, a software house that developed service automation systems and social networks. He has worked in various marketing roles in international IT companies and is still leading an international sales team.
He joined the board of Gezimanya, the largest travel content producer of Turkey in 2013, and in 2015, he started Blogger Casting, a digital marketing agency that connects digital influencers with brands.
Murat will be speaking in the commerce track about creating a blog strategy.
Nienke Krook – Nienke Krook is a former school teacher from the Netherlands, currently living in London and working full-time in the blogging industry. As “The Travel Tester” she writes about experiences around the world that lead to self-development. On Pinterest, Nienke runs a community of over 500.000 travellers. She created the largest resource of travel content in her community “Mappin Monday” and through her latest project “Dream.Pin.Go.”, she works with a variety of brands on optimizing their Pinterest accounts and leveraging the power of this visual platform. She is currently developing an online video course on Pinterest for the Tourism Industry.
Nienke will be speaking in the industry track about using Pinterest to guide the travel consumer through the buying process.
Ralph Velasco – Ralph Velasco is President, Founder and CEO (Chief Experience Officer) of PhotoEnrichment Adventures (PEA), as well as a travel photography instructor and international guide. As such he organizes and leads cultural tours, with a focus on photography, in destinations around the world, including Cambodia, Vietnam, the Baltics, Morocco, Iceland, Cuba, the Adriatic, Central Europe, Tuscany, Mexico and others. He’s the creator of the My Shot Lists for Travel app (available for free on iTunes) and was recently a finalist for the prestigious Travel Photographer of the Year 2015.
Ralph will be speaking in the content track on how to improve your photography by working from a shot list.
Rick Kruize – Rick Kruize has been an Ambitious Online Marketing professional since 2008. He is currently the marketer for Eurail.com and Co-Founder of SurveyParrot.com. He gets excited from tech innovations, Online Marketing development, Customer Discovery and problem solving.
Rick will be speaking in the industry track on SEO for travel and tourism brands.
Robert van der Been – Robert van der Veen is a Research Fellow in the Marketing Department at Oxford Brookes University. He has a long-standing interest in studying tourist behaviour for destination marketing and satisfaction index modelling. He is keen to enhance the exchange between theory and practice in the field of tourism. His work in understanding leisure travellers has been supported by various research grants and has been published in leading academic journals (Annals of Tourism Research, Journal of Travel Research and Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing).
Robert is speaking in the industry track on data that will help destinations understand the leisure traveler.
Sara Meaney – An American and E.U. dual citizen, Sara Meaney provides a fresh, global perspective on content marketing in the travel and tourism space. Sara’s expertise in digital media and content production strategy is informed by her hands-on experiences as both the tourism marketing professional and the tourist. She offers deep insight into the role of content strategy and storytelling for the travel and tourism industry, as well as the active lifestyle and outdoor industries. Sara is a recognized expert in social media and the psychology of marketing and content strategy.
Sara will be speaking in the industry track about how travel brands can inspire travel dreams.
Shane Dallas – Shane Dallas is an avid adventurer who inspires people to take the road less travelled, and he has written under the name “The Travel Camel” for more than a decade. He is a founding member of the Google+ Create program, and his photographic Collections on Google+ receive millions of views every month. Shane is also one of the founders of #TRLT – the Road Less Travelled Twitter Chat – one of the world’s top 3 weekly travel Twitter chats, and the largest travel Twitter chat based outside of North America. He regularly presents his travel tales and tips on different radio networks, where he is heard in more than 180 countries. He has 25 years of public speaking experience and is in demand on the travel, Social Media and cruise ship speaking circuits.
Shane will be speaking in the content track about Google+.
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