World Sports Tourism Expo

Tourism Track at BlogWorld and New Media Expo 2011

Caroline Bean, Philadelphia (courtesy J. Graham for GPTMC) You don’t have to endure generic presentations, wondering how this applies to you in tourism. All your speakers are actual tourism and hospitality professionals, working in the field.

Our speakers for 2011 were:

Caroline Bean, National Media Relations / Social Media at Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation.

Caroline is the national media relations/social media manager at the Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation (GPTMC). She joined GPTMC in 2003 and quickly rose from public relations coordinator to her current position, focusing on travel and lifestyle media relations and social media initiatives.

Shanna Smith Snyder, Abilene (Texas) CVB At the helm of GPTMC’s social media efforts, she has helped the organization grow its Web properties – including Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare and Philly Foodspotting – and works to integrate a well-rounded social media strategy into every campaign. Bean is also part of a communications team that has won 45 industry awards.

Shanna Smith Snyder, Director of Communication at Abilene (Texas) Convention & Visitors Bureau.

Doug Anweiler, Authentic Seacoast Resorts Shanna currently manages all social media platforms for the ACVB, including The Abilene InSite blog and the ‘Twisitor’ Center. She also assists with PR and advertising efforts, as well as manages special projects and campaigns. She currently writes weekly tourism columns for several publications and promotes community happenings on a weekly segment for local NBC affiliate – KRBC news.

Shanna’s social media work for the ACVB won two ADDY awards and a Statesman Texas Social Media Award. She also recently received the Texas Travel Industry Association Rising Star Award and was named one of Abilene’s Top 20 Under 40.

Becky McCray, Ann Peavey of Seattle Visitor Center, and Sheila Scarborough lead participants through an interactive session on social media for tourism. Photo by Kenneth Yeung Doug leads the development of one of Nova Scotia’s leading travel brands, the Authentic Seacoast Resorts. With more than two decades of executive experience in branding, marketing and communications, Doug’s social media work has been recognized globally with the Authentic Seacoast Resorts included in the Top 50 Online Travel Influencers and the Top 25 Most Influential Tourist Boards and DMOs Online.