Registration and Information

OPENING KEYNOTE: Nancy Greene Raine- Canada’s Female Athlete of the 20th Century, Entrepreneur and Senator

Excelling In the Tourism Sector and Learning from the 2010 Olympics

It’s rare to find someone who can confidently advise both an Olympic hopeful and a young entrepreneur, but if anyone is qualified, it is Nancy Greene Raine.

CTHRC's spokesperson once dominated the ski slopes, winning gold and silver Olympic medals at the 1968 Grenoble Olympics.  Among her long list of professional accomplishments are Olympic and World Cup Champion, Canadian Female Athlete of the 20th Century, entrepreneur, Chancellor of Thompson Rivers University, Office of the Order of Canada and Senator.  After retiring from her ski racing career, Nancy and her husband Al Raine were instrumental in the early development of Whistler Resort where they built their first hotel. In 1995 they moved to Sun Peaks Resort where they again were pioneers in opening up BC's second largest mountain resort.

Drawing on her experiences as a tourism business owner, Nancy will reflect on the impact the 2010 Olympics will have on the Canadian tourism industry and its workforce, highlighting the importance of setting goals, seizing extraordinary opportunities, and maintaining a positive attitude.

Opening Reception

BREAKFAST with Exhibitors

OPENING KEYNOTE: Ferio Pugliese- Executive Vice-President, People and Culture, WestJet

Great Leadership: Soaring to New Heights

Great employees are the lifeblood of any business. It’s all about gaining new customers and sending them away happy – happy enough to pass positive feedback along to others, who will try your product or service and, in turn become repeat customers. The cornerstone of attracting and retaining great people starts with great leadership. Being able to communicate and demonstrate the desired attitude and behaviour to your front line employees. Ferio Puglise, Executive Vice-President, People and Culture for WestJet believes that if you have the right people on your team, the results will culminate in a company culture that consistently drives superior guest service each day, every day. Ferio will entertain you with stories and unique insights into the human resource strategies that made WestJet the iconic Canadian success story it is today. Buckle Up!

CONCURRENT SESSIONS

1. Using Technology for Recruitment & Retention

To get a social recruiting strategy off the ground, you may have to deal with challenges such as simply determining which tools and sites to use.   Join our panelists as they discuss how they each use different technologies from an HR perspective.

2. Foreign Workers – Clarifying the Processes

Government, industry, immigrant-serving agencies, and credential-granting institutions have been working in collaboration to successfully match foreign-trained workers (FTWs) with the staffing needs of employers in the Canadian tourism sector.  This process can be seen as intimidating and daunting.  Hear from experts on how to navigate the process, as well as two businesses that were successful in integrating and supporting foreign-trained workers.

3. Dealing with the Stress of Succession Planning

Succession plans or exit strategies are plans that small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) put in place to help with a successful transfer of duties when key personnel wish to retire or leave the business. Very few businesses have a plan in place that deal with the fear of finding security in an ever changing work environment. A well-planned handover process is best, but can also be a source of stress for existing employees and HR Managers.  Whether your background is with a family owned or publicly held business, this session will focus on the comprehensive process to deal with the changes that surround succession.

PLENARY: Innovation and Productivity

Innovation is widely recognized as a key ingredient of productivity success.  A panel of selected industry representatives will deliver a lively, far-reaching discussion on the latest in best practices and effective strategies that improved their own productivity and innovation performance.

NETWORKING BREAK

Concurrent Sessions - Repeat of morning Concurrents

BREAKFAST with Exhibitors

KEYNOTE: Jesse Hirsh- Broadcaster, Researcher and Internet Guru

Recruiting Exceptional People is Just a Click Away

Social media isn’t only a great tool for networking and marketing online.  More and more, companies are using these tools to attract new hires, and to research prospective employees. With the proliferation of sites like LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, along with blogs and podcasts, the Internet is truly revolutionizing the recruitment landscape. Employers who learn how to use social media as a recruitment tool will not only broaden their outreach when searching for talent, but will also have immediate access to much more in-depth information about prospective employees than would be possible through more traditional recruitment methods. An expert internet strategist, Jesse will engage us in what employers, across organizations large and small, need to know when developing a social media recruitment strategy, what tools to use and how to effectively implement a plan of action in order to recruit exceptional people.

CONCURRENT SESSIONS

1.  Bottom Line Benefits of Being an Employer of Choice

As an employer, you can’t change economic or labour market trends, but you can change the way you respond to these issues.  Hear what businesses have done to attract, recruit and retain skilled workers for peak performance in the workplace.

2.  Diversity and Creating a Cohesive Workplace: Attracting and Retaining Internationally Trained Workers

The tourism sector will again be challenged by labour shortages, increasing need for skilled workers, changes in the industry, and the globalization of labour markets and clients. Hear from businesses that can showcase practices that have proven to be effective in recruiting, integrating and retaining Internationally Trained Workers that can serve as models for the rest for the sector.

3.  Partnering for Success:  Aboriginal Inclusion

Are you aware of all the possible partnership opportunities that you can tap into to help build an Aboriginal workforce? Learn from a successful example out of Ontario that provided long-term jobs for Aboriginal people all supported by programs to train and engage these workers.

CLOSING KEYNOTE: Jim Knight- Senior Director of Training, Hard Rock International

Performance That Rocks

This is an interactive session effectively designed to highlight best practices to create and maintain a strong employee and guest culture.  The session focuses on managing people and developing the performance of others. One of the hardest things you may do is impact and influence the performance and behaviours of others. In most companies, this is where the rubber meets the road. You will gain valuable insight and tools by which you can attain great results…through your employees. This session will be dedicated to all areas of the Employee Life Cycle, showcasing a few easy things that you can do to create an “Army of Giants”.  Moving at blazing speed, Jim Knight’s session will be full of visual PowerPoint slides, video, personal stories and an interactive handout for some real “take aways”…all told through the spirit of Rock ‘n Roll.