The Speakers

 

 

Nick Westergaard

Founder Brand Driven Digital

Nick Westergaard is a brand strategist and founder of Brand Driven Digital, a social media strategy, training, and management firm that helps build social brands. He works with clients large and small to build strong brands and activate them across digital touch points including social media. He has blogged about marketing since 2005, His thoughts have been featured on MarketingProfs, 12 Most, and The Gazette’s Business 380, where he is a monthly columnist, Entrepreneur magazine and Mashable amongst others.

 

Fergus Parker

CEO, Axonn Media

Fergus Parker is CEO of content marketing agency Axonn Media. Headquartered in London, UK, Axonn Media is home to brands including ContentPlus and NewsReach, through which it delivers content marketing strategy, creation and technology to customers across Europe and beyond. Fergus believes it should be simple for everyone to harness the power of content marketing, and he’s proud of what Axonn Media does to help organisations communicate clearly to their audiences.

 

Daniel Noll and Audrey Scott

Uncornered Market

Daniel Noll and Audrey Scott are writers, digital storytellers, speakers and consultants. They are founders and editors of Uncornered Market, a travel blog that inspires readers to create a story-filled life. Daniel and Audrey have provided social media and strategic online marketing consulting to tourism boards, DMOs, ecolodges and global organizations like the UNWTO-backed Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC). They are also inaugural members of the G Adventures’ Wanderers in Residence (WIR) program and have cooperated with a range of tourism boards, travel companies and product companies on various campaigns. They have spoken at UNWTO Tourism & Media, ITB, INDABA, ATTA, EyeforTravel, TBEX and inspirational venues like TEDx. Together, they have been traveling around the world for over 7 years together, telling stories about destinations’ more personal and human dimensions, often challenging stereotypes and shifting perceptions along the way. After visiting more than 80 countries, they are still going…and still married.

 

Simon Andrews

Founder, Addictive 

Simon launched Addictive in 2010 to focus on mobile and built a team that is now recognized as thought leaders across mobile and social. Their weekly newsletter Mobile Fix is widely read in Google, Facebook, Yahoo and eBay as well as by many brands and agencies. He is frequently asked to speak at events in the UK and abroad – including ones ran by Google, Facebook and Yahoo. Addictive clients include Northern & Shell, Diageo, Visit Britain, LV, IPC, Hearst, ClearChannel and Intel. Client projects cover strategy consulting, advising on service design and user experience and campaign development – including designing and building apps and mobile sites.

 

Katie Anne Harrison

Creative, Wieden+Kennedy 

Katie Harrison is a creative at Wieden+Kennedy London and specialises in social content. Her work has been as varied as developing two megastars in Romania to launching a global competition with the Prada Foundation. With a background in animation, she co-runs SON, a DIY production company who directed the first music video on Vine. Katie is also a visiting lecturer at Central Saint Martins School of Art and Design, with a vision to inspire a new generation of modern makers.

 

Debbie Hindle

Managing Director, Four bgb

Debbie Hindle (@debbie_hindle) is the Managing Director of travel PR and Representation experts Four bgb – the dedicated travel practice of Four Communications, which PR Week has ranked as the 6th leading independent communications company in the UK, and 4th digital agency in the country.  Debbie has specialised in travel communications for the past two decades. She’s shared her experience by speaking at conferences and events in the UK, continental Europe, Russia and the Middle East on subjects as varied as encouraging the travel industry to  work with bloggers and explaining how bloggers can connect with travel brands  –  through to destination branding, how not to outsource social media and PR, crisis communications and sustainable tourism.

 

Catharina Fischer

Social Media and Press Relations Officer at GNTB

Catharina studied Tourism Management at the University of Applied Sciences Munich and at Edinburgh Napier University before joining the German National Tourist Board, . She started her career in tourism with an apprenticeship in a small private school in Berlin and a three years experience as a freelance project manager for an event consulting agency. After different internships in various tourism enterprises during her studies she started a trainee program for the German National Tourist Board in 2009. During this program she was temporarily based in the New York office and among other things responsible to organize and manage all press trips for the annual meeting of the Society of American Travel Writers in Dresden, Germany. Since 2011 she has been responsible for all social media activities and online public relations of the German National Tourist Board and last year`s successful social media campaign “Youth HotSpots in Germany – Share the moment”.

 

Keith Jenkins

Founder and Publisher of Velvet Escape

Keith Jenkins is the Founder and Publisher of the Velvet Escape luxury travel blog. Based in Amsterdam, Keith left his ten-year investment banking career to travel the world and carve out a new career as a travel blogger and social media advocate. He has visited more than 70 countries across six continents. In addition to being a travel blogger, Keith often speaks at travel and social media conferences, and offers social media and marketing services via iambassador, a company he founded in 2011. He is also the co-founder of the Global Bloggers Network, a community of more than 3,000 travel bloggers. Keith has been featured in The New York Times, BBC Travel, Lonely Planet, National Geographic Traveler, and has spoken at TEDxTalk.

 

Alastair McKenzie

Travel Journalist and Social Media Influencer

Alastair McKenzie is a travel journalist and ‘influencer’ with one foot in traditional media and the other in social media. A local and national (Classic FM) radio travel presenter since 1989, he moved online just before the millennium and has been a freelance digital travel journalist ever since. He has been Webmaster and a regular committee member of the British Guild of Travel Writers since 2002, and an active member of the travel blogger community since 2010, speaking or moderating at travel related social media events, and advising the travel & tourism industry on blogging and social media developments. His own long-standing travel site & blog is Alastair McKenzie’s Travel Lists, and he hosts The Travel Coffee Break, a regular weekly ‘live’ Hangout on Air.

 

Angelika Schwaff

Founder of Reisefreunde

Angelika studied Journalism and Communications at Freie Universität Berlin. Following her Masters, she worked as a Radio Journalist in Berlin, then became a Freelance Writer and filmed a 90minute Documentary for Public Broadcasting Television. From 2003 to end of 2007 Angelika held a position as a Press Officer with Air Berlin, launching and establishing the airline’s new low cost products. In 2008 she started working at Germanwings as Head of International Communications and as a Spokesperson. In 2012 she left Germanwings to start her own business. Angelika is a professional Travel Blogger of the Blog Reisefreunde and Consultant in Blogger Relations, Social Media and Crisis Communications. She also started to take on assignments for travel publications and has been a speaker on international blogger conferences such as TBEX, TBU, Blogst and the Hive. In 2012 she founded the Reiseblogger Kollektiv (German Travel Blogger Collective) to set professional standards in the German Travel Blogsphere. Later that year, she joined Keith Jenkins and Melvin Boecher at iambassador to become their Chief Strategy Officer. Her home base is Berlin.

 

Yvonne Zagermann

Founder of Just Travelous

Yvonne Zagermann is a professional German TV journalist with over 10 years experience in travel shows, news, documentary and corporate films for hotels and destinations. She finished her traineeship at a TV station during her sociology studies and has worked since 2001 as TV-journalist and since June 2010 as a freelancer for different national TV stations and production companies. For her report “red! @ the city: Berlin“ she was awarded in 2012 with the “Columbus TV Preis“ by the German travel journalist association. Yvonne is also the publisher of the award-winning travel blog “JUST travelous“. In 2012 she founded the Reiseblogger Kollektiv (German Travel Blogger Collective) to set professional standards in the German Travel Blogsphere. She’s also a member of iambassador. She has been a speaker on international conferences such as ITB, TBEX, TBU and GTM. Yvonne is based in Berlin.

 

Nina Hüpen-Bestendonk

Founder of Smaracuja

Originally a certificated communications designer, Nina began travel blogging during her studies in 2007. She co-founded the successful travel lifestyle magazine, Travelettes, in 2009 which she left in 2012 to focus on her own project, a german travel and photography blog called Smaracuja. In the same year she founded the Reiseblogger Kollektiv (German Travel Blogger Collective) together with six other successful colleagues to set professional standards in the German Travel Blogosphere. Since then she has worked as a social media and blogging consultant and has been a speaker at conferences and events like Social Media Week Berlin, ITB Berlin, Deutscher Journalisten Verband (German Journalist Association) and German Travel Mart. She has won several awards including the world championship of bouncy ball and has been featured by the official Instagram blog – the only travel blogger so far. Nina lives and works in Berlin, Germany.

 

Lea Hajner

Travel Writer

Lea Hajner is a travel writer with a soul close to nature and heart that beats for adventure. After graduating from the University of Applied Sciences in Vienna with a major in journalism/media management she packed her things and took off to see the world on a 8-months solo trip. After her return in 2010 she joined the pack at tripwolf.com (an online and mobile travel guide) as head of communications and social media. In 2012 she moved closed to the mountains and has been working as a freelance travel writer and blogger relations consultant since. In the last few years she’s helped organize blog trips for the Vienna and Tirol tourist board and has been a speaker at numerous conferences and organizations such as Brennpunkt eTourism, Deutsche Bahn or Austria Tourism. She is a co-founding member of the Reiseblogger Kollektiv (German Travel Blogger Collective) and lives in Innsbruck, Austria.

 

Maximillian Muhr

Head of SEO, BILD and CEO poliSYS UG 

As Head of SEO for BILD, the leading Newspaper in Germany, Max is responsible for the SEO-Team and all SEO-activities within the company including SEO for Travelbook and Stylebook. A frequent speaker on SEO at events such as SMX-Munich and SEO-Cruise, he is passionate about helping people do SEO right while also being entertaining on stage.

 

 

 

Shane Dallas

The Travel Camel

Though Shane Dallas has been blogging about his travels for more than ten years at The Travel Camel, he has been public speaking for over two decades, including giving presentations at international conferences, universities, business meetings and community gatherings in Australia, Europe, Asia and the Middle East. A winner of numerous speech competitions, Shane has coached hundreds of people in mastering the art of public speaking.

 

 

Melvin Böcher

Founder of Traveldudes

The founder of Traveldudes, Melvin Böcher realized that travel guides are heading for extinction, unless they evolve. He decided to use his experience and knowledge to bring guidebooks onto the next level! End of February the new Traveldudes will launch and Melvin will explain how the travel industry will profit from it with lots of free social exposure. Traveldudes.org is an online travel guidebook and one of the top influencers in social media. It is produced by travelers around the world, including bloggers and the industry. Travelers share their passion, experiences and inspire others.

Melvin is one of the top travel influencers online and the founder of Traveldudes.org – The Social Travel Guidebook, where travelers can exchange their passion and experiences. Melvin is also the co-founder of the onlineROIcalculator.com and of iambassador.net, which is known for creating some of the most successful and innovative marketing campaigns in the travel industry, creating € 1-3 million advertising value equivalents with travel bloggers.

 

William Price

Global Manager: Digital, South Africa Tourism

William has led the digital team at South African Tourism for the past five years. He has been in the digital communications world for more than 20 years, as part of agencies working on blue chip clients in South Africa, and also later having run his own Digital Agency which serviced South African Tourism as a client. At SA Tourism, he has taken the digital team from two team members to the second largest department in the organization, defined the online strategy and managed multiple agencies in various territories around the world. As a self confessed Internet junky, William continues to try to find all kinds of way to innovate and invigorate travel online for South African Tourism.

 

Mario Cacciottolo

Journalist and founder of Someone Once Told Me

Mario is a BBC journalist and was previously a reporter for two highly respected UK local newspapers. He has travelled to Israel and the West Bank to report on suicide bombers, visited Sri Lanka following the 2004 Tsunami to report on the aid effort, investigated prostitution at the London Olympics, interviewed a woman whose German father ran part of Auschwitz, covered the Maltese referendum on the introduction of divorce and reported on many of the UK’s breaking and hard news stories over the past eight years. He is also fully qualified and came top of the interview section of the National Certificate of Examination, the UK’s highest practical journalism qualification. Mario is also the founder of Someone Once Told Me.

 

Jaume Marin

Marketing Director, Costa Brava Girona Tourist Board

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 and thanks to the good results achieved, Costa Brava is now 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 more than 16 blogtrips and the co-organisation of TBEX 2012. Lecturer in the Univerity of Girona and speaker in many tourism conferences over the globe, Jaume is a proud supporter of storytelling and engagement, and has a strong trust in the power of blogging, communication and relationships

 

Nicholas Montemaggi

Digital Press Officer, Emilia Romagna Tourism Board

Nicholas is the Digital Press Officer of the Emilia Romagna Tourist Board in Italy. Member of the Tourist Board’s Web Strategy & Marketing department since 2010, he is the co-founder and Project Manager of Blogville Emilia Romagna, an innovative online/offline project launched in early 2012 that provides international bloggers a home and services in Italy. Blogville has been internationally awarded and recognized as one of the best case histories in the DMO-Bloggers relations strategies for building a joint campaign for the promotion of a destination.

 

David Arcifa

Corporate Social Media Manager at MSC Cruises

David Arcifa is Corporate Social Media Manager at MSC Cruises.  From the Geneva-based HQ he designs and implements the company’s global social media strategy for more than 30 countries. Before joining the company in August 2012, he worked for almost five years for Nestlé Italy as Digital Communication and CRM Specialist and for RAI Corporation, Italy’s national public broadcasting company, in New York City. David strongly believes that a combination of brand-generated online content and engagement with independent bloggers is the way ahead for cruise lines seeking a wider market and new customers.

 

Kash Bhattacharya

Founder of BudgetTraveller

Better known as the ‘BudgetTraveller’, Kash Bhattacharya is a travel blogger, blogger outreach specialist and social media professional. 2013 was a landmark year for BudgetTraveller. Kash was shortlisted as a finalist in Best Travel Blogger category at the British Travel Press Awards. In August 2013, Kash launched the Luxury Hostels of Europe e-book which showcased 40 of Europe’s leading Luxury Hostels. The project has been featured by the New York Times, Guardian, CNN and won the most innovative blogging award at World Travel Market last year.  In September 2013, Kash, in partnership with the German National Tourism Office, launched his 2nd e-book: ‘BudgetTraveller’s German Wanderlust- a series of 48 hour travel guides to Germany’s leading youth hotspots which you can download for free here.