Schedule
November 5-7, 2024 - Yellowknife, NWT
We can’t wait to see you!
Check out our spectacular program for the 2024 NWT Tourism AGM & Conference!
The 2024 AGM and Conference will take place at The Explorer Hotel.
The 2024 Dinner and Celebration Event will be held at the Chateau Nova Hotel.
Meet Our 2024 Speakers
Peter Pilarski
Founder, Tourism AI Network & President CIPR Communications
NWT Tourism is excited to introduce our keynote speaker, Peter Pilarski! Peter is an innovative entrepreneur with two decades of marketing and communications expertise who will guide attendees through the intricacies of AI. His insights will shed light on how businesses can leverage AI to unlock unexpected value and gain a competitive edge. Key takeaways will include:
Understand the real-world implications of AI for individual businesses.
Discover strategies to harness AI's potential for your business advantage.
This presentation aims to address the pivotal question: "What does AI mean for MY business?" With countless blogs, emails, and articles discussing AI's transformative potential, it can be challenging to discern its genuine impact on individual businesses.
Find Peter on You Tube as a podcast guest or webinar host, or check out his website for more information!
Angela Nagy
President & CEO, GreenStep Solutions
NWT Tourism and the Government of the NWT are pleased to welcome Angela Nagy, CEO of GreenStep Solution, to deliver industry training at the 2024 NWTT Conference. GreenStep has provided sustainability strategies and programs for thousands of small and medium-sized enterprises since 2008. Through their Sustainable Tourism division, Angela and her team provide solutions that help tourism destinations and businesses to improve their sustainability performance, including sustainability strategy development, assessments, certifications, eco-funding, consulting, training programs, and carbon footprint measurement.
Angela has been trained by former Vice President and Nobel Laureate, Al Gore, David Suzuki, and IPCC scientists to deliver the Climate Reality Project and is certified in Organizational GHG Accounting through the Greenhouse Gas Management Institute, and as a Sustainability Practitioner through The Natural Step. Her experience also includes politics, and Angela has served as an elected official at both the municipal and regional levels, elected on a platform of sustainability.
Check out the website if you’d like to learn more about Angela and GreenStep Solutions!
Sustainable Success: Adapting and Thriving as a Northern Tourism Business
Training Session Description: Unleash the potential of sustainability in your operations with this dynamic four-hour workshop designed for small to medium-sized (SMEs) tourism operators in remote communities. This engaging and interactive session is tailored to address the diverse needs of various types of businesses and industry members. Throughout the workshop, you'll:
Explore real-world best practices, catering to the unique requirements of SMEs in remote locations and various sectors.
Develop practical strategies for implementing sustainability measures in your operations, marketing, and customer interactions.
Learn how to leverage your existing sustainable practices to enhance customer appeal and demonstrate your commitment to responsible tourism.
Engage in collaborative discussions with fellow businesses, exchanging ideas and learning from shared experiences in the northern tourism industry.
Whether you're a seasoned enterprise or a budding tourism entrepreneur, this workshop will provide you with concrete solutions and takeaways to put into action immediately. Join us and pioneer a more sustainable and successful future for your business.
Kyla Hochfilzer
Senior Marketing Director, North America, Destination Canada
Kyla is committed to having a positive impact on people and planet. Since joining Destination Canada in 2016, she has led programs that add value to the tourism industry and inspire travellers with the enriching experiences Canada has to offer.
In her career she has had the honour of managing award-winning teams and marketing initiatives in Europe, Asia, Australia and North America. Currently Kyla leads Destination Canada’s work in the US, earning attention for Canada in a competitive marketplace to grow demand and tourism revenue for communities from coast to coast to coast.
Outside of work you’ll find Kyla travelling or with her hands in the soil. An organic farmer, she volunteers on the board of a regenerative farm that protects local biodiversity and grows produce for community members facing food insecurity.
NWT Tourism looks forward to welcoming Kyla and having an update on Destination Canada’s strategies, with specific focus on North America.
Ken Brooker
Owner/Operator, Ken Brooker Inc.
Based in Port Moody, British Columbia, Ken Brooker is a highly respected and sought-after Location Manager and Unit Manager. He has worked with nearly all of the major Studio and Networks in both the United States and Canada, most notably withNBC/Universal, Disney, and Amblin Entertainment. Ken is experienced working in all budget classes from Studio tent-pole productions to independent feature-films and television series and has consulted on unscripted television projects. He has taught coursework on scouting for NWT’s Professional MediaAssociation, and consulted for the NWT Film Commission. He has been published twice in COMPASS magazine (Spring 2020 and Fall 2023). Ken has worked extensively in Canada’s North on shows like Yukonic, Red Snow, and all three seasons of CBC’s acclaimed television series, Arctic Air. He has also worked extensively with Crown Lands, BC Parks, NWT Territorial Parks, and First Nations partners in BC and NWT.
He is actively involved in the Location Managers Guild International, where he has been a two-term Board Member and currently serves as the Co-Chair of Marketing and Communications, as well as the Chair of the Regional/International Committee. Ken is a senior member of the Directors Guild of Canada in British Columbia, and has served on the Board as 1st Vice Chairman, and 2nd Vice Chairman. Ken is a voting member of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences and the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television. He holds a B.A. in Psychology and History from the University of Alberta and graduated from the Production Program at the prestigious Vancouver Film School.
Selected Credits:
Wild Cards, Tracker, Resident Alien, Arctic Air, The Returned, Bates Motel, Noëlle, Underworld: Evolution, HotRod, The Butterfly Effect, Girlfriend’s Guide to Divorce, Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants, Mimzy, Romeo MustDie, Best in Show.
Community Experiences
We are so excited to bring you three experiences from local community members. These events will take place simultaneously from 2:30-4:30 on Thursday, November 7.
If you would like to participate in one of these experiences, sign up at our registration table at the start of the conference November 5.
Space in each experience is limited, there is no cost to participants!
Yellowknife Historical Museum Tour
Giant Mine Site, Transportation Provided
The Yellowknife Historical Museum and Interpretive Centre showcases Yellowknife’s Indigenous, sporting, cultural, geological, and mining history. Along with our exhibit hall, this Museum also has a gift shop that is stocked almost entirely by local artists.
Local historian Walt Humphries will be onsite to provide a guided tour.
*Note: This experience is 1 hour in duration.
Wild Tea & Wellness Product Making Workshop with Laughing Lichen
The Explorer Hotel, Katimavik D/E Rooms
Sample an assortment of wild herbal tea locally foraged in the NWT wilderness!
Participants will craft handmade beeswax candles infused with locally foraged wild botanicals
Participants will learn to craft a wild Lip balm infused with wild plants
Each participant will receive a printed recipe and take home information
Earring Workshop with Mashicho
Mashicho , Centre Ice Plaza
Transportation Provided
Make your own pair of beaded earrings in a workshop lead by April Bell, creator behind Etoas’s Earrings and owner of Yellowknife’s newest beading and traditional craft store, Mashicho.
