Wednesday, November 26th @ 5:30pm
Starboard Grill
Agenda:
6:00pm Welcome - Teresa Bird: President Alberni Valley Chamber of Commerce
6:05pm MAYOR'S WELCOME. - MAYOR - ELECT MR. MIKE RUTTAN
6:20pm - Dinner
6:45pm - Bill Collette - Chamber Announcements
6:50pm - Introduction - Ms. Crystal McMillan - Bear Smart BC
Ms. McMillan along with Bill Collette will update the audience on plans for a new Welcome to Port Alberni Sign as part of the Bear Smart BC acknowlgement. The signage desires are significant and would be placed on the Chamber/Visitor Center property thus positioned strategically to welcome people to the area. The goals of the sign project are to ensure that it is a well crafted piece of art consistent with what is currently being seen around the area including: Parksville, Qualicum Beach, Rathtrevor Provincial Park, Sproat Lake Provincial Park to name a few.
See: http://www.bearsmartbc.com
7:10pm Introduction - Josh Bickerton - Butchart Gardens/ David Roberts - Victoria's Butterfly Gardens
Josh Bickerton works in the Sales & Marketing Department at The Butchart Gardens. He has worked at the company for 20 years and originally started working in the Blue Poppy Restaurant as a dishwasher. One year later he moved to the Visitor Services Department and worked in that department for 5 years, parking cars, picking up garbage and working firework nights. During this period he attended Camosun College and graduated from the Marketing Program in 2001. Over the last 14 years he has traveled all over Canada and the world promoting The Butchart Gardens. Josh is happily married with three children and lives in North Saanich.
David Roberts was born and raised in Toronto, Ontario. He moved out to Victoria in November of 1989. In 1994, his career began in Tourism. He joined Gray Line of Victoria and became a double decker bus driver/tour guide. While this was a huge departure from his career prior to arriving in Victoria, he found that tourism was in his blood. He loved dealing with people on a more intimate basis.
David found being able to play a small part in enhancing a guest's experience in the destination is a huge thrill. He went on to win various awards in his time at Gray Line, including: Employee of the Year, the Princess Cruise Lines Guide of the Season and Scenic Tours Driver of the Year.
David moved to Vancouver to become the Operations Manager for Scenic Tours-Canada. It was the next year that David got the chance to move back to Victoria as the Sales and Operations Manager for Prince of Whales. During his time there he successfully ran for a seat on the Tourism Victoria Board. He served on both the Marketing and Finance Committees.
In November of 2010, David started in his new role as the General Manager of Victoria Butterfly Gardens. It is in this current role that he has continued to grow and take on new challenges including being the Chair at Attractions Victoria, Vice President at Gardens BC and President of the Peninsula Shuttle program. Through his leadership and with help of many key people in the industry, David was able to realize one of his goals of bringing the industry closer together. The creation a singular destination map that is now endorsed by Tourism Victoria, Attractions Victoria and the Greater Victoria Harbour Authority will bring the destination closer together. David is always ready to lend a hand and help the industry flourish as he believes if the destination succeeds so will we all.
Mr. Bickerton and Mr. Roberts will be on site this evening to inform us of happenings in their high volume tourist environments in the Victoria area paying special attention to their partnerships in the Tourism Industry and how effective that has become for them. As well, expect them to promote Community Involvement as part of the overall role in your business. .
http://www.butterflygardens.com/
http://www.butchartgardens.com/
