crossover 2016

Crossover Event 2016 (1)Join meeting planners, meeting providers, congress destinations and professionals working in tourism and marketing at Conventa Crossover conference, international conference dedicated to the future of MICE and travel marketing.

When & where: 29 – 30 August 2016 in Hotel Lev, Ljubljana, Slovenia. 

“We are absolutely delighted that so many speakers have announced their presence already at this stage, and we know that there are many more to come,” says Conventa Crossover founder Gorazd Čad

Ciara Feely
Hotel Conference Sales Specialist, Conference Converter & FindaConferenceVenue.com, Ireland

Ciara  teaches an approach to the Conference & Meetings Market that has an impact on Market Share and Profitability.” (John Simonich, Area Director IHG)  Ciara shows sales teams how to attract & convert more group leads and win more market share.    She has developed a Simple 7 Point System on how to do this. The key to this is understanding your business from the Planner’s point of view.

Ciara helps Hotel teams to be leaders in the sales process & take control.  It’s not about how the team want to sell; it’s about how the client wants to buy.  She has been an Agent for 10 years (and a hotelier before that).  She shows sales teams how to develop the relationship the buyer wants to have, that will deliver you more wins.  Ciara speaks at international industry shows such as ibtm world, MPI, The International Association of Conference Centers and Incentive Works Toronto.  Her sales program is certified by Meeting Planners International.

Lea Lipovšek
Chief Marketing Officer, Madwise digital agency, Slovenia
Thorsteinn Örn Gudmundsson
Managing Director Meet in Reykjavik, Iceland

Thorsteinn Örn is the Managing Director of Meet in Reykjavík. He has vast experience and knowledge as a senior manager within the tourism and airline industry as well as years of experience as a management consultant at McKinsey & Company in Scandinavia and Singapore.
He holds a M.Sc. degree in Civil Engineering from the Technical University of Denmark.

slaven-reljic
Slaven Reljić
Managing director, Coral Group, Croatia
Slaven Reljić, born in 1974 in Zadar, Croatia. Earned his Master of Science degree at the Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Zagreb – course: Tourism and Marketing. With more than 20 years of experience in tourism and business events organization, Slaven is currently a partner and a CEO of Coral Group DMC/PCO Croatia.

Slaven started his professional career as a Project Manager in business events department of Atlas Travel Agency – at that time biggest DMC (destination management company) in Croatia. He also worked in their USA marketing office.  A decade of entrepreneurship followed, when Slaven was a partner and a CEO in the DMC/PCO, handling the biggest Croatian and international brands, institutions and embassies in Zagreb for their business events.

In 2013 he accepted a position on the national tourism level and was an Assistant Director for Strategic Planning and Marketing in the Croatian National Tourist Board (CNTB), where he gained additional valuable professional experience and understanding of the public sector. After a one year contract in CNTB, he is back in private sector. Slaven is now a partner and a CEO of Coral Group DMC/PCO  –  an agency that specializes in business events organization and travel.

Slaven is also a passionate traveler who has visited five continents and is a fluent English, French, German and Italian speaker. He is also a co-founder and the Secretary of the Croatian Meeting Professionals Association (CMPA), a member of SITE (Society for Incentive Travel Excellence) and Croatian Academic Business club (HAPK) and a certified manager of the Travelife sustainability system in tourism.

“Destination management is more than a job to me. It is my passion. I am lucky to be born in Croatia, on the Mediterranean coast, whose beauties I can share with the whole world”

Damjan Obal
Head of UX & Design at GVC group, Slovenia

Design manager, UX strategist, product designer and design researcher. A boy dreaming of magical portals, searching for places where design, technology and stories meet.

His Computer Science PhD talks about integrating users in the design process and he defended it while crafting products for the likes of CNN, AP, United Arab Emirates, Deutsche Bahn, Gorenje, Iskratel, Mayo Clinic. As well as a bunch of cool startups and some of the best NGOs (TED, Challenge:Future).

Launched a couple of products and 2 startups. Last one was Edgar (EdgarTells.me). The startup that brings the power of brand storytelling to small businesses.

Filip Vasic
Creative Brand Strategy, Lead 52:HOURS, Czech Republic

Anthropologist and Creative Lead at Nydrle Digital, Publicis, Havas and BBDO. Author of awarded brand strategies and advertising campaigns for clients such as Komerční Banka, Citibank, Raiffeisen Bank, Mondelez, Renault etc. Conducted and coordinated ethnographic research at several international projects in Serbia, Montenegro and Hungary.

Aoife McCrum
Manager, Social Media & Digital Marketing, SoolNua, Ireland

Aoife McCrum is the Social Media & Digital Marketing Manager at SoolNua, a boutique consultancy firm working in the meetings & events industry. Previously McCrum interned at Ovation Global DMC, the destination management arm of MCI, a global association, communications and event management company. It was here that she worked with the Global Sales & Marketing department and gained her first insight into the MICE industry.

Aoife holds a BA degree in Advertising & Marketing from The Institute of Technology Tallaght. She has a keen interest and experience in the hospitality & service industries after five years of waitressing and working in retail.

Aoife is highly skilled in video and has produced a full suite of destination videos presenting SoolNua’s “alternative” viewpoint on Dublin, Barcelona and Milan amongst others. She co-ordinated all the on-line and digital marketing elements of the MIMA award winning social media campaign at IMEX Frankfurt 2015 for Croke Park Meetings & Events. She currently manages all on and off line marketing for SoolNua and her work may be viewed at www.soolnua.com.

Aoife is an avid follower of many sports and is an especially passionate Leinster & Manchester United fan. Standing at 5’3” and of small build, Aoife is the proud holder of a Silver Medal in Discus at all-Leinster level.

ivana-preiss
Ivana Preiss
Design Strategy, Lead 52:HOURS, Czech Republic

Product UX Designer and Head of Service Design Department at Kindred Group. Conducted ethnographic research and developed brand and service design strategies for corporations and start- ups. Pioneered the concept of service design and innovation strategy in the Czech Republic. Official keynote speaker at international conferences in the Czech Republic, Poland and Croatia.

Jovana Miljanović
Multi Passionate Entrepreneur and Travel Blogger, Serbia

Jovana worked at major technology companies in New York, London and Belgrade (VEVO, Estro Communications, EntrepreneurHandbook, White City Soft, Devana Technologies),  co-founded 3 mobile apps.

In 2015 she founded JM Consulting, marketing consulting agency providing services of content marketing, community management, social medial & SEO. The agency is doing community management for big Serbian brands: EuroBank, Usce Shopping Centar, Medi Group, Medica Aestetica and startup clients like TravEx, Hostel2hostel, DataMaid, GiftConnect.

Competitions&Awards

• Co-founded 3 mobile apps. Got $30.000 seed investment from “DP World” to develop my mobile app start-up in Dubai.
• 1st place in Austrian Airlines, Wow Air Iceland and FlyDubai Global Blogger Challenges.
• Award of the City of Belgrade for extraordinary achievement in the field of art for organizing SUND Festival.
• Passed MBTI test with “IT” Intuitive Thinker score (5% of global population).
• Presented Serbia in Telenor Youth Forum in Oslo and Nobel Peace Prize 2015 with my idea on how to use Internet and modern technology to enable young people from all around the world to have the same opportunities.
• Official Blogger at Spark.Me Conference 2016, CocaCola Network Adria Blogger, Cosmopolitan Magazine Lifestyle Editor

Jovana is fluent in Serbian, English and French. Her hobbies include public Speaking, travel Blogging, researching about virtual reality, internet of things and new technologies

ninoslav-vidovic
Ninoslav Vidović
Chief Marketing Officer, Terme Maribor d.o.o., Slovenia

A highly accomplished Sales and Marketing Director with almost 20 years’ experience in the travel sector, and a record of expanding, building and operating units across the Far East, South America, Europe and North America.  Reputed for advanced sales and corporate development skills, has set up and achieved international acclaim for two new hotels, repositioned a destination from mass to market to luxury, and upgraded the marketing capabilities of several companies.  Will bring deep cultural knowledge, energy and international management experience to any travel or hotel group.

Magdalina Atanassova
Marketing Communications Manager, Kenes Group, Bulgaria

Magdalina Atanassova is an established professional in the industry with plenty of experience. Magdalina currently works as Marketing Communications Manager at Kenes Group. In 2015 she was recognized as a Top Young Professional by PCMA, joining the PCMA 20 in their Twenties Class of 2015, as well as being one of the Finalists for the inaugural IAPCO Innovation Award. She has been an invited speaker at a number of international events including IMEX and IMEX America, IBTM, IAPCO AGM, Eventex Conference, and more, and has written and published various event management related articles.

Magdalina is also known for her passion for sustainability – she was part of the International delegation for the development of ISO20121 and has been on the Advisory Board of the Sustainable Event Alliance (SEA) since its inception.

Magdalina-Atanassova
Martijn-Timmermans
Martijn Timmermans
Co-founder, Creative Director, The Red Line Project & Event StoryBoard canvas, The Netherlands

Martijn Timmermans is co-founder and creative director of The Red Line Project, www.TheRedLineProject.com, an Amsterdam based events experience design agency.

He started his career in experience marketing at Disneyland Paris, Marriott and Singapore Airlines, and transitioning into events as a meeting designer and facilitator.

Martijn believes the MICE market is sitting on a holy grail. If we use the magic of storytelling we can design and execute events that have both autonomous and shared experiences.

For his views and experience on meeting design, audience engagement and storytelling practices he is invited to speak frequently.

In 2015 he co-founded Event StoryBoard, www.storyboard.events as a result of a simple observation: audiences expect to be engaged, connected and amazed during their event experience, but events are struggling to do so. This need led Martijn to create a vision for storytelling event design and a canvas to support it. With an easy to use, fast and visual design approach, events can become amazing experiences that are meaningful and unique. They’re on a mission to create a world full of memorable experiences!

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SOURCEKONGRES MAGAZINE
A long-time meetings industry addict, Gorazd is the Founder and owner of marketing and event agency Toleranca Marketing. He has many years of experience in planning, preparing and carrying out large international meetings and exhibitions. As the founder of the "Power to the Meetings" methodology, he still firmly believes in the power of live events and human to human communication. He is also the author of numerous articles and editor-in-chief of the meetings industry magazine Kongres Magazine.