IGLTA Convention in Toronto - May 2009 - Take 3

By -
Ah, the convention is now in full swing... everyone has reconnected and yet the schmoozing and networking never seems to stop!  On Friday, everyone is hustling and bustling along, starting with the opening breakfast where David Whitaker of Tourism Toronto welcomes us all to Toronto.  The day is then a mix of various workshops and a great lunch sponsored by Air Canada.

The real highlight of Friday is yet to come... the consumer travel trade show held in the gay village at Maple Leaf Gardens.  Although the lighting was dim, the event was a complete success.  Various IGLTA members were able to exhibit their companies to both the other IGLTA members attending the convention as well as the hundreds of gay travel consumers to marched through the aisles.  Along with a Brazilian Samba performance that blew everyone away with some very HOT dancers and performers (OK, the drumming did last a bit long... my ears are still recovering), the night was a complete success.  This was the night most of the attendees headed straight over from the travel trade show into the gay village... and our own John Tanzella even blessed us all with a drag performance at Zelda's that was of course caught on cell phone video and broadcast for all to see the next morning.  You go, John!

On a personal note, I had a great evening, albeit mellow (since we did have so much fun celebrating my birthday the night before).  I thought I'd get a nice quiet bite to eat at this really great Indian food restaurant located just outside the Conexity.com office, and as I'm relaxing and chatting with Richard, along comes Jeff Marsh from Orbitz.com and then Tom and Dave from Community Marketing.  It was one of the wonderful, unplanned evenings that I thoroughly enjoyed!

Saturday the Media Trade Show breakfast began... it's always cute to watch our IGLTA Convention attendees roll in for that Saturday morning breakfast one by one... you can always tell who went out, who stayed in and who went crazy by the way they stroll in.  The breakfast was a success, however, and it allowed the various media companies in attendance to mix nicely with the attendees and "talk shop" for just a little while.

Of course, as with all IGLTA Conventions, it was the anticipation of the upcoming Gala Dinner that had everyone buzzing.  And this evening was not one to disappoint.  I had the opportunity to sit at a table with my dear friend Kelsey Bray of Earhart Adventures, along with the Air Canada folks who had sponsored so many functions during this event.  The evening went without a hitch, with the ProudFM local personality Deb MCing the night.  The new board was introduced, with Mya Lake Reyes from Las Vegas CVA and Tanya Churchmuch of Tourism Montreal / GirlPorts.com becoming our newest board members, and Steve Smith from Key West winning a board of directors comeback!  For the IGLTA awards presented for best website and best brochure, our friends from OutAdventures.com took 2 out of the 3 awards presented that night, and Clovis Casemiro of Brazil was awarded the Ambassador of the Year award.  Especially thrilling was our past board Chairman, Andrew Stokes of Marketing Manchester receiving the Hall of Fame Award, and Juan Julia of Axel Hotels receiving the Chairman's Awards.

What was really fun was the dance set up just outside of the dinner, along with a full Belgian chocolate fountain with lots of goodies to try out, all sponsored by our friends from Antwerp, the location of the 2010 IGLTA Convention next year.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Affiliate Marketing is a performance based sales technique used by companies to expand their reach into the internet at low costs. This commission based program allows affiliate marketers to place ads on their websites or other advertising efforts such as email distribution in exchange for payment of a small commission when a sale results.
www.onlineuniversalwork.com
January 7, 2010 at 9:53 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Advertise on the Top Gay iPhone app - Grindr

By -
Image
Do you want to reach gay men on one of the hottest new media platforms of 2010 the iPhone app!? We have teamed up with the #1 iPhone app reaching gay men today...  Grindr! With a reach of over 500,000 gay men worldwide (150,000 members visiting daily) and growing, Grindr has become not only the hottest new buzzword among gay men across the globe, it is also the top iPhone app in use by this desirable demographic. Set your company apart from the rest and let them see your brand associated with some of the most cutting-edge technology today! Grindr  has several advertising options as outlined below. Banner ads  - We are able to offer you banner advertising on a cost-per-click (CPC) basis of $0.25. We can link this banner ad to a website of your choice, an iPhone app, iTunes store URL, etc. To get started, we would work with you to set both a daily and a monthly budget. From this budget, we would monitor and serve your banner ads, providing you an up-to-date report as to how your ad
Read more

Some Pink Banana Media Excerpts from our Brand | Pride Interview

By -
Image
We recently contributed to an interview in Business Equality Magazine on behalf of the partnership we're a part of with Brand | Pride .  The following are some excerpts from that interview that shine a spotlight on some of the unique things we're doing here at Pink Banana Media and the #ILoveGay Network . What expertise do the participating companies bring to Brand Pride? On the social media front, Pink Banana Media brings over 23+ years of experience in helping companies find their LGBTQ audience online.  With an emphasis on helping companies “get their message out” to their target LGBTQ demographic, a lot of campaigns now begin with a company’s event and pride festival outreach.  With our #ILoveGay network, we become their partners in amplifying their various Tweets and other social media when using a company specific hashtag (such as #ComcastFacesOfPride , #WeAreBold by AT&T, #ForeverProud by TD Bank and #UnlimitedPride by T-Mobile).  With most clients, we s
Read more

#ILoveGay and the LGBT Twitter 360° Environment & Network Effect

By -
Image
As part of our overall blog posting series on the LGBT TwitterSphere , we're here to introduce the #ILoveGay network and how it fits into the LGBT Twitter ecosystem . What is #ILoveGay and what does it do?  Simply put, #ILoveGay is a network of LGBT Twitter profiles, each focused on a particular niche in the LGBT online community.  Some are unique to a specific region of the world, such as  @ILoveGayPS and @ILoveGayNYC , while others focus on niche communities within the LGBT online community, such as  @ILoveLGBTBiz and @ILoveGayHistory .  The entire set of #ILoveGay profiles can be viewed online here: www.ilovegay.lgbt . The content shared on the #ILoveGay network ranges from articles and blog posts from LGBT media, as well as LGBT articles found on more mainstream media such as the NY Times and CNN .  In addition, content is shared from other Twitter users that are part of that niche LGBT online community, as well as businesses.  It is this mix of user- and business-g
Read more