Creative Lapland Seminar

noreply@blogger.com (Blogmaster) — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 07:06:00 +0000

21 April 2010, 9.30-17.00
Hotel Santa Claus
Rovaniemi, Finland

Co-Creating Meaningful Brand Experiences
David Norton, Stonemantel (USA)

It’s not enough today to create experiences. Consumers are very particular about the types of experiences they want. Today, more than ever, they want to spend their money on experiences that they feel matter. Your brand strategy is dependent upon your company’s ability to co-create meaningful experiences with your customers.

Travel 2.0 - Strategy and Tactics for Social Web Activities in Travel and Tourism
Martin Schobert, Tourismusdesign (Austria)

Why is important for DMOs to actively exploit the social media? How do you engage your customers to create content on your destination. From strategy to practice. Pitfalls and successful cases.

Something to phone home about
Stefan Moritz (Sweden)

Practical overview of the Service Design methodology. Stefan will show examples, inspirational ideas and clear steps to start using service design principles, as well as share a few trade secrets from around the world.

Human culture and tourism 2010+ - future tourist segments and Finnish potential
Kati Hienonen (Finland)

And this is not all! You will also get to hear other interesting cases and participate in voting who's going to win the Rovaniemi Design Week 24-hour design challenge.

The evening party is, of course, not to be missed. Where at? The only way to find out is to participate...Let's create it together!
(please note that there is limited amout of tickets for the evening program. Make sure you have yours by booking early!)

All this just for 190 €! Register now!

Accommodation

noreply@blogger.com (Blogmaster) — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 13:31:00 +0000

Clarion Hotel Santa Claus
Single room 79€
Double room 99€
(Please mention that you are Creative Lapland Seminar participant)

Contact details:
Clarion Hotel Santa Claus, Korkalonkatu 29, 96200 ROVANIEMI
Tel. +358 16 321 3227
E-mail: sales@hotelsantaclaus.fi

6th Creative Lapland Seminar focuses on co-creation

noreply@blogger.com (Blogmaster) — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 11:56:00 +0000

21 April 2010, 9.30-17.00
Hotel Santa Claus
Rovaniemi, Finland

Co-Creating Meaningful Brand Experiences
David Norton, Stonemantel (USA)

It’s not enough today to create experiences. Consumers are very particular about the types of experiences they want. Today, more than ever, they want to spend their money on experiences that they feel matter. Your brand strategy is dependent upon your company’s ability to co-create meaningful experiences with your customers.

Travel 2.0 - Strategy and Tactics for Social Web Activities in Travel and Tourism
Martin Schobert, Tourismusdesign (Austria)

Why is important for DMOs to actively exploit the social media? How do you engage your customers to create content on your destination. From strategy to practice. Pitfalls and successful cases.

Something to phone home about
Stefan Moritz (Sweden)

Practical overview of the Service Design methodology. Stefan will show examples, inspirational ideas and clear steps to start using service design principles, as well as share a few trade secrets from around the world.

Programme

noreply@blogger.com (Blogmaster) — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 11:54:00 +0000

Tuesday 20 April
Rovaniemi City Hall (Hallituskatu 7)

19.00 Get-together hosted by City of Rovaniemi

Wednesday 21 April
Clarion Hotel Santa Claus (Korkalonkatu 29)

9.00
Registration and morning coffee

9.30
Opening words
Chairman Ms. Asta Wallenius, Programme Director, Tourism and Experience Management Cluster

9.45
Co-Creating meaningful Brand Experiences
Mr. David Norton, Principal, Stone Mantel

10.45
Travel 2.0 – Strategy and Tactics for Social Web Activities in Travel and Tourism
Mr. Martin Schobert, CEO, TourismusDesing

11.45 Lunch

13.00
Something to phone home about. Practical overview of the Service Design methodology
Mr. Stefan Moritz, Consultant

13.45
Human culture and tourism 2010+
- future tourist segments and Finnish potential
Ms. Kati Hienonen, Perhosvaikutus Oy

14.30 Coffee break

15.00
Co-creating tourism products. Results from MIT project
Mr Mika Kylänen, Reseacher, University of Lapland

15.15
Rovaniemi Design Week 24h design challenge Presentations, voting and rewarding the winner

16.30
Conclusions and closing of the seminar

19.00
Evening program
Transportation from Hotel Santa Claus

The programme is subject to change.

Speakers

noreply@blogger.com (Blogmaster) — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 08:04:00 +0000

David Norton
Stonemantel
USA

Dr. Dave Norton, principal of Stone Mantel, is internationally recognized as the cutting-edge thinker on what makes brand experiences meaningful. He has spoken to thousands of people nationally and internationally. He has lectured at Harvard, Columbia Business School and at FORTUNE magazine’s annual summits. His seminar series, Strategies for Creating Meaningful Brand Experiences has been praised by attendees from companies like Microsoft, Royal Caribbean International, Kraft, and Disney.

Dave’s research capabilities have been embraced by entities as diverse as FORTUNE 500 Internet businesses, small countries, and multibillion dollar consumer goods companies. Numerous household brand companies have engaged him for ethnographic research, or have brought him in for team consulting. Stone Mantel, the company he founded, is an insights agency focused on finding the marketing experiences that matter most to customers. The organization helps companies identify the marketing and innovation strategies to create meaning brand experiences.

Martin Schobert
Tourismusdesig n
Austria

Martin Schobert is the Senior Partner at Tourismusdesing, a brand new company specialized in Landscape Planning, Service Design and Communication 2.0.

From June 2007 to October 2009 Martin Schobert was leading the department of Research & Development at the Austrian National Tourist Office. He was responsible for the teams „Internet Strategy“, „Business Intelligence“, „IT Service & Support“ and „Tourism/Market Research“.

He studied Business Economics at the Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration and joined the Austrian National Tourist Office in 1998. During the first 5 years he held different positions in the marketing field of the company and worked in the ANTO’s office in Paris several months.

From 2001 to Mai 2007 he led the marketing team responsible for the domestic market and started to launch different online-activities to make Austria more attractive to it’s residents. One of these activities was the launch of ANTO‘s first social web activity, the „culinary travel weblog“ in January 2007.

In the meantime ANTO has launched different Web 2.0 – Activities and ANTO gained much experience using the strategy „learning by doing“. Acting as a „think tank“ for the company and the industry, the department developed the Online Communication Strategy for the ANTO, a Social Web Strategy for online activities our offices abroad and published 2 Social Web Guidelines for the Austrian Travel Industry (german language).

He personally likes to share his knowledge with other experts in travel and tourism at different conferences like ITB, FVW Online Marketing Day, Enter or the ITS International Tourism Symposium, at universities like IMC Krems or Modul University Vienna or to speak at expert-panels at Brennpunkt eTourism/Germany or like here in Slovenia.

You find his thoughts, ideas, things worth to RT and so on at Twitter (@Joebertl), some of his presentations on slideshare and you can connect with him on XING, LinkedIn and Facebook.

Stefan Moritz
Sweden

Stefan started his career as entrepreneur at 15 working in journalism, event management and corporate identity. Stefan was recognised for his achievements to change the culture and community at high-school including an event in partnership with Coca Cola. He worked as consultant with medium sized businesses to drive innovation, develop brands and customer value strategies also during university. Stefan studied multidisciplinary and strategic design in Cologne, Milan and Helsinki.

In 2003 Stefan joined the global strategic communications unit at Aegis Media, the fastest growing marketing services group. He was responsible to develop the use of design as enabler and shared language across the team, clients and local markets. Stefan worked with adidas, Disney, Renault, Philips, Reebok, EMI as well as supporting internal thought leadership.

Stefan developed his role within Aegis Group and continues to drive the use of design for new ways of working, collaboration and co-creation at the global digital network Isobar. He is pioneering a unique approach to communications through Service Design – a new paradigm for connecting brands and people.

Stefan has lectured at KISD (Köln International School of Design) and lead a team to win the first international RSA competition in Service Design in 2005. He has written the first Masters in this new field. His paper gives a practical overview and is used as teaching material.

Business Week featured Stefan as Notable Alumni in its 2006 report on the top Innovation & Design Schools globally ("The Talent Hunt – Desperate to innovate, companies are turning to design schools for nimble, creative thinkers").

CLS2009 was again memorable experience for all participants

noreply@blogger.com (Blogmaster) — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 05:41:00 +0000

LEO and the Tourism and Experience Management Cluster Programme want warmly to thank all our co-operative partners to create such a successful seminar.

We hope all participants enjoyed themselves, made new friends and left Rovaniemi with inspired spirit.

More information about the seminar photos and presentations as well as benchmarking and service design documentations will be delivered to the participants by email.

Looking forward to seeing you again at the next Creative Lapland Seminar!

It´s all about experiences

noreply@blogger.com (Blogmaster) — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 11:08:00 +0000

Why the customer experience plays more important a role than ever?
How to exploit desert as a setting for experiences?
How services differ from experiences?
How service design can help in staging experiences?
How social media can boost your competitiveness?

Creative Lapland Seminar 2009 proudly presents the Best Show Cases in the Experience Economy Focused on Tourism in Rovaniemi, Finland 23 April 2009.

Don't miss our benchmarking tours in Rovaniemi and Levi, which will offer you insight into the success stories behind the Lappish enterprises! The tours will be in Finnish.

Pre-tours in Rovaniemi and Levi

noreply@blogger.com (Blogmaster) — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 10:28:00 +0000

Wednesday 22 April

Don't miss our benchmarking tours in Rovaniemi and Levi, which will you offer you insight into the success stories behind the Lappish enterprises! The tours will be in Finnish.

Benchmarking tour in Rovaniemi
11.00 Bus departs from the Clarion Hotel Santa Claus
11.30 ProSanta / Joulukka: Mr. Ilkka Länkinen and Mrs. Katja Ikäheimo-Länkinen, the entrepreneurs
The visit includes lunch.
13.15 Bus transfer to Vaattunki
14.00 Eräsetti Wild North: Mrs. Johanna Tolonen, Managing Director
The visit includes coffee
16.00 Regional Co-operation in the Tourism Sector: Mr. Mika Meriläinen, Marketing Director, Lapland Marketing Ltd and Mrs. Katja Eteläinen, Marketing and Communications Manager, Rovaniemi Tourism & Marketing Ltd.
17.15 Bus transfer to city centre

Benchmarking tour in Levi
8.00 Bus departs from the Clarion Hotel Santa Claus
10.30 Morning coffee at Meeting and Conference Centre (reception is located in the same building)
11.00-12.00 Regional Co-operation in the Tourism Sector: Mr. Jussi Töyrylä, Managing Director, Levi Tourist Office.
12.00-13.00 Hullu Poro (Crazy Reindeer): Mrs. Päivikki Palosaari, the owner
13.00-14.15 Lunch at Restaurant Wanha Hullu Poro
14.15 Bus transfer
14.30-16.00 Lapin Luontoelämys: Ms. Laura Ruuskanen, Guide and Mr. Erkki Paasirova, Managing Director
The visit includes coffee
18.30 Tour ends at the Clarion Hotel Santa Claus

19.00-20.00 Get-together reception hosted by City of Rovaniemi
All pre-tour and seminar participants are welcome to join the get-together reception at the Rovaniemi City Hall (Hallituskatu 7), within walking distance from the hotels.

The organizers reserve the right to make changes to the programme.

The Best Show Cases in the Experience Economy Focused on Tourism

noreply@blogger.com (Blogmaster) — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 14:27:00 +0000

Thursday 23 April
Clarion Hotel Santa Claus (Korkalonkatu 29)

Chairman Mrs. Nina Vesterinen, Programme Director, Tourism and Experience Management Cluster, LEO

9.30-10.00 Registration and morning coffee
10.00-10.15 Opening of the seminar

10.15-11.15 Keynote
Mrs. Anna Pollock: Future Challenges and Strategic Solutions for Tourism Industry, CEO, DestiCorp, UK

11.15-11.45 Case Rezgo
Mr. Stephen Joyce: Rezgo.com - the Web 2.0 Tour and Activity Booking Engine for SMEs and Tour Operators, President, Sentias Software Corp., Canada

11.45-12.00 Break

12.00-12.30 Case Burning Man
Ms. Marian Goodell: Burning Man - the Experience in Nevada, Director of Business and Communication, Blackrock City LLC, USA

12.30-14.00 Lunch

14.00-14.30 Case Høve Støtt
Mr. Pål K. Medhus: The Secret of the Pyramid. Tourism Programme Service - Not Service but Experience, Creative Director, Høve Støtt, Norway

14.30-15.00 Coffee

15.00-15.30 Case SantaPark
Mr. Ilkka Länkinen, Entrepreneur, SantaPark, Finland and
Mr. Mikko Sääskilahti, Entrepreneur, Juju Innovations, Finland:
Service Design in Action, case SantaPark

15.30-16.00 Closing of the seminar

18.00 Departure for dinner party from Clarion Hotel Santa Claus

For Friday 24 April....
If you are interested in advertisement productions and co-operation with Russian businesses in the content industry, it is worth of checking the programme for Wonders of Film Seminar. The seminar is in English.

The organizers reserve the right to make changes to the programme.

Speakers

noreply@blogger.com (Blogmaster) — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 07:38:00 +0000

Anna Pollock
CEO
DestiCorp
UK

Anna Pollock has over 30 years’ experience working in the tourism sector as a consultant, strategist, futurist, change agent and entrepreneur. Described as an irrepressibly curious “renaissance woman”, her strength derives from an ability to dig beneath surface trends to find and make sense of the real drivers of change combined with a creative capacity to develop innovative responses.

Having made seminal contributions to many aspects of tourism development (resource development, sustainable tourism, health tourism, adventure travel and digital marketing) over her long career, Anna’s current preoccupation is helping clients understand the full scope and likely impact of moving from a high carbon, industrial economy to a low carbon, networked economy. She recently co-founded The Icarus Foundation (http://www.theicarusfoundation.com/), a not-for-profit agency formed to encourage the Canadian tourism industry become climate friendly and is now exploring how social media can be deployed to accelerate behavioural change and enrich experience delivery.

Marian Goodell
Director of Business and Communication
Burning Man
USA

Marian Goodell has been a member of the 6-person ownership structure of Burning Man since late 1996 and the Director of Business and Communications for Burning Man since 1997. Since 2003 Goodell’s responsibilities have included also oversight of the Black Rock City Department of Public Works production team which sets up and takes down the event site.

Goodell holds a BA in Creative Writing from Goucher College in Baltimore, Maryland and an MFA in photography from the Academy of Art University in San Francisco. She has previously done sales and public relations, and was working as a project manager for a software cum web development firm producing ford.com when she first arrived as a participant at Burning Man in 1995.

Stephen Joyce
President
Sentias Software Corp.
Canada

Stephen Joyce has been working as a travel & tourism technology consultant since 1995. In 2005 Stephen and his company, Sentias Software Corp., began development on Rezgo.com, a next generation Web 2.0 tour and activity booking engine for SME travel suppliers and tour operators. In June of 2007, Rezgo.com was officially released and now boasts a user base of 750+ companies.

Stephen is also very active in fostering tourism technology and is the founding President of the North American Chapter of the International Federation for IT and Travel & Tourism (IFITT North America). He is the publisher of the Tips from the T-List books, a series of ground-breaking books that bring together travel industry bloggers from around the World. The success of the book has resulted in workshops and speaking engagements on Social media and User generated content around the World.

Stephen is a graduate of Capilano University, is a certified Commercial Pilot, and holds a certificate in IT Management.

Pål K. Medhus

Creative Director

Høve Støtt AS

Norway

Pål started with two empty hands and a head filled with creative ideas. The basis for everything he has created is being outdoor with the customers. Høve Støtt is setting the standard for most of the experience-production in Geilo today, situated in one of Norway’s biggest tourist regions. As an entrepreneur, Pål has been very profound and patient, especially after the Experience Pyramid and the theories from Pine & Gilmore has become a part of the company’s daily routines.

Pål is a highly asked for lecturer with specialities such as ecotourism, creative prosesses and the Experience Economy. You can expect a colourful and truthfully honest lecture, where ecotourism, design, Experience Economy and lots of appropriate examples from the real world will be presented to you.

Ilkka Länkinen

Entrepreneur

SantaPark

Finland

Mikko Sääskilahti

Entrepreneur

Juju Innovations

Finland

Mikko Sääskilahti is an owner of JUJU Innovations Ltd. which is an agency specialized in innovation management, creativity and design. Sääskilahti is also a professor of industrial design in the University of Lapland in Finland. His background is in industrial design and at these days he is leading courses and projects concerning product and service design in the university.

What is CLS2009?

noreply@blogger.com (Blogmaster) — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 06:37:00 +0000

proudly presents

the Best Show Cases in the Experience Economy Focused on Tourism

April 22-23 2009
Clarion Hotel Santa Claus
Rovaniemi, Finland

Boost your business

What?
Dive into the world of experiences by joining the fifth annual Creative Lapland Seminar. The seminar gathers together businesses and professionals in tourism and the Experience Economy. Don’t miss this excellent chance to meet boost your business!

Where?
The seminar takes place Rovaniemi, the city of eight seasons and the capital of Lapland located near the Arctic Circle and the home of Santa Claus.

Why?
Although experience has become an everyday buzzword, most businesses do not know how to change the core business processes to render customer experiences. A holistic multi-sector approach is a key for successful experience product development; the best innovations are created by exploiting the broadest creative potential and breaking the boundaries between industries like tourism and content industry or ICT and cultural production.

How?
On the first seminar day benchmarking tour for some of the best businesses in tourism and in the Experience Economy in Rovaniemi region is organized. On the second seminar day some of the best business cases focused on the Experience Economy and tourism in international and national level will be presented. Also the strategic context for the Experience Economy and the case studies will be provided. The main themes - Experience Management, Service Design and eTourism - are on the stage all the time. The second seminar day is held in English, the first day only in Finnish.

Who?
The seminar is organized by the national Tourism and Experience Management Cluster Programme which integrates the expertise of the five leading tourism and experience management centres in Finland. As the coordinator of Cluster Programme, LEO together with its regional partner, Rovaniemi City is proud to welcome you to this cutting-edge seminar.

Welcome to visit Creative Lapland!

Creative Lapland -seminaari on näyteikkuna elämystalouden eturivin yrityksiin

noreply@blogger.com (Blogmaster) — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 10:27:00 +0000

Tiedätkö miksi asiakkaan kokemus on yritykselle nykyisin tärkeämpi kuin koskaan aikaisemmin? Kuinka menestyt sähköisessä kaupassa?

Jo viidettä kertaa järjestettävä kansainvälinen Creative Lapland –seminaari esittelee maailman kiinnostavimmat elämysyritykset ja caset Rovaniemellä 23. huhtikuuta 2009.

Mukana mm.:

sähköisen liiketoiminnan grand old lady sekä elämystalouden ja kestävän
kehityksen asiantuntija Anna Pollock (Iso-Britannia)
keskellä Nevadan aavikkoa järjestettävän interaktiivisen Burning Man Festival -megatapahtuman ideanikkari Marian Goodell (USA)
suuressa nousussa ympäri maailmaa olevan uuden, pienille ja keskisuurille ohjelmapalveluyrityksille tarkoitetun sähköisen varausjärjestelmä ja jakelu-kanava Rezgon toimitusjohtaja Stephen Joyce (Kanada)

Tule Sinäkin hakemaan uusia eväitä omaan liiketoimintaasi ja tutustumaan muihin matkailun ja elämystalouden osaajiin!

Benchmarking bussiristeily 22.4.2009

Seminaaria edeltävänä päivänä Sinulla on oiva mahdollisuus osallistua Lapin matkailukohteita ja yrityksiä kiertävään bussiristeilyyn.

Päivän aikana kuulet mm. lappilaisten yritysten markkinoinnista ja matkanjärjestäjä-yhteistyöstä, alueyhteistyön käytännöistä, tuotekehityksen menetelmistä ja elämysten suunnittelusta. Luvassa on vierailuja niin suuriin konserneihin kuin pienempiin kohteisiin.

***

Creative Lapland 2009 on kansallisen Matkailun ja elämystuotannon osaamisklusterin kevään kansainvälinen huippuseminaari. Seminaarin käytännön järjestelyistä vastaa klusteriohjelman koordinaattori LEO yhteistyössä Savonlinnan seudun, Uudenmaan, Varsinais-Suomen ja Jyväskylän osaamiskeskusten kanssa.

CLS2008 thanks all participants and co-operative partners!

noreply@blogger.com (Blogmaster) — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 14:26:00 +0000

Creative Lapland Seminar was again memorable experience for all participants. LEO and the Tourism and Experience Management Cluster Programme want warmly to thank all our co-operative partners to create such a successful seminar.

We hope all participants also left Rovaniemi with inspired and creative spirit and, of course, with lots of new friends.

Give us feedback and win the seminar package for CLS2009
If you didn’t have time to give us feedback on paper, you can go straight to the form here. Your feedback is valuable to make the event even better in the future. If you wish to try your luck in winning the seminar package for next seminar, please fill in your contact information and return the feedback no later than Friday 25 April 2008. The winner will be contacted personally.

More information about the seminar photos and presentations as well as workshop documentations will be delivered to the participants by email.

Looking forward to seeing you again at the next Creative Lapland Seminar!

Seminar Bus Schedules

noreply@blogger.com (Blogmaster) — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 12:52:00 +0000

Transportation between Clarion Hotel Santa Claus and University of Lapland is arranged by bus. There is no need to register beforehand, but please be on board in time.

Please note that there in no organised transportation for Wednesday evening. The City Hall is at walking distance from Clarion Hotel Santa Claus and city centre.

Thursday 17th April
9.45 am Clarion Hotel Santa Claus - University of Lapland / Faculty of Art & Design

4.40 pm University of Lapland / Faculty of Art & Design - Clarion Hotel Santa Claus

6.00 pm (SHARP!) Buses depart for the evening programm at the Clarion Hotel Santa Claus

Friday 18th April
8.45 am Clarion Hotel Santa Claus - University of Lapland / Faculty of Art & Design

5.10 pm University of Lapland / Faculty of Art & Design - Clarion Hotel Santa Claus

Workshop Descriptions for Friday 18th April

noreply@blogger.com (Blogmaster) — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 14:39:00 +0000

On the second seminar day some of the Finnish destination business networks will be presented and pitched. These are regional, national, international and virtual destination business networks comprised of businesses, universities and public sector actors under specific areas where resources in the national Tourism and Experience Management Cluster Programme are allocated for. Each of the five Cluster partners will represent one workshop case, exception Rovaniemi / Lapland region, which will have two cases.

Workshop 1
TV-induced Tourism in Kemijärvi: Case Taivaan tulet
Auli Narkilahti, Manager, Trade and Tourism, City of Kemijärvi, Finland

In 2006 the Finnish TV drama series Taivaan tulet was filmed in the town of Kemijärvi and its vicinity. It was directed by the well-known director Kari Väänänen. Drama series tells about a young policewoman Rauni, her readjustment to new work and new people in her old hometown. Worry about her father makes her move back to Kemijärvi, which also gives strong frames to the series.

Kemijärvi received a lot of positive publicity in 2007 through the drama series Taivaan tulet. Especially beautiful nature and landscapes has called forth enthusiasm among audience. Thanks to the positive feedback, the shooting of the new episodes will start in May 2008. The publicity has been very important and positive for the region.

Workshop 2
Gateway Tourism through Helsinki-Vantaa Airport
Petteri Ohtonen, Research Manager, Haaga-Perho, Finland
Kristian Sievers, Program Director, Tourism and Experience Management Competence Cluster, Culminatum Ltd Oy, Finland

Helsinki -Vantaa airport is becoming one of the most important gateways between Europe and Asia. Helsinki-Vantaa airport and the surroundings is one of the most rapidly growing regions in the metropolitan area. Currently there are several new developments in the tourism sector currently happening e.g. the Flamingo spa and hotel and World Trade Center, to mention a few. Finnair, Finavia and City of Vantaa are working on several projects to increase the number of gateways passengers. For example web-marketing campaign www.viahelsinki.com has been successful.

The challenge for the future is to find ways to increase the activity of gateway tourists beyond the airport area. The aims include to increase the tourism product offering providing experiences from 4- hour stays to 36-hour stays for gateway tourists. The development projects are supported by a in-depth customer research which is currently being carried out.

Workshop 3
http://www.savonlinna.travel/ -eShop
Pia Kokki, Managing Director, Savonlinna Travel, Finland

During last 2,5 years city of Savonlinna has been developing http://www.savonlinna.travel/ –destination portal and eShop. What comes to technology, eShop is already ready but it has been quite difficult to get companies to commit to this system. During the project we have also noticed that transferring services to eShop means a total change to many companies’ business operations and processes. Therefore there are substantial obstacles to the adoption of eTourism solutions. This is a real challenge for the operator of the destination management system. The portal was initiated with EU project funding which ended in 2007. At the beginning of 2008 portal was transferred to Savonlinnan Matkailu Oy. This company is currently redefining its role as a destination management organization and/or destination management company. This development of a new business model is directly connected to the revenue model and operation of the destination portal.

Workshop 4
Old and new Turku (Aboa Vetus & Nova)
Päivi Lappalainen, Program Director, Tourism and Experience Management Competence Cluster, Turku Touring, Turku, Finland
Anne Lukkarila, Development Manager, Haaga-Perho, Finland

Turku is the oldest town in Finland. Since prehistoric time Turku was known as an international market place where merchants from all over Northern Europe met to trade goods and culture. River Aurajoki, medieval cathedral and old town was, and still is the heart of Turku. The banks of the river Aurajoki together with the cathedral, bridges, theatres, chain of museums, events, various themes and services form a cultural landscape known to every Finn. For every inhabitant of Turku River Aurajoki is more like a big green and cosy living room.

This area streching to the both sides of the Aurajoki River is a unique cultural unity that has been chosen as a target for development even on a national level. It creates a chain of culture tourism destinations of high class and international importance and produces services and products of high quality based on the culture and aimed for international markets.

It is most important to create a mutual language and synergy between the owners and producers of culture and the enterprises in tourism sector. With co-operation in product development it becomes possible to create profit on local culture, strengthen the experience “sense of place” – in culturally sustainable way when, at the same time making culture more easily available to everyone.

The chain of culture destinations in Turku, Rovaniemi, Tampere and Helsinki with internationally high standard and importance will give Finland a profile as an interesting culture tourism destination. The target of the development programme is to build an efficient model to be developed the culture based products and destinations and also to define a programme for the development the quality of tourism in the culture destinations, “Culture 1000”.

Workshop 5
SmartHimos
Hannu Pelkonen, Development Manager, Jämsek Oy, Finland

Himos is a fast growing area and so does its tourism industry. In 2015 the number of travelers is expected to rise up to 1.5 million. The demand for this destination will be boosted by various factors. Among others, location, access, substantial infra investment as well as technical and social innovations are the key elements deriving up the demand for Himos tourism industry.

Cooperating together with Jämsek, Jyväskylä Innovation Oy and Jyväskylä University of Applied Sciences, Himos officially launched a program called as SmartHimos, which will focus on Energy Efficiency and ICT, in November 2007. The 21st century Energy Efficiency and ICT technology innovation will offer tourists a wide range of new experiences in living, shopping, entertainment and sport in Himos. The objective of SmartHimos is to test services concepts developed in a real environment as we call it Himos - LivingLab. Effective applications and service concepts could be later replicated elsewhere.

One of the first projects started last year is fast growing What - A - Map service. It provides now services in Himos as a pilot project. You can find it form web pages Himos.fi and of course whatamap.com.

From What-A-Map –mobile maps you can find yourself, friends and local services. In near future, visitors are able to get service information tailored to their own profile sent to their mobile phone. They are able to use their phone to check the weather and snow conditions, or even to find out when the restaurant is open and what entertainment is scheduled. – When you feel hungry you can order for example pizza to your cottage. You do not need to send address to pizzeria, information from cottage will be sent to pizzeria automatically. What-A-Map guides you and your pizza service directly for your door.

The difference between What-A-Maps and other mobile applications is that What-a-Maps is a mashup of all local and personal information, shown on an interactive map. The unique concept of What-A-Map -maps is based on the assumption that map images are an intuitive user interface to all local information. It forms an easy context for service advertising.

Workshop 6
Santa Claus´ Village
Juha Seppälä, Managing Director, Rovaniemi Regional Development Agency Ltd., Finland

Santa Claus´ Village is one of the most popular tourist attractions in Finland, located on the Arctic Circle, only 10 kilometres north of Rovaniemi, the capital of Finnish Lapland.

Rovaniemi Regional Development Agency Ltd. is committed to develop Santa Claus´ Village in an innovative way to make it even more attractive, interactive and specified Christmas destination.

Experiential marketing and new meaningful experience services, such as virtual experience services, ice-sculpturing and high quality Finnish design, are among the developments which are expected to give new content to not only the tourists but also the local people in the Rovaniemi area, and thus boost the businesses of the village.

Speakers and Chairmen

noreply@blogger.com (Blogmaster) — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 14:24:00 +0000

Speakers

José Gimeno
Partner Director – Cultural Tourism
eCultura
Madrid, Spain

José Gimeno is Partner Director in E-Cultura. E-cultura is a company in the Imagination Society. Our Mission is to improve the socio-economic development of the territories putting into value their cultural and natural resources. As an innovating organization in the field of culture and tourism, our aim is to transform those resources into experience business that are able to generate wealth and jobs and fix a population proud of his identity and linked to his culture. Our main business areas are Heritage, Rural Development, Cultural Tourism, Territory Branding and Cultural Management.

José Gimeno holds a degree in Chemistry from the University of Zaragoza, a Master in Business Administration by the Instituto de Empresa in Madrid and other post grade qualifications in the fields of Tourism, Quality and Human Behavior.

C. Michael Hall
Professor
University of Canterbury
Christchurch, New Zealand

Michael Hall is Professor in Marketing at the University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand; Visiting Professor in the Faculty of Organisation and Management, Sheffield Hallam University in the UK and Docent in the Department of Geography, University of Oulu. Co-editor of Current Issues in Tourism he has published widely in tourism and related fields such as heritage and regional development including over 50 books and 300 articles and book chapters.

One of his most recent books is on Innovation and Tourism written with Allan Williams and published by Routledge (2008). Some of his recent work has examined the importance of the innovation systems within which firms are embedded, the importance of servicescapes and place to people's experiences, as well as the developments of improved models of the service firm in order to understand innovation and adaptive processes.

Although much of his research and teaching looks at experiences and how they are created and understood he regards much of the work on the experience economy and the even more recent focus of experience advocates on authenticity as intellectually bankrupt and little more than a trendy bandwagon effect. That said he also believes that provocation is often an important part of a learning experience and regards understanding experiences and the creative meeting of them within public-private partnerships as critical to firm and regional success.

Erik Hedblad
Managing Director
Åreföretagarna AB / Åre 2020
Åre, Sweden

Our vision is to make Åre the most attractive alpine all year round resort in Europe by the year 2020, through unique experiences, sustainability and hostmanship. Our mission is to develop and market Åre as an all year round destination with emphasis on spring, summer and fall. We do it through Åreföretagarna AB, a new marketing and development company, co-ownded by the local business community, representing almost 200 businesses in Åre.
Erik Hedblad is Managing Director of Åreföretagarna AB. He holds a M.Sc. in Business from the Stockholm School of Economics and has worked in IT, HR, retail, and business consulting. As the director of a company representing 200 individual entrepreneurs, Erik has a special interest in how to develop the complex experience value chain through cooperation, system thinking, and local community process.

Jussi Huotari
Co-founder, CIO
TripSay.com
Helsinki, Finland

Jussi Huotari is co-founder and CIO at TripSay.com, a traveler website built on social media and internet technologies. On TripSay, travel is about experiences and not about booking the cheapest flights.

TripSay was founded in 2006 in Helsinki, Finland. The growing start-up is funded by venture capital investors. TripSay's objective is to offer its users the best destination content and become a top ten travel content site for english speaking holiday travelers. TripSay.com community is currently invite-only.

As a web 2.0 travel entrepreneur Jussi has a special interest in developing business concepts supporting the travel industry transition to digital age and travel community building through social media. Jussi's background is in e-commerce and consumer internet services.
Jussi Huotari holds a degree in computer science from Helsinki University of Technology in Finland, including business studies at Strathclyde University in the UK.

Pia Kokki
Managing Director
Savonlinna Travel Ltd.
Savonlinna, Finland

Pia Kokki is managing director of Savonlinna Travel Ltd. Savonlinna Travel Ltd is a regional tourism organisation for the marketing and sales of tourist services in the Savonlinna region, which comprises, in addition to Savonlinna itself, the districts of Enonkoski, Kerimäki, Kesälahti, Parikkala, Punkaharju, Rantasalmi, Savonranta and Sulkava. In short, Savonlinna Tourist Service is a tour operator concentrating on destination management. In addition to the regional operations, Savonlinna Travel Ltd handles duties outsourced to it by the Savonlinna Town Council’s tourism branch. The organisation is comprised of the districts listed above as well as 50 tourism enterprises.

Päivi Lappalainen
Program Director
Tourism and Experience Management Competence Cluster
Turku Touring
Turku, Finland

Päivi Lappalainen (Master of Arts in Cultural Research) is working as Program Director for Tourism and Experience Management Competence Cluster in Southwest Finland for Turku Touring. Turku Touring is a regional marketing, sales and development organisation for tourism business mainly owned by the city of Turku (http://www.turkutouring.fi/).

Päivi has been involved in developing culturally sustainable tourism products for almost 20 years. She has also managed the improvement of regional socio-economical structure in the Turku region. As a researcher she has worked in number of museums and has a long perspective in culture and tourism in many ways.

Turku will be the European capital of culture in year 2011. This will be a great challenge – and a great chance for whole Finland in building cultural tourism destinations.

Anne Lukkarila
Development Manager
Haaga Group / Haaga Institute-foundation / Haaga-Perho Development services

Rovaniemi, Finland

Anne Lukkarila has been working with quality matters in tourism branch since 1999. She is responsible of coordinating finnish national quality programme administrated by Finnish Tourist Board´s Quality One Thousand 1Q00 for tourism companies and Destination Quality Net programmes (DQN ® and DMN™) for tourism destinations. With LEO Haaga-Perho has developed Experience DQN programmes which are quality programmes to destinations which want to be number one in creative industries. Haaga-Perho has recently developed new quality development model “Culture DQN” in co-operation with Turku Touring.

Auli Narkilahti
Manager, Trade and Tourism
City of Kemijärvi
Kemijärvi, Finland

Petteri Ohtonen

Research Manager

Haaga-Perho / Haaga Institute –foundation

Helsinki, Finland

Petteri Ohtonen works as a market researcher in Haaga–Perho. With experience of 15 years, he has completed a variety of market researches for several business braches. Before Haaga–Perho, Petteri have taken many research and education tasks for e.g. Haaga University of Applied Sciences, TNS Gallup and Taloustutkimus.

Haaga-Perho specializes in the development of both the services and the personnel of enterprises in tourism, hotel and restaurant operations. The meaning of Haaga–Perho research and development services is to generate, transfer and adapt new knowledge (know how) to our customers.

We carry out customer oriented research, development and education projects, which are often meant for tourism industry. Our research is almost invariably accompanied with consultant and education services. Our researches are an important part of tourist centre quality programs (DQN, DMN). There are eleven persons working in Haaga-Perho research and development in three different locations (Helsinki, Savonlinna, Rovaniemi). Our customers are private corporations, regional development companies, local authorities and ministries.

Hannu Pelkonen
Development Manager
JÄMSEK Ltd.
Jyväskylä, Finland

Hannu Pelkonen is the Development Manager of the Regional Development Company JAMSEK Ltd. The Company provides services in the field of business development, largely for local entrepreneurs. Mr. Pelkonen has a Master of Science degree in Environmental Technology and Management from UK and Civil Engineering from Finland. His professional career spans 30 years, including together over 15 years residence in countries Vietnam, Cambodia, Kenya, Mongolia, Namibia, Philippines, Tanzania, Uganda and US participating in various urban infrastructure and environment management projects. He has a strong edge to integrate knowledge into practice, particularly on spearheading internationally-fundable projects with public and private sector partners.

During the last 2 years of his work in Himos, Jämsä, he has been in charge of overall Himos development. As a Development Manager of Himoskylä 2015, he has been undertaking development of the current ski resort towards an “all year-round tourist center”.

The job involves all aspects of the development management and supervision, such as land use and town planning, infrastructure development, necessary environmental investigations and impact studies, tendering and evaluating bidding documents, procurement of services and public relations. At the same time, his role has been essential for identifying key investors and entrepreneurs, marketing investment opportunities to potential investors, mobilizing financing sources, identifying new investment areas and technologies in the field of ICT and Energy Efficiency and advising the city mayor for policy direction and economic development of the city.

Petri Salmi
Programme Director
LEO

Rovaniemi, Finland

Juha Seppälä

Managing Director

Rovaniemi Regional Development Agency Ltd.

Rovaniemi, Finland

Mikko Vartiainen

Managing Partner

Nueva Media Ltd.

Helsinki, Finland

Mikko Vartiainen is the founder and managing partner of Nueva Media Ltd, which is a business development, technology and strategy consultancy focused on helping firms to accelerate their growth either in new geographies or with new products and services. In addition to Nueva Media, Mikko is currently involved with other online travel businesses, such as http://www.eticket.fi/, Finland fastest growing online travel agency, and http://www.matkaviikko.fi/, the online journal for the Finnish travel trade.

A Finnish native, Mikko has worked in travel distribution for nearly 20 years. Mikko has a broad knowledge of airline, hotel and travel industries. Mikko is a respected travel industry commentator, frequently writing in trade publications, and speaking at conferences. Mikko holds a Master's degree in International Marketing from Turku School of Economics and Business Administration.

Leena Zittling
CEO, Prodemic Consulting Group Oy Ltd
President, European ProClusters Association - EPROCA
Klaukkala, Finland

Leena Zittling has a long lasting private business background. Over 25 years, she has been working in both larger pharmaceutical organizations and SMEs. Since 1985 working in a Management positions like Director of Marketing Strategy, Managing Director and the Chairman of the Board. Since 1999 President in a company called Prodemic Consulting Ltd. Presently she works as an Executive Consultant for SMEs, Regional Development Agencies and NGOs for Cluster Facilitator Trainings and workshops. Mrs. Zittling has recently been nominated as a President of a European ProClusters Association (EPROCA) for the next two years.

Leena Zittling is an Editor-in-Chief in a JOHTOTAITO® (Executive Magazine) –publication, which is the only publication in Finland focused on cluster issues for cluster practitioners and is coming out 3 times per year in electronic form. Magazine is sending out more than 30 countries around the world.

Mrs. Zittling is also a Conference Director in Competitiveness Forum event, a national forum for cluster practitioners, which will organize once a year together with the regional authorities and the world’s leading cluster organization called The Competitiveness Institute (TCI) located in Barcelona.

Mrs. Zittling made an assignment for The Competitiveness Institute (TCI) about the issue ”The Gender Initiative for TCI” .The assignment was presented in Lyon, 2006 at the World conference of TCI. She also made a suggestion for Finnish Ministry of Interior regarding “Finclusters -competitiveness office” in 2007.

Chairmen

V.A.Heikkinen
Research Manager, Principal Lecturer, Future Consultant
University of Lapland
Rovaniemi, Finland

V.A. Heikkinen (PhD, Home Economic Teacher, Chef) has 25 years experience in the tourism, hospitality and food industry and education. Heikkinen provides also consulting and executive training services to industry, professional associations and academic institutions in the travel and tourism sector. I his consulting activities, Heikkinen has worked in more than 20 countries. At the moment Heikkinen works as a Research Manager at the University of Lapland.

Anna Häkkinen

Development Manager

LEO
Rovaniemi, Finland

Ilkka Kauppinen
Managing Director
Kodja Consulting
Rovaniemi, Finland

Ilkka Kauppinen is one of the leading Finnish Internet marketing professionals and scholars in tourism. He has an extensive knowledge of eBusiness development, information and communication technologies as well as Internet marketing. Ilkka is a regular lecturer on eBusiness and eMarketing in tourism for various organisations, including many universities and SME networks in Finland. In addition to consultation, he is currently writing a doctoral thesis on Internet marketing in tourism at the University of Lapland and starting up the eTourism Competence Center Finland under the University of Joensuu. You can read more about Ilkka's thoughts about tourism in Finnish in his blog. In his free time Ilkka enjoys the great outdoors in Lapland.

Kaj Kostiander

R&D Specialist

Kemi-Tornio University of Applied Sciences

Tornio, Finland

Kaj Kostiander has been planning and coordinating international regional development projects since 2004. He has also specialised in participatory planning and innovation methods such as Goal Oriented Project Planning and Radical Innovations. Kostiander has a Master of Arts degree from University of Oulu, Finland. As a history major he has also studied philosophy, political science, communications and European studies at the universities of Oulu, Plymouth (UK) and Pittsburg (US). Prior to entering Kemi-Tornio University of Applied Sciences, Kostiander worked for the North Finland EU Office in Brussels and at the Finnish Institute in London.

Kirsi Mikkola
Managing Director
Business Trainer Kirsi Mikkola Ltd,
Rovaniemi, Finland

Since 2001, Kirsi Mikkola has worked as a consultant and trainer for electronic business and marketing in regional and company-specific ICT utilization projects. Mikkola has also consulted and implemented a number of national level electronic commerce data system acquisition processess for the public administration and private sectors.

Kirsi Mikkola operates as a certified Experience Trainer for the Lapland Centre of Expertise for the Experience Industry, as a Haaga-Perho coordinated Q1000 Programme Trainer and as a Network Tutor for the AVERKO network coordinated by the Open Online University of Applied Sciences. Mikkola operates also as a Part-Time Teacher of internet business and data processing for the Rovaniemi University of Applied Sciences. Kirsi Mikkola has operated as Project Manager for the start-up project for the enhancement of expertise of e-commerce for the Province of Lapland (Lapland Online) and before that as Project Manager in the collective coordination project for the enhancement of expertise of e-commerce for the Province of Lapland (Lapland Online 2013). Mikkola has worked also as Project Manager for the Lapland Portal Project for the Regional Council of Lapland and as ICT Manager & Coordinator for Lapland Marketing Ltd.

Kristian Sievers
Program Director
Tourism and Experience Management Competence Cluster
Culminatum Ltd Oy
Helsinki, Finland

Kristian Sievers (MSc, Bachelor of Hospitality Management) has been working in various positions in tourism and Experience Industry in France, UK, Estonia, and of course in Finland. He has been working for tourism consultancy, tourism education and has held several management positions in the industry. Currently Sievers is working for Culminatum Ltd Oy as Program Director for Tourism and Experience Management Competence Cluster in Helsinki Metropolitan area. He is interested especially in the pricing of experiences and experience management in tourism destinations.

Sanna Tarssanen
Acting CEO
LEO
Rovaniemi, Finland

Sanna Tarssanen has been working in LEO since 2004 within different projects as a Project Manager and Development Manager. Currently she is the Acting CEO of the company. She is also the only B. Joseph Pine II & James H. Gilmore Certified Experience Economy Expert in Finland. She has graduated as MSoC in Cultural Studies of Tourism from University of Lapland. Her background is in Tourism Industry as an entrepreneur and a destination manager. Her work in the Experience sector include articles and publications such as the Handbook for Experience Tourism Agents as well the Experience Pyramid, a framework for analyzing and developing experience products. She is especially interested in finding ways to measure, analyse and create meaningful experiences.

What is this all about for?

noreply@blogger.com (Blogmaster) — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 12:20:00 +0000

April 17-18 2008

University of Lapland

Rovaniemi, Finland

Boost your business

What?

Dive into the world of experiences by joining the fourth annual Creative Lapland Seminar. The seminar gathers together professionals in tourism, creative industries and the Experience Economy. Don’t miss this excellent chance to meet boost your business!

Where?

The seminar takes place Rovaniemi, the city of eight seasons and the capital of Lapland located near the Arctic Circle and the home of Santa Claus.

Why?

Although experience has become an everyday buzzword, most businesses do not know how to change the core business processes to render customer experiences. A holistic multi-sector approach is a key for successful experience product development; the best innovations are created by exploiting the broadest creative potential and breaking the boundaries between industries like tourism and content industry or ICT and cultural production.

The seminar is aimed at companies who want to understand the logic of the Experience Economy and beyond. The participants will get a profound insight into the possibilities of the Experience Economy with the help of keynote speakers and several cases. The current themes - e-business, product development and foresight research - are on the main stage all the time.

How?

On the first seminar day the three themes are observed within three international cases. On the second one some of the Finnish destination business networks will be presented and pitched. These are regional, national, international and virtual destination business networks comprised of businesses, universities and public sector actors under specific areas and where resources in the national Tourism and Experience Management Cluster Programme are allocated for. The second seminar day is held both in English and Finnish, the first day only in English.

Who?

The seminar is organized by the national Tourism and Experience Management Cluster Programme which integrates the expertise of the five leading tourism and experience management centres in Finland.

As the coordinator of Cluster Programme, LEO together with its regional partners, Rovaniemi City and University of Lapland is proud to welcome you to this cutting-edge seminar.

Welcome to visit Creative Lapland!

Registration and Seminar Fees

noreply@blogger.com (Blogmaster) — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 15:17:00 +0000

Registration

Registration for CLS2009 is closed!

All seminar participants, guests, speakers as well as seminar staff need to register through the online registration form.

Please familiarize yourself thoroughly with the seminar programme BEFORE filling in all the required information in the registration form. After the registration, you will receive confirmation of the information you have provided and an invoice for your seminar fee.

Please note that all payments need to be made in euros (EUR) and free of bank charges to the recipient. Please make sure that your name and CLS 2009 are mentioned in the message field of the payment.

Registration will be valid after payment.

Please print out the receipt confirming your payment.

Seminar fee and deadline for the registration

A meaningful experience is always subjective experience and the guest values his/her experience individually. Accordingly, it is you who decides how valuable you consider your seminar participation: choose your own seminar fee!

Please, choose your own seminar fee among the following options and tick it on the registration form:

150 EUR (inc. VAT) OR
250 EUR (inc. VAT) OR
350 EUR (inc. VAT).

The fees are the same for the whole registration period.

Seminar fee includes seminar programme, lunch and coffees on Thursday and evening programme for Wednesday and Thursday evenings. The fee DOES NOT include the pretour on Wednesday.

The fee for pretour on Wednesday 22 April is 50 EUR (inc. VAT).

Deadline for the registration is Wednesday 15th April 2009.

Cancellations must be made in writing to Ms Sanna Kyyrä, LEO (sanna.kyyra(at)leofinland.fi, tel. +358 (0)400 456 050). Registration fee will be refunded if cancellation is made before Friday 17th April 2009. No refunds can be made after this date. Please note that the processing fee 50 euros will be deducted from all refunds.

Registration form

noreply@blogger.com (Blogmaster) — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 13:48:00 +0000

What people were saying about the previous CLS Seminars

"a unique mixture of technical, social, and business imperatives supporting the Experience Industry; a rare seminar of this nature"

"with the contacts and ideas i got form the seminar, I am able to focus my work more accurate"

"very well organized"

"I was very impressed with the level and quality of the content and speakers"

"I created new contacts and updated myself on today´s issues in tourism"

"the real benefit to me is that I hope that by inspiring the people they will make wiser decisions when talking about experience or building experiences"

"friendly positive vibe, met interesting people and enjoyed beautiful Lapland"

"The seminar was very rewarding. I got important contacts"

Among others they participated in previous CLS Seminars

Risto Mäkikyrö, Programme Manager of Research and Development Programme for Leisure Time Services Business, Finland
Hannu Juuso, Head of IRC Finland, Finland
Elodie Texier, EUREKA Tourism Secretariat, Spain
Kirsi Vähä-Pietilä, Finnish EUREKA Office, Finland
Ove Gjesdal, Mimir as, Norway
Anna (J.M.C.) Snel, PrimaVera Research Programme of the University of Amsterdam Business School, The Netherlands
Aku Alanen, Statistics Finland, Finland
Christopher Lipscombe, Positively Wellington Business, New Zealand
Mikael Wahlforss, Epidem ZOT, Finland
Daniel Witenberg, Sulake Corporation, Finland
Eija Timonen, University of Lapland, Finland
Chris Voss, London Business School, UK
Pertti Aula, University of Lapland, Finland
Sam Inkinen, Finland
Nalin Sharda, Victoria University, Australia
Kirsi Mikkola, Corporate Training Kirsi Mikkola, Finland
Yukiharu Sambe, Taito Corporation, Japan
Leena Kanerva, See Finland, Finland
Anja Rieger, Cube Hotels, Austria
Brian Boswijk, 11 restaurant bar club, The Netherlands
Lars Ueland Kobro, Vikings in Westfold, Norway
Eija Virtasalo, Employment and Economic Development Centre for Lapland, Finland
Antti Haase, Kemi-Tornio University of Applied Sciences, Finland
Howard Brodsky, Suomen Filmiteollisuus
Ilkka Kauppinen, Kodja Consulting
Ilkka Länkinen, ProSanta
Inkeri Starry, Finnish Tourist Board
Nina Vesterinen, Theme Group on Tourism
Jari Auranen, Go Finland Ltd.
José Gimeno, e-Cultura Net, S.A.
Natalia Grebennik, Nordic Innovation Centre
Erik Hedblad, Åreföretagarna AB
Jussi Huotari, TripSay
Kim Jin-Sik, CH Entertainment Co, Ltd
Jarmo Kariniemi, Joulupukin Kammari
Pia Kokki, Savonlinna Travel Ltd.
Pirjo Kutinlahti, Ministery of Employment and the Economy
Olli Levaniemi, 3Dolli Oy
Petteri Ohtonen, Haaga-Perho / Haaga Institute Foundation
Hannu Pelkonen, Jämsek Ltd.
Tuula Rintala-Gardin, City of Rovaniemi
Matti Saarinen, Whatamap.com Ltd
Santeri Saastamoinen, Seven-1
Jaana Tuomi, Espoo Tourism
Seija Väisänen, Natupolis Ltd.
Leena Zittling, Prodemic Consulting Group Oy Ltd.

Destination

noreply@blogger.com (Blogmaster) — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 15:02:00 +0000

Rovaniemi

Lapland is the northernmost province of Finland and the European Union. Lapland’s energetic capital city Rovaniemi is the Europe´s largest town by land area. In Lapland there are approximately 190 000 inhabitants and the indigenous people of Lapland are Saami with population of approximately 7000. In Rovaniemi there are approximately 58 000 inhabitants. The province of Lapland has 17 municipalities and the area represents 30 % prosent of Finland´s total land area.

On the Arctic Circle, approximately 800 km north of Helsinki, at the junction of two great rivers, the Kemijoki and the Ounasjoki, the city which has grown round the Ounasvaara Hill recreation area is a part of nature itself. Lapland’s eight seasons provide the entire region with a wide range of attractive aspects. Lapland is known in Finland for its treeless fells and wildlife. The most famous fells are Saariselkä, Levi, Ylläs, Pyhä-Luosto (ski resorts), Korvatunturi and Halti, the highest fell in Finland. Reindeer, wolves and wolverines are among the best-known animals of Lapland. During the winter of six months there is a lot of snow and sometimes the temperature can drop to –40 ° C. The spring, when the days get longer, is very short. Summers can be very warm with 24 hours of daylight. The distinguishing feature of autumn is the famous autumn colours.

Most of the people work at provate and public services. The largest employers in total in Rovaniemi are e.g. town of Rovaniemi, Lapland Healthcare District, University of Lapland, BRP Finland, and Lappset Group.

Finland´s time zone is GMT+2.

Travel & Transportation

Rovaniemi is easily reachable by plane or by train. There are frequent flights from many European cities to Helsinki, the capital of Finland. From Helsinki to Rovaniemi, the heart of Finnish Lapland, you can take a one hour journey by plane or over night train. Rovaniemi airport is located 10 kilometres north from city and the railway station 1 kilometer distance from city centre.

Organizers make travel arrangements for speakers, other seminar guests are expected to make their travel arrangements by themselves.

If you choose to come to Rovaniemi by plane, please consult

Finnair
Blue 1

The easiest way from airport to hotel is to take Airport taxi, tel. +358 (0) 16 362 222. Taxis are available at the airport when the flight arrives. Airport taxi transports in the city area. Fee 9e/person. Taxi takes more than one customer at the same time.

The other option to arrive to city centre from airport is to take Airport Express (tel. +358 (0) 16 363 222) which is a mini-bus driving to all hotels at the city centre as well as to bus station. Airport Express costs 5 euros/person. Express departs from the airport immediatly after every Finnair flight arrives. Please check your hotel reception about the pick-up time from your hotel back to the airport.

If you choose to come here by train, please consult

VR Ltd. Finnish Railways

From railway station the easiest way to get to hotel is to take a taxi. There are usually taxis waiting when train arrives. In other cases phone number for taxi is +358 (0) 16 106 410.

Accommodation

We have reserved accommodation for the seminar guests in a four star Clarion Hotel Santa Claus located right in the middle of the city centre. The room rates are 69e / single room and 84e / double room. The prices incluce buffet breakfast. Guests will make all the reservations, possible changes to their reservations and cancellations directly to the hotel by themself. When reserving please mention code LEO/CLS09. The organizers arrange accommodation reservations for speakers.

Reservations are made on first come-first served basis. The hotel fees are payable directly to the hotel departure. No deposit is required. The hotel accepts all major credit cards.

Please make your room reservation early enough, there are only limited number of rooms available!

Other accommodation possibilites in Rovaniemi city centre are for example:

noreply@blogger.com (Blogmaster) — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 08:36:00 +0000

noreply@blogger.com (Blogmaster) — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 06:51:00 +0000

Programme

Wednesday 16th April
Welcome reception at 19.00-20.00 hosted by the City of Rovaniemi. The welcome reception takes place at the Rovaniemi City Hall (Hallituskatu 7), within walking distance from the hotels.

Thursday 17th April –Across the branches

Chairman Mr. V.A. Heikkinen, Research Manager, University of Lapland, Finland

09.30–10.30 Registration, morning coffee at Agora Hall

10.30–10.45 Esko & Asko Auditorium
Welcome by Ms. Sanna Tarssanen, Acting CEO, LEO, Finland
Opening by Mr. Mauri Ylä-Kotola, Rector, University of Lapland, Finland

10.45–11.45 Esko & Asko Auditorium
Keynote I Mr. C. Michael Hall: Innovation value creation points in tourism firm
Professor, Department of Management, College of Business & Economics, University of Canterbury, New Zealand
Presentation will be arranged virtually.

11.45-12.45 Esko & Asko Auditorium
Keynote II Mr. Mikko Vartiainen: Beyond the boundaries - E-Commerce enables growth for the travel industry
Managing Partner, Nueva Media Ltd., Finland

12.45–14.00 Lunch at Felli

14.00–16.00 How to boost your own business – learning from international cases

All cases are examined from three viewpoints; e-business, product development and foresight research. Participants can observe each case as a whole or, alternatively, all three cases form one viewpoint eg. e-business.

16.00–16.30 Closing remarks

18.00 Buses depart for the evening programm at the Clarion Hotel Santa Claus
Spring Adventure of Joulukka
The spring is coming but the Spring Fairy is in a deep sleep. The inhabitants of Joulukka are stuck in one season and they need to wake Fairy up otherwise Spring does not come to Joulukka. We need help of clever and adventurous minds in order to solve the puzzle and bring Spring in to life residents of Joulukka.

Friday 18th April – Innovating and networking

Chairman Mr. Kristian Sievers, Program Director, Tourism and Experience Management Competence Cluster, Culminatum Ltd Oy, Finland

09.15–09.30 Good morning

09.30–10.20 Esko & Asko Auditorium
Keynote III Ms. Leena Zittling: Boosting SME growth through clusters
CEO, Prodemic Consulting Group Oy Ltd., Finland and
President, European ProClusters Association - EPROCA
Finland

10.20-10.30 Esko & Asko Auditorium
Comment Mr. Petri Salmi: Competitiveness through innovations in tourism and experience management
Programme Director, Tourism and Experience Management Competence Cluster, LEO, Finland

10.30–11.00 Coffee at Agora Hall

11.00–12.45 Workshops, part 1 (Workshops 1-3) Read more about the Workshops.

12.45–14.00 Lunch
14.00–15.45 Workshops, part 2 (Workshops 4-6)

16.00–16.45 Concluding remarks by the workshop chairmen

16.45-17.00 Closing of the seminar

The organizers reserve the right to make changes to the programme.