When you think of brand names like eBay, Google, Disney or Twitter, Squamish isn’t the first location that comes to mind. But that’s exactly where all these companies are going to converge in April for the second annual Canadian Internet Marketing Conference (CIMC).
Christian Thomson of Marwick Internet Marketing and Darian Kovacs of Jelly Marketing initially founded CIMC with the hopes of gathering like-minded marketing professionals to learn about the latest best practices and integration of new technology. What they didn’t expect was how quickly and passionately people would respond to the idea.
“When we launched CIMC last year it was out of a personal desire to learn from the top talent in the industry,” said Thomson, co-organizer of CIMC. “We were amazed that for our first year we could secure incredible speakers from companies like Google, Future Shop and Vega. We felt like we struck a nerve with the industry, and people were very excited to share and learn with their colleagues. This year we’ve managed to gather even more amazing talent together, and people have been so genuinely interested that we’ve had to double our capacity from last year.”
Featured speakers from this year’s line up represent a list of international brands and include Fab Dolan, head of marketing of Google Canada; Angela Saclamacis, public relations and broadcast programming for Disney Parks Canada; Andrea Stairs, managing director of eBay Canada; Jennifer Knox, PR and communications manager for Etsy Canada; and Mikey Scott, global marketing director of Herschel Supply Co.
“I had the honour of speaking at last year’s CIMC. Not only did I enjoy speaking at the event, I also learned a lot sitting in the audience,” said Emily Wexler, editor of Strategy magazine. “CIMC is a must-attend conference for anyone working in digital marketing who wants to increase their knowledge and open their minds to new digital possibilities.”
Keeping the conference in Squamish is a testament to the business growth the area has seen over the last several years. Not only did Squamish offer the opportunity for several local businesses to share their success stories, but also event organizers received positive feedback that the location made it a unique event opportunity for participants to get away from the Vancouver business district.
“We’ve seen a lot of young and established entrepreneurs move into the Squamish area, both for a change of lifestyle and the growing business opportunities the area provides,” said Thomson . “Last year, some of the best feedback was that people wanted to keep the event in Squamish, giving them the opportunity to spend quality time with other attendees not only at the conference but in the outdoors.”
The conference runs over the course of two days, April 14-15, at the West Coast Railway Heritage Park in Squamish. Full conference tickets cost $799, while single day passes are $399. The full program and line up of speakers can be found here.
