Presentation slides now available online.

Alienation Digital would like to say a huge thankyou to the speakers and all who attended the ‘Why Wait for 2014?’ seminar at the Blythswood Square hotel in Glasgow.

We were delighted to fill the room with so many people that we had to add more chairs to account for a larger than expected attendance.

For those who were unable to make it, we are sorry that you missed such an informative set of presentations and involved discussion. To make up for it we have published the presentation slides here so you can take a peek at the insights that were on show.

Review of the Event

The commercial director from Glasgow Chamber of Commerce, Richard Muir, kicked off the seminar by expressing his excitement about the bright future ahead for Glasgow’s hospitality industry, and paved the way for the presentations by remarking that marketing has a huge role to play in Glasgow's success.

Tim Sandford of Market Transformations introduced the ‘Why Wait for 2014?’ theme. With visitor statistics from the Melbourne and Manchester games, Tim’s presentation highlighted the importance of making key marketing decisions now, in the years running up to the Glasgow Commonwealth Games, and not waiting for the event itself to get on the curve.

Andrew Stevenson and David Whyte from Tangent Graphic followed with a 20 minute master class in how to build a brand, combining professional advice with their own personal experiences to express the importance of strong branding for hospitality organisations.

Alienation Digital’s very own Simon Bennison took the question “How can a small hotel compete in a competitive marketplace?” as the basis of his presentation. He highlighted the importance of knowing the keywords your target audience uses to find you online and offered advice on how to implement a search marketing campaign; conveying the importance of finding the remarkable in your company and ensuring you communicate this online.

In the final presentation Dr. Jim Hamill, from the University of Strathclyde and Hamill Associates, illustrated the revolutionary effect that social media is having on marketing, specifically in the tourism industry. Jim gave an inspirational talk about the new mindset that marketers must have in order to be the ‘winners’ of the social media age.

The event concluded with a question and answer session and a live web audit inviting audience members to submit their websites for review by the panel. We were delighted by the level of engagement in this interactive part of the session, followed by a well-attended networking session in the bar.

Presentation Slides

Tim Sandford

Andrew Stevenson and David Whyte

Simon Bennison

Jim Hamill