The road to 2010 begins in 2009: To assist in the preparation of quality athlete-centered care for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games in Vancouver, the Canadian Academy of Sport Medicine, in partnership with Vancouver 2010 Organizing Committee (VANOC), present the International Sport Medicine Conference to be held June 3-7, 2009. For more information visit their website at www.casm-acms.org

Lord of the (Olympic) Rings: Thanks in large part to the International Olympic Committee's selection of the city to play host to the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, Vancouver, BC, is experiencing unprecedented visibility among business and leisure travelers worldwide. The city's growing appeal, of course, comes as no surprise to some, especially those who have visited this picturesque, cosmopolitan destination and returned home to rave about it to anyone who would listen.

John Delavan is a freelance writer based in Chicago and former editor in chief of The Meeting Professional. Read more of his article on Vancouver at www.mpiweb.org/CMS/mpiweb/mpicontent.aspx?id=14642

Olympic Voice: a new, specialized resource offered by the Canadian Olympic Committee (COC) for organizations to book appearances by Olympic athletes. Through Olympic Voice, organizations have the ability to schedule a variety of corporate services and functions from an extensive database of over 3,300 Canadian Olympians. www.olympic.ca/EN/athletes/olympic_voice/

Sport Event Tools: Tourism Vancouver has access to state of the art technology through the partnerships with Canadian Sport Tourism Alliance (CSTA), Sport Web and 2010 LegaciesNow Society. Some of the available tools include:

• Business Plan template for staging a sporting event
• STEAM - Sport Tourism Economic Assessment Model
• Sport Web event tool kit - an on-line event management tool

Collateral Material:
Tourism Vancouver can help promote your upcoming convention to Vancouver, Canada by providing collateral material and images for such uses as pre-conference mailings, registration and program publications, as well as delegate kits. Check out all we have to offer at www.tourismvancouver.com/meetings/service_your_meeting/order_collateral.php

For more information on how we can build a conference website for you, complete with destination information, weather and customs & immigration requirements (at no cost) contact our Convention Services Department at 604.631.2838 or sgraham@tourismvancouver.com.

Attendance Building:
Tourism Vancouver is pleased to report a huge success. The Society for American Archaeology (SAA) held their 73rd annual meeting in Vancouver late March. The association just reported their highest attendance ever in the history of their annual meeting! This is the first time SAA has met in Vancouver. www.saa.org

Vancouver as a meetings destination has proven to attract more delegate attendance than previous years. For citywide conventions, if appropriate and relevant, our Customer Service team will attend and exhibit at your annual meeting the year prior to encourage your delegates and exhibitors to attend. To find out how Tourism Vancouver can help make your meeting a success, visit our website at www.tourismvancouver.com

Wedgewood Hotel & Spa - after 23 years in operation Vancouver's Wedgewood Hotel & Spa is delighted to announce the selection of the Wedgewood to the prestigious Relais & Chateaux association, which is recognised as "The collection of the world's finest restaurants and hotels".

The Wedgewood Hotel & Spa is the first and only Relais & Chateaux hotel to be selected in Vancouver. Founded in France in 1954, the Relais & Chateaux association includes 460 privately owned elegant boutique hotels and restaurants in 51 countries and on 5 continents.
www.relaischateaux.com
www.wedgewoodhotel.com

Simon Fraser University - In September 2009, the School for the Contemporary Arts will be moving into a new building. Construction is underway on the six-floor 120,000 sq. ft. state-of-the-art facility that includes a flexible theatre, a world art studio, a cinema, two studio theatres, and a gallery. The SFU building will also include various teaching studios, a multimedia centre, and a sound stage.
cgi.sfu.ca/~scahome/?q=taxonomy_menu/1/1/74

Fairmont Hotel Vancouver Executive Chef Robert Lecrom along with Daryle Nagata, Executive Chef at the Pan Pacific Hotel, and Sean Murray, Banquet Sous Chef at the Four Seasons Hotel have all been given the prestigious honor of heading to Beijing to prepare food for the Canadian Olympic Committee and the Canadian athletes at the Beijing 2008 Olympic summer games.
www.fairmont.com
www.panpacific.com
www.fourseasons.com

April 28-30: Rachael Nocera, Sales Manager, Midwest USA, will be participating in Canadian Tourism Commission Wisconsin Sales Mission. Tourism Vancouver, Tourism Toronto, Tourism Quebec and Travel Alberta will be conducting association sales calls with clients in Madison and Milwaukee Wisconsin.

April 29: Dori Jensen, Sales Manager, Washington, DC will attend the ASAE - Greater Washington Network Reception and Green Market program. As one of the leaders in creating a greener world, this event will take place on Canadian soil, at the Canadian Embassy.
www.gwsae.org

April 30-May 1: Wendy Surkan, Sales Manager, Eastern USA, will attend ConferenceDirect's 9th Annual Partner Meeting. This annual event brings together 200 of ConferenceDirect's 240 sales associates from across the US who represent 950 association and corporate customers. The agenda provides opportunities to expand and strengthen Vancouver's profile and generate future business. ConferenceDirect books over 5,200 meetings per year, generating over $344 million in room revenue.
www.conferencedirect.com

April 30-May 2: Dori Jensen, Sales Manager, Washington, DC will participate in the ASAE Global Summit on Social Responsibility. It will be held at the new Gaylord National Harbor in Maryland. The Goal of this Summit is to build a shared profession wide commitment, sense of purpose and collective ownership, for the success of what can become the world's largest social responsibility initiative.
www.asaecenter.org

May 6-7: Immediately prior to the Vancouver Convention Commitment/Chair's Campaign in Washington DC, Tourism Vancouver President, CEO Rick Antonson, Tourism Vancouver Chair and General Manager, Renaissance Vancouver Hotel Harbourside, Smith Munro, Vancouver Hotel General Manager's Association Chair and General Manager, Marriott Pinnacle Vancouver, Ken Cretney, and Diana Reid, Sales Manager Vancouver Convention & Exhibition Centre will join Wendy Surkan, Sales Manager, Eastern US, in New York for sales calls and client presentations. The focus will be on city wide association accounts.

May 8: International Sales Team, Richard Yore and Dorte Ottensen will participate in the first of two new destination education programs Tourism Vancouver has spearheaded to court UK and Mexican corporate, international association and incentive markets. Invited clients will be a mix of third party meeting planners, incentive houses and end-users. As part of the program Tourism Vancouver will host a unique workshop that will allow members to have one-on-one meetings with the client. The first of the events - MeetingPlace Vancouver/Whistler UK - which will take place at the Vancouver Convention & Exhibition Centre has been completely sold out.

May 8-9: Vancouver Capital Chair's Campaign, Washington, DC. This key sales mission organized by Tourism Vancouver's Jackie Benear, Dori Jensen and Jennifer Boudreau, aims to qualify, confirm and book major citywide and in house business for the expanded Vancouver Convention and Exhibition Centre (VCEC) and hotel properties. This year's Chair, Smith Munroe will join Tourism Vancouver's Rick Antonson, Dave Gazley, VCEC's Warren Buckley and the General Managers and Sales Managers from Vancouver's convention hotels and convention center. The campaign consists of two days of sales calls in Washington DC, Maryland and Virginia and three events. An evening reception in Washington DC, Vangroovy, retro inspired venue targeting 50-75 customers, a wine making luncheon in Alexandria, VA and a reception for the Global Sales Offices of hotel chains represented in Vancouver.

May 8-9: Rachael Nocera, Sales Manager, Midwest USA, will participate in the PCMA Annual Program Committee Meeting to be held in Chicago. At this meeting, Rachael will lead a sub-committee to select the educational program for 3 of the 12 tracks for the PCMA's 2009 Annual Meeting to be held in New Orleans.
www.pcma.org

May 13: Along with the other Chicago-based Canadian Partners, Tourism Vancouver is sponsoring a local joint MPI/PCMA educational program. Rachael Nocera, Sales Manager, Midwest USA, will be representing Tourism Vancouver.

May 13-14: Dori Jensen, Sales Manager, Washington, DC will attend the (AMP's) Association Meeting Professionals Program and Networking Event at the Gaylord National Harbor. She will then participate the following day in the AMP's Association Meeting Professionals Golf Tournament at the Potomac Ridge Golf Course. This event brings together over 125-150 suppliers and planners.
www.ampsweb.org

May 15: Rachael Nocera, Sales Manager, Midwest USA, serves on the Association Forum's Holiday Showcase Vendor Committee. She will be attending the first planning meeting for this year's event on May 15 at the Forum office.
www.associationforum.org