Speakers

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THE NATIONAL ATTRACTIONS MARKETING CONFERENCE 2024

DRAYTON MANOR THEME PARK & RESORT
THURSDAY 6th JUNE 2024

We’re pleased to announce the following confirmed speakers so far:

Sarah Bagg

Director, ReWork Consulting

Liz Dimes

Digital Mktg Director, Agility Mktg

Bernard Donoghue OBE

CEO, ALVA

Martin Evans

MD, The Tourism Business

Samantha Fay

Chief Mktg Officer, Layered Reality

Paul Kelly

Chief Executive, BALPPA

Neil Lewin

Managing Director, Semantic

Abbi Ollive

Attraction Director, Castle Howard

Anthony Rawlins

Chief Executive, Navigate

Nikki Smith

Director, Visitor Mktg Consultancy

Catherine Warrilow

Director, The Plot Thickens

Attractions Marketing Conference 2019

Attractions Marketing Conference 2019

Attractions Marketing Conference 2019

Attractions Marketing Conference 2019

Attractions Marketing Conference 2019

Attractions Marketing Conference 2019

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Tel: 0770 291 2938 | Email: conference@thetourismbusiness.com

Director, ReWork Consulting

Sarah Bagg

Director, ReWork Consulting

Sarah‘s career has spanned 25 years across the Attraction, Leisure, and Hospitality sectors, from hands-on front-of-house roles to senior commercial and operational positions, before honing her ticketing/membership/Epos/CRM software knowledge. As a supplier, she led the strategy and delivery of sales and marketing, development roadmap, client engagement and retention.

Through ReWork she now combines the experiences and knowledge the team has gained as operators, with those of a supplier. It’s these lived experiences that provide clients with the knowledge and confidence to plan for future growth. ReWork helps Leisure, Experience and Attraction operators and Software Partners to get to where they need to be quicker, with a clear focus on the long-term relationships that play a central role in commercial success.

Digital Mktg Director, Agility Mktg

Liz Dimes

Digital Marketing Director, Agility Marketing

Liz is a Digital Marketing Director for visitor attraction specialist, Agility Marketing and the lead behind their digital advertising and conversion optimisation strategies. She boasts over a decade of experience in delivering tangible results. With a relentless drive for results she has steered impressive returns for clients across the attraction industry.

Liz is excited about new technology and dedicated to staying ahead of the curve; leveraging emerging technologies to maximise digital performance. With a proven track record of driving footfall and revenue growth, Liz is looking forward to sharing her unparalleled expertise, that ensures her clients stay out in front.

CEO, ALVA

Bernard Donoghue OBE

CEO, ALVA

Bernard has been the Director of ALVA, the UK’s Association for Leading Visitor Attractions, since 2011 following a career in advocacy, communications, and lobbying, latterly at a senior level in the tourism and heritage sector. In 2017, the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, appointed Bernard to be the Mayor’s Ambassador for Cultural Tourism and a member of the Mayor’s Cultural Leadership Board.

Bernard is Co-Chair of the London Tourism Recovery Board. He is also Chairman of LIFT, London International Festival of Theatre; Chairman of the Bristol Old Vic, the oldest continually operating theatre in the English-speaking world, and also of the People’s History Museum, the Museum of Democracy. He has been a member of the UK Government’s Tourism Industry Council since 2016, and was named by Blooloop in 2020 as one of the world’s 50 most influential people in museums.

MD, The Tourism Business

Martin Evans

Managing Partner, The Tourism Business

Martin has worked in marketing consultancy with a wide range of visitor attractions since launching the York-based consultancy The Tourism Business. Prior to that, Martin’s career included positions as Marketing Director at Yorkshire Tourist Board (where he worked with over 400 visitor attractions) and Head of Marketing at Consort Hotels Group.

As a marketing consultancy, The Tourism Business has built up an impressive public and private sector client list, comprising over 150 of the UK’s leading destinations, attractions, hotels and leisure companies. Clients in the attractions sector have included Beamish Museum, the Black Country Living Museum, the British Council, Heritage Trust for the North West, the National Forest, Scarborough Museums and The Attractions of Snowdonia.

Chief Mktg Officer, Layered Reality

Samantha Fay

Chief Marketing Officer, Layered Reality (Elvis Evolution, Gunpowder Plot, War of the Worlds immersive experiences)

Sam has over 20 years’ experience in brand strategy and marketing high profile entertainment companies including LEGO, Guinness World Records, EIDOS and Electronic Arts. As Senior Vice President, Brand Strategy at Guinness World Records for over a decade, she managed brand and digital marketing teams across the USA, China, Japan, Europe, and the Middle East.

She joined Layered Reality™ – the UK’s leading immersive entertainment business – as their first Chief Marketing Officer in 2023 and currently directs the marketing, digital and PR programme for Jeff Wayne’s The War of the Worlds Immersive experience and the Gunpowder Plot in association with Historical Royal Palaces and based at UNESCO’s Tower of London. Earlier this year she secured £524m of publicity for Elvis Evolution – an AI, holographic musical experience celebrating the King himself due to open in November. Sam is a Trustee of the Old Royal Naval College in Greenwich.

Chief Executive, BALPPA

Paul Kelly

Chief Executive, BALPPA

Having been with BALPPA for 11 years and working with VAC for that amount of time as well, Paul started his career in the attractions sector at Thorpe Park in the 80’s and then moved on to the London Eye for its opening around the millennium. He has always been involved with visitor attractions. Several more years working within Merlin followed both in the UK and abroad, mainly on business development. Being a BALPPA member for 30 years and being Chair of the organising committee at VAC, the national Visitor Attractions Conference, keeps Paul in touch with all aspects of the attractions industry.

Managing Director, Semantic

Neil Lewin

Managing Director, Semantic

Neil is the owner of Semantic, an award-winning agency that brings attraction, leisure and tourism brands to life online. They help attractions grow, build awareness and drive revenue through bespoke websites, strategic support and their new LOOP platform.

Neil’s career has seen him help leading attraction brands in the UK and around the world, including Merlin Entertainments, The Dungeons, Yorkshire Wildlife Park, The National Space Centre, Twycross Zoo and Crystal Maze.

In addition to bespoke websites, the team has combined 25+ years’ of experience into their LOOP platform for attractions. It’s a way to get an optimised website launched in record time and keep it up-to-date with best practices and new features, all within one simple subscription package.

This platform has helped build up Semantic’s expertise and reputation within the sector and means that they can help more attractions meet their potential and deliver a great guest experience online. It puts Semantic in a great position to take advantage of the latest technology, cloud systems and AI tools as the LOOP platform continues to develop.

Read more on Semantic.co.uk or LinkedIn.

Attraction Director, Castle Howard

Abbi Ollive

Visitor Attraction Director, Castle Howard

Abbi has been an integral part of the team at North Yorkshire stately home, Castle Howard, for 7 years. The role is certainly varied and has involved opening a new adventure playground, working on events ranging from BBC Countryfile Live through to Ellie Goulding’s wedding, growing the iconic Christmas event, doubling the Membership numbers and managing a fair amount of filming activity, from Bridgerton to Channel 4’s year long observational documentary. During the pandemic Castle Howard used Cultural Recovery Funding to accelerate online ticketing and built a bespoke membership portal, always thinking about the customer journey and the visitor need.

Chief Executive, Navigate

Anthony Rawlins

Chief Executive, Navigate (formerly Digital Visitor)

Anthony is the driving force behind Navigate, an award-winning marketing consultancy dedicated to growing visitors, revenue, and impact for attractions. With a legacy spanning over two decades, Anthony guides organisations in growth, helping them craft their unique success stories. Anthony is renowned for his keen foresight, making him a sought-after keynote speaker for trend predictions and invaluable insights.

Director, Visitor Mktg Consultancy

Nikki Smith

Director, The Visitor Marketing Consultancy

Nikki is a seasoned professional with over three decades of experience in marketing within the visitor attractions industry. Starting her journey as a ticket collector and cave guide at Wookey Hole, she quickly rose through the ranks to hold marketing leadership roles at Merlin Entertainments and Aspro Parks.

Her entrepreneurial flair led her to establish Flamingo Marketing, a consultancy that, over 14 years, became synonymous with innovative PR, marketing, and strategy for an array of tourism clients such as Blenheim Palace, Treasure Houses of England. The Headland Hotel, Kynren, Raymond Gubbay, The Mary Rose, Pernod Ricard and many more. Not stopping there, Nikki ventured into ownership, revitalizing a visitor attraction in Newquay, showcasing her hands-on approach and commitment to enhancing the visitor experience. Her latest venture, The Visitor Marketing Consultancy, provides experienced, practical marketing support for attractions.

Director, The Plot Thickens

Catherine Warrilow

Director, The Plot Thickens (formerly of Day Out with the Kids)

Catherine is a brand strategist and founder of The Plot, specialising in marketing roadmaps for travel brands. She has worked in travel and tourism for 15 years, much of which has been with attractions and experiences as well as OTAs. She also mentors students and start-ups in the sector.