Sport Tourism Canada's (STC) annual Sport Events Congress (SEC) is the largest annual gathering of everyone connected to the over $6.8 billion sport tourism industry in Canada. Now past its 20th year, SEC remains “one of the most lucrative and successful conferences within the sports system in Canada”, according to STC's CEO, Rick Traer. For that, he credits iSPARK™ Consulting: “iSPARK™ has brought a keen business acumen to STC and has helped propel our events, especially the annual congress, to be a major force in the industry and hugely beneficial to our members.”
STC members include municipalities, national and provincial sport organizations, educational institutions, industry suppliers, all focused on growing Canada’s sport tourism industry. To support that goal, SEC provides education and leadership and develops partnerships between events rights holders and host cities.
At SEC, STC members connect, learn, build, and maintain important relationships and engage with elected officials and champions of sport. To ensure that SEC remains the industry’s must-attend meeting place and delivers on real business opportunities, iSPARK™ applies creativity, a deep understanding of sport, and savvy business practices.
It’s not enough to have fun activities at an event; those activities need to meet attendees’ goals and deliver event experience. Likewise, it’s not enough to meet everyone’s business goals without facilitating real relationships. SEC serves both purposes with a program that’s equal parts education, business, and fun. Attendees are drawn into innovative activations that break the ice and encourage personal connections—relationships that lead to great conversations and help close deals.
Traer adds: “Krista and her team are incredibly creative. She is a student of the industry and they are plugged in to a multitude of industry opportunities. We incorporate as many of iSPARK™’s innovative ideas as possible.”
Another STC annual event is in its entirety an example of that powerful combination of creativity and business savvy. Called [un] GOLF & Sport Tourism FORE-um, the event was custom designed by iSPARK™ in 2017 to create another face-to-face touchpoint for STC's members outside of SEC.
It turns the traditional golf tournament on its head to facilitate real learning and connecting through gamification tactics that amp up the networking and spark the competitive side of event attendees. STC members attend a symposium on trending topics in sport tourism, followed by an indoor golf tournament and social that offers all the things a person loves about golf without the hassles of hauling golf clubs, searching for lost balls, or taking cover from inclement weather.
Traer concludes: “Both events are critical to promoting our organization and the work we do within the sport tourism industry segment in Canada.”