BCIT Marketing Association’s 6th Annual Regional Conference

The BCITMA hosted the 6th Annual Regional Conference on January 13th at the BCIT Downtown campus. The focus of this year’s conference was Experiential Marketing: A Disruptive Reality. As a true fan of networking, I was lucky enough to be a part of such a great event. The conference was organized by the VP of Integrated Marketing, Emily Sander, her second-year Director, Sarah Lowery and first-year Michael Xu, their Regional Conference Lead. It also included industry speakers, student competitions, networking with sponsors and free headshots!

The conference centered on Experiential Marketing and how this is changing the way marketers engage with customers. Industry professionals were invited to speak about their jobs in this area of marketing, how they got their position and how they see experiential marketing evolving with new technology like Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality rising. The speakers included were Clay Dubé from SMAK, Bianca Knopp from Wildfire Experiential and Events, Sammy Rifai from Cossette and Elyse Gawley from Pace Group.

BCIT SABRE CompetitionBCITMA SABRE Regional Conference

Another great aspect of the conference was the student competitions, SABRE, Case Competition and a Sales Competition. The SABRE competition is a business simulation where students can test business planning and analysis skills in real time. The Case competition allows students to practice their research skills and strategy skills, and the Sales competition focuses on the student’s needs analysis, negotiating and closing skills. Top three students won monetary prizes, and a chance to showcase their skills in front of industry professionals!

The conference is a great event for students to get to know more about the current events in the marketing industry. It’s also a good way for students to speak to professionals and ask them about anything that they would like to know about the industry, their career path, and maybe even pre-schmooze them to get your name out there. I have been to the conference twice already and if you’re a marketing student, this MA event should be marked on your calendar for next year. The experience you will get from this is invaluable.

For more information you can visit the BCITMA website at www.bcitma.ca.

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