WHATS INSIDE!

Doug McPhee President’s greeting— National Raffle Launches—

NAASC Congress Boise getting ready to welcome you and offers an

Early Bird registration—News around Skål Canada Clubs—More New

Members—A quick peak at Skal Torremolinos—Young Skål evolving!

Dear Canadian Skalleagues, It is indeed an honour and a privilege to be your Skal Canada president for 2016. I have been a member of Skal since 1988 when I joined the Skal Club of the Canadian Rockies. My home club has been instrumental in helping me to the path of President. They've sup-ported me as Skal representative and regional VP on the Skal Canada Board and on each and every decision. I'd like to thank them for their support and respect. It is my hope that 2016 will continue with the many good initiatives introduced with our three-year plan. It was implemented last year by our Executive and Board led by then President Jean Francois Cote from the Quebec City Club. Our emphasis will continue to build membership initiatives; not only building membership but providing resources to

each club so membership is engaged in Skal. More opportunities to do business among friends, more help in recruiting the right Skal member and providing financial help to make the opportunities successful. This year, we embark on our new raffle initiative to help clubs work toward their membership goals. The raffle is com-prised of many tourism related products and destinations provided by tourism companies and Skal members. I want to thank all of you who have so generously supported this new endeavor. On another front, last year we struck a working committee comprised of Executive members, Skal Canada Board mem-bers and members at large. They were tasked with re-evaluating our governance structure and providing recommenda-tions to improve the overall organization from Executive level to Club level. This has been led by Calgary Skal member Marc Rheaume. The proposed recommendations will be presented to the AGM at NAASC in Boise in June. Our Executive Director, Denis Smith, has been one of the main reasons we've been moving forward the past two years. With a hands-on approach, we are seeing stronger communication, effective monthly executive meetings and good financial control. This year, one of our goals is to work towards establishing a renewed Skal club in the Nation's Capital, Ottawa and a new club in PEI. It would be a great accomplishment if we had a Skal club in every province and in our Capital City as we enter our 150th year as a country. If you can, as a Skal member, give us any help towards accomplishing this, please reach out to me. On another communication front, we will be holding occasional east, central, and west conference calls with your Skal Canada representatives and the Executive committee. From these, we hope to make sure each Club has first-hand in-

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formation of what our national direction is. They will also have input other than at our bi-annual meetings. Sharing ide-as and information should make all clubs stronger. Lastly, think about being a special Skal member in your club this year. Have fun, do some business with a Skalleague, reach out to a good potential member to improve your club, reinvigorate yourself in your own club, and help keep your club interesting, fun and social. To each and every one of you.... Happiness...Good Health....Friendship.... Long life… SKAL! Doug McPhee President

SKÅL CANADA NATIONAL RAFFLE Supporting Skål Canada Clubs Skål Canada members have the chance to win amazing prizes donated by Skål partners

and members…. TRAVEL PRIZES, GIFT CERTIFICATES, CAR RENTALS, PROFESSIONAL SERVICES, CORPORATE

RETREATS, AIR FARES, ALL INCLUSIVE RESORTS and more to come...

90% of ALL Raffle proceeds will benefit your individual Skål Canada Club

Tickets are available from your Club's Skal Canada representative. The Skal Canada website also provides an up to date list of donations and information on the raffle www.skalcanada.org

You can help by buying tickets AND donating a prize! We continue to accept donations and will update members on a regular basis. Draws for all Raffle prizes will take place at NAASC Congress in Boise, Idaho on June 10th, 2016.

Platinum Sponsors

Gold Sponsors

NAASC CONGRESS BOISE, IDAHO June 9—12,2016

The Boise Skal club is finalizing a great program with keynote speakers

and educational tours! They have also just reduced the registration fee

and are offering AN ADDITIONAL Early Bird registration discount if you

register by March 31!

This is a great opportunity to network with fellow Skalleagues! There is a

B2B session for you to register and exchange business opportunities.

There is a direct link to register for Boise on the Skal Canada home page

www.skalcanada.org

AIM Craig Jones, General Manager Rodd Hotels & Resorts EDMONTON Adrian Warchola Young Skal Professional Manager, Edmonton Intl airport HALIFAX Kevin Toth, President Fox Harbour Resort Kristine Kovacevic, Manager Canadian Museum of Immigration Max Rastelli, President Segway Nova scotia Peter Williams, Owner Eastwind Cycle Mark Schaay, General Manager Alt Hotel, Halifax HAMILTON Mark Iker, Manager Associate Globe & Mail - Travel Media Trystan Halpert, Regional Manager Chop Steakhouse & Bar William MacCallum, General Manager Hilton Garden Inn Burlington LONDON Holly Doty, President/ CEO Connect Dot Management

MONTREAL Dino Santelli, Owner Hotel De Paris Freas Zikra, President Associate Karl Winters ST JOHN’S

Calvin Ash, Vice President Provincial Airlines TORONTO NORTH Dianne King – Associate General Manager, Freeman Audio-Visual Don McWilliam, Manager Emirates Airlines Canada Mark Goldrup, General Manager

Toronto Marriott Downtown WINNIPEG Bridgette Sandron, Senior Vice President Travel Manitoba Alain Dumonceaux, Executive Director F&B/Events Manitoba Liquor & Lotteries Laurie Barkman, President Alt Hotel Winnipeg Michael Roziere, General Manager Victoria Inn Hotel Scott Jocelyn, President & CEO Manitoba Hotel Association

TORONTO Olivia Miranda Young Skal Hotel Management, George Brown College Mitchell King, Young Skål George Brown College VANCOUVER Gerry Barteluk. President Bareluk Hospitality

NEW MEMBERS

A special welcome to our latest new members !

Welcome to the Skål International Office in Spain ! Thinking of all of you as I stand outside of SKAL International in Torremolinos, Spain. Paul Emmons Halifax, Nova Scotia

Winnipeg

2016 Tourism Summit On January 12th, 2016 the Government of Manitoba, Manitoba Chambers of Commerce and Travel Manitoba invited the Manitoba Tourism Industry to a planning session. This session was conducted to capitalize on the momentum of tourism in our province by building a sustainable Tourism industry with a clear strategy for growth. Skål Canada Winnipeg participated by staffing a table to promote membership in our club. Members working the table were: Jordon Lanthier, Gordon Camp and Lorne Perrin. The booth provided the opportunity to expand awareness about our organization, solicit membership and reinforce the business to business goals within the tourism industry. Through participation at this event seven solid leads were obtained for new members and expanded awareness of Skål International and our local club. Lorne W. Perrin—Winnipeg

American Bus Association show

January

SKAL International USA promotes Skal across North America at the recent American Bus As-sociation marketplace. Skal gained exposure to over 3000 tourism delegates in attendance at this years marketplace in Louisville Kentucky.

Members in attendance from all across North America encouraged tourism delegates to con-sider Skal as an avenue to increase there tour-ism network . Skal Canada membership was promoted to Canadian delegates!

Sean Buckland—Halifax (VP Finance Skål Cana-da)

Skal International Greeter Program

Bill Rheaume, your International Skål

Councillor, is involved in a review of

Skal Services and programs. Bill is

asking for your feedback on the Skal

Greeter Program. If you have used

the program as you travelled or if you

are a Greeter for your club and have

you been called upon? What has

been your experience?

Contact Bill at: wdr01@telus.net

Sue Webb Named Skål Toronto Member of the Year

Brent Bowes, President of the Toronto club congratu-

lates Sue Webb on being named Skål Toronto Mem-ber of the Year. Sue was recognized for her guidance and passion for the Toronto club as well as her in-

volvement with Skål Canada and the international Skål movement.

WHAT IS YOUNG SKAL TODAY? HOW HAS THE PROGRAM EVOLVED?

HOW CAN YOUR CLUB INCORPORATE YOUNG SKAL?

Historically, Young Skål has been utilized as a networking program with students in hospitality/

tourism studies. Some clubs have YS members, offer bursaries or host events at local Colleges as

their way to reach out to young people pursuing careers in tourism.

Today, there is a new emphasis on Young Skal Professionals as a future building block for Skål world

wide! There are expanded membership categories, a dedicated web site hosted by Skål Internation-

al for Young Skål Professionals (www.youngskalnow.org) and regional and International Congresses.

Young Skål Professional offers three membership categories.

Young Skål Student is a student at an authorised, tourism, educational establishment which grants a degree or

recognised diploma upon completion of studies. They must be a minimum of 18 and a maximum of 27 years of age

Young Skål Professional is a young professional training for or working in the industry. They must be a mini-

mum of 20 and a maximum of 29 years of age

Young Skål Associate is a Young Skål Student who is still studying after the age of 27 or a Young Skål Profes-

sional still training or working in the industry after the age of 29 who does not yet qualify for Active membership.

They may continue as Young Skål Associate members until the age of 35

Three Skål Canada Clubs have made significant strides in incorporating Young Skal. Following are features from Susan Webb—Toronto Club, Paul Durand – Edmonton Club and Altan Demirkaya—Vancouver Club on their successes with Young Skål.

Edmonton Club—Paul Durand

Several years ago our Club was reviewing the scholarship we were giving to

the local travel school and how we could make it more impactful to the

club (get more out of it than writing an annual cheque). We discussed hav-

ing the student who was awarded the scholarship attend a club dinner so

the membership at least saw the recipient. The discussion developed into

stopping the scholarship and redirecting those funds into sponsoring two

Young Skal Members who would be fully involved with the club.

Our program sponsors Young Skal as the club picks up the membership

fee and dinner costs for 2 Young Skal members for a 2 year term each. We

have one start alternating years so we always have one Young Skal who

has a year under their belt to support the other. This structure has been

accepted wholeheartedly by the membership, and by ensuring we select

Toronto Club—Susan Webb

The concept of building and promoting Young Skal as a growth focus for Toronto, Club 151 was the inspira-

tion of the executive board members that was established through the Presidential leadership of Susan

Webb. Next, Joanne Gellatly, a member who was previously in industry, CTC qualified and teaching for over

a decade at Canada’s largest school of hospitality and tourism management was recruited to join as a com-

mittee board member. The club then reached out to local colleges and universities through presentation of

the Skal philosophies, along with displaying the international Skal video to classroom settings that continue

every year. The mentoring of one particular Young Skal member was developed in the budget by the club

board members to invite Audrius Valuilis to join at the meetings and become an active committee mem-

ber. Having a recent graduate that is young, enthusiastic and industry related become the spokesperson that

can answer questions, recruit, and invite potential YS is pivotal for the collaborative efforts needed in gaining

continual YS members. There is a budget provided by the Skal Toronto Club that offers the opportunity for

YS members to apply to have a portion of their travel budget compensated to encourage travel to Skal Cana-

da, Skal North America, Skal International, and YS- North America and International meetings.

All three levels of YS: Student, Young Professional, and Young Professional Associate are treated the same

through the club to ensure that the focus continues on drawing new membership for the future of the club in

long-term strategy. Only fees are differentiated between student and working YS members. Some re-

sistance to YS members continuing to sign up after one or two years is a challenge as YS members excel in

their careers and cannot necessarily provide the time to continue in membership. Interaction with the club

membership is encouraged through the networking social hour, as well as requesting to different tables to

have YS members or potential YS members join different member tables. YS members have hosted a Skal

event, and launched social media platform communications through Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn to

keep industry current of Skal activities. Members are generally most responsive and supportive in encourag-

ing the YS members to continue on their pathway in industry, and provide scope to the overall nature of our

global business.

Jordan McKay - Accommodation Program

Coordinator Alberta Hotel & Lodging Association.

the ‘right’ Young Skalleagues, they are welcomed and fully accepted into the club. We even had one sit with the exec-

utive for a few years. The whole trick is picking the ‘right’ ones. We target only the professional category, always

from a member organization, personality has to be very outgoing, we have had shyer types early on and it didn’t work

as well. When we recruit we do it by seeking applicants through our membership. They submit names of up and com-

ers in their organization, we then have a committee from the executive review the applicants, interview them and

submit their recommendations to the full executive for approval.

Over the last few years we have had Young Skal members from hoteliers, Alberta Tourism, Destination Marketing

Fund and our newest from Edmonton Airport so there is a good variety of background and career direction. The one

we had sit on executive has now transitioned into full membership and now holds an official executive role for the

club. Others have been tasked with leading education sessions and other activities at club dinners.

Overall the program has worked very well for us. The last 4 Young Skal we have had have been excellent and have

added an extra dynamic to our membership and our meetings. I recommend this approach for all clubs!

Vancouver Club—Altan Demirkaya

It was a pleasure to meet with you in Oct2th, 2015 at the SICAN

reception in Vancouver. It was a good experience for me to be part

of the SICAN operation at the Chateau Granville hotel.

I would like to inform you that I’ve been working on the establish-

ment of Young Skål Vancouver. I’ve presented my ideas to the Skal

Vancouver Board in December, 2015. I have started info meetings

with students to determine their goals and interests in joining

Young Skål.

I am pleased to announce that the Young Skål Vancouver open

house event will be taking place on Thursday, April 14th, 2016, at 6

pm – 7.30 pm at The Edge Social Grille & Lounge (Best Western

Plus Chateau Granville Hotel). I would like to invite Young Profes-

sionals & Tourism students and highly experienced industry professionals to the event. I will attend one event of the

Vancouver Hotel Association and I will be able to meet with GMs and ask them if they could nominate 2-3 young pro-

fessionals from their company to attend the event. I’m look forward to a successful first YSV event! I believe that we

will have great Young Skål team in Vancouver within the year.

I would like to invite you and other SICAN executives to the event. Please find the attached invitation of the open

house. I would be grateful if you could forward the invitation to the other executives.