In previous years, Development West Coast has run Lighthouse meetings and a Celebration of Tourism conference. This year DWC will be running enablement of tourism workshops. This will consist of a series of five workshops to support the development and enablement of West Coast businesses to navigate the ever-changing environment. DWC is pleased to have Paul Button, General Manager of Rotorua Canopy Tours, on the West Coast in February to present the first workshop in the series, Know your Brand.
Although this workshop is targeted towards tourism operators, it will be beneficial and is open to all West Coast businesses.
𝗞𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗯𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗱:
During this half day workshop, Paul will take you through his journey to building one of New Zealand’s most recognised and beloved SME tourism brands. Paul will speak about:
• How to balance investing in your distribution but also investing in your business.
• Engaging with customers.
• Living your brand values.
This workshop isn’t about fancy theories and abstract concepts. It is about Paul’s real life experiences, it’s about trials and errors, risk taking, hard decision making and a candid discussion about working in your business vs working on your business. It’s about living your values and how they come through in your business and your staff. To invest in your brand, you don’t have to be Coca-Cola or Apple.
𝗣𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿: 𝗣𝗮𝘂𝗹 𝗕𝘂𝘁𝘁𝗼𝗻 – 𝗚𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗹 𝗠𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗿, 𝗥𝗼𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘂𝗮 𝗖𝗮𝗻𝗼𝗽𝘆 𝗧𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘀
Paul’s passion for the great outdoors was ignited the first time he held a kayaking paddle in his hands. After a brief stint at Otago University, he enrolled in an Adventure Guiding and Outdoor Leadership course in Greymouth and has never looked back.
He travelled across the globe as a river rafting instructor and discovered amazing places which few tourists ever get to see. His talent for leadership and ability to draw the best out of people led to his appointment as General Manager of The Adventure Group in Canada in 2009. During his tenure, this company grew to become Canada’s most successful adventure tourism business.
In 2017 Paul was ready for a new challenge and returned home to join Rotorua Canopy Tours. His unique skill set has helped this award-winning business redefine adventure tourism in this country and set new industry standards for others to follow.
Mountain biking and long distance running keep Paul busy outdoors, and he’s a hands-on dad to two young children. His focus continues to be on developing the team at Rotorua Canopy Tours as he believes people are just as important as your product. He’s committed to helping staff embrace adventure tourism as a career, and ensuring Canopy Tour’s future success.
