STYL

An interview with the vice president of business development

for TBEX, Patti Hosking

Why was TBEX held in Ostrava and not in our capital city?

The fact that the industrial history, unique architecture and

exclusive cultural experience Ostrava has to offer have gone

virtually unnoticed allowed TBEX to provide bloggers with

a new and interesting place to write about. Bloggers don’t

want to write about places and experiences that have been

written about a thousand times before, they want to find new

adventures and places they can show the world, that is why we

try to pick a unique location, that can allow our visitors to write

interesting new stories.

What do you think a partnership with the Moravian-Silesian

Region, and a magazine like POSITIV Business & Style, which

focuses on a positive view of the region, offered TBEX?

I think that this partnership brought us a lot of credibility in the

local community, because attendees of the conference have

to communicate with taxi drivers, and personnel of hotels,

trains, restaurants and other attractions in Ostrava. I think this

partnership really allowed TBEXers to receive a warm welcome

in the community, and show locals how big of an opportunity

this was for Ostrava. These bloggers affect thousands of people

everyday, which has the potential to bring lots of new business

opportunities to Ostrava for the next, at least, 10 years, if their

experiences were positive. The number of stories that have and

will come into existence through TBEX could not be bought

within a 10-year period- and they will all be written within

a couple days. Furthermore, most bloggers planned to stay

in the Czech Republic for an average of 10 days after the

conference, which means they provided Czech businesses

with traction immediately.

Our main goal is to provide education and helpful information

for bloggers.

Views on TBEX Ostrava

“The Moravian-Silesian Region is drastically changing its image,

it is dynamic, and we support the use of latest technologies;

because of this, I find the decision to host TBEX here logical.

We planned trips all around the region for the attendees.

More than 200 youtubers and bloggers visited Pustevny, the

city of Štramberk, the “three corners monument” in Hrčava

or, for example, the Silesian Harta dam. I believe that they

will share their experiences here, and their posts, which have

a reach of millions, will bring more tourists our way. The

number of people visiting each year is increasing drastically

Last year, almost 900,000 people visited the region, and it

would be wonderful to see this trend continue, because not

only does an influx of tourists increase our region’s prestige, it

is also good for our businesses.” said deputy governor of the

Moravian-Silesian region Jiří Navrátil.

Zámek Raduň

74 ǀ POSITIV 3/2018