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