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