Snow Travel Expo 2020 Virtual Event on NOW!
The Snow Travel Expo 2020 Virtual Event is on now. Well, from 2pm Tuesday Australian EST it is.
After COVID-19 shut down travel in and out of Australia there was not much the Snow Travel Expo organisers could do about actually running the real events that are such a key part of the Aussie snow scene every May for the 15th successive year.
They tried a couple of postponements, but as things went from bad to worse overseas and travel got even more restricted, not less, they had to face the inevitable and call a timeout on the usual Sydney and Melbourne 2020 Snow Expo live events.
“I even had a call from the Melbourne venue that they were on standby to be requisitioned as a morgue” says Snow Travel Expo’s Phil Osborn.
Fortunately Victoria never reached that sort of critical stage, so the Expo venue was not required for repurposing. Victoria’s tough but highly effective second lockdown has actually proved to be the World’s best “second wave” COVID-19 control yet, one that regular Snow Expo visitors from the USA, Europe and Canada can only dream about.
Osborne is not one to give up lightly though. With the writing on the wall for actual physical events in 2020 he set about designing something different to keep visitors and exhibitors in touch and has been working overtime for months on the replacement project.
Enter the Snow Traveller Talks, a virtual presentation from the Expo’s popular Snow Traveller stage presentations.
An eclectic mix of 60 presentations roll out from 2pm EST Tuesday, starting with 2 days of Canada focused sessions, then 2 days of Japan sessions Thursday and Friday, USA Saturday and finally Australia/Rest of the World Sunday to wrap it up.
Of course there are promotional presentations from people showcasing the best of their destinations, but there are also some eclectic short films that delve into deeper subjects, such as the Aizu film coming up on Thursday – filmmaker Mattias Evangelista searches to find the Aizu snow community to unearth their journey since the 2011 Tohoku Tsunami and nuclear accident. Meet gun Fukushima snowboarders Futa and Hiroki, who share their story and the aspirations of their snow community.
Ever popular Big White kicks these off, just as they have kicked off another season with great snow conditions.
“Australian skiers and snowboarders are resilient travellers and we know as soon as we can travel again, we will be hitting the slopes all around the world” says Osborn. “We hope you discover a new ski destination to explore and add to your bucket list!”
Check the full Snow Travel Expo Virtual Event schedule here
Last but definitely not least, Aussie ski legend Steve Lee was a key Snow Travel Expo MC for over 10 years. He is fighting back in care from a devastating stroke suffered in September.
The family need all the help they can get, you can get on and donate for that via Snow Australia (all donations go 100% to fund for him) here
