Among speakers who have confirmed their participation there are:

Magda Antonioli Corigliano is the director of the Master in Economics and Tourism at Bocconi University at Milan (Italy), professor of macroeconomics and tourism Member of  World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), special advisor for tourism to the Vice President of the EU Commission, and member of AIEST, ATLAS, SIE and IFITT. Visiting professor in various Universities and author of many publications on Tourism Economics and Policy and Environmental Economics.

Patrick Falconer is Managing Director of The New York Times global office in London and is responsible for advertising sales across all NYTG platforms in Northern Europe and the Middle East and Africa. He first joined the International Herald Tribune (now the International New York Times) in 1988 and then again in 1999 after a 3 year spell at Time Inc. where he managed advertising sales for Fortune magazine in the UK and the Netherlands. In his time at the IHT/NYT he worked on the successful launch the first ever monthly IHT magazine – International Fund Investment and was instrumental in launching the highly successful IHT Luxury Conference series in 2001 now in its twelfth year. Patrick was a founding member of the World Media Group in 1998 and served as President of the group in 2009 – 2010. He has also been a board member of British American Business since 2008. He is a History graduate, is married, has four children and lives in Winchester in the UK. 

Dr John Heeley, Director, Best Destination Marketing and Visiting Fellow, Sheffield Hallam University. John Heeley writes, teaches and consults on the subject of urban destination marketing under the banner heading of Best Destination Marketing. He is a Visiting Fellow at Sheffield Hallam University where he teaches destination marketing and leads on industry links with destination marketing organisations. He also lectures on a regular basis at the University of Surrey and at MCI Innsbruck, and sits on the editorial board of the International Journal of Tourism Cities. As a former urban destination marketing practitioner, he directed business tourism departments in four English cities, the most notable of which was the Birmingham Convention Bureau, involving strategic and operational alliances with the National Exhibition Centre, the Birmingham International Convention Centre and the National Indoor Arena. John Heeley’s early career (1973-1990) was as an academic specialising in tourism. Leaving academe in 1990, he went on to become the founder CEO of the destination marketing organisations he established for Sheffield (1990-1996), Coventry and Warwickshire (1997-2001), Birmingham (2001-2003) and Nottinghamshire (2004-2009). From 2009-12, John held senior executive positions in European Cities Marketing; first as its Internal Management Adviser and then as Interim Chief Executive. John Heeley has written extensively. His first journal article “Planning for tourism: an historical perspective” appeared in the January 1983 edition of the Town Planning Review. His first book “Inside City Tourism: a European perspective” was published in 2011, and a second one entitled “Urban Destination Marketing in Western Europe – theory and practice” is scheduled for publication later this year. John Heeley lives in Sheffield, England, with his wife Alison. Principal interests outside of work are his three ‘children’, travel, old visitor guides, literature and poetry, hill walking and – last but not least -  Sheffield Wednesday. You can follow John on his website www.bestdestinationmarketing.com

Andrzej Jonas—Founder and Editor-in-Chief of The Warsaw Voice magazine. Co-founder of the Children of the Holocaust Association in Poland. Former Vice-President of the Association of Polish Journalists, former head of the Polish section of the Association of European Journalists; former Vice-President of the Association of European Journalists. Press and television commentator, recipient of the Bene Merito award.

Katarzyna Kasperczyk,  Undersecretary of State for non-European policy and public and economic diplomacy. Katarzyna Kacperczyk has been an MFA employee since 2002. She worked at the Foreign Policy Strategy and Planning Department, then, between 2005 and 2009, switched to the Permanent Mission of the Republic of Poland to the United Nations in New York, and from 2009 served at the Foreign Economic Policy Department. After 2010 she was Deputy Director of the Economic Policy Department, and was subsequently appointed Director of the Department of Economic Cooperation. Katarzyna Kacperczyk is a graduate of Warsaw University, Universität des Saarlandes in Saarbrücken and the prestigious Columbia University in New York. She speaks German, English and French.

Alex Kloszewski, the former Regional Director of the InterContinental Hotel in Poland & Czech Republic, the previous Head of Hospitality Department and Partner in Colliers International Poland is now the Managing Partner of Hotel Professionals. Alex Kloszewski has been connected with the hotel and hospitality sector since 1973. He started his professional career in the United Stated where he used to work for Marriott Hotels & Resorts. Alex. Kloszewski also worked with Radisson Hotels, Wyndham Hotels International in the cities of Los Angeles, Dallas, San Antonio, New Orleans, Aruba and Szczecin. Most recently, as the first General Manager responsible for the 5-star InterContinental Hotel in Warsaw, Alex played a pivotal role during the construction and stabilization stages of the hotel. In 2002, Alex founded the Warsaw Destination Alliance, an organization dedicated to promoting Warsaw internationally and developing local tourism.  The WDA members include all of the important 5-star hotels in Warsaw, as well as conference venues, PKiN, EXPO, Warsaw Chopin airport, airlines, art galleries, museums, city and local organizations and sports venues i.e. National Stadium and Stadium of Legia. And major corporates serving the hospitality industry such as Coca Cola, SAB Miller. Martini Rossi and Makro. In April 2011 Alex Kloszewski became also a cofounder and vice president of Warsaw Tourist organization. After 9 years with Colliers International in Poland, Alex, together with the rest of the members of the Colliers Hotels Department opened an independent hotel advisory company – Hotel Professionals. The new entity was a necessary transfer in order to be able to extend our scope of service with the temporary management of hotels.

Juliusz Kłosowski, a graduate of the University of Warsaw (1982), is a historian by education. After graduation he worked as a journalist. He joined The Warsaw Voice as it was being launched in the autumn of 1988. In 1993, he became general manager of publisher Warsaw Voice SA, which specializes in English-language publications for foreigners living in Poland and for readers abroad. The company’s English-language publications include The Warsaw Voice and The Polish Science Voice magazines and the Poland’s Voice Daily news service. The company also has an English-language website (www.WarsawVoice.pl), which is popular among foreigners interested in Poland. Kłosowski is a member of the board of directors of the Warsaw Destination Alliance (WDA), a foundation that helps promote Warsaw internationally and supports the development of business tourism services in the city. He is also a member of the board of the Foundation for Corporate Social Responsibility (FCSR).

Christian Mutschlechner Director of the Vienna Convention Bureau and his leadership has been instrumental in Vienna becoming a leading European meeting destination. Mutschlechner’s contributions have been many but two key areas are in education and development of industry statistics. He has a passion for helping educate future leaders and serves as a lecturer at several universities and schools. Mutschlechner was instrumental in demonstrating the value of meetings that the Vienna Bureau sought to attract, and he collaborated with a Vienna university to calculate the economic impact of meetings. He also served as ICCA’s lead representative to the United National World Tourism Organization to establish a globally accepted standard for meetings industry statistics. Mutschlechner is the current President of the Austrian Convention Bureau, Immediate Past President of ICCA, the International Congress & Convention Association, is also a past President of the European Federation of Conference Towns, and played the leading role in setting up AC Forum, the platform for Europe's most important medical congress organizers.

Michał Olszewski, Deputy Mayor of Warsaw. Born in 1977 in Bydgoszcz. Graduated from Faculty of Journalism and Political Science University of Warsaw. Since October 2011, Deputy Mayor of Warsaw, before Director of European Funds Department. As a Deputy Mayor he is responsible for development strategy of Warsaw. He also supervises European funds, economic development, housing and geodesy.

Irek Węglowski has been for 20 years Vice-President of the Management Board of Orbis S.A., the leading Warsaw-based hotel operator and owner in Central and Eastern Europe. The company is listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange since 1997, and its majority shareholder is the French Accor (53% stake). Presently, the Orbis Group’s portfolio comprises 61 hotels with over 11,000 rooms (03/2014). Irek has been incessantly involved in the hospitality business, particularly in the management of hotel properties. He participated in the company’s restructuring aimed at concentration on the core hotel business. He is an experienced hotel practitioner who specializes in investments and hotel disposals. He successfully handled numerous sales of non-strategic properties of the company. Graduate of Warsaw School of Economics, he took also part in the international Professional Development Program at the School of Hotel Administration at Cornell University in Ithaca, United States. He is also a President of the Chamber of Commerce of the Polish Hotel Industry – an association that represents a hospitality sector on local, national and EU levels.