Renowned Canadian filmmaker Kyle Sandilands will be one of the headliners at the upcoming PATA Academy programme in Maldives, Maldives Association of Travel Agents and Tour Operators (MATATO) announced Tuesday.

The programme — the first PATA Human Capacity Building Programme to be conducted outside its home base of Thailand — will be themed ‘Exploring the Art of Storytelling’, and will take place from Wednesday to Thursday at Bandos Island Resort.

In a statement, MATATO said Kyle will conduct sessions during the two-day programme.

Kyle is a Canadian filmmaker with a background in shooting, directing and editing projects ranging from commercial and corporate videos to television and documentary films. Having worked on everything from major Hollywood films to small-unit documentaries on the Everest Base Camp trek, Kyle is always searching for projects that push the limits physically, creatively and experientially.

As part of the PATA Foundation’s CBT Vietnam project, Kyle has shot and directed several short documentaries about the impacts of tourism in the hill tribe villages of Northern Vietnam. Additionally, he has worked as a videographer for UNICEF Cambodia, and has created many videos for various NGOs and tourism boards in the South East Asia region.

The programme to be conducted in the Maldives is based on the successful PATA Academy event held in December at the association’s Engagement Hub in Bangkok, and delivers an intensive and interactive training programme incorporating a series of classroom interactions conducted by leading travel industry experts coupled with practical activities, group assignments and networking opportunities.

Participants gain hands-on experience by working both individually and on team-based projects where presentations are shared at the end of the programme. From this intensive high-value training, participants take home practical marketing strategies to be applied and implemented in their respective organisations, including:

• Generating realistic, narrative-driven user stories
• Choosing the most effective medium
• Learning to ask the right questions
• Identifying elements of powerful stories
• Communicating and presenting ideas well to influence and inspire actions

In addition to Kyle, confirmed speakers include Head of Growth at Triip.me Trevor Weltman, Founder and Head of Product at Scott Experience Design Dung ‘Mos’ Dang, Professional Travel Bloggers Association President Matt Gibson, and PATO CEO Dr Mario Hardy.

The PATA capacity building programme is the association’s in-house outreach initiative for Human Capital Development (HCD) focused on the tourism industry. Leveraging PATA’s network of talented industry leaders worldwide, the programme designs and implements customised training workshops for diverse organisations, including government agencies, non-governmental organisations, educational institutions and private sector businesses.

The training is delivered through innovative adult education learning techniques, including case studies, group exercises, group discussions, instructor presentations and site visits. The facilitators bring knowledge, experience and expertise from a wide range of business sectors and drawn from PATA’s extensive and established network in the tourism industry and beyond.