Conference agenda

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Day 1

08.45 - 10.30 Session 1: Keynote: Integrate CRM with RM, Marketing & Loyalty Initiatives to Win the Ultimate Commercial Reward

Organizations which effectively understand, track, engage, influence and predict individual customer behaviour are invariably those who create the greatest competitive advantage, market share and profitability in the long term. Never more so than in an industry as price-sensitive and consumer-led as travel & hospitality. However customer centricity is often at strategic and commercial loggerheads with other organizational disciplines. In this session, we have gathered the brightest minds from leading travel brands to reveal the secret to ensuring that this vital business force is integrated successfully with other disciplines for maximum profit and synergy.

• Learn how Customer-Centricity can be used a powerful strategic weapon to create a lasting competitive advantage as customers, competitors and economic conditions continue to change at lightning speed
• Understand the commercial benefits for adopting a customer-centric strategy across all aspects of your organisation and ensure that ROI is real, abundant and measurable
• How to break down organizational silos and lead this strategic change?
• Develop a clear, focussed multi-dimensional CRM strategy to maximize long term customer engagement and develop more effective RM, Sales, Marketing and Loyalty initiatives
• Use intelligence from multiple touch points and channels to refine and enhance all your business functions - Lessons from outside the travel industry

• John Wallace, VP Business Consulting, The Rainmaker Group
• Steve Pinchuk, Founder & CEO, Profit Optimization Strategies
• Randy Fine, Managing Director, The Fine Point Group and Director, Tangam Gaming Inc.
• Angela Schwartz, VP & Head of Product Management & Strategy, Travelport
• Steven Skinner, VP Hospitality, & Consumer Goods Consulting Practice Cognizant (panel only)

10.30 - 11.00 Networking Coffee Break

11.00 - 12.30 Session 2: Innovate and Differentiate with Advanced Data Management Strategies

Today's customer wants a one-to-one relationship and they want it their way. Failing to analyze and address disparate consumer needs, behavior patterns and lifetime values will lower switching costs and see your hard-earned customers get what they want, when they want from your rivals

• Take advantage of predictive analytics and advanced behavioral targeting methods to identify, target your highest lifetime value customers
• Hear fresh, profit-boosting customer retention and personalization strategies from the most successful brands in the world
• Use insights from disparate customer data to deliver the ultimate customer experience with highly relevant, truly personalized direct communications
• To what extent can you customize customer experience and foster a one-to-one bond without infringing on personal privacy and risk ‘turning off’ customers?
• Are offline CRM efforts dead?

• Rob Borden, VP Customer Marketing, Carnival Cruise Lines
• Kristen Manion Taylor, Director of Worldwide Marketing Communications, Delta Air Lines
• Edward Nevraumont, Senior Director Loyalty Marketing, Expedia
• Lincoln Barrett, Vice President, CRM & Guest Marketing, IHG

12.30 - 14.00 Lunch and Informal Roundtables

14.00 - 15.30 Session 3: Capitalize on Powerful Client-Facing Technologies to Suit Every Business and Budget

Innovations in data & communication technology continue to pave the way for growth and profitability - especially in the highly dynamic travel CRM landscape. So how can you continue to innovate, adapt and thrive on a limited budget?

• Adopt a more cost-effective Incremental CRM approach by gradually fusing new technologies & capabilities with your existing systems
• Find the right technology solution to fit your business needs and goals - What tools and technologies are available to enhance customer experiences across a varied customer base?
• Analyze the most meaningful KPI's and best analytic tools to measure the success of your customer strategies
• What role will solutions providers play in the new customer-centric landscape? Hear real examples of the benefits, risks and steps involved
• Learn the secrets of successful data acquisition to grow your client-base and top line revenues
• Plan for profit - What will be “the next big thing” in CRM? Position and prepare your business to be the next industry success story

• Gregg Hopkins, President & CEO, Libra on Demand
• Rory Fagan, Sales Manager, Hospitality & Gaming, SAS Institute
• Natalie Letsky, Creative Director ecommerce, Marriott International

15.30 - 15.30 Networking Coffee Break

15.30 - 17.00 Session 4: How to Build & Mine Loyalty Gold

The top 3 airlines in the US each generate $1 billion from their loyalty programs and have over 50 million members. Understand why loyalty is a now more vital than ever in today's participation economy where consumers can punish or reward your brand at the click of a mouse.

• Discover what new trends, challenges, channels and opportunities are emerging for loyalty marketers in 2011 and beyond
• What works best to earn trust, love and advocacy for your products and services amongst a new breed of savvy and fickle travel customer?
• Make your loyalty rewards stand out from the crowd in an increasingly fierce and cluttered market - Which are the most effective redemption strategies?
• The new economics of loyalty programs: How to delight customers and still turn healthy profits
• Drive repeat business V.s Generate revenue from partners
• Beat 'em or Join 'em? Examine the risks and returns involved in opening up your loyalty scheme to the rising tide of coalition reward programs

• Iain Pringle, Head of Customer & Loyalty Insight, The Mileage Company (British Airways Miles)
• Geoffrey Lewis, Co-Founder & CEO, Topguest
• Greg Brown, VP, Loyalty & Relationship Marketing, Choice Hotels International
• Om Kundu, Loyalty Innovator & Thought-leader

17.30 - 19.00 Networking Drinks Party!

After an information packed first day, this is the perfect occasion to unwind and meet industry friends old and new.

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Day 2

09.00 - 10.30 Keynote: Understand and Anticipate the Evolution of Customer Behaviour

The economic downturn coupled with rapid advances in communication technology mean that your customers have transformed almost beyond recognition. Their demands, expectations and buying behaviors have irreversibly changed and you must proactively adapt or risk losing relevance and market share in today's ultra-competitive travel market

• Get to grips with how travel consumer preferences, loyalties and buying behaviors are evolving in the post-recession economy. How have the rules of engagement changed?
• Re-assess what really influences your customer decisions and learn how to adapt your customer strategy to continue to reach, engage, entice and retain customers old and new
• Is loyalty achievable in an increasingly disloyal world? How can it be profitably won?
• Retention v.s Acquisition - Is cementing existing relationships still more profitable than transactional 'one-night stands?
• 5 best practice strategies to get you closer to your customers and business goals

• Jessica Myers Rodbell, Head of Travel Southeast, Google
• Jim Sullivan, Senior Partner, COLLOQUY

10.30 - 11.00 Networking Coffee Break

11.00 - 12.40 Session 6: Harness the Power of Social Media to Develop Closer, More Profitable Relationships with Your Customers

The travel industry is an inherently social and emotional industry in which customers willingly share an incredible amount of personal and behavioral information. This session will explore how to tap into the huge potential that social media holds for revolutionizing the way you communicate, learn, engage, influence and sell to your customers, both existing and desired

• Understand the latest developments in Social CRM and discover what advantages it has over traditional CRM and customer experience approaches
• Is social media for you? Make sure your company's social media strategy is in tune with your wider corporate vision, brand and customer strategy
• Extract meaning out of chaos - Collect, analyze and learn from the vast amounts of data that social media engagement will generate
• Embrace the emergence of real-time sales & customer service
• Analyze the potential pitfalls, resources, goals and risks that need to be considered in order to succeed where many have failed
• Discover how social media can be utilized for crisis management and exceptional customer care
• Cultivate a highly engaged and loyal army of brand advocates - starting with your employees!

• Josiah Mackenzie, VP Social Engagement Adoba Hotels, Founder of Hotel Marketing Strategies
• Craig Stark, CTO, SimpliFlying
• Renato Ramos, Interactive Marketing Manager, TAM Airlines
• Natasa Christodoulidou, Professor, California State University (Panel only)

12.40 - 14.15 Networking Lunch Break

14.15 - 15.45 Session 8: Leverage Mobile Technology to Engage with a Virtually Unlimited Audience

The smart phone market is expected to surge 30% by 2013 to 1.6 billion users, making Mobile the ideal channel for businesses to engage, inspire and sell to huge audiences across multiple consumer touch points. Travel decisions and relationships can be made or broken with mobile and the opportunity for growth is truly enormous - Howshould you prepare?

• What possibilities do mobile devices offer over traditional CRM systems?
• Learn new best practices for engaging, retaining and seducing a vast and growing customer base with mobile
• Harness mobile to for ‘customer recovery’ and boost ancillary revenues with highly personalized mobile offerings
• Understand how great mobile websites & functional apps can keep customers happy and keep them yours
• How to integrate Mobile with your existing CRM and Marketing strategy for a 360o multidimensional approach?

• Max Starkov, Chief eBusiness Strategist, Hospitality eBusiness Solutions
• Martin Collings, Head of Airline eCommerce Sales, Amadeus

15.45 Round-up and Closing Debate

After 2 action packed days, Steve Pinchuk and John Burns will summarise the most important takeaways and lessons in this popular debriefing session to round off the event.

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