Agenda

Day One - 29th July 2008

Chairman
  • Tim Hughes, TheBoot

09.00 Session 1: Presentations and Panel

Defend your market share by optimising marketing channels and looking at new touch points

  • Your future customers are fickle - make sure that you stand out form the crowd. Examine the marketing strategies that will reinforce your position
  • Revolutionise your sales by implementing the right marketing technologies that will make customers come to you, not the other way round
  • Go green - a robust environmental strategy will not only increase loyalty but also capture new customers in a way that conventional marketing just cannot do.
  • It's always on, it's always there... it's mobile. Look into new, innovative ways you can market to your customer
  • Pay per acquisition is growing in travel sales for the US and Europe, what can affiliate marketing do for you?
  • Social media widgets such as Tripadvisor's Cities I've Visited and STA Travel's Trip Countdown have given them unique penetration that money just can't buy - hear how to get similar success
  • Basil Hyman, Marketing and Internet Services, STA Travel
  • Dan Russell, General Manager, Clean Cruising
  • David Jones, Regional Vice President, Asia Pacific, Pegasus

10.30 Networking Coffee Break

11.00 Session 2: Presentations and Panel

The Roadmap to Online Success

  • You can't dismiss online: translate your successful offline brand identity into the online world without cannibalising what you have worked so hard to build
  • Retain integrity for maximum sales: offer shop front service to the online consumer and become their one-stop travel shop
  • Web 2.0 a year on: cut through the hype - what worked, what didn't... Hear the best ways to invest for the future
  • Review cutting edge technologies which can boost conversions without breaking the bank
  • Establish basic strategies to drive customers to your website - understand where your customers are and how to effectively reach them
  • Deal with the fickle online consumer by making sure your brand sits at the forefront of your customer's mind - be one of the sites they trust, use and return to!
  • Tim Hughes, VP Commercial, HotelClub
  • Chris Dodd, CEO, roamfree.com
  • Mark Wong, VP Marketing & Development, Perferred Hotel Group

12.30 Lunch Break

14.00 Session 3: Presentations and Panel

Upgrade to a rich web environment, and make sure your canny sophisticated searchers don't get left behind...

  • Understand - exactly - the role that search plays in your customer's booking cycle ensure you have the knowledge to adapt to the changes
  • Your customer is bored with your marketing - look into new rich media that will capture their attention and their wallets
  • Boost yourself in the search rankings - discover how user generated content will play a vital role in search success of the future
  • How can your leverage the most out of your commercial search spend - examine how search can become your latest sales channel
  • Don't waste it! Ensure that your wonderful new content get cached with best practices for a rich web environment
  • Maximise search in a multi-lingual world - with so many different languages to consider what strategies offer the best ROI?
  • Joe Nguyen, Regional Manager, SEA, Omniture
  • James Johnson, eCommerce Analysis Manager, VirginBlue
  • Susan Zabeti, Director of Search, Group M

15.30 Networking Coffee Break

16.00 Session 4: Presentations and Panel

Social Media and User Generated Content - how can it make you money?

  • Effective strategies to penetrate social media - hear from the first-movers about the successes and failures they have experienced?
  • User generated content has made your brand more fragile than ever - 90% of hotels think its important to monitor, yet few actually do - examine strategies to monitor and manage your brand in this difficult realm
  • How can you use social media to your advantage: social networks, user generated content, blogs... we show you how to squeeze out the best ROI
  • Boost conversions by integrating elements of social media that will really add value to your brand website
  • Social media has already changed the way your customers interact with the web - listen to the experts on how you need to adapt your sales and marketing strategy to stay competitive
  • Richard Noon, CEO, Webjet
  • Peter Daams, Co-Founder, Travellerspoint
  • Claire Hatton, Head of Travel Australia & New Zealand, Google
  • Andy Conroy, Global Online Director, Lonely Planet (panel)

17.30 Networking Cocktail Party

Day Two - 30th July

09.30 Session 5: Presentations and Panel

Keeping your customers happy... really happy!

  • Customer experience is key - maximise return business, referrals and recommendations.
  • Understand what consumers want so that you can offer a product that requires no hard sell, just hassle free profits
  • Examine CRM technologies that deliver the service your customer wants and the return of investment you demand
  • Don't lose brand integrity and valuable sales by marketing to the wrong people - look into how segmenting your customer base can help target your marketing to the right people
  • Optimise your sales and marketing strategy for maximum returns - cut the dead wood and sharpen your competitive edge
  • Darrell Wade, CEO, Intrepid Travel
  • Meraj Huda, CEO, Forumline
  • James Gaskell, General Manager Online, Stella Travel Group
  • Chris Noble, Global Marketing Director, World Nomads

11.00 Networking Coffee Break

11.30 Session 6: Presentations and Panel

Intermediary Issues

  • How is the online travel agency landscape changing? With big international OTA names setting their sites on the market, how will the home-grown brands react?
  • How are the travel switches, such as GDSs, coping with the new travel industry reality? What adjustments are they making to better suit your sales and marketing needs?
  • Widen your marketing reach with an effective multi-channel strategy - meet and select the right partners for you.
  • Don't neglect your most profitable channel - evaluate the benefits of direct sales and ensure that you own your customer
  • Meta-search has recently received heavy investment, is the big funding a big deal? Get the information you need to be ready to react
  • Martin Warner, COO Asia Pacific, Carlson Wagonlit Travel
  • Jamie Perry, General Manager Distribution and Commercial Systems, Jetstar
  • Martin Symes, CEO, Wego.com (formerly Bezurk)

13.00 Lunch Break

14.30 Session 7: Presentations and Panel

New Markets - with great challenge, comes great reward

  • Meet the new partners that will ease your transition into a new and lucrative market
  • It's all about ROI! Learn how to reposition your brand for more sales, less costs and greater profits
  • Penetrate the fertile emerging markets with expert advice from the people who have been there, done that and reaped the rewards
  • How do you increase awareness of your product proposition across multiple channels in new markets to ensure maximum sales and retention?
  • Participate in the essential forum to identify potential new markets that will grow your business - and your profits!
  • Darren Wright, General Manager, AirAsia X
  • Russell Isaacson, Online Marketing Manager, Expedia Australia
  • Nick McCaw, CEO, Hotel SO

16.00 Conference Close