Day One

9.00 - 9.30 Session 1: Opening Keynote Presentation

Evaluate Which Web 2.0 Initiatives Best Suit Your Business and Develop a Coherent Corporate Strategy

• Determine if your company needs a UGC initiative in the first place? What mix of Web 2.0 initiatives best suits your business?
• See how to avoid common pitfalls and misguided investments
• What could travel companies learn from user-generated content and social networking sites?
• In this brave new world, what fundamental business rules do you need to obey? What business model should you expect?
• Is there a benefit for hotels to partner with UGC sites?
• What are the key benefits of social media to the hospitality industry? How can UGC help you differentiate your services and de-commoditize your product?

• Jeff Mirman, Director, Sheraton Interactive Marketing, Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide

9.30 - 10.00 Session 2: Presentation

How are Consumers Behaving in a Web 2.0 Environment and How Does Social Media Impact Their Buying Cycle?

• Does User Generated Content (UGC) represent the missing component in the online travel buying cycle?
• When do consumers seek out UGC in the buying cycle?
• What do people actually look for in consumer generated content?
• What impact does UGC have on the customers' decision making process?
• What kind of metrics apply to user-generated content?
• How can you profit from consumer generated content?

• Ken Leeder, CEO, RealTravel

10.00 - 10.30 Session 3: Industry Analysis

User-Generated Content: A Detailed Overview of How Travelers are Using User-Generated Content

• How is user-generated content being used by your potential customers?
• What types of social media do are travelers rely on during their online travel research?
• User Generated Content is cool. What is the business case beyond cool and what are the key elements you should consider in your social media strategy?

• Diane Clarkson, Travel Analyst, JupiterResearch

10.30 - 11.00 Networking Coffee Break

11.00 - 12.45 Session 4: Presentations and Panel

Social Networking and Travel: A Marriage Made in Heaven? How Can Travel Companies Really Work With Social Networking Sites?

• Facebook has recorded a year-on-year growth of over 1600% and has a worldwide client existing client base of 46 million. How can you leverage the huge volumes of traffic that these mega social networking sites, like Facebook, YouTube or MySpace, attract?
• How successful are the multitude of traveler social network startups? How do they differentiate themselves? What kind of lifecycle should we expect from these types of businesses?
• What is the relevance of generic social communities to travel-based organizations? Have travel-based applications been successful on the open Facebook platform?
• What are the limitations of social networking sites for the travel industry? Is your money better spent on UGC?
• Sites like Groople allow groups of travelers to book hotels collaboratively, share content and complete transactions online. How can you use social networking to target specific segments?
• User-generated content sites, like TripAdvisor, are now moving into social networking, will other travel-specific UGC sites follow suit?
• How can travel suppliers and intermediaries partner with social networking sites?

• Victoria Treyger, VP Online Marketing and Product Management, Travelocity
• Mike Stacy, CEO, Groople
• Jim Kovarik, General Manager, AOL Travel
• Jordan Corredera,Manager Interactive Marketing Strategy, Carnival Cruise Lines
• Fiona Lake Waslander,Director Yahoo! Travel, Yahoo! Travel

12.45 - 2.00Networking Lunch Break

2.00 - 3.30 Session 5: Presentations and Panel

Develop a Social Media Strategy That Communicates With Your Customers and Creates an Online Community

• How can UGC help you create a dialogue with your customers and provide you with a platform for communication?
• Understand the benefits of creating a community with central ethos, based on your customers' needs
• How do you actively grow your community whilst still maintaining an aspirational quality?
• What role does customer segmentation play in developing a UGC strategy?
• How do you safeguard yourself against customer backlash?
• Orbitz plans to establish an incentive program from their most trusted sources. How can you reward customers and create incentives for them to return to your site and contribute content?
• What do users get back in return for being part of an online community?
• Increase customer loyalty by giving your customers the opportunity to influence your site
• Is there any difference between an acquisition and retention UGC strategy? If not why? If so why?

• John Lee, VP Brand Marketing and Communications, Embassy Suites Hotels, Hilton Hotels Corporation
• Adam Healey, CEO, VibeAgent
• Steven Moo Young, Director AA.com Strategy and CRM, American Airlines
• Tom Russell, VP of Brand Marketing, Orbitz Worldwide

3.30 - 4.00 Networking Coffee Break

4.00 - 4.30 Session 6: Presentation

Understand how social networking is bringing the personal element back into sharing travel experiences

• See how user-generated content is evolving into friend-generated content: From mass anonymous advice to personal recommendations
• Discuss how to make your property or service part of the conversation between friends
• Hear how and where to use social networking in the travel marketing mix and where not to

• Ashley Randall, Senior Product Manager, TripAdvisor

4.30 - 5.00 Session 7:

How to Obtain First Mover Advantage in Travel Social Media

• How can you use social media to create customer loyalty, stickiness and brand affiliation?
• Should I create my own social network or partner with one instead?
• Why should I invest in social media now, and what are the opportunities for the future?

• Peter Ward, Co-Founder & CEO, WAYN
• Jerome Touze, Co-Founder & CEO, WAYN

5.00 - 5.30 Session 8: Closing Keynote Presentation

What Place Does Social Media Play in the Online Marketing Mix? How Can You Advertise on Social Media Sites?

• How can travel companies work with sites like YouTube?
• See how social media sites, like YouTube, can provide your travel company with unique, rich-media content.
• Is video media the key trend for the future? What impact could video content have on your brand?
• Can social networking sites really be monetized? How can you really tap into the vast amounts of traffic they attract? Is anyone actually making any money?
• With the increased costs of search engine marketing, how can you use social media sites to reach new customers?
• How much does it cost to advertise on social media sites?

• Andy Tress, Sales Director, YouTube

5.30 - 7.00 End of Day One Cocktail Party

Day Two

9.00 - 10.30 Session 9: Presentations and Panel

Drive Traffic to Your Site With a Comprehensive Social Search Marketing Strategy

• Search is probably your biggest online channel, but are you realizing the massive potential of optimizing the symbiotic relationship between search and social media?
• User-generated content sites, like TripAdvisor, always rank highly in search results. What can you learn from sites like these? Get advice on aligning your search strategy with user-generated reviews
• Develop a search engine marketing strategy that not only balances paid and unpaid search, but also considers social search engine marketing as a distinct area
• Should you do social search marketing in-house? Are tools, like Google Adwords or Technorati, up to the job?
• Are the old and new media formats in synergy or are they at war? Are search engines slowly becoming obsolete as UGC increases its dominance?

• Ted Souder, Head of Sales - Midwest Travel Vertical, Google
• Krista Pappas,VP Business Development, Farecast
• Tom Griffin,Founder, President and Chairman, Travelscream
• Max Starkov, President & CEO, Hospitality eBusiness Strategies

10.30 - 11.00 Networking Coffee Break

11.00 - 11.30 Session 10: Industry Analysis

Learn how to practically monitor user-generated reviews and protect your brand image against dissatisfied customer comments

• What impact does user-generated content have on travel brands?
• Who has lost brand value due to UGC? What can you learn from their mistakes?
• How do you respond to reviews from your customers? What opportunities and challenges are there? Should you strive to respond to every comment?
• Why doesn't it pay to be defensive or nervous about UGC?
• How can you use negative feedback in a productive way and improve the customer experience and your company's services?
• How can technology help you to understand the UGC space and react to comments being posted about you? Can online reputation management be solely automated or do you need ?
• How does UGC affect traditional marketing models and your brand's relationship with the consumer?
• Can you convert discussion into sales?

• Amy Scarth, Head of Research, EyeforTravel

11.30 - 12.00 Session 11: Presentation

Promote and Protect Your Brand in the Social Media Space

• According to Tamar, 80% of people who use social networking sites comment on a brand. What strategies enable you to maintain and build your brand image on social media sites?
• How can social media help you de-commoditize and personalize you brand?
• Do you need to develop a brand defensive strategy to protect and monitor your brand in the online social media space?
• What is industry best practice for brand marketing on social media sites?
• How much of your brand image is dependant on your reputation in the social media space?
• Travelocity have used the roaming Gnome on MySpace to engage fans, share deals and create brand loyalty. How can you use a brand advocate on a social networking site to generate brand awareness, drive traffic and sell products?

• Randy Petersen, CEO, FlyerTalk.com

12.00 - 12.30 Session 12: Presentation

How Can You Foster Genuine Loyalty Among Your Member Base?

• What level of effort is needed to create loyal members on a UGC site?
• What is the benefit of having a truly loyal customer base?
• How can you use loyal members act as ambassadors and monitor reviews?
• Understand why a user wants to share their travel experiences and create a website tailored to their needs
• When people invest their time contributing to UGC, what do they expect in return?

• Giampiero Ambrosi, General Manager, VirtualTourist

12.30 - 1.45 Networking Lunch Break

1.45 - 3.15 Session 13: Presentations and Panel

How Can Social Media Provide You With Valuable, Distinctive, Quality Content?

• Should you spend money sourcing your own content or let your customers create your content instead?
• Consumers are increasingly demanding content-rich information about niche, relevant topics. How can use employ social media to cater to their needs? What are the necessary processes needed to make your content relevant to the consumer?
• Understand how to utilize UGC sites to transfer honest, accurate information to your partners without compromising the integrity of your content
• How is the growth of technology enhancing the ease of content sharing?
• How do you make sure that you have a wide enough variety of content? How can you link the various social media mediums together, such as videos, podcasts and blogs?
• How do you balance quality content and truly user-generated content?
• How can you use photos and videos to generate real business? How can you track this form of marketing?

• Ravi Sreekakula, Internet Marketing Manager, Cathay Pacific Airways
• James Pappas, Electronic Marketing Manager, Extended Stay Hotels
• Yen Lee,CEO, Kango
• Gregg Brockway, Co-Founder & President, TripIt