Day One

9.00 - 10.00 Coffee and Registration

10.00 - 11.15 Technology Futures - Analyse the Current Tech Landscape and Identify the Future Technologies that will Impact Your Business

Technology is changing at a mind boggling pace. Those companies who intelligently prepare themselves for future will ultimately win out. This session will look at just how advances in technology will impact the way we buy and sell travel in the future

• From Web 2.0 to Web 3.0, cut through the buzzwords and identify the key technologies you need to deploy to reduce costs and add value to your business
• Cloud, virtualization, SaaS - What are the realistic opportunities for travel companies to use open source technology to increase efficiency and cut costs?
• Will Google Chrome OS truly be able to compete with Windows?
• How far have we progressed with the semantic web and what opportunities does it present for your business?
• What's next for mobile devices and location-based service technologies?
• Technology has facilitated the rise of business models such as bed banks but will it also contribute to their demise?

• Chris Amenechi, Senior International e-Commerce Director, Continental Airlines
• Daniel Sumner, Evangelist, Microsoft
• Chris Carmichael, Manager ba.com & Mobile Innovation, British Airways (Panel only)

11.15 - 11.45 Networking Coffee Break

11.45 - 12.30 Analyse Key Travel Trends - Ensure You Make the Right Investment for Your Business to See You Through Unpredictable Times

• Analyse the current travel industry environment and hear which consumer travel purchasing trends are likely to represent long term shifts in behaviour, worthy of investment, and which are just passing blips
• What factors most impact travel consumer behaviour and how can you accurately predict future trends?
• When is the best time to invest in new technology for your business?
• Ensure you don't risk making costly mistakes - hear top tips from our experts on how to make the right decision for your business
• Understand how to set clear KPIs and earn management buy-in for new technology projects

• John T Peters, CEO, Tripology

12.30 - 14.00 Networking Lunch Break

14.00 - 14.15 Mobile Technology - Cut through the Hype and Understand the Practicalities of Where to Invest and Why

• Your customers are mobile - why aren't you? Cut through the misconceptions and unfulfilled promises of mobile to reveal a wealth of opportunities for value creation
• Understand how the travel industry is investing in mobile, achieving ROI, creating loyal customers, leveraging the ubiquity and power of the device
• Mobile is not just for big companies with big budgets - understand how you can achieve competitive differentiation whatever your size
• Analyse the opportunities to use mobile at each stage of the travel buying cycle

• Tim Gunstone, CEO, EyeforTravel

Hear Real-world Case Studies from across the Travel industry on Mobile and Location-based Services

14.15 - 14.40 Lufthansa

Lufthansa offers an extensive range of services via mobile and has been marked as an industry leader in this area. How have Lufthansa successfully sought to meet customer wants and expectations? How did they achieve over 90% satisfaction rates from their mobile users?

• Stefanie Heucke, IT Manager, Mobile Services, Lufthansa

14.40 - 15.00 Lastminute.com

Location-based services (LBS) - A vast untapped opportunity for travel companies. Hear what 4 key enablers in 2008 led lastminute.com to re-engagement in mobile and LBS and the 3 underlying themes on which they have decided to deliver current and future mobile initiatives. How are they using directional search applications?

• Marko Balabanovic, Head of Innovation, lastminute.com

15.00 - 15.30 Networking Coffee Break

15.30 - 16.00 Hilton Hotels Worldwide

How have Hilton achieved a 38:1 return on investment on their mobile initiatives? Hear how Hilton have used mobile as an opportunity to provide a unique commerce and loyalty experience to support both leisure and corporate customers. What was the strategy behind their mobile project and how did they experience a 190% increase YOY in Q1 2009?

• Chris LaRose, Director of Web Strategy & Testing, Hilton Worldwide Hotels

16.00 - 16.20 Mobile Panel debate - Lufthansa, lastminute.com and Hilton

16.20 - 17.30 Optimise Your Multi-Channel Distribution Strategy for Maximum Return on Investment

Seamless integration across all your channels with the right content, the right price, and the right message displayed in each channel and the maximum revenue achieved for each sale - isn't this the dream?

• Which technologies can help you maximise your revenues and control costs across multiple channels?
• Is the technology available to achieve a fully automated and accurate channel management policy across all channels?
• What is the best way to connect to third party distribution systems to make the best use of your inventory whilst still selling it on your terms?
• What new connectivity languages and tools are on the horizon?
• Understand which channel your customers prefer to use to book, the journey they took to get there and what product best suits their needs
• Identify your most valuable sales channels and capitalise on the opportunities to up-sell and cross-sell to your customers across their preferred channels
• With an ever-increasing number of channels to reach your customer, how can you ensure consistency of message and standard of service across all channels?

• Matthias Mahr, Head of e-commerce and loyalty, Eurostar
• Peter Gould, CEO, Great Hotels Organisation
• Stuart Barwood, Commercial Director, Brolin Consulting (panel only)

18.00 WTM Networking Drinks Reception

Day Two

9.00 - 10.00 Coffee and Registration

10.00 - 11.20 Usability is Crucial - Fine Tune Your Booking Path for Maximum Conversion

• Understand the importance of analytics - Identify where customers enter your site and the reasons why they leave before purchase
• Learn how simple tweaks to the booking path can dramatically lift conversions
• How ‘lean’ should you keep your booking path?
• Hear the latest examples of ‘check out’ and ‘shopping basket’ best practices
• What effect do user reviews have on conversion rates and where should they be inserted in the booking path (if at all)?
• Is your booking path too rigid to cope with the new customer reality? What technology is available to get the right flexibility to increase conversions?

• Vicky Brock, Co-Founder, Highland Business Research
• Eleonora Lamanna, Web Analyst & Online Functionality Manager, Hertz Europe
• Cameron Jones, Director Business development, Expedia

11.20 - 11.40 Networking Coffee Break

11.40 - 12.15 Track and Target Your Most Valuable Customers - Use the Latest Tracking Tools to Understand the Customer Journey

• The last click - how important is the last click in determining what motivated a consumer to purchase?
• How do you decide the most suitable customer demographic and/or behaviour to target?
• How do you decide which department is responsible for managing customer behavioural tracking tools?
• Just how much can segmentation and personalisation add value to your business? What are the costs involved and the likely return on investment?
• Use behavioural targeting and advertising to manage your customer base the most effectively throughout the peaks and troughs
• Will more third party sites choose to sell customer cookie data? What impact would this have on behavioural advertising?

• Frank Pon, Senior Promotions Manager, KLM
• Andrew Pozniak, Head of Travel - Emerging Europe, Middle East and Africa, Google Inc (panel only)

12.15 - 13.45 Networking Lunch Break

13.45 - 15.00 Search Futures - Discover Innovative Ways to Drive Quality - Not Junk - Traffic to Your Site - that Converts

It's estimated more than 80% of web users visit travel sites but don't make a booking. Ensure your search strategy emphasizes conversion as a top priority

• How can you increase the return on your PPC investment? Upon what should you base decisions on PPC spend?
• What are the pros and cons of CPA and CPC advertising in terms of cost and the ability to track?
• Learn how to develop a highly targeted and personalised search campaign
• What's the easiest way to target your search terms to reach a specific audience e.g. affluent travellers, silver surfers?
• Understand the importance of accurate, tried and tested landing pages
• How can you exploit the power of social media to improve your search engine optimisation?
• Video search optimisation - Hear top tips to achieve optimal results

• Gareth Gaston, MD, Octopus Travel
• Michael Rhodes, e-Commerce Manager, Leger Holidays

15.00 - 15.30 Networking Coffee Break

15.30 - 16.30 Social Media and UGC - Where should you Invest Your Resources and Why?

• Analyse the strategic importance of social media and UGC for the future of the web and online travel
• What is the business case for investing valuable time and resources in social media initiatives?
• Understand the importance of setting and adhering to clear KPIs from the outset
• What role can technology play in gaining critical mass for your social media initiative?
• What metrics are available to measure the effects of your social media strategy? How much time and resources on average need to be dedicated to this?
• How can social media be used to gain invaluable insight into your customer wants and needs?
• What are the advantages and pitfalls of developing your own social media applications?
• Navigate the social media minefields and get on track to positive customer engagement

• Elliott Pritchard, New Media Manager, P&O Cruises
• Sandra Leonhard, MD, Cheqqer (Part of TUI Travel PLC)
• Severine Philardeau, Director, European Partnerships, TripAdvisor

16.30 - 17.30 Use Accurate, Compelling Content to Increase Conversions

• Source compelling content to both drive traffic AND increase conversions
• Understand the importance of the right content to develop the desired levels of customer interest and expectation across all your channels
• Video content - offer multiple distribution methods (Podcasts, online video players, RSS) for your video content
• Understand best practices in encoding rich media content

• Anthony Rawlins, MD, Digital Visitor
• Justin Reed, Head of Online Marketing, Visit Britain

End of Conference