10:00-7:00 p.m.

Sponsored by

11:30 a.m.-4:45 p.m.

Presented by:

 HSMAI - the official
Gold Sponsor of
TravelCom Res-Expo 2007

HSMAI Travel Internet Marketing Strategy Conference
(Pre-registration required. Additional fee applies - see Registration Information page for details.)

The HSMAI Travel Internet Marketing Strategy Conference will feature a "state of the internet market landscape" which will include an aggregation of trends from multiple research reports.  Join us for this unique event targeted at individuals who are in corporate and regional positions dedicated to internet marketing or for those that want to learn more about this evolving medium. 

Schedule:
10:00 AM – HSMAI Registration Opens
11:30 AM – Opening Remarks & Lunch
12:15-1:15 PM – Keynote Presentation featuring: Philip Wolf, 
                         PhoCusWright, Inc.
1:15-2:30 PM – Travel Search Panel featuring: Brad King, Yahoo!,
                       Inc.; Rob Torres, Google; and James Colburn,
                       MSN
2:30-3:00 PM – Break/Partner Networking
3:00-3:30 PM – Consumer Behavior Study featuring: Brad King,
                       Yahoo!, Inc.
3:30-4:30 PM – Roundtable Discussions

Participants are invited to attend the TravelCom Res-Expo networking reception from 6:30-8:00pm.

1:00-4:45 p.m.

Partners in Travel

Executive Women's Forum (By Invitation Only)
Female drivers only for this TravelCom exclusive.  Travel's leading ladies assemble for a dynamic forum to discuss the unique challenges and opportunities for women as leaders in a rapidly changing online travel marketplace.

2:00-6:30 p.m.

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Technology Pavilion Open
Visitors start your engines, exhibitors get into high gear.  TravelCom Res-Expo presents the premier online travel technology showcase with leading vendors of travel technology and e-commerce services.

Special exhibition features:

• Concierge service provided by Vegas.com
• Showroom floor entertainment
• Door prizes every half hour, including an evening on the town in Las Vegas provided by the Las Vegas Convention & Visitors Authority.

4:45-6:00 p.m.

Thought Leadership Forums
Thought Leadership: an acknowledged position of innovation and excellence around a topic or trend.

Most of us strive to achieve it. Some of us envy those who have it. Now TravelCom Res-Expo is offering unique opportunities to learn from it. Concurrent topical forums led by Thought Leaders on critical marketing and e-commerce topics facing the travel industry today.

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6:30-8:00 p.m.

Sponsored by

Cocktail Reception
The pre-race warm-up for the travel e-commerce event of the year. With hors d'oeuvre and drinks, this is your chance to connect with old friends and new, hobnob with the hotshots, zero in on your targets and make that subtle sales pitch over a second glass of wine. It all starts here, so let the games begin...

7:00 a.m.-6:00 p.m.

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7:00 a.m.-6:45 p.m.

Sponsored by

Technology Pavilion Open

8:45-9:15 a.m.

Keynote Opener: The Customer is the Driver!
Just who is that customer? How many are there? What are they buying? How are they buying? How much are they spending? What influences their purchasing decisions? How can you influence shopping behavior? Forrester Research's star travel analyst Henry Harteveldt delves deep into data and delivers penetrating insights on just who's driving the online travel marketplace.

Speaker: Henry Harteveldt, Vice President & Principal Analyst, Forrester Research, Inc.

Follow on Keynote Panel: Navigating a Customer-Driven Marketplace
Five of travel's most seasoned and innovative marketers discuss the essential steps in marketing, distribution and content that they have taken to be ahead of the curve as consumers reshape the online travel landscape.

Moderator: Henry Harteveldt, Vice President & Principal Analyst, Forrester Research, Inc.

Panelists: Dale Brill, CMO, VISIT FLORIDA; Richard Harris, Senior Vice President, Strategy and Distribution, Travelocity; Tom Rusin, Chief Revenue Officer, Affinion Group; Rob Solomon, President & CEO, SideStep Inc.; and Brenda Yester, Vice President – Revenue Management, Carnival Cruise Lines

Technology Pavilion Pit Stop
Check your tires, top off your tank, check out the competition and pep talk with your team. Then get ready to get back on the track.

11:00-11:45 a.m.

Keynote General Session
MySpace and Facebook may be hot properties of late, but with discretionary income of the average user not much higher than the average age, just where does travel fit into online social networking? Monster.com founder Jeff Taylor has a few ideas. As founder and CEO of EONS.com, the so-called MySpace for the oh-so-coveted baby boomer market, Taylor is taking new Web innovation like social networking into areas where bank accounts run a little bit bigger. And wouldn't you know it, he has some plans for travel too...

Speaker: Jeff Taylor, Founder and CEO of Monster.com, and Founder of EONS.com the "MySpace" for the over-50 crowd

TIA Research Presentation: Social Media and Travel
Based on an upcoming new Special Report being written by TIA (to be published in late Spring), this session will provide some definitions for the many forms of social media and social networking. It will raise issues that emerge when travel suppliers and destinations attempt to leverage this emerging wave of consumer dialogue and interaction to their benefit. The panelists will relate some best practices for managing user-generated content, for monitoring the "buzz" and for incorporating it into CRM. They will discuss case studies for integration strategies built around social media and networking sites and talk about where it is headed in the next 1-3 years.

Speaker: Dr. Suzanne Cook, Senior Vice President - Research, Travel Industry Association

Panelists: Jim Kovarik, GM and Director, AOL Travel; Jasper Malcomson, Director, Product Development, Yahoo! Travel; Christine Petersen, Senior Vice President Marketing, TripAdvisor LLC; and Jens Thraenhart, Executive Director, Marketing Strategy & CRM, Canadian Tourism Commission

1. User Generated Content: Best Practices and Pitfalls
Blogs, wikis, user review forums and online community—the customer is no longer just the recipient, but a full-fledged participant in the presentation of your product—your brand—on the Web. This workshop examines how to navigate the tough terrain of customer rants and raves, avoid those negative potholes and maintain your online brand.

Moderator: Susan Black, President, Susan Black Associates, Inc.

Panelists: Tony Cheng, Co-founder and Vice President of Product Management & Strategy, IgoUgo; Mo Sherifdeen, Interactive Marketing Manager, Travel Oregon; Mark Sylvester, CEO & Co-Founder, introNetworks, Inc; and Alex Zesch, Director of Interactive Marketing and Distribution, Affinia Hotels

2. The Essentials of Understanding Your Online Visitor
Improving marketing effectiveness and web site usability is still one of the greatest challenges facing travel suppliers. With more channels available to them, customers are becoming increasingly demanding so it is more important than ever for companies to have a solid grasp on who its most valuable visitors are and how they behave when browsing and shopping. Are the right customers finding you? Is your distribution diverse enough? Does your site provide a positive, user-friendly customer experience?  Are travel sites today making customers happy and are they finding what they are looking for?

Reflect on whether your web site is growing your business or losing business. Learn how companies are measuring the effectiveness of their marketing departments and discover what approach leading marketers have adopted using key metrics that matter.

Moderator: Krista Pappas, Vice President of Business Development, Farecast.com

Panelists: Holger Bartel, Executive Vice President, Travelzoo Inc.; Tim Peter, Managing Director, Leading Interactive Rservatiosn, LLC; and Lou Ragg, Executive Director of Internet Operations and Marketing, MGM Mirage

Note: Description updated 3/28/07

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1. All Customers Are Not Created Equal…
Learn how leading companies are using customer insight to more accurately identify high-value customers and prospects and to design a multi-channel marketing dialogue to attract, convert, retain and grow them. Explore how to distinguish changes in brand affection vs. changes in travel patterns and to identify the service needs and value preferences of your best customers to craft offers, messages and pricing strategies. Understand which individuals to invest in based upon their value and potential so that next time you are confronted with two customers and only one room, one seat, or one car left you'll make the right decision.

Speakers: Tim Prunk, CEO, and Carolyn Corda, VP Professional Services, Vistrio, with Robert Adams,CTC,  Industry Strategist, and Greg Hogue, Industry Executive, from Acxiom Corporation's Travel & Entertainment unit

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2. Groups: the Next "Big Thing"Online
The complexity of booking groups and meetings have kept them off-line for the most part, but that is about to change.  Several new market entrants and technology developments have jumpstarted group bookings online.  Group reservations have been costly to process for hotels and airlines because of changes inherent with group bookings, RFPs and call backs, unique billing requirements, adding and deleting rooms.  Hoteliers are now seeing the benefits of allowing access to their group inventory for smaller groups and meetings to free up their sales staffs to focus on the large event business.  

Moderator: Edward Perry, Director, E-Commerce, World Hotels
Panelists: Paul Bahnick, Vice President - IT, Travel Impressions; Diane Bozicevich, Vice President – Operations, Omega World Travel & Omega Meetings & Incentives; Scott Harness, CEO, GroupTravelPlanet; and Duncan Kennedy, Director, Starwood Hotels

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3. Role of the OpenTravel Alliance in a Consumer-Driven Marketplace 
How does the focus on consumer-driven behavior drive technology development?  Once marketers create content, it has to be delivered, usually from multiple origination points to multiple channels, in real-time to meet consumer and trading partner demands.  And the call to action (book a room, a seat, a car, a cabin) has to be real-time too, usually into years-old legacy applications.  A panel of distribution services providers discuss how using OpenTravel standards can provide value to travel companies, build credibility with trading partners and provide consumers with the responses they expect.

Moderator: Valyn Perini, Executive Director, OpenTravel Alliance

Panelists: Rod Cuthbert, CEO, Viator; Joshua Rich, President, Electric Vine Inc.; and Jeff Thomas, Vice President, Commercial Operations – Americas, Leonardo Media

The New Distribution Landscape: Fragmentation & the Switch to Service
Following this last round of GDS contracting and the ostensible end to the traditional economic model, travel distribution is on its head. Non-traditional content, multiple sources of supply, and distribution as a value-based service, not a commoditized connection—these are the new drivers of travel distribution. Hear from leaders across the travel distribution industry on what these changes mean for today and tomorrow.

Moderator: Mike Pusateri, President & CEO, Vantage Strategy Consulting

Panelists: Ellen Lee, Co-Founder & Vice President, G2Switchworks.com; Howard Lefkowitz, President & CEO, Vegas.com; Jim Nation, Director of Business Development, Americas, Datalex (USA) Inc.; Scott Slater, Director – Agency, Leisure and Segmented Sales, Delta Air Lines Inc.; and Tom O'Toole, SVP Strategy & Systems, Global Hyatt Corporation

4:45-5:30 p.m.

Closing Keynote: Connecting the Dots
At the intersection where innovation and emerging technologies meet the practical realities of day-to-day business and investment, it's essential to have a visionary grounded in reality who's able to connect the dots. Managing Director of venture capital firm Garage Technology Ventures, Forbes.com columnist and one-time Chief Marketing Officer for Apple working with Steve Jobs, Guy Kawasaki is a riveting free-thinker who sees opportunities in unique ways.  Get ready for an amusing presentation, filled with unconventional insights and tips on how to see your world in a whole new way.

Speaker:  Guy Kawasaki, founder and Managing Director, Garage Technology Ventures; and columnist, Forbes.com

5:30-6:45 p.m.

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Networking Reception in the Technology Pavilion
Whether you prefer to wind down and chill out or put your netowrking engine into high gear, join us for drinks and hors d'oeurvre amid the best assembly of travel technology conference exhibits anywhere! 

7:00-8:00 a.m.

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7:00-11:00 a.m.

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Technology Pavilion Open

8:00-9:30 a.m.

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Innovator of the Year Awards Breakfast
Amid the flood of innovation in technology, marketing, usability, content, etc., there are always a few standouts, whose impact reaches across the travel industry and beyond, keeps everyone on their toes and wondering what's next. TravelCom Res-Expo's Advisory Committee presents their nominations and announces the winner for the first annual Innovator of the Year Award.

Presenter: Kelly O'Keefe, Professor & Executive Education Director, VCU Adcenter

General Session: Consumer Focus Group 
Yes, that's right, actual flesh and blood online travelers.  In another TravelCom Res-Expo exclusive, this unique focus group of online travelers present their views and take questions on how they use the Web for travel, what they like and don't like, what they'd like to see but don't. This first-ever live consumer focus group is a not-to-be-missed event to gain hands-on insight from consumers.

Moderator: John Burns, CHA, ISHC, President, Hospitality Technology Consulting

10:30-11:00 a.m.