Philip Wolf Opening Monologue, PhoCusWright Conference 2007
The Travel Industry Event of the Year
FOUR DAYS. TWO EVENTS. ONE CONFERENCE.
SMX Travel@PhoCusWright and Center Stage brought together over 1,000 travel, tourism and hospitality professionals in Orlando, Florida USA to "Brave the Long Tail." Four days of presentations from some of the most renowned in the travel, tourism and hospitality industries along with challenging question and answer sessions have combined to create the place to be for anyone wishing to check the pulse of the travel industry.
Attendees of The PhoCusWright Conference 2007: simply log in (upper right section of this site) using the email you used to register for the conference. This will allow you to access the "MY CONFERENCE" pages and attendee tools. If this is your first time logging in, your password will be emailed to you after you complete the log in wizard.
Philip Wolf opened the show with a story about James Michener and eight rusty nails. The full version of his opening is available... an excerpt follows:
"Two years ago at The PhoCusWright Conference right here at the Omni Resort in Orlando, we noted how many entrepreneurs were replaced on stage with lawyers, bankers and executives from bigger businesses. Controversial talk was muted. Everyone witnessed Travel 1.0’s swan song.
Then, at last year’s PhoCusWright Conference, we cast a Hollywood-size spotlight on Travel 2.0, our industry’s next rusty nail so to speak. The entrepreneurs were back! The social networking floodgates opened, liberating a positive advancing force that permanently altered our landscape. Advantage customers. Travelers took control: finding and creating their perfect trips, not just their cheapest trips.
Some Travel 1.0 companies forged ahead, confronting and embracing Travel 2.0, while other Travel 1.0 pioneers resisted, ironically being reticent toward 2.0. And some laggards are now busy with expensive catch-up."
