Sponsored Workshops

Industry leaders will present dynamic content, covering a variety of the hottest topics for the travel marketplace. Choose up to four workshops to hear the content most important to you and your company.

For registered conference attendees only: In order to reserve your seat(s) for any of the workshops listed CLICK HERE TO SET YOUR WORKSHOP AGENDA NOW

This will take you to the registration area. Click "Select Agenda" in the green navigation bar. Make your workshop selections and click the "Continue" button at the bottom of the screen to save your choices. Remember there are a limited number of seats available for each workshop.

9:00am – 10:15am

COMPARISON SHOPPING AND COMPETITIVE INTELLIGENCE
Presented by LIXTO Software GmbH
Understand the margin impact of using real-time competitor data in pricing and revenue management applications. The workshop will also demonstrate how external price and product data can be used in consumer facing applications to improve the customer experience and drive purchase decisions.
CAPITALIZING ON THE TRAVEL INDUSTRY'S FINANCING FRENZY
Presented by Hudson Crossing
Understand how M&A, private equity, venture capital and hedge fund activities are creating untold opportunities in travel, tourism and hospitality. Learn how these investment events actually affect your business and how you can benefit from the financing boom.

10:45am – 12:00pm

ENGAGING WITH TODAY’S TRAVELERS and WHAT THEY CAN DO FOR YOUR COMPANY
Presented by Yahoo! and comScore Inc.
Please join Yahoo! and comScore as we explore how Social Media is influencing today’s travel consumers and how they in turn are influencing other consumers with their opinions and actions. Learn how consumer engagement and ‘Long Tail behavior’ play a critical role in connecting them to travel marketers from the first digital interaction to the final purchase with a special focus on understanding the ‘ROE’ (Return on Engagement) of these new programs. Joining Yahoo! and comScore will be a distinguished panel of travel marketers and leading social media enthusiasts and experts to share their forward thinking and in the trenches perspectives.
ENABLING THE ONLINE MARKETPLACE FOR GROUPS AND MEETINGS
Presented by Worktopia
The online marketplace for groups and meetings is now considered to be the final frontier in online travel. Recent advances mean that businesses and consumers now have the ability to book group room blocks, meeting space, catering and equipment, and manage attendees…all in real-time in a single online session. The floodgates to a $24 billion small meetings marketplace have opened and the travel marketing opportunities that arise from this ability are astounding. Join thought leaders from Worktopia, GetThere, Hilton Hotels, Groople and Newmarket Inc. to learn how to position your company for participating in this new electronic marketplace. Discussions will cover the current state of play in marketing of group and meetings online, as well as views from hotels, corporate travel procurement, and technology providers, into how the entire supply chain can benefit from enabling the online marketplace for groups and meetings.
BLOGGING WITH THE LONG TAIL OF TOURISM
Presented by The Tips From the T-List Book
Join the innovators of the groundbreaking book The Tips From The T-List, the first-ever travel industry publication derived exclusively from the travel blogging community. This workshop will show how an active, content-producing network of bloggers can have a growing influence on your customers' online spending habits. This workshop will give valuable tools to DMOs, OTAs, and other travel and tourism companies that are looking to engage the blogging community and help focus user-generated content for their benefit. New innovations in blogging will be covered as well as a number of user-generated content trends. There will be an expert panel of travel marketers and technologists who are all co-authors of the Tips From The T-List book. All attendees will receive a signed copy of the of the Tips From the T-List book.

2:30pm – 3:45pm

WHERE IN THE WORLD ARE ONLINE CONSUMERS?
Presented by Hitwise Inc.
Join Hitwise at PhoCusWright as we host a University Live session on current trends in the Travel industry. We’ll dive into search data to identify consumer trends and preferences, compare differences in user interaction between travel aggregators and online travel agencies, discuss success stories and explore brand loyalty. Bill Tancer, GM of Global Research at Hitwise, will be your host with two guest speakers: Michael Bennett, General Manager, Cheapflights USA and Francis Lavelle, Manager Web Analytics, Delta Airlines.
ENABLING THE ONLINE MARKETPLACE FOR GROUPS AND MEETINGS
Presented by Hilton Hotels Corporation, Worktopia Inc., Newmarket International Inc., Groople Inc., GetThere L.P.
The online marketplace for groups and meetings is now considered to be the final frontier in on line travel. Recent advances mean that businesses and consumers now have the ability to book group room blocks, meeting space, catering and equipment, and manage attendees… all in real-time in a single on line session. The floodgates to a $24 billion small meetings marketplace have opened and the travel marketing opportunities that arise from this ability are astounding. Join thought leaders from Worktopia Inc., GetThere L.P., Hilton Hotels Corporation, Groople Inc. and Newmarket Inc. to learn how to position your company for participating in this new electronic marketplace. Discussions will cover the current state of play in marketing of group and meetings on line, as well as views from hotels, corporate travel procurement, and technology providers, into how the entire supply chain can benefit from enabling the online marketplace for groups and meetings.
STRATEGIC SOURCING. BEYOND COST SAVINGS.
Presented by WNS
Whether a new entrant or an established provider, an effective outsourcing strategy is absolutely necessary to compete in today’s travel marketplace. As the market matures, it’s time to go beyond the basics of outsourcing (i.e. cost savings) and realize the value that comes through a strategic partner. Achieving this next level requires real business transformation [service improvements that provide real competitive advantages, process improvements that exponentially reduce costs, technology to improve revenues and sales], smart sourcing (i.e. single/multi-vendor strategy) along with creative deal structures and financing. Come spend an hour listening to a series of client case studies and discover how your company can achieve this next level of success.
TRAVEL INDUSTRY START UPS
Presented by PhoCusWright Inc.
Who's hot, who's not? What's the next killer app? Come listen to a variety of travel industry start ups give their pitch on why they're the next big thing. Attendees vote on the best presentation, and the winner gets to pitch the crowd on the Center Stage at a special 5 Minutes of Fame session.
Presenting companies: EveryScape, Keymetric Inc., Adventure Central, Trivop and LeisureLogix

THE REAL WORLD ONLINE
Presented by EveryScape
EveryScape is changing the way we conduct our online searches for travel, real estate and local services by providing eye level, photographic content of major cities and towns around the country. The result is a way for a Web visitor to essentially walk down the street and explore a neighborhood, attraction or town center as if they were actually standing on the street and moving around on foot. These immersive tours not only allow you to window shop, but actually walk right into a participating merchant’s establishment where you can see their product offerings or read their menu. This workshop will provide an overview of EveryScape, how it can impact travel purchase decisions and how it will change the way we conduct online search.

IDENTIFY WHICH KEYWORDS ARE GENERATING YOUR PHONE CALLS
Presented by KeyMetric Inc.
This workshop will discuss the critical importance of tracking online and offline responses, including telephone calls, back to unique search terms and pay-per-click keywords using KeyMetric Campaign Analytics. If telephone calls are a critical form of customer response for your business, you cannot afford to miss this session.

CONNECTING ADVENTURE AND EXPERIENTIAL TRAVEL TO THE MAINSTREAM
Presented by Adventure Central
Despite the more than 15,000 U.S.-based tour operators and outfitters providing adventure and experiential travel today, few enable travelers to book activities securely on their Web sites in real-time or have the ability to sell activities through travel distributors such as travel Web sites, retailers and agents. Adventure Central™, the leading provider of travel distribution and online booking services for adventure and experiential travel outfitters, is changing all that. We’ll show you how.

TRAVEL SERVICES FOR THE OTHER 88% OF TRAVELERS
Presented by LeisureLogix
Eighty-eight percent? That's the percentage of travelers in the U.S. who use their cars for vacations. And despite the overwhelming size of this market, there is nothing online that offers personalized, integrated road trip and route planning with reservation capabilities and extensive travel information and activities. LeisureLogix LLC, is changing that. Learn how our patent-pending technology, the RoadTrip Wizard™, which is a highly personalized road trip planning tool, can enhance any travel-related or enthusiast Web site. It is equally applicable for a traditional travel agent, call center representative, or mobile device. And, on top of personalized road trip planning, mapping and travel reservations, the RoadTrip Wizard also taps into a proprietary, searchable database of nearly 5 million points of interest and events across the country. The company is founded and led by seasoned travel and technology executives from companies including AAA, AOL Travel, Amadeus, EDS, Galileo, IBM, LasVegas.com, Sabre and Worldspan.

HOW HOTEL VIDEOS CAN BE USED TO INCREASE BOOKING RATES
Presented by Trivop.com
Presenter: Amit Vemuri, COO
The travel industry has struggled with measuring the success of rich content - and justifying the cost. But with two out of three Americans now consuming Iinternet videos, there is a priority in the travel industry to learn how to leverage this technology to increase conversion rates inexpensively. Learn about the work that Trivop has done in the last year to leverage the latest Web 2.0 best practices to produce low-cost hotel videos that convert.

4:15pm – 5:30pm

COMPARISON SHOPPING AND COMPETITIVE INTELLIGENCE
Presented by LIXTO Software GmbH
Understand the margin impact of using real-time competitor data in pricing and revenue management applications. The workshop will also demonstrate how external price and product data can be used in consumer facing applications to improve the customer experience and drive purchase decisions.
ENGAGING WITH TODAY’S TRAVELERS and WHAT THEY CAN DO FOR YOUR COMPANY
Yahoo! and comScore Inc.
Please join Yahoo! and comScore as we explore how Social Media is influencing today’s travel consumers and how they in turn are influencing other consumers with their opinions and actions. Learn how consumer engagement and ‘Long Tail behavior’ play a critical role in connecting them to travel marketers from the first digital interaction to the final purchase with a special focus on understanding the ‘ROE’ (Return on Engagement) of these new programs. Joining Yahoo! and comScore will be a distinguished panel of travel marketers and leading social media enthusiasts and experts to share their forward thinking and in the trenches perspectives.
CAPITALIZING ON THE TRAVEL INDUSTRY'S FINANCING FRENZY
Presented by Hudson Crossing
Understand how M&A, private equity, venture capital and hedge fund activities are creating untold opportunities in travel, tourism and hospitality. Learn how these investment events actually affect your business and how you can benefit from the financing boom.
HOW RICH CONTENT CAN HELP YOU SELL
Presented by TVTrip
This workshop will cover the opportunities and challenges content is confronted with today. Understand why rich content is increasingly able to increase upsell for merchant sites and why TVtrip can play a decisive role in helping users facilitate their booking experience while increasing conversion.