Agenda

Opening session keynote
Michael Tchong, Ubercool
A New Social Dialog
Ever wondered how society is evolving? What will make tomorrow’s consumer tick? Then join Trend Analyst Michael Tchong as he takes you on an eye-opening tour through today’s rapidly evolving trend landscape. Find out why the digital lifestyle is leading to a remarkable revolution in our social dialog. See how humans are adapting as smartphones and social networking weave themselves into the fabric of life. Michael explores such fascinating phenomena as our “lappy” culture, virtual realtors, CrackBerry addiction, DWT (driving while texting), and the growing incidence of control freakism. Our modern lifestyle has ushered in a startling new outlook on life. One that views instant gratification as not fast enough. And that considers multitasking part of the course. That’s why energy in all shapes and forms is now an essential aspect of life. As life goes faster, so does human evolution. And along with it, trends accelerate. This market flux spells opportunity for the savvy travel business development director or marketer. You’ll quickly grasp why Starbucks is the new McDonald’s, why single occupancy is set to replace double occupancy, and why experience is our new luxury.

Breakouts:

Destination Marketing & Branding:
Intelligent Destinations – Creating an Executive Marketing Dashboard
Dr. Ryan Peterson, Dean of the University of Aruba Tourism Management
The sales paradigm and conventional push approaches to destination marketing that focus on promotions, products, places, and prices no longer suffice in a hypercompetitive environment in which crisis, confusion, and chaos are the only constants.

How do you develop destination marketing intelligence and agility? How do you measure and monitor destination marketing performance? How do you govern the complexity of different (public-private) marketing interests and stakes?

During this session these questions will be answered as thought-provoking and action-oriented discussions will focus on the strategic imperatives and implications of competitive destination marketing and strategic marketing intelligence capabilities. Key topics will include hyper-tourism, destination competitiveness, destination marketing capabilities, destination business intelligence, performance measurements, integrated scorecards and executive dashboards for destination marketing. International examples of best and worst cases also will be discussed, and participants will have the opportunity to design their own dashboard.

Internet Marketing & eCommerce
Introduction to Internet Channels
Trevor Stuart-Hill, Vice President, Accounts & Revenue Management, Synix
Learn what distribution is and how it has evolved over the years. This introductory session is designed to help participants cut through the clutter and complexities of today’s distribution landscape. Through active audience participation, participants will apply their learning to help solve real-life problems and will be able to bring that learning back to their business.

Integrated Marketing Communications:
What’s the Buzz on Buzz Marketing? Creating Messages That People Want to Share Successful “Word of Mouth” Marketing isn’t about what you think your brand represents –
it’s what people choose to talk about. Buzz marketing is a very effective tool, and can be a big hit if done correctly – but it can also backfire if not executed well.

Word of mouth hinges on real consumers and brand advocates spreading the word for you. Discover tips on how to find them, as well as what to do once you know who they are.

Discussion points/takeaways will include:
• 7 best practices on what makes a message go viral
• Why do people get inspired to share a message?
• How do you get the brand message included in the word of mouth conversation?
• Influentials vs. the average Joe
• 6 tips on reaching out to highly connected people
• 4 Ways to determine if your existing customers the best evangelists.

Managing Your Revenue Mix
Resort Marketing in a Mixed Use Environment: How to Juggle the Stakeholders
Moderator: Tom McCallum, Director, The Reefs
Panelists: Dave Callahan, Vice President
Resort Sales & Service, Interval International
Alejandra Padin, Project Director,
Aquarius Vacation Club
Marketing in an environment with condos, fractionals, and timeshares involves a special understanding of customer types, distribution channels, and ownership stakeholders.  Attend this session to learn how to navigate a path to success in all of them.

Destination Marketing & Branding:
Ensuring Marketing Effectiveness: Strategies for Destination Website Content
Eric Brey, University of Memphis
This session will review the “nuts and bolts” of how to make destination websites more effective. A checklist developed and tested at over 900 destination and national tourism office websites in North America and Europe will be reviewed This workshop also includes a review of technical, customer, and marketing effectiveness, as well as the destination information perspective of your website. You are certain to leave this session with a better understanding of the categories included in the web evaluation tool checklist, aas well as best practices that can be implemented immediately on your destination site.

Internet Marketing & eCommerce:
Demystifying Distribution 2.0: Channeling Business to You
Cindy Estis Green, The Estis Group
Managing your distribution channels continues to require expertise and focus that hotels and destinations must manage to sustain and grow market share from all sources. In this dynamic session, Cindy will review the highlights of the latest HSMAI special report including an update on statistics and trends related to distribution. She will interview leaders from each of the major channels: an online travel agency, a global distribution system, a metasearch engine, a hotel brand and a destination. The panelists and she will outline the key strategies hotels and destinations must take today to manage this changing landscape

Integrated Marketing Communications
Universal Search: A New Dimension to Being Found on the Web
Loren Gray, Director of c-Commerce, Ocean Properties Jay Hawkinson, Partner, Strategic Internet Marketing Partners
Google Google Google. How fast it changes, and it has changed in a BIG way. These changes will be reviewed in-depth, and the session will ‘dive deep’ into what they mean to you. Large or small changes in your approach to media can make a big difference if you know how to leverage them. Do you want to your information to show up in places that you had to pay for before? You’ll be shown how to make it happen. From videos, to blogs, to news, to local - it all makes a difference

Managing Your Revenue Mix:
Everything you need to know about working with Wholesalers -- *but were afraid to ask! Susan Black, Managing Partner, Susan Black Associates
Online and traditional wholesalers continue to be among the most important distribution partners in the Caribbean. But, like all distribution channels, change is happening at break-neck speed. What keeps wholesalers to the Caribbean up at night? How can hotel and destination partners work closer with both traditional and online wholesalers to sell more product?

Breakouts:
Destination Marketing & Branding:
Accreditation for Destination Marketing Organizations: Is the Caribbean ready?
Jack Wert, FCDME, Executive Director, Greater Naples, Marco Island & Everglades CVB; Ana Maria Viscasillas, President & CEO, Puerto Rico Convention Bureau
The destination marketing industry has made great progress in elevating the professionalism and relevance of DMO’s around the world. The Destination Marketing Association International (DMAI) has been at the forefront of these efforts with its performance reporting and branding initiatives; and most recently with its Destination Marketing Accreditation Program (DMAP). DMAP lays out a clear path with mandatory and voluntary standards every Ministry of Tourism, Convention and Visitors Bureau and Tourism Promotion Board should aspire to achieve in order to deliver professional destination marketing services to its constituents. This is a session for Ministers of Tourism, senior ministry officials and leaders of hotel and tourism associations who are looking to make their DMO’s successful in today’s highly competitive arena.

Internet Marketing & eCommerce
Fundamentals of Search Engine Marketing & Optimization – I
Loren Gray, Director of e-Commerce, Ocean Properties Michael Wylie, President, Standing Dog Interactive Media & Marketing
This session offers fundamental strategies in online campaign creation and management. A PPC campaign will be set up on Google from start to launch. The differences in launching similar campaigns on Yahoo and MSN platforms also will be shown. From the Keyword selection process and research to budgeting and tracking campaigns, you will learn how to do it yourself. The session also will present useful tools to balance your PPC budgets to your organic rankings. In this session nothing will be assumed. You will be taken through the process step by step.

Integrated Marketing Communications
Publicity: What Is It and How Do I Get It?
Terence Gallagher, Executive Vice President, Lou Hammond & Associates
Public relations and publicity are vital marketing tools in maintaining and building your business. It’s a way to significantly increase the visibility or your hotel or destination to a broad target audience of potential customers. This session will review how to leverage the power of the media including newspapers, magazines, trade journals, web sites, and other electronic media that will boost your visibility and credibility.

Managing Your Revenue Mix:
The Changing Culture of Luxury Travel:
An Overview of Today's Markets,
Trends and Tools
John Fareed, Partner, Fareed/ Zapala/Koepke The word "luxury" has come to mean different things to different people. Matching your offerings to the right market is essential, and understanding how various markets define "luxury travel" is the key.

In this session, you will receive an overview of the various luxury travel market segments, their needs wants and desires, and provide an overview of the marketing tools and techniques necessary to effectively communicate with them successfully.

Internet Marketing & eCommerce
Fundamentals of Search Engine Marketing & Optimization – II
Loren Gray, Director of e-Commerce,
Ocean Properties
Panelists: John Dunn, Executive Vice President, Tourism Montreal Henry Woodman, President, ICE Portal
Go from ‘beginner’ to ‘advanced’ all in one day. This session starts where the beginners class left off. Other channels for marketing are incorporated into this session, such as ‘consumer content’ and how to respond step by step to make it a powerful ally in online marketing. Specific sites for submitting anything from videos to activities and podcasts will be reviewed. Language translations, how much and which ones, affiliate advertising, competitive market research, how to do it and with which specific tools also will be discussed.

Integrated Marketing Communications:
Turbo-Charging Your Co-op Marketing Spend…How to get more marketing bang for less cost Co-op marketing has often been like a really bad dance. Yes, there are two people, and yes, they are tangoing, but they might as well be on their own because they're not tangoing in harmony. Really effective co-op marketing starts with understanding both parties' marketing challenges, and emanates from there. Bu the truth is, most co-op marketing is just two logos plastered on an ad. There's little benefit to either organization, and a lot of work is involved for that effort. Discussion points/takeaways will include: *Which co-op programs have worked well, and why? *How to best negotiate for an effective co-op program, which includes a strong, measurable ROI *The 6 top co-op “must-haves” that you should include in all co-op discussions *Which co-op tactics don’t work – which 4 tactics to avoid at all costs! *How to develop a co-op RFP.