Here’s the slides for the keynote presentation I’m giving at Buy Tourism Online today….I’ll post video soon:

Buy Tourism Online 2010 – Josiah Mackenzie presentation

View more presentations from josiahmackenzie.

Josiah’s note: This is a guest post from Marco Saio, one of the event directors at EyeForTravel. (You can see some of my thoughts from the Chicago event here.)

Here’s a brief round-up of lessons learned and ideas shared at Chicago’s EyeforTravel Mobile in Travel conference at the Travel Distribution Summit North America 2010.

With presentations and panelists from fifteen different companies, the amount of experience and hands-on knowledge was hard to replicate and – we hope – useful for the audience.

Given the nature of such events – listening to so many people over so many hours – it’s sometimes hard to recap everything, but here’s a run-through of the main points, as delivered by the speakers and discussed in the panels.

The Time for Mobile is NOW!

This fact was demonstrated in two different ways by two very different presentations. Jared Miller from Continental showed the traction generated with the brand-new Continental iPhone app; within weeks of release, the application was providing services to tens of thousands of passengers and generating significant ancillary revenue.

Tripit’s Gregg Brockway took the 30,000 feet approach, presenting mobile as part of another wave of change which will alter whole industries, and which you should ride, rather than allow yourself to be crushed.

According to Gregg, the interoperability between current offerings – mobile and social capabilities – allows for a new traveler-centric service approach. Similar thoughts were reflected by Max Starkov of HeBS in his talk about the “hyper-interactive travel consumer.”

This is an opportunity for disruption, which could come from start-ups, incumbents, or companies not traditionally involved in travel, who decide to step in (esp. mobile giants).

… A video recording of Gregg, Max and Chris’ session is available online here.

Mobile Creates New Touch Points with Customers

Jim Davidson of Farelogix moved the audience with his question, “What is the first thing that happens once an aircraft touches down?”

The answer: hundreds of cellphones are turned on all at once. The potential for a revenue or other-value-generating interaction with the arriving passengers – right there and then – is easy to understand. Delivering relevant content and transactional opportunities at this time is totally feasible (to wit – it’s a feature of WorldMate on BlackBerry).

Many such examples exist – based on location, context and immediacy. Jim predicted that “In 2012, 50% of all ancillary transactions will be made on mobile devices.” While this may sound like a tall order, Jared from Continental presented a chart showing that weeks after their iPhone app was released, check-in transactions on iPhone were generating more ancillary revenue than on any other medium (web, kiosk or mobile web).

In the hotel domain, similar data points are emerging. Tony D’Astolfo quoted a Priceline report which states that 82% of their mobile customers book their hotel within one day of arrival, compared to only 45% who do it on the web.

The Platform Story is Complicated, and Will Remain So

It’s a complication from multiple aspects; first, the multitude of different mobile platforms (iOS, BlackBerry, Android etc. – see my previous post) and approaches (apps vs. mobile web).

And no, it doesn’t look like the platforms are consolidating soon, nor does it seem like HTML 5 will replace apps in the foreseeable future. TripAdvisor’s Mike Putnam suggests a hybrid approach, with an app that presents the main user interface but uses an integrated “browser window” to present most of the online content.

Second, some experiences call for platform-wide solutions. For instance, mobile boarding passes are a sub-par experience that can be improved with an airline app, but only for boarding passes from that same airline; do we really want to download and sign up for an app for each of the airlines we use?

More likely, we want the platform to provide a solution, styled after Kerry Kennedy’s “save the screen shot” idea, but a little more direct.

Tablets are a Separate Opportunity

Tablets (e.g. iPad, PlayBook) are great travel research tools, unlike smart phones, which are great immediate-info retrieval/action tools. As some of Orbitz’ Chris Brown’s stats demonstrated, this market is growing quickly.

It’s a different mode of interaction; similar to the desktop, but with a different user interface. If you’re an online marketer, these, too, should be on your roadmap and, unfortunately, what you deploy on these should be different from what you build for smartphones.

… In retrospect, we’ve barely scratched the surface. Mobile continues its run as the ‘enfant terrible’ of the travel industry, and its enormous influence will only grow as social readiness and technology bound forward in giant leaps. Watch this space!

We’re nearing the end of another conference season, and as I look back on all the events I’ve attended so far this year, there are a number of opportunities I see for making future events even better.

One day events

I usually get 90% of the value from the first day of any multi-day event.

Shorter events would be easier to produce, keep us more focused and have less chance of taking up our entire week. (Attracting more busy executives.)

Bring in speakers who have done something remarkable

Too often we just get the same industry analysts. I like to hear stories from people who are actually out there shaking things up. Require presenters to share case studies and show how they did it.

Bring in speakers who will say something remarkable

Executives from public companies can be so tight-lipped that they stay boring. Let’s hear from people who can open up, break some news, and tell us something we haven’t heard before.

More, smaller sessions

Featuring more sessions at a conference would allow us to focus on niche topics. It would help us go beyond generalities.

I’d rather sit in on a session about “20 Ways to Use Twitter for Better Customer Service” than one more talk about “How Travelers Use Social Media.”

These small sessions might also help with the next area of improvement I see….

More discussion

I learn more from the other attendees than the speakers at nearly every event I go to. Conferences should be for, by, and about attendees.

No speeches during lunch

It’s hard for the presenter, and it gives us as attendees less time to talk about what we’ve been learning.

Instead, arrange lunch tables by discussion topic so it’s productive. (EyeForTravel did a good job with this at their San Francisco event this spring)

More networking

This is the biggest reason most of us attend conferences. So make it easy. Make it a priority.

Facilitate connections before, during, and after the event.

Better food

We are what we eat, and to keep energy levels up, provide power food. There’s usually an abundance of coffee and pastries at any event, but where is the health food?

As an attendee, I want to be focused on the event, not wondering how long it will take to leave the venue and find my own fuel.

I applaud Blog World Expo for being flawless here: juice, fresh fruit and granola is usually everywhere.

Better name badges

Emphasize the first name and company name. IN HUGE LETTERS.

This is just basic design sense…

Experiment with some new technology

DoubleDutch (and many others) are pioneering location-based services that enhance the conference experience by letting people connect with each other and their environment. (You should probably talk to Bryan Bruce about this.)

No more business cards!

I hate business cards. I really do. (It’s why I’m always evangelizing Bump) Try to come up with something that avoids us having to exchange these. Like the badge scanners we had at the Arabian Travel Market in Dubai.

More pitches by startups

This is good for everyone. As attendees, it helps us be aware of the newest trends and technology.

Innovative entrepreneurs get wider exposure, more press coverage, and sometimes additional funding to develop their idea.

Invite more bloggers (and treat them like the press)

This may seem self-serving, but its really the best way I can think of to get online exposure for your event.

For nearly every event I attend, the bloggers and new media people account for 90% of the online content you see about it before, during, and after.

Run back-to-back with another conference

I’ve seen this in a few cases, and its very helpful to fly into a city and hit several events at once. (Like PhoCusWright@ITB in Berlin)

User conferences are great

One of the best events I attended this year was InfusionCon – the user conference for Infusionsoft (the product that powers most of this site).

Booking an entire luxury resort, having 300 of your power users fly in for a few days, and then showing them how to get more out of your product was extremely productive for everyone involved. The attendees feel special, vendors can reach a very focused audience, and the host company builds loyalty and gains insight for innovation.

If I ran a software company, hosting an event like this would be a top priority for me.

Save and publish everything

Record lots of video and take lots of photos – and then publish those online on YouTube, Flickr and elsewhere. Have bloggers tweet and liveblog the sessions (see above).

It’s a great way to build online visibility, promote your event, and encourage attendees to sign up for next years’ event.

Just look at TED.

–

What would you like to see?

I’d like to hear your thoughts on what would make for better travel conferences. This is more than a thought exercise – I’ll be helping to coordinate a few events over the next year, and your input would be appreciated! The conference you improve may be your own…

[Photo credit: Raul Garrido]

The Blog World and New Media Expo 2010 was held in Las Vegas this year – October 14 – 16. I wasn’t able to attend, but hotel coach and HMS fan Are Morch did, and agreed to share the best ideas he came across:

• One-click visibility: make sure your call to action buttons are in easy accessible positions
• Crowdsourcing: bring others with you and inspire them to excellence
• Customer service: people will pay more for better customer service (investing in this area can allow you to raise prices)
• Brand vs. Branding: Brand = Experience your customers have; Branding =
  What you do to have people become aware of your brand
• Social Visibility: Engage your audience through more then one Social Media
  channel. Twitter is your customer service channel, Facebook is your water cooler
• Provide multiple content formats: Internet TV shows – Radio shows – Interviews –
  Transcripts. Capture your customers with flexibility.
• Free is not a business model – content attract people – sell something related to
  content
• Treat your blog as a business – why is my audience here?
• Build your content engine – be educational – focus on relationship, trust and value
• Move from 1:1 to 1:many – coaching, webinars, membership programs,
  tele-summit, live events, speaking engagement, products (virtual and physical)
• Outsourcing: you are not the expert in every area. Find areas that you can
  outsource and let others free up this time for you
• All-In-One tools: iPad adds new elements to Networking and info sharing. iPad
  applications will capture all Social Media channels
• A Travel blogger’s best tool is the camera when traveling. When not
  out traveling make a bullet point list related to some of your travel experiences.
• To become a thought leader in your niche, write out 100 tips on your topic
• Be transparent: When you are communicating in Social Media say who you are
  and who you work for
• Network: listen twice as much as you speak – connect with speaker and audience
  when content is fresh

You can follow Are on Twitter @TwtrCoach

I just returned from Chicago and EyeForTravel’s North America Travel Distribution Summit. Thanks to a lot of hard work by Rosie and Marco and the team at EyeForTravel, the event went well and I got a lot of value from attending.

Dan Sherman told me something on the morning of day one that I think holds true for many of us: “We’re all sold on digital, we just need information to convince our team.” There are so many stakeholders within most organizations, and we need to get buy-in from them to make our projects a success.

Frankly, I felt the speakers at this year’s event didn’t share as much groundbreaking information as in the last two EyeForTravel events I attended, but that could be a sign this space is maturing a bit.

The upside to this is that I heard a lot more focus on strategy and analysis than I have in the past. And I’d rather hear this than just a string of unrelated tactics.

11 good ideas from the event

1. Your social network is becoming portable. Integrate with your site. Interoperability is an important trend.

2. The next big thing is a traveler-centric future. Expect super-empowered, hyper-demanding customers. (via Greg Brockway of TripIt)

3. First impressions of your website and digital communications are lasting…. What are you communicating? Perception is reality. (via Henry Woodman of IcePortal)

4. The travel process according to Jane Butler from Google: Dreaming, researching, booking, sharing.

5. Wyndham advertising strategy: banner ads for awareness, PPC for traffic, TripAdvisor for sales.

6. “Travel is not like ordering a hamburger.” To avoid commoditization, be more human and less transaction oriented. Motivational travel themes you can use include resting, eating, hobby, goal, state of being, and ideals. (via Edward Perry)

7. Create more promotions around city events. People may not know your hotel, but they know the event. Ride their marketing.

8. “Data is cheap. Analysts are expensive. Invest in Analysts.” (via Thad Hanscom, Expedia)

9. Don’t burn out your social media fans with the same message over and over. (via Bowen Payson, Virgin America)

10. Loyalty rewards should be about experience and service, not just discounts.

11. Live and breathe your core message in everything you do.

In spirit of the event, I did not bring my laptop to this event – only sent out tweets to summarize the ideas.

Interestingly, one of the keynotes that interested me most wasn’t directly tied to mobile. It was Adam Brotman introducing the Starbucks Digital Network, summarized here on GigaOm by the writer I ate lunch with, Ryan Kim. There were so many useful concepts there that I’m writing a separate post about it. But the big takeaway was that you can become a content curator by partnering up with publishers trying to reach the same audiences. It’s a win/win/win proposition that yields a great customer experience – while providing opportunities for you to make money.

Which leads right into the first idea…

[To see all my tweets from the event, go here]

I was a little disappointed with last year’s ad:tech conference in Paris, but this year’s event in San Francisco was quite good. All the leading advertising technology companies were represented, and I enjoyed learning what they are working on.

Some highlights and thoughts from the sessions I attended:

> Why is social media a marketing function? We have traditionally designated the web, and now social media, as the primary responsibility of marketing, but to succeed online today, we need to abandon this thinking.

> When building your social media team, include person from every department: management, marketing, PR, product development, customer service, etc

> Social media is a feedback loop: before, during, after transaction. Engage at each point.

> Some ad agencies are now optimizing landing pages around ‘who’ you know, not ‘what’ you know. Including connections from networks like Facebook gives a personal connection to the company.

> Starbucks was used as a good example of listening to customer suggestions, and acting on them. Their contest to submit ideas for improvement generated 80,000 ideas, and they have implemented 200 so far. (That is 2 ideas, every week, for the past 2 years) Are you doing something similar?

> Tracking online reputation should not just be aggregating reviews. Use a tool that gives you insight into trends and patterns.

> ROI is difficult to compare across platforms. Instead, compare ROO – Return on Objectives.

> Social media is the richest focus group that ever existed

> Social ROI is from insights, not necessarily sales

> Segment your email list by personas (not purchase history)

> Don’t try to buy social media fans. Avoid the “campaign” mindset, and understand that forming the relationships for a great online community will take years.

I’ll expand on many of these concepts in the days to come…

I livetweeted this week’s Social Media Strategies for Travel event, and posted summaries of day 1 and day 2. But what were the big takeaways?

1) Everyone is experimenting.

I was pleased to see the conversation move beyond social media basics into examples of how people are trying this stuff out. Right now everyone is trying everything. In the testing phase there tends to be less dogmatism…which I find refreshing.

2) Fail quickly, fail fast

The Silicon Valley mantra is being adopted by many hotel marketing professionals. Many prominent hospitality organizations are simultaneously trying a number of very different social networking experiments. They are trying to keep each tests’ cost as low as possible, and then plan to expand with the winners.

3) Create multiple accounts for multiple messages

Several organizations are using different Twitter accounts, for example, to publish promotions and to conduct conversations. Multiple Twitter accounts enable multiple “host” voices, and can provide more authentic messaging.

4) Older marketing tactics are just as powerful as ever.

I found it slightly ironic that when I asked dozens of people what their most productive internet marketing tactics were, many of them answered email, blogging, and search optimization.  It’s interesting to note that email seemed to be the top sales performer, even as social media gets most of the attention. It seems the best results are coming when these channels are integrated.

5) Social media represents a mindset

It’s not about a set of tools.

Rather, it is about how people interact with the web today. Good social media campaigns are really just attentive customer service happening online.

6) Think holistically

There are 3 stages a person goes through in travel: planning, the trip itself, and then looking back at the trip. As marketers we may be too focused on the “planning” stage – and need to think about reaching people at other times. Virginia Suliman asked us to think about the complete guest experience – and who we need to partner with to ensure excellence.

When we look at some of the most effective marketing organizations online right now, you’ll see this is the case. They go far beyond only communicating with their customers in the “planning” stage.

7) Involve your employees

Everyone needs to get involved. Social media cannot be delegated to a single person or department. Empower your entire team to take part.

“Employees can take brand message, localize it, and put their personality behind it.” – Claire Elias/STA Travel

Finished another full day of ideas at EyeForTravel’s Social Media Strategies 2010….

Susan Black opened with some interesting numbers on why people follow you in social media: 32% for offers & discounts, 19% for new products and services, 19% to be entertained. We need to remember that social media does not replace our other marketing & advertising responsibilities. We need to use multiple channels to reach everyone.

Brian Boland from Facebook thinks the reason behind social media’s explosive growth is that people naturally want to connect and share. Social media is not just another distribution channel. You need to think how you can become part of the social graph. Try to build your presence as an authentic personality online.

Michael Perhaes from MGM Grand said, “ “Twitter is not a direct marketing platform for us.” Instead he feels the platform is a big opportunity for hospitality companies to serve guests in real time. They use multiple accounts for multiple topics and voices. He recommends creating personas around your various accounts.

Mark Guerette from Alaska Airlines reminded us there are 3 stages a person goes through in travel: planning, the trip itself, and reminiscing. As marketers we may be too focused on the “planning” stage – and need to think about reaching people at other times. I also loved how Alaska Airlines has multiple customer advisory boards – bringing frequent fliers in to talk with their various departments on how to improve the experience.

Yen Lee from Uptake brought solid research data (as always). I enjoyed hearing his thoughts on how social media will develop over the next few years. He explained that a Social Graph is people you connected with, while an Affinity Graph connects people with similar interests. What’s next for travel & search? Technology that recognizes emotion and the meaning of online content.

Claire Elias from STA Travel closed us off with a very important topic: how to get our employees involved in our social media outreach. Empowering them to become online ambassadors can be a very powerful concept. They can take your brand message, localize it, and put their personality behind it. To do this successfully, you need to train and guide them in how to participate, but avoid just overwhelming them with a big list of rules. Instead, make it fun!

All in all I found attending this event a very rewarding experience. Thanks to Gina Baillie at EyeforTravel for putting everything together, and Susan Black for moderating the discussions. Great job!

EyeforTravel’s Social Media Strategies conference got off to a good start today here in San Francisco. I am pleased to see the conversations (for the most) part move beyond “Should we use Facebook?” to more meaningful discussions.

Specifically, I enjoyed hearing — and want to hear more tomorrow — about two things:

1. Examples of how people are integrating social media into their campaigns (What works? What doesn’t?)
2. What’s next for social media — how will this evolve over the next few years, and what should we do to prepare for these changes?

Susan Black began with a good introduction (as always). Social media is a conversation, not a tool. E-mail and social media are converging. Separate channels should be used for promotions and customer service/conversations.

Porter Gale opened a panel on the social media landscape by explaining customers now expect real-time, 24/7 support. Installing WiFi on their Virgin America flights resulted in a lot more online activity. [Would hotels experienced the same thing?] She believes social media is something the whole team should be involved in: Guest services deals with service issues, PR develops content and watches for stories, Marketing monitors everything and posts information.

Virginia Suliman of Hilton emphasized that social media tools are not more important than the trip as a whole. Think about your entire guest experience, and see who you can partner with to create a holistic guest experience. She reminded us that we would never put in a new front desk employee without training, and the same should go for social media. Social media isn’t free – you need to invest in training & tools.

Del Ross from the InterContinental Hotel Group showed studies that e-mail is not part of the daily communications web for people under 30. They’re not using Twitter either. Twitter may be coming less of a personal communications tool, and more of a media outlet. There are three basic ways for hotel to increase revenue: generating demand, converting demand, increasing revenue per sale. He doesn’t care where the improvement comes from… as long as it comes. Experimentation is the key to social media success. Find a way to fail cheaply and fail quickly. You won’t know what works for you unless you try.

This is just a quick overview – I plan to do a more comprehensive summary of the event on Friday. In the meantime, I live tweet every session so that you don’t miss anything important.

Follow me on Twitter to get updates as they come @HMarketingHelp