WTM Travel Perspective sessions 2013 - Wednesday

Brought to you by our partners

By Steve Keenan and Mark Frary

It’s year three of our involvement with World Travel Market and we’re now there for three days rather than two. Once again, there will be speakers from the most important companies in social media - Facebook, Google, TripAdvisor - as well as the cream of digital travel. The WTM Travel Perspective sessions range from the strategic to the practical.

This year, there’s also something new - WTM Fresh. This forms the centrepiece of our Wednesday sessions and is a showcase for the most exciting new start-ups in travel. Six companies less than a year old will fight it out to win funding and mentoring from investors and tech experts. Find out more about WTM Fresh here.

This is what you can expect.

WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 6 SESSIONS

Location: WTM Knowledge Theatre

[See the line-up for Tuesday and the line-up for Thursday.]

The conference opens at 10.30am. Registration not required for the seminars but do turn up early to bag a seat. We have more room than ever this year but sessions are certain to be packed out. You will need to register to attend World Travel Market to get in.

The hashtag is #WTMTP13 for the sessions, #WTM13 for the show

Location: WTM Knowledge Theatre (GV750)

10.30-10.35 Welcome by Steve Keenan/Mark Frary

10.35-10.40 Introduction by Sabre (Joakim Everstin)

10.40-11.15 KEYNOTE: Google and travel: sharing best practice

Sarah McDonald, Industry Head, Tour Operators, Google. Moderator: Mark Frary

How are Google’s own travel product offerings such as Flight Search and Hotel Finder evolving; and how are Google’s innovations with Maps enhancing the travel customer experience . How can travel companies and tourism organisations take advantage of search, G+, YouTube, Maps + more.

11.15-11.50 KEYNOTE: The Future of Online Publishing

John O’Nolan, founder of Ghost and former WordPress user interface designer. Moderator Steve Keenan

Former WordPress user interface designer John O’Nolan talks about his experience going from building blogs for Microsoft, Virgin Atlantic, easyJet and Nokia to raising $300,000 on Kickstarter to build a brand new blogging platform from scratch. John will talk about about how his platform - Ghost - will shake up the way we publish online with a renewed focus on writing and journalism.

11.50-12.30 How to create a travel start-up

Timothy O’Neil Dunne, Vaultpad; Sabine de Witte, Blanco Tekst; Benji Lanyado, PicFair; Thierry Wong, UMapped. Moderator: Kevin May

Advice on how to turn your brilliant idea into something practical. Our experts share their views on getting funding, finding developers, marketing and more.

12.30-13.30 WTM Fresh

Joakim Everstin, Innovations Manager, Sabre Travel Network
Lee Hayhurst, Head of News, Travolution
Timothy O’Neil Dunne, Vaultpad
Valyn Perini, Open Travel Alliance
Paul Smith, ignite100
Mark Frary, Travel Perspective (chair)

Six individuals and companies each have just five minutes to pitch their fresh idea for travel to a panel of experts. The winning pitch will receive a prize fund to help towards development, mentoring from our panel and access to a range of travel APIs through our technology partners. To apply - register here before 16 October.

Afternoon session

Location: Platinum Suite 6 (level 2)

14.30-16.00 The social Silk Road

This session reveals details of the latest WTM country report on social media. It looks at best practice in cross-border initiatives, the latest work from the UNWTO, bloggers travelling the Silk Road and tour operators using social media well to promote tourism along one of the most historic travel itineraries

14:30-14:40 Introductory Remarks

Zoltán Somogyi, Executive Director, Member Relations & Services, UNWTO
Alla Peressolova, Head, UNWTO Silk Road Programme

14:40-15:10 Armenia: Maximising the potential of travel bloggers

Results and recommendations of this year’s Silk Road Bloggers Trip through Armenia

Jonathan Powell, award winning blogger and Editor of The Flaneur
National Competitiveness Foundation of Armenia Representative

15:10-15.20 Social Media on the Silk Road

Joint report by Travel Perspective and UNWTO focussed on the use of social media to promote tourism along the Silk Road, both cross border and within individual countries

Mark Frary, Co-Founder, Travel Perspective

15:20 – 16:00 Can social media encourage tourism along the Silk Road?

The opportunities and challenges arising in an age of ‘User-generated content’

Round table attended by the following honorary guests:

Giorgi Sigua, Head, Georgian National Tourism Administration
Jonathan Powell, award winning blogger and Editor of The Flaneur
Akhtaruz Zaman Khan Kabir, Chief Executive Officer, Bangladesh Tourism Board
David Chapman, Director General, World Youth, Student and Education Travel Confederation (WYSE)