Review: Tough Love – Web in Travel 2009

WIT – 5 years on – Web In Travel celebrated its 5th birthday and even though it was my first WIT, I came away with the understanding that the conference has depth and sincerity that can only be achieved through trust.

Stage for WIT 2009

On arrival, I was handed a program guide and tucked inside was a list of what must be the who’s who of the online travel industry that were attending.

One of the Many Panels of Experts

I am now going to proceed and summarise my WIT 2009 journey in the best way I know – the social media way = keywords.

Enlightening, profound, humorous, creative, conflicting, old ways, new ways, homemade cookies, social media, engagement, search, entrepreneurship, mentors, students, Twitter, status, community, art, opinions, fear, deals, Facebook, style, value, graffiti, empathy, monitor, react, pre-emptive, classic, roses, luxury, budget, holistic, experience, destinations, in your face, google, to serve, passion, tough love, did I say Facebook?

NEW: Twitter Roost @ WIT

Special mention needs to be made relating to the events discussion I witnessed, even with prompting by distinguished moderator – there seemed to be no obvious understanding or relevance or decisive recognition of how social media might have an enormous impact on the events business. I can only direct those in the events business to a review of an event I was involved in that clearly shows how events can deliver superior results if you engage a community online in somewhere like Facebook.

David Meerman Scott speaks Tattoos – http://www.webinknow.com/2009/01/how-an-active-facebook-group-drove-15000-people-to-the-singapore-tattoo-show.html

[Yeoh Siew Hoon our Host]

My congrats to Yeoh Siew Hoon (SHY) and her team on Web In Travel 2009. Happy 5th Birthday. – APLINK.

Willy Foo - facebook guy... leads the crew

All images courtesy of Willy Foo – to see the entire set visit:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?page=1&aid=166745&id=719891275

Top 5 Social Media Trends 2010 – Hospitality

As part of the Web In Travel event – I was invited to Brand Karma by Circos Social Media workshop – held at the Singapore Arts Museum. No one would be surprised that I would be a positive and eager recipient of any content that is supportive of social media and how my agreement to the premise of how suddenly social media is making a huge impact on consumer decisions.

But, I am not alone – the attendees at this workshop filled every available seat and then some. My 1st impression was one of amazement – not at the number of people but at their Attire – i then kicked myself as hey this is hospitality – not only service is important – so is how you dress and look… the outfit of choice – smart suit – colour Black or Grey – your look, highly groomed – hmmm my jeans and polo shirt just slightly out of place. That aside – what this also tells me and you is that Hospitality is taking social media very seriously.

Morris Sim (co-founder & ceo) Brand Karma’s high level presentation was awesome and given Brand Karma is a monitoring company, he covered a wide overview of social media activties in 2009 – my biggest disapointment however is when the Top 10 Social Media events in 2009 were presented Tourism Queensland’s Best Job in the World did not make the list – given the global success of Best Job in the World, and that it is to made into a TV program. Best Job In the World centres around tourism & hospitality, with the desired results of creating MASSIVE tourism toAustralia’s Queensland, I would have liked to have seen it get Special mention – it was not SO – I will do it myself in this blog post. – Like the Susan Boyle media coverage – The Best Job in the World also gained significant traditional media coverage and social media drove the coverage – congrats Tourism Queensland.

The Top 5 Social Media Trends closed off the presentation – below is my interpretation.

1. My Story Trumps Brand Story (users talking about you gives more credibility)
2. A hollistic Experience is what i want
3. Design & empathy in hospitality developments will be key drivers as a response to social media
4. Social Media will demand a corporate policy (HR Operations meaning social media moves beyond just marketing & Public relations)
5. A new distribution star is BORN which will it be Facebook or twitter

I needed to rush to another meeting so I missed the full interactive workshops in store for the attendees – but i did take away that social media is still in its infancy – something reverberated today as Web in tavel – WIT took centre stage – more in my next post…

Web in Travel – Tough Love

Web In Travel is in its 5^th year. It is Asia’s leading travel distribution, marketing and technology conference. This year’s theme is “Tough Love”. Learn more and register at http://www.webintravel.com.

ABOUT WIT

WIT stands for Web In Travel. It is Asia’s leading travel distribution, marketing and technology conference.

• WIT 2009 will once again be held in partnership with ITB Asia, Asia’s biggest travel trade fair. Its hospitality partner is HSMAI Asia Pacific.
• WIT 2009 will be held from Oct 20-23 at Suntec City, Singapore. This year’s WIT will comprise The WIT Conference (Oct 20-21) and The WIT Ideas Lab (8.30am-11am, Oct 22 & Oct 23)
• WIT 2009, with its theme “Tough Love”, will cut through the hype and focus on real ideas and smart solutions for the times. Expect lots of ideas sharing and networking opportunities.
• WIT 2009 sponsors include Sabre Airline Solutions/Sabre Travel Network including SynXis and Zuji, WORLDHOTELS, Jetstar Asia, Accor Asia Pacific, Via, Hotel Smart Alliance, Travelport GDS, TMS Asia Pacific, Pegasus Solutions, Sprice, Mondial and Trust International.
• One ticket buys all – WIT delegates get free access to all ITB Asia activities and events taking place from Oct 21-23, 2009.

Pictured: Jim Donnelly, the founder of IgoUgo, was a keynote speaker at the WIT 2008 conference.

Learn more and register at http://www.webintravel.com.