DMAI and eTourism Summit Collaborate to Elevate DMO Digital Marketing

WASHINGTON, DC – Destination Marketing Association International (DMAI) and eTourism Summit, an interactive marketing conference for DMOs produced by North American Journeys (NAJ Group), will develop educational programs elevating DMO marketing effort.

“DMOs are under intense pressure to produce a return on investment for all their marketing efforts, and digital marketing is the most efficient way to promote themselves,” stated Jake Steinman, President and CEO of NAJ Group.  “  at eTourism Summit, which is a boutique event we limited attendance to 150 so as to maximize interaction between presenters and attendees. Through our relationship with DMAI we will be able to share information that will benefit a wide DMO audience.”

“At eTourism Summit, DMAI is co-sponsoring an exclusive VIP Executive Briefing at Google’s headquarters in Mountain View, inviting DMO CEOs, state tourism directors, and international tourism board ministers interact directly with Google leaders and discuss strategic uses of interactive and mobile marketing,” stated Michael D. Gehrisch, President & CEO of DMAI. “This collaboration will help advance today’s DMOs into the marketing efforts of tomorrow.”

Additionally, DMAI will sponsor and moderate two workshops at the upcoming eTourism Summit held October 10-12, 2012 in San Francisco; and eTourism Summit will sponsor and collaborate on two digital education sessions centered around interactive marketing at DMAI’s Annual Convention, held July 16-18, 2012 in Seattle.

“Partnerships such as this increase the connectivity of the industry,” said Gehrisch. “Leveraging our collective resources elevates the digital marketing and technology education offered at both DMAI’s Annual Convention and the eTourism Summit.”

Here are some recent developments that are shaping e-Tourism Summit in 2012.

New! Our partners at Google have agreed to host a special pre-conference tour, lunch and briefing for CEO’s, Tourism Commissioners and CMO’s of international tourism boards.

New! Facebook will partner with us on a pre-conference optional tour, lunch and social media  conference workshop at their newly renovated headquarters in Menlo Park, on October 10^th.

New! We have formed a relationship with the Destination Marketing Association International  (DMAI) that will help educate more DMO’s about digital marketing. DMAI will co-sponsor the Google CEO briefing as well as two workshops in San Francisco and ETS will assist them with the interactive-centric content sponsor an overview session at their annual convention in Seattle.

New! We are working with our friends at San Francisco Travel Association to develop a Food Truck picnic reception the night of October 10^th ( We will keep you posted).

New! ETS will introduce “Refresh,” a series of one-hour webinars held each week during the month of April to help the industry stay abreast of trends in mobile, search, and social.

New!  We will form a Content Advisory Committee to assist us with topic selection and workshop content.

Koi Pond negotiation for ETS at Kabuki

A boutique event deserves a boutique hotel. E-Tourism Summit will be held October 11-12th, 2012 at the Hotel Kabuki in San Francisco.  Located about one mile west of Union Square, the hotel offers a retreat-like experience while attendees are able to explore a whole new area of the City.   Hotel representative Monica Yee and I hammered out the final details at the hotel’s Koi Pond located in the courtyard.  Got the group rates down to $174/night.  

Stay tuned for more announcements about pre-conference workshops and visits to the headquarters of major Internet companies on October 10, 2012. 

Here’s  a link to the hotel’s photo gallery. http://jdvhotels21-px.trvlclick.com/hotels/sanfrancisco/kabuki

A diverse panel representing marketers and the meetings industry brought eTourism Summit attendees up to date in a discussion entitled “Core Trends in the Way the Meetings and Events Industry is Using Digital Marketing.”

 Brianna Haag, SF Event Evangelist at Eventbrite spoke from the ticket seller and event promoter side. Facebook is where it’s at, she says. When Eventbrite completed its integration with Facebook, it had a huge surge in ticket sales.

 Eventbrite’s Facebook facts:

•  An event attendee has an average of 130 Facebook friends.
• The outreach of someone with 130 friends is 16,900 people.
• Facebook connections bring in an average of $2.52 in additional ticket sales.

 Arianna Petkevicius, VP of Social Media Services at Sparkloft Media, suggests carefully evaluating the level of experience and knowledge of a group and planning the social media component accordingly.

 She recommends:

 Determine the size and social media ability of the group to create an appropriate social media plan.

• Don’t push people out to platforms that they might not be ready for.
• Make the agenda itself social. Do YouTube videos. Use your B-roll and add something special for attendees. Welcome the influencers and keynote speakers with videos.
• When the size is big and social media interest is high, like at South by Southwest for example, spend more time and reach out earlier. These attendees expect a variety of platforms to be integrated into the event.

 Elizabeth Brown, a meeting planner with B Line Events gave the meeting planner perspective and introduced some powerful tools:

• Empowermint, a great way to connect with CVBs and compare destinations by what they have to offer.
• Room77.com, a unique database of hotel rooms that tells which are good, which are bad, which have the best views, etc.
• Google Maps to create custom maps for special interests like museums or sports venues.
• LinkedIn groups for conferences. Brown organized a conference five years ago in which all of the content was created from discussions in LinkedIn groups, and some of those groups remain active today.
• Facebook for events that are open to the public to spread the word near and far.

A Flash (sale) in The Pan: Real deals do make a difference. They attract business and get people to come who have never been before. And beyond that, they’ve changed the selling of travel. Those who attended the “A Flash (Sale) in the Pan, Daily Deals Help Market Travel” breakout session at the eTourism Summit learned the details from three experts.

“Extreme deals have changed things. You’ve allowed a whole new subset of consumers to buy things they’ve never tried before,” says Adam Heintz, director, strategy and development, new business initiatives at Living Social. “The other side is are you degrading your brand? Are you selling things cheaper than you should.”

Using sites like Living Social, Yuupon and Daily Hookup can be good business for hotels and attractions.

According to Heintz:

• 88 percent of those who buy vouchers through Living Social are first time visitors to a property.

• There’s an average 235 percent increase in traffic to a hotel’s website during the time the property is up on Living Social.
• 70 percent of the people who buy weren’t actively looking to go on vacation.

Kevin Williams, regional market manager of Yuupon, which has been in business for 18 months and is the only deal company that focuses strictly on travel, says that deals mean “The customer is getting out the door and traveling again and may become a regular customer.”

His company’s market managers help hotels design their product and also supply editorial write-ups. Although the cost of the room may be far less than rack rate, the average spend of guests often exceeds the offer, when things like F&B and spa treatments are included.

The Daily Hookup, a deal site that targets affluent gay men, has a slightly different approach. “We don’t think of ourselves as a discount site but a customer acquisition site for you,” says Bob Michitarian, the company’s senior vice president of business development.  “We are offering a highly desirable segment of the traveling public that’s hard to reach – that will spend more, that will be back and are more likely to go someplace recommended by their social network. “

His company’s deals are chosen by what it calls curators, men who are hand-selected trendsetters in four major destinations – San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York and Washington, D.C. – with more to be added. These people are not paid rather consider it an honor to be associated with Daily Hookup. The company gives 10% of all revenue to LGBT causes.

The 13^the annual eTourism Summit kicked off on Thursday Sept. 29, with a record 175 attendees, a 50 percent increase over last year’s number.The dramatic changes at Facebook and Google in recent months and the challenges of dealing with the ever-changing world of ecommerce brought attendees from around the nation. Representatives of CVBs, attractions, hotels and marketing companies came to San Francisco’s Nikko Hotel to learn first hand from those who know best – the movers and shakers of social media, e-commerce and digital marketing.

 On the summit’s first day, three tracks – Socialize, Monetize and Mobilize – with six workshops each brought attendees up to date on recent developments and gave them a look into the future.

 In one of the morning’s first presentations, Best Approach to Build Quality Fans and Followers, Derek Draper, vice present of sales and client service of Wildfire Interactive – the Redwood City, Calif. creator of tools to help companies engage social network site users – enlightened workshop attendees on the successful use of Facebook.

 First the facts (according to the Pew Internet and American life study):

•  There are 800 million people on Facebook
• 500 million log in every day
• The average user spends 55 minutes per day on the site
• Users create an average of 90 pieces of content per month

 Why are people on Facebook?

•  49 percent go on to have fun
• 32 percent to connect with friends
• 16 percent to get information.

 What are they looking for in terms of products?

•  62 percent go on Facebook to get latest news about the brand
• 61 percent to get product information
• 58 percent for contests and giveaways,
• 47 percent for sales, discounts and coupons.

Companies need to attract Facebook users as fans, according to Draper. Why? Because 36 percent of people say that once they become a fan they’re more likely to buy the product. And 92 percent say that after becoming a fan of a given brand they are more likely to recommend that brand to their friends. This is promotion you don’t have to pay for.

 How to Grow Your Facebook Audience:

You can use Facebook to grow, using your existing audience. If you have a business you have some assets. Contact your email newsletter readers and tell them to like you on Facebook. Do the same for people who go to your website. Reach out to your fans and tell them to spread the word. You can acquire fans with Facebook ads, especially if you’re starting from scratch. You can get fans very quickly this way and can attract fans from the exact market you’re looking for, Draper says.

 How to run effective Facebook ads:

•  Give them a reason to click. Provide good contact.
• In your ad copy, ask people to click the “Like” button. If you tell people what to do they’ll often do it.
• Advertise to friends of your fans with an ad saying that a certain person ‘Likes” your business. Those conversion rates are 70% higher than normal ads.
• Run a contest or promotion. Companies that do so have twice as many fans as those that don’t.

Sheila Scarborough, Tourism Currents

What follows is ETS-presenter and travel blogging expert Sheila Scarborough’s impressions of the Google Tour.  While I personally may  not agree with many of her conclusions, I thought the insights were good and she’s included several observations that I know others felt but were too squeamish to articulate.  Thank you, Sheila.   -JS 

There is no question that Google looks like an amazing place to work. There is a sense of possibility there, a sense of play, a sense of enormous opportunity. The pseudo-librarian in me is attracted to the idea of “organizing the world’s information,” and heaven knows the ability to Google someone is pretty dog gone handy. Good thing I’m happily married and not on the dating scene – although I did Google a guy once who said some odd things to my daughter on her Facebook profile.

 My inner skeptic chewed on these thoughts, however….

• Employees have every need cared for: meals, transportation (with power plugs and WiFi), car maintenance, a bookmobile, laundry, free this-that-and-the-other-thing. I found that a bit creepy and controlling at some level. As an bootstrapping entrepreneur myself, I live every day with blurred lines between work and non-work, and I’m mostly OK with that, but I wonder how many starry-eyed employees realize that the “free” bottle of Odwalla Blueberry B Monster Superfood bottled drink actually comes with a price tag – their time and attention.
•  Was super-thrilled to briefly meet the head of the Google Anti-Spam team, Matt Cutts, as he came through a door I was going out of. I’ve followed Matt at many SEO (Search Engine Optimization) conferences and online, and he’s a straight shooter.  His explanatory YouTube videos about SEO are always worth watching. 
• The Google Travel presentation was like watching my search life on a screen. I go all over the place online looking for travel information. They absolutely nailed the process that so many of us use. My main objection was that the answer to everything was a properly-placed advertisement. Of course, this is how Google makes money, but I have had reasonable success with SEO for organic search and the only time I have EVER paid for advertising for my business was a $50 experiment on….Facebook.  And, sorry Google, but I hardly ever click an ad or a sponsored search result, either.

 What is my number one bit of advice for tourism and hospitality people when it comes to Google search? Claim and completely fill out your Google Places profile, then encourage reviews from visitors and customers. Cost to do so? Free. The Google Travel folks never really talked about that.

 I’m glad that Jake arranged this tour; I learned a ton and certainly enjoyed it. However, I’m 50….I remember when Yahoo! was a big deal. 

 Never devote all of your efforts to one online channel or methodology. You will eventually regret it.

 Sheila Scarborough, Tourism Currents (http://www.tourismcurrents.com)

Pat Moscaritolo, Boston CVB, Jake Steinman, eTourism Summit, Tamara Pigott, Ft. Myers, CVB, and Mike Gallagher, CityPass

For the past four months, the eTourism Summit staff had been working with the Google travel team, Hayley Lambert, Kallie Stephenson and Shaun Aukland to create a pre-conference site visit to Google’s headquarters in Mountain View, just 45 minutes south of San Francisco.  We, the nearly 90 delegates to the just concluded eTourism Summit produced by North American Journeys, arrived at the sprawling Google business campus on a warm and sunny 80-degree day.  We were divided into four groups, each led by a “Googler,” who volunteered for the tour guide task. (We later learned that $50 credits for massage service provided a nice incentive for those who volunteered.)

Our up-close peek at this epicenter of Silicon Valley provided us with an insight as to what keeps Google employees regularly working 10-to-12-hour days: a management approach that strives for an environment that encourages its personnel to think and create formulae, algorithms and logical constructions—not merely achieve production goals or output quotas—in order to remain the world’s largest Internet search engine.

Nonetheless, the extent to which Google nurtures a creative environment and its employees astounded eTourism Summit delegates, especially those who work for non-profit DMOs and like organizations. Some of perks we saw included, but were not limited to, the following:

 Free breakfast, lunch and dinner available for everyone, with a full-service restaurant, café or snack stations available in every building.

 Laundry and dry cleaning service stations at several locations.

 Several cavernous fitness clubs, fully staffed with trainers and aides.

 Beach volleyball courts located in the shadow of a building architecturally that was architecturally designed so as to shield them from creating a sandstorm when the wind whipped off San Francisco Bay.

 Fastidiously attended vegetable gardens.

 Campus bikes in familiar Google colors (blue, red, yellow and green) available everywhere for transportation between buildings.

 A fully staffed medical clinic

 Dogs out and about in a pet-friendly and pet-welcome environment.

 An unstated, but nevertheless often realized benefit is the possibility of an impromptu talk or lecture by a visiting dignitary—from Presidents to Nobel Prize recipients—which are common.  Two weeks before our group toured, Lady Gaga stopped by Google to say hello.

While there were no swimming pools, our tour took us along a catwalk between buildings. We looked down to find two hot-tub spa-sized “current” pools—swimming treadmills, really—that were both in use, watched over by a full-time lifeguard who seemed to be reading a novel. According to one of the tour guides, this mini swimming center came about when founders Serge Brin and Larry promised employees that a pool would be installed when YouTube, which they acquired in 2006, became profitable. (It obviously became profitable.) 

We ate Google’s Lunch. Seeing all of these free benefits created a longing, hungry feeling in all of us, so it was off  for a three-minute ride to the company’s Crittendon campus, located next to LinkedIn’s headquarters, for lunch and our scheduled workshop. We were given a choice of four gourmet buffet restaurants—Mexican, Asian, Indian and Vegetarian. 

Following a scrumptious unlimited lunch topped off with frozen yogurt we, were herded into the auditorium for a two-hour workshop entitled, A Day in the Life of Three Travelers Planning Their Trip. During this highly focused workshop, we learned that:

• Nearly 90 percent of travel buying decisions are influenced by online information and the online experience, whether it’s at the research or booking stage.

• Online travelers look at an average of 15 websites, at least twice, and spend an average of two hours 24 minutes researching.

• Those who  go online to make a booking visit an average of 26 websites for a total of more than four hours.

 One revelation had a special impact on everyone. That is, Google’s research has shown that, as each of the three travelers profiled in our workshop were in the travel planning process, the most opportunistic time for a supplier/destination to change their mind them was during what they refer internally as the “Zero Moment of Truth” (ZMOT), a point during the travel research phase at which the traveler may be on the cusp of clicking on a purchase but is still open to alternatives. The mother of a family planning a Florida vacation, for example, was first tempted to click on a Texas beach resort ad that appeared next to search results for Florida. As she grew closer to booking the Florida destination, ever-more enticing ads featuring ever greater value-added and discounted offers the Texas beach hotel  kept appearing.  Ultimately, the savings convinced her to book the Texas destination.

Alas, all Google things must come to an end and, after our workshop, so did our visit. But we were told that we were one of only two travel groups to visit the campus this year and the only one to receive a full tour.   There was much to ponder and discuss on our way back to downtown San Francisco and the start of the eTourism Summit program the following day, but attendees felt like they had access to special world that few people from the outside would ever have the opportunity to see.

MOBILIZE: Robyn K. Levin is founder/CEO of R. Levin Marketing Group, a strategic marketing & PR consulting firm, based in San Francisco. Levin, a 4-time “top 10” ranked presenter at E-Tourism Summit, advises companies on how to rapidly increase sales & visibility using digital marketing techniques.  She is also producer of “Get Smarket Marketing Boot Camp and a member of the Industry Board and Digital Marketing at Temple University’s Fox School of Business.  She is currently advising non-profits on digital marketing ideas.  Her efforts have landed clients in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Money Magazine, Time Magazine, CBS MarketWatch, and more.

MONETIZE: Larry Dickerson, Destination Marketing Group. In addition to serving as a senior advisor and representative for some  of the top national online marketing firms, including eBrains, Inc.,Larry has established himself as one of the leading experts in technology-based tourism marketing. Larry’s work also includes additional activities with private sector tourism based businesses, assisting with sales and marketing strategies and online marketing planning  Larry has serve Chief of Staff for Michigan Operations for former U.S. Senator Spencer Abraham and he continues to serve as the head of Destination Marketing Group.

SOCIALIZE: Troy Thompson, Founder, Travel 2.0.  Troy Thompson is a respected consultant, speaker and thought-leader in the tourism industry. As a former interactive director with NASCAR, the Arizona Office of Tourism and VISIT DENVER, Troy brings a wealth of strategic planning experience to his clients.  Currently Principal and Senior Tourism Consultant at the Travel 2.0 Consulting Group, Troy provides destinations, agencies and start-ups with answers to difficult digital marketing questions.

WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 28, 2011:

Optional Site Visit to Google Headquarters 

 Travelers have used the Internet for years to plan their trips, but with the increasing complexity of social sharing and device proliferation, reaching your consumers can be overwhelming. During this on-site strategy session, join the Google Travel team as we pull the curtain back on how you can influence travelers from dreaming to booking. We’ll highlight examples of how to create synergy between your marketing channels, and understand trends with online video and mobile usage to capture your travelers where they are researching.   We’ll also demonstrate, more importantly, how you can show your results to key stakeholders for your destination.
Schedule:

9:30 am: Depart Nikko Hotel, San Francisco

10:30 am: Arrive at Google’s Headquarters in Mountain View. Registration and welcome from Google Travel team.

11:00 am: Tour of the campus

12:00 noon: Lunch at Google Cafe

1:00 pm:  Google Workshop: A Day In The Life Of A Traveler Planning Their Trip

3:00 pm: Depart for San Francisco
 

THURSDAY, SEP. 29, 2011:

NIKKO 1 BALLROOM (3^rd Floor)

7:00-8:00 am: Continental Breakfast

8:00-9:00 am: “Mentored” Peer-to-Peer Roundtable Sessions: Each table will be facilitated by mentors who will facilitate introductions and guide the discussion around the topic.

Table 1: Facebook.  Mentor: Nicolet Magel, Facebook  

Table 2: Twitter for Tourism.  Mentor: Martin Stoll, GoSeeTell,

Table 3: LinkedIn.  Mentors: James Hacon, Kiwi Dreams; Robyn Levin, R. Levin Marketing Group

Table 4: Reputation Management.  Mentor: Jim Brody, TripAdvisor

Table 5: Website Redesign.  Mentor: Troy Thompson, Travel 2.0

Table 6: E-Mail Marketing.  Mentors: Shirley Tafoya, Travelzoo

Table 7: Structuring a Social Media Department. Mentor: Sheila Scarborough, Tourism Currents

Table 8: Marketing Attractions Through Social Media. Mentor: Scott McNeely, Viator

Table 9: ROI Techniques.   Mentor: Ryan George, Simpleview
Table 10: Mobile Marketing. Mentor: Jeff Kohn, VisitMobile

9:00 am-5:30 pm: CREATE YOUR OWN PROGRAM: 
Mix and Match from Three Concurrent Tracks and 16 Different Workshops 

MONTEREY ROOM (3^rd Floor)

 TRACK 1: SOCIALIZE

9:00-10:00 am: Best Approach to Building Quality Followers and Fans on the Most Important Social Networks.  Helpful tips and secrets from experts to help you build more followers and likers on Twitter and Facebook.  Presenters: McKenzie Coco, Founder, FSC Interactive (C) Derek Draper, VP Sales, Wildfire (C)

 10:00-11:00 am: Advanced Facebook Workshop. Explore the marketing tools features and analytics that have made Facebook so appealing, yet so daunting, to travel marketers.   Presenters: Martin Stoll, President, GoSeeTell/Sparkloft Media (C); Nicolet Magel, Account Executive, Facebook (C); Danny Watts, Media Director, atLarge, Inc. (C)

 11:00-11:30 am: Coffee Break

 11:30 am -12:45 pm: Advanced LinkedIn Workshop: Few people realize that LinkedIn has become so much more than a bulletin board for those looking to further their careers.  Here you’ll learn the secrets of how the pros use LinkedIn to build new databases of contacts to promote corporate meetings, enhance attendance at shows and events and market to travel professionals and meeting planners. Presenters: James Hacon, Executive Consultant and Company Director, Kiwi Dreams (C); Mark Muleady, Marketing Solutions Account Executive, LinkedIn (C)

 12:45-2:00 pm: Lunch on Own

 2:00-3:00 pm: Engagement Unleashed: How to Maximize Engagement (and measure ROI) on the Most Popular Social Media Platforms.   It’s no secret that engagement is a constant challenge for social media marketers, this workshop will highlight some of the most successful.   Presenters:  Amanda Eyer, Strategist, atLarge, Inc. (C); Nicolet Magel, Account Executive, Facebook (C); Mark Muleady, Marketing Solutions Account Executive, LinkedIn (C); Brian Mikalis, VP Performance Ad Sales, Pandora (C)

3:00-3:30 pm:  Coffee Break sponsored by YourTour

 3:30-4:30 pm: What will the Tourism-promotion Website of the Future Look Like? What is the fundamental role of websites for: International Tourism Boards (aspirational); States (leads for cvbs); CVBs (concierge for the City); and attractions and hotels (bookings)….and how will this change in the future?  Panelists: Marla Johnson Norris, CEO, Aristotle, Inc. (C); Jim Brody, Senior International Sales Manager, Destination Marketing, TripAdvisor (C); Troy Thompson, Travel 2.0

 4:30-5:30 pm:   I Hate R.O.I…I LOVE R.O.I.:  ROI-Return on Investment or Return On Ignorance?   What are the latest standards of performance measurement of Social Media, E-mail Marketing, Blogs and Website performance.  Presenters:  David Bratton, Managing Partner, Destination Analysts;  John Thornton, Marketing Analyst, Rimm-Kaufmann Group. (C); Tim Hayden, Marketing Advisor, 44Doors, Dan Rosenbaum, Manager, Visitor Experience Marketing, San Francisco Travel.

 CARMEL I ROOM (3^rd Floor)

TRACK 2: MONETIZE

 9:00-10:00 am: Using Interactive Marketing and Measurement Tools to Sell New Funding Models to Stakeholders and Politicians.  This panel will explore how new metric tools and a pro-forma digital marketing plan can build a campaign that is more likely to win approval of politicians and stake holders.   Moderator:  Michael Gehrish, President, DMAI (C); Presenters: Ryan George, CEO, simpleview (C); John Lambeth, President, Civitas (an advocacy company that has successfully assisted over 35 DMOs in passing new funding initiatives) (C); Larry Dickerson, CEO, Destination Marketing Group (C)

 10:00-11:00 am: Core Trends in the Way the Meetings and Events Industry is using Interactive Marketing.  Which social media platforms are most successful in enhancing convention and meeting attendance and which are best for building relationships with planners.  Panelists: Christine Shimasaki, Managing Director, empowerMint by DMAI (C); Arianna Petkevicius, VP of Social Media Services, Sparkloft Media (C); Elizabeth Brown, CMP, Sr. Meeting Planner, B Line Events (C); Brianna Haag, Event Evangelist, Eventbrite (C)

11:00-11:30 am: Coffee Break

11:30-12:30 pm: Search Marketing Focus: Keyword Workshop.  For many marketers, the obvious keywords have become too competitive to be practical.   Here our experts take you through their process and tools to discover new “long tail” and niche keywords and phrases to lower ppc costs.  Presenters: John Thornton, Sr. Market Analyst, Rimm-Kaufmann Group (C); McKenzie Coco, Founder, FSC Interactive (C);  Scott McNeely, VP Product, Viator (C) 

12:30-2:00 pm: Lunch on Own

 2:00-3:00 pm: Using Proactive Techniques to Protect Your Stakeholder’s (hotels/restaurants/attractions) Reputation Online. Presenters: Jim Brody, Senior International Sales Manager of DMOs, TripAdvisor (C);  Darnell Holloway, Manager Local Business Outreach, Yelp! (C);  Linda Palermo, Chief Revenue Officer, Joie de Vivre Hotels (C)

 3:00-3:30 pm: Coffee Break sponsored by YourTour

 3:30-4:30 pm:  10 Secrets of E-mail Optimization. What are the key trends that will make or break your e-mail marketing campaigns. Presenter:  DJ Waldow, Founder, Waldow Social (C); Shirley Tafoya, President, North America, Travelzoo (C)

 4:30-5:30 pm:  BY INVITATION ONLY: International Tourism Board Breakout Session.  Moderator: Jim Brody, Senior International Sales Manager, Destination Marketing, TripAdvisor (C)

 CARMEL II ROOM (3^rd Floor)

 TRACK 3: MOBILIZE

 9:00-10:00 am:  Mobiles APP-rehension.  A diverse panel (DMO, attraction, hotel) that have developed APPs recount their experiences and decision making process that went into their selection of vendors.  Presenters: Jeff Kohn, CEO, VisitMobile; Jan Kostner, Deputy Officer, Illinois Office of Tourism (C); Carol Joannette, VP Marketing, Lake Placid CVB (C)

 10:00-11:00 am:  Social Commerce: Converting Likers to Buyers for Attractions.   What are the best techniques for converting social media engagement to purchases.  Presenter: Scott McNeely, VP Product, Viator (C); Dan Rosenbaum, Manager, Visitor Experience Marketing, San Francisco Travel (C); Martin Stoll, President, GoSeeTell/Sparkloft Media (C)

 11:00-11:30 am: Coffee Break

 11:30 am-12:30 pm:  A Flash(sale) in the Pan?  In a bewildering marketplace of virtually hundreds of daily deal sites, how do travel marketers choose the right companies to work with?  Presenters: Adam Heintz, Director, Strategy and Development, Living Social (C); Bob Michitarian, Sr. Vice President, Business Development, Daily Hookup; Mary Song, Founder/CEO, Yuupon (C)

 12:30-2:00 pm: Lunch on own

 2:00-3:00 pm: Are you Kissing Up to the Wrong Bloggers? How do you go about finding the best bloggers for your product?   Originally a travel writer, the presenter evolved into a blogger then a self-taught social media evangelist who is able to provide new insights that will help you identify the best bloggers that are right for you.  

• Identifying the leading travel bloggers and how best to identify those most valuable to you.
• Care and feeding of targeted bloggers and building a relationship online.
• What’s the hosting/FAM tour protocol and expectations

Presenters: Sheila Scarborough, Co-Founder, Tourism Currents (C); Troy Thompson, Principal, Sr. Tourism Consultant, Travel 2.0 (C)

 3:00-3:30 pm: Coffee Break sponsored by YourTour

 3:30-4:30 pm: Building a 21st Century Coop Marketing Program.  Coop marketing has been the foundation of partnerships between destinations and their hotel/attraction stakeholders.  Learn how several destinations have successfully migrated from print to social media and search marketing.   Presenters: Rhiannon West Chamberlain, Interactive Content Editor, Travel Oregon (C); Howard Tietien, VP Digital Business Dev., Madden Media (C); Steven Stein, General Manager or Tourism Division, Sojern (C)

4:30-5:30 pm:  Metrics That Matter – Benchmarking against the World’s Best. How do tourism organizations benchmark the performance of their websites?  Given a specific budget, what should the benchmarks be for unique website visitors, social media fans, engagement, e-mail returns?   Presenters: Troy Thompson, Principal, Sr. Tourism Consultant, Travel 2.0 (C); Paul Winkle, Vice President, Miles Media (C)

  GOLDEN GATE ROOM (25^th Floor)
 

6:00 pm:  Evening Reception sponsored by TripAdvisor

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 2011

 MONTEREY ROOM (3^rd Floor)

7:00-8:00 am: Continental Breakfast sponsored by Miles Media

 8:00-9:00 am: Mentored” Peer-to-Peer Roundtable Sessions: Each table will be facilitated by mentors who will facilitate introductions and guide the discussion around the topic.

Table 1: Social Media Coops: Mentor: Howard Tietjen, Madden Media
Table 2: International SEO. Mentor: Troy Thompson, Travel 2.0

Table 3: Mobile Marketing. Mentor: Tim Hayden, 44 Doors
Table 4: iPad/Tablet Apps for Travel. Mentors: Paul Winkle, Miles Media, Kathreen Titus, Philadelphia CVB
Table 5: Blogging. Mentor: Sheila Scarborough, Tourism Currents
Table 6: SEO/SEM. Mentor: John Thornton, Rimm-Kaufman Group
Table 7: YouTube/Online video. Mentor: Bill Karz, LA Inc.

Table 8: Attractions and Digital Marketing. Mentor: Scott McNeely, Viator
Table 9: Marketing Through Deals. Mentors: Steven Stein/Susan Booth, Sojern
Table 10: Marketing to Meeting Planners. Mentor: Arianna Petkevicius, Sparkloft Media

NIKKO BALLROOM (3^rd Floor)

 9:00-9:30 am:  The State of The Online Travel Industry What the Future May Bring.  Presenter: Philip Grote, Director, Client Services, comScore, Inc. (C)

•State of OTA’s (how they will be impacted by deal sites)
•State of Search Marketing
•Overview of Mobile Marketing
•Overview of social media
•Daily Deals (will they last)

9:30-10:00 am: Overview:  Social Media For Travel.  What are the best practices for travel companies to use The Facebook Platform as a Marketing Tool?    Presenter: Yvette Lui, Director, Global Marketing Solutions, Facebook (C)

10:00-10:20 am:  Mobile Empowerment: The future of using mobile marketing technology to attract out-of market tourism. Presenter:  Tim Hayden, Marketing Advisor, 44Doors

10:20-10:40 am: Gamification Comes to the Travel Industry.  Introducing Ireland Town: It’s what you get when you mix Farmville and a DMOwebsite.  Is it the key to enhanced engagement?  Presenter:  Brian Harte, Head of Consumer Engagement and Marketing, Tourism Ireland (C)

10:40-11:00 am: Coffee Break

11:00 am-12:00 noon:  “eTourism Summit Idol”.  Representatives from three websites (two of which will have been recently re-launched) will strut their stuff and show the unique features of their sites, while a panel of three judges offer commentary and critique.    Judges: Troy Thompson, Principal, Sr. Tourism Consultant, Travel 2.0; Marla Johnson Norris, CEO, Aristotle, Inc.; Erin Cummings, Managing Partner, Destination Analysts

12:00 noon-12:30 pm:  Steal These Ideas (We won’t press charges).   ETS assembles the best new digital ideas designed to inspire creative thinking and, at the same time, we allow you “appropriate” them and shared with colleagues and stakeholders.

•      How to have local filmmakers create professional quality video content for next to nothing. Presenter:  Bill Karz, Director Online Marketing, LA Inc. (C)

•      Others TBA

MONTEREY ROOM (3^rd Floor)

12:30-2:00 pm: Luncheon sponsored by simpleview, Sojern, Madden Media and Miles Media

NIKKO BALLROOM (3^rd Floor)

2:00-2:45 pm: “Shine the Light”: We’ve scoured the world to find the most incomparable innovators who offer the best new products for travel marketers.   Featured Companies:

•      Backbid.com: You send them your hotel reservation confirmation and it is automatically circulated to surround properties who will try to beat the price. Uh, oh! Presenter: Chris Patridge, Founder and CEO.

•      Eventbrite At-The-Door:  An iPad Box office where small and mid- size events and festivals can sell tickets on site with all the back office functions done.  Presenter: Brianna Haag, Event Evangelist

•      YourTour.com:  An automated algorithm based tour building system for destinations.  Presenter: Emmanuel Guisset, VP Business Dev.   

•      Pitchengine:  The most social way to distribute press releases. Presenter: Jason Kintzler, Founder and CEO 

•      Awe.sm: A technology that has automated down-the-line conversation tracking of tweets and posts. Presenter: Jonathan E Cowperthwait

2:45-3:45 pm: Town Hall Session: The Top 3 Things You’ve Learned the Last Two Days With Your Peers.  With so many juicy concurrent sessions taking place at once the previous day, not to mention the Google workshop, it’s hard to cover everything that has happened.   This “town hall”-style session will allow attendees to focus on the essence of what they’ve taken away and share it with other attendees.

MONTEREY ROOM (3^rd Floor)

3:45-5:30 pm: One-on-one “Coaching” Sessions.   Attendees will be able to sign up and meet in private 15-20 minute sessions with presenters.  

eTOURISM SUMMIT OFFICIALLY ADJOURNS