The future of online marketing at HSMAI`s 6th Conference

The future of online marketing in the words of visionary Terry Jones, founder of Kayak and Travelocity, will be among the ‘hot ticket’ sessions at the 6th HSMAI Travel Internet Marketing Strategy Conference at the Hilton New York on Wednesday, April 19, 2006, held in conjunction with TIA’s TravelCom.

Also on the agenda is a timely keynote address on “The Internet Landscape in 2006 and Beyond” by Michael Tchong, trend analyst, Ubercool LLC, who was recently called “the most influential trendspotter in America” by London’s The Daily Telegraph.

Keynote speakers and panelists will address the “state of the Internet market landscape”. A highly interactive program of discussions on hot topics including metrics, blogs, legal issues and best practices, as well as an aggregation of trends from multiple research reports, the conference will deliver an in-depth look at what’s happening online – customers, their attitudes and behavior.

There are already 120 industry professionals registered to attend what has become one of the hottest strategy conferences in the market that has been an overwhelming success since its inception.

“We are very excited to offer such a compelling program with a distinguished group of leading Internet marketing experts and visionaries, bringing to light some global trends, topical issues and projections for the future in this ever-changing electronic landscape”, notes James Zito, director, interactive marketing & development, Affinia Hotels and The Benjamin, and co-chair of the Hotel Internet Marketing Committee. “Our goal is to have all those in attendance walk away with at least one item they can action and get positive results, whether they are beginning to venture into this exciting medium or have years of experience and best practices”, states Karmela Gaffney, director, eCommerce, Best Western International, and co-chair of the Hotel Internet Marketing Committee.

A one-of-a-kind event, the conference is targeted to individuals who are in corporate and regional positions dedicated to Internet marketing and for those that want to learn more.

The events are:

Opening keynote: “The Internet Landscape in 2006 and Beyond…”

Michael Tchong, Trend Analyst - Ubercool LLC

“The most influential trendspotter in America” – London’s The Daily Telegraph

Today’s market is inundated with “cool” fads, requiring ahead-of-the curve marketing to develop greater levels of discrimination to help sort through the noise. Throughout his career, Tchong has shown a knack for catching the latest wave, proving his uncanny ability to zero in on the most important emerging trends. His singular perspective has earned him recognition as the forward thinker of the information age.

A captivating and internationally acclaimed speaker, Tchong has shared his unique insights with groups ranging from the Aruba Tourist Authority to Washington Mutual. He has been quoted by, or appeared on, Access Hollywood, Adweek, Bloomberg TV, BusinessWeek, CNET, CNN, The New York Times, PBS, San Francisco Chronicle, The Times of London, Variety, The Wall Street Journal, and Wired.

Metrics

What is your customer doing? How are they behaving? What is the next generation of metrics going to be like? Understanding your customer behavior can increase your revenue. This session will look at consumer activity, behavior and attitudes when shopping for travel and provide unique looks at metrics from a case study approach.

Moderator: Cindy Estis-Green; Panelists: Sara Stevens, Comscore; Brent Hieggelke, Webtrends and Daniel Taras, iPerceptions

“Unclog the Blog: How to use them to help your business”

Three panelists representing the key groups governing the travel Internet blogging community – Blog Enablers (Yahoo!), Bloggers, and Community Review Sites (Trip Advisor) – will provide in-depth, provocative, interesting discussion on how you can utilize this medium now and where it’s going in the future.

“Privacy… lawsuits… taxation…regulations. Oh My!”

Sue Heilbronner, executive vice president of business development, TIG Global.

Legal issues are generally for the lawyers, but for those promoting their hotel online, there are a few issues to be aware of in order to proactively manage their online presence and brands in the crowded and fluid digital space. The session will address: legal requirements of data collection and email programs; how to stay on the right side of the search engines in terms of keyword usage in one’s hotel’s website; and uses of trademarks in paid search bidding and paid search advertising.