Fast Facts about the 2014 Heartland Travel Showcase
Orientation Friday, March 7th Tour Operator Orientation: 2:30-2:55 p.m. – Exhibit Hall C
Making The Most of Heartland
Exhibitor Orientation: 2:40-2:55 p.m. – Hospitality Area
Attendance is required. Learn of additions, cancellations and other details that you will need during the event, as well as how to participate in the Four Minute Meet.
There are 5,991 available appointments. 233 suppliers are here representing the Heartland’s top destinations for group tours. Each booth has an average of 26 appointments. Heartland Travel Showcase ad campaigns ran in Bus Tours Magazine, Serendipity and Group Tour Magazine in 2013
The Power of Group Travel Bootcamp Presented By: Ohio Travel Association
Taming the Email and Info Overload Beast Presented By: American Bus Association
Thursday, March 6th, 1:00 - 5:00 p.m. Park Inn Ballroom
Friday, March 7th, 1:00 - 2:25 p.m. SeaGate Convention Centre, Room 202-208
Want to learn more about the group tour market? Join this interactive work session that will teach helpful sales techniques, share best practices and group tour trends and assist even seasoned group tour professionals take another look at their group tour marketing strategies. 1-3pm– Group Tour Selling Best Practices Diane Sphar, owner of Ohio Travel Treasures Topics will include: • Getting repeat business and expanding visits • How to follow-up with referrals • The sales process on the tradeshow floor or during a phone call, and how to make the most of a 6-minute appointment or conversation 3-4pm- Turning Conversations Into Sales After the excitement of the show or a sales call is over, how do you turn it into results. Learn about creating follow-up that gets noticed, making sure your site inspections are engaging, customizing group experiences and developing tour experiences that sell. 4-5pm– Latest Trends and Demographics This open forum offers you an opportunity to learn from others as they share their group tour success stories. We’ll talk about specific policies, share information on group trends, generations shifts and the buying cycles of tour planning professionals.
Every day, tourism professionals are buried deeper and deeper under a neverending stream of e-mail. With no system for controlling the “e-mail beast”, many people spend too much work time spinning their wheels due to receiving too much e-mail, too fast, with no system to process all of it. Learn to take control of your e-mail and information overload at Taming the E-mail Beast, led by Randy Dean, author of the Amazon bestseller of the same name. Learn proven strategies for keeping your inbox efficient and under control, get rid of all those “quick little” e-mails once and for all, and get your account under control and keep it that way! For more than 20 years, Randy Dean has been obsessed with a topic that impacts us all – effective time management. A leading expert in the fields of time management, e-mail management, and personal organization, Randy has trained people in major corporate, academic, and non-profit settings on how to be more effective. A member of the National Speakers Association, he has delivered entertaining and informative programs for Procter & Gamble, Westinghouse Corporation, Delphi Automotive, and The Ohio State University, to name a few.
Glossary of Terms Appointment Book A tour operator’s three-ring binder which can be used to store appointment schedules and destination profiles. FAM Tour Familiarization tours take place before and after Heartland Travel Showcase for tour operators who made advance reservations. Four Minute Meet Exhibitors are invited for a four minute meeting with tour operators with whom they have not already secured scheduled appointments. These four minute appointments will allow attendees to exchange business cards, briefly discuss the destination and identify opportunities for connecting later. Hospitality Area An area in the back of the marketplace floor providing seating and light refreshments during breaks.
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Open Trade Show An open window of time when tour operators can explore the trade show floor and visit with additional exhibitors with whom they do not already have appointments. 8:20 - 8:40 a.m. - Saturday, March 8th 1:10 - 1:25 p.m. - Saturday, March 8th 8:30 - 8:40 a.m. - Sunday, March 9th
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