Conference Programme 2016

Travel Centres Conference 2016 Mullingar Park Hotel

100% Irish!

November 11th & 12th, 2016

Table of Contents

2 Sponsor Acknowledgements 3 Programme Details 5 Awards 5 Supplier Workshop 6 Changing the Face of Travel 7 General Information 9 Advisory Board 11 Speaker profiles 15 Your Entertainment 17 Testimonials and Photos

from 2015 conference

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e couldn’t let the 100th anniversary of the 1916 ‘Rising’ pass without acknowledging it in some small way so we decided to call this year’s event ‘100% Irish’ as we celebrate various aspects of this great little country of ours and the global impact our culture has had on the world at large!

The conference theme is also appropriate because, of the three consortiums trading in Ireland, Travel Centres is the only one that is 100% Irish-owned and Irish managed — something that we are very proud of, given both our growth and success in recent years.

Last year, we picked up the ‘Top Consortia’ award from both Celebrity Cruises and MSC Cruises and are in the running for at least one award immediately following this year’s conference, so fingers crossed! Of course, such awards are as a result of the combined efforts of all our member agents so please take a collective bow and pat yourselves on the back!

The Travel Centres annual conference and supplier workshop has built up an enviable reputation within the industry as one of the best events around and with your help we plan to keep it that way for many years to come.

Always at your service

100% Irish!

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Headline Sponsor

Sponsor

Amadeus — Pre-dinner drinks reception, Saturday Evening

Celebrity — Saturday afternoon cocktail interlude/ conference bags

Ethiopian — Friday Owners/Managers Dinner Wines

Sponsor Acknowledgements* Events such as this depend on the generous sponsorship that underpins much of the content featured over the course of the two-day programme. Although all our suppliers have contributed to the central funding that covers much of the main running costs, these suppliers in particular have dug deep into their pockets in order to show their appreciation for the business that you, our members generate for them year round. It is therefore only right and fitting that we should acknowledge them here.

MSC Cruises — Saturday workshop Shebeen (pub)

Travelport — Friday Owners/Managers Lunch

*Travel Centres would also like to acknowledge the support of the following three companies: Bookabed — Chocolates in room for agent delegates, Hertz — Discounted car rental for conference weekend, Travelport — ‘Changing the face of travel’ — Agent makeovers.

The following suppliers have also donated spot prizes for the prize draw on either Saturday afternoon or the Gala Dinner: Accident & General, Aer Lingus, Blue Insurance, Crystal Holidays, Ethiopian Airlines, Flexible Autos, If Only…, Irish Ferries, Riviera Travel, Silversea, Superbreak, Westjet

All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Publisher’s Note: Whilst care has been taken in compiling the information contained in this manual, the publishers cannot accept responsibility for any errors or omissions. © Travel Centres 2016.

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Friday 11th November 08.45 — 09.30

Registration

09.30 — 10.00

Delegate welcome & year review (Aoife Suites 1 & 2)

10.00 — 11.15

Closed Session # 1*

11.15 — 11.30

Morning refreshment break

11.30 — 12.45

Closed Session # 2*

12.45 — 13.00

Market Update from Aer Lingus

13.00 — 14.00

Lunch (Restaurant) sponsored by Travelport

14.00 — 14.20

VoIP — Presentations by Welltel/Radius Technologies (Aoife Suites 1 & 2)

14.20 — 14.40

CRM — Rob Barker, Vertical Systems

14.40 — 15.25

Communication — Evolution or Revolution? — Dave Pope, Status4

15.25 — 16.10

10 Social Media Marketing Tips for Travel Agents — Michael Collins, TravelMedia.ie

16.10 — 16.30

Afternoon refreshment break

16.30 — 17.15

Behavioural Economics De-mystified! — Ann Masterson, Dublin Business School

17.15

At your Leisure

— 19.45

19.45 — 20.30

Pre-dinner drinks

20.30 — 22.30

Owners/Managers Dinner (Glora/Moyle Suite) Dinner wines sponsored by Ethiopian Airlines

*Morning sessions closed to Travel Centres members only. Afternoon presentations open to all.

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Saturday 12th November 08.45 — 09.30

Workshop registration

09.30 — 11.10

Speed-dating workshops – sessions 1 to 10 (Lir Suite)

11.10 — 11.30

Morning tea/coffee refreshment break

11.30 — 13.00

Speed-dating workshops — sessions 11 to 19 (Lir Suite)

13.00 — 14.00

Lunch (Moyle/Glora)

14.00 — 15.30

Speed-dating workshops — sessions 20 to 28 (Lir Suite)

15.30 — 15.45

Afternoon tea/coffee refreshment break

15.45 — 16.00

Celebrity Presentation

16.00 — 16.05

Business card draw for Travelport’s “Changing the Face of Travel”

16.05 — 17.05

Speed-dating workshops — sessions 29 to 34 (free format hour)

17.05 — 17.20

MSC Cruises Presentation

17.20 — 17.30

Spot Prize draw

17.30 — 19.30

At your leisure

19.30 — 20.30

Pre-hooley drinks reception (Courtyard) sponsored by Amadeus

20.30 — 22.30

The Big Hooley with stand-up

22.30 — 23.00

Charity raffle and 2016 awards

23.00 — 01.00

Dancing to The Pearly Whites Showband

01.00 — ???

DJ

Table Plans for Gala Dinner Blank table plans for the Gala Dinner will be displayed on notice boards in the main function room throughout the day on Saturday. Please fill in your name on one of these table plans no later than 15.45 as the completed or partially completed table plans will be collected at 16.00. If your agency has four or more staff attending, a table plan with your name details will already have been pre-populated.

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Awards We decided to remove one of the award categories that was featured last year (Best Office Design/Layout) as a subsequent audit revealed that a number of our members had not been visited by a supplier in 2015 which, of course, put a question mark over the fairness of the voting process. This year, there will be six separate award categories for agents, four of which (Long Haul, Cruise, Dynamic Packaging and Agent of the Year) differentiate between large and small agents in the interests of balance whilst the remaining categories of ‘Best Use of Social Media’ and ‘Best Website’ remain unchanged. The final award acknowledges our ‘Supplier of the Year’.

Supplier Workshop As with previous years, Saturdays’ supplier workshop operates on the ‘speed-dating’ principle whereby all the supplier tables will be arranged in alphabetical sequence around the room and divided into four parallel rows, numbered sequentially: 1, 2, 3 and so on. There will be two morning and two afternoon sessions, each of which will be divided into 10-minute segments. When each segment gets to the 8-minute mark, an announcement will be made via the Public Address system to the effect that there are just two minutes ‘wrap-up’ time left on the clock. This affords each supplier/exhibitor sufficient time to wrap up their presentation and get agent participants to fill in the answer to that suppliers’ relevant question on their ‘passport’/questionnaire. A countdown clock will also be displayed on the main screen up on stage 5

to help you monitor your timekeeping with each supplier. When the 10 minutes are up, all agent participants are expected to move on to the next numbered table in the sequence — e.g., if you are sitting at table 11, you then move on to table 12. If you are at table 40 and that is the highest numbered table in the room, then the table that you move to is table 1 and so on.

You are not allowed to move from table to table in a haphazard or non-sequential manner as this creates problems for other suppliers and other agent participants throughout the day and thus diminishes the effectiveness of the speed-dating process. Each agent delegate is provided with a facsimile of a ‘passport-like’ document when they register. Each ‘passport’ contains the following information: 1 A brief set of notes/rules on how to participate throughout the day at the supplier workshop. Please read these rules/briefing notes carefully as any agents found to be in breach of them throughout the day will be excluded from the prize-draw.

2 An alphabetical listing of each supplier who is in attendance at the workshop reflecting a similar alphabetical placement throughout the room, together with a brief description of what they do (handy for suppliers that you are unfamiliar with or who you do not currently do business with) 3 A question based on the content of the presentation delivered to you during your 10-minute ‘date’ with that supplier, together with a space to insert your answer.

4 A place reserved for that suppliers ‘visa’ sticker, as proof that you visited that supplier. Each ‘passport’ document must contain not less than 28 ‘visa’ stickers out of as possible maximum of 34.

Because there are more suppliers/exhibitors than there are sessions, no one can possibly see all suppliers. For this reason, staff attending from each agency should not sit together at each supplier table. You need to split up in order to cover all the suppliers present, between you — e.g. if person 1 sits down at table 5, then the second staff member should be at least 10-15 numbers away, e.g., table 20. All ‘passports’ are collected at some stage during the last hour of the speed-dating sessions in the afternoon (i.e. between 4.00 p.m. and 5.00 p.m.) and an announcement to that effect will be made from the main stage.

These completed ‘passports’ are used to select winners for several of the prizes given away at the end of Saturday afternoon. ‘Passports’ will only be considered valid if they contain ‘visas’ for not less than 28 suppliers — six less than the possible maximum of 34 ‘visas’. Because of the time constraints being imposed as a result of the awards section during the evening, the lucky winners of the prize draw will be selected under strict supervision (two supplier witnesses) and announced immediately at the end of the supplier workshop. Prize-winner’s names will be announced and shown on screen, along with a list of the prizes on offer and who they have been donated by. As each prize-winners name is announced, they will be invited to approach the stage and choose their prize from a selection of sealed envelopes — thus accentuating the level of surprise upon opening and also making the distribution of the more valuable prizes more random and thus fairer!

Changing the Face of Travel ‘make-over’ prize One of the most innovative additions to the Travel Centres conference weekend in recent years has been the introduction of Travelport’s ‘Changing the Face of Travel’ business card draw where four lucky winners are selected at random to have a complete makeover done by a professional makeup artist. Aside from the obvious benefit to each of the recipients, the purpose of this conference feature is to reiterate the significant role that Travelport play in literally changing the face of travel in Ireland due to their industry-leading role in empowering travel agents through the functionality of their GDS platform and other complementary and innovative technologies.

Anyone interested in getting their make-up done by a professional make-up artist should ensure that they hand in their business cards to Joanne Madden from Travelport who will be in circulation throughout the day, during the course of the speed dating. Travelport will pick 4 winners at random at 4pm to get made up for the night ahead by make-up artist par excellence, Lisa Gibson. You need to be in the room when your name is called out as otherwise, we will move on and select another business card!

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GENERAL INFORMATION Check in Please note that check in at the hotel is not before 12.00 noon so if you are arriving on Saturday, please proceed directly to registration and either leave your luggage in the car (if using own transport) or leave in the care of the porter (if arriving via public transport). All luggage will be kept in a secure location until such time as you are in a position to check-in later — i.e. after 5.30 p.m. when the supplier workshop finishes.

Punctuality As we are working to extremely tight schedules, it is important that every delegate observes the times allocated for each event throughout the conference weekend — e.g. tea/coffee breaks; workshop segments, presentations, lunches etc. This will ensure the smooth running of the event and a better overall conference experience for all concerned.

Closed Forum Please note that the morning sessions on Friday are ‘closed’ to nonmembers, trade press and suppliers but you are welcome to attend any of the presentations on Friday afternoon.

Remembering your table number Anytime we break for refreshments or lunch over the course of both days, we recommend that you leave your conference bag containing 7

all your paperwork, notes and giveaways on the seat that you have been occupying and just remember the number of your table so that when the workshop resumes after each break, you can collect your belongings and move to the next numbered table in the room.

Remembering your table name immediately before each break will help us streamline our proceedings throughout both days.

Interim Presentations Because of the fast pace of the individual speed-dating sessions, we have scheduled a number of presentations (two in the afternoon) to help punctuate the day and allow suppliers (particularly those working on their own) to take additional rest breaks. Each presentation will be made from the stage area; be a maximum of 10 minutes in duration and will take place immediately after the afternoon refreshment break and before the prize draw at the end of the afternoon. Please observe the maximum duration of 20 minutes assigned to each tea/coffee break in order to ensure that all presentations start on time.

Charity Fundraiser Five years ago, a group of high profile travel professionals comprising Ciaran Mulligan (Blue Insurance), Dave Walsh (Etihad Airlines), Yvonne Muldoon (Aer Lingus), Sinead Reilly (Travelport), Philip Airey (Sunway) and Lorraine Quinn (Royal Caribbean) organised an amazing family event called Travel Funday (www.travelfunday.ie). On August 28th this year, the annual family outing which was hosted at Wanderers Rugby football club in Dublin raised an amazing ¤55,200 for the various

nominated charities so Travel Centres wants to play its part in raising as much money as possible for these deserving causes. On each banquet table at the Gala Dinner, you will find an envelope containing a book of raffle tickets. Guests are encouraged to purchase a sheet of 5 tickets for ¤20 (or multiples thereof) by detaching any sheet(s) and depositing the relevant amount back in the envelope along with the book containing the counterfoils. Don’t forget to clearly write out your name and telephone number on the back of the counterfoils that you put back into the envelope. These counterfoils will be entered into a draw for four limited edition framed prints donated by Travel Centres, along with some other amazing prizes. One person at each table should assume responsibility for collecting payments from each of the other guests at that table before returning the envelope containing the book of counterfoils and monies to a Travel Centres staff member or one of the advisory board (see which agents are members of the advisory board, further on in this programme). Details of the total sum collected will be publicly announced immediately after the Awards, together with ticket number(s). Don’t forget to bring cash with you!

Welcome packs Each delegate staying at the conference hotel will find a welcome pack in their room which will provide them with details of the various leisure options and local attractions that are available to spouses/partners who are not participating in any of the business sessions over the weekend.

Suggestions A lot of thought and planning goes into arranging each year’s conference but we’re always receptive to new suggestions as to how we can improve on the delegate experience and make the content of these weekends more relevant to your business. Ideas on a postcard please.

(Better still, just email them!)

Testimonials Some of your colleagues will be absent from this year’s event and for a variety of reasons. If you enjoy yourself this weekend, then we’d like to hear from you so we can share your comments/observations with those who perhaps take a little bit more convincing that such events are both relevant and worthwhile.

Conference Hashtag# Help us promote this year’s conference through social media by tweeting your comments and observations to the Twitterverse at large by using the following designated hashtag #travelcconf. Our colleagues at TravelMedia.ie will be monitoring all communications and the best tweet or Facebook posting will receive a nice prize, courtesy of Travel Centres!

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ADVISORY BOARD

T

he advisory board comprises seven member agents who, between them, represent the interests of the general membership and who, in conjunction with the management team, define the policies and supplier preferences of the group.

The board positions are voluntary so board members donate freely of their time and expertise throughout the year in order to help drive the collective agenda of members.

The board meets periodically throughout the year. The advisory board currently consists of the following members: Carolyn Davis, Liberty Travel, Letterkenny In 2002 and with over thirty years experience working in the travel and hospitality sectors in the UK, Cyprus and Ireland, Carolyn established Liberty Travel in Letterkenny. The agency has since grown in size and reputation to become Donegal’s leading travel agency. Her team of six staff has vast experience and love to travel themselves, bringing a wealth of knowledge to the client. Carolyn has embraced digital marketing and social media and identifies this as an important strategy for the way forward. Carolyn is the ‘Travel Section Expert’ for Highland Radio, Irelands leading independent radio station.

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Maria Dilworth, Blackpool Travel, Cork Maria has been involved in the travel industry since 1976 and opened the doors of Blackpool Travel in 2000. After many years of living and breathing travel Maria took a sabbatical from the industry and earned her BCL Law Degree from UCC and practised as a solicitor specialising in Employment Law. Maria made a return to the travel industry in recent years and favours America and Spain as her holiday destinations!

Linda McNamara, Ace Travel, Newcastle West Linda opened Ace Travel 17 years ago to service clients in the West Limerick area and has grown over the years to become one of the top agents in the Munster area. Ace Travel has won several awards over the years and has a fantastic staff which offers professional and friendly service thus retaining clients year in and year out. Linda enjoys travelling and has undertaken some excellent trips all over the world. She also enjoys a good game of hurling whether at local level or the All Ireland finals.

Declan O’Connell, Lee Travel, Cork Declan has been in the Travel Industry since 1975.

Based in Cork City with offices in Midleton, Youghal and Ballincollig, Lee Travel now employs 26 people.

Declan is a former board member of the ITAA and strongly believes in the future of the travel agent.

He enjoys travelling very much and has recently clocked up his 60th country with a few more to go.

Michael Geraghty, Cavan Travel, Cavan Cavan Travel was established in February 1988 by Michael and his wife Margaret, so he will be celebrating 28 years in business in 2015! His second office — Virginia Travel, was subsequently opened in November 2011 – great timing! Michael now employs seven staff between the two offices. Michael has been involved with Travel Centres since its inception. Italy is Michael’s favourite holiday destination.

Tom Britton, Marble City Travel, Kilkenny Tom started in the travel industry in 1995. He is managing director of Marble City Travel, Kilkenny.

Since 2010 Marble City Travel has increased its staffing from 3 to 10 with continued growth into 2016 planned. Marble City Travel have been the recipient of several award categories in recent years at the annual Travel Centres conference and Tom describes himself as a ‘cruise anorak’, having completed over 20 cruises in recent years

Michael Bowe, Bowe Travel, Thurles Michael Bowe Jnr. is the 4th Generation of the Bowe family to run Bowe Travel. First established in 1906

by Michael’s great- grandfather — it has continued to thrive down through the intervening decades and is based in Thurles, Co. Tipperary. Michael was reared in the travel industry and like the rest of us, loves to travel!

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SPEAKERS Ann Masterson — Dublin Business School Presentation: Behavioral Economics — De-mystified!

Ann Masterson (BSc, MSc, PGCTTL, PhD candidate, FHEA, MSPS), Senior Lecturer & Programme Director of Masters Programmes in Dublin Business School (DBS). Award winning undergraduate and post graduate scholar with a 1st class honours Masters in Management.

Ann is a dynamic and enthusiastic educator who is currently pursuing her PhD studies. She is a fellow of the Higher Education Academy and a member of the strategic planning society. She has many years’ experience in delivering a variety of programmes both in Ireland and abroad. Not only does Ann have academic merit, she also has vast practical experience in the area of sales management. She previously worked for many years within the hospitality sector both here and abroad. Her experience ranges from independently owned small hotels to international hotel groups so Ann recognizes the unique challenges faced by organizations and people within the tourism, travel and hospitality sectors.

Email: a_masterson@hotmail.com

Dave Pope — Status4 Presentation: Communication — Evolution or Revolution Dave Pope from Status4 has over 26 years’ experience in the UK Travel Industry working with such household names as Travelbag, Airtours and Quest Travel before starting his own travel industry consultancy business in 2002. Over the past 14 years he has designed and delivered a diverse range of performance improvement programmes for some of the UK’s leading travel companies including Abercrombie & Kent, Travel2 and Air New Zealand. He has also worked outside the travel industry on projects for HSBC in Manila; co-hosted a comedy workshop for Microsoft and is a voluntary mentor for the Princes Trust.

Status 4 specialise in improving the sales performance of companies in the travel and leisure industry by working with front line consultants and managers to create a consistent and effective customer journey.

Companies see the benefit of this strategy by focusing on the core areas of conversion, profitability and repeat business. Status4 are actively looking to work with new companies in 2017 whilst at the same time growing their consultancy team and introducing a cloud based learning management system to create a global learning community. www.status4.global

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Michael Collins — TravelMedia.ie 10 Social Media Marketing Tips for Travel Agents Michael Collins started out in the travel industry as a travel journalist, publisher and editor, with Backpacker, Abroad and Irish Business Traveller magazines. During this time he was a regular commentator and contributor on all things travel in print and on radio and television. He founded TravelMedia.ie in 2006, representing airlines, tour operators, tourist boards and hotel companies, amongst others.

Other Presentations: Aer Lingus Welltel Radius Vertical Systems Celebrity Cruises MSC Cruises

Jenny Rafter / Ivan Beacom Declan Kennedy Sean Dowling Rob Barker Lorraine Quinn Rebecca Kelly

More recently TravelMedia.ie has grown to encompass everything from travel PR, events, awards, road shows, trade representation, SEO, social media, media buying, blogging and content marketing. TravelMedia.ie is based in Dublin but works in the UK and Irish markets representing clients all over the globe. TravelMedia.ie work closely with TBEX, the largest conference and community of travel bloggers and writers in the world. TravelMedia.ie are media partners for TBEX Europe each autumn.

TravelMedia.ie

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YOUR ENTERTAINMENT

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he Pearly Whites are Ireland’s most professional, experienced and entertaining pop/swing showband. The band has carefully tailored a unique show, different to that of any other band on the Irish scene. Consisting of a thumping rhythm section, four explosive brass players, topped off with smooth but powerful male and female vocals, the band pride themselves on delivering a high energy performance while also adding that extra touch of class.

The Pearly Whites have built up an eclectic repertoire that incorporates a wide variety of music catering for audiences of all ages. Their meticulously designed set list, combined with their infectious performances, means that they can guarantee to have you on the dance floor, smiling all night long.

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“...four explosive brass players, topped off with smooth but powerful male and female vocals,’’

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Travel Funday 15

J

ust to thank you guys for an amazing weekend and especially Saturday night as it was off the charts!!! Beyond brilliant and really enjoyed it. Really can’t express how much we all enjoyed it.

W

hat a fantastic success. Quite honestly, the best and most enjoyable travel trade workshop and conference in Ireland.

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Y

ou most definitely arrange one of the best conferences I have been too.’

C

ongrats to you on an excellently run weekend. We definitely found the workshop of great benefit and got to catch up with a lot of the agents we hadn’t seen in a while.

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I

have to say huge congratulations to you and Bernie for a wonderful event. It was excellent and a lot of fun. Thank you again and we look forward to next year!

W

hat a brilliant weekend. I am one very tired lady today! Well done to Dominic, Bernie and Jocelyn on a FANTASTIC conference.

My poor feet are still in pain as a result of the endless dancing on Saturday night to The Monster Hits (who were unreal!!)

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100% Irish!

#travelcconf