What are you bringing to NBTA 2010? A bowling ball? Legal counsel?
by Tony
Mike D recently released his 2010 NBTA packing guide to critical acclaim. As a complement to this fine piece of work, I’m pleased to present my own guide. While Daly and I will both be carrying on our luggage, that crazy guy will be packing his stuff, white dinner coat included, in a ratty Nike duffel that is shabbier than what you used for treks home while in college. To each his own.
- BOWLING BALL | – Some folks like to wine and dine the prospects. I prefer to take them to the alley. If I can’t find any takers to roll a few frames in Houston, I’ll just line up some drunk pinheads in the hall of the hotel – STRIKE!
- ELVIS PRESLEY 68 COMEBACK SPECIAL CD…or LADY GAGA |Both get me mentally pumped before I hit the stage to moderate a riveting panel discussion.
- LEGAL COUNSEL | It’s a bit expensive to actually have a lawyer tag along, but just in case I need to bail Daly out of a thorny situation, I always carry a card from my preferred law firm, Dewey, Cheatum, and Howe.
- MLB.COM ACCESS | The Yankees have a day game vs. the hated Red Sox on Monday the 9th. I’ll need a live feed for regular updates in between demos on the trade show floor. Now, only if I was eligible to win one of those nifty iPads.
- PIZZA PIE | Houston can’t possibly have good pizza. For any other displaced New Yorkers, come find me for a slice from Vito’s.
- HD VISION SUNGLASSES | There’s no way you want to step foot onto the NBTA exhibit floor without being able to see all the action in high definition. I have a pair and they have changed my life just like the infomercial said they would.
- BREATH FRESHENER | Dirty mouth? I always carry 2 packs of Orbit Spearmint gum. It’s smart to have fresh breath and the second pack is for my colleagues in need. This is extremely important on Day 2, and a must have on Day 3.
Now that Daly and I have shared our lists, what’s on yours? Share your must have NBTA items – either shoot us an email or add it to the comments below.
4 comments July 29, 2010
May your travel lead to profits
by Tony
I read, with some interest last week, that President Obama wants federal workers to cut down on travel.
The basis for the request was primarily to cut down on greenhouse gas emissions. Setting aside where you line up on the whole global warming debate, I found the appearance of the story to be quite timely. I say that because it was published just minutes after I finished moderating an NBTA NetsSmart series titled “The ROI of Business Travel.” During the webinar, I cited data from a report done by HIS Global Insights that incorporated 10 years worth of data and indicated that business travel has a decidedly positive impact on a company’s bottom line profits. The study suggested a company reaps $20 in incremental profit for every dollar spent on business travel.
It also describes that increases in business travel expenditures would have a massive stimulative effect on the economy, significantly growing both jobs and tax revenues.
So, for a moment I was perplexed. If business travel is good for a company and would have a massive stimulative effect on the overall economy, why would the President suggest federal employees stop traveling, particularly now when the economy could use all the help it can get?
Then, I quickly sorted it all out. Given the federal government doesn’t generate profits (it just determines how to allocate the taxes collected from individuals and corporations), the President’s request makes perfect sense.
But for the rest of you, I would ask that you continue to forge on and promote travel as the lifeblood to our economy. As to helping reduce the greenhouse gasses produced from the travel of federal employees, I suggest that the politicians should simply stop talking – that generates a ton hot air.
2 comments July 28, 2010
Daly’s essential guide to packing for NBTA: Advil, PNCS, and much more…
by Mike
Words cannot express the excitement that begins to overtake me every July. A surge in adrenaline starts pulsing through my veins. There is a noticeable skip in my step and a persistent grin on my face. Friends and family detect a glimmer in my eye that is reminiscent of a child visiting a candy store. Much like the kid in the Disney commercial, “I’m too excited to sleep.”
No, it’s not because of the MLB All Star Game. It’s certainly not because of the 95% humidity that I am forced to endure in Augusta.
The spark for my fire is that when July hits, I know that the annual NBTA convention is only a month away. You think I’m being sarcastic? Just check out the paper chain calendar I create each year – one link gets cut off every day. So, with NBTA fast approaching, I thought it would be useful for me to present you with the Mike Daly Guide to Packing for NBTA.
If you follow the list below, you are certain to have a more fruitful NBTA experience. In reality I could produce a 20-page manual, but in the interest of time, here are my top 5 tips.
- PARTY SCHEDULE | NBTA will provide you with a guide to all the exciting exhibitor locations (Rearden Commerce | booth 1673, where you can win an iPad) and riveting panels (TD’s is Monday at 10:25), but the key to success is mapping out your party schedule well before you arrive. If you don’t get the invites directly, start asking friends now for access to the best ones. For example, last year, Empire threw an awesome bash atop the Hard Rock Café. If you need some tips on where to go and be seen, shoot me an email.
- PNCS | Not all NBTAs are created equal. Since the powers that be decided to reward us with such a tropical location for this year’s event, you’d be a fool to leave your PNCS (personal neck cooling system) at home.
- BATHING SUIT | After a long day at the conference, parties and after parties, your PNCS might need a break. Make sure you bring a bathing suit to enjoy the pool at your hotel. I learned that one the hard way when I was forced to skinny dip in 2003.
- WHITE DINNER JACKET | If you are like me, you don’t like to blend into the crowd. May I suggest a white dinner jacket? You’ll be the life of the party and it’s a great conversation starter.
- ADVIL | With all the adult beverages you’ll enjoy, I strongly recommend a significant supply of Advil. Of course they sell this in Houston, but mark my words, if you don’t come prepared, you’ll feel the pain. Dr. Daly suggests that you ingest 3 Advils and a bottle of Orange Gatorade every night before you go to bed.
If you need any more tips and tricks, be sure to follow us on twitter , shoot me an email, or seek me out at NBTA. I’ll be the one in the white dinner jacket.
1 comment July 26, 2010
NBTA 2010 | Green M&M’s and panels you must see
By Mike
NBTA must be partial to New York accents. Somehow they decided to let TD take the stage again this year – they must have a large shipment of green M&M’s already on its way to Houston. This time around, he’ll be engaging an all-star panel of travel professionals from MetLife, David’s Bridal and Move that will share their playbooks for achieving stellar adoption rates. The session is titled “Stop Mandating and Become Traveler-Centric” and all of the panelists have driven higher adoption to make their lives easier and deliver significant cost savings.
And, for those that don’t know, my boss is actually a pretty funny guy. Although his jokes are repeats these classics still make us laugh. Plus he pulls off a great McLaughlin Report impersonation – jowls and all. Definitely plan to stop by and watch as Tony shakes up the travel industry. I work with the guy, but I’ll still be there to learn some new tricks from the old dog and the great panel he’s assembled.
And it doesn’t stop there. Later during the week, on Wednesday, our VP of Customer Services and Product Support, Bev Heinritz, is opening for Lance Armstrong! She will be taking the stage with Mike Malinchok of S2K Consulting to share her experience with helping companies “change from the inside out.” Bev will drop some details on how to shake up traditional management practices so organizations can effect positive change.
Check out all the details below. If you aren’t going to make it to NBTA this year, have no fear, we’ll do our best to keep you in the loop on all the excitement with regular twitter updates and blog postings.
Stop Mandating and Become Traveler-Centric
Monday, August 9
10:25 – 11:25 am
Panelists
Tom Molesky, CCTE, Director, MetLife
Heather Haley, Director, Travel & Meeting Planning, David’s Bridal Inc.
Cyndy Hayes, CTC, CCTE, Travel Coordinator & Executive Asst., Move, Inc
Moderator
Tony D’Astolfo, Vice President, Worldwide Sales, Rearden Commerce
Synopsis
Adopting a “traveler-centric” approach has a positive rippling effect – with a high level of employee satisfaction and willingness to use technology, adoption increases and cost savings are maximized. Hear from travel managers who have embraced the concept of the traveler-centric future and are enjoying huge success—without mandates.
—–
Coaching Your Organization through Change – from the Inside Out!
Wednesday, August 11
11:30 – 12:45
Presenters
Mike Malinchok, President, S2K Consulting, LLC
Bev Heinritz, Vice President, Customer Services and Product Support, Rearden Commerce
Synopsis
The key to successful change management is for leaders to connect the desired change to individual employee internal desires – but how does that occur? This session will turn traditional change management theories upside down and shake out what works, what’s missing, and what needs updating for the situations we are faced with today in corporate travel & meetings management.
1 comment July 23, 2010
Give your mobile apps the APPS treatment
by Tony
I love the forum that Carrying On provides. Previously, when I disagreed with something I read in the trades, I was forced to rant and rave to the poor schmo who was sitting next to me on the flight. Now, I have a platform to share my thoughts, and more importantly, get feedback from other industry professionals. Last week I had an excellent opportunity to engage with Jay Campbell regarding one of his stories discussing mobile travel apps. Below is an excerpt from my latest comment from our discussion, which I’d urge all the travel managers out there to read.
In a recent webinar we conducted, we found that only half of the travel managers surveyed either have a mobile program or plan to implement mobile in the next six months. Here are my thoughts as to why you best get with the program!
“If, for some reason, a company chooses not to offer a mobile app to its end users, or chooses to offer an inferior solution to them, those employees will seek out solutions on their own. This is a bad thing for the following reasons – just remember my acronym APPS and you’ll be good to go:
- Accountability | With 250,000+ apps out there, many are going to be dogs. Who is accountable if the one-off app breaks or provides your employee with bad information that results in them being stranded?
- Productivity | Back to the large selection. Do you really want your employees spending their valuable time searching 7-10 random apps when a single integrated solution can do the trick?
- Pricing | Many consumer apps, particularly the travel ones, are quite expensive. You can be certain that the company ends up paying for many of these when they hit expense reports.
- Security | There is no chance that your IT department has the resources or desire to validate the security of every consumer app that your employees may end up downloading.
I’ll close with an analogy because I like using analogies (maybe in a future posting I will tell you why life is like bowling).
I absolutely think the “rubber meets the road” with the end user, particularly with something like mobile. However, to even get on the road and operate a vehicle, you must have a license to drive, your car needs to be inspected and approved, and you need insurance in case something goes wrong. Our corporate customers sometimes serve as a sort of Department of Motor Vehicles. Sure, as a company we could drive without a license in a car with bad brakes or insurance, but we don’t mind adhering to the DMV rules because we recognize we have two masters: the company and their end users.”
3 comments July 21, 2010
OpenTravel and Open AXIS. The new Betamax and VHS?
by Mike
While channel surfing the other night I landed on the 1988 classic, Twins, starring Arnold (aka The Governator) Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito. For those who don’t remember this one, the twins were separated at birth – Arnold (Julius) grew up on an isolated island paradise and was raised by philosophers while DeVito (Vincent) fended for himself on the rough-and-tumble streets, with all the temptations of society. The result – a naïve and incredibly intellectual Adonis vs. a jaded, quick witted, small time crook.
Imagine, for a moment, that you are Julius, emerging from your protective cocoon and landing in your new career as a travel professional. Thirsty for knowledge, you check out Tnooz, and are confronted by this complex statement from a recent posting about the latest developments around a common standard for airline merchandising. “The group [Open AXIS] believes that OpenTravel has been too slow in developing its schema — a charge that OpenTravel rejects — although Open AXIS hopes to work in some fashion with OpenTravel, IATA, ATPCO and ATA.”
Wha, wha ,wha, what? Or, how about this from a recent posting in The Beat.
“Young [executive director of Open AXIS Group] suggested Open AXIS and OpenTravel might work together. OpenTravel executive director Valyn Perini said Open AXIS would be welcome to submit schema to OpenTravel. ‘If they want to do that in a formal way, we would take their submission and take it the same way we do for anyone,’ said Perini. ‘Sometimes we take it and sometimes we don’t; we have a review process and we would treat it the same way.’”
Oh Julius, this one might just be too complex to solve. Don’t blame the messengers, however, Dennis Schaal and Jay Campbell they are simply reporting the facts. In fact, I completely agree with Dennis’s initial thoughts from his posting before the Open AXIS news even launched. As he so eloquently stated, “The two groups could figure out a way to work together — but two sets of rival standards for airlines make the entire concept of a standard very problematic.”
How will this all play out? Does Betamax vs. VHS ring a bell?
Personally one area I hope to see more discussions on is how these “schemas” will apply to mobile merchandizing and transactions. After all, I can’t predict what sort of martini mood I’ll be in two weeks before my flight. Will it be a double Ketel One with a twist if I’m sitting next to a nice, cuddly gentleman who himself had to use the mobile to purchase a seatbelt extender, or an extra dirty martini if I have a more attractive seatmate.
1 comment July 20, 2010
An ad campaign doesn’t make you traveler-centric
by Tony
Last week I read a story on The Beat in which Jay Campbell insinuates that simply marketing mobile solutions directly to corporate travelers is sufficient to establish a corporate technology provider as traveler-centric. Bowling night was canceled last Tuesday, so I wasn’t waking up to the typical Wednesday morning fog. I reread the posting several times, and frankly I cannot comprehend how marketing to an end-user makes a company or its products traveler-centric. In fact, I’d argue that it’s quite telling when a company must resort to marketing to end-users when its clients are unwilling to pass along a seemingly critical product offering such as mobile. And, last I heard, the product in question is free, so I’m guessing when an economic buyer is unwilling to launch something that is supposed to benefit the end user, and that doesn’t cost the enterprise anything, there must be something else going on.
I’m going to quote Susan Steinbrink from PhocusWright who coined the term “traveler-centric” in the 2009 PhoCusWright’s U.S. Corporate Travel Distribution Fourth Edition Report. In that report she wrote:
“Traveler-centric buying recognizes the pivotal role of the Internet is selling/purchasing business travel components and services . . . [and] views business travelers to be seen as consumers and leisure travelers in order to leverage consumer applications in business travel.”
Establishing a traveler-centric program requires a fundamental shift in corporate buying practices in order to recognize the demands of the traveler and/or advancements in technology that help serve that traveler. In my opinion, travel managers have no choice but to find a balance; and need to offer an experience comparable to that in the consumer market, while simultaneously maintaining the control they need to meet all of their corporate objectives around policies and preferred suppliers. When all is said and done, only a superior end-user experience will increase employee productivity and drive adoption, especially in a non-mandated environment.
Over the years we’ve been at the forefront of educating corporate buyers on the value of adopting a traveler-centric approach. Our mobile product which launched in May 2008, was built with the end user and the enterprise in mind – we believe this is where technology should be. Today, the majority of Rearden Personal Assistant clients have embraced the mobile app and willingly promote it to their end-users because it enhances their program while providing a great user experience. These companies understand the importance of a mobile solution and simply want to offer their end-users the best possible experience, but are not willing to sacrifice anything relative to the overall management of their program, and in our opinion, they shouldn’t have to. Not all mobile apps are created equal. In fact, based on overwhelming demand, we’ve enabled our mobile application for use with other booking tools.
At the end of the day, companies can spend thousands of dollars marketing to travelers, buyers, procurement execs, whomever, but when all the chips are counted, it’s the product that is evaluated and ultimately considered “traveler-centric” . . . or not.
2 comments July 15, 2010
Do you make your travel program easy for you, or for your travelers?
by Tony
I was in London a couple of weeks back to attend the Business Travel Market, a conference and trade show for the UK and broader European corporate travel market. In the opening remarks, Jon West, HRS’s Commercial Director for the UK and Ireland, posed the following question to the audience comprised mostly of corporate travel buyers:
“Do you make your travel program easy for you, or for your travelers?”
He went on to suggest that most travel managers have historically had an enterprise-centric view, causing them to put the needs of the business before the employee. This seemed to be a fairly accurate statement that rings true in the States as well.
A few hours later, I was sitting in a pub in the middle of nowhere, enjoying a pint and a decent curry. The crowd of mostly Brits was displaying an amazing fervor as they watched Portugal and Ivory Coast play to a 0-0 tie in a first round World Cup match. How people could be that whipped up into frenzy over a game in which the two participating countries had no apparent ties to their own, and during which neither team came close to scoring a goal was beyond me. Was this really “a marvelous match, where the play has been taken to an epic level?” (Ironically, the announcer made this bold statement during a period when the players all seemed to be standing around, kicking the ball back and forth to each other without actually moving in any direction but sideways.)
After another pint I got over the irony, stopped questioning the world’s most popular sport, and began to reflect on Jon’s question from earlier in the day. “Do travel buyers make it easy for the enterprise or for the employee?” I ultimately came to the conclusion that the question was based on a false premise that the two are mutually exclusive.
Although travel buyers manage with the company being top-of-mind, there are plenty of instances where they also consider the traveler. “Duty of care”, “reasonable accommodation” (both driven by government actions), and “home based work environments” (enabled by technology, embraced by companies looking to reduce overhead) are all examples of when a manager thinks of the traveler, but for the most part are forced on the buyer versus being initiated by their own doing. This brings me back to the original premise that, for the most part, when it comes to the basics of their program (policy, preferred suppliers, technology), travel managers put the enterprise first.
In recent years, as it relates to technology, a fundamental change is taking place that allows managers to have their cake and eat it too. Why should buyers have to settle for technology that frustrates their users and ultimately impedes their ability to meet the business needs? From my perspective, the product or service should satisfy the enterprise and the end-user. Something like mobile is a good example. If you select a good application it will:
- deploy in such a way as to not run afoul of any IT department mandates around security or access protocols,
- complement your travel program by helping identify preferred suppliers and corporate policy,
- and delight the end-user starving for technology that helps them.
We have two ears so why not use them both and have one listening to your boss and the other to the people who consume your travel program. While you might not always hear what you want, you might hear something that can help you take your program to the next level, and isn’t that what it’s all about?
P.S. For those of you who were wondering, yes, my partner did indeed stay up all night voting last week for Nick Swisher of the Yankees as the last American League All Star and that’s right, Swishalicious is heading to Anaheim. Nicely Done Mike D!!
Add comment July 12, 2010
A platform will always win, part 1
by Tony
When I was a kid I was called Anthony, especially when I got into trouble. Back then, I loved going to Vito’s Pizzeria on Roosevelt Avenue near Main Street in Flushing. Tommy, who worked at Vito’s (Vito spent most his time at Aqueduct Racetrack, while Tommy ran the joint), used to make a mean pie and was very generous giving advice since he was in his early 20’s and had many worldly experiences (I’ve found that most pizza makers do).
As I hit my teens, and the girls started to take an interest in me, Tommy even admitted that I needed to branch out into a venue where I could also entertain the ladies. So I took his advice and began hitting up Adventurer’s Inn, a pseudo amusement park in my neighborhood (think Six Flags only it was one flag and even that flag was at half mast). The pizza and everything else they served was only okay, but there were rides and games and lots of ways to impress the ladies! You want to make the girls swoon in 1971, you win them a stuffed animal by tossing a ring around a coke bottle or by showing off your amazing strength by ringing the bell on the High Striker.
While I still love amusement parks and all they offer (I still take my kids to the Boardwalk at Wildwood NJ every year, my tastes have become a tad more refined over the years, and now I am much more demanding. For example, when I go to Las Vegas, I’ll only frequent a resort that offers me everything I need in one package. It’s hot in Vegas, so who wants to venture outside? Once the cab drops me at the Wynn, their gorgeous property becomes my complete entertainment and relaxation platform for the duration of my trip.
Whether you are looking for a culinary experience, an adult game of chance or the Mrs. is looking for the latest and greatest stone-seaweed-exfoliate-wrap massage and latest fashions, it’s all there. Steve Wynn doesn’t do it all himself. He is a master of mashing up best-in-class experiences from the hottest chefs, designers and club promoters around the world. However, he presents it all in a consistent experience. You can book it all through one concierge. You can charge it all to your room. In some cases, the different establishments even keep track of your preferences on a common system.
This platform concept is very similar to what we’ve built at Rearden Commerce. If you didn’t see my boss’s recent interviews in either The Beat or on Tnooz, they are worth a read. He’s drawn a clear line in the sand defining the differences between platforms and independent applications.
His argument, which is rock solid and hard to dispute, is that technology platforms generally win. Let’s take Microsoft for example. Microsoft built Windows, and on top of Windows are several interoperating applications (Word, PPT, Excel, Access, Exchange). They key here is that Microsoft built a platform on top of which ANY kind of application can function. They standardized the way we work. We draft documents in Word. We manage our financials in Excel. We present in PPT. And most importantly, all of these applications work together. Microsoft’s platform is the standard.
We’ve set the bar equally high. Our rich and consistent user-interface makes it one of the best experiences on the market today in both the business and consumer world. By bringing together a host of services (air, car, hotel, ground transportation, dining, parking, etc), applications (address book, calendar, invitations, notifications), and making them interoperate on any device (desktop or mobile), we’d like to think our platform has distinguished itself, and it is very rewarding to hear from our customers and partners that they agree. I think even an enlightened pizza guy like Tommy from Vito’s would agree.
Stay tuned for more in part 2.
2 comments June 16, 2010
Planes, Trains, Automobiles. . .and then some
by Tony
Given many that read our blog are “in the biz”, I wanted to share a recent journey with those who will hopefully appreciate it.
I was invited to speak at the Advantage Travel Centres Conference last week in Lucerne, Switzerland. Now I’m sure those of you that know me are probably thinking “this guy will go just about anywhere to hear himself talk”, which is mostly true, but in my defense, I did have some business in London and since the Conference was on the weekend, I figured I would give it a shot. Boy, am I glad I did! First off, the Advantage guys ran a top notch Conference (special thanks to Ken McLeod for taking such good care of me). Well attended, great facility, and quite frankly it would be pretty hard to screw up something held in a place as beautiful as Lucerne. If you have never been I highly recommend you add it to your list of places you want to visit.
My topic was how technology and mobile innovations will impact travel, and it seemed to strike a chord with the audience, but back to that in a bit.
I really want to share more about the journey there. Starting in Miami on Thursday afternoon at about 430pm, I took a taxi from my hotel to MIA where I boarded a 610pm departure to Boston. I had a 45-minute connection that I just did make for my flight to London which arrived at about 8am local time. There I took the airport shuttle bus from Terminal 3 to Terminal 5, for my next flight to Zurich. Upon arrival I found my way to the rail station at Zurich Airport where I then boarded a Swiss Rail train that, as advertised, was right on time for the little more than an hour’s ride through the Swiss countryside to Lucerne. I was close enough to walk from the Rail station to my hotel, and quickly showered and walked to the dock which is on the back side of the convention center, to board a paddle steam boat that cruised leisurely across the lake while we sipped wine and enjoyed the view. Once on the other side of the lake, we boarded a cog train that took us up the side of a mountain to a restaurant where we enjoyed more wine and a great dinner. The ride down the mountain was by cog train, where this time we boarded a bus that took us around the lake and into the center of town for the short walk back to the hotel. Total elapsed time 26 hours…. during which I rode on three planes, three trains, one bus, one taxi, a slew of elevators, escalators and people movers, combined as you might imaging with a fair amount of walking. The only mode of transportation I missed was a bicycle, of which there are plenty on the streets of Lucerne, and good thing they were all locked up or I would have clipped one of them and pedaled back to my hotel just to say I did.
It amazed me that I managed to come and go without incident. As someone who spends a good deal of time on the road often regaling the difficulties of travel (it is called Carrying On after all), it is only fair to share those times when everything goes as planned, and this was one of them. Heck, I didn’t even have to take my shoes off in either Heathrow or Zurich. I started contemplating why that was and just figured I should leave it alone and just enjoy it. After all that time travelling, it’s probably just as well that my shoes stayed on because I left my Odor Eaters at home. (By the way, ever sit next to someone who was the reason why they invented those things? Good God man, when was the last time you changed your socks!)
Back to the conference, my speaking gig, and the audience of mostly Brits from the agency side of the business. All in all, it was a lot of fun. I saw some old friends, met some new ones. Everyone seemed very engaged as I spun my tales of how online tools need to mirror the ease of use of the consumer websites. They appreciated my wake-up call as I ranted “if you don’t have a mobile strategy you are missing a trend that is already having a major impact on our industry and on your business”.
Hope you all had a fabulous long weekend, with hassle free travel.
PS: For those of you who track this stuff, my bowling season ended and my final average was 214. My team “Medicine” finished 26 out of 28 (and in fact there was a team that dropped out, so we really only beat out one team). In case you were wondering, we call ourselves “Medicine” because when you bowl us you will likely end the night feeling better. Next year we’re committed to doing better so if anyone has any suggestion as to a new team name, send them along 
.
Add comment June 1, 2010
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