Kevin May, Editor, TNooz (above), will kick off the opening Cross-Fire with Yeoh Siew Hoon, Editor, WIT

WIT Conference 2010, Oct 19 – 20, 2010
Ballroom 2, Suntec Convention Centre, Singapore

Theme: The C-Spot

Day One, Oct 19, 2010

07.30-08.45 Check In

08.45-09.00 Curtain Raiser

09.00-10.00 Hitting The C-Spot: Cross-Fire

Let’s cut to the chase and cut through the clutter. WIT opens with a panel cross-fire that’s not been attempted before so watch out for chaos.

The “Glee” team will come up with their list of customer insights that they believe will drive change in travel distribution and marketing. Each panelist comes up with three insights each and they have to convince us why theirs is the one to believe. We are looking for the Top 8 Hits.

The “Action” team will then recommend actions on what needs to be done to deliver on the Top 8 Hits you’ve chosen, and ensure the industry gets the growth it deserves.

The WIT Glee Team:
• Ram Badrinathan, General Manager-Asia Pacific & Vice President, Learning Solutions, PhoCusWright Inc.
• Morris Sim, CEO & Co-Founder, Circos Brand Karma
• Robbie Cooke, Managing Director & Group CEO, Wotif Group

The TNooz Action Team & Guests:
• Timothy Hughes, Vice President Commercial, Orbitz Worldwide and HotelClub & Blogger, BOOT – The Business of Online Travel
• Timothy O’Neil-Dunne, CTO, Lute Technologies
• Gordon Locke, Vice President, Portfolio Strategy & Chief Marketing Officer, Sabre Airline Solutions

Referee: Siva Ganeshandan, GM, APAC, Autonomy Optimost

Cheerleader for “Glee”: Yeoh Siew Hoon, Editor, WIT
Cheerleader for “Action”: Kevin May, Editor, Tnooz (pictured)

10.00-10.15 The C of Change

Joe Nguyen, Vice President-South-east Asia, ComScore loves to crunch numbers but in this session, he will give us the meaning behind the numbers as he sheds light into the changing online behaviour of 10 key Customer segments in Asia. Want to know how Baby Boomers behave versus the Millenials? Well, this is the session to listen to.

10.15-10.30 The C of Confusion: Actions speak louder than words

Is the customer always telling the truth? After all, he may be saying something but doing another. And is the customer always right? This presenation by Siva Ganeshandan, GM, APAC, Automony Optimost, which will cover case studies from travel and non-travel, will look at the truth behind customer insights, and how you cannot always believe what you hear. Plus, how do you keep up with the fickle customer and create good customers?

10.30-11.20 Branding & Marketing in the C of Change – Inside Travel

So it’s changed. So what? How will we deal with the new cloud and changes to come, as predicted by the opening panel? How will this affect the way we brand, market and sell to our customers and how we serve them in an age when everybody’s talking and sharing? A two-tiered panel will explore this subject from different perspectives.

Panel A:
• Arthur Kiong, Senior Vice President & Managing Director, Sales & Marketing, Banyan Tree Hotels & Resorts
• Kathleen Tan, Regional Head of Commercial, AirAsia
• Roshan Mendis, President, Zuji & Regional Vice President, Travelocity, Asia Pacific
• Marc Charron, Managing Director, TripAdvisor Asia Pacific

Panel B:
• Chang Chee Pey, Director, Brand Management, Singapore Tourism Board
• Nick Baker, Executive General Manager-Marketing, Tourism Australia

Moderators: Morris Sim, CEO, Circos Brand Karma & Yeoh Siew Hoon

11.20-11.50 Screen Time, followed by Coffee

11.50-12.20  The WIT Debate 1: Independents Rule, Brands Wither In The New Age of the Cloud

Watch two teams as they throw the gauntlet down for the battle of the brands versus the independents. Who has the upper hand in the new age of the Cloud? It’s your vote that counts.

For:
• Robert Hornman, Managing Director, WORLDHOTELS
• Bill Black, Co-Founder and Managing Director, Ativa Hospitality

Against
• John Northen, Area Vice President, South East Asia, Marriott International, Inc.
• Frank Trampert, EVP, Revenue Generation – Asia Pacific, Carlson Hotels Worldwide

Adjudicator: Michael Peschardt, TV Host & Presenter, BBC World

12.20-12.45 Coffee with Morten Lund, ‘Archangel’ investor, start-up ideologist and visionary

Before the WITovation Grand Final pitch, let’s meet one of the judges. Morten Lund has been called many names, among them, “Rebel with a focus” or “Neo-Classical serial entrepreneur”. He’s co-founded more than 50 high-tech start-ups, most famously Skype and online stockbroker Zecco. He was also involved in the Chinese browser, Maxthon. But it hasn’t been all success. Morten knows what it’s like to be declared a bankrupt. Today, Morten, who lives in Copenhagen with his wife and four children, is back in fighting form.

12.45-14.00 Screen time, followed by Lunch

14.00-14.40 WITovation Grand Final Pitch

Three finalists who survived the WITovation Entrepreneur Bootcamp on Oct 18 get to pitch their ideas in 5 minutes each to our panel of investors. He who dreams, dares and he who dares, wins. Audience voting encouraged but judges have final say.

Judges
• Morten Lund, Archangel investor, LundXY
• William Bao Bean, Partner, Softbank China & India Holdings
• Andrew McGlinchey, Head of Product Management, Southeast Asia, Google South East Asia
• Don Birch, Managing Director, China Opportunity Partners

14.40 Channelling The Customer: A Story In Parts

The travel planning and buying process has changed. Search is splintering, social networks are fragmenting and niche players have inserted themselves into the value chain, offering new value propositions to the customer. This series of panels will examine this process in parts – and at the end, you get to decide which part of the value chain will hold most value for the Customer.

14.40-15.20 Channelling The Customer, Part 1: Hitting The S-Spot

Search gets sexy again. Yes, really. After two years of playing second fiddle to social media, search is getting interesting again with new players entering the space, and old players changing their game. How is the traditional travel agent faring in this C of Change? And how is all this benefitting or confusing the customer?

Setting the scene & playing Moderator: Timothy Hughes, BOOT – The Business Of Online Travel

Panel A
• Martin Symes, CEO, Wego
• Matthew Varley, Executive General Manager, Online Marketing, Wotif Group
• Sajith Sivanandan, Head of Travel, Retail & Automotive, Google South East Asia
• Olivier Dombey, Chief Information Officer, Hoteltravel.com
• Wee Hee Ling, CEO, Commonwealth Tourism Holdings

15.20-15.45 Channeling The Customer, Part 1.0

And just when you thought it was safe to get back into the search waters, along come two models that have inserted themselves into the travel planning process. Both are attempting to bridge the chasm between inspiration and commerce. Will they do it better than the pure search guys?

Panel B
• Hrush Bhatt, Founder & Director, Small World, India
• Josh Steinitz, CEO, NileGuide, US

Customer Feedback: Carl Griffith, Managing Director, Declar Consulting, who gave these two sites a roadtest on behalf of WIT

15.45-16.15 Screen time, followed by Coffee

16.15-16.50 Generation Next

Just as customers are changing, mindsets too have to change within our industry and there’s a new generation of leaders emerging that are creating businesses for the next legion of customers. This panel looks at the new generation of leadets who are re-shaping the travel business.

Panellists
• Prakaeaw Na-Ranong, Managing Director, Indigo Pearl, Phuket
• Loh Lik Peng, CEO, K.M.C. Holdings, Singapore
(More speakers to be confirmed)

16.50-17.30 Cross-Fire: Facilitators Face Off With Their Customers

Let’s face it, everyone wants to go direct. It’s cheaper for all concerned – the customer and the supplier. Or is it? Is direct always best? Is indirect getting better at their game with new tools and solutions, and alternative channels emerging? What are these intermediaries doing  to offer real and differentiated value to their customers in the Business-To-Business channel? This session will look at hotel distribution, followed by air.

Dream of the Bed Chamber
Richard Wiegmann, Managing Director, Trust International
Robert Bailey, President & CEO, Abacus International
(Speakers to be confirmed)

Customer Feedback
Johan Svanstrom, Managing Director & Vice President Asia Pacific, Hotels.com
Maria Taylor, Vice President, Loyalty & Direct Sales, Asia Pacific, Accor Hospitality

Moderator: Frank Trampert, EVP, Revenue Generation – Asia Pacific, Carlson Hotels Worldwide

17.30-18.00 Hot Air Channel – Alternatives & Ancillaries
Timothy O’Neil-Dunne, CTO, Lute Technologies
Assen Vassilev, VP Strategy and Business Development & Co-Founder, Everbread & Haystack

(Speakers to be confirmed)

Customer Feedback
(To be confirmed)

18.00 A moment of spontaneous combustion, albeit planned

Followed by:
The annual WORLDHOTELS party
Buses leave from Suntec Convention Centre

Day 2, Oct 20, 2010

09.00-09.10 Curtain Raiser

09.10-09.40 Long live the romance of travel

Is the romance of travel dead? There are some who say the Web has killed it. After all, search has reduced holiday planning to algorithms and travel reviews lead us all down the same path, towards the kingdom of the bland. This panel debate will look at how technology and the personal touch can keep the fires burning in our customers’ hearts. 

• Fritz Demopoulous, CEO, Qunar.com, China 
• Luke Clark, Editor, Mandala Magazine, Ink Publishing
• Ian Wilson, Regional Vice President-Asia & General Manager, The Fairmont Singapore
• Adrian Currie, Chairman, Agoda 

Moderators: Yeoh Siew Hoon & Jens Uwe Parkitny, Managing Director, Expedia Affiliate Network, APAC

09.40-10.30 The Biggest C-Spot of All

China. China. China. Everyone’s biggest dream, yet it could be your worst nightmare if you are not prepared. How does one market to the new Chinese traveller and how does one engage with this new force that is re-shaping the Asia Pacific travel and tourism industry?

Panellists
• Kent Zhu, Group Director of Sales & Marketing, Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts
• Cui Guang Fu, CEO, Elong
• Larry Liang, General Manager-Marketing, TravelSky
• Jens Thraenhart, Managing Director, Dragon Trail
• Hao Wu, General Manager, Daodao (TripAdvisor China)

Moderator: Don Birch, Managing Partner, China Opportunity Partners

10.30-11.10 And So Arise The New Customers

New legions of travellers are emerging across Asia and the way they plan and book their travels are changing. This year, WIT turns the spotlight on Korea and Indonesia. And of course, there’s always India, one of the fastest-growing online markets in Asia.

Panellists
• Leo Choi, Director of Sales & Marketing, www.hotelnjoy.com and www.koreahotel.com, Seoul
• Adrian Hamilton-Manns, CEO, Mandala Airlines, Indonesia

11.00-11.30 Screen time, followed by Coffee

11.30-12.20 My Name is Yuki-San, I Love To Travel

Get insights into the changing Japanese customer with this panel moderated by Aya Aso, CEO & President of Agora Hospitalities, Japan, who returns to WIT for the third year running

Panellists:
Kei Shibata, President & CEO, Venture Republic, Japan
(Other speakers to be confirmed)

12.20-12.40 Behind The Scenes Of Peschardt’s Business People

Michael Peschardt, TV Host & Presenter, BBC World makes a comeback at WIT. This time round, we go behind the scenes with the roving, intrepid journalist and meet the people he’s interviewed and what they have in common as business leaders and take lessons from their life stories.

12.40-14.00 Screen time, followed by Lunch

14.00-14.45 On the Move

Finally, mobile gets on the move. But is it moving fast enough for customers in Asia? A two-tiered panel that looks at who’s executing and what are the trends in adoption, and a view from the customers – one from how mobile and other new technology has changed life on the road, one from an airline perspective and another from a corporate travel viewpoint.

Presentation: Gerry Samuels, Founder & Executive Director, MTT Technologies

Panel:
How mobile has changed my life on the road and for travellers everywhere: Brett Henry, Vice-President, Marketing, Abacus International

What an airline wants: Kathleen Tan, Regional Head of Commercial, AirAsia

What a customer wants: Georgie Farmer, Asia Travel Manager, Global Travel & Auto, Microsoft

14.45-15.30 The New Good, Bad & Ugly Customer

In the old days, a good customer was someone who didn’t bargain (too much), was loyal (almost always) and spent constantly and consistently. He was predictable, reliable and fair. But in today’s world with new channels, which bring with them new measurements, is good still good? And could ugly be turned beautiful? And come on, hasn’t loyalty gone out the window already? This session will explore the new customer conundrum. Who should you turn away at which time? Who do you want more business from? And what are the new measurements and tools available to maximize revenues, improve yields and spread that gospel, far and wide, beyond the here and now?

Panellists
• Maria Taylor, Vice President, Loyalty & Direct Sales, Asia Pacific, Accor Hospitality
• Kartikeya Tripathi, Regional Director, Hotel Distribution, Amadeus Asia Pacific
• Paul Kerr, CEO, Small Luxury Hotels of The World
• Maunik Thacker, Vice President-Revenue Optimisation, Marina Bay Sands, Singapore

Moderators: Graham Tate, Managing Director, IDeaS Asia Pacific & Yeoh Siew Hoon

15.30-16.00 Screen time, followed by Coffee

16.00-16.30 Coffee with Marc Charron, Managing Director, TripAdvisor Asia Pacific

16.30-17.15 Channeling The Customer, Part 2: Hitting the Second S-Spot

Social media stole the spotlight the past year. Will it continue to shine as the superstar of travel or is it totally over-rated and over-hyped? This session will go behind the scenes and look at what’s real and ask the crucial questions, can you monetise social media? Can you have a social media strategy?

Panellists:
• Nathan Clapton, Vice President-Partnerships, TripAdvisor
• David Doucette, Executive Director, Internet Marketing, Fairmont Raffles Hotels International
• Jerome Wise, Vice President – eCommerce, TRAVELCLICK International
• Hari Nair, Founder & CEO, Holiday IQ, India

Moderator: Morris Sim, CEO & Co-Founder, Circos Brand Karma

17.15-17.30 The Closing Debate: In the new age of the Cloud and Citizen Sharing, the Customer controls your brand, not the other way round.

For: Morris Sim, CEO, Circos Brand Karma
Against: Karthik Siva, Chairman, Global Brand Forum
Adjudicator: Michael Peschardt, TV Host & Presenter, BBC World

17.30 Closing, Conclusion, Completion

(Programme and timings correct at time of publication, subject to change)

View the full programme here.