The weather should be superb this time of year and I am looking forward to my return to Lanjia Lodge (pictured), which sits atop a cliff overlooking the Mekong River and has views of the three countries that make up the Golden Triangle.
I will watch birds, take walks, cross rivers and eat home-cooked meals prepared by the Hmong villagers who look after the lodge for Asian Oasis.
Maybe I will even learn a Hmong dance and play a Hmong instrument … or bring my new ukulele along and have a jam session with the Hmongs who are natural, gifted musicians.
It’s nice to dream.
For now though, we are busy putting the final touches to the WIT Conference which will kick off with the Bootcamp on Oct 17.
Last evening, we confirmed Greg Webb, president of Sabre Travel Network, as a speaker – very exciting. He will open Oct 19, Day 2, with a conversation with me on The Leadership Groove.
As with hotels and dynamic pricing, conferences these days have dynamic content too and we are constantly having to move things around to accommodate last minute requests and brainwaves.
Our debates are shaping up well, our moderated sessions are being whipped into shape by our moderators and our speakers are working hard to deliver presentations that will be original and insightful.
This year, we are also trying out a new mobile-optimised site for our conference – www.eventmobi.com/wit2011. It allows you to add/edit your own profile for both speakers and attendees and will enable you to take notes within sessions and give us instant feedback on the sessions.
To help you with data roaming charges, Bridge Alliance is giving us 2-day free SIM cards – so please bring an extra smartphone along. I am sure all of us have more than one device these days – I don’t wish to boast but when I travel, I feel like a hyper-connected camel these days.
The fun thing about doing a conference like WIT is feeling everyone get into the groove of things and we are getting some outrageous requests from speakers, exhibitors, sponsors – well, we aim to please so don’t be surprised by what you will see, touch and feel at WIT this year.
At the heart of WIT is serious, highly curated content but delivered in an engaging and different kind of format. We are entering an exciting and dynamic time in the online travel space in Asia Pacific. Companies in Europe and the US are looking to Asia for new opportunities – we are seeing more delegates from these markets versus previous years’.
The size of our markets, the hunger of our people to travel and to consume new gadgets, the increase in activity and supply among airlines, hotels and other travel-related suppliers which is fuelling new demand – all these factors point to great opportunities for those smart enough to get in and do it right.
What this means of course is increased competition and established players will have to fight hard to hold onto their share. In the last months, we’ve seen more online travel players set up in Asia. Investors have also been sniffing around “for the next big thing”.
We’ve got 3 full days ahead of exciting content – Bootcamp is packed with stories of innovation and entrepreneurship, and we will see start-ups pitch their idea to our judges for the Grooviest Start-Up prize.
At the WIT Conference, expect heated debates around the subject of deals – consumers love them, hoteliers hate them, what are we going to do about them? AirAsia telling MakeMyTrip to remove its inventory from its site due to its partnership with Expedia – that should get a few people talking. Hotels + OTAs – a love-hate partnership that needs to be reconciled. Mobile and the battle for control of the customer. And more …
Amid all these, we will also find time to celebrate – we will announce the winners of our inaugural WITovation Awards and it’s been a great experience doing this. We wanted to do this by nomination and peer judging and we have some great winners to showcase. And finally, we will celebrate Sugoi Japan.
See you Oct 17, can’t wait.
