GENERAL SESSIONS

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New Realities in Mountain Travel
General Sessions

MTS Forum 2010 is built around the emerging New Realities that are shaping the way destination mountain travel business will be done in this new decade. The Forum is constructed on a foundation of three general session presentations that are supported by 13 workshops, many of which are presented in two-part tracks. Together these represent the pistons upon which the engine of the future will be powered. From conception to post event follow-up, the Forum is designed to inform and enable those who desire to understand and own the strategies and tool set that will characterize the winners in this New Reality.

General Session I

Driving the Competition Crazy
Presenter: Guy Kawasaki, Thought Leader, Author, Innovator

Mindful of a tough buyers market, pressure on pricing and increasing competition for market share, MTS 2010 will kick off its opening keynote with Guy Kawasaki, one of the progressive thought leaders of the new millennium, and the perfect pundit to provide a blueprint for competing for customer attention, dollars and loyalty. Says Kawasaki, “In my career at Apple, I had to do battle with two magnificent enemies: IBM and Microsoft. Not that my side necessarily won, but at least I learned how to be a royal pain in the ass!” In about an hour Guy will apply his learning to today’s mountain travel market, along with the strategies to gain a differential advantage and to ethically and effectively defeat the competition, be it the cruise industry or the resort down the road.

Sponsored by:

General Session II

"Destination Travel 2010, a 360 Perspective: What You Need to Know"

Presenters:
Peter Yesawich, Chairman/CEO, Ypartnership
Philip Wolf, Founder/CEO, PhoCusWright
Jan Freitag, Vice President of Global Development, Smith Travel Research
Ralf Garrison, Founder/Owner, MTS and MTRiP

MTS is proud to present its most distinguished faculty ever, each a CEO of the travel industry’s guiding light research companies and the respective thought leaders in their disciplines. Each offers a snapshot of the key New Realities from their four points of the travel compass. Each presentation will be followed by four related workshop tracks, where their insights can be translated into strategic initiatives for the 2010-11 season and beyond. Subject tracks and presenting faculty include:

Consumerism in Travel: Implications for the New Decade. Peter Yesawich, chairman and CEO of Ypartnership, brings his insightful research and depth of industry experience to describe tomorrow’s travelers: what will matter to them—and what won’t. As the trend spotter of the “New Normal” way back in 2004, MTS 2010 is challenging Yesawich to unplug from his firm’s widely acclaimed Leisure Travel Monitor, roll up his sleeves and opine on how his “New Normal” will translate into the “New Realities” of our next decade. Related presentation to follow.

New Media. Philip Wolf, founder and CEO of the internationally renowned PhoCusWright organization, delves into the role technology plays in the New Realities that are driving the new media and the social networking phenomenon that has enveloped us. As the travel industry’s custodian of enabling technology since the dawn of the internet, there is no one better suited to help unlock the keys to the overwhelming changes that are both disrupting and enabling the forthcoming new realities. Related workshop track to follow.

Market Fundamentals – Pricing and Value in a Buyer’s Market. Jan Freitag, Vice President of Global Development at Smith Travel Research adds the hospitality dimension to the overall travel picture with a lodging-specific intensive on the paradox of pricing in a fluctuating economy. As keeper of the world’s largest lodging-based research dataset, Jan will bring his unique perspective and considerable insights to bear on the most perplexing questions facing the hospitality industry: price discovery and finding a manageable balance between two dueling values: keeping hotels full vs. keeping rates high. Related workshop track to follow.

Destination Mountain Travel 2010: Seasonal Retrospective and Prospective Outlook. Ralf Garrison, a long-time mountain travel industry market strategist and founder/owner of MTS and MTRiP, will add his micro market view of the ski industry to this illustrious group of travel research gurus. Ralf will interpret the MTRiP data to summarize the waning winter season, and then conduct the 2010 MTS Forum final workshop with a roundtable discussion that will review the Forum’s key strategic “pearls” as they relate to the strategic foundation upon which 2010-11 plans can be constructed.