Educational Sessions

ACTE's primary focus for all of its events is education. The 2009 Global Education Conference will offer attendees the opportunity to learn about the latest trends, standards, challenges, and opportunities in the business travel industry.

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Monday, 26 October 2009, 10.45 - 11.45

M101 Growth Opportunities for the Role of Travel Manager

The recent economic downturn has offered many travel managers the opportunity to elevate their visibility and be viewed as key management team members in the corporation.  But some travel managers had already gained their place on the corporation’s strategic team by finding and securing opportunities that were aligned with travel and expanded their portfolio.  More recently, many of the opportunities for increased responsibility have been presented through the introduction of communication tools to the corporation.  This session will offer insights on using the current financial climate to improve your strategic value to the corporation and examine:

  • Making the case for additional responsibility
  • Partnering with IT for growth opportunities
  • Maintaining your position on the strategic team 

Presenters:

Julia Heesterman, European Head of Travel Services, Microsoft
Mick Lee, Managing Director, Global Travel Department, Citigroup

Compliments of:

 

M102 The Changing Landscape of the Payments Industry

The payment industry is in a continuous and substantive transformation. While some markets are still evolving, more mature markets are being redefined by regulation, the entrance of alternative payment providers and expected revolutionary changes regarding the allocation of cost and power in the payment value chain. In this session attendees will learn:

  • Real impact of the changes that transform the travel payment industry
  • Truth about emerging new solutions - from commodity to value-add
  • Business consequences and tactics for Corporate Travel Managers and Buyers

Moderator:

Christophe Renard, Vice President, Corporate Marketing & Business Intelligence, Carlson Wagonlit Travel

Presenters:

Ulf Geismar, Director, Edgar, Dunn & Company
Volker Huber, Senior Vice President, Global Sales & Solutions, AirPlus International
Richard Veenstra, Travel Manager, Tommy Hilfiger Europe B.V.

Compliments of:

 

M103 Agree to Disagree? Contrasting Views on Best Practices in Managed Business Travel

Many travel managers are responding to the current environment by shifting to mandated policies and alternatives to business travel. Google’s unique approach to travel management involves flexible booking options and a ‘route cap’ system that reimburses employees for cost savings. Join this session to hear differing points of view and decide which strategies are the best fit for your travel program.

Moderator:

Christoph Pingard, Senior Vice President, Egencia Europe

Presenters:

Christoph Carnier, Director Mobility Management & Corporate Porcurement, Merck
Michael Tangney, Travel Category Manager, Google

 

M104 Is It The Perfect Storm for the Marriage of Meetings & Travel?

Corporate belt-tightening is looking for the next notch and many companies are reducing costs and redundancies by combining transient travel and meetings under the same organizational control.  This session will examine successful marriages of two significant spend areas as well as why some companies choose to keep them separate.  Discover:

  • Why companies pursue different strategies
  • Compelling business case for combining/not combining these two areas
  • What are the bottom-line results?

Moderator:

Carolyn Pund, Senior Global Meetings & Events Manager, Cisco Systems

Presenters:

Richard Darley, European Travel, MICE and Fleet Manager, Eli Lilly
Michael Flueck, Global Travel Manager, Global Supply Chain Management, ABB - Asea Brown Boveri Ltd.

Compliments of:

 

M105 The Macro-Economic Forecast for ASPAC

How will the fallout from the global financial turndown affect ASPAC?  Will the financial upheaval be a game changer that will irreparably stunt the region’s meteoric growth?  Explore the future macro-view of ASPAC from the perspectives of key stakeholders in the region’s business travel industry.

 

Presenter:

Mike Bezer, Vice President, Global Sales - Asia Pacific, Carlson Wagonlit Travel
Tony O'Connor, Managing Director, Butler Caroye

Compliments of:

 

M106 Supply Management Strategies for the Travel Manager

Travel managers are increasingly becoming part of the procurement function, demanding greater understanding of strategic sourcing challenges and best practices in travel supply chain management. This session will highlight key procurement responsibilities for travel managers:

  • In-sourcing, co-sourcing and outsourcing opportunities
  • Contracting versus spot-buying alternatives
  • The value of alliances and partnerships

Moderator:

Huub Smeets, President, Simacon

Presenter:

Alisa Bornstein, Head of Procurement: Benelux, Nordics & Baltic's Travel Category Lead EMEA,LATAM, US & APAC, British Telecom (BT )
Estelle Carucci, Group Purchasing, Strategic Sourcing Director, General Services, LaFarge
Michael Hall, Manager Global Services, Johnson Controls

Compliments of:

Monday, 26 October 2009, 12.00 - 13.00

M201 The Impact of High Speed Rail – Convenience, Comfort and Cost

Impending changes to the European rail landscape will have far-reaching effects – not only in Europe, but throughout the world. This session will discuss:

  • Deregulation of the rail markets and what it means for your travel program
  • Infrastructure development and where it is planned
  • Legislation to display rail segments alongside air on GDS

Moderator:
Ian Epps, Director of Patnership Relations, ITP - International Travel Partnership

Presenter:

Arnaud Cam, Travel Manager Siemens France, Responsable Achat
Beatrice Paques, Chief Commercial Officer, Thalys International
Adrian Watts, Director of Sales and Distribution, The Trainline

Compliments of:

 

M202 Crisis Management Plan for All Seasons

How prepared are you?  Responsible corporations must ensure their crisis management and business continuity plans are comprehensive and up to date. And corporate travel managers are a critical member of the team. This session will cover:

  • Essential considerations for business travelers and travel management programs
  • Organizational structure and decision-making hierarchies
  • Contingency planning, program reviews, and testing

Moderator:

Robin Ranken, Director - Airline Sales and Marketing EMEA, Travelport

Presenters:

Carsten Czub, Fleet Coordinator, GEA Group Aktiengesellschaft
Georgie Farmer, Asia Travel Manager, Microsoft
Peter Neuhoff, Chief Security Officer (CSO), GEA Group Aktiengesellschaft

Compliments of:

 

M203 Pulling Levers to Finding Savings

This session will take a look at how travel managers of mature travel programs are continuing to find new ways to reduce trip costs by exercising greater demand management, achieving higher preferred vendor compliance rates, and implementing more frequent audits. This interactive session will highlight two corporate case studies. Travel managers will describe the strategies employed by their companies during subsequent cost cutting measures and the results of their efforts.

Moderator:

Ljubomir Kalabic, Manager, Supplier Relations - Global Travel Management, Daimler AG

Presenters:

Jerome Drevon-Barreaux, Global Travel Manager, Capgemini
Volker Huber, Senior Vice President, Global Sales & Solutions, AirPlus International
Tracey Williamson, Pricipal Category Manager, Vodafone Procurement Company S.a.r.L

Compliments of:

 

M204 Trapping MICE Data

Implementation of strategic meetings programs resulted in an initial round of savings. Now, where does the SMM leader find new opportunities to stretch euros as the program matures?  The answer is in the capture and analysis of meeting spend data. This session will focus on:

  • Identifying the “low hanging fruit” for savings in a mature SMM programme
  • Evaluating third party performance
  • Looking for unmanaged spend

Moderator:

Kate Harris, Director, Strategic Meetings Management - EMEA, American Express

Presenters:

Ian Flint, Managing Director, Inform Logistics Limited
Kevin Iwamoto, Vice President, Enterprise Strategy, StarCite
Carolyn Pund, Senior Global Meetings & Events Manager, Cisco Systems

Compliments of:

 

M205 Room for Savings: Optimizing Hotel Spend

Recent comprehensive research on hotel spend--an often underestimated and undermanaged expenditure — has found that best practice adoption can provide savings of 20% in this spend category.  The study also found evidence that debunks some well-established perceptions about hotel costs and pricing:

  • Hotel spend represents nearly 40% of the total travel budget on average, considerably more than is generally thought
  • Contrary to popular belief, travelers consider a hotel’s practical features, such as proximity to business locations, more important than comfort
  • Dismissed by many travel managers, dynamic pricing agreements can nonetheless out-perform the market when managed properly
  • Learn best practices and new benchmarks for a hotel program strategy through fact-based discussion in this session.

Moderator:

Christophe Renard, Vice President Business Intelligence, Carlson Wagonlit Travel

Presenters:

Nick Grandvoinet, Vice President Sales, EMEA, IHG
Joakim Grude, Senior Consultant, Travel Management, StatoilHydro ASA
Francoise Negre, Global Travel Manager, BNP Paribas

Compliments of:

 

 

M206 Are There Savings in Unmanaged Direct Travel Costs?

Many travel managers are analyzing ‘total cost of trip’ metrics to identify potential savings from direct travel costs that have traditionally been unmanaged (e.g. car services, parking fees, meals, etc.) as well as more recent small fees associated with vendor “unbundling”. When is it worthwhile to create programs to control costs within these spend categories? How much can be saved by managing and reporting? What are the thresholds that make sense for your organization? Attend this session to gain answers

Moderator:

Matt Bray, Business Development Manager - Travel, EMEA, Concur

Presenter:

Geoff Allwright, Travel & Expenses Manager, EADS
Mark Rumley, Program Director, Eli Lilly and Company
Ellen Trotochaud, Senior Director Analytics - Travel Vendor Services, Concur Technologies
Rick K. Wakida, Global Travel Manager, BlueCoat Systems, Inc.

Compliments of:

 

Tuesday, 27 October 2009, 10.15 – 11.15

Becoming a Global Change Agent – Real-world Scenarios

Leading change has never been easy, and the challenges presented by unfamiliar environments within emerging markets require even greater change management competencies. Building on the preceding keynote presentation, the roundtable sessions will challenge attendees to use change management tactics to resolve specific real-world scenarios. Participants will work in small groups to identify barriers to change and examine the levers that can be used to effectively implement a new system or process in a culturally diverse environment.

Choose from one of the following Emerging Markets:

  • China
  • India
  • Middle East
  • Eastern Europe & Russia
  • Latin America
  • Africa

Compliments of:

Tuesday, 27 October 2009, 13.30 – 15.45

BTN’s Annual European Corporate 100 Benchmarking Summit

By Invitation Only

BTN Editor-in-Chief David Meyer will facilitate this off-the-record session for travel buyers from companies with the largest European airline spend who participate in the pre-conference benchmarking exercise.  

Tuesday, 27 October 2009, 14.45 – 15.45

T201 10 Cost-Cutting Measures for Sustainable Business Travel

Companies are still committed to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), although many are prioritizing cost-saving over supporting sustainable business travel. If your senior leadership understands sustainability, then travel management will be the focus. This session will examine the intersection of sustainable travel programs and realistic cost savings available in the current environment.

  • 10 sustainability initiatives you can start today that will lead to bottom line savings
  • Tools for calculating your carbon footprint, and who is using them
  • Carbon budgets versus cost drivers - a shifting mindset?

Presenters:

Laura Maanavilja, Communications Manager, CSR Europe
Soeren Schoedt, Managing Director, Travelpool Europe
Stephanie Smook, Travel Manager, Nike EMEA

Compliments of:

 

T202 Why Web 2.0 Technologies Should be Part of Your Travel Programme

Web 2.0 technologies - including blogs, social networks, user forums, and wikis – can be important communication vehicles for travel managers who interact with an increasingly tech-savvy traveler base. These formats, which incorporate the ‘voice of the traveler,’ provide invaluable, timely feedback about policy changes, preferred vendors, and organizational procedures. Travel departments using these technologies report easier transitions and streamlined processes. This session will demonstrate first-hand examples of the value Web 2.0 technologies bring to the travel programme, travel vendors, and the travelers themselves.

Presenters:

Rob Leslie, Technology Manager, Global Travel Meetings & Events, Cisco Systems
Florian Tinnus, Global Account Manager, Corporate & Distribution Channels, Amadeus IT Group SA

Compliments of:

 

T203 ASPAC: Update on Travel Technology Usage in China

Small but incremental steps are in place to transitioning the business travel landscape in China from one largely dependent on low cost labor to one in which self-booking tools are slowly gaining traction.  This session will focus on:

  • What’s fueling the change
  • Scope and adoption of self-booking tools
  • Can adoption of other travel technology be far behind?

Moderator:

Pascal Struyve, Global Travel, Fleet and Meeting Services Director, Ingersoll Rand Enterprise Services

Presenter:

Mike Bezer, Vice President, Global Sales - Asia Pacific, Carlson Wagonlit Travel
Georgie Farmer, Asia Travel Manager, Microsoft
Yves Galimidi, Global Travel Purchaser, IKEA

Compliments of:

 

T204 Keys to Successful Presentations

Time is money--that comparison has never been more true than it is today. With fewer staff and more responsibilities, the workplace is an unforgiving environment for unimpressive and dull presentations. So, it is more important than ever that presentations made to potential customers or senior management be well designed and of great value. In this session you will be given the tools to help you deliver a powerful and compelling message that will deliver results.

Presenter:

Maarten Vanneste, President & CEO, Abbit Meeting Support

 

 

T205 Changes in Law; Profit and Loss from Data Ownership

 

A corporation and its supply chain may begin with the corporate’s raw data but that data will become enhanced as information is added by the activity within the supply chain. At the end of all activity, not only is it not the same data as the original, but its enriched state makes ownership a contentious point of discussion. Recent rules in the EU and pending cases have significant consequences for corporate buyers and suppliers that may have a financial impact on all parties. This session focuses on changes in the law as result of recent EU rulings for IATA, with possible implications for other stakeholders. This session examines who owns what, who can buy and sell what and where the money flows as a consequence of these recent court rulings.

Moderator:

Susan Hopley, Industry Liaison, TRX

Presenter:

Ignacio Serra, Business Development, Data& Advertising, Amadeus