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Greeley
Koch
ACTE's
Vice President of
Global Education
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I
am Greeley Koch, the Association of Corporate Travel Executive's vice
president of education. My responsibility in that position is to assess
the educational needs of travel management professionals in 30+ countries,
devise the programs to fill those needs, and implement them.
While the primary mission of business travel managers around the world
is basically the same, the protocols and rules of conducting business
vary greatly from country to country and even from region to region.
ACTE's educational programs must be both global in nature and regional
in application. Catering to the diverse educational needs of our membership
would be an impossible task without the assistance of dedicated ACTE
members on every continent.
To remain vibrant ACTE's leadership recognizes it must place a high
value on membership dialogue. This commitment to membership dialogue
is best demonstrated by the changes that have been incorporated into
the ACTE Global 2000 program as a result of the information gathered
from the recent membership survey.
Among the new sessions inspired by the survey, we're offering travel
managers peer-to-peer discussion roundtables by industry groups. This
concept will allow participants the opportunity to instantly network
with their counterparts within the same industry. A similar program
has been devised for supplier/vendors, who will be grouped by issues
instead of by industry category.
A new approach to comprehensive networking and idea sharing was devised
in response to the evolution of the new generation of business executives.
Business travel managers are finding their responsibilities span a
number of functions, of which travel management is only one. Likewise,
ACTE's membership now includes senior-level executives whose skill
sets must be broadened to include business travel management. These
executives will find a special seminar at ACTE Global 2000 developed
for them entitled "Introduction to Travel Management for Executives
New to Travel".
Another member-driven change in the ACTE Global 2000 program is a
free night, in which no official functions are scheduled, permitting
participants to define their own networking experiences for that evening.
Members in the US can look forward to a Forum program in 2001 that
will be more provocative and an atmosphere conducive to dialogue and
debate. This new approach will help us identify evolving issues, like
the pros and cons of e-business, the depth of trends, and the beginnings
of industry shifts.
The EMEA Forum program will build upon the fine work already started
by the EMEA education committee. The EMEA Forums have established
many record-breaking attendance events and fostered a growing awareness
of the role business travel management plays in global commerce in
both the European Union and emerging markets.
Canadian ACTE members can look forward to a continued commitment to
exploring ongoing educational needs, while ACTE's Asian educational
resources will be applied to the introduction of business travel management
as a strategic corporate asset.
The educational needs of the membership is our first priority as we
look at ways that the Internet can deliver additional value to our
members. We did learn from the membership survey that while the Internet
is widely utilized, ACTE members were reserved in their opinion of
the Internet as a learning tool. We believe that membership support
can be gained for on-line education when we can provide the full value
of an event like a Forum and eliminate the time and expense of travel.
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