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The Sights and Sounds of ACTE XI

The dynamics of education took on a hot new look when the Association of Corporate Travel Executives rolled out the program for ACTE XI-the Annual Members Conference which convened in Washington, D.C. on May 23. Networking, technology, and a stronger emphasis on the business side of travel management filled seminars and presentations with ranking business travel experts from around the world.

"ACTE XI was a far cry from the traditional flip chart and typical Power Point presentations," said Cara H. Brown, director of Corporate Travel Services for Prudential Securities. " 'The CEOs Speak Out' was really well done and gave conference participants access to the insight of key travel industry leaders." Brown added that presenters were especially effective in the timeliness of their topics and the thoroughness that each issue was discussed. Two seminars she found especially valuable dealt with developing global supplier partnerships and measuring supplier performance. "These are two issues that are in the forefront of my company's thinking right now," she said.

Huub M.A.A. Smeets, travel manager, EMEA for IBM Nederland N.V., said that ACTE XI certainly lived up to the association's objective of educating the profession on a global scale.

Hype-free one-on-one demonstrations added value to
ACTE's Technology Showcase concept.

"The level of education was extremely high," said Smeets. "This was one of the best educational conferences that I have attended." He added that the response to ACTE XI should drive the association to remain on the cutting edge of education, technology and to offer state-of-the-art educational products.

The association adopted a new educational philosophy in the planning of ACTE XI. The program evolved into a multimedia educational event, incorporating motivational speakers, industry leaders, video, technology, and old-fashioned networking into one formula that really enhanced participation. Varied seminar formats included roundtables, breakouts, and video presentations as well as the traditional panel presentations. The association imported experts from outside the travel industry to head seminars on negotiating and other topics. Handouts and collateral material were created for each seminar, and a video tape of the "CEOs Speak Out" session was distributed to all attendees. These features were made possible by an innovative sponsorship program channeling greater economic resources to educational applications.

The Technology Showcase, emphasizing educating rather than marketing in a showcase format, was an overwhelming favorite among conference attendees. Thirty-one suppliers put automation through its paces, dealing with products available now-not vaporware. And each company was required to bring a customer to help demonstrate the product and to attest to its claims.

"Having a customer there to answer questions relating to implementation, operation, or maintenance brought real value to the Technology Showcase experience," said Anika R. Ortmark Sellebo, senior consultant and partner for Ortmark & Consultants AB. "Having access to this information from the field really impressed one of my clients."

Like hundreds of other conference attendees, Smeets thought the Technology Showcase was a major conference highlight. "The Technology Showcase brought a tighter focus to the product evaluation process, while bringing everything together in one room," said Smeets. "This was a very positive conference, and the planning committee did a great job."
The response to the Technology Showcase was so successful that it will be repeated at ACTE Global in Costa del Sol next fall.	National Building Museum

The association introduced a number of other innovations as well. The Cyber Café-a series of workstations linked to the conference database-polled participants, processed requests for information about the conference, and provided one of the most efficient means of leaving and retrieving messages-all by swiping a card. How often was the system used? According to conference administration, more than 1600 card swipes were recorded in the Cyber Café.

ACTE XI Co-Chairs Hard At Work		ACTE Participants Exploring Cyber Café

"I loved the Cyber Café," said Sandi Parachuk, office operations manager and corporate travel manager for the Canada-based Trojan Technologies, Inc. "This conference was a great overall value and met my expectations."

Speaker Dan Thurmon

Motivational speakers with a message, and in some cases a very unique way of delivering that message, kept participants riveted to their seats during lunch and various sessions. Faith Popcorn spoke to a standing-room-only crowd, while Dan Thurmon juggled knives, battle axes and a bowling ball-sitting atop a unicycle. Stuart Varney took a traditional approach to economics, and ACTE XI co-chairs Cary Erickson and Jonathan Stobart played Secret Education Agents through a series of fast movie video feeds. But the star of ACTE XI was networking. "This year's conference agenda was particularly conducive to networking, providing the appropriate opportunities to confer with suppliers and colleagues," said Brown.

That sentiment was echoed by Thomas Barrett, associate director of Corporate Travel for Bristol-Meyers Squibb Company, who said, "The networking potential of ACTE XI was enhanced by the event's educational content and intensified by the event's overall efficiency. ACTE has consistently raised the bar in presenting educational programs to the business travel management profession. This association takes its commitment to educate our profession very seriously."

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ACTE Honors Three Distinguished Members With Professionalism Awards

Washington, June 1—The Association of Corporate Travel Executives presented awards for outstanding service to three distinguished members—Nancy Godfrey (Manager of Global Travel for the Chevron Corporation), Danny Hood (President of WorldTravel Partners—BTI), and Julie Hylton (Manager of Multinational Account Development for American Express).

The Business Professionalism Award honors an outstanding contribution made to one's company. This year's winner, Nancy Godfrey, was cited for re-engineering Chevron's travel processes, including the implementation of net agreements, an on-line booking system (with a lab environment for testing), and a smart card program. A veteran in business travel management circles, Godfrey is a respected and often quoted authority on corporate travel cost containment.

The Industry Professionalism Award was presented to Danny Hood, for having made a significant contribution to the business travel management profession A pioneer advocate of on-line booking tools, Hood was a leading proponent of educational programs regarding commission caps and an early supporter of transaction fee-based agreements. He is a member of ACTE's Board of Governors, chair of the association's Technology Committee, and a member of the Education Committee.

Julie Hylton received the President's Award for outstanding service to the Association of Corporate Travel Executives. As the association's vice president of administration and secretary, Hylton was instrumental in:

Hylton's other contributions to ACTE include serving on the Board of Governors, cochair of the Bylaws Subcommittee, Regional Forums Committee Chair, Dallas Regional Forum Chair, and Nominating Committee Chair.

“Nancy Godfrey, Danny Hood, and Julie Hylton are individuals who challenge themselves and this industry in their pursuit of professional excellence,” said ACTE President Earl Foster, who made the award presentations before 1000 travel managers, suppliers, and business travel authorities at the association's Annual Members Conference: ACTE XI.

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Opinions With A View — From The Top
By Carlo Vacca

Growth, increased investment, and the future of the business travel management fulfillment industry were the topics of an intense panel discussion between seven leaders of the world’s largest travel management companies and travel agencies at the Association of Corporate Travel Executives’ Eleventh Annual Members Conference on May 26, 1999, in Washington, D.C.

Jack Alexander, chief executive officer of WorldTravel Partners—BTI; Mike Boland, chief executive officer of Maritz Travel Company; Ed Gilligan, president of American Express Corporate Services; Jon Madonna, president of Carlson Wagonlit Travel; Michael Premo, vice president of Strategic Relationships for SatoTravel; David Radcliffe, chief executive officer for Hogg Robinson PLC; and Hal Rosenbluth, president and chief executive officer for Rosenbluth International formed a pinnacle of opinions in a seminar entitled, “Perspectives From The Top.”

Moderated by Alan Fredericks, vice president-editorial director for the Reed Travel Group, the panel opened by defining their views on future challenges. Rosenbluth stated that one of his company’s greatest challenges was to attract the best kind of personnel, capable of consistently placing the clients’ interests first. Managing change, and the pace of change, to the clients’ best advantage was a key future challenge for Radcliffe. Madonna thought that survival, while seeking new ways to enhance value for clients, would be one of Carlson’s future objectives.

Premo explained that generating the solutions that clients want and need (like self-booking), and making these solutions profitable enough to support the viability of the industry, headed Sato’s list of future challenges. Gilligan thought the most challenging aspect of the future would lie in developing “aggressive and innovative ways” to serve clients. He added that another priority was to get clients to view American Express as more of a partner than a vendor. Boland said that a real challenge would be to carefully interpret customers through a greater emphasis on listening, to convert this interpretation into new products, and to bring these products to the market faster.

Changing gears and subjects, Alexander thought consolidation might shrink the number of key travel industry fulfillment players to four or five in future years, as clients sought to reduce the number of vendors with whom they had to deal. Gilligan added that the requirements for a travel management company to be successful in the future had changed, and that investment in technology, global expansion, and a tomorrow not yet here was imperative. “Not everyone can afford this level of investment,” he said.

Rosenbluth refused to dwell on the aspects of survival, and predicted his company would grow organically and through acquisitions. He added that a divide-and-conquer business strategy still made sense, and that wild card developments in the industry (like the Internet) would spark new opportunities.

Technology is a topic that is hot in the trenches and hot back on the planning tables of headquarters. Surprisingly though, these big boys were not among the choir singing for more technology. Alexander had no doubt that technology will continue to proliferate, but that some hybrid level of service (combining keyboards with personal contact) would be the eventual result. Radcliffe stated that voice actuated technology would really make self-booking take off.

Madonna observed that self-oriented automation had grown at a meteoritic rate in other industries—such as the stock market, and that the same thing would eventually happen to the business travel management profession. Ed Gilligan noted that self-booking adds cost to the equation, however, and that it would take a lot more investment in systems and promotion to make this concept profitable. He didn’t see a payback in less than two years.

Boland said it would take a lot more than the availability of technology to drive the market. He stated that a strong communications package advocating the use of technology was as important as the functionality of the programs themselves. Alexander and Premo both supported technology as the fastest growing segment of their business. According to Alexander, WorldTravel Partners did five million traditional transactions last year, and three million hybrid transactions. Premo said that Sato is now handling on-line registration for client seminars, break-outs and other events.

On the subject of introducing alternatives to travel, Rosenbluth described business interaction management as a process by which the traditional reservationist role of the agencies would evolve into a consultancy designed to eliminate unnecessary travel. His company is studying eight clients to help determine the reasons why their people travel. This led to another observation on the consultancy role of the travel management company. Radcliffe stated that 60 percent of Hogg Robinson’s profit was generated by traditional fee-based relationships, with the other 40 percent derived from consultancy roles in seeking new client-oriented opportunities.

A big issue was the question of disintermediation, or the current trend by many carriers to deal directly with the traveler via the Internet. Radcliffe stated that disintermediation is only a threat in markets dominated by one carrier, who can essentially bully corporate accounts. And oddly enough, there was a quiet consensus that commissions would not entirely disappear either.

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