October 1-2, 2008
Hotel Nikko, San Francisco, CA

Agenda

Tentative Program (Subject to Change. Last updated 9/29/08)
Please note: I = Invited but not confirmed, others are all confirmed

E-TOURISM SUMMIT 360: NOTHING BUT NET

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 2008

SECOND FLOOR FOYER

3:00-6:00 pm: Registration (registration will also be open all day Oct. 1 & 2)

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2008

MONTEREY FOYER

7:30-9:00 am: Continental Breakfast

9:00 am-12:00 noon: PRE-CONFERENCE CONCURRENT WORKSHOPS

MONTEREY ROOM

OPTION 1: Social Marketing 360-The Laptop Laboratory.  Bring your laptop and build your company’s presence on the most important social media websites - Youtube, Digg, Facebook and Wikipedia under the guidance of knowledgeable monitors and workshop leaders.  Facilitator: Andrew Eklund, CEO, Ciceron

CARMEL I ROOM

OPTION 2: SEO/SEM-360.  A 360 degree look at Search Engine Optimization and Search Engine Marketing:

• Top Five most important things to know in order to optimize your presence on search engines.
• Video Optimization for search engine performance.
• Viral Value: Optimization of press releases for maximum viral impact among journalists. 
• Workshop on how to update your DMO site content to optimize for new travel trends
• How to automate your database listings pages for SEO

Presenters: Scott Fish, Director of SEO, EngineWorks;  Paul Coutts, Account Strategist, Google; Marla Johnson Norris, CEO, Aristotle

CARMEL II ROOM

OPTION 3: ONLINE P.R. 360.

• With limited manpower, how do you promote your website through p.r.
• What are the p.r. applications for posting a presence on social websites such as Facebook, Myspace and Linkedin?
• Which sites can provide research about contact databases that measure ROI for social websites. 
• How to promote your website through p.r.
• How to market your releases and websites to twitter; facebook,  and others and which sites should you invest in if you have limited time and manpower  
• Are there any credible metrics to calculate ROI on coverage in online news sites and blogs similar to print-style clipping services?
• What are the top five things every travel  p.r. director should be doing to maximize their presence?
• Tracking your coverage on social websites.
• Panel of bloggers and journalists discuss how they use blogs to obtain story ideas and content.

Presenter: Sally Falkow, President & Senior Web Strategist, Expansion Plus; Larry Habegger, Executive Director, TravelersTales.com

12:00 noon-1:15 pm: Lunch on own

MONTEREY ROOM

1:15 pm:  Opening Remarks

1:30-2:00 pm: The “State of The American Traveler Study.”  An annual survey of 1014 adult leisure travelers reveals not only the current trends in the travel industry, but will provide insights about…

• How destination websites affect length of stay decisions
• What percentage of Americans use CVB or state websites and for what purpose
• Which  Web 2.0 applications are gaining the most traction for travelers
• Which of the myriad mobile applications are most likely to be used by American travelers.

Presenter: Erin Francis Cummings, Managing Partner, Destination Analysts

2:00-2:30 pm: International Marketing 360. Marketing Online To International Travelers and the International Marketing Department of the Future.
International SEO: Designing the International Marketing Department of the Future. Case Study: In 2007 E-Tourism Summit, in partnership with .com Marketing and the Philadelphia CVB, created a search-friendly landing page and submitted it to 30 search engines serving Germany, Austria and Switzerland.  This year we update attendees with the results plus a look at the Optimizing for international. 
Presenter: John Dussling, VP of Business Development, .ComMarketing.    Challenges in the Canadian Market: Marla Johnson Norris, CEO, Aristotle

2:30-2:55 pm: An Overview of online advertising trends and how they will affect travel marketers in the future.
Presenter: Geraldine Madeira, Travel Category Development Manager, Microsoft Advertising, Microsoft

3:00-3:10 pm: Sneak Preview #1- Spotlight on Emerging Companies: Zicasso.com, Brian Tan.  Zicasso, a start-up company featuring a “Lending Tree” model where tour operators bid to price packaged tours.
Presenter: Brian Tan, Founder and CEO, Zicasso.com  

3:10-3:30 pm: Break

3:30-4:30 pm: (ROI Session) How to Monetize Your Website. With budgets that are tightening, travel marketers are looking.
Presenter: Andrew Eklund, CEO, Ciceron
Something to Twitter About. Finding the best free content to enhance your company's website, build traffic and increase stickiness.
Presenter: Martin Stoll, Founder and President, GoSeeTell Networks

4:30-5:00 pm:   Latest Search and Trends From Google’s Perspective :   Brief overview of online advertising in the travel category.  What tourism boards are spending online vs offline;  The strategic direction for travel in marketing, build branding and awareness marketing. Search  opportunities in the international market. 
Presenter: Dan Greene,  Vertical Head, OSO AdWords Travel Team, Google. 

5:00-5:30 pm: Making the Most of Online Video. YouTube has grown to become the third largest search engine on the web and it offers several tools that are used for marketing that few travel suppliers know about. Tom Rikert, YouTube.com.

GOLDEN GATE ROOM

6:00pm: Cocktail Networking Reception

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2008

MONTEREY ROOM FOYER

7:30-9:00 am: Continental Breakfast

MONTEREY ROOM

9:00-9:25 am: Case Study #2: Social Media. How to Measure ROI on ROP (Return on Participation) on Social Networking Websites
Presenter: Andrew Eklund, CEO, Ciceron; Sally Falkow, President & Senior Web Strategist, Expansion Plus

9:25-10:25 am: E-Mail Marketing 360: Proven strategies to increase the open rate and tips to help you penetrate spam filters.

• How to know if your e-mail is being detained by a receiver’s spam filter. 
• Proven techniques to acquire new opt-in subscribers
• E-Mail Marketing: Strategies to increase open rates. While E-mail marketing is a Web 1.0 application, addressing spam filters and ISP's black lists have made this inexpensive form of marketing much more complex.
• Managing an e-mail marketing campaign to increase open rates, geo targeting messages and targeting packages that are personalized.
• E-mail marketing in a Web 2.0 environment.

Presenters: Scott Roth , Director, Product Marketing, ExactTarget; Ryan George, CEO, Simpleview

10:25-11:00 am: User Generated Content-360.

• Defending your online reputation.
• The latest techniques to manage your online reputation.
• Online Video: Professionally produced video versus Amateur: Which is right for you?
• Where’s The ROI On User Generated Content?

Presenters:  Jim Brody, Sales Manager for Destination Marketing, Tripadvisor.com; Pete Snyder, Founder & CEO, New Media Strategies

11:00-11:20 am: Coffee Break

11:20-12:00 noon: ROI Session: An Objective Analysis of Third Party Booking Engines Available on a "White Label" Basis and What They Offer. An honest look at their advantages and disadvantages and whether it is the right direction for your company.   
Presenter: Katy Brown, Founder, Visionary Consulting

12:00-12:30 pm: Case Study #1: Yellowstonepark.com…Out of the Woods and Into the Spotlight. Find out why Yellowstonepark.com, based in the wilds of Wyoming, was voted the #1 tourism site in the world by the prestigious “Webby People’s Choice” awards for two years in a row.   Find out what made this site special as they divided the site by “Decideds” and “Undecideds” and built traffic from 1 million to 3 million unique visitors in 18 months.
Presenter: Shelli Johnson, CEO, Yellowstonepark.com

CARMEL ROOM

12:30-2:00 pm: Luncheon sponsored by eBrains.

MONTEREY ROOM

2:00-3:00 pm: Blogging 360: A new medium or a passing Fad?  An Overview of the Latest Trends in Blogging utilizing a panel of travel bloggers and journalists to provide insights into this new medium.
Presenter: David Sifry, Founder and Chairman, Technorati.com;  Troy Thompson, Senior Interative Marketing Manager, Arizona Office of Tourism (and contributor to Travel 2.0 Interactive Trend Report); Chris Baggot, CEO/Co-Founder, Compendium Blogware

3:00-3:10 pm: Sneak Preview #2: Sojern.com. A new company formed to provide advertising on boarding passes for seven major air carriers.
Presenter: Mark O'Dell, National Sales Manager, Sojern.com

3:10-3:25 pm: Coffee Break

3:25-4:00 pm: ROI—360. Case Study: How to get the most effective results online and measure ROI and conversion on a fully integrated marketing plan that includes:

• Where’s The ROI On User Generated Content.
• How to Measure the Effectiveness of Your Website.
• Conversion studies
• Benchmarking Your Website

Presenter: Larry Dickerson, Executive Brain, eBrains

4:00-4:30 pm: Smart Innovation: Technology that Reaches New Audiences.  
Presenters: Marla Johnson Norris, CEO, Aristotle

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2008

OPTIONAL: FIELD TRIP TO GOOGLE HEADQUARTERS

10:00 am - 2:30 pm (approximately, incl. transit time): Field Trip and lunch at Google Headquarters (open to the first 25 people who RSVP).