A keynote speaker or plenary session is the kind of thing you absorb at a conference. You sit back and relax and let yourself be inspired. During the concurrent sessions in between, pen meets paper. You’re encouraged to respond, interact, take notes furiously, brainstorm.
We wanted to give some attention to our recently finalized agenda for our upcoming AdventureELEVATE event and highlight the content of the concurrent sessions. These panel discussions and workshops get to the heart of our conference theme -- Adventure Means Business -- with practical tips and take aways to leave delegates prepared for new business strategies.
Digital + Mobile + Social Tips with @Sree
Get ready for an intense two hours of social media learning. Sree will kick things off with Instagram best practices and tips as well as ideas on how to get the best photos from your clients and guides making them your on-the-ground influencers and social team. Sree imparts a fury of social media tips on all that is new, changing and possible in social media and digital mobile today.
- Sree Sreenivasan, The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Customer Experience is Part of the Journey
Your client’s journey starts well before the plane leaves the tarmac or even before a booking is confirmed. Every interaction a traveler has with your brand matters, but a great customer experience doesn’t just “happen.” A great customer experience is mindfully crafted by leaders in tune with the customer. In this session you’ll develop an adventure travel customer persona, then travel with this persona through an adventure travel journey. You may have already perfected your product, but here you’ll have the chance to optimize every stage of the customer experience within your organization, from start to finish. You’ll walk away from this interactive presentation and workshop with ideas about how to massage your marketing and business practices to create loyal and satisfied clients. You will also pick up some lessons from a customer experience management veteran to get you started on your journey to provide your customer a world-class experience.
- Sarah Simon, Director, VoC Consulting, Americas – Confirmit
National Parks Intensive
National Parks are often the introduction to nature for children, as well as many adults, and become an outdoor activity playground as well as a supporting environment for adventure travel activities. As we prepare for the Centennial Celebrations of the National Park system in 2016 we’ll hear about new outdoor initiatives, trends the parks are noting that may affect adventure businesses’ future, creating opportunities and challenges. We’ll learn about the work of Brand USA and their Great Outdoors campaign, designed to attract international visitors to the National Parks and we’ll hear case study examples from National Park experts. Our panelists will discuss these issues and talk about the communities mobilizing around National Parks and cross state and National Park cooperation.
- Moderator: John Ricks, Colorado Tourism Office
- Mark Campbell, National Parks Revealed
- Brand USA (TBC)
- National Parks Foundation Representative (TBC)
- TJ Little, REI Adventure Travel Program Manager
Ride The Wave: Culture and Trends Driving Business
Can news-making trends like “nature deficit disorder” and climate change, historic anniversaries or even popular books and feature films drive adventure travel? You bet! Grabbing itinerary ideas from headlines, creating experiences that have travelers following in the steps of historic figures and cultural icons, even promoting ways visitors can relive their favorite blockbuster or indy movie — our panelists have proven that being innovative yields results, earns media coverage and drives even more attention to your destination or experience. Big budgets or small – tapping into popular culture, looking back into history and jumping onto growing trends may be the best marketing initiative you have all year. Case studies and best practices will help you prepare to meet the demands of media and consumers. Come prepared to share your own ideas of current culture and trends waiting to be tapped into for future business.
- Moderator: Deirdre Campbell, Tartan Group
- Mike Wilson, Northern Forest Center, Maine
- Robert Reid, Journalist
- Hege Barnes, Visit Norway
How Do They Compare? Adventure Travelers & Outdoor Consumers
Adventure travel and outdoor activities have always been close allies. Our research experts will present their latest research, profiling both the adventure traveler and the outdoor consumer. Their data will showcase lifestyles, behaviors and motivations to help you identify with your clients and potential clients, show shifts in preferences, and help you craft your marketing strategy and product development based on your learnings.
- Moderator: Shannon Stowell, ATTA
- Christie Hickman, Outdoor Industry Association
- Philippe Duverger, ATTA Research Division
Digital Marketing ROI – How to Place Bets in Travel
You have an amazing itinerary planned and you’re ready for some bookings. You open up your internet browser to start promoting your trip online, but you don’t know where to start. You are not alone. This session is designed for small to mid-sized adventure travel operators who haven’t had the opportunity to learn about the all the available media channels to use on the web. The panel will offer in-depth advice on how to use paid search, how to optimize your site for search engines (SEO), writing good searchable content, social media best practices and digital display advertising within the adventure travel space. Additionally, you’ll learn how to create a successful refer-a-friend program.
- Craig Schinn, The Clymb