HOSTED WITH THE MOSTED

Exhibition News ran a Food For Thought column in this month’s issue with three event organisers explaining why and how they run hosted programmes. As the Hosted Buyer Manager on the Business Travel Show it was particularly interesting for me to read and, I have to admit, hard to disagree with anything they said.

Hosted programmes are not the answer for every exhibition. But for the Business Travel Show, they work. Like the other commentators’ shows, we introduced our programme to guarantee the highest quality buyers in Europe attend our event each February and that they also attend a set number of appointments with our exhibitors over the two days. The result is exposure to more business opportunities for our exhibitors and a much, much higher ROI for them, which is increasingly important given the economic environment we are all operating in.

We believe so strongly that hosted buyer programmes are the way forward for the Business Travel Show that last year we invested heavily in bringing nearly 800 to our event from the likes of Nike, Sony, Jaguar Land Rover, Kellogg’s, Microsoft, 02, British Gas, Aviva and Bridgestone. For 2013, we are investing heavily again. In fact, work’s already started on refining the programme and working with our European partners to expand our database. I’m already looking forward to it.

Posted by Graham Angus - graham.angus@centaur.co.uk 

IS THE DREAMLINER THE KING OF GREEN?

In February 2008, we were lucky enough to unveil the Dreamliner to business travel buyers at the Business Travel Show in London. Four years on and it has finally taken to the skies, as reported recently on BBC Breakfast. The impact it will have on the business traveller has been widely reported, but I’m more interested in what the launch means to the business travel buyer, particularly on an environmental level.

The Dreamliner is often compared to the Airbus A380, simply because they are the two most recent long-haul launches. But while Airbus has focused on increasing capacity to reduce environmental impact by creating the lowest fuel-burn-per-seat ratio, Boeing has achieved its environmental credentials in an entirely different way altogether.

Boeing has created a medium sized plane with two engine platforms (Airbus has four) and engineers have also used the highest carbon composite to date resulting in a plan that’s 20 per cent lighter and, as a result, 20 per cent more fuel efficient than existing planes of the same size.

With 821 orders for Boeing compared to 236 for the Airbus, the market seems to be voting for the Dreamliner, but it will be interesting to see how the travel buyers vote. But comparisons aside, the fact that both airlines are now entering the design process with ‘green’ at the top of the agenda, is surely a good move for everyone. 

Posted by David Chapple 

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What corporate buyers want from agents in 2012

I have written a guest comment for today's Travel Mole about what corporate buyers want from agents in 2012. You can read it below and also on the Travel Mole website  http://www.travelmole.com/news_feature.php?news_id=2000094

"In a survey of business travel buyers commissioned by the Business Travel Show for the New Year, cost, the London 2012 Olympics, the economy and travel alternatives were all among their top concerns for 2012; and as we head into another year of economic uncertainty - last week it was reported the UK’s GDP fell by 0.2% and hotel, fuel and ancillary fees are continuing to rise - buyers tell me that now, more than ever, they need their TMCs to keep them informed and continue to suggest new ways they can save money and add value.

1 Cost savings
Buyers are looking to TMCs to help them introduce initiatives to improve compliance this year and, therefore, manage costs. For example, adherence to preferred supplier agreements, not booking outside of policy or introducing, improving or increasing the use of technology (ie with self booking tools (SBTs)). They also want advice on managing the demand for travel and potential travel alternatives such as video and teleconferencing where relevant.

2 The London 2012 Olympics
Buyers are expecting to feel a ripple effect from London staging the Olympics in the form of hotel availability, commuting disruption and reduced demand. Buyers who normally do a lot in London from May to September need TMC help to plan around this. They want TMCs to not only advise them about the impact the Olympics will have on business travel but also on commuter travel, homeworking and general movement of employees.

3 The Economy
As mentioned earlier, the latest figures show the UK economy fell by 0.2 per cent last quarter and analysts and politicians are worried we about to enter a double dip recession. In times of uncertainty like this, the demand for travel is often driven down. Non-savvy organisations adopt the ‘ostrich’ approach and fail to deal with the effects of the economy strategically or with a long-term approach opting instead for short term cost-cutting.

What buyers need from their TMCs in this instance is help and advice on how they can continue travelling - and continue to do business - but more effectively. They need smarter account management.

4 Emissions Trading Scheme
The European Union Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS) was the first large emissions trading scheme in the world under which large emitters of carbon dioxide within the EU must monitor their CO2 emissions and annually report them. The scheme was recently extended to the airline industry, with the changes coming into effect this year. This is likely to mean an additional hike in the cost of flights. Buyers will need TMCs to keep them informed and prepared so the increased costs don’t come as a nasty shock.

5 Adding value
Many organisations are integrating business travel and meetings budgets, but business travel buyers don’t necessarily have the resources or the expertise to fulfill the meetings management activity. While they focus on their core competences, they are looking to TMCs to alleviate this additional workload with specialist meetings expertise."

All of the issues above - and more - will be addressed, dissected and debated at the Business Travel Show, which takes place at Earls Court on 7-8 February 2012.

For the full line up of 26 sessions and to register for a free visitor pass to the show, go to www.businesstravelshow.com.

Creating A Home-Based Business Online Opportunity

There are many different ways that you can create a home-based online opportunity. Within this article today we are going to look at creating a home-based online business opportunity.

The first one that we will look at is to become a freelance writer. This is a very good way for you to make money if you need some part-time income but it is not as something that you can do on a full-time basis. It is often hard because there are so many writers out there that the amount of money one can make off of freelancing might not be enough to pay the bills. This can be a great way to start and get your feet wet working online because you'll have several different opportunities to learn about different areas of the Internet. Many authors have been given the opportunity to write and learn about different subjects such as writing for e-zines and other online opportunities. This can make you more savvy about the Internet and how you could further create a home-based online business opportunity through your talent and insights from your freelancing experience. If you are interested in learning more about freelance writing, you should look into directfreelance.com or freelanceworkexchange.com. I would highly recommend looking at freelanceworkexchange.com because if you join for a week, you can see a variety of jobs that they have to offer as well as be able to download an in-depth ebook on how to make good money freelancing. This e-book is very valuable and gives you some good ideas to make extra money freelancing or how to market yourself adequately as a freelancer.



Another way you can work in creating a home-based online business opportunity is to work on building a website built around a particular theme or niche. This does not take a great deal of money and if you work at this, it can build up into a very nice part-time or full-time income for you. You may not see instantaneous results but if you take time every day to work on developing your website you'll be pleased with the end result. If you want to find some underserved niches that are in need of a good website to be built around this, take a look at the following website: www.findhotniches.com. This website will give you particular information on how to build a website and a niche as well as particular niches that need some development. You are given all the tools and you have to take your time and develop a website.

Hopefully this article today on creating a home-based online business opportunity is giving you some food for thought. We only looked into a couple of possible suggestions but if you take the lessons learned here and search the Internet and keep an open mind, you can find anything that can possibly interest you. If you look the website www.clickbank.com and look around at the different products, you may find an affiliate program that you may want to market as well. What is great about this particular website is that everything is already set up as far as products are related and all you have to do is figure out how to sell the product. This will go back to you learning more about Internet marketing and about the different strategies that you can do for this.

Why You Should Advertise Your Business Online

You an entrepreneur? with businesses that are not too large. Almost every small business can benefit from online advertising because there are so many advantages for this type of advertising. It is extremely affordable to market your online business. You have the ability to reach large target audiences and the ability to tailor marketing to your target audience. You have the ability to reach customers who may be in the whole world. We will explore the advantages of online advertising and how you can learn more about this method useful.
Cheap prices of Internet Marketing
Many business owners are turning to the Internet for advertising simply because it is affordable. Especially when you consider how many potential customers can access the small business owners with online marketing campaigns.
Reaching Target A Large Audience
When you take your advertising to the Internet you drastically increase your potential target audience because you now have the ability to reach your target audience members everywhere there is internet.

Reaching out to customers around the worldRegardless of where you live and do business, you have the ability to connect with people who have an interest in selling your product or service that you provide no matter where they are. This makes it achievable for you to do business with customers around the world.
Internet is available 24 hours a day
Small business owners who have an online presence is much more convenient for their customers because they do not like the store, the website never closes. This policy gives prospective customers the ability to see the products and services and make purchases at every hour of every day.
ust as there is no weight loss drug or magical ways to earn income from home without much effort, there is no easy answer to ensure the success of Internet marketing. Nonetheless, Internet advertising is not too difficult, and many small business owners can enjoy at least some degree of success with Internet advertising only limited knowledge about the industry. A number of small business owners can have a lot of trouble trying to operate their businesses and manage their Internet marketing strategies. Outsourcing this work eases the burden on small business manager and will likely produce more favorable results.
If you are a small business owner who does not already have a strong online presence, you need to immediately start learning more about the world of Internet marketing. If your competitors are currently marketing on the internet, you may find them a steady profit. Before too many of your prospects into loyal customers from the competition's time to start figuring out how you can advertise your business on the internet and join the competition.
 There are various options to learn about Internet advertising. This option may consist of online research, reading published books and studying successful online marketing campaign.
Researching Internet advertising on the world wide web can be very useful and can provide small business owners with lots of advice and other information. However, it can also provide business owners with a lot of misinformation, so be careful to receive information only as accurate, you may want to prove the information before applying online advertising strategy.
Books published about Internet marketing offers a lot of useful information. When choosing a book to be used as research material it is important to find a book that gets independent review and these reviews are positive. It is also important to look for books published lately. This is important because the online advertising business is developing continuously and a book published only a few years ago may be out-of-date and may lack information about some up-to-the-minute industry developments. The appeal of using published books to learn about Internet marketing is you can keep books on hand for easy reference.
Learning successful online advertising campaigns provide you with insight into the competition and what online marketing tools they use. If your small business offers products and services in a particular niche consider entering a term that applies in the common search engines and studying the site of some of the highest ranking businesses. It can provide you with an agreement that significant insight into what small business owners make that can contribute to their success. Examining everything from their web site design for search engine optimization strategies and even their content on their web sites can help you to uncover why they develop. You should also consider how they promote their web sites which may possibly include banner ads, affiliate marketing programs or other types of promotions. Equipped with this information you can take the opportunity to practice your own online marketing strategy.

HOW TO CREATE A MANAGED TRAVEL PROGRAMME

In this month's Executive Secretary (the essential training resource for senior and aspiring administrative professionals) we contributed a feature on how to create a managed travel programme. 

Below is a taster. To subscribe to the magazine and read the full article, please visit the website www.executivesecretary.com. 

"Many buyers of business travel fall into it by accident and, recently, this has included an increasing number of executive secretaries who have found themselves suddenly responsible for this complex purchasing function. If you are one of many new to buying business travel and don’t quite know where to start, this guide will explain what a business travel programme should look like and how to shape one from scratch, highlighting the essentials of travel buying as well as common pitfalls.

A managed travel programme is when a business takes a strategic approach to managing travel, as it would with any other controllable expense, and this benefits you with cost savings, transparency, compliance, process improvements and traveller safety and security.

The five phases

Buying and managing travel can be broken down into five key phases:

1.      Discovery

2.      Engagement

3.      Purchasing

4.      Implementation

5.      Monitoring

PHASE 1: DISCOVERY

The discovery phase involves a full review of your current solution to identify what is in place, what works well, and where improvements can be made. It should focus on identifying spend/volume, incumbent suppliers, contractual commitments and stakeholders. A key output should be a benefits analysis, which should be used to obtain executive buy-in.There are seven steps to work through.

PHASE 2: ENGAGEMENT

It’s time to engage with the necessary functions and people within your business that are involved/interested in, or have responsibility for, travel. Doing this early on makes it easier to achieve their buy in. Including stakeholders in a working party, which has a hand in making decisions, will help cross functional implementation in Phase 4.

PHASE 3: PURCHASING – THE RFP PROCESS

This is when you identify potential suppliers, share your requirements and determine the costs you will pay and the service you will receive.

PHASE 3: PURCHASING - COMMODITIES

It is important to maximise savings opportunities and this can be achieved by purchasing commodity type elements, e.g., negotiated discounts on core routes within your air programme, or a group/chain discount within your hotel programme. Also consider loyalty programmes, which can add value for your travellers, such as room and flight upgrades, free Wi-Fi and lounge access.

PHASE 4: IMPLEMENTATION

Once you have identified the best suppliers to book and manage your travel, or the best commodity providers, you need to launch this to the business. Your implementation plan must be formed using the skills and resources of the supplier’s implementation manager, you and your stakeholders. Realistic timelines for implementation need to be set with your suppliers and agreed with your internal stakeholders.

Supplier visibility is also very important. This can be readily achieved by holding on site supplier road shows or by taking key bookers to the supplier’s offices. The insight gained and relationship building this achieves is invaluable.

PHASE 5: MONITORING

And, finally, one your programme is in place, you need to monitor it."

This guide was written by the Institute of Travel & Meetings and edited by David Chapple for Executive Secretary. David is event director of the Business Travel Show and a director of the Institute of Travel & Meetings (ITM). The Business Travel Show runs 7-8 February 2012 at Earls Court in London. More than 5,000 visitors (10% of which attend from outside the UK) can meet 200+ business travel suppliers and travel management companies, and enjoy a high quality, free to attend conference track designed specifically for PAs and executive secretaries.

The ITM is a not for profit organisation that supports the travel industry. It offers valuable support to buyers of travel and meetings and is currently offering free membership.

www.businesstravelshow.com

www.itm.org.uk