Travel Distribution Summit

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Permalink Reply by Alex Bainbridge on March 13, 2009 at 12:13pm

Hi Gareth

There are three main reasons

* Review the exhibitors
* Meet people / network
* Learn from the seminars

So yeah - worth the money - if you can afford it. If you are a heavy web user (read all the forums / blogs / tweets) then you may find much of these conference topics something that has been covered before. Personally I prefer to spend 30 mins a day on virtual networking than 2 days every couple of months going to expensive conferences!

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Permalink Reply by Gareth Thomas on March 13, 2009 at 12:18pm

Thanks Alex. I agree that much of what I've seen at previous events was nothing new (as a forum user/blog reader/etc.). I think I mentioned this before but I found there to be a bit of boys club/closed off mentality from some of the people, which I think may have been due to my age, especially a few years back.

A few people I spoke to were fantastic though, which made the trips worth while.

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Permalink Reply by Ralph Foulds on March 13, 2009 at 1:46pm

I received the info pack about the Summit and felt it was over-priced, and while it had some interesting sections, was not really geared towards smaller tour operators like ourselves.
When the organisers chased me up about attending, I told them I felt it was too expensive to consider. I've since been advised by them that there will also be a wide range of free seminars at the Summit, details of which will be available in April. You can register to attend the exhibition for free and then choose to attend over 30 free seminars on online marketing, distribution technology, revenue management and mobile.

I still can't find anything on the website about this free entry or the free seminars - presumably they want to get as many people as possible paying for the conference first. Unless any of the conference topics really sound fantastic for your business, I'd hang on until April and then register for the free ones.

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Permalink Reply by Gareth Thomas on March 13, 2009 at 3:01pm

Ah - free! That's a bit more like it!

I too had a quick look on the site for the free/entry to the show only option, as you often find with these events. Maybe as you say it's been hidden until closer to the date.

I've made a note in the diary and will check back later. Thanks Ralph.

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Permalink Reply by Ralph Foulds on March 19, 2009 at 11:35am

One free place available online through this survey...

(from @anigba via Twitter)

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Permalink Reply by Ed Whiting on March 19, 2009 at 10:25pm

Meeting and networking is by far the biggest part of The Travel Distribution Summit (and most similar events) and you have to work at the networking as no-one will seek you out. So if your business doesn't require networking then I would give it a miss personally. Agree with Alex you can get so much info/tips online now (such as this great social site we are on now) you would have to question how much you can get out of a 30min seminar per topic.

It will be interesting to see in 5 years time how many of the 'summits' have changed to a virtual social network?

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Permalink Reply by Alex Bainbridge on April 22, 2009 at 7:51pm

Should you wish to go to the EyeForTravel conference in London at the end of May I have a 5% discount for you :)

Email tim@eyefortravel.com with the subject line "TDS Booking ALEX" and receive instructions on how to rescue your 5% discount

Alex
ps - consider this a semi commercial post - please forgive me!

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Permalink Reply by Alex Bainbridge on April 27, 2009 at 7:44pm

.... and now they have opened up free entry for some of the sections (if you are a travel company)

http://events.eyefortravel.com/tds/conference/seminar-booking.asp

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Permalink Reply by Gareth Thomas on June 18, 2009 at 10:37am

I've just had an email about video footage available from this event: https://secure.firstconf.com/travel/tds/video-request.asp

£240. Anyone tried it/know if it's worth it?

Cheers - Gareth

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