Digital and Social Media Marketing conference and workshops

Destination and product marketing

18 July 2010

Taking Jordan’s Tourism Industry into the Digital Age

USAID Jordan Tourism Development Project II (Siyaha)

in collaboration with

E-Tourism Frontiers, TripAdvisor, Expedia, WAYN and Seismonaut

have pleasure in inviting you to participate in a national conference and follow up workshop on

Digital and Social Media Marketing

The Amman based one day conference and follow up sector specific workshops have been designed for tourism and hospitality professionals who plan, develop, implement and evaluate marketing strategies; and IT and Advertising industry professionals working with the tourism and hospitality industry sector.

To confirm your participation and request one-on-one meetings according to the detailed schedule, please email [email protected] , Tel. 06-5200555 Ext. 222

Deadline for RSVP is July 14^th, 2010

Conference and Workshops Program

Conference Program: 18 July, 2010 from 9:00 - 17:00 at Landmark Hotel

Introduction- Tourism in a Connected World 9:00 – 10:00

Speaker: Damian Cook, E-Tourism Frontiers

How today’s tech savvy traveler uses technology at every step of their travel experience, from pre-trip research, packaging and booking, to communication and decisions making as they travel- and post trip communication, reviews and recommendations.

A complete multimedia tour of the world through the eyes of a tourist, utilizing computers, hand held devices, cameras and phones. This complete portrait of the modern travel experience identifies the key issues facing the trade, which are then summarized concisely and reviewed from the perspective of emerging markets.

Global Online Travel Trends 10:00 – 10:45

Speaker: Damian Cook, E-Tourism Frontiers

An overview of Travel distribution trends globally and the role of the internet and social media in research, decision making and purchasing of travel- identifying key markets and dominant trends.

Which destinations are succeeding and what is working for them? How has the Global financial crisis has impacted online travel and where are headed now.

Coffee Break 10:45 – 11:15

Travel Distribution Trends and Opportunities for Middle East 11:15 – 12:00

Speaker: Walter Lo Faro- Middle East Manager, Expedia

Expedia- the world’s largest online travel agency- looks at the development and penetration of online distribution across the region and in Jordan, including performance of Jordanian hotels, key source markets and opportunities for business development.

It’s all about Connections: Social Media and Networking in Tourism 12:00 – 1:00

Speaker: Jerome Touze – Founder and CEO, Wayn.com

The founder of the World’s largest Social Network for Travel- with over 15 Million active members online- demonstrates the power of social media in travel with global case studies and talks about future plans and opportunities for Jordan.

LUNCH 1:00 - 2:00

Jordan Tourism Online 2:00 – 2:30

Speakers: Damian Cook and Jerome Touze

A presentation of customized research carried out among Wayn.com membership of online travelers to gather, measure, and analyze opinions, knowledge and experiences of Jordan.

eMarketing for Tourism 2:30 – 3:15

Speaker: Anders Mogensen, Seismonaut

How to re-think your marketing strategy and increase your use of technology and the internet to market your tourism business in a more cost effective and far reaching way and to start making social media part of your business. A case study from Denmark shows how a single traveler accesses, creates and shares integrated multi-channel social media and content.

Travelers Take Control – The Power of Positive Opinion 3:15 – 4:00

Speaker: Helena Egan – Head of Destination Marketing, Trip Advisor

Online travel reviews now play a critical role in online travel research by your clients- who will want to hear first hand from your past customers what they liked and didn’t like about your product. Trip Advisor is the leading source of independent travel reviews- and a good review is worth its’ weight in marketing gold.

Coffee Break 4:00 – 4:30

Local Case Study: 4:30 – 5:00

Presenter: Terhaal

A local business shares their experiences of working online, identifying challenges, success and their plans for the future.

E-Tourism Frontiers: The Road Ahead- Wrap Up & Key messages 5:00

Speaker: Damian Cook, E-Tourism Frontiers

Summary, key messages and preview of upcoming training seminars and Destination sessions.

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About the Speakers:

Damian Cook

Damian Cook is the founder and CEO of E-Tourism Frontiers- a major global initiative to develop online tourism in developing markets globally.

He has worked in travel media and communications for many years in Africa- and it was his experience of working in tourism, the media and marketing that led him to see that Africa’s failure to access the online sector presented a major threat to the sustainable future of tourism.

After working as a consultant in both the public and private sector developing destination websites and online marketing campaigns he formed E-Tourism Africa, which now works across the continent, training and facilitating business for the sector through a series of training seminars and conferences in partnership with corporate partners including VISA, Expedia, Safaricom, Vodacom, Microsoft, Google, Trip Advisor and many more.

E-Tourism Africa has successfully trained over 2000 tourism professionals, small to medium businesses and tourism students and has brought leading International experts and major travel firms and intermediaries to Africa to do business for the first time. In 2009 they worked with South African Tourism to hold an online tourism training seminar series at the Indaba Tourism Fair in Durban.

In 2010 E-Tourism Frontiers is now taking the same practical, business driven approach to assist emerging markets around the world.

Damian has made presentations to numerous international forums, including the World Information Summit in Tunis, the Global Experts Panel on E-Tourism, ITB in Berlin, the IFITT ENTER conference, and Euromoney Africa, as well as Tourism Stakeholder roadshows through the United States and Presidential inward investment and tourism presentations in China, Japan and Thailand.

Walter Lo Faro

Walter Lo Faro brings more than 17 years experience in the travel industry to his role at Expedia, Inc. as Director of Market Management for Middle East and Indian Ocean region.

Based in Dubai, Walter is responsible for helping lodging supply partners manage their distribution and marketing strategies across Expedia's global marketplace of leading online travel sites worldwide.

Walter brings proven experience in developing both mature and emerging markets, and delivers Expedia supply partners a deep expertise in adapting the online business model in Europe, the Middle East and Indian Ocean.

Jerome Touze,

Jerome is the Co-founder & Co-CEO of WAYN.com the world's largest travel and lifestyle focused social networking community website. The site operates in 193 countries and membership has grown from 45,000 users in March 2005 to over 15 million today.

WAYN allows its members to keep track of their friends' whereabouts and make new friends based on where they are now, where they have been and where they’re going. Top services on wayn.com include travel guide and trip planning tools, unlimited photo and video storage; interaction tools such as email, international SMS, instant messenger and forums. WAYN have recently announced the launch onto a mobile platform plus have introduced a variety of travel tools to the site including WAYN travel insurance, Global SIM card, and a mobile translator for members

Jerome has been deeply involved in the latest Web 2.0 technologies and gained invaluable insights into the various means online businesses are emphasizing on their brand awareness and developing a strong user base by using the so called “Self Generated Content Strategies”.

Jerome was also an “Enterprising Young Brits” Finalist as Business Entrepreneur of the Year; a “Young Gun”, class of 2007 according to Growing Business Magazine and Commended for Entrepreneur of the Year 2008 at the UK Technology Innovation and Growth Awards. More recently Jerome was a finalist at the Ernst & Young London Entrepreneur of the Year Awards.

Andres Boelskifte Mogensen,

Anders is an expert on e-tourism and a founder and partner of Seismonaut- a strategic innovation and concept consultancy with a vision of helping clients navigate digital technologies and new media.

He was born and raised in West Africa and has a committed interest in the power of technology to enrich business and social development in the developing world. Anders has a thorough knowledge of how new media is impacting business practices in the travel industry. Having worked with a large number of clients within this field, he has developed a strong sense of how best to equip organizations with an understanding of the resources and knowledge needed to adapt to and succeed in a rapidly changing online market place.

Anders approaches challenges with a simple, yet effective four-step innovation process that guides the project from the mapping of opportunities to creating ideas, shaping concepts and building solutions.
He has worked with a large number of high profile companies, organizations and tourism destinations across Europe. He developed ‘48 hours in Denmark’ an innovative strategy to create and then track and new media tourism content

Helena Egan

Helena Egan joined TripAdvisor in December 2008 as the first dedicated tourist board specialist in Europe after the successful launch of TripAdvisor's U.S. tourist board program.

Her key responsibilities include working with and developing relationships across tourist boards based in EMEAA. This involves designing and creating bespoke marketing opportunities on TripAdvisor’s media group Web sites and advising tourist boards on how they can become part of the Web 2.0 travel experience.

Helena brings over 13 years of experience in the travel and tourism industry. She joined TripAdvisor from Travel Weekly, U.S. and has also worked for Visit Britain and numerous cruise lines. For the past 10 years she has lived in London, and prior to that, in six countries across Europe and in the U.S. She holds a MA from the University of Helsinki.

Workshop dates and locations

Amman Workshops:

Program	Time	Day/Date	Venue
Hotels, accommodation service providers and trade associations workshop	9:00 – 17:00	Monday 19 July	Landmark Hotel, Amman
Tour operators, destination management organizations, tourism service providers and trade associations workshop	9:00 – 17:00	Tuesday 20 July	Landmark Hotel, Amman
30-minute one-on-one meetings with E-Tourism Frontiers for all tourism entities to be requested in advance	9:00 – 17:00	Wednesday 21, July	Siyaha Offices, Amman

Petra Workshops:

Program	Time	Day/Date	Venue
Hotels, accommodation service providers and trade associations workshop	9:00 – 17:00	Saturday 24 July	Moevenpick Hotel, Petra
Tour operators, destination management organizations, tourism service providers and trade associations workshop	9:00 – 17:00	Sunday 25 July	Moevenpick Hotel, Petra
30-minute one-on-one meetings with E-Tourism Frontiers for all tourism entities to be requested in advance	9:00 – 17:00	Monday 26, July	Moevenpick Hotel, Petra

Aqaba Workshops:

Program	Time	Day/Date	Venue
Hotels, accommodation service providers and trade associations workshop	9:00 – 17:00	Wednesday 28 July	Moevenpick Tala Bay Resort, Aqaba
Tour operators, destination management organizations, tourism service providers and trade association workshop	9:00 – 17:00	Thursday 29 July	Moevenpick Tala Bay Resort, Aqaba
30-minute one-on-one meetings with E-Tourism Frontiers for all tourism entities to be requested in advance	9:00 – 17:00	Saturday 31 July	Moevenpick Tala Bay Resort, Aqaba

Training Workshop: Hotels, Accommodation Service Providers and Trade Associations Workshop

eTourism in Theory and Practice 9:00 – 9:30

The role of technology, specifically the internet, e-commerce and social media, has completely revolutionized the way travel is marketed, researched and distributed globally- and to succeed in this space requires an entirely new approach to product, marketing and management.

This opening session focuses on the critical understandings and concepts to be grasped by emerging markets as they move into the online tourism arena

eMarketing Strategy 9:30 – 10:00

Businesses need to rethink their approach to both management and marketing- and this session will demonstrate the development of a business plan that will strategically and appropriately implement progressive change, re-investment and human resource development- as well as targeting and structuring e-marketing.

Web Design, Content and Management 10:00 – 10:30

Websites reman a critical tool for at tourism business, but their role is changing dramatically. In this session we will identify key ingredients for a successful site- addressing quality and usability, accessibility, ease of use and visibility in search terms. We will also discuss who should manage a website and how- and for those who already have sites- assess whether they need to expand or redevelop.

Web Analytics and Conversion Optimization 10:30 – 11:00

This session looks at the importance of web analytics and how a business needs to track and analyse their user data. We will run through some analytics tools- and show how to measure monitor and manage user data- and to utilize the results to adapt and evolve business and marketing strategies.

Coffee Break 11:00 - 11:30

Online Security 11:30 – 12:00

Doing business online opens risks and challenges. This session focuses on ensuring your online business is secured and safe from fraud, and looks at the legal requirements and recommendations for capturing and managing personal data. Advice will be given for avoiding fraud and securing your business environment and we will learn about phishing, SPAM traps and new dangers from social media.

Search Engine Marketing 12:00 – 12:30

High search engine rankings are extremely important when it comes to visibility of yoru online presence and content . This session explains the inner workings of search engines and how search engine optimisation (SEO) works. We explain the pitfalls and dangers of some popular SEO ‘tricks’ and look at the pros and cons of Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising and walk through setting up and managing a PPC campaign.

The Generation Gap- Encouraging User Generated Content 12:30 – 1:00

User Generated Content (UGC) is a popular buzzword in online marketing-particularly in tourism, where user generated reviews, blogs, images and video play a crucial role in the referral and marketing chain. But what happens when your users don’t generate any useful content?

This session focuses on addressing this fundamental issue- how to encourage your clients to generate useful content, write reviews, publish and share their experiences, pictures and video- and how you can best access and assist to be sure that this content works for you and drives traffic, business and conversions. Practical examples will be given of appropriate, simple ways you can encourage clients to generate and share content and increase your likelihood of positive reviews and referrals.

LUNCH 1:00 – 2:00

Database and Email Marketing 1:00 – 2:30

Direct e-marketing means engaging with individual users and groups of users- and this presents a real challenge for a business in terms of capacity. This session look at the development and management of client databases and how to market directly through them. We will look at the changing dynamics and challenges of email marketing and Client Relationship Management (CRM)- and how to use newsletters, promotional offers and direct communication effectively and avoid becoming a spammer.

Blogging and Tourism 2:30 – 3:00

Blogs play a critical factor in the growing world of user generated content, but also in online opinion and thought leadership. As a business your challenge is to create a blog that people will read, use and share- which means creating interesting content, and developing relationships with reader that deliver value and profit. This session will include a practical walk through of the Word Press blogging system.

Facebook & Tourism 3:00 – 3:30

This session takes a look at successful Facebook sites and programs for Tourism Businesses. We will look at the importance of creating a professional corporate presence and how it can be used to develop business and consumer relations, publicize your business, special events and special deals and offers. We will also show you how to develop content and share and publish it via Facebook, and how to be sure that you develop and manage the right network of contacts and friends.

Twitter & Tourism 3:30 – 4:00

Twitter is a remarkable real-time microblogging tool that offers the Tourism business direct and rapid access to networking, partnerships and publication of content and an excellent way to measure and monitor online discussions of destinations and products. This session will provide a walk through of setting up and managing a Twitter account and how to use lists, retweets, hash tags, trends, mini-URLs and follower groups to make Tweeting an effective promotional tool.

Coffee Break 4:00 - 4:30

Managing Multimedia 4:30 – 5:00

Many people are daunted by the idea of producing, managing and publishing multimedia- yet a wide array of low cost, easy to use practical tools are available to allow you to do just this. Using a laptop, camera and some CDs- this live demo session demonstrates in real-time how to create, edit, manage and publish images and video in web-optimized formats- all in a matter of minutes.

The Wrap Up 5:00

The final session we summarize the two-day training into a simple step-by-step strategy for change- then opens the floor for questions, discussion and advice.

We will then create a local support structure via social media to continue the support, discussion and advice online.

Web Clinics

After the event- attendees may send their website addresses to a provided email address and receive a professional evaluation of the site, contents and features- based on the training agenda, with advice and directions for improvement.

Training Workshop: Tour Operators, Destination Management Organizations, Tourism Service Providers and Trade Association Workshop

eTourism in Theory and Practice 9:00 – 9:30

This opening session focuses on the critical understandings and concepts to be grasped by emerging markets as they move into the online tourism arena.

eMarketing Strategy 9:30 – 10:00

Web Design, Content and Management 10:00 – 10:30

Websites remain a critical tool for at tourism business, but their role is changing dramatically. In this session we will identify key ingredients for a successful site- addressing quality and usability, accessibility, ease of use and visibility in search terms. We will also discuss who should manage a website and how- and for those who already have sites- assess whether they need to expand or redevelop.

Web Analytics and Conversion Optimization 10:30 – 11:00

Coffee Break 11:00 – 11:30

Online Security 11:30 – 12:00

Search Engine Marketing 12:00 – 12:30

High search engine rankings are extremely important when it comes to visibility of your online presence and content. This session explains the inner workings of search engines and how search engine optimisation (SEO) works. We explain the pitfalls and dangers of some popular SEO ‘tricks’ and look at the pros and cons of Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising and walk through setting up and managing a PPC campaign.