Travel Industry

PhocusWright 2008, The Perfect Storm

UpTake was selected to participate in the Travel Innovation Summit (TIS) at the PhocusWright Conference 2008 in Hollywood next week.  We were invited to give a 5 minute presentation on Monday, November 17 along with 32 other rising stars in the online travel industry. The six winners of TIS will present their product on Center Stage on Thursday, November 20, 2008 to the conference attendees, many of them leaders in the travel industry.

The selection process is a cross between the People’s Choice Awards and the Emmys, “the influential audience of professionals focused on travel judges the innovators real-time, sending six finalists to Center Stage.”  The expert audience votes, not just a panel of travel experts.  Since I have not attended before, I am curious about the process.  Will the audience choose the best product, the most dynamic speaker or a mix of both?  How do the conference managers handle audience burn-out after either the 20th, 25th or 29th travel companies make similar presentation? More on that during the conference itself….

During the next few days, I will review each of the Travel Innovation Summit participants and give a brief description of who they are, the benefits they bring to the average traveler and any fresh, interesting features and benefits they offer.  I will also offer updates during the conference presentations.

This week is all about PhocusWright.