With just under six weeks to go until Europe’s dedicated event for travel technology professionals returns to London Olympia, we take a look at some of the expert sessions planned for the two-day conference and exhibition.
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Event Preview: More than 60 expert sessions await at this year’s Travel Technology Europe
With just under six weeks to go until Europe’s dedicated event for travel technology professionals returns to London Olympia, we take a look at some of the expert sessions planned for the two-day conference and exhibition.
Hitting hot topics such as digital transformation, personalisation, and user experience head on, this year’s speakers hail from all areas of the industry and will be sharing their expertise across 42 hours of education and insight.
Business transformation sessions
Is 2020 the year for AI in travel?: Day 1, 10.00-10.40
In the first of three keynote sessions to be held across the two days, IBM’s European Leader of Industry and Cognitive Solutions, Thierry Gnych, will be asking ‘Is 2020 the year for AI in travel?’, as companies embrace machine learning and other AI technologies.
His session will focus on how to harness the power of cognitive, analytics, blockchain and the Internet of Things (IOT) in the transportation and travel industries.
Killing off legacy tech the right way: Day 1, 15.00-15.40
Travel companies are often held back by the systems they have used for years and fear the thought of change. Hear from those who have overcome that fear and learn how they migrated to a bright, shiny new stack of tech.
In this session, Holiday Extra’s associate director of technology, Simon Wood, will be sharing his personal insights from replacing legacy tech over the years, and how transformation teams can reduce risk whilst moving faster.
New technology sessions
Becoming a search superstar: Day 1, 10.00-10.40
Chris Goodall, Director of tech consultancy firm CG Consultancy (UK) Limited, discusses what travel businesses can do to make users happier with search. Is it about better SEO or is that ‘dark art’ finally dead? Does future online success rely on adopting voice or AI in search tools or is there something more fundamental we should be doing?
Milliseconds make millions: how your site speed impacts your business: Day 2, 12.00-12.40
Join Google’s mobile lead, Chris Anstey, as he talks about the impact of the smartphone – a technology that has given consumers the power to get exactly what they want, instantly and effortlessly.
People are now used to getting a taxi at their door in one minute or paying for a coffee with a simple tap. How can travel brands ensure their web experience is as instantaneous and smooth? That they delight users instead of wasting their time? In this session, Anstey will share how major travel brands are creating an engaging mobile experience for their users.
Personalisation sessions
Targeting your customers better through personification and converting them: Day 2, 12.00-12.40
Paul Stephen, CEO of digital agency Sagittarius looks at how travel brands can reach their potential customers at the right time with the right message in a world where privacy is under attack and where individuals are supposedly protected by GDPR.
How can existing customer data be used better to design products and processes and drive revenue? Are loyalty programmes the answer to making targeting smarter? How can we get better personalisation?
I can’t believe it’s not personalised: Day 1, 13.00-13.45
In one of the show’s popular ‘Tech Huddles’, Force25’s James Skellington addresses some of the specific challenges facing travel when it comes to personalisation, as well as what the sector can learn from other industries.
He’ll discuss how, in a competitive marketplace where price and value seem to be moving further apart, brands have an opportunity to provide an enhanced and more personalised customer experience to differentiate themselves.
An addition to this year’s event, which takes place at the same time as the Business Travel Show, is a dedicated session on business travel technology. Speakers from AirGateway, TravelPerk and FCM/Flight Centre Corporate will be sharing insights on the changing world of travel tech.
They’ll discuss new tools such as rebooking technology and chatbots which are becoming more popular as well as IATA’s targets for 21 major airlines to carry out 20% of their transactions over an NDC API by the end of this year.
Tickets to the show give visitors free entry to both Travel Technology Europe and the Business Travel Show, taking place at London Olympia on the 26th and 27th February 2020. Register online here
