I was honored when asked to moderate the The Individualization of Travel panel at the ITB Berlin Convention. Dr. Roland Conrady, Dean of Tourism and Travel at the University of Applied Sciences Worms served as Scientific Director of the ITB Berlin Convention and was instrumental in selecting the topic and assembling the panel.
photo credit: atlasphereChallenge for the travel industry: Identify the perfect travel experience to sell this unique individual
Representatives from a global airline, social travel community website, digital agency, study tour operator, and travel technology start-up comprised then panel.
Presiding over ITB Convention Marketing and Distribution Day was Yeoh Siew Hoon, Producer of Web in Travel. Siew Hoon immediately engaged the audience in fluent German.
The ITB Berlin Convention features excellent simultaneous translation, benefiting not only the audience, but the dynamics of the panel itself. I could pose a question in English and the panelists were free to respond in German. Initially, there was no headset placed for me on stage, so I am purely assuming that Uwe Frers provided an eloquent and insightful response in German to my first question… (A headset was delivered to the stage very quickly.)
For individuals wearing headsets, the conversation seamlessly transitioned to sustain the conversation in their native language. I understand my German voice had a delightful female tone and pleasant intonation. My guess is that it was a considerable improvement over my English voice.
What follows is the text of my introduction to the session, including the introduction of the panelists and their backgrounds: continue reading →
