The Premier Industry Event for Active & Adventure Travel Trade	Updated 8/21/06 ATPRO 2006 Session Descriptions FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 8: 8:30am – 9:30am Opening Keynote: The Adventure Travel Revolution: Opportunities and Challenges Francis X. Farrell, Publisher, National Geographic ADVENTURE magazine (Introduction by John Golicz) Fran Farrell, publisher of award-winning National Geographic ADVENTURE magazine, will provide a unique insight into the rapid growth of adventure travel and the opportunities and challenges it presents for various stake holders in the travel industry. Farrell will discuss how market growth, environmental sensitivity, availability of internet based information and a proliferation of travel options have changed the way adventure travel is bought and sold. The business outlook for destinations, travel agents and outfitters that actively manage the way broader trends impact their individual business goals for adventure travel has never looked stronger. 9:45am – 11:00am The Future of Adventure Travel: A 100 Billion Dollar Industry in Search of an Identity Moderator: Costas Christ, President, the Adventure Council; ATPRO Symposium Chairman Panel: Yiannis Skevis, President, Aegean Adventures Richard G. Edwards, Executive Director, Trusted Adventures Nadia Le Bon, Director of Special Programs, Mountain Travel Sobek Alexander Souri, President, Relief Riders International Hitesh Mehta, Director of Ecotourism, E.D.S.A. Adventure travel used to be a term reserved for scaling Mount Everest or an exploratory rafting expedition down the Zambezi River. Today adventure is used to describe an array of travel experiences from culinary tours to luxury wildlife safaris. Is there a risk that adventure travel is losing its identity and becoming a just mainstream marketing slogan? Is there a difference between an adventure destination and destination that offers adventure? Is all travel an adventure? These are precisely the questions that the travel and tourism industry is struggling with as more and more travelers seek out active experiences in more far flung corners of the globe for their holidays.  Listen in on this lively discussion including some of the top experts in adventure travel today. 11:15am – 12:30pm Staying Ahead of the Curve: Harnessing Innovation and Information Technology for More Effective Marketing and Sales Moderator: John Canning, Yahoo! Media Group Panel: James O’Leonard, CEO, Peak 15 Amber Hayes, CEO, Adventure Engine Robert Hirsch, President, Adventure Central Evan Wood, President, JumpWood Marketing Our increasingly "wired world" has forever changed how travel consumers make buying decisions. Most are seeking information "on demand" - and are looking for more complete details in order to quickly determine what trips they will buy.  This session, moderated by John Canning of Yahoo! Travel Media Group and including a panel of information technology and adventure travel experts, will examine the importance and variety of technology options available, to fully maximize the way you market in order to grow your business and compete in today's fast changing world of technology-enabled travel and tourism. 12:30pm – 1:30pm Luncheon Keynote: How Responsible Tourism is Transforming the Adventure Travel Industry Costas Christ, President, the Adventure Council; ATPRO Symposium Chairman (Introduction by Fairmont Hotels) In the past 50 years, travel and tourism have increased by more than 3000 percent to an unprecedented 270 billion international tourists in 2005. At the same time, adventure and nature travel remain at the forefront of the growing tourism industry. It is in this context that ecotourism emerged as an organized movement in the early 1990s to mitigate the threat from poorly planned tourism development and quickly grew into a global campaign for responsible tourism practices that is now transforming the travel and tourism industry. In this keynote, ecotourism pioneer and international sustainable tourism expert, Costas Christ, will help you to better understand what responsible tourism is and what its means to you and your business.   1:45pm – 2:45pm Destination Success Stories: How States, Regions and Countries are Positioning Themselves in the Expanding Active and Adventure Travel Market Moderator: Vincent Vanderpool-Wallace, Secretary General, Caribbean Tourism Organization Panel: Edward Bergman, Executive Director, Africa Travel Association Yiannis Skevis, President, Aegean Adventures Francis X. Farrell, Publisher, National Geographic ADVENTURE magazine David Brown, Executive Director, America Outdoors As tour operators and travel agents provide active and adventure travelers with more and more options to explore the remote corners of the world, issues of health, safety and insurance liability have also increased. This session, including top experts in the field of travel safety and insurance liability, will provide a sweeping overview of the challenges and strategies for managing risk as an adventure tour operator while also offering new information and recommendations to minimize liability. 3:00pm – 4:00pm Preparing for the Unknown: Health, Safety, Security and Risk Management for Adventure Travel Outfitters Moderator: Jim Sano, CEO, Geographic Expeditions Panel: Nadia Le Bon, Director of Special Programs, Mountain Travel Sobek Tom Zavadsky, Executive Vice President, Travel Guard Greg Takehara, Vice President - Claims, The Berkely Group 4:15pm – 5:30pm The Changing Value Proposition for Travel Agents: How to Effectively Sell Adventure Travel in a Changing Marketplace Moderator: Kathy Sudeikis, President, American Society of Travel Agents Panel: Edward Bergman, Executive Director, Africa Travel Association John Golicz, CEO, Adventures in Travel Expo Kathy Moyer Dragon, Founder, The Dragon’s Path; Active Women.com Ange Wallace, Virtuoso Richard Weiss, Principal, Strategic Travel Consulting With the advent of online booking, more adventure tour operators selling directly to travel consumers and the huge growth in active and adventure travel in recent years, how can travel agents learn to capture a larger share of this market? What are the tactics of being a successful adventure travel agent and what are the challenges of dealing with increasingly sophisticated travel consumers who research their trip in advance and then turn to a travel agent to deliver the vacation of a lifetime. Moderated by Kathy Sudeikis, CTC and President of ASTA, this dynamic session will explore the potential of increasing your business by tapping into the expanding market for active and adventure travel. SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 9: 8:30am – 9:30am Experiential Marketing: Moving Beyond FAM Trips Industry Experts: Jill Birkett, Vice President, Adventures in Travel Expo Richard Weiss, Principal, Strategic Travel Consulting Evan Wood, President, JumpWood Marketing In this new age of seeking experiences to collect instead of objects, consumers are seeking life-enhancing experiences. Your marketing efforts should reflect that goal. How can you provide experiences to those who partner with you in selling your destination/services or to the consumers who seek information about your destination or services? How do you go beyond the FAM trip and the brochure? Plan to share your ideas while developing some new plans involving experiential marketing. Selling to Special Interests: Women’s Travel, Culinary Tourism, Family Adventures and other Growing Niche Markets Industry Experts: Yiannis Skevis, President, Aegean Adventures Kathy Moyer Dragon, Founder, The Dragon’s Path; Active Women.com Statistics point to women as the top travel decision makers and trip organizers, the Food Network has helped propel culinary travel into a huge niche market and tour operators are now specialized in providing custom family adventures for intergeneration clans that span ages from eighty to eight years old. Learn about these and other niche market travel opportunities in this round table discussion with industry experts that have their fingers on the pulse of trends and developments. Travel Philanthropy, Sustainable Tourism and the Creative Economy: Taking it to the Next Level Industry Experts: Brian Mullis, President, Sustainable Travel International Cristina Suhr, Marketing Specialist, Rainforest Alliance Costas Christ, President, the Adventure Council; ATPRO Symposium Chairman The baby boomer generation has given rise to the new Creative Economy that has made organic foods a routine item in grocery stores across America, led to the expanding market in fuel efficient vehicles and gave birth to the concept of "Green Travel". Learn about how tour operators and travel agents are tapping into the creative economy by offering ways for travelers to give back to the destinations they visit while supporting sustainable tourism practices. What’s Hot in Adventure Travel: Emerging Trends and New Destinations Industry Experts: Edward Bergman, Executive Director, Africa Travel Association Keith Sproule, Consultant; Former Chairman of the Board, The International Ecotourism Society David Brown, Executive Director, America Outdoors Established travel destinations like Greece, India and the USA are all pursuing the expanding adventure travel market with an array of new active travel experiences to offer. Other countries are also working to appeal more to the affluent adventure traveler while new destinations are fast emerging from Gabon, in West Africa to Oman in the Middle East. Learn about these and other trends in travel from the experts who are helping to make it happen. 9:45am – 12:45am Shared Keynote Workshop: Succeeding in Any Economy Peter Montoya, National Marketing Icon; Author, The Brand Called You Peter Montoya is the author of The Brand Called You, the publisher of Personal Branding magazine, and the real leader of the Personal Branding revolution, which is turning thousands of entrepreneurs and professionals into master marketers. Learn how to shape the perceptions people have about you. Think Oprah, think Michael Jordan, think Madonna. They realized early in their careers that talent alone would not take them to the top of their fields. So they created and promoted unique Personal Brands. You can too! Whether you are a travel agent, supplier, student, or teacher, you will benefit from this session and learn how to create a system for your own personal success. Peter Montoya has taught thousands how to focus and create a step-by-step process that details every critical aspect of business development, including Specialization, Identity and Prospecting. Gain a new, laser-like focus, and learn how to vastly increase your sales, marketing and operational effectiveness and succeed in any economy! "Succeeding in Any Economy" Seminar Outline What is Personal Branding? • Sales, Marketing & Branding—What’s the Difference? • Branding is Concrete, Not Concept • Everything in Your Business Is Branding Specialization Learn how to attract only lucrative, pre-qualified clients – and how to ward off the unqualified, time-consuming, life-draining ones. • Target Marketing • Define Your Products & Services • Develop Your Business Model Writing Your One Year Marketing Plan Create a surefire system that turns leads into prospects, prospects into clients, and clients into raving fans – with mountains of referrals. • Objectives • Goals • Strategies • Tactics • Key Indicators • Marketing Timetable Marketing Channels • 21 Marketing Channels • Making the Most of All Your Channels Web Sites • Why You MUST Have a Website • 5 Keys to an Effective Web Presence • Good Design Builds Credibility • How to Promote Your Site             Direct Mail • Why Direct Mail? • Common Direct Mail Mistakes • Personal Postcards, Newsletters & Sales Letters • Mailing Strategies • Building a Client Database • Using Direct Mail to Build a Referral Business