Elevating the Business of Travel at the GBTA Convention

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Parent Category: Expos and Conventions

Category: Previews

Published on Sunday, 21 August 2011 18:18

Written by Brad Balfour

The 2011 Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) Convention takes the business of travel to new heights in the mile-high city of Denver this Aug 21 - 25, 2011. Held in the Downtown Denver Convention Center, this conference offers thousands of business travel buyers cost-effective solutions to the many industry challenges in this world of shifting economic sands.

The GBTA is the world’s premier business travel and meetings organization. Collectively, GBTA’s 5,000-plus members manage over $340 billion of global business travel and meetings expenditures annually. It provides its network of 17,000 business and government travel and meetings managers, as well as travel service providers, with networking events, news, education & professional development, research, and advocacy.

As "The Business Travel Event of the Year" the GBTA provides ample information for professional travel managers and their clients to advance travel programs, including the latest on travel technologies, new sourcing strategies and emerging industry trends.

Of special note is the remarkable line-up of keynote speakers:

• Monday, August 22: Henry M. Paulson, Jr.
• Tuesday, August 23: Meg Whitman
• Wednesday, August 24: Sean Penn

In addition, the GBTA's lineup of highly accomplished speakers will provide insight and advice to enhance a company's bottom line. Learn from company leaders in four separate featured presentations:

• LIVE with GBTA — The World’s Largest Airline and What’s Next in Travel Security
• The Airline CEO Panel
• Travel Value Chain Panel
• The Mavericks of Business CEO Panel

This year, advanced planning tools are available for all attendees to target and communicate with colleagues and prospects more easily, making the Convention experience more efficient and manageable. More than 400 companies can be found on the Expo floor to learn firsthand how this myriad of products and services can help companies achieve their goals.

GBTA’s large trade show offers market choices not available at other industry gatherings. And, for the second year in a row, the Expo floor will feature the Business Traveler Innovation Awards sponsored by The Wall Street Journal, which will honor innovative ideas, products or services that make life on the road easier.

The latest trends on cutting-edge industry topics will be discussed at more than 70 education sessions, divided into tracks to maximize the learning experience. The conference offers professional development opportunities that allow traveler managers to maintain a competitive edge critical to success.

A wide selection of professional development opportunities are offered even before the full Convention begins on Saturday, Aug. 20. Information sessions include a Financial Modeling for Travel Managers and the Travel Procurement Workshop.

The convention also offers planning tools, available to all attendees, to make things more manageable such as a Convention Mobile App that can be can be synched up to your Outlook calendar. With these tools, scheduling -- from seeing exhibitors on the show floor to education sessions and events to attend -- can be more efficient.

Travel management is a specialized business that balances employee needs with corporate goals, financial and otherwise. Good travel management ensures cost tracking and control, facilitates adherence to corporate travel policies, realizes savings through negotiated discounts, and serves as a valuable information center for employees and managers in times when travel is not as smooth and carefree as it used to be.

The economic downturn has allowed travel managers to take a front and center role within their companies and has made travel management, as a profession, an important part of every top executive’s strategic planning. In many cases, travel managers have been asked to lead company-wide efforts to cut travel costs, track those savings and report them back to senior management.  

But travel management is still misunderstood and undervalued by some corporations today. Therefore, the role of business travel within the corporate structure must be placed in proper context so that its value can be measured and appreciated.The annual GBTA Convention is the place to discover all this and more.

For advance registration online go to: http://www.gbta.org/convention/2011/Registration/Pages/default.aspx

To register on site got to Lobby B of the Convention Center.

Onsite registration desk hours are:  

• Saturday, August 20 8:00 am – 5:00 pm
• Sunday, August 21 8:00 am – 5:30 pm
• Monday, August 22 7:00 am – 6:00 pm
• Tuesday, August 23 8:00 am – 5:30 pm
• Wednesday, August 24 8:30 am – 2:00 pm
  

Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) Convention
Aug 21 - 25, 2011
Denver Convention Center
700 14th Street
Denver, CO 80202
(303) 228-8000

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