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On the Road to Success with CWT
Do more. Try something. Make it count.
Those were just some of the key messages that helped kick off Calson Wagonlit Travel’s annual conference, the Road Map to Success, this week at the Grand Velas Riviera Maya, a sprawling luxury resort nestled in the Yucatan jungle, situated along Mexico’s sandy Caribbean coast, located about five minutes from downtown Playa del Carmen.
“The next three days are going to be performative, inspirational and interactive,” said Jocelyn Faucher, director of Canada’s Associate Program at Carlson Wagonlit Travel (CWT), Tuesday morning in the Grand Velas Ballroom in her opening remarks to nearly 100 conference attendees, which consisted of travel suppliers, account directors, marketers and top-selling agents.
With detailed business sessions, a trade show, signature cocktail and dinner parties and a series of keynote speakers, the jam-packed week was not only designed to shed light on the latest industry trends, but to also offer expert insight on how to motivate and inspire clients to fulfill their travel dreams.
“Everyone, everywhere has a dream to explore…a thirst for excitement,” said travel author, blogger and global adventurer Robin Esrock, Tuesday morning’s keynote speaker. “They’re looking for stories to tell, and re-tell with pride and gusto.”
Stories shape experiences, Esrock emphasized, drawing upon his own life as a former music industry professional who once dreamt about seeing the world but, in reality, wasn’t going anywhere. It wasn’t until Esrock received a $20,000 insurance settlement after being struck down on his bike at an intersection in downtown Vancouver that he took the biggest risk of his life — putting down his credit card and booking a 12-month solo trip around the world.
As he documented his wild adventures around the globe in a series of online entries, photos, reviews and videos, Esrock soon became a highly-respected interactive travel journalist, exploring more than 100 countries, sharing his stories in publications around the world, and pioneering a new form of storytelling across multiple platforms.
“Our business inspires and enables people to find and enjoy experiences that enrich their lives,” Esrock told conference attendees. “We don’t fix them like doctors, we don’t complicate them like lawyers. We don’t manufacture stuff in China.” And for travel professionals, sharing a good story can be the first step in changing a client’s life.
“Stories shape experiences,” said Esrock, whose travel stories are the focal point on his own television show, Word Travels, and appear in his bestselling book The Great Canadian Bucket List.
The importance of sharing a good story was also reinforced by Steve Waugh, director of account service at Giants & Gentlemen Advertising, who spoke about the ways social media is shaping, and continuously re-shaping, the travel industry.
“One billion…this is the currency we need to speak in when thinking about social media,” said Waugh, referring to the billions of dollars which interactive applications, like Facebook, Tumblr, Snapchat and Waze, have been valued at in recent years.
Conference attendees eagerly downloaded apps at their tables as Waugh touched on the latest tech tools that can help travel professionals, such as the Periscope app, which allows users to see the world through the lens of another person’s phone.
Day one of the Road Map to Success conference offered ample opportunities to share moments on social media, an activity some attendees had already put into practice the night before at a beach bash hosted by Air Canada and Air Canada Vacations. With a strict dress code of red and white, the welcome soirée on the Grand Velas’ Ambassador beachfront treated guests to a buffet of mouthwatering dishes, such as grouper fillet covered with black olives tapenade dipped in walnut oil, and artisan desserts that left many attendees swooning for seconds.
Not long before the lounge beats faded out and the Pitbull remixes bounced in, agents, suppliers and account directors gathered on the dance floor, which was built directly on the white sandy beach, and busted a move under a starry sky before responsibly retiring to their suites by 11 p.m.
PAX will be on location all week documenting Carlson Wagonlit Travel’s Road Map to Success conference. You can follow along with attendees on Twitter and Instagram by searching the event's official hashtag #CWT15GrandVelasRivieraMaya.
PHOTO: Colin Skerritt, manager - global sales, Air Canada; Una O'Leary, senior director - marketing and supplier management, North American Leisure, Carlson Wagonlit Travel; Tracey Bellamy, director - global accounts, Air Canada; Louise Gardiner, senior director - North America operations and product solutions, Carlson Wagonlit Travel; Amr Younes, vice-president of sales, Air Canada Vacations; Monique Lalonde, general manager - sales, national accounts, Air Canada Vacations.