LA Best In Show

SCHEDULE

October 1 – 14, 2008 – featuring 5 one-hour webinars of the LA Convention’s best-rated educational sessions (see schedule below). 

Time: 12-1 pm ET

Schedule of Events

Wednesday, Oct 1:        Data for Decision Support

Thursday, Oct 2:            Negotiation

Tuesday, Oct 7:             Global Agency RFPs

Thursday, Oct 9:            Cultural Competence

Tuesday, Oct 14:           Procure-to-Pay

PROGRAMS

1. Wednesday, October 1: Data for Decision Support
Compiling travel data from disparate sources (e-folio, air, card, agency) is only half the battle—it’s applying data in support of strategic decision making that is key.  This session will explore how to analyze and best utilize benchmarking data in order to:

  • Assess data sources
  • Streamline decision-making
  • Integrate travel compliance and travel data
  • Evaluate innovative solutions on the horizon

Moderator:
Alan Minton, Vice President, Marketing & Customer Solutions, Cornerstone Information Systems

Presenters:
John Cornetta, Vice President, Strategic Sourcing, AllianceBernstein
Fred Fredericks, Director of Travel Technology, Concur
Jesal Meswani, Vice President and Senior Business Leader, Global Commercial Products, MasterCard Worldwide
Mary Straub, North America Travel Manager, Siemens

 

2. Thursday, October 2: Negotiation

In an uncertain economy with rising prices and fares, creating win-win deals with your suppliers or persuading senior management to invest more resources in your program can be challenging—at best.  This session will help you strengthen your relationships while negotiating in any situation and explore: 

  • Seven influences to persuasion and how they affect a negotiation
  • Keys to long-lasting relationships that will generate the respect you want
  • How to structure your messages to create the changes you want—immediately! 

Presenter:
Jeffrey Hansler, Author of Sell Little Red Hen!  Sell!

 

3. Tuesday, October 7: Global Agency RFPs

No relationship is arguably more central to your success in travel management than the one with your travel management company.  This session will introduce creative aspects of RFP development and assessment.  Case study presentations from travel buyers will elaborate on how to: 

  • Understand your own business requirements
  • Partner with Procurement
  • Balance service, technology and costs in the selection process
  • Successfully transition from sales to operations

Presenters:
Donna LaBarge, Director of Global Travel, Yahoo!
Paul Lang, Manager, Travel Services, Bayer Corporate & Business Services

 

4. Thursday, October 9: Cultural Competence

Presented by Business for Diplomatic Action

Today’s global business environment poses new challenges for U.S. corporations and their global operations.  This session will provide an introduction to GLOBE: Global Leadership and Organizational Behavioral Effectiveness, a research program covering 62 countries, based on in-depth interviews and surveys of over 17,000 business executives and offer attendees new insights on how to: 

  • Address the deteriorating reputation of the U.S. in the world
  • Build effective global teams
  • Understand varying cultural approaches to technology usage, purchasing habits and communication

Presenter:
Thomas A. Miller, Vice President, Business for Diplomatic Action

 

5. Tuesday, October 14: Procure-to-Pay Best Practices

Today’s businesses can realize significant cost savings through optimization of travel expense management and procurement processes.  This session will draw from recent research conducted by Deloitte Consulting identifying more than 60 current procure-to-pay best practices, specific cost savings resulting from best practice implementation and actual end-user examples, highlighting trends in:

  • Procure-to-pay strategy as defined by overall procurement strategy, organization and technology
  • Management of commercial card programs, including purchasing cards, T&E corporate cards and fleet cards
  • Emerging issues such as globalization, integration of e-payments, and green initiatives

Moderator:
Christopher Juneau, CTE, EMEA Product Marketing Director, Concur

Presenters:
Rick Smith, Senior Vice President, Strategic Sourcing, Paramount
Jennifer Steinmann, Principal, Deloitte Consulting

ABOUT THE “LA: BEST IN SHOW” NETSMART SERIES
Featuring 5 of the top-rates sessions from the recent NBTA International Convention & Expo in Los Angeles, the LA: Best In Show NetSmart series is your chance to experience some of the great sessions you may have missed. Conducted live via webcast, you’ll have the opportunity to gain new insights that will improve your own job performance as well as ask questions of our top-rated presenters.

Register today.