NTA Events Blog
Keep up-to-date with event information, deadlines and exciting news. Prior to Convention and MONTAGE, our event chairs will blog weekly about the event.
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MONTAGE has a 5-to-1 buyer-seller ratio. It boasts attendees from 11 countries. That says it all. What seller wouldn't love to be at a conference where the buyers out-number the sellers by a ratio of 5 to1? That alone is a remarkable opportunity!
When you couple it with the fact that they are coming from all over the world, giving sellers new exposure, it is an opportunity not to pass up. Take those two facts and then take a look at the program. You will see that the activities lend themselves to intimate opportunities to explore new business potential while strengthening existing ones. I know that at this time many of you would say that you can't afford to do this. I suggest that with this ratio and number of new buyers, it may be an opportunity you can't afford to miss!
NTA has specifically referred to MONTAGE as "no boundaries to selling. No restrictions in attendance. Just an open marketplace of international travel commerce in a city that captivates."
Realizing that there are budget restraints for most of us, NTA has offered two different levels of attendance. You can choose to attend MONTAGE and take advantage of the events, networking opportunities and classes. Or, you can also purchase a stand for the workshop and strengthen your presence. What you choose to do is up to you and your budget.
In addition, NTA has secured airfare discounts and have announced lower hotel room rates.
The final business component I would mention this week is the continuing education component-- and this is an excellent program. Knowing what education seminars cost these days, this part alone would cost more than the entire registration.
This week I wanted to touch on the business opportunity that you do not want to miss. Don't get me started about the personal enrichment MONTAGE offers...I'll save that for next week!
Hasta luego!
Larry Friedman
Nevada Commission on Tourism
lfriedman@travelnevada.com
2010 MONTAGE Chair
I am so excited about MONTAGE. As an operator, MONTAGE is an excellent way for me to meet face-to-face with some of the international operators who are interested in bringing groups to North America. Because the format of this meeting is dedicated to developing partnerships, MONTAGE is without a doubt the place for operators to be. NTA has taken a bold step in creating a meeting environment that is solely dedicated to bringing to our membership new opportunities for buying and selling on a global scale. And frankly, you cannot get this same level of opportunity anywhere else in the industry.
Right now, the Euro is a great buy, so the cost of the meeting in Seville is better now than any time in the past few years. Check out the new hotel rates being offered....what a bargain! So....time is a wastin'. Sign up as soon as possible to be on the MONTAGE "Smart Operator" List.
This great event wouldn't be possible without the generosity and help of the Tourism Office of Seville. A big thank you goes to our MONTAGE Host City for not only hosting NTA but sponsoring the Team Building Activity, Icebreaker, Thursday Evening Event, Final Dinner Gala, Leisure Activities and Arrival/Departure Transportation. To learn how you can reach 100 tour operators through a MONTAGE sponsorship, contact Melisa-Beth Rooke today! We can't wait to visit your beautiful city!
See YOU in Seville!!
Cathy Greteman
2010 NTA Chairman and CEO
The world is constantly changing and getting smaller. The way we communicated to each other five years ago has become "old school". The speed of which we communicate is IMMEDIATE.
Remember when we didn't even have a fax machine? Remember when we thought the fax machine was the end all, be all? How do we communicate globally? How do we market to a wider variety of audiences? Are you using social media at all or effectively? Do you even know if you are using it effectively?
For MONTAGE, NTA has put together an education program which filled with topics that need to be addressed by a business or destination wanting to be successful today. These topics include: "Discover the Potential of Social Media, Marketing and Branding Skills for a New Era" , "Get a Grip on Social Media: Hands On Social Media Skills" and "Customize Your Social Media Marketing Plan: Tap Into Your Creative Marketing Potential". In addition, timely topics are "Green Travel, Sustainability and ROI" and "New Rules in Sales and Customer Relations".
Business and Product Development programs will highlight both China and Africa.
To take advantage of the intimacy of this gathering, you will be able to attend sessions such as "How Can We Help Each Other and Our Businesses" and "Ask the Destination for Tour Operators".
It is a full education program while having the opportunity to share the experience with operators, destinations and suppliers- from all over the world. The education component alone justifies the cost of registration to MONTAGE!
While considering the value of the education component of MONTAGE, don't forget the Business Workshop, or tradeshow, that will be taking place. This will be specific opportunity for all the NTA member groups to get together and talk business.
Go to the website. Look at all the opportunities MONTAGE has to offer and register! Potential business partners from 10 countries have already registered for MONTAGE. Discover new product, meet new partners, connect with your overseas counterparts and experience the popular destination of Seville.
Thanks, as always, to the sponsors and host city who have enabled the registration to stay reasonable. To learn how you can reach 100 tour operators through a MONTAGE sponsorship, contact Melisa-Beth Rooke today!
Hasta luego!
Larry Friedman
Nevada Commission on Tourism
lfriedman@travelnevada.com
2010 MONTAGE Chair
Sightseeing tours have long been a part of NTA events but in Seville that will become team building exercises while experiencing the culture of Spain. The tours take on a whole new meaning both professionally and personally during MONTAGE.
Review your options and choose your tour! Please fill out the Team Building and Leisure Activity Registration Form and fax it to Lee Carter by March 10, 2010 (+1.859.226.4434).
Option 1: Conversing in the kitchen-a Spanish-style cooking class. For tour operators the professional benefit is obvious-it is experiences like this that you can build into a memorable and successful tour that clients will talk about. For DMO and Suppliers it will be an opportunity to truly interact with operators. What kitchen isn't filled with conversation and interaction? This is a hands on activity where you will work together to prepare dishes. Added bonus: eating tapas!!!
Option 2: Learn the ancient and profound art of Flamenco dancing. Can you imagine learning how to Flamenco dance and not getting to know your classmates at the same time? I am sure this team building exercise will have some light shared moments while respecting this expression of deep sentiments. Here is an opportunity to experience something new about the Spanish culture with new business associates.
Option 3: Relax after your flight to Seville in the Arab Baths. Just imagine going to the Arab Baths in Seville's Jewish quarter. Choose your favorite bath temperature during the soothing tour through three different rooms: a warm water bath at 36 degrees Celsius (tepidarium), a hot water bath at 40 degrees Celsius (caldarium), and finally a cold water bath (frigidarium) at 16 degrees Celsius. After experiencing the rooms here, how could you not smile at everyone around you?
Option 4: Shop Seville style. Survey after survey shows that shopping is the number one vacation activity and in Seville it is also important. So that you and your group can maximize your shared time, the experience here will include a guided tour so that you can also learn about the local products. These include ceramics, guitars, lace fans, embroidery and more. You have to bring back a souvenir!
Option 5: Step back in time at the Fine Arts Museum. The building is a former Mercy convent renewed in the 17th century. Beef up on your Sevillian history in the fifteen exhibition rooms full of Sevillian art from the Gothic period to the early trends of the 20th century. The museum's impressive collection of Spanish art extends from the medieval to the modern, focusing on the work of Seville School artists such as Francisco de Zurbarán, Juan de Valdés Leal and Bartolomé Esteban Murillo.
If all of that wasn't enough, we will head for the Icebreaker! Hosted by the Tourism Office of Seville, we will enjoy the Royal Alcazar Palace-the oldest Royal Palace in Europe. Can you imagine?
Don't just imagine. Go to the NTA MONTAGE website for more details on all of this AND transportation discounts.
Join me in thanking the Rhode Island Tourism Division for supporting NTA and MONTAGE through their badge holder sponsorship! NTA greatly thanks them for their dedication to the association and this event. To learn how you can reach 100 tour operators through a MONTAGE sponsorship, contact Melisa-Beth Rooke today!
Hasta luego!
Larry Friedman
Nevada Commission on Tourism
lfriedman@travelnevada.com
2010 MONTAGE Chair
I know that many suppliers and buyers would like to attend MONTAGE but are asking "How do I justify it?" or "How can I make the most of this opportunity?"
First, let's take a look at the new business potential. NTA has reached out to all its strategic partners to attend this event including NACTA and the IGLTA. They are inviting organizations such as the European Tour Operators Association, African Travel Association and Indian Association of Tour Operators. These are all organizations I want to work with. To be able to meet with all of them at one location makes this cost effective. And tour operators from 8 countries have already signed up!
To participate in the trade show, or business workshop, is another opportunity MONTAGE offers. Anyone can have a display. An operator who wants to sell to other operators, suppliers and destinations all have the opportunity to purchase booth space during the trade show/business workshop part of the event. The cost is less for NTA members. The floor is open to all.
If you have an office in Europe, you may want to let them know that you will be attending. I plan to let our office in Germany know that I will be in Europe. That way, if there are some operators who would like to meet with me more conveniently while I am in the European Union, they can register for MONTAGE and take advantage of this opportunity as well.
There are also sponsorship opportunities to get your name out there even more. As we recognize a sponsor in each blog entry, a big thank you this week to Tourisme Québec and Tourisme Montréal for their generous sponsorship! Keep an eye out for their ad in the official MONTAGE program and please join me in thanking them for their support. If you'd like to gain exposure at MONTAGE, contact Melisa-Beth Rooke today.
For more information regarding the trade show/business workshop, sponsorships and to register, please visit the NTA Web site.
Muchas gracias,
Larry Friedman
Nevada Commission on Tourism
lfriedman@travelnevada.com
2010 MONTAGE Chair
Do you remember the first time you saw a sight, such as the Coliseum or Lincoln Memorial, and being awe struck? That's how I felt the first time I saw the Palacio Real in Madrid. I remember coming around a corner on a sightseeing bus and seeing this magnificent structure surrounded by beautiful gardens and an incredible view reaching out toward Casa de Campo. You can have that same experience on the pre-MONTAGE product development trip, which starts in Madrid. Madrid is filled with exceptional architecture, historical sites, art, culture and great food! In fact, all of Spain is filled with exceptional architecture, historical sites, art, culture and great food!
In addition to Madrid, participants in the pre-tour will experience Granada and its Royal Palace, the Alhambra. You will see the Sierra Nevada mountain range - not to be confused with California and Nevada; this is the ORIGINAL! - the highest in Spain. Another stop on the way to Seville is the Albaicin, a World Heritage Site, then Cordoba. This trip will also highlight the rich Christian, Jewish and Moslem heritage of this part of Spain.
The post-tour will take you through the Western Andalucia region, which includes Huelva, Jerez and Cadiz. If you have been to the Mediterranean before, you know what a wonderful aura it has. That may sound odd but it is true! Plus, this part of the sea has a rich history. It was from here that Christopher Columbus set sale for the first time to the "Indies". And Cadiz has a history that goes back to the days of the Phoenicians.
For more details on the product development tours, visit the NTA Web site. Participation is limited and registration deadline is March 10, so register NOW!
This week's valued MONTAGE sponsor is VisitRochester - thank you for your commitment to NTA and this event! If you're interested in joining VisitRochester and promoting your message to all attending delegates through sponsorship, contact Melisa-Beth Rooke today.
Hasta luego!
Larry Friedman
Nevada Commission on Tourism
lfriedman@travelnevada.com
2010 MONTAGE Chair
This April NTA is offering all of its members a new business opportunity. For the first time ever, NTA will be producing a conference on a continent that is NOT North America! This means new business opportunities for all of our members.
With the new venue of Seville, Spain, tour operators will have the opportunity to explore an exciting destination to consider for their clients. The best way to develop and sell a tour is to know it firsthand. I would imagine that more, if not all of our operator members, have return clients who come back because they know the operators' reputation for quality. What better way to know the quality of a destination than to experience it yourself!
For DMOs and Suppliers, the new destination brings the opportunity to meet with new operators. NTA is inviting operators to this event in Spain who have not previously come to the annual conference in the United States or Canada. Plus, the buyer to supplier ratio is expected to be in the favor of those of us who attend. Take advantage of this intimate experience to develop new clients while reinforcing existing contacts.
Over the next several weeks we will be taking a look at the schedule of events including the product development trip, team building activity, business workshop, seminars, plus the icebreaker, gala dinner, sightseeing opportunities and more. Meanwhile, go to the NTA MONTAGE website for more information and to register.
This week, let's all thank Mohegan Sun for their support in being a MONTAGE sponsor! If you're interested in joining Mohegan Sun and reaching an anticipated 100 tour operators at MONTAGE, contact Melisa-Beth Rooke today.
Hasta luego!
Larry Friedman
Nevada Commission on Tourism
lfriedman@travelnevada.com
2010 MONTAGE Chair
We should all know by now the most important part of my personal NTA experience
is networking. Be sure all the events we have scheduled in Reno will prove valuable for building business relationships and enabling networking opportunities. The convention committee, board and our NTA Staff have worked hard to implement all the changes and enhancement for the benefit of the entire membership.
Working on the Convention this year was certainly exciting and challenging with the enhancements to the Convention format and budgets considerations for all members. While we're in Reno I look forward to all the activities planned for me - some I probably don't even know about yet! But they will all include more networking opportunities and great conversations with my NTA Friends and Family both old and new. And please let me take this moment to pass the blog baton and say Good Luck to Dawn Rueckl from Wells Gray Tours who will be our chair next year in Montreal!
It has been a blast, an honor and a privilege to serve this year as your NTA Convention Chair. Please enjoy and participate in our NTA Convention to your fullest potential - both personally and professionally. And do take the time to stop me and say hi when you see me running around in Reno - making the most of MY NTA Convention experience!
Suzanne Slavitter CTP, CTIE * Sports Empire Inc. * suzanne@sports-empire.com
Please indulge me as many of you know much of what it takes for our great NTA staff to put our annual convention together. But for those who don't...we have the most dedicated NTA staff working on your behalf for over two years to plan each year's convention.
We hope you all know Lee Carter our Vice President, Meetings and Events. Lee is a total professional when it comes to working with all the different vendors, staff and members it takes to make the Convention work. Did you know staff starts each day with a 6 a.m. meeting called the Breakfast Club - the staff meets each morning along with our vendors, Tourism Cares and yes your Convention Chair to review the prior days activity and to review all the details for the day ahead. Lee says "This is where all the magic happens!". Trust me when I say whenever I see Lee around the Convention talking to himself (I mean into his headset like the secret service) I know we are all in good hands with the Convention activities so we can concentrate on our business between members.
And please let me introduce you to one of the newest staff member, Erin Turner who is working with Lee in the Convention Department. My experience meeting Erin in Pittsburgh at her first Convention is a great story as we were staying on the same floor at the Hilton Hotel. I was coming off the elevator the evening before the Convention started and I saw a nice young lady running to catch the elevator while talking on her cell phone. As I walked down the hall I hear "Oh Darn" and turn around to see Erin using an NTA sign to try and catch the elevator door. We didn't know each other at that moment but I couldn't wait to tell her the story when we were introduced a day or so later!
So this week's standing ovation belongs to our entire NTA Staff - when you see them running around at Convention know they were up WAY before we were!
Suzanne Slavitter CTP, CTIE * Sports Empire Inc. * suzanne@sports-empire.com
More Last Minute Reminders for Reno
It's now less than 2 weeks until we all meet in Reno for Convention - here's some more last minute reminders!
Volunteer: There's always room for volunteers so now that you know your Convention appointment schedule, sign up and volunteer in Reno.
Airport Transportation: Don't forget that you'll be using the hotel shuttles for transportation upon arrival in Reno. Here's more information on transportation to and from the airport.
Direct Request Appointment Scheduling: This system is great for adding appointments before you ever leave. Log on now and start adding to your schedule. And, don't forget to log on and see who's looking to add you to their schedule too!
Webinars: Did you hear that things will be a little different in Reno as far as the Convention format? There are two Webinars that you can listen to online to refresh you on everything to expect when you arrive.
Working the floor: With the new Destination Pavilion, it's important that suppliers and DMOs work together to make sure you make the most of your time on the floor. And, DMOs don't forget, no displays in the Destination Pavilion. Just the usual profile form and business cards!
Attire: Saturday is sightseeing and casual day. The rest of the week is business attire, unless otherwise specified in your program. And, don't forget to bring your bell bottom jeans and tie dye shirt for Return to Woodstock on Tuesday night!
And please thank our sponsors who help make Convention a success: Tourism Saskatoon-Saskatchewan, Canada, for the hand sanitizer, Marriott International for the message center, Newfoundland & Labrador, co-sponsors with Ambassatours Gray Line for the luggage tags, and Go West Summit for the China Update and Best Practices seminar
Suzanne Slavitter CTP, CTIE * Sports Empire Inc. * suzanne@sports-empire.com