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SAVE THE DATES FOR ETC 2009: FEBRUARY 17-21, 2009. MARRIOTT NEW ORLEANS HOTEL FRONTING THE FRENCH QUARTER.
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The Educational Travel Conference

The annual conference for alumni, museum, zoo and conservation travel and
nonprofit educational tours...now in its' 23^rd year!

News on ETC 2008 - February 4-7, 2008 in Baltimore, MD.

ETC 2008 - Facilitating Transformational Journeys: New Perspectives - met and exceeded programming expectations! The formidable lineup of plenary speakers and list of new session formats delivered an over the top meeting in terms of quality and timeliness of the agenda focus, the fresh approach to program delivery, the practical value of take home information and intensity and integrity of collegial discussions and networking.

Engaging sessions explored the web platform for marketing to travelers, blogging for business, creating content for connection, boosting revenues through market driven data, including back office technologies and databases. A concentrated look at lifestage marketing, the boomer to millennials travel trends, experiential trips, small ship travel, the future ahead for the competitiveness of nonprofit travel, building customer loyalty and staff retention, understanding travel programs and giving, bookings and benchmarks, direct mail on a budget, innovating through partnerships, crafting language that captures travelers' interest, and how to keep your programs meaningful delivered a robust educational agenda. A comprehensive Back to Basics Track included a series of sessions on what makes and sells a great tour - including a series of sessions on where and how the management and recruitment of effective study leaders and super hosts is critical to the success of your tour - plus a solid risk management primer on the top ten risks ahead and emergency preparedness that provides hands on tips and tools you can use right away.

A real programming coup in 2008 was bringing to ETC 2008 one of the leading globalists in the world, well known on the Washington scene with an insider's track on trends, Erik Peterson, Senior Vice President at Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a nonpartisan and nonprofit Washington, DC.-based think tank founded in 1962. On February 6^th Erik delivered a powerful and thought provoking presentation on The Seven Revolutions: Global trends to 2025, a strategic, visually powerful, hard hitting presentation that has been given to heads of state internationally - it kept everyone on the edge of their seats until the end. Erik's session evaluations were the highest we have ever received at ETC!

Thirty six newcomers attended the Feb. 4^th is the 20^th Annual! Jumpstart Seminar. Offered for the past twenty years Jumpstart is an intensive one day seminar focusing on the nuts and bolts of managing a travel program for those new to the business of alumni travel or needing a refresher. This program is led by some of the most seasoned alumni and other nonprofit travel planners in the business of travel. It is the ONLY educational program of its kind for alumni and nonprofit travel and is consistently rated as one of the best investments in the industry for training. Avoid re-inventing the wheel and learn the latest and greatest ways to run a successful, profitable travel program for your alumni/members. The intensive curriculum has been carefully tailored to address the specific programming and marketing needs of both start-up programs and those travel planners new to an existing travel program. Whether you are a small program run entirely by volunteers or a large mature program running dozens of trips a year, Jumpstart can help you get started, start over or simply make the most of the tools and talent you already have.

Twenty Executives to whom nonprofit travel planners report attended the 3^rd Annual! Executive Manager Forum Feb. 5^th - a one-day Executive level program designed exclusively for institutional executives who oversee nonprofit, member and/or donor travel programs, and to whom those running the travel programs report. The Forum's primary goals are to provide Senior Executives with an understanding of the overall management and execution of travel programs, how they relate to and build affinity loyalty, critical trends in member and donor travel, key risk management issues ahead for affinity travel, how to recruit travel planners on the basis of specific skills, and how best to lend support to a travel program and its staff. Whether your institution currently works with one exclusive operator, or is just starting/thinking about starting a travel program, or already has a great range of travel programs on the books, the Executive Managers' Forum facilitates a quick overview and introduction to the who's who of nonprofit and affinity travel. And most importantly, the opportunity to spend time in dialogue with peers at the Executive level. The afternoon Executive sessions, which were available to all conference attendees, and included a focus on Customer Service: Who owns it and how it impacts travelers' loyalty, Staffing & Succession: In pursuit of the perfect planner! Travel Programs & Giving: A casual relationship or happy coincidence?, and Bookings & Benchmarks: How to best plan, project and measure your programs success.

In the spring of 2007 the ETC team conducted six regional programming meetings with community members in Boston, New York City, Washington, D.C, and Los Angeles, San Francisco and Chicago. Colleagues shared what they saw as the growing issues, trends and needs for the alumni, museum and nonprofit travel community. Thanks to the participants of these productive regional roundtables, combined with past attendees' input on the ETC 2007 evaluations, and enhancements voiced by the ETC 2008 Executive Advisory Council during the annual spring planning meeting, ETC 2008 delivered a program that not only provided information on the latest trends (including generational travel), cutting-edge research, and the opportunity to network with your peers, but it took a closer look at the topics the community members felt were most crucial.

Hearing community members growing concern of the impact of tourism on the environment, the changing face of the work environment and continued technologies that impact every member of the community - and the travelers' demand for innovation in programming and effectiveness in e-communications - some new and exciting program formats were initiated at ETC including:

• Online Marketing Intensive
• Responsible Tourism Intensive
• Cruise Forum
• Direct Marketing Forum
• Young Up Alumni Forum

THREE FORUMS!

New Topics - Cruise Forum With a great majority of nonprofit and affinity programs being offered at sea, ETC 2008 took a look at the myriad of issues involved with cruising from charter regulations, trends in small ship cruising, to cultural enrichment, themes, unique destinations vs. themes, to cost of onboard amenities, and ship sharing challenges. The Young Up Alumni Forum focused on perhaps one of the most major challenges nonprofit travel programs face - re-growing their pool for travelers through new program offerings and marketing mediums to attract younger member/alumni.

New Design - Executive Manager Forum (open to those to whom travel planners report) Re-designed for 2008 this third annual forum focused on enhancing the success of affinity travel programs with senior executive discussion on the role of the executive director, business aspects, contracting, institutional staffing issues and marketing strategies as well as why have a travel program.

TWO INTENSIVES!

New Formats - The new Online Marketing Intensive plus the Responsible Tourism Intensive were designed as two hour sessions which began with a new ETC Live! talk show featuring guest speakers presenting various perspectives and success stories. The Talk Show was followed by lengthy Q&A and roundtable discussions - broken out by issues/topics - which allowed more time for collaborative dialogue and sharing of stories with peers. Given the success of the pre-conference Voluntourism Forum at ETC 2007, the Responsible Tourism Intensive featured a strong focus on Voluntourism issues and offerings. A podcast of the Responsible Tourism Intensive and the Online Marketing Intensive will be aired post ETC on the ETC community website!

Focus Group Discussions - Four successful focus groups helped envision the future agendas for the ETC community, and helped strengthen educational outreach and year round networking between colleagues! This series of facilitated conversations at ETC 2008 discussed the relevance of educational tourism in today's changing travel climate, the role of ETC community members in response to global issues, and the tools needed to strengthen the community's industry profile as well as social networking online. The four 1.5 hour roundtable discussions were limited to 20 persons and they each discussed the role of the Internet in strengthening the communication between a community of colleagues, what we stand for, and if we need to expand our voice beyond the conference. In March 2008 delegates will receive a summary for the roundtables.

As always, the well attended travel planner opportunities for exchange with colleagues from like institutions or program size each morning over wonderful breakfasts with an ethnic flair - and the fun and lively International Bazaar (now open through Thursday morning!) and terrific evening venues delivered an engaging and great networking experience for all at ETC in 2008!

To reference the session schedule and timing of events, please refer to the abbreviated agenda at a glance now posted, as well as the International Bazaar schedule.