Think Global Forum Travel — London
The Think Global Forum returned to Europe recently with numerous guests and Forum Executives from leading organizations who were invited to the historic Conrad St James Hotel, in London for the European Travel Forum.
Aoife Murphy, Managing Director and María Jesús de Arriba Díaz, Development Director, Think Global Forum Europe welcomed all attendees to the event.
When asked to describe the experience at the London event, María Jesús de Arriba Díaz said, “Think Global Forum London on May 15 has been one of our most energizing events to date. The depth of the conversations both inside and outside of the boardroom demonstrated that the Think Global Forum had realized its vision of bringing together the most prominent minds in the globalization arena to share experiences and leverage the collective intelligence to bring innovation to the global business community.”
Thomas Murray, CEO, Vistatec, delivered the opening address discussing the latest trends in the travel and hospitality industry, including many challenges that may arise. “…In terms of a market that is so segmented and so diverse, globalization has already happened, and it’s now how you achieve meaningful and impactful communication with customers.”
Murray ended his speech with a few words on the Think Global Forum. “It is a pleasure for us [Vistatec] to be a part of these forums, and it is a source of pride actually, to see the level of interest and interaction in these forums…we hope that you leave these forums a little better informed and perhaps even a little more challenged than when you arrived.”
This year, the Think Global Forum Travel event included industry keynote speakers:
· Tom Raczka, Localization Manager, Intercontinental Hotels Group (IHG)
· Alberto Ferreira, UX Research Manager, dnata (Emirates Group)
Tom Raczka spoke about the kinds of changes he made coming into IHG, including the strategy of localization and how it improved operations. Alberto Ferreira spoke on the importance of understanding the balance between differences in culture and the similarities between the human experience and how it relates to his work in user experience research.
“We continue to blaze the global content thought leadership trail; presentations from Tom Raczka on InterContinental Hotels Group’s journey to localization maturity and Alberto Ferreira on bringing localization and UX together were both inspired and inspiring. It is a privilege to collaborate with so many great industry experts”, said Aoife Murphy.
Following the keynote speakers, guests were invited to engage in a moderated open mic session. A new addition to the Think Global Forum structure, the idea was to give attendees a chance to exchange thoughts in a structured format. Guests engaged with each other as well as with the keynote speakers.
Thank you to all those who were able to attend this London event. A special thanks to our Forum Executives as well as our Keynote Speakers. Think Global Forum would not be the success it is today without you all.
We would also like to thank everyone who has supported Think Global Forum at every level of engagement. It is exciting to see the continued growth of our community of experts.
To learn more or to join the Think Global Forum, please visit https://www.thinkglobalforum.org
