WIT 2010 to re-connect with the Customer, WIT*ovation launched

Eager preparations have begun for WIT-Web In Travel 2010, which will be held on Oct 19-20, 2010, in partnership with ITB Asia.

The conference, now in its sixth year, will be themed around "The C-Spot" and will put the Customer at the Centre of its Conversations.

"From the Tough Love of 2009, we feel that this year should be all about re-connecting with the Customer - to not forget the reasons why people travel, what their experiences are like like and how we can use technology to tease out those behaviours and preferences, and facilitate the fulfillment of the reasons of why they travel in the first place," said Yeoh Siew Hoon, Editor of WIT. "Technology gets us there but it's the customer that counts."

"We also believe there is a new kind of customer out there; a customer that has changed - a more prudent corporate customer; a more savvy, smarter, value-seeking, demanding leisure customer and a customer that is driven by different interests made more distinct by the evolution of the Web.

"We need to find new ways of marketing and engaging with this new customer in all channels. Companies that know how to re-connect with the Customer in this dynamic landscape will be the ones who will ride high on the recovery that's bound to come - sooner than later in some markets."

New to WIT 2010 is WIT*ovation: The Entrepreneur Bootcamp, which will be held on Oct 18, the day before the main WIT conference.

WIT*ovation is a Competition, Bootcamp and Pitching Platform for entrepreneurs wanting to start and run a business in the digital travel space in Asia Pacific. It is an evolution of the WIT Start-Up Pitch, a highly-popular feature of the WIT Conference, in which selected entrepreneurs pitch their ideas live to a panel of investors.

"We thought it was time to extend the pitching platform and combine it with a bootcamp so that entrepreneurs, before they sell their ideas to a panel of investors, are inspired, mentored and coached by experts and advisors," said Siew Hoon.

The Bootcamp will comprise:
• A forum where case studies will be presented and lessons shared by those who have gone through the hard knocks of starting a business
• A mentoring session in which entrants for the WIT*ovation competition will share their ideas with advisors and be coached
• A competition in which three finalists will be chosen to pitch at the Grand Finals on Oct 19 to a panel of investors

WIT*ovation is being run in collaboration with students of the World Travel & Tourism Class of the Singapore Management University, who will compete to run this project as part of their course this year.