Do You Know the Way to San Jose -- and More Travel Sales?
by Martin Deutsch

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You can collect sales ideas and improve your skills at three different national travel agent conferences during the same trip!

These events are scheduled for San Jose in the heart of the ever-popular Bay Area, with San Francisco as a neighbor, the country's most prestigious wine country in Napa-Sonoma just to the North, and such magnificent resort destinations as Monterrey, Carmel and Pebble Beach to the south. Nearby Oakland, along with San Francisco, at that time of the year offers the National Football League and National Basketball Association for the visiting sports enthusiasts.

State-of-the-art training with accreditation will be offered by Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA), the Travel Institute, and the Niche Cruise Marketing Alliance (NCMA) on Thursday afternoon and Friday morning at the San Jose Convention Center. Travel agents can earn up to 30 CLIA credits and as many as 4 Travel Institute CEUs. The Friday afternoon conference, seminars and panels will include three one-hour sessions on up-to-the-minute home-based topics presented by OSSN, two hours on the latest developments in the lucrative honeymoon market, a special tour and cruise panel, and three proprietary seminars.

More than 250 domestic and international suppliers will parade their products and services on the trade-show floor at the convention center on Friday afternoon from 4 p.m. to 6.30 p.m. and on Saturday afternoon from 2 p.m. to 4.30 p.m.

On Saturday morning, the much-acclaimed general session will spotlight such industry leaders as Dan Hanrahan, president of Celebrity Cruises, who is also the incoming chairman of CLIA (Jan. 1, 2007), and Kay Urban, president and CEO of Amadeus North America, who will speak on the evolving role of technology in travel and how travel agents can use today's "tools" to carve out a profitable niche for themselves and earn their clients' loyalty -- and business -- for years to come. Hanrahan will offer wide-ranging comments from a mushrooming role of home-based travel agents in cruise line marketing strategies, to the widely-recognized appeal of the cruise experience the honeymooners and clients seek in a romantic getaway.

Included among the blue-ribbon panel moderators are James Shillinglaw, editor of the Performance Media Group; Gary M. Fee, Founder/President of OSSN; and Thom Curtin, publisher of Bridal Guide magazine. Shillinglaw will also host the Saturday morning general session.

In emphasizing the broad-scope of the weekend's activities, Chip Caruso with Travel Industry Shows (the events' organizer) cited the various meal functions, including a Saturday breakfast sponsored by sister companies Insight Vacations and Contiki Holidays and Saturday lunch provided by Sandals Resorts. Caruso also noted that a handsome array of travel prizes will be drawn on Saturday afternoon during the last 15 minutes of the trade show.

Also on tap is a post-conference tour provided by OSSN which is based on the Oscar-winning movie "Sideways" and includes a motor coach trip along California's scenic coastal route to the Santa Barbara wine country, followed by a week-long cruise on RCCL's "Vision of the Seas" to the Mexican Riviera. For more information on this great trip, visit these links: the 2006 OSSN Annual Conference and the Royal Caribbean post-conference fam.

In the 2005 version of the Home Based and Honeymoon shows, held in Baltimore late last September, 1,363 travel agents from 44 states and Canada were on hand for this highly successful event.

Travel agents who attend the show can choose to fly into any one of three convenient airports: San Jose International, San Francisco and Oakland. A special $129 room rate can be procured from the Fairmont Hotel by calling (408) 998-1900. By phone, travel agents should identify themselves as delegates at the Home Based & Honeymoon Shows.

Travel agents who wish to register for the Home Based and Honeymoon shows for the rate of $25 can go to www.homebasedagentshow.com and use code 3043. You can also register by calling TIS registration department at (925) 701-0225 and Press "0."

(NOTE: If you register for the 2006 OSSN Annual Conference, you'll receive FREE admission to the Home Based and Honeymoon shows, as part of a special deal negotiated by OSSN!)