President's Message
Later this month, many of us will gather in Atlantic City, N.J., for this fall’s Original Home Based Travel Agent Show & Conference.

OSSN’s Webinars
By OSSN President Gary Fee

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That’s why OSSN was the first home-based travel agents organization to offer a full schedule of Webinars -- live training seminars that combine slides or Web images shown on agents’ computer screens with speakers offering audio commentary via the phone.

Nowadays, many suppliers and agent groups have embraced this technology. It’s a very convenient, cost-effective way to offer up-to-the-minute training programs around North America, right in the home offices of agents who don’t have to spend time and money traveling to a central location for a seminar.

Webinars are no replacement for a great travel agent conference – but they’re perfect for ongoing training throughout the year.

At OSSN, we’ve worked with leading suppliers such as CCRA, TravelSafe, Universal Orlando, Norwegian Cruise Line, Royal Caribbean, Travel Impressions, ClientEase, Brendan Tours, and others to bring you new Webinars in 2007. This month, for example, you’ll be hearing from Universal Orlando and Unitours.

Also, we’re moving into Webinar topics that go beyond the traditional supplier programming. On Oct. 12, you’ll hear from a very popular national trained named Carol Fullmer – nicknamed “Google Granny” – who’ll tell you how to use the many tools and services built into Google to make your life easier as a home-based agent. Earlier this year, Laurence Gore – one of the industry’s leading travel attorneys – led an extremely informative Webinar on the basics of travel law.

What happens if you can’t make the live Webinar? No worries. We record these sessions in their entirety and post them in the members-only section of OSSN.com, so that you can play them at your convenience. Go to the OSSN Webinars page and take a look at the archived recordings waiting for you! (Note: You’ll be required to sign into OSSN.com as a member to view this list.)

Though we’ve learned a lot since we started offering Webinars in early 2006, these training programs still represent a significant expense for the association. Though we solicit sponsorships from participating suppliers in some cases to underwrite these costs, you’d probably have a heart attack if you saw OSSN’s annual bill just for the license to use the WebEx Webinar program! However, we’ve heard from many OSSN members how much you value these seminars, so you can expect to see many more Webinars in 2008 and beyond.

Do you have ideas or suggestions for future Webinars? Send them to us at info@ossn.com . We appreciate the feedback!

(Credit: Gary M. Fee/OSSN; John Wollwerth; PhotoCreate)