Despite having to head out on the road on the afternoon of Fathers Day, leaving my family behind on a beautiful sunny summer afternoon here in the tropics, and also my backyard pool, spa, and grill - (get the picture here?) - I had a spring in my step as I stepped into the concourse at Terminal 1 in FLL for my departing flight to Minneapolis.  This date had been marked on my calendar for nearly a year now, and as I boarded the Northwest flight to attend for our third annual HSMAI Revenue Management Strategy Conference I knew it was going to be an eventful 55 hours until my return to this very spot at the airport. 

This event marked the end of my three year stint as advisor for the HSMAI Revenue Management Advisory Board and we were to announce a trilogy of deliverables, all accomplished by our team within incredibly aggressive timelines.  These included a firm date (9/06) for the launch of our new HSMAI RM certification, now known as:  Certified Revenue Management Executive (CRME), our advisory board members and HSMAI staff were to personally hand out for the first time copies of our industry best practices publication entitled:  "Defining Revenue Management: Topline To Bottomline" 

Now as a conference speaker, I always invest time preparing for every engagement, regardless of how familiar the topic or audience.  Since this audience was to include at least 25 of my closet, most respected, and longest term client friends, I knew I needed to work as hard as I could to be lucky enough to deliver the speech this momentous occasion required.  Hopefully I pulled it off. Here is a link to my 8 minute opening remarks:  Text of Doug Kennedy Speech June 19, 2006    Here is a picture of me delivering the opening speech:

                             

It was great to see the volunteer members of our Advisory Board step up to the challenge of delivering conference programming for this audience that was comprised of many of the top minds in the profession.  I was especially pleased to see Trevor Stuart-Hill, score a home run with his well-researched general session presentation answering the question:  "!5 Years of Revenue Management, Has It Worked?"  A question which he later proved the answer to be a resounding YES! with hard data from several economic and industry reporting services.  (I saw much of the audience hurrying to copy down his research.) It was also great to see my dear friend Barb Bowden be able to end her stint as chairperson on such a high note with our big announcements.  Here is a picture of me with Barb Bowden, Corporate Director of Revenue Management for Peabody Hotels and Trevor Stuart-Hill, Vice President of Distribution and Revenue Systems for Destination Hotels & Resorts. 


                              

I thought Tom Walker, VP of Business Consulting for The Rainmaker Group, scored a grand slam home run with his conference keynote address, stepping up to the challenge to be informative, entertaining, engaging, and educational for this potentially-tough audience of top-tier professionals.   Here's a picture of me right before his speech:

                                  


By the end of one hour cocktail party that followed this, plus a short advisory board "meeting" and champagne toast, you would have thought that our board members would just about have run out of energy.  Not this group!  Most of us who were staying over headed off to the IdeaS reception marking the opening of the main HiTech conference.  When arrived in front of the historic Mills Museum we knew they had picked a great venue, and we were all greeted by IdeaS staffers at the front door and "pinned" with flashing pins, we new for sure IdeaS knew how to throw a party.  I have to say I was very impressed by how much this "technology/systems" company truly understands the "hospitality" component of the hospitality industry. 

Despite how fun this opening reception was, my better sense got the best of me and I headed off for my room at about 10:30pm unlike most others at the IdeaS event.  When I asked those I was with what happened after I left that night, all they said was:  "What happens in Minneapolis, stays in Minneapolis." 

My last task of this trip was to moderate a panel discussion on the subject of Revenue Management for an audience of about 250 hotel financial and technology professionals and senior managers from the industry.  My job was easy, as my panelists did a fabulous job fielding both my questions and those asked spontaneously from the audience.  Seated on my panel from left to right are Elizabeth Cambra, Corporate Director of Revenue Optimization, Outrigger Hotels & Resorts, Courtney Granger, Regional Director of Revenue Management for Preferred Hotels & Resorts, and Kathleen Cullen, a partner in iNspire Resources.