Business Travel Market (BTM) has announced the conference content for this year’s event, as compiled by the Association of Corporate Travel Executives (ACTE), the official conference programme co-ordinator.

The executive-level education sessions will run throughout the event, tackling many key and topical industry issues. Now in its third year, BTM will be held on 22nd and 23rd June at London’s ExCel and promises to be a valuable source of information for the hundreds of VIP Hosted Buyers, exhibitors and other visitors attending from all over Europe.

The two day programme is packed full of educational sessions featuring talks ranging from topics such as social media and improving relationships, to practical advice around cost cutting and travel policy.

Split into four distinct areas, ‘Special Interest’, ‘Programme Management’, ‘Personal Development’ and ‘Market Place, Trends, Environment’, the conference programme features a range of topics to appeal to the professional travel buyers and travel trade already registered for this year’s event.

With an impressive line up of leading keynote sessions including James Hogan, CEO Etihad Airways, Paul Deighton, chief executive of LOCOG, body language expert Richard Newman and ACTE Executive Director Ron DiLeo, the programme then extends to a further 15 educational seminars.

To pull out some of the highlights, on the morning of day one Anne Godfrey (GTMC) will present ‘Getting up to Speed with High Speed Rail’ while the afternoon will see Airplus’ communication manager Rana Walker head a panel discussing the benefits of ‘Using Social Media to Improve Traveller Communication.’

Caroline Allen, regional director of ACTE North East Europe and Russia said:  “ACTE was delighted to compile the educational content for this important business travel event.

“With the support of our volunteer planning team, we have devised two days of informative discussions that we hope will appeal to the professional travel buyers attending BTM from all over Europe. 

“Attendees will enjoy thought-provoking keynotes and seminars on a broad range of strategic, operational and personal development subjects.

“Sessions will include debates on the GDS model and whether transparency and control are so important with the emergence of developing technologies.”

Day two of BTM will continue with the same calibre of moderators and panel discussions, with sessions including ‘How to Create a Travel Policy in 60 Minutes’.  ‘Understanding the Demands of Travel on the Body and What You do to Keep Body and Mind in the Zone’ will see Simon Shepherd CEO of Optima life looking at the physiological demands of travel and comparing them to the principles that have been used to deliver top sporting performance, with those same principles being suggested to help business travellers achieve top level performance when they reach their destinations – all tying in very nicely to this year’s BTM theme of ‘Optimising Business Travel Performance’.

Business Travel Market’s event director Paul Robin said: “ACTE was the ideal partner to pull the education content for BTM together; and they have delivered a relevant, topical programme with informative, knowledgeable speakers and first class moderators. Attendees will be able to engage with some of the most influential members of the industry.

“I expect plenty of lively debate and useful ideas to be discussed.”