Golf Day/Spa Day
Chill out and relax by taking part in either the Conference Golf Day at Portmarnock OR the Gym, Swim & Spa Day at Roganstown. Both are free to enter, but spaces are limited so click the appropriate button when you register.

First timers reception
A special ‘get to know you’ event hosted by the ITM board of directors, for delegates attending their first ITM conference and VIP guests. Includes dinner and a complimentary whiskey tasting.

First timers networking dinner
A special ‘get to know you’ event hosted by the ITM board of directors, for delegates attending their first ITM conference and VIP guests. Includes dinner and a complimentary whiskey tasting.

One For The Road
Enjoy a complimentary nightcap before bedtime with your fellow delegates, courtesy of one of our sponsors.

A little more help from your friends
As someone new to buying travel, learn who can you turn to for advice. The session is divided into two parts. First, ITM executive director Paul Tilstone explains what the ITM can do to support you, both at this conference and during the rest of the year. Then find out who should be running your travel programme: which functions do you outsource to your TMC, which to third-party consultants, and which do you retain in-house?

Client Forums
Self contained, invitation-only events hosted by our Platinum sponsors as they provide their own perspectives on the business travel landscape, new products and services.

Coffee Break
Enjoy a break, courtesy of sponsors Travelres and Air Berlin.

A little more help from your friends
As someone new to buying travel, learn who can you turn to for advice. The session is divided into two parts. First, ITM executive director Paul Tilstone explains what the ITM can do to support you, both at this conference and during the rest of the year. Then find out who should be running your travel programme: which functions do you outsource to your TMC, which to third-party consultants, and which do you retain in-house?

Client Forums
Self contained, invitation-only events hosted by our Platinum sponsors as they provide their own perspectives on the business travel landscape, new products and services.

Welcome lunch
A buffet lunch will be served to fortify delegates prior to the start of the main conference. Food will not be allowed into the main conference auditorium.

Opening speech
As ITM chair Mark Avery hands over to his successor Caroline Strachan. The conference will open with a look at the key industry trends, preview the conference programme and outline ITM’s objectives for the year ahead.

Coffee Break
Enjoy a break, courtesy of sponsors Travelres and Air Berlin.

BUYERS’ COURT: Brussels briefing
Wednesday 16 April, 15.00-16.00

A panel of travel buyers grill leading experts on three pan-European subjects of vital importance to the corporate travel community: Open Skies, IATA reform and plans for EU-wide surveillance of passenger data. Learn why each has a crucial impact on your travel programme.

PANEL: Meetings & events logistics and technology
Wednesday 16 April, 15.00-16.00

Organising the travel elements – flights, accommodation etc. – for a group event is harder than it looks. Learn how to get the right deals at the right price and solve the inevitable logistical nightmares that accompany mass travel arrangements, whether you are dealing with 20 delegates or 15,000. Also, a look at how emerging technologies are taking the pain out of meetings organisation through automation.

PANEL: Inside the mind of a supplier
Wednesday 16 April – 15.00-16.00

Understanding the mentality of your suppliers may be more important than you think for getting the deals you want. Learn how they are trained, the targets they are set and how they are motivated.

PANEL: Tomorrow’s World
Wednesday 16 April, 15.00-16.00

Mobile telecoms, Web 2.0, security fears, environmental worries. Varied and complex factors could make business travel look very different in the future. Our experts polish their crystal balls to let us know what will be in the corporate travel manager’s in-try in 2010, 2020 and 2050.

PANEL: Security and safety – a travel manager’s responsibilities
Wednesday 16 April, 16.00-17.00

What are the responsibilities of companies in general and travel managers in particular for the security and safety of their travellers – legally, practically and morally? Discover how your work is affected by legislation on health and safety, corporate manslaughter and employment, and the practical steps you should take to ensure your travel programme meets its duty of care obligations.

PANEL: Strategic meetings management – evaluating your return on investment
Wednesday 16 April – 16.00-17.00

Pioneers in meetings management are using strategic analysis to match the right kind of group event to their business needs and quantify the benefits their organisation gains from this substantial category of expense. Find out more from the practitioners exploring the next frontier in M&E procurement.

PANEL: Savvy supply relationship management
Wednesday 16 April – 16.00-17.00

You’ve done the deal, now how do you make it happen? A panel of leading corporate clients explore how to ensure the baton passes smoothly from procurement to relationship management while obtaining maximum performance from suppliers.

BUYERS’ COURT: Hotels – changing your buying strategy to deal with a permanent seller’s market
Wednesday 16 April – 16.00-17.00

Hotels in London, New York and Moscow now seem to have ‘no vacancies’ signs on their front doors all week every week. Does this mean we have reached a permanent imbalance between under-supply and over-demand in the world’s leading business cities? If so, what can buyers do about it? A panel of top travel managers quiz leading accommodation experts to bring you the answers.

Enter The Dragons
ITM presents its own version of TV’s Dragons Den as four finalists present their ideas for the business travel products of tomorrow. How many will impress our panel of industry heavyweights sufficiently to see their concepts become reality?

Pre dinner drinks
Enjoy a cocktail before dinner, courtesy of our sponsors.

Dinner & entertainment
Intercontinental Hotels are your hosts for this welcome dinner with special guests. This will be a sit down dinner with casual business wear the order of the evening.

One For The Road
Enjoy a complimentary nightcap before bedtime with your fellow delegates, courtesy of one of our sponsors.

Breakfast
Start the day properly with a full Irish breakfast.

Breakfast buyers circles
A one-hour master class delivered by a leading travel buyer. This is your opportunity to find out how other organisations have resolved key issues and effectively implemented travel policies.

AGM / ITM Showcase
Find out what events, activities and new member services ITM is planning for the year ahead. This session is open to both ITM members and non-members although non-members may not vote during the AGM.

PANEL: Travel and finance
Thursday 17 April, 10.00-11.00

Winning sponsorship from your finance director is enormously helpful for driving your travel programme within your organisation. But how do you grab your FD’s attention in the first place?

PANEL: Holistic travel – seeing the bigger picture
Thursday 17 April – 10.00-11.00

Buyers are beginning to widen their responsibilites to cover meetings management in the broadest sense, from conferences to corporate transient travel to virtual conferencing. Others are redefining ‘travel management’ as ‘mobility management’ to include relocation, mobile telecommunciations spend, fleet and all other ground transportation responsibilities. Our panellists explore the pros and cons of seeing the big picture.

BRAINS TRUST: Distribution – the broken model
Thursday 17 April – 10.00-11.00

Buyers are increasingly worried that they are unable to secure the right seats and hotel rooms at the right price for their travellers. On top of that, distribution fragmentation is adding new costs and inefficiences to the process. A leading airline, hotel, TMC, GDS and buyer are quizzed by a moderator over where they think the distribution model is broken and how it can be fixed.

PANEL: Streets paved with gold – career progression in corporate travel
Thursday 17 April – 10.00-11.00

This session concentrates not on the future of the travel industry but the future of you, the delegate, within it. Find out how to create and develop your personal ‘brand’. Plus: what are your options for moving into travel management and – just as importantly – for progressing higher up the ladder? Has the commoditization of travel removed some of the management skills once required? And if you have done a good job of managing travel, how readily can you extend those skills to managing other categories?

Coffee Break
Enjoy a break, courtesy of sponsors Travelres and Air Berlin.

Buyers-only & suppliers-only sessions
Buyers’ pre-arranged 1-2-1 meetings with sponsors provide the opportunity for concentrated business development and relationship building. Buyers’ free places are conditional upon attending 1-2-1 sessions. At the same time, suppliers not involved in the 1-2-1s will be able to quiz a panel of leading buyers on a key topic of the day.

Streamed sessions with working lunch
The buyers’ 1-2-1s and supplier-only sessions will continue over a working lunch.

ROUND-TABLE: No one understands me – stakeholder communication
Thursday 17 April, 14.00-15.15

How do you make senior management, travellers and other important stakeholders understand your work as a travel buyer and what those stakeholders must do to ensure your travel programme succeeds? Delegates sit at round tables to hammer out tips and advice on communicating the right messages.

BRAINS TRUST: Meetings & events sourcing
Thursday 17 April – 14.00-15.15

An interview with two leading purchasers offering tips and experiences on M&E procurement, from gathering data to setting policy and supplier negotiation.

ROUND-TABLE: Fixing the RFP process
Thursday 17 April, 14.00-15.15

Buyers say suppliers make a bad job of responding to RFPs – but suppliers claim that’s because the RFPs they receive are poor in the first place. This round-table session offers all parties in corporate travel the chance to sit down and hammer out constructive, mutually beneficial ideas for improving what often proves an expensive, inefficient process.

SOAPBOX: Conference soapbox
Thursday 17 April, 14.00-15.15

Is there a burning issue you wish to get off your chest in front of other travel professionals? Has something said at the conference got you hot under the collar? Whether you want to talk tough about buyers, suppliers or the ITM itself, then this is your big chance, with ITM chairman Caroline Strachan on stage to provide instant commentary and feedback. Delegates can submit a request for a soapbox spot in advance on the conference registration website, or at the conference itself, either at the registration desk or through their electronic SpotMe device.

Coffee Break
Enjoy a break, courtesy of sponsors Travelres and Air Berlin.

Have I Got (Business Travel) News for You
A (very) topical edition of TV’s satirical quiz show. Let’s see what leading buyers and suppliers of business travel really know.

Transfer to Gala Dinner
Coaches will transfer all delegates to the Gala Dinner venue.

Pre dinner drinks
Enjoy a cocktail before dinner, courtesy of our sponsors.

Conference Gala Dinner
Join your hosts for a glittering, black tie dinner and ball. Top nosh, top company, and top guests. What better way to make Dublin 20-08 a conference to remember?

One For The Road
Enjoy a complimentary nightcap before bedtime with your fellow delegates, courtesy of one of our sponsors.

Breakfast
Start the day properly with a full Irish breakfast.

Breakfast buyers circles
A one-hour master class delivered by a leading travel buyer. This is your opportunity to find out how other organisations have resolved key issues and effectively implemented travel policies.

Question Time
Your chance to put the questions to a panel of industry leaders. Find out what they think the future holds for our industry.

Coffee Break
Enjoy a break, courtesy of sponsors Travelres and Air Berlin.

It's a wrap
We bring together the strands of the last few days and present the key findings from ITM Dublin 2008.