More than 600 wonderful agents have sailed off into the sunset, aboard Ovation of the Seas, after an epic first day of information, motivation, keynotes and a whole lotta dancing at the Helloworld Frontliners conference.
Is anybody else getting total travel agent envy flicking through these amazing photos?
Day 1 of the Helloworld Travel’s Frontliners Forum commenced with CEO and Managing Director Andrew Burnes highlighting the importance of Helloworld Travel’s Frontline staff – not just to their own businesses, through to the entire company
“Frontline staff are the most critical part of our entire business”
Andrew Burnes, CEO and Managing Director
He also made note of their membership growth going from 2,223 members to 2,447 members across all retail brands in the past 12 months and how important this is not just to their brand presence in the market, though also their supplier and industry partnerships.
While it was easy to forget that everyone was on board a cruise ship, due to the size of the theatre they were all gathered in, the delegates were constantly reminded due to the subtle swaying and were amused by the presenters doing their best to find a stable stance on stage.
The morning saw key updates from Helloworld Travel’s Julie Primmer, General Manager Branded and Associate Networks, who highlighted the importance of customer service and experience and John Constable, Group General Manager Retail, Commercial & Air Tickets, who talked through the progress of their newly released, purpose-built ResWorld system as well as updates and improvements that have been made to the companies Air Tickets system.
It wouldn’t be a conference without a few keynotes… and the first day of the forum delivered 2 standouts! Adventurer Justin Long taught up some lessons learnt from the edges of the earth and what’s humanly possible, while Emma Murray taught agents how to shift their mindset from the B Game to the A Game.
Supplier presentations on the day included Royal Caribbean, APT Group, Uniworld, Insight Vacations, Globus family of brands and Virgin Australia.
Of course, Helloworld favourite, Stevie Jacobs was also there. Not just to MC, but also to pump up the crowd and keep the attendees excited.
As the sunset on an incredible day, the stars sparkled and so did the outfits.
Because, let’s be honest, It’s not a conference without a party!
Rolling into the evening, everyone was looking sharp in their cocktail attire. Helloroo was once again there to welcome the delegates, though he wasn’t seen on the dancefloor! And then the party rolled on! Furnace and the Fundamentals then ‘rocked’ the after-party… a band so good that after last year’s Frontliners performance, were quickly locked in to do a double shift on the ship.
There will be many sore heads and lost voices for day two, but attendees will be as keen as ever to learn even more and party even harder for day 2!