procureconwest.wbresearch.com/

Disappointed in the venue quality/service and venue location. The overall conference was hit or miss on topics and information provided. Great attendees with solid tenure and experience. We received several good nuggets but sat through a lot that did not pertain to us. Great informal benchmarking with members.

While the topics were relevant, I did not feel that the speakers provided enough detail to help. The panelists and presenters spoke mostly in generalities. It might be more beneficial to have breakouts that allow for more in depth discussions.

The event was good for the first occurrence. I look forward to seeing it grow. I think there will be a benefit to more vendors, and additional discussion topics.

I loved the conference, and received some vital information that was very helpful. I would like to see like minded tracks based on spend volume, as well as more time allocated for panel Q&A sessions. Loved the moderator this year, and would love the opportunity to see more presentations driving best practices, as well as procurement education basics for Travel Category Managers.

Overall good but disappointing. The good news is that I always glean something out of a conference but ... * This conference wasn't as good as the December conference. I attended in May because the December conference was valuable. It was more instructional than informational and had more concrete take-aways than abstract discussion. Panel discussions are nice but generic topics with generic answers isn't very helpful or exciting. I want specifics, examples, people who are willing to share what works for them in tangible take aways - reports, dashboards (physical examples) and are willing to share. Last years last session with Kathi Briski was excellent. There was another gentleman who gave an excellent presentation on calculating savings and shared an interactive excel worksheet that we could take away and incorporate. * While it's nice to lean forward and merge transient travel with meetings it was clear from the panels that the industry isn't there yet. As a result, it would have been nice to have a clear delineation between the two topics. Perhaps on day one have topics that are relevant to all and then on day two have a travel management track and a meetings/events track. The melding of the two muddled the conversation and wasn't that helpful. * Libby Spears was the best part of the conference. Good choice. I also enjoyed the round tables - networking and back and forth exchange of ideas and knowledge always good. * Suggestion - before the break prior to the tracks provide an explanation as to what the concept is, what the tracks are, and where they will be held. This was a suggestion I made in December as well. Very confusing and not at all intuitive. * Topic suggestions for next round - Cost savings vs cost avoidance vs value add in the travel arena, how do you measure and report? - How to decipher vendor reports to take the deep dive in travel analytics (i.e. ancillary fees hotel, air) - what to look for in vendor/card reports to identify these charges - how to drive out "other" costs - secrets to reading and evaluating RFP responses to ensure you're not leaving easy money on the table. - have a global track and a domestic track. There were several companies in attendance that weren't global. -benchmarking - what to benchmark and what companies provide good "travel" benchmarking. My observation, most CPOs use the biggies but these biggies don't get into the weeds of travel where the deeper savings are - Total cost of ownership of travel - what to use, how to measure, how to report - guest speaker on generational hierarchies, and how to manage (travel) in the multi-generational workplace. We speak of millennials but don't explain the age groups, their difference in their behaviors from baby boomers, genxer's, etc. . What's next and how to anticipate? - "contract/implementation gotchas" - the most useful, valuable session for me was the shared economy round table. I picked up on several items I need to discuss with new vendors (i.e., Uber/Lyft, Tripbam/Yapta, etc.) to ensure that we contract defensively and implement effectively. Rates - what to be aware of when negotiating them - surcharge, shared savings, etc.), what's in the Ts and Cs that might trip you up? Were/how were they mitigated? etc. - meetings policy development/benchmarking I hope this is taken as constructive and that providing suggestions offsets my challenges. I'm happy to discuss.