While this year’s event will represent smaller gathering in-line with government guidance, it will be no less important given the times that we live in and the challenges that continue to face both suppliers and agents alike.

Although sales activity generally is undoubtedly on the increase, 2022 is likely to represent another episodic trading year for travel companies and that’s reason enough for us to congregate in a spirit of partnership so that we can all face these challenges together and find solutions and working protocols that are mutually beneficial!

Here is a rundown on all you need to know in order to prepare for the event.

Proof of Immunity

In accordance with the latest government guidelines, everyone attending the event must be fully vaccinated or show proof of immunity* and will be asked to present such proof of same by presenting a valid EU Digital COVID Certificate (or equivalent) at point of registration for the conference on Saturday morning, November 13th. Failure to present proof will mean that you will be unable to attend the event.

COVID-19 protocols

Hand sanitisers will be available throughout the hotel and please note that face masks must be worn at all times when moving through/around the hotel or taking bathroom breaks. When seated at your assigned table for meals or conference sessions, they may be removed.

Social Media Engagement

Please note that our conference hashtag is #travelcconf so please make sure to include it in all conference-related social media posts in the days leading up to the event, during the conference itself and of course, following your attendance at same.

Friday Night, November 12^th

As a number of both agents and suppliers are arriving on Friday in advance of the following day’s deliberations and have indicated on their registration forms that they will be having dinner, we have arranged to provide a private function room to accommodate them. That number currently stands at 38.

Set-up for Suppliers

The morning sessions and afternoon speed-dating workshops will be held in two separate but adjacent function rooms — The Ainsworth and Rathaskar Suites. Individual trestle tables will be setup in the Ainsworth Suite from the night before and will also be accessible to suppliers/exhibitors arriving on Saturday morning so that you can deliver your brochures, pop-up stand, giveaways etc., to your stand in advance of the commencement of the speed-dating workshop which will take place immediately after lunch on Saturday afternoon. In the interests of uniformity and practicality, backdrops should be limited to standard 1metre x 2 metre popup stands where possible. Each table will contain your company’s name as table positions will have been pre-allocated in advance by Travel Centres in order to avoid competitor suppliers being positioned adjacent to each other in the room. If, for any reason, you are not satisfied with the arbitrary location that has been allocated to you, feel free to ask other exhibitors to swap places with you. 4-gang electrical extension cables will be daisy chained throughout the room in order to provide power to all exhibitors who need to use laptops etc. Strong wi-fi will be available throughout the room and no password is required.

Deliveries to the Conference Venue

If you need to courier over brochures or other marketing materials to the hotel in advance of the conference then please refer to the notes in this regard, contained on the conference registration form. All deliveries must contain the name of your own company (for easy identification) and the fact that they are being sent in connection with the Travel Centres event. Because of limited storage facilities at the hotel, deliveries should be scheduled to arrive at the hotel not before Thursday, November 11^th at the earliest. Please feel to provide your own bags to delegates to contain brochures, marketing collateral, giveaways etc., who visit your stand as there will be none provided by the organisers this year.

Accommodation

Travel Centres’ room allocation was released back into general hotel inventory on September 30^th last, so we are not holding rooms on anyone’s behalf. If you have yet to book a room for your attendance at the conference, please contact the Killashee hotel (contact details are contained on the registration form) and make those arrangements without delay. Room check-in at the Killashee is not usually available before 15.00 hrs each day but they will try and accommodate arriving guests whenever possible. If you arrive early at the hotel and your room is not available, then staff at reception will happily look after your luggage until you can check-in.

List of Attendees

Although registration has now been closed, there are still a couple of agencies who have yet to provide us with a definitive list of attendees so these details will be shared with you later this week once we have confirmation of same from the agencies concerned.

Table Draws

Please advise us in advance if you intend to offer a spot prize so that we can compile a listing of all such ‘incentives’ and share them with agents. Each exhibitor will be responsible for conducting their own draws at their respective stands and notifying the conference organisers before the workshop ends so that the respective lucky winners can be advised and collect their prizes from the relevant stands.

Trade Press

Both TravelBiz and ITTN, together with Eoghan Corry will be in attendance for the duration of the conference and Friday & Saturday nights.

Invoicing

An invoice for your attendance at this event will be issued and sent to you via email later this week and payment in full is due by return. 100% cancellation fees will apply to anyone forced to cancel on/or after Monday, November 8^th.

Programme

Here is the provisional running order for the day’s events on Saturday, November 13^th:

Table Plans for Dinner

In keeping with previous years, a series of table plans will be displayed in the function room where the speed dating workshop will take place, so exhibitors are encouraged to fill in their names at the table of their choice in order to maximise their networking opportunities on the Saturday night. A reminder will be made over the PA immediately before the afternoon refreshment break, after which, the table plans will be removed to have them typed up in advance of the dinner on Saturday night. Please write your name legibly and please do not cross out anyone else’s name whose entry precedes yours.

Awards

Please note that there will be no awards ceremony at this year’s conference. They will resume in 2022

Entertainment

Due to budgetary constraints this year, entertainment for the conference will be limited.

Sponsorship

We have compiled a short list of sponsorship opportunities which exist for this year’s event and will be happy to share those details with any supplier/exhibitor who expresses interest.

N.B. in the absence of any sponsorship being secured and given the budgetary constraints associated with this year’s event, please note that there will be no wines provided with dinner on either Friday or Saturday nights. Wine lists will be provided on each table and delegates can order accordingly and sign for such purchases to their respective rooms, where applicable.

Marketing Collateral

Due to a combination of budgetary constraints and an attempt to minimise our carbon footprint for this year’s conference, the only printed material that will be provided at this year’s event will be your delegate badge which will contain full details of the programme running times and function room locations on the reverse side.

*(i.e. fully vaccinated or recovered from COVID-19 within previous 6 months)