7 GBTA Speakers Share a Sneak Peek of Their Sessions | Dan Hayes
Aug 10, 2018
The Savoya team is looking forward to the GBTA Convention 2018 next week, where we’ll be attending sessions in the “Risk/Duty of Care” track in order to better understand upcoming trends that may affect the business travel management practices of our travelers and their teams.
We’ll be sharing a round-up of our key takeaways after the convention wraps up next week. But in the meantime, we reached out to several speakers on the track to share their insight on who should attend their sessions and what those who can’t make it need to know.
Interviews below are presented roughly in order of session date and time.
Dr. Robert Quigley
International SOS
Dr. Quigley will be participating in the following session:
The Mental Health of Business Travelers Today: Stress, Substances, and Society | Sun. August 12 - 1:30 PM - 2:00 PM
“The Mental Health of Business Travelers Today: Stress, Substances, and Society”
Who should (or should not) attend your session? Business travelers, multi-national corporation and organization CEOs, HR managers, and any leaders and professionals who have a responsibility for the Duty of Care of their mobile workforce.
Is there one takeaway you’d like to share with anyone who won’t be able to make it to your session? It is critical for companies and organizations with a mobile workforce to partner with medical and travel security assistance providers as well as insurance companies with scholastic travel expertise to help manage the risks associated with the mental health challenges business travelers experience while traveling.
Matthew Bradley
Regional Security Director, Americas | International SOS Assistance, Inc.
Mr. Bradley will be participating in the following sessions:
Code Red: A Hotel bombing scenario. How prepared are you? Presented by the GBTA Risk Committee | Mon. August 13 - 8:45 AM - 9:15 AM
Code Red: Active Shooter Scenarios and a Case Study on the Las Vegas Shooting | Mon. August 13 - 9:30 AM - 10:00 AM
Are You Underestimating The Risk of Travel In The United States? | Tue. August 14 - 10:30 AM - 11:00 AM
“Code Red: Active Shooter Scenarios and a Case Study on the Las Vegas Shooting” and “Code Red: A Hotel Bombing Scenario: How Prepared are You?”
Who should (or should not) attend your session? The Code Red sessions are designed to walk through extreme incident scenarios. They are beneficial for anyone seeking to understand crisis communication and how to give information to travelers should an extreme incident occur.
Is there one takeaway you’d like to share with anyone who won’t be able to make it to your session? Time is precious when an incident occurs.
“Are you underestimating the risks of traveling in the US?”
Who should (or should not) attend your session? Everyone who has travelers in the US or other low risk locations like Western Europe can benefit from this session. We can’t prevent incidents like terrorist or active shooter attacks, but we need to prepare our travelers to react when confronted.
Is there one takeaway you’d like to share with anyone who won’t be able to make it to your session? Incidents can happen anywhere. Be prepared even in low risk locations.
Ms. Thomas will be participating in the following sessions:
How Do Corporate Travel Programs Approach the Safety of Women Travelers? | Mon. August 13 - 8:45 AM - 9:15 AM
Risk Management: The Achilles Heel Of The Meetings and Events | Tue. August 14 - 9:45 AM - 10:15 AM
“Risk Management: The Achilles Heel of The Meetings and Events”
Who should (or should not) attend your session? Attendees that should attend the “Risk Management: The Achilles Heel Of The Meetings and Events” session include individuals that work in the meetings and events, corporate travel, operations, security, and strategic meetings space. All attendees are welcome. Duty of care and risk management have been a staple for corporate travel programs for many years, but the meetings and events industry has lagged behind the corporate travel sector. This session is a great opportunity to learn about mitigating risk and decreasing liability in the meetings and events industry.
Is there one takeaway you’d like to share with anyone who won’t be able to make it to your session? Yes, The role of the meetings & events planner is evolving. Today more focus on risk management as part of the comprehensive strategic planning, execution and logistics is required. Meetings and events leaders are being held to a higher standard from their employers with regard to duty of care, risk management and data governance standards and enforcement. Additional risk management resources are available at www.worldaware.com.
Tim Daniel
International SOS
Mr. Daniel will be participating in the following session:
Cognitive Bias: Why Smart Travelers Do Dumb Things | Tue. August 14 - 10:30 AM - 11:00 AM
“Cognitive Bias: Why Smart Travelers Do Dumb Things”
Who should (or should not) attend your session? Frequent travelers, business travelers, multi-national corporation and organization CEOs, HR managers, and any leaders and professionals who have a responsibility for the Duty of Care of their mobile workforce.
Is there one takeaway you’d like to share with anyone who won’t be able to make it to your session? No one is exempt from being affected by a potential medical or security incident while traveling. Even experienced travelers inevitably use shortcuts in their decision-making and don't have an objective perception or full awareness of all the risks at hand. It's useful for organizations to seek insight from a travel risk management company like International SOS that provides comprehensive risk assessments from a large, diverse team of medical and security professionals.
Billy Kolber
Founder | ManAboutWorld Incorporated
Mr. Kolber will be participating in the following session:
LGBTQ Business Travelers: How Suppliers and Employers Fail Them | Wed. August 15 - 12:00 PM - 12:30 PM
“LGBTQ Business Travelers: How Suppliers and Employers Fail Them”
Who should (or should not) attend your session? This session is designed for travel managers and suppliers supporting business trips to one or more of the 72+ places where homosexually and gender identity are criminalised or marginalized. If you were unaware that there were so many places where your travelers' identity is illegal, this session is definitely for you.
Is there one takeaway you’d like to share with anyone who won’t be able to make it to your session? LGBTQ people face additional risks and challenges when they travel; employees and suppliers who send travelers to places where they are criminalised need to be aware of these risks, and support their travelers with resources and information to mitigate them.
Katherine Harmon
Senior Director of Category Intelligence | WorldAware
Ms. Harmon will be participating in the following sessions:
Natural Disasters and Risk Management: Mother Nature Meets Duty-of-Care | Wed. August 15 - 12:00 PM - 12:30 PM
Traveling with Medication: How to Navigate International Law | Wed. August 15 - 12:45 PM - 1:15 PM
“Natural Disasters and Risk Management: Mother Nature Meets Duty-of-Care”
Who should (or should not) attend your session? Natural Disasters are actually the number one interrupter of trips globally and a leading cause of business interruption and loss. Anyone involved in risk management or procurement as natural disasters impact the supply chain, as well as operations directly should attend.Although people do not discount weather and natural disasters, there is more to this issue than just the forecast. Long term challenges often follow and these sometimes overlooked. We will discuss all types of natural phenomenon, how they impact business and people and how best to mitigate for them.
Is there one takeaway you’d like to share with anyone who won’t be able to make it to your session? ALL employees and especially travelers should know where to find their BCP’s and be familiar with them before an event happens. Although episodes such as tropical systems and severe storms may give you some advanced notice, other phenomenon such as earthquakes and tornadoes offer little advance warning. Protection of people and property depends on quick action!
Sean Wolinsky
Sr. Environment Intelligence Analyst | WorldAware
Mr. Wolinsky will be participating in the following session:
Natural Disasters and Risk Management: Mother Nature Meets Duty-of-Care | Wed. August 15 - 12:00 PM - 12:30 PM
“Natural Disasters and Risk Management: Mother Nature Meets Duty-of-Care”
Who should attend? Our session on natural disasters and duty of care is designed for a broad audience. Weather systems and natural disasters impact everyone, regardless of who they are or what they do. We hope to provide business owners, risk management personnel, supply chain personnel, and travelers insights into how weather events can impact their operations on the ground and in the air. Anyone can look at a weather forecast on their phone or computer; however, understanding how these phenomena can impact day-to-day operations and how to best mitigate the disruptions they case might not be so apparent. We want to fix that!
Is there one takeaway you’d like to share with anyone who won’t be able to make it to your session? Businesses, employees, and travelers should all be cognizant of what kind of vulnerability they have to weather and natural disasters. Being able to identify the potential threats to business operations and transport is the first step in being able to successfully create business continuity plans, routinely practice and update those plans, and ensure a smooth recovery is possible following the passage of a weather system or disaster.
Will you be attending GBTA this year? If so, reach out—we’d love to connect in San Diego!
