ETC

Educational Travel Consortium

Conference Newcomers

Welcome, Newcomers!

Each year ETC welcomes more than one hundred fifty new members to the community. Navigating the educational travel industry can be overwhelming, yet rewarding.

ETC’s Team, Executive Advisory Council, and veteran ETC members are dedicated to providing newcomers with advice and support throughout their educational travel experiences.

My first time at ETC was a true learning experience.  I am fatigued but at the same time invigorated. ETC is the FAM trip for travel planners!

Laraine Hlatky
Associate Director of External Relations
Pitt Alumni Association 

The newcomer tips below were designed by veteran ETC members to help new ETC conference delegates maximize their ETC resources and member benefits, conference attendance, and create connections within our community.

What to Expect:

  • Opportunities to network
  • Access to industry focused speakers
  • Educational travel specific resources and benefits
  • Vertically rich educational materials
  • A professional, member-based community
  • Timely, pertinent content.

What to do after membership and conference registration:

  • Complete your member and organizational profiles
  • Familiarize yourself with your Member Dashboard and resources

EDUCATION AND ENRICHMENT

Learning is a top priority at the conference and actually one of the best ways to network

With such a vertically rich professional development platform, a lot is happening in three days, so study the Conference Agenda and prepare ahead to maximize your educational experience.

Educational session times and International Bazaar times are mutually exclusive. When educational sessions are offered, the International Bazaar closed so don’t miss either opportunity

NETWORKING

Networking is nonstop! Bring lots of business cards.

Take advantage of the informal opportunities to meet with colleagues by signing up for all the official evening networking and events. These are “ticketed” events, requiring pre-registration

Complete your organizational and member profiles online to have access to a number of valuable conference opportunities, including the ability to request CONNECTS meetings.

INTERNATIONAL BAZAAR

The purpose of CONNECTS is two-fold. 1) to facilitate meetings between organizations which have an established business relationship and 2) to meet with new potential partners in order to glean information on new destinations, products and determine if there is a good business fit.

To make the most of CONNECTS, study member profiles, and request meetings using the CONNECTS online meeting tool.

Scheduling CONNECTS meetings is optional for every attendee. •

Be timely in your response to meetings requests. Courteously responding with a confirm, decline or reschedule message. The easy online system makes your response time quick!

Planners not looking for new operators are strongly encouraged to meet destination representatives to expand their knowledge of destinations around the world. (Note – Destination representatives attend ETC to educate interested attendees about their destinations; they are not tour operators and do not to sell or operate trips.)

Be on time for CONNECTS meetings you have confirmed.

No-shows are not productive for any individual holding a confirmed time slot with you.

Plan to meet one-on-one with business colleagues in the International Bazaar during the officially posted hours y. The destinations, operators, suppliers and resources available in the International Bazaar are extensive and cover the globe.

During the official Bazaar times, please refrain from scheduling meetings outside of the International Bazaar as this serves to undermine the effectiveness of CONNECTS for all delegates.

COMMUNITY PROTOCOL

Help us deliver a secure, respectful and ethical conference by wearing your badge at all times, and by meeting only with individuals wearing official conference badges. Any individual without a conference badge is not officially registered for the conference.

For security reasons, access to sessions, events and the International Bazaar requires displaying an official conference badge. If an individual attempts to meet with you without a badge they are not a registered attendee.

Share in the spirit of building community by making it a point to personally stop by Partner Boulevard display spaces in the International Bazaar and thank the official sponsoring partners that have helped make the conference possible

Only sponsoring partners are offered the option of hosting private invitation venues (breakfasts, cocktail parties, dinners) at official times as listed in the Conference Agenda. Attending and/or hosting of private invitational parties, hospitality suites, dinners and receptions by non-sponsors is not an option as such venues serve to directly undermine participation in official venues funded by conference sponsors to the benefit of all attendees.

If you haven’t signed up for a mentor, veteran delegates highly encourage you take this step in preparing for and navigating the conference.

MENTOR/MENTEE MATCHING

Individuals can request a mentor, or offer to serve as a mentor, by selecting it on their conference registration form. 

Mentors/Mentees will be matched in December

This timeline will allow all to get acquainted and prepare well ahead of the Conference.

Mentors will be asked to typically mentor up to three mentees from a similar conference constituency group.

GOALS FOR MENTOR PROGRAM

  1. Build and maintain a strong, educated, and supportive community
  2. Educate and prepare newcomers for the annual conference and educational marketplace
  3. Foster new relationships
  4. Invest in sparking new ideas and addressing challenges within the educational travel sector

STYLES OF MENTORING

  1. One-to-one mentorship (before, during and after conference)
  2. Group-to one mentorship (on site at conference)

TIPS FOR MENTORING

  1. Set clear expectations
  2. Set standards for the mentor, then adhere to them yourself
  3. Listen
  4. Encourage
  5. Challenge
  6. Be flexible

SUGGESTED FORMAT

  1. Preparation – identify expectations & set boundaries
  2. Plan – mentor and mentee create a plan and lists of tasks to achieve identified goal(s)
  3. Enabling – mentor supports mentee & provides feedback
  4. Closure – reflection & assessment in order to raise the bar for future efforts

MENTORING IS NOT A WASTE OF TIME!

  1. Accountability
  2. Encourages communication
  3. Expand your network
  4. Places you at an advantage for learning about the industry and community faster

By participating in ETC’s Mentor Program, you are investing in yourself, the strength and growth of the community, and fueling the spirit of the community.

We are confident that both mentor and mentee will benefit from participating in the Mentor Program, and ETC is here to help support your efforts.