HITEC Show Expected To Be Biggest Ever

ORLANDO— This year’s HITEC show, being held at the Orange County Convention Center here, runs from June 25, starting with pre-conference activities, and wraps up June 28. Frank Wolfe, CEO, Hospitality Financial and Technology Professionals (HFTP), which runs HITEC, said one of the big changes to this year’s show is that HITEC will simulcast some sessions over the Internet, and that live interviews conducted during the show will be broadcast over monitors of the convention center. HITEC, considered the hotel industry’s most high-profile technology conference, kicks off on June 25, with a number of pre-conference seminars, ranging from topics that include purchasing a telecom system, a point-of-sale system, sales force automation technology, property management system or a revenue-management system. On Tuesday, the show launches into full swing, with the opening session being keynoted by John Sculley, founding partner of Sculley Brothers LLC, a private investment firm whose mission is “to help build new companies for the new economy,” and former CEO of Apple Computers, as well as Pepsi. Sculley will address the crowd on “Distinguished Recognition: How To Utilize Technology To Market Effectively.” Sessions throughout the day will cover topics ranging from sales automation, revenue management and web development to network convergence, e-commerce, CRM, business Intranet and Internet distribution. Another session will address the Energy Cost Crisis, while another will cover What Non-IT Professionals Need To Know About IT. Wednesday’s general session will look at The Hotel Of The Future by polling attendees on what they think the look and feel of a hotel in the early 21st century should be. That survey will then be compared to an HFTP-commissioned poll, which asked independent travelers the same question. Sessions that day cover such topics as emerging technologies, personal-product gadgets, IT recruiting and staffing, “e-billing,” wireless applications, and The Line Employee’s Requisite IT Skills And Knowledge. Thursday’s general session, called The C-Panel, will include not only chief information officers (CIOs), but chief marketing officers. The panel will discuss the integration of technology and marketing operations, and “how to get along.” Sessions will include coverage of decision support, communications media for the future, managing up, enterprise technology, high-speed Internet and applications service providers (ASPs). More than 6,000 participants are expected to attend the 2001 show, representing hotel companies, hotel and resort properties, clubs, restaurants, casinos and other hospitality-related businesses. Attendees typically consist of: owners/presidents and CEOs, GMs, CFOs, CIOs and on-property personnel involved with technology. Last year’s show drew an all-time high of attendance of 5,840, compared to 4,987 the previous year. HITEC reports that this year’s trade show will be the largest ever, with more than 300 companies expected to exhibit — representing more than 750 booths.