Keynote Sessions:

Dusit Thani Hall

Guest Speaker
Alisa Lohitnavy
Managing Director/Founder, Image Matters Asia

Alisa is a Thai national born in Munich, Germany. After three years with Cathay Pacific as a flight attendant and 15 years in client services and head-hunting, Alisa founded Image Matters Asia – a company with a main focus in first impression management and non-verbal trainings.

Having lived and worked in Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore, Philippines, Malaysia and Vietnam and currently teaching in Thailand, China and the UK, Alisa believes her ability to create trust, build rapport and nurture her relationships with others comes from being able to accurately read facial expression of emotion and body language. And these are the essence of her workshop curriculum.

Alisa holds a doctorate degree in Psychology and is a publisher of 2 books: “Creating First Impressions through Non-Verbal Cues” and “Curiosity: Foundation for Learning and Career Success”.

Beyond Service: Going beyond what they won’t say

Most of us in client interface roles are trained to handle client management mostly through verbal communication. But given that 80% of our communication is non-verbal, how many are actually trained to go beyond the normal service standards or protocols and fully understand what clients are saying non-verbally?

David Lewy brings over 15 years of sales and executive management experience in the customer service and technical support arena to Knoah Solutions. During his previous tenure at Advantagekbs, he was responsible for doubling sales and preparing the company for its eventual sale to UK-based Logica.

Mr. Lewy has been involved in all aspects of sales and business development for a variety of technology-based companies and has been a frequent speaker in the contact center arena. David received his MBA from Rutgers University and his undergraduate degree in Artificial Intelligence from the University of Rochester.

Chat as a Sales and Service Channel: Is It Right for You?

Gain an in-depth perspective of chat with a clear understanding of the benefits and differences in using live chat, proactive chat, and click-to-chat methods for your business in both a service and sales environment. Learn hands-on fundamentals of an internal and/or third-party chat program launch that you can take back to your organization.

SESSION 1, Choice of Workshop A, B or C:

A

Dayton is the founder and President of Capitol Business Solution’s Aviation Group. The Aviation Group was formed by Mr. Lehman to assist clients seeking advice on aviation regulatory issues, particularly those involving consumer protection, compliance and enforcement, and licensing. His clients include industry associations, U.S. and non-U.S. airlines, aircraft management companies, and air charter brokers.

Dayton retired from his position as Principal Deputy Assistant General Counsel for Aviation Enforcement and Proceedings with the Department of Transportation after 38 years of federal service. There, Dayton supervised a staff of 40 attorneys, transportation industry analysts, and support staff in monitoring compliance with and investigating violations of DOT’s aviation economic requirements, including consumer protection, civil rights, public charter operations, air charter broker activities, and unauthorized operations issues involving U.S. and foreign carriers, and in providing the legal review for the licensing of new airlines in the U.S.

While with DOT, Dayton worked on every major aviation consumer protection compliance and licensing matter before the agency over the past two decades, including the implementation of civil rights protections for air travelers, the evolution of the industry due to the Internet, in particular advertising of air transportation and air tours as well as the use of social media sites in marketing air transportation, and the comprehensive aviation consumer protection measures enacted by DOT during his tenure.

Developments in U.S. Department of Transportation Consumer Protection Program

The session will discuss the U.S. Department of Transportation’s role in regulating airlines that operate to, from, and within the United States, along with its process for handling consumer complaints and how those complaints may trigger U.S. DOT investigations, as well as DOT’s procedures for conducting on-site investigations of airlines at their headquarters and its enforcement process and procedures if it perceives a problem at a carrier. 

Attendees will be brought up to date on recent major developments in the Department’s comprehensive consumer protection program over the past year, including rules that have been proposed or recently issued, guidance issued by U.S. DOT about existing rules, and the Department’s actions to enforce those rules already in place, such as those involving tarmac delays, full fare advertisements, code share disclosures and other notices to consumers, and the handling of disabled air travelers. 

Consumer complaints to U.S. DOT are up over 20% during the first six months of this year. Learn what U.S. DOT considers when determining whether to seek a fine of up to $27,500 in each instance that an airline may fail to provide the service to an air traveler required by U.S. DOT. The discussion will be free-flowing, with questions from attendees encouraged.

B

Guest speaker
Leslie O'Flahavan
Principal, E-WRITE

Leslie O'Flahavan has helped thousands of customer service agents learn to write high-quality letters, e-mails, chats, and social media messages to customers. She also helps contact centers measure the quality of communications with customers, maintain the library of pre-written answers, and screen job applicants for writing skills. She has helped airline customer care organizations write in a natural style, which builds rapport with customers. She has consulted with retail, financial, travel, health care, and government contact centers.  Leslie is principal of E-WRITE and the author of “Clear, Correct, Concise E-Mail: A Writing Workbook for Customer Service Agents”. Leslie believes good writers are made, not born.

How to Respond to Angry Customers in Social Media

It's challenging enough for airlines to respond to angry customers when they call us or email us. So how should we respond to them when they tweet or post on Facebook? Angry customers' public complaints in social media can make our airlines look bad, even when we are taking appropriate steps to resolve their problems.

In this session, you will get practical tips and hands-on practice in responding to angry customers in social media. You will learn:

• Why it's essential to respond quickly and specifically
• How to acknowledge customers' anger, even when they are being unreasonable
• When to ask angry customers to move the discussion out of the public social channel
• How to re-use customer service skills your team has honed on the phone or via email, such as empathy, active listening, validation, in social channels
• When to let an angry social media discussion run its course, and when to try to shut it down
• Sample responses: How airlines around the world handle angry customers in social media

C

Guest speaker
Chaitain Jain
Assistant Director – Government and Industry Affairs, IATA

Chaitan Jain is currently Assistant Director, External Affairs for IATA, based in Geneva. In this capacity he works in the areas of policy analysis and development, looking at trends in the aviation business and its regulatory environment.  Before coming to External Affairs, Chaitan oversaw the internal and external communications for IATA’s Simplifying the Business programme and BSP Operations.  Prior to joining IATA in 2008, Chaitan undertook consulting work with the Government of Abu Dhabi in addition to the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation in India.  Chaitan holds a Master of Arts in Law and Diplomacy from the Fletcher School at Tufts University, and is a dual citizen of the USA and Canada.

IATA Passenger Claims Management Focus Group

Passenger rights regulations and resulting claims are a challenging topic for our industry. IATA has learned from member airlines that they would appreciate some support in the actual handling and management of air passenger claims. Based on this feedback, IATA has conducted research through surveys and market assessments and is now in a position to present a possible solution aimed at supporting its airlines in this increasingly demanding area.

To ensure the successful progress of this initiative, IATA would like to form a focus group of airlines willing to support them in ensuring that the proposed solution is optimally aligned with its members' specific needs in the passenger claims management area. IATA is hosting the first focus group session in Geneva in late September, but given the assemblage of customer relations professionals gathered for our conference, you are invited to an adjunct focus group meeting in Bangkok to walk you through their findings and action plan.

Keynote Sessions:

Dusit Thani Hall

Breakfast:

The Pavilion

Guest speaker
Brian Curran
Vice President of Customer Experience Strategy and Design, Oracle

For over 20 years, Brian has been a the forefront of Customer Experience (CX) strategy for multiple Fortune 100 brand in senior executive roles ranging across operations, customer care, b-to-b sales, marketing, e-commerce, and brick-and-mortar retail in the automotive, communications, and consumer electronics industries.

Brian’s design background is derived from being thrust into situations that were either totally disruptive in nature to the organization or being tasked with resurrecting a failing department, function or brand. With an eye on immediate improvement to the financial health, Brian has deployed multiple design disciplines in the pursuit of driving employee engagement and innovation focused on delivering compelling customer experiences that produce results.

As Oracle’s Vice President of Customer Experience Strategy and Design, Brian spends a majority of his time around the globe helping organizations embrace and execute these design disciplines such as ”journey mapping” to drive a transformative approach and engagement between a brand and its customers.

Re-Imagine Your Customers’ Odyssey!

Your customers are embarking on a journey with your brand. Brian will show you how to guide their experience along the way. Customers’ attitudes and behaviors are ever-changing in the buying and using process. Journey mapping is a customer-focused, in-demand methodology that allows you to look through your customers’ eyes and understand their experience with your brand and innovate new experiences to fulfill today’s expectations.

Guest speaker
Chaitain Jain
Assistant Director – Government and Industry Affairs, IATA

Chaitan Jain is currently Assistant Director, External Affairs for IATA, based in Geneva. In this capacity he works in the areas of policy analysis and development, looking at trends in the aviation business and its regulatory environment.  Before coming to External Affairs, Chaitan oversaw the internal and external communications for IATA’s Simplifying the Business programme and BSP Operations.  Prior to joining IATA in 2008, Chaitan undertook consulting work with the Government of Abu Dhabi in addition to the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation in India.  Chaitan holds a Master of Arts in Law and Diplomacy from the Fletcher School at Tufts University, and is a dual citizen of the USA and Canada.

New Advocacy Approaches on Consumer Protection

Here’s a narrative we often hear in public: governments have to protect passengers from nasty airlines. That often forms the basis for prescriptive, overlapping and confusing consumer protection laws. How can we change the debate to move to a partnership approach between governments, passengers, and airlines? Find out about the advocacy and operational projects IATA is pursuing, on behalf of its members that attempt to strike a balance between protecting consumers and providing sustainable air service.

Keynote Sessions: Dusit Thani Hall

Breakfast: The Pavilion

Lunch: The Cellar

Guest speaker
Atchara Juicharern, Ph.D. (ICF Certified Coach – PCC)
Founder, AcComm & Image International

Atchara Juicharern, Ph.D., (ICF Certified Coach – PCC), is recognized for her distinctive capabilities developing executives and teams from a wide variety of cultural background. Atchara had fifteen years of international experience with Northwest Airlines. She managed people across the regions and was awarded “the best manager of the year” in 1997.

In 2005, she founded AcComm & Image International. Her inspiring leadership and success appears frequently in business interviews. Recently, she is recognized as one of the ten “wonder women” in business by “WOMAN PLUS” magazine by GM Group.

Atchara has Ph. D. in Management Development, an international program at National Institute of Development Administration, where she also received a distinguished alumni award. She also studied in Germany and the United States. Atchara is a best-selling author and has also been a regular columnist of ASEAN column in “Post Today” newspaper.

Breaking Through the Invisible Boundaries in Building Partnership with Customers

Serving customers from different cultures requires a global business skill: building partnership. Atchara will walk you through assessing your partnerships with important contacts and provide tips for deepening your relationships, how to create “impact in the moment” through communication, and discuss better ways to build sustainable and trust-based relationships.

Guest speaker
Todd M. Coons
Senior Director, Global Business Development, NetTracer, Inc.

Todd Coons joined The Owens Group International, parent company of NetTracer, Inc. in 2010 to head-up the business development efforts for the enterprise. In this role, Todd led the NetTracer rebranding and international expansion efforts, launched Lost & Found Central managed service, and expanded the Unclaimed Baggage Center supplier base. In 2012 he was promoted to Senior Director, Global Business Development to focus responsibilities on NetTracer, the technology organization of the enterprise. A leader with diverse corporate, government, and international experience, Todd oversees the domestic U.S. and international sales, marketing, and partnership development efforts.

Prior to NetTracer, Todd spent nearly 10 years in positions within the Telecommunications and Pharmaceutical industries, and served as an advisor for the United States Congress in Washington, D.C. Todd graduated magna cum laude from the Georgia Institute of Technology with a Bachelor of Science degree in Management and holds a Masters of Business Administration from the University of Cape Town, South Africa, and is also an alumnus of London Business School, United Kingdom.

Transforming Baggage Mishandlings and Lost and Found Items into Customer Service Wins through Proactive Management

In the constantly changing landscape of the instant Tweet, the Facebook post, the Instagram hashtag, and countless other social media outlets where a negative customer experience can ‘go viral’ and become an Internet sensation within hours, it is key for airlines to be proactive and not reactive when managing service recovery incidents. Similar to how you really know the value of an insurance company when you need to file a claim, each mishandling or lost and found service recovery incident creates a risk to the airlines reputation, but also an opportunity to demonstrate excellent customer service.

The determining factor between a customer service reputation loss or win is how the airline manages the service recovery. By utilizing industry best practices, new technology and services, and managing customer expectations through clear proactive communication, airlines can transform passenger disappointment and frustration into surprise and delight.

Guest speaker
Leslie O'Flahaven
Principal, E-WRITE

Leslie O'Flahavan has helped thousands of customer service agents learn to write high-quality letters, e-mails, chats, and social media messages to customers. She also helps contact centers measure the quality of communications with customers, maintain the library of pre-written answers, and screen job applicants for writing skills. She has helped airline customer care organizations write in a natural style, which builds rapport with customers. She has consulted with retail, financial, travel, health care, and government contact centers.  Leslie is principal of E-WRITE and the author of “Clear, Correct, Concise E-Mail: A Writing Workbook for Customer Service Agents”. Leslie believes good writers are made, not born. Not sure the bio needs to be duplicated since it already appeared once above…?

How to Write to Customers in Your Airline's Brand Voice

Your customers know your airline in many ways: from TV ads, newsletters, your website, promotions, posters, social media accounts, YouTube videos, and from flying with you -- of course. From all these pleasant contacts, customers "make friends" with your airline. They experience your brand voice as upbeat, accommodating, even glamorous. However, when customers contact airlines for service, airlines often communicate in a strict, legalistic, and formal style. This disconnect between the brand voice and the customer service voice harms the overall customer experience and makes customer distrust the answers we give them.

This session will explain how you can respond to customer contacts in your airline's brand voice without sacrificing accuracy or authority. You will learn:

• What brand voice is and how it affects your relationship with customers
• Why an unfriendly customer service voice actually makes customers more difficult to serve
• How to define elements of your airline's brand voice so you can incorporate them into communication with customers
• How to train your customer service agents to use your brand voice
• How to talk with your airline's marketing department about brand voice