The UK 'Thinks Bigger Picture' at CWT Connect
CWT was very pleased to welcome over 130 people to ‘Thinking Bigger Picture’ at our annual customers and prospect event, at the Hilton London Bankside. This was the core theme of the event, which was supported by a packed agenda, with a morning marketplace, networking, super speakers, and some hot discussion topics.
The team were very conscientious in developing this event to Think Bigger Picture and build sustainability into our strategy, which is why you didn’t see any single-use plastic anywhere, why we had a sustainably-sourced menu, reduced print-outs, and our badges were made of recycled plastic.
The host for the day was CWTs very own Julian Walker, Head of External Market Communications and PR, and Julian announced that CWT would be offsetting the emissions associated with the event to make it carbon neutral. The audience voted to support a project in Peru that strives to reduce deforestation in the Peruvian Amazon and protect against illegal logging and poaching, establishing a sustainable logging industry. It promotes sustainable agriculture that respects the integrity of the forest.
We tasked our speakers with the big task of challenging our audience, and shake up their perspective... and they did just that.
Our first panel of the day was hosted by Denise Harman, featuring a CWT client, United Airlines and Qatar Airways. The panellists managed to cover a range of topics from technology, to millennial travellers, sustainability and even NDC, when the audience chimed in with their thoughts.
This was followed by a presentation from CWT CMO Simon Nowroz and his special guests David Zimmer and Daren Pickering. The session, ‘Connecting with New Realities’ covered the total traveller experience, our unique B2B4E positioning, how we provide a seamless multi-channel journey, and the road to innovation.
The penultimate session of the day was hosted by RoomIt, the hotel distribution division of CWT, who demonstrated that travellers and travel managers can make choices that may not seem risky, but are. This interactive session had our attendees voting on what behaviours they thought were ‘risky'. The panellists then helped us identify which of those behaviours were in fact risks. The audience was able to walk away with 5 key takeaways to help reduce risks for travellers when booking. To learn more, check out this 'Ultimate Safety Checklist for Business Travellers'. If you would like more than a checklist you can access their great e-book 'Going beyond traditional hotel safety and security'.
One of the highlights of the day was hearing from award-winning author, speaker, and campaigner Tristram Stuart on the environmental and social impacts of food, sounding the warning bell on global food waste and calling for us to change the system whereby large quantities of food products are wasted. He also spoke candidly about his experiences campaigning for change, and finding innovative solutions to seemingly unsolvable problems.
One innovate solution Tristram spoke about was ‘Toast Ale’. Upon discovering that bread is one of the most wasted foods in the UK, he set up a company creating craft beer from discarded crusts and unsold loaves of bread.
After the event attendees had a chance to try the planet-saving, palate-pleasing beer.
