Podcast appearances and mentions of john matson

Varicoceles embolization is the least invasive treatment option for varicoceles, making it the favored option for most patients and a staple in the interventional radiologist's procedural repertoire. Dr. John Matson joins host Dr. Ally Baheti to give us an essential guide to varicocele embolization, serving as an introduction for junior IRs and refresher for the more experienced. Dr. Matson is an Assistant Professor of Interventional Radiology at University of Virginia. --- RADPAD® Radiation Protection https://www.radpad.com/ --- SYNPOSIS Dr. Mattson covers the indications, procedural setup, technique variations, and post-procedure follow-up for treating varicoceles, with specific attention to the different embolic materials used in clinical practice. He also delves into the importance of pre-procedure evaluations, imaging requirements, and managing potential complications. --- TIMESTAMPS 00:00 - Introduction 02:05 - Indications for Varicocele Embolization 06:05 - Procedure Setup and Execution 12:57 - Coil Sizing and Embolic Materials 17:36 - Managing Complications 20:25 - Post-Procedure Care and Follow-Up

Episode 72 with Kyle Beachy, skateboarder and writer from Saint Louis, Missouri. Together we discussed his life and career from growing up and picking up his first board in Saint Louis, Missouri in 1986 to releasing his second book “The most fun thing” (published by Grand Central Publishing in August 2021), a collection of essays focused on skateboarding, and everything in between through surprise questions from friends of his: Indigo Willing, Dan Piquard, Patrick Kigongo, Cole Nowicki, John Matson, José Vadi, Iain Borden, Alex White, Jason Waters, Sam Korman, Wes Miller, Janie Porche, Ted Schmitz, Kristin Lueke, Jim Daley, Ted Barrow, Terry and Roger Beachy, and John Dahlquist. (00:13) – Intro(01:13) – Kyle life recap(07:12) – Indigo Willing(11:14) – Dan Piquard(14:11) – Patrick Kigongo(16:09) – Cole Nowicki(32:42) – John Matson(36:09) – José Vadi(43:44) – Iain Borden(52:02) – Alex White(54:58) – Jason Waters(59:37) – Sam Korman(01:05:08) – Wes Miller(01:12:00) – Janie Porche(01:14:05) – Ted Schmitz(01:19:32) – Kristin Lueke(01:29:12) – Jim Daley(01:31:41) – Ted Barrow(01:35:50) – Terry and Roger Beachy(01:39:44) – John Dahlquist(01:47:55) - ConclusionFor more information and resources: https://linktr.ee/beyondboards

Tune into Bob and Nick as they discuss Champions, Antagonists and.... Man-bat? CreditsAuthors:Tim Byrd, Ken Cliffe, Ed Hall, Todd Mayville, Ethan Skemp, Mike Tinney, and Pocahontas Firestein van Elfinburg della Escondido, Esq. Development: Ethan SkempEditing: Ed McKeogh  Vice President in Charge of Production: Richard ThomasArt Directors: Aileen E. Miles & Lawrence SnellyLayout & Typesetting: Robby Poore (with miniscule assitance from Aileen E. Miles)Art: BarbArmata, Ash Arnett, Stuart Beel, John Bridges, Dennis Calero, Richard Case, Steve Casper, John Cobb, James Daly, Mike Danza, Tony DiTerlizzi, Mike Dringenburg, Jason Felix, Richard Kane Ferguson, Lee Fields, Scott Fischer, Rebecca Guay, Matt Haley, Tony Harris, Quinton Hoover, Mark Jackson, Brian LeBlanc, Larry McDougall, Anson Maddocks, John Matson, Key Meyer Jr., Jeff Miracola, Jesper Myrfors, Alan Pollack, William O'Conner, Jeff Rebner, SCAR (Steve Carter & Antionette Ryder), Alex Sheikman, E. Allen Smith, Ron Spencer, Ron States, Joshua Gabriel Timbrook, RIchard Thomans, Jamie Tolagson, Drew Tucker, Lawrence Allen WilliamsCover Design: Lawrence SnellyCover Art: Joshua Gabriel Timbrook Purchase it here: Rage: Warriors of the ApocalypseSupport the show (https://www.patreon.com/25yearsofvampirethemasquerade/posts)

This week Shannon lightens the mood with the lies your parents told you as a kid. Emma screams, Shannon waxes poetic on Santa and hairballs, and we get to hear from a special guest! Listen along to what you thought you'd never know the answers to.  Sources: CNN: “Chocolate milk definitely doesn't come from brown cows -- but some adults think otherwise” by Nancy Coleman (https://www.cnn.com/2017/06/16/us/chocolate-milk-help-trnd/index.html) The Conversation: “Lies about Santa? They could be good for your child” by Kristen Dunfield (https://theconversation.com/lies-about-santa-they-could-be-good-for-your-child-88855) SwimmingPool.com: “7 Common Swimming Pool Myths Busted” (https://www.swimmingpool.com/blog/pool-myths-busted/) Mayo Clinic: “Mayo Clinic Minute: Should you wait 30 minutes to swim after eating?” by Ian Roth (https://newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org/discussion/mayo-clinic-minute-should-you-wait-30-minutes-to-swim-after-eating/) The Smithsonian: “A WWII Propaganda Campaign Popularized the Myth That Carrots Help You See in the Dark” by K. Annabelle Smith (https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/a-wwii-propaganda-campaign-popularized-the-myth-that-carrots-help-you-see-in-the-dark-28812484/) The World Carrot Museum (http://www.carrotmuseum.co.uk/) Potato Pete jingle: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3ndKK3j8ms Scientific American: “Fact or Fiction?: Chewing Gum Takes Seven Years to Digest” by John Matson (https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/fact-or-fiction-chewing-gum-takes-seven-years-to-digest/) Moms.com: “20 Strange Habits That Kids Have (Explained By Scientists)” by Layne G. (https://www.moms.com/20-strange-habits-that-kids-have-explained-by-scientists/) (CW: Super gross medical photos) National Museum of Health and Medicine: “Hairballs: Myths And Realities Behind Some Medical Curiosities” (https://www.medicalmuseum.mil/index.cfm?p=exhibits.virtual.hairball.index)

Here's the replay from Episode #12 of our LIVE Show from May 21 with special guests from New York to discuss the ongoing impact of COVID-19 on the local and global tourism industry. This discussion is moderated by Kevin O'Shaughnessy, co-founder of City Hook and Dublin Travel Massive leader.  Catch the LIVE Show recording below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krbakTCdlh8 In this episode we hear from: Alex Shebar, Director of Experiences at Culture Trip Tuning in directly from Brooklyn, Alex Shebar is the new Director of Experiences at Culture Trip, one of the world's leading travel, media and entertainment sites. Previously, he was also the first Brand Manager for Bumble and Director of Community for Yelp. For the time being, Culture Trip's motto has changed from “created for the curious traveler” to #StaySafeStayCurious. The content strategy is also changing. Alex also shared his thoughts about the recent launch of Culture Trip's own OTA. Jared Alster, NYC Travel Massive co-leader, co-founder at Wildebeest Native New Yorker Jared Alster is co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer at Wildebeest, a digital strategy and brand marketing agency focused on travel and tourism. He's also co-chapter leader of NYC Travel Massive. Jared talked about how the lockdown in NY looks right now. He also discussed what it's like to launch a business in January, just before the crisis. Kelley Louise, Executive Director at Impact Travel Alliance Kelley Louise is a freelance digital market and brand strategist, and founder of Impact Travel Alliance, a global community of socially and eco-conscious travelers. She has lost 95% of her work, but on the flip side – more brands are seeing the importance of sustainability. As part of her other business ViaHero – a platform that connects travellers with locals, Kelley was able to create a new virtual product over the last weeks to keep supporting locals around the world. She also argued that the post-covid future holds an opportunity to avoid issues like overtourism and exacerbating climate change. Kelley thinks it's time to ditch the quantity-over-quality approach and work on building a more sustainable and impactful industry. Listen to the recording to hear more. John Matson, Co-Founder and COO of Stealth Travel and Smart Cities Startup, former Managing Director of Voyager HQ John Matson co-founded and was Managing Director for Voyager HQ, a global community for over 2,000 startups in the travel, tourism, and hospitality industries, connecting them with enterprise partners, investors and advisors. John talked about the decision to cease operations at Voyager HQ when the crisis hit, as their business model relied on events and working with corporate innovation teams at enterprise travel brands. He's now working on something new and stealthy. Tune in to hear what he was willing to share. The Travel Massive LIVE Show – Season 1 The Travel Massive LIVE Show is a weekly online discussion on the ongoing impact of the Covid-19 outbreak on travel and tourism worldwide, featuring members from all over the globe. The LIVE Show is hosted by Dublin chapter co-leader Kevin O'Shaughnessy, and produced by Sofia chapter leader and Content Manager at Travel Massive Maria Stoyanova and Travel Massive founder Ian Cumming. Catch up on all 12 episodes from Season 1 of the LIVE show on our blog, and podcasts.

As the global travel industry continues to advance its technology infrastructure to meet the needs of modern travelers, new challenges make way for the need for new solutions. Two leading travel industry experts, Jay Richmond (Head of Business Travel Group, North America) and Kerri Zeil (Head of Amadeus for Startups) of Amadeus, discuss with host John Matson how to distinguish between disrupting the industry, and just conforming to new technologies. It's a deep dive into what's on the horizon and how to nurture innovation from within a global enterprise travel brand, including how to manage travel content at scale and how NDC will impact aspects of the travel industry beyond airlines.

Telling location-centered stories around the world, including articles, videos, photography, illustration and animation, with an in-house creative and editorial teams work with a global network of freelance creators -- Alex Shebar, Director of Experiences for Culture Trip, joins John Matson and Bess Chapman in the MouthMedia Network studio. In this episode: It’s Bess’ last show! She’s going to get her Masters from Stanford. Alex talks about how travelers are looking for different experiences. It’s not just the Louvre, it’s the stuff the locals know about, and the way to access that information is through content. What sets Culture Trip apart from the countless other travel blogs that have been around even longer? The secret is in the amazing community of content creators all over the world that they’ve been able to put together. The travel responsibility trend. People are being very conscious about the kind of traveling they’re doing, who are the people, what’s the culture you’re becoming a part of when you visit? Alex’s snack - pickles from the pickle guys! He went there with his fiancé on a local experience tour, and loved it. A little bit about Alex - from Boston, went to journalism school, but quickly found out he hated being one after working the night shift and showing up to crime scenes alone in the middle of the night. He was in Cincinnati, and started organizing public screenings of the top 100 films of all time, which blew up, Yelp contacted him to be a community manager, then worked for Bumble before landing at Culture Trip. Turning content into experience. Culture Trip has the users, they can create partnerships all over the world. Getting users excited about content they want to be a part of, and then giving them the opportunity to book it. Alex wants Culture Trip to be a household name, and would love to work with the Met or MOMA or the London Zoo, as well as weirder smaller tours. What does Alex miss most from Boston? Believe it or not it’s the sort of touristy places: Legal Seafood, Neptune House. Bess shares a final thought - she’s really optimistic about the travel industry. There are so many great companies starting out and she feels theres even more opportunity out there to go big and off the wall.

How can you scale cool? True personalization in travel. Leiti Hsu, Cofounder of Journy (an AI-enabled, expert-curated modern travel planning service that personalizes your trip planning, including bookings and reservations), show host, and food connector, joins John Matson and Bess Chapman in the MouthMedia Network studio. Journy uses humans, who do their jobs better with tech? Leiti and Susan (her cofounder) are the Yin and the Yang. They met dancing on speakers in Shanghai, while both traveling, and they become travel buddies. Traditional travel agencies still have humans doing things a computer can do better. Journy uses technology so that their humans can spend 80% of their time doing things only humans can do - planning amazing trips. Journy is for all! You can be on a budget or go for an ultimate luxury experience. Either way, Journy knows their customer extremely well. Learn about QQ! A texture that Taiwanese and other asian cultures love. Think boba in bubble tea - like al dente but squishier. Leiti saw the end of media as we knew it as Gourmet Magazine folded, and now surprisingly Journy has become a big of a media company. An unexpected brand Journy has worked with is 23 and Me. They gave away 23 DNA kits and planned the trips for those people back to their ancestors’ countries. Leiti’s home away from home travel-wise is San Sebastain. It’s the Taiwan of Europe! It’s like paradise with really good food. After Leiti’s mom was diagnosed with stage 4 non-smoking lung cancer, she created her dream restaurant pop-up. A hole in the wall Taiwanese beef noodle soup spot, called Tsu Soup.

Azim Barodawala, CEO of Volantio (technology that helps airlines maximize unit revenues and decrease costs through greater capacity utilization, while providing customers with better predictability and control over their travel journey) joins John Matson and Bess Chapman in the MouthMedia Network studio.

Designing customer experience in travel... Liliana Petrova, Director of Customer experience at JetBlue Airways, Visionary, Strategist, Customer Experience Professional and Blogger, joins John Matson, Bess Chapman, and Pavan Bahl in the MouthMedia Network studios powered by Sennheiser. In this episode: Liliana Petrova on designing for Experience is like a multi-phase cake What is movement, Technology design, how to achieve movement as fast and seamless as possible How people will feel about the brand and interactions Why the experience designer needs to be a vision thinker and can’t design in increments Facial recognition, and why with some brands it is like having a same experience like prison or the subway, and determining that will never happen like that with JetBlue as an experience Delight comes from the elements and when it works to one’s standards Designing experience is like being like a conductor of an orchestra Innovation is not building new things, but finding connections that didn’t exists before between existing things Getting a sophisticated program up in just four months Will airports be the player of the future they are today? The quest to eliminate waiting time with bags and taking away levels of friction How airports could transform from being simply a processing center, and therefore offer a chance to give you joy Other brands doing it right, and those doing it wrong — Milan train system can do better Every customer has their own version of an emotional reaction — but engineering things like efficiency can create emotional experiences, creating value Being driven by making the world a different place, making life easier Liking things that stretch when it is implausible Why the Hyperloop is exciting How Petrova moved from financial analyst to design The baseline of customer experience is process and strategy, making connections and seeing all channels of marketing And hard work How enterprise brands can’t preserve everything with scale Innovation is not the end goal, it’s a way to be relevant to the customer The alignment in the interest of the future costumer Credit cards and miles/points/rewards Petrova on being Bulgarian and a view at her work and the American ecosystem, and having perspective Why Abraham Lincoln was amazing An intuitive move and coming to America, having two “homes”, being a citizen of the world Doingcxright.com

Merchandising content platform for flight shopping… Robert Albert, CEO of Routehappy (the industry standard for airline rich content, acquired by ATPCO) joins John Matson and Nick Vivion in the MouthMedia Network studios powered by Sennheiser. In this episode: The most commonly desired amenity in travel: seat, then WiFi Selling a singular vision when pitching/building Routehappy How it is not actually all about price An entire ecommerce category that’s comeditized, we all about the experience from that moment on Explaining products and services customers are happier, and the industry does better How it was obvious to him that every customer needed this Why Albert feels it has felt like spreading a religion, every meeting is positive, but not necessarily a priority all the time It is an organic experience, brick by brick building the path forward for the company and the recognition of the need How the pace of building the company has helped them build it right, solving a complex problem, and why the company is ready for prime time now and can solve global differentiation problem in flight shopping Why GDS’s didn’t solve this prior Sales cycles in travel vs. funds for startups Massive network effect, explaining the story and getting airlines and distributers to align on the story and potential impact How hard Albert and team worked building the company, holding twenty five meetings a week while traveling, making good product decisions that got companies interested Originally Routehappy was about consumer flight reviews, then built APIs of data, and operating lean Happy and cheap as a product compass How Routehappy’s solution was now described as being able to enable the industry with better data, and that resulted in the first serious ways people were paying attention Moving from B to C to B to B as a pivot Pineapple chunks, and why this Australian treat was the snack, and the meaning How Routehappy was recently acquired by ATPCO, software that manages the world’s airfares UTA rich context (universal ticket attribute) Becoming the “Switzerland of rich content”, how Routehappy can now deliver on the thing they said they were doing for seven years Overall vision as the next gen storefront, how it is time to modernize flight shopping, how indirect channels can and should transform, and coming together with the “how” The happy empire and the tip of the iceberg Albert’s parental inspiration for travel

Chris McCormack is back on the show to talk about Superleague, he shares how it got started, how things are progressing and where it’s heading to in the future. We also have Ritch Viola and John Matson from Everyman Jack are on the show to talk the Everyman Jack team and the work they have been doing in trying to reduce the drafting at the Ironman World Championships. You can read the article about this here.

AirAsia has an eye on how technology innovation can disrupt the areas of the travel industry… When you’re the largest airline in a country, with more than 100 million passengers last year and ranked this year by Forbes the best low cost airline in Asia, you’re going to know a lot about what your customers need and want. You’ll know about their behavior throughout their journey with you, and how you can grow as a customer and as an ever increasingly relevant player.In the travel industry. AirAsia Group is taking that experience and running—(or flying)—with it. With an eye on how technology innovation can disrupt the areas of the travel industry Air Asia is eyeing for expansion, and to be of value to other industry players— (and even other industries).themyour brand Aireen Omar, AirAsia Deputy Group CEO (Technology and Digital), joins John Matson and Bess Chapman for a discussion on why the airline has made a meaningful play into venture funding and startups, a search for talent worldwide, and investing in unicorns. Recorded in the MouthMedia Network studio powered by Sennheiser. In this episode: Data is invaluable What makes an airline stand out—how you make a customer feel, the right kind of services and products, as seamless sand possible And branding is important, seeking a fun and enjoyable way to consume it Understanding needs and wants, and helping them discover what they don’t know they want Redbeat Ventures, embracing technology, and how AirAsia has a. lot of data, and has discovered the behavior of passengers AirAsia wanting to seek for talent all over the world, and find solutions and disrupt the travel industry they want to expand to, and be of value to other industry players (and perhaps other industries as well) The resulting venture fund and separate and off balance sheet, to invest in unicorns around the world The wide range of who be in the fund, including lifestyle companies The beauty of how AirAsia can work with startups, given the 100M+ passengers per year The likely impact of an economy shift on the business

Collaborative technology to the global airline industry that enables its customers to improve the pace and quality of aircraft maintenance, leading to significant productivity gains, lowered costs and improved safety… Tripp Higgins, VP of Business Development, and Andy Hakes, Founder/CEO, of AireXpert (tech ops event control), joins John Matson and Bess Chapman in theMouthMedia Network studio powered by Sennheiser. In this episode: Room for improvement in great communication with people out at airplanes and between travel companies and those people A lot of people working in adjacent roles who don’t work together and a lot situations develop on the fly Barriers – outsourcing, fragmentation of indie companies that don’t share resources Airlines relying on outsourced vendors, lack of training, very little standardization for communication AireXpert is a communication channel that creates a standardized link, that allows people to communicate in same space, on the fly How AireXpert’s business started Everyone has the same pains The difficulty of raising money in Buffalo NY, and needing capital to hire great talent How being in small market has challenges and opportunities Hot dogs! The sales cycle of approaching an airline Raising funds and the venture landscape in Buffalo Whether the AireXpert executives feel less or more safe now with airlines The exhilaration of taking in the arrival at a new destination

If you had an hour to sit with someone who helped build the fastest growing travel media company in the industry – what could you learn? From user-generated content, to the shift of the mobile-first environment and how trends have drastically shifted in travel, along with travel management companies, the joys of  traveling with family, and why not to take your eye off the ball in the travel industry… Anthony Derico, Business Mentor / Advisor for Quake Capital Partners and Business Consultant / Advisor to Voyager HQ,  and former VP/Head of Sales for Skift and Skift table, joins John Matson and Bess Chapman in the MouthMedia Network studio powered by Sennheiser.In this episode: The move to mobile as the biggest travel shift The next biggest shift? The cellphone as a tool of travel Skiplagged for finding cheap flights Influencer content and maintaining an authentic voice, and how everyone is an influencer when they travel and share on social media Making travel more accessible is a market share Does travel have a homogeny problem to get that instagrammable moment? The effect on business travel Why people travel for business, the many layers of that decision making, and a possible game changer to focus on Working for your snack Creating amazing experiences as a brand, and really executing events that can leave an impression The impact of the rise of startup culture on travel Why travel as a benefit should be core to a business How trade publications can get real stories in travel, and then thoughts on content that stands out Inspiring children with meaningful travel destinations and experiences that make an impact

Acquiring and retaining hospitality customers with surprise-and-delight rewards… James Nannos, Director of Hotel Sales & Partnerships for Stay Wanderful (a direct booking tool to increase guest conversion and provide surprise- and-delight rewards) joins John Matson and Bess Chapman in the MouthMedia Network studio powered by Sennheiser.In this episode: How independent hospitality brands should think about retaining customers Independent hospitality chains don’t have a powerful distribution network Tangible guest rewards, differentiated experiences to guests, and then continuing conversation after the fact How can independents get in there and make a difference Most prefer experiences and benefits to points, most won’t get value out of points Personalizing small but highly perceived value rewards Most want to choose rewards If Stay Wanderful is in many properties, how that helps still customers choose a specific property Raising the bar of service won’t dilute the opportunity Stay Wanderful makes it look like a hotel is giving you the rewards, like a white label solution for that hotel The only business where customers are sleeping in palace of business—you must capture them while they are there Independent properties fighting uphill battle A fee-for-success model The importance of fining out the real decision-maker of a hospitality property or brand Why hotels are operating off of antiquating systems, integrating into an old tech stack The helpfulness of the Cornell network The impact of military methodology and experience on entrepreneurialism and how it connects with hotel business

Why the original travel app is partnered with so many brands and integrated into so much technology… Kristen Vasan, Director of Strategic Platform Partnerships for Foursquare (a technology company that enriches consumer experiences and informs business decisions through a deep understanding of location intelligence), joins John Matson in the MouthMedia Network studio powered by Sennheiser.In this episode: The state of personalization in the travel industry, gained some momentum Foursquare was previously thought as a social networking app, but is a contextually aware location platform that sits on top of some of the biggest brands’ tech Can build a contextually aware map of where people go People comparing brands to one another are looking at how technological experiences compare to one another The risk of becoming the best tech company instead of best service Going from the check in app for locations,and how Foursquare  pivoted to become a huge player in the enterprise location space How their API plays into geo-locations for images and social media The goal to give marketers the ability to “bake” location tech, to know where you’ve stopped, see the venue where you are, and “tap you on the shoulder” Giving people the ability to be present and enjoy life, and only use phone when it matters most How Foursquare reached 1 billion consumers Brands building loyalty, having an understanding of offline behavior, a lot is still left to be done in that space How business travel is different than personal travel Seeing location trails of consumers and telling stories about where they go People look to Foursquare as the original travel app Are travel startups able to use Foursquare’s SDK and try to iterate on it Foursquare’s database of over 105M places globally you can ingest and share with world And  — a volcano

Organizing business trips 90% faster, 30% cheaper via AI with a human touch… Filip Maksymilian Bloch (CEO) and Daniel Flynn (Business Development Manager) of Hotailors (a next-gen AI-powered travel platform  allowing organization of corporate travel faster, at a lower cost) join John Matson in the MouthMedia Network studio powered by Sennheiser.In this episode: What does Hotailors see changing in corporate travel bookings? Hotailors wants to treat your employees right Who’s driving the change in corporate travel? Identifying and relating to the pain of being a traveler Trimming down the “waste time” spent booking a trip SMD vs Enterprise Winning the market and becoming a unicorn Sizing up the market How Filip and Dan met Narrow Domain Intelligence vs General Form Intelligence Applying AI to the travel space Where Filip sees AI succeeding and thriving How Artificial Intelligence will help travel be better, smarter, cheaper, faster, and more comfortable The competition in the travel AI space Hotailor’s hybrid approach to travel – Merging A.I. efficiency with human touch by employing a network of 3,000 travel agents across the globe Building a product so good, customers won’t want to leave – the key is to be faster and more robust Hotailor’s approach to product research and development How Hotailor built a network of 3,000 travel agents across the globe The early struggles and mistakes made while growing Hotailors Where Filip believes AI will be used and where he wants to see it utilized Filip’s upbringing running hotels with his parents

The growth of Brussels Airlines in the Americas.. Andrea Bonaiuto, Marketing Manager for The Americas with Eurowings Group, joins John Matson and Bess Chapman  in the MouthMedia Network studios powered by Sennheiser.In this episode: The most effective B-to-B and B-to-C channels for Brussels Airlines and Eurowings, depending on gaol and purpose Having a smaller budget, acting in startup style in the Americas Working two brands Brussels has three points of departure in North America, but Eurowings has seven gateways in North America Local targeted events, getting people who haven’t travelled to a destination before, acquiring new customers, strategic partnerships Tomorrowland as the largest music festival in Belgium, seeking to create  a seamless customer journey experience and  related experiences, with live DJs at 30,000 ft A fun activation, working with United Airlines Gate parties Keeping customer loyalty when the customer may not be interacting directly with brand, consistency, quality service and experiences, and staying in front of customer The deal with airline food, and how at 30,000 feet your taste buds change, t more he need to add more sodium Business class menus created at a high culinary level The “bleisure” markets How promoting airlines is constantly changing with digital opportunities and new platforms Virtual reality at a lot of events, experiencing what the inside of cabin and business class is like

In this episode, Paige sits with John Matson to discuss his journey in the Oil and Gas Industry to his current role as Executive Consultant - Center of Competence at IBM. Reach out to John Matson and learn more about IBM Leave a Review Enjoy listening? Support the show by leaving a review in iTunes. Sign Up and Win Click here to sign up here to win a FR Shirt and FR Base Layer from Bulwark! Monthly Happy Hour Oil & Gas Global Network is hosting a happy hour on January 29th, from 6-9 PM. Come out and enjoy a cold beer, food will be provided, and network with other professionals in oil & gas! This month's happy hour will be held at The Cannon. We will have a spotlight by Ian Martin Group on Polarity Management. This month's happy hour is brought to you by Comdata, HEB and Karbach Brewery. Comdata– Comdata is a leading provider of fleet management and B2B payment solutions. As the largest fuel card provider and second largest commercial issuer of MasterCard in North America, we offer one of the most comprehensive suites of payment solutions on the market. Find out more here. Karbach– OGGN's official drink sponsor. Bringing you Texas-brewed beer! Find out about their beer here. H-E-B– OGGN's official food sponsor. Find out more here. Happy Hour Sponsors OGGN is always accepting Happy Hour sponsors.  If you would like to get your company in front of our large young, professional audience, reach out to our Project Coordinator, Julie McLelland by e-mail. Upcoming Events SPE-GCS Inter-Corporate TopGolf Tournament When: Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019 Where: TopGolf Katy Join us for the first ever SPE GCS Inter-Corporate TopGolf Tournament / Networking Event on Thursday 21st Feb 2019 from 5pm to 8pm. Meet and network with 500+ oil & gas professionals from all disciplines and all experience levels while noshing on hors d'oeurves and playing in the TopGolf tournament. Sponsors will be recognized and prizes will be awarded at a special reception following the tournament! Register here. More Oil and Gas Global Network Podcasts Oil and Gas This Week Podcast | Oil and Gas HS&E Podcast | Oil and Gas Startups Podcast Engage with Oil and Gas Global Network LinkedIn Group | Facebook | modalpoint | Lean Oilfield | WellHub Connect with Paige Wilson LinkedIn | Twitter | E-Mail | Oil and Gas Global Network John Matson on Oil and Gas Industry Leaders Podcast – OGIL054

In this episode, Paige sits with John Matson to discuss his journey in the Oil and Gas Industry to his current role as Executive Consultant - Center of Competence at IBM. Reach out to John Matson and learn more about IBM Leave a Review Enjoy listening? Support the show by leaving a review in iTunes. Sign Up and Win Click here to sign up here to win a FR Shirt and FR Base Layer from Bulwark! Monthly Happy Hour Oil & Gas Global Network is hosting a happy hour on January 29th, from 6-9 PM. Come out and enjoy a cold beer, food will be provided, and network with other professionals in oil & gas! This month’s happy hour will be held at The Cannon. We will have a spotlight by Ian Martin Group on Polarity Management. This month’s happy hour is brought to you by Comdata, HEB and Karbach Brewery. Comdata– Comdata is a leading provider of fleet management and B2B payment solutions. As the largest fuel card provider and second largest commercial issuer of MasterCard in North America, we offer one of the most comprehensive suites of payment solutions on the market. Find out more here. Karbach– OGGN’s official drink sponsor. Bringing you Texas-brewed beer! Find out about their beer here. H-E-B– OGGN’s official food sponsor. Find out more here. Happy Hour Sponsors OGGN is always accepting Happy Hour sponsors.  If you would like to get your company in front of our large young, professional audience, reach out to our Project Coordinator, Julie McLelland by e-mail. Upcoming Events SPE-GCS Inter-Corporate TopGolf Tournament When: Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019 Where: TopGolf Katy Join us for the first ever SPE GCS Inter-Corporate TopGolf Tournament / Networking Event on Thursday 21st Feb 2019 from 5pm to 8pm. Meet and network with 500+ oil & gas professionals from all disciplines and all experience levels while noshing on hors d’oeurves and playing in the TopGolf tournament. Sponsors will be recognized and prizes will be awarded at a special reception following the tournament! Register here. More Oil and Gas Global Network Podcasts Oil and Gas This Week Podcast | Oil and Gas HS&E Podcast | Oil and Gas Startups Podcast Engage with Oil and Gas Global Network LinkedIn Group | Facebook | modalpoint | Lean Oilfield | WellHub Connect with Paige Wilson LinkedIn | Twitter | E-Mail | Oil and Gas Global Network John Matson on Oil and Gas Industry Leaders Podcast – OGIL054

An eCommerce fraud protection solution that protects travel companies… Dean Locke, Head of Business Development at Riskified (the world’s leading eCommerce fraud-prevention company, trusted by hundreds of global brands – from luxury fashion houses and retail chains, to gift card and ticket marketplaces), joins John Matson and Bess Chapman  in the MouthMedia Network studios powered by Sennheiser.In this episode: Travel as a high-ticket item, attractive to fraudsters because they can sell per transaction Smaller margins mean magnification of chargebacks How fraud happens Gift cards are highly targeted When revenue streams must shut down due to fraud A Cakeboss treat Being received in the travel space The shift to digital payment, and preparing for cryptocurrencies Indicators of risky transactions The tech scene in NYC

How does one of the world’s oldest and largest international tourism companies think about innovation? Jared Alster, Vice President of Marketing for Cox & Kings (offering customized private and group travel tours to India, Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, Antarctica, Australia, and the Middle East), joins John Matson and Bess Chapman in the MouthMedia Network studios powered by Sennheiser.In this episode: Marketing to Americans outbound Domestic vs. international UK and Australia, different mindset than US, people brought up to be travelers. Brand loyalty largely non existent in the US Challenges of multi-day tour packages When operators makes sense in US – i.e. national parks US is largely a road trip approach B to C focus Being like a travel advisor Designing a site for clarity and purpose instead of for design’s sake More opportunity with people in later years than the past Reaching down as well into small luxury groups Government incentives, bodies rely on operators and agents for CTA to book a trip, may impact what regions are strategically focused on at a time Centralized content the last shoe to fall in industry

A visionary executive and experienced senior revenue and strategy leader in the commercial airline business offers insight into what has turned the aviation industry on its head again  and again over the last 30 years… Marty St. George, EVP of Commercial and Planning for JetBlue Airways, joins John Matson and Bess Chapman in the MouthMedia Network studios powered by Sennheiser. Note that Bess Chapman is interviewing Marty St. George only in the capacity as a podcast host – she also works for JetBlue Technology Ventures, a subsidiary of JetBlue.In the episode: Marty’s history with JetBlue and the Airline industry JetBlue focus cities and outlook on growth The fascination with bankruptcy and what he’s learned from it Changing with the times and evolving to meet demand; From down turn to profits, low cost to premium How customers will always dictate and pick what business model suites them JetBlue training; everyone from baggage handlers to vice presidents share the experience The future of the Airline industry Maintaining the upstart attitude at a larger scale An anecdote about Mint, and a “missed” business opportunity The 5 core values of JetBlue and the secret sixth White Leather 90s What JetBlue is doing to future proof for recessions The business vs leisure argument; which is more important A love for building networks and the competitive nature it brings out Data, from the new ways aircraft manufacturers are collecting it inflight to the need for protection The mass amounts of data that are available to due regulations The need for airlines to be more customer focused, and restructuring CRMs Viewing JetBlue as a service business and not an operator Overseeing JetBlue ventures; outside the box solutions from outside heads Wouldn’t it be great to have a solution for Air-Traffic Control and the weather? Identifying a business problem, and finding the means to properly address it The future of JetBlue, 1 year, 5 years, and 10 years down the road, and what Marty thought JetBlue would be doing now, 10 years ago Hush Puppies and PBRs, a guide to outlasting “hipness” Doubling down on successes Improved Airline safety and JetBlue’s brand new 220 aircraft Marty’s love for all things Boston, Necco, The Patriots, The Sox, and the small city charm

Discovering  locations around the world by horseback riding and other adventure activities with local people… Darley Newman (travel expert, published author and the host, writer and producer of Equitrekking, the Emmy-Award winning PBS TV series, and Travels with Darley on PBS, Create TV and on AOL, MSN Travel, Huffington Post, Amazon and over 2000 partner sites) joins John Matson and Bess Chapman in the MouthMedia Network studio powered by Sennheiser.In this episode: Botswana Salt pans and stargazing Discovering experts, keeping track of them for use indifferent locations Complicated logistics involved Horses and their personalities Getting charged by an elephant Being a safari guide Finding the right guides Less remote areas are still unique on horseback Something connects people because of horses Why horses are therapeutic for both mind and body Starting the show, how Darley manifested it, a background in journalism and behind the scenes How she started with a website and some videos Horses are a vehicle to get to know people and places Creating a second show, “Travels with Darley”, started short form, and the many places to distribute content Curating content for the right platform How a trip-planning business came organically out of the show The aspect of ecotourism aspect What’s next, and the one place Darley would like to travel to next (because of the food…)

A luggage shipping platform leveraging existing logistics networks, and including options such as doorstep pickup and additional coverage, with LugLess… Brian Altomare,  Director of Business Development for LugLess (a next generaton luggage shipping service), joins John Matson and Bess Chapman in the MouthMedia Network studios powered by Sennheiser.In this episode: The first low-cost alternative to luggage and baggage shipping fees, start at the door, not at baggage clam Being friends to airlines With airlines, it is possible to be an asset The opportunity for partnerships How LugLess doesn’t need operational help Being in stealth beta mode for 12 months, with consistent growth New brand, positioning, model Can be an asset to any OTA with a booking engine Making agreements with hotels, airlines and OTAs, or direct to consumer API not a feature, it’s a tool Friction  – the effort to bring and do it ahead of time Can increase service Most are economy travelers with convenience Insurance considerations, relationships with FedEx and UPS and DHL Low-price shipping several bags, dynamic pricing A mass travel economy play LugLess is a platform to do something for less and more convenient Strangest things shipped Why LugLess is currently domestic only Shark Tank and how it changed LugLess, why LugLess gutted everything, rebuilt Low-cost, API, drop-off Brian on making fun of himself in articles Why LugLess didn’t rebrand Turning negative press into a positive Staying healthy when traveling Feeling at home when abroad

The next-generation gifting platform offering a smart, easy way to gift air travel… Fernando Camara, Co-Founder and CEO of Skyhour (creating the ultimate air travel currency that powers travel across platforms and industries), joins John Matson and Bess Chapman in the MouthMedia Network studios powered by Sennheiser.In this episode: Gifting travel, inspiring friends to become better people, inspiring people to go to new places and get new points of view, make an impact in their lives, travel is the best thing you can do How it started, a friend wanted to travel $140B on gift cards and less than 1% is spent on travel The goal of connecting giting and air travel industries Offering flight hours for $60/hour, and the ability to apply to virtually any airline The opportunity to crowdfund a flight Being able to sell tickets without dates or destinations Like creating a new currency Getting around liabilities in some restrictions The money goes to escrow accounts — if you don’t use the hours, the money goes back to person you gifted to Works with Sabre for accessing the inventory of airlines Being a JetBlue Technology Ventures portfolio company Potential partnerships with hotel chains, clothing brands, etc. Camara’s other companies in digital marketing, real estate, then told a friend about the Skyhour idea, and how he needed someone to help build product, and thinking about hiring agency and agency (which loved it so much, sold the company and brought best the guys in to work on it) Why New York is the best place to launch company in the US A $5.5M seed round, working on Series A Raised an initial round starting with cold calls Seasonality, ebb and flow—flight frequency varies but people give all year round Dealing with gift card restrictions Only make money when people book a flight Time between buying and booking, prompting booking and re-gifting actions

Streamlining the interaction between event organizers and venues… Kelsey Recht, CEO/Founder of VenueBook (a platform offering event venues that you can search, discover and book), joins John Matson and Bess Chapman in the MouthMedia Network studios powered by Sennheiser.In this episode: A look at the meeting and events industry and what drives growth Despite digital, no substitute for in-person meetings, companies are hosting more events, but the types are changing Different ways people thinking about meetings, how the travel industry has to adapt to changing landscape VenueBooks’s user acquisition The influx of accidental event planners Circumventing issues with inventory side Becoming skilled at helping venues skew inventory toward what is most in demand The attention to better experiences A focus on top notch booking experience overall, a very sophisticated platform How VenuBook conversion rate is at 20% Availability and pricing are generally the biggest friction. Transparent pricing helps Customers are in the market 45 days in advance of event, booking around 30 days in advance Traditional hotel chains have dropped commissions with the promise of better tech tools Making it easier/faster to book event spaces for planners and venues Venues are top of funnel Spinning up in new cities and with new venues, helping people think of spaces as venue spaces, giving hotels ideas for selling inventory they wouldn’t think of

Virgin and its mission of changing (travel) business for good… Allison Daniels, Investment Manager at Virgin (a leading international investment group and one of the world’s most recognised and respected brands), joins John Matson and Bess Chapman in the MouthMedia Network studios powered by Sennheiser.In this episode: Changing business for good Taking mundane experience or pain point and turning it into something better Making things better from sustainability to safety videos Capital intensive investment strategy, legacy and opportunistic Taking people to the next frontier Virgin Voyages  – new cruise business Whensuper-expericed people live and breathe the Virgin ethos and lead a new initiative A new way to cruise in a sector hungry for disruption, integrate health and wellness and a beautiful ship designed in part by known designers on land, making ship work for customers, technology plays a big part A lot more to be revealed about the ships, and the ecosystem on how the ships are built and limited suppliers How new technology and innovation can allow Virgin to make new experiences available Opening more hotels, how fit in voyage ecosystem Hotels have distinguishing elements making them feel very “Virgin”, such a club that makes it feel like a members club All rooms are chambers Ships can sail where the hotels are, an entire Virgin experience Virgin loyalty program, and creating a structured Virgin ecosystem Making venture investments into innovation that have synergy to the general Virgin portfolio such as Ring How offerings are changing because you have to do better for the customer has lasted in the industry People now know what Virgin stands for Brands to admire

Day-use hotel rooms with early check-in as a hospitality marketing and revenue hack… Yannis Moati, CEO of Hotels by Day (gives travelers a comfortable daytime hotel room for half the price of an overnight stay), joins John Matson and Bess Chapman in the MouthMedia Network studios powered by Sennheiser.In this episode: The biggest opportunity hotel revenue management – the idea of reimagining a hotel Revenue management is a new science, becoming complex New orthodoxies in hotel revenue creation being developed regularly Conversation has changed from disinterest to wanting to discuss A niche play in nascent sector Flexibility of hotel consumption, responding to an on demand society A rigid check-in/out schedule doesn’t work for today’s society Protocol, tech, marketing funnel to become more flexible one step at a time, because it’s a big operation Hotels don’t see this as hourly play – more like a block of time Types of hotels that Hotels by Day works with, segmenting customer base based on hotels they have Sweet spot are 4 stars, then 3 stars, then 2 stars if they have a record of accomplishment Customer acquisition is costly A marketing hack to acquire new customers Growing organically Experience is the key in a day stay Being on Shark Tank Why Hotels by Day will be the winners by allowing hospitality to join when they are ready Barely scratched surface of possible demand, giving it time to grow Part of sharing economy, using idle space and making use of it in a different way Technology doesn’t allow flexibility and agility to follow trends of modern society in hospitality, don’t have the right tools And the reinvigoration of the soul by the sea The main drive of being able to help people

John Matson is the Managing Director of Voyager HQ, a club bringing together startup founders, corporate partners, and investors in the travel, tourism, and hospitality industry. Since their start in the summer of 2016, Voyager HQ has grown to a community of over 1,000 members, dozens of partners, and hundreds of investors in over 55 read more The post 178 | Connecting Travel Startup Founders, Investors and Corporations with John Matson first appeared on Long Live Lodging.

John Matson is the Managing Director of Voyager HQ, a club bringing together startup founders, corporate partners, and investors in the travel, tourism, and hospitality industry. Since their start in the summer of 2016, Voyager HQ has grown to a community of over 1,000 members, dozens of partners, and hundreds of investors in over 55 read more

The real story behind WiFi on flights with Viasat… Chris Dankberg, who runs Partnerships for Viasat (a global communications company that believes everyone and everything in the world can be connected) joins John Matson and Bess Chapman in the MouthMedia Network studios powered by Sennheiser.In this episode: How Viasat is about solving really hard problems Why WiFi is slow on flights Prior to 5 years ago,ViaSat was about WiFi via satellite for government and private air services People got used to texting and checking sites that were urgent for destination (weather, hotels, etc.) The growth of market for Viasat’s tech , high capacity satellites over different frequency bands enabled differently, market wasn’t ready Why WiFi on planes is so expensive Allocating capacity on an as-needed basis Unprecented bandwidth economics The abiity that you could hand off seamlessly from ground to air started being palatable The opportunity waited for Viasat to launch a satellite Demand wasn’t forecasted correctly, so there wasn’t enough supply for demand Started with business travelers with expense accounts Battery life on laptops got better, people started using phones Something not considered was that the whole plane would use wifi Tech is evolving, organizing data on what is important to customers how they used it Second and third screen use and solving that need Pain point – trains – slower with more tunnels, different angle to sky On the early side of making online video streaming real with companies like Amazon Disconnecting when traveling because of little kids demanding full attention Trips that changed Dankberg’s life, created big decisions

The state of travel, the explosion of travel technology, venture capital, and the future of the industry from the perspective of investors in the travel space… Thomas Sparico, Founder/Managing Partner of Brand New Matter and Gillian Morris, Founder of HitList [Episode 33] join John Matson, Bess Chapman, and guest host Brandon McKenzie for a MouthMedia Network Live event recorded in front of a live audience at Experience by Knotel, an interactive space located in the heart of Noho in New York City (666 Broadway) designed to showcase the experience of working in a flexible, adaptable, always energized environment. Sponsored by Knotel – Your agile business deserves an agile space. Knotel will find, customize, and operate your ideal office while you focus on your business. Discover more at www.knotel.com In this episode: The fundraising landscape in travel, how it feels like someone else is getting all the money A lot of investors have been burned in the travel industry Location matters such as NY vs. SF Knowing where to look, right people to talk to B-to-B, B-to-C , and is B-to-C is the graveyard? Liking people, liking business, taking data drven justifiable approach Developing strategic and meaningful relationships What Brand New Matter looks for in a company and founders Strategic vs. nonstrategic money Taking dumb money and how it affects a cap table Q and A Thomas Sparico is the Founder & Managing Partner of Brand New Matter (BNM) Ventures. BNM Ventures invests in pre-seed and seed stage companies. His current investments include Leaflink, Bizly, VenueBook, Seatboost, AirportSherpa, LYNQ, Beachy and Buster. He is an advisor to several travel industry companies including Rocketrip and Curacity. Tom is a career entrepreneur, inventor, operator and investor with 22 years of experience. He was part of the founding team at priceline.com and a named inventor on over 100 patents at Walker Digital Corp. He was the founder and CEO of Internet Travel Enterprises, led the acquisition and turnaround of Hickory Travel and the turnaround and subsequent sale of ECS to Onyx Centersource. Gillian Morris is the founder and CEO of Hitlist, named one of the 50 Best Apps of 2016 by TIME. Before entering the start-up world, Gillian worked as a consultant, journalist, and educator in Turkey, China, the Gulf states, and Syria. Her work has appeared in/on the New York Times, Harvard Business Review, Buzzfeed, CNN, CNBC, TechCrunch, The Next Web, and LifeHacker. She is a proud mentor with the School of Leadership Afghanistan and Gaza Sky Geeks and serves on the board of Data4America, a nonprofit, nonpartisan think tank dedicated to bringing data and conversations to advance the understanding of policy.    

Lithium battery-powered travel… Ned Horneffer, Director of Business Development for Romeo Power Technology (creators of the world’s most energy-dense battery packs) joins John Matson and Bess Chapman in the MouthMedia Network studio powered by Sennheiser.In this episode: Romeo Power Technology is counting on that electrical is the future of transportation Electrification will take over all forms of transportation, batteries tech will increase The challenge of being able to retrofit vehicle with batteries Startups can move quickly, they are really sold on lithium and electrification Larger players, the secret is to find out how serious they are Developing and getting a proof of concept for a fleet of vehicles Regional transportation need so great, could affect regulation Will technology affect consumer behavior, or will consumer need push technology development and adoption Will people know how to handle it? Flying cars Influencing regulation as a brand UL certification important How battery power for aircraft can open up airports with noise restrictions Marine sector is off and running Norwegian strength Battery-run cruise ships? The danger of batteries and fires Level of confidence in safety, tech is at a point that if you build batteries the right way they will never explode, single cell fault tolerance and pack construction avoid chain reactions Punctures are a primary danger Transportation is a means to an end Appreciating the world is big when things go wrong with travel

All inclusive, authentic and immersive experiences in Tanzania… Justa Lujwangana, founder of Curious on Tanzania (unforgettable, immersive, transformative experiences in Tanzania curated and led by locals), joins John Matson and Bess Chapman in the MouthMedia  Network studios powered by Sennheiser.In this episode: Justa Lujwangana on being curious means search, dig deeper, not just a typical visit Putting together guest logistics Also an operator Impetus of company, out of her own curiosities about her homeland Africa offering lot of experiential marketing, like archeology, and big venue space bring South African experience alive Having a team across the world while working from NYC Giving back to local economy, building something sustainable Experiences such as ooking classes, dancing, meeting one of more than 120 tribes Zanzabar beach Marketing strategies Giraffe as a must-see animal Curious on Tanzania is run by proud Tanzanians working together who are committed to leading and creating comprehensive, thematic travel experiences that make a positive, sustained difference to destinations and local people throughout Tanzania. They call this experiential travel – travel that goes deeper into the lives of those whom we all visit, and creates lasting relationships and true cultural exchange.

Creative tactics and best business practices for hotels… Andrea Martinez, President of Boom Hospitality (a hospitality consultancy firm helping boutique hotels, independent hotels, and F&B operations, open, grow, or convert their businesses with the use of creative tactics and best business practices) joins John Matson and Bess Chapman in the MouthMedia Network studios powered by Sennheiser.In this episode: The crucial need to properly understand your market Boom Hospitality working mostly with boutique and out-of-the-box hotels Tech in modern hospitality is so important, but not every guest is the same, simplicity is important Mirrors with digital concierge, interactive maps, fun, equipped with things guests want and will use The need to only adapt tech in a way you can adapt The boutique traveler is looking for something very specific Martinez is living a dream job, started in non profits How we make development/construction more sustainable, less destructive on the environment and actually help the environment Building a hotel within a mountain in a way that doesn’t hurt things around it How it is important that social media and marketing about a project must be part of the conversation from the beginning and a priority, design, construction management guest experience, PR Special cookies Martinez is obsessed with for a snack An approach to driving to a hotel or a destination? Methods of discovery – seeing online, Instagram, website, how common each method is People wanting to go somewhere they saw and then researched The need to be careful about defining local experiences Bringing true authentic local experiences by partnering with and creating alliances with local destinations Martinez’s experience in Latin America, Florida, bigger cities in US, Toronto Politics plays a big role in how one develops because permits are different

Partnering with the No. 1 travel technology partner, Amadeus, dedicated to helping travel companies launch, grow and succeed… Kerri Zeil, Head of Amadeus for Startups, Online Travel Group, Amadeus North America, Inc. (the leading provider of IT solutions to the global tourism and travel industry — Amadeus for Startups provides technology, expertise and guidance to support travel startups throughout their journey) joins John Matson in the MouthMedia Network studios powered by Sennheiser.In this episode: Zeil reveals the substantial work Amadeus does in travel and understanding what startups need and what brands like Amadeus can do to help Globalizing the startup program, how Zeil is in charge of the Americas How Amadeus has a lot to offer, expertise, tech, info from customers already supported, how Amadeus can grow its own business through startups No specific business model is larger than the next Travel tech startups offer opportunities to scale and provide value Amadeus originally looked at the program narrow lens, and it has has gown enormously The program has grown year after year, created a partner community to add value, each program looked at uniquely, providing value across the board Expertise in various areas of travel and working to harness that, and how internal partners want to help Help startups launch at scale High quality startups coming into the program and being able to be choosier to come in and can rise to the top, while helping virtually anyone coming in the door How Amadeus doesn’t invest or take equity When Amadeus cannot help some companies with APIs or tech solutions, but that company might fall into the area of venture partnerships and then introduce to that internal partner Looking for companies even outside of core values, but can find ways to plug in that can enhance the business, that can bring value within tech stacks, exploring blockchain a bit, in-destination activity, Axa as a great startup story, another is Freebird (a very unique idea) which developed into a partner with Amadeus Is there a secret sauce possible at Amadeus for working with startups (think white glove approach) Amadeus is located in Spain, how it interacts with the Americas Pitching in front of The Dragons Den Getting calls from around the world from people who want to help How Amadeus created a blueprint for people for this program to work globally, leaders of company started to recognize this is happening everywhere, Bankok and Singapore are big spots A cultural shift Commonality across startups, enthusiasm, the travel industry as a whole isn’t an industry to get into, infrastructure moves at snails pace, complicated and regulated, can be frustrating and difficult to understand, in a discovery phase for info and data to be even do diligence on Amadeus’ part, give startups some hope The industry has attention on, and is engaging, startups to help dig out from technological past, recognizing the need for advancement Why the travel industry is likely in for the long haul in commitment and funding, albeit cautious and focused approach, at a crossroads of the old travel industries and innovators The need to not disrupt cash cow at companies while getting out of same things that keep happening – that’s the right path Continuing to shape the future of travel

Health food and wellness content for travelers… Corey Angelo, Founder/CEO of Wanderfuel (carefully curated, seasonally rotating boxes of organic products alongside lifestyle content that educates and supports well-being while traveling) joins John Matson and Bess Chapman in the MouthMedia Network studios powered by Sennheiser.In this episode: How wellness touches us at all times, taking care of yourself Educating people with a great content experience, and how it makes travel better Bringing together healthy snack and amenity kits in environmentally friendly packaging Wanderfuel‘s core ethos includes nourish, relax, detox Meditation, podcasts, intent to become like a Netflix-like safe list of things tailored for type and length of travel The biggest wellness snafu on the road and being disconnected from regular wellness routines, committing to rituals and practices each day Maintaining rituals on the road Something about being on the road where you let go of being healthiest — how do you get people to carry it with you? Coaching yourself, how you’ll feel after, and combining it with interesting and fun content experiences The travel industry is investing in its consumer Working closely to scale offering including with American Airlines, wellness zones in major airports, livening up atmospheres, and working with strong partners Angelo’s “Zen place”, and pole vaulting Inspiration and a moment of exhale when training for a marathon The moment it all clicked Staying curious, exploring more

Joining us in this episode recorded in New York City is John Matson of Voyager HQ - for a deep dive into the world of travel startups. Matson discusses some of the core issues facing startups (Voyager has over 1,000 members on its books, so has a good view on the market), how receptive - or not - the industry is to working with them, and a lot more.

Personalized photo postcards, greeting cards and cards created online and sent on the go from anywhere… Felix Wunderlich (Head of Business Development) and Greginald Spencer (Office Manager) of mypostcard.com (photos sent as postcards worldwide) join John Matson, Pavan Bahl, and Bess Chapman in the MouthMedia Network studios powered by Sennheiser.In this episode: When does one need to send a personalized postcard What should reaction be/feeling – happiness Physical interaction instead of digital, something tangible makes a real impact The text looks like real handwriting Process to use — download app, upload photo, the ability to have an envelope because of sensitive photos Participation in a German accelerator The app saves a lot of time Friction on the marketing side, looking at customer lifetime value Most customer acquisition via Google Adwords Growth efforts via universities, building awareness The ability to partner with major social platforms like Instagram Whether content changed that customers are sharing, and is it relating to larger trends in the travel industry? The shift from digital to physical, sentimental value Creative marketing, and a song, changing the world with a postcard The path to become a travel lifestyle brand Spreading the feeling of that moment, and how to share that feeling and create buzz How a postcard is something you share in person with visitors Partnerships and collabrorations including prisons Winning on the Apollo stage A prior career in hospitality management How Greginald got to NYC Every season is Ramen season And someday— Europe as a home?

Designing customer experience in travel… Liliana Petrova, Director of Customer experience at JetBlue Airways, Visionary, Strategist, Customer Experience Professional and Blogger, joins John Matson, Bess Chapman, and Pavan Bahl in the MouthMedia Network studios powered by Sennheiser.In this episode: Liliana Petrova on designing for Experience is like a multi-phase cake What is movement, Technology design, how to achieve movement as fast and seamless as possible How people will feel about the brand and interactions Why the experience designer needs to be a vision thinker and can’t design in increments Facial recognition, and why with some brands it is like having a same experience like prison or the subway, and determining that will never happen like that with JetBlue as an experience Delight comes from the elements and when it works to one’s standards Designing experience is like being like a conductor of an orchestra Innovation is not building new things, but finding connections that didn’t exists before between existing things Getting a sophisticated program up in just four months Will airports be the player of the future they are today? The quest to eliminate waiting time with bags and taking away levels of friction How airports could transform from being simply a processing center, and therefore offer a chance to give you joy Other brands doing it right, and those doing it wrong — Milan train system can do better Every customer has their own version of an emotional reaction — but engineering things like efficiency can create emotional experiences, creating value Being driven by making the world a different place, making life easier Liking things that stretch when it is implausible Why the Hyperloop is exciting How Petrova moved from financial analyst to design The baseline of customer experience is process and strategy, making connections and seeing all channels of marketing And hard work How enterprise brands can’t preserve everything with scale Innovation is not the end goal, it’s a way to be relevant to the customer The alignment in the interest of the future costumer Credit cards and miles/points/rewards Petrova on being Bulgarian and a view at her work and the American ecosystem, and having perspective Why Abraham Lincoln was amazing An intuitive move and coming to America, having two “homes”, being a citizen of the world Doingcxright.com

The world’s first influencer-driven discovery platform using social currency for travel… Gilad Goren, social entrepreneur and Founder of Raleigh&Drake, joins John Matson, Bess Chapman, and guest host Marc Raco in the MouthMedia Network studios powered by Sennheiser.In this episode: Gilad Goren on the future of content in the travel context, mix of personalization, instead of celebrity culture of past more local authentic voices and people who align with the travel in the way they view travel, ubiquitous and quality content throughout the journey Millennials rarely plan trips until on their way, dreaming and planning Raleigh&Drake is not setting new paradigm, instead reading the lines on how people plan their trips, helping with the tool for brands in travel space to adapt to how travelers view luxury Many people spend 45 hours on 45 websites when planning travel, but will ask friends on social media what they do and think Less than 25% trust recommendation sites, and Building a quilt of different sources of insight, aggregating trusted content so brands can deploy into their websites, as a discovery ecosystem White label bookable content as a service solution, aggregate great content, make bookable, license to brand who want to increase engagement and increase customer experience Power of Instagram was in the visuals from real individuals sharing experiences with others, timeless power of visuals as we are visual beings Always looked for advice from people close to us, this is another way of doing it Brand can really own an experience, host and facilitate experience, benefit on ancillary revenue, and benefit from enhancing guest experience, all built for personalization which grows as the traveler uses it more Necessity of CRMs, how Raleigh&Drake can feed data to a brand’s CRM An opportune times to leapfrog A route into travel for brands to connect with consumers Interacting with local travel resources can lower the carbon footprint, have less cultural negative impact, increase spend into local economies Curating and trusting explorers Through their lens, a multiplicity of curated authentic unique voices Earliest memories of Saturday morning cartoons like GI Joe as a first glimpse into the American hero and American spirit, as an early brand experience forming who Goren is How Raleigh&Drake started B to C, and leveraged partnerships and turned B to B Goren spending 45 days in Bolivia in an animal refuge in taking care of middle aged pumas

Connecting travelers with local trip planners for custom itineraries to Iceland, Cuba, and Japan… Greg Buzulencia, Co-Founder/CEO of ViaHero (a marketplace for travelers to hire locals to plan their personalized trip), joins John Matson, Bess Chapman of JetBlue Technology Ventures, and Pavan Bahl (President, MouthMedia Network) in the MouthMedia Network studios powered by Sennheiser.In this episode: Bess Chapman [Episode 003] of JetBlue Technology Ventures (a venture capital spinoff of JetBlue Airways, keeping a pulse on tech innovation and driving deal flow through New York) joins the podcast as a host ViaHero works with locals telling people what they should be doing on a trip How, being a marketplace, ratings and reviews keeps people in check, whereas travel agents are beholden to commissions Cuba, Japan, and Colombia as countries in which Via Hero has presence Average user wants local knowledge, people who have tours or Travel Agent plan, they are there for service but want to be independent Algorithm matches with people who have same Interest and are in that area SEO and user acquisition in various geographies Changing needs and expectations of travelers, but there is still a feeling of needing info to help figure it all out Hanging out with hosts, immersing in local culture, but it is a digital relationship with a “hero” Offline maps with local recommendations and locations Consistent trends in data being collected, database of their recommendations to more easily crate the guide books The economics of the relationships with the  local “heroes” A cross-country trip as a child that made an impression on travel, and the passion of never paying for water

Ecommerce and marketing solutions that reduce OTA reliance & increase bookings… Gaining ground in market share isn’t the only goal for hotels and hotel chains. Keeping it— comes in at a close second. To do that in the current industry climate, many hotels must utilize specialized e-commerce solutions to make sure all online presence and marketing resources are maximizing market share opportunities. Fuel Travel, a premier hotel marketing agency, is offering just that — website design, custom hotel apps, and marketing solutions that reduce OTA reliance & increase bookings. Plus, its COO hosts a podcast which can add some “fuel” to a resort or hotel’s marketing strategy. And the one snack you have to try. Stuart Butler, COO of Fuel Travel and host of Fuel Hotel Marketing Podcast, joins John Matson and Pavan Bahl in the MouthMedia Network studios powered by Sennheiser.In this episode: How hotels can differentiate in the market Following brand standards and following the flag is more challenging, and in the end hospitality comes down to one thing: hospitality Why the best marketing is hiring the right people and exceeding the expectations of guests Exceptional experiences are priority, and the rest takes care of itself How Butler wanted to work for NASA, originally from the UK, and how while studying physics he got into computer programming Why fuel Interactive rebranded as Fuel Travel, adjusting focus to hospitality The Guest Express mobile app, giving a property the ability to communicate with customers one-on-one The mistakes independent hotels make when launching, how too many are people chasing the bright and shiny buzz vs. paying attention to the basics that have worked forever Email marketing is still the #1 thing one can do as a property and destination property Also, most hotel operators do not have a grasp of the data, or how customer acquisition is happening, or tracking the whole revenue journey The focus on accessing info via mobile, with micro-periods of access, yet mobile is an afterthought for so many web designers for hotels More traffic comes from mobile, but bookings are not following that yet (likely because mobile experience is not as good as desktop) Good profiles are very important to connect with younger generations It is unnecessary to give away massive discounts to get business if marketing is strong enough Podcast helping marketing hotels with the Fuel Hotel Marketing Podcast Aspirations for space travel, and Star Wars Why marketing should be thought of as a conversation with the guest

Leasing long-term rentals and converting them into outstanding vacation homes which provide landlords higher income and eliminate vacancy risk with Vacayo… Isabel Berney (COO/Co-Founder) and Truth Oladapo (CEO/Co-Founder) of Vacayo join John Matson and guest host Jenny Silber (VoyagerHQ) in the MouthMedia Network studios powered by Sennheiser.In this episode: Examining the short term rental market, how much a revenue property can hold, developing a propriety pricing algorithm, scraping websites to see the highest earning potential of homes, and owners can earn at least 40% more at least with short term stays added into the mix instead of long-term leases How this is an arbitrage model, and the risk is potentially in any miscalculation in revenue-generating potential of a home — but with historic data, and the fact that the vacation market is growing, the risk appears to be low How the model is different and not just profit sharing, so some risk is involved Additional risks of a downturn in travel, a major shift in economic conditions, etc. Landlords receive a monthly payment regardless, so what Vacayo does to cover that risk Insuring each home as well in case Vacayo can’t rent properties due to storms etc. How Vacayo has started to install smart devices which revealed people are spending less time in the homes than believed, overcoming the landlords’ misconceptions that homes have greater wear and tear and risk with comings and goings in short term rentals How in the future Vacayo will likely be more of a data company, Why Vacayo is banking on a nomadic lifestyle Providing flexible accommodations with more options and sleeping arrangements than hotels, people prefer vacation rentals as a result Vacayo is partnered with Ikea and Wayfair to succeed in getting things ready quickly, with the right team working together can do fast turnarounds in 48 hours How they started off on Craigslist, bootstrapping, and were discovered by a landlord The six markets Vacayo is in “Superhosts” who take care of on-the-ground operations as independent contractors, with easy onboarding, and working on a percentage The matching process with renters to properties The crowd-funding campaign as a way for people to own a part of the company in a sharing economy, but without the complexity of formal shares Why there is little worry about competing with companies like Airbnb, and how there is plenty of room left in the industry, especially for an asset-light business model How Vacayo specializes in large group travel The story of Berney and Oladapo starting out as roommates

Merchandising content platform for flight shopping… Robert Albert, CEO of Routehappy (the industry standard for airline rich content, acquired by ATPCO) joins John Matson and Nick Vivion in the MouthMedia Network studios powered by Sennheiser.In this episode: The most commonly desired amenity in travel: seat, then WiFi Selling a singular vision when pitching/building Routehappy How it is not actually all about price An entire ecommerce category that’s comeditized, we all about the experience from that moment on Explaining products and services customers are happier, and the industry does better How it was obvious to him that every customer needed this Why Albert feels it has felt like spreading a religion, every meeting is positive, but not necessarily a priority all the time It is an organic experience, brick by brick building the path forward for the company and the recognition of the need How the pace of building the company has helped them build it right, solving a complex problem, and why the company is ready for prime time now and can solve global differentiation problem in flight shopping Why GDS’s didn’t solve this prior Sales cycles in travel vs. funds for startups Massive network effect, explaining the story and getting airlines and distributers to align on the story and potential impact How hard Albert and team worked building the company, holding twenty five meetings a week while traveling, making good product decisions that got companies interested Originally Routehappy was about consumer flight reviews, then built APIs of data, and operating lean Happy and cheap as a product compass How Routehappy’s solution was now described as being able to enable the industry with better data, and that resulted in the first serious ways people were paying attention Moving from B to C to B to B as a pivot Pineapple chunks, and why this Australian treat was the snack, and the meaning How Routehappy was recently acquired by ATPCO, software that manages the world’s airfares UTA rich context (universal ticket attribute) Becoming the “Switzerland of rich content”, how Routehappy can now deliver on the thing they said they were doing for seven years Overall vision as the next gen storefront, how it is time to modernize flight shopping, how indirect channels can and should transform, and coming together with the “how” The happy empire and the tip of the iceberg Albert’s parental inspiration for travel                          

Real-time explanation what and why happens and what to expect during your flight, and a tool for anxious flyers… One in three people experience anxiety when flying. Now there is an app that can help. Viktorina Lintsova, Managing Director of SkyGuru joins John Matson and Nick Vivion (tnooz) in the MouthMedia Network studios powered by Sennheiser.In this episode: The most anxious moments for flyers Pre-boarding, why the anxiety, anticipation and fear of the unknown The inspiration for SkyGuru, with the idea from a pilot and psychologist, who wanted something to be there and support people when he couldn’t be there with them Like having a pilot and psychologist in the seat next to you One in three people experiencing psychological discomfort, many altering plans due to psychological stresses Money left on table for airlines, why airlines haven’t addressed this Is a loss of cognitive function due to anxiety a safety issue? Freemium vs. pro versions, anxious passengers gravitate to the pro version, which supports through the whole flight Looking at how people interact with SkyGuru, whether an anxious flyer or not, and how SkyGuru has been evolving into a travel companion and people curious about aviation SkyGuru soon releasing updated version with some augmented reality Why the app needs to be flat on armrest at time of takeoff Accelerator experience, getting the most out of a 3 ½ month program, A home-baked snack with a secret recipe Who is the anxious flyer – not who you think, and how it can come out of nowhere. Anxiety can cause airlines to lose business travelers, 5% of the highest value flyers are anxious SkyGuru has gotten interest in airline industry in industry events, and can be integrated in seatback screens to enhance passenger experience How the app can help passengers plan their flight experience better, flight crews can know when to serve the food/drinks, and one can see use with OTAs and travel portals to help passengers plan flight better, Bringing the experience back to flying

Events, publications, education, and technology for the travel industry with Northstar… Tom Cintorino, EVP of Digital for Northstar Travel Media (the leading B2B information, business intelligence, commerce and events platform serving the travel industry) joins host John Matson in the MouthMedia Network studios powered by Sennheiser.In this episode: How Northstar’s team of outstanding editors, ground-breaking journalists, engaging educators and savvy directors is unrivaled in the Travel Industry In-depth articles explore the industry’s most critical issues Education platforms for travel agents and meetings planners about global travel destinations How events play a role in travel industry relationships, because we’re human and we need to meet, and how that concept is right in the center of travel The many publications of Northstar including Travel Weekly, Travel Weekly Asia, Travel Weekly China, TravelAge West Travel technology such as Phocuswright, Inntopia, Web in Travel Meetings & Conventions in the US, China and Asia SportsTravel , Corporate Travel, Business Travel News, The Beat, Travel Procurement Notable events such as The Phocuswright Conference, Phocuswright Europe, WIT Singapore, Mountain Travel Symposium, CruiseWorld, Global Travel Marketplace, Global Travel Marketplace West, The Beat Live, Innovate, etc. How Cintorino became involved with Northstar after the grind of the startup world Why the travel industry supply chain is like a bowl of spaghetti, and everyone is doing business with everyone, even if only impacting one part of a traveler’s experience and you might work with most everything and everyone Impacting the culture of a company, spending a lot of time on destination experience of a work trip, and raising the bar for personal experiences Setting up in China, and early accomplishmentsHow technology plays into vision for Northstar, with acquisitions and how the focus is not just events or media companies but also tech companies Geo-cloning

Last minute travel subscription service, cheap tickets in exchange for a monthly fee… Rama Poola, CEO of SkyHi (the first on-demand service for commercial airline tickets.), joins John Matson and Nick Vivion (tnooz) in the MouthMedia Network studios powered by Sennheiser.In this episode: About SkyHi’s most interesting recent use case, with people using it to go to Sundance Film festival, one click and they were ready to fly to Salt Lake City How last minute travel is a bit of a business case Looking at how removing all pricing allows free flowing travel action How SkyHi wasn’t originally targeting corporate travelers, and was marketed toward digital nomads, but realized business people were joining How an experience in Lisbon created an idea for the business Why technology has been traditionally stifled in the travel industry The way SkyHi found a strategic partner out of Hungary who had done this before The business model of SkyHi OTAs seem to want to haggle for the business, they want the customer to buy, but keep it a distance from them How SkyHi is making it easier for customer, but price arbitraging in a seamless, invisible way Booking within a minute is game changing in itself Loving the experience of flying _________________________________________________ Hosted by industry leaders and relevant business experts, Travel Is Your Business (TIYB) podcast features discussions inspired by recent news, useful in-depth interviews with thought leaders, innovators and top brands setting the pace and changing the face of travel, announcements by business leaders on initiatives and milestones, and commentary about virtually anything in between — making insights into business and technology within the travel industry entertaining, meaningful and accessible.