Simon Bradley of Virgin Atlantic and Jonathan Frolich of Hyatt Hotels to Speak at 2nd International Service Design + Tourism Conference
Sarasota, FL (PRWEB) October 21, 2013 -- Ringling College of Art and Design today announced two new keynote speakers for the 2nd International Service Design + Tourism Conference (SDT 2013) to be held on the college’s Sarasota campus November 7-9, 2013.
Simon Bradley, vice president of marketing, North America for Virgin Atlantic, and Jonathan Frolich, vice president-global innovation for Hyatt Hotels Corporation, will speak to the SDT2013 audience of design, business, and tourism professionals from around the world on Saturday, November 9, from 8:30 – 9:30 a.m.
Mr. Frolich’s presentation, “Human Centered Innovation: Designing New Experiences in Hospitality,” will discuss how Hyatt is using design thinking as a framework for innovation and the transformation of guest experiences.
Mr. Bradley’s presentation, “Flying in the Face of Ordinary: How Virgin Atlantic Designs a World Class Service Experience that Sets the Standard for Excellence in Air Travel,” will share how Virgin Atlantic creates exceptional passenger experiences and engages their customers year round to strengthen their relationship with them and turn them into ambassadors for the brand.
“Jonathan and Simon’s talks will get at the heart of what is most important for businesses today: creating an emotional relationship with their customers that makes it easy for them to fall in love with your brand,” said Larry R. Thompson, president of Ringling College of Art and Design. “Having empathy for your customers, and thinking through what they want most from your service, is something that needs to be woven into the DNA of entire organizations, not just marketing departments. Design thinking enables this cultural shift, and these gentlemen live it and breathe it every day. The lessons they will impart will be invaluable for our attendees and their businesses.”
Simon Bradley has more than 15 years in international travel marketing for a range of organizations across the globe, including VisitBritain prior to joining Virgin Atlantic. His responsibilities for one of the most iconic airline brands in the world include brand development, brand communications, partnerships, online and CRM. Over the course of his career he has worked in many countries across both Europe and the Americas including the Nordic region, Brazil, Canada, Mexico, and of course, the UK.
Jonathan Frolich has worked for Hyatt Hotels Corporation for an impressive 19 years, traveling all over the globe serving in senior managerial positions at hotels that include Grand Hyatt Hong Kong, Park Hyatt Sydney and Park Hyatt Los Angeles. As vice president of global innovation, Frolich leads efforts to establish new processes of innovation to yield creative and meaningful experiences and ways of operating Hyatt hotels to greater impact guests, owners and colleagues. Frolich helped design the Andaz concept for Hyatt, which in just five years, has grown from a creative concept into a reality, with a total of 10 hotels open to date and numerous under development.
SDT 2013 will convene designers from various disciplines, tourism professionals, and faculty and graduate students from tourism and hospitality, design, and business schools to explore the practical application of service design thinking to improve customer experiences at every touch point. The conference offers three full days of talks, workshops and networking events designed to give attendees a raft of new ideas for reinventing their organizations’ services or innovating new ones. Nearly 40 speakers from 15 countries are scheduled to present. For a complete list of speakers to date, visit http://www.sdt2013.org/speakers.
Attendees will also have several pre-conference events to choose from. The first Tourism Service Jam to be held in the United States will be hosted on November 7 at the Ringling College’s Diane Roskamp Exhibition Hall. Led by Global Service Jam initiator Markus Hormess of Work Play Experience and Marc Stickdorn, lecturer at Management Center Innsbruck (MCI) and editor of This is Service Design Thinking, the Tourism Service Jam will bring together diverse conference participants to develop and prototype completely new services inspired by a shared theme. Their collection of brand new services will be shared during the conference on November 9 and later published to the world.
For those new to the discipline, an “Introduction to Service Design” workshop will provide a three hour immersion in the subject the morning of November 8 and ready participants for the conference sessions to follow. The workshop will be led by Adam Lawrence and Markus Hormess of WorkPlayExperience, who have conducted similar workshops for corporate clients and students of various backgrounds in locations across the globe.
SDT 2013 is supported by the generosity of these sponsors: atLarge, Inc., Visit Sarasota, Feld Entertainment, Inc., Gulf Coast Community Foundation, Sarasota Bradenton International Airport, and The Ringling.
More details about the program and registration information can be found on the web site, http://www.sdt2013.org.
About Ringling College of Art and Design
Ringling College of Art and Design is a private, not-for-profit, fully accredited college offering the Bachelor’s degree in 14 disciplines: Advertising Design, Business of Art & Design, Computer Animation, Digital Filmmaking, Fine Arts, Game Art & Design, Graphic Design, Illustration, Interior Design, Motion Design, Painting, Photography & Digital Imaging, Printmaking, and Sculpture. Located in Sarasota on Florida’s Gulf Coast, the picturesque 48-acre campus now includes more than 110 buildings. It is recognized as being among the best and most innovative visual arts colleges in the United States as well as a leader in the use of technology in the arts. Visit http://www.ringling.edu for more information.
Rich Schineller, Ringling College of Art and Design, http://www.ringling.edu, 941-780-8100, [email protected]
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