I'm not sure if it's as surprising to you as it is to me, but the annual Hotel Data Conference is officially less than a week away.
I know I may be a little biased, but it's my favorite conference to attend and report on. Valuable hotel data sits front and center in every single session, and HDC's planning committee works tirelessly to create enlightening and relevant panels and presentations starring reputable industry experts.
I had a firsthand experience with how diligent the HDC team is having participated on the content committee this year. In February, we all met up in Nashville and tried to predict what the hotel industry would want to talk and learn about — a big challenge since none of us were able to procure a crystal ball.
Together, we brainstormed how best to approach artificial intelligence — we landed on two intentionally different panels, one focused on the consumer experienced and the other discussing best practices for AI in commercial strategy. We also toiled over a new type of session — a data presentation and panel combo session to better provide that critical data our attendees expect to receive.
I could go into even more detail on how meticulously planned the schedule at HDC is, and I could continue to gush about how brilliant the sessions are. However, I'm going to save my breath since, based on the many compliments I have heard about the high quality of content of HDC and the fact that the event is already sold out, I feel like that message has already been received.
Instead, I want to talk about the other reason I love attending and participating in HDC: the people. STR is based in Nashville with offices around the world. My team mostly works from Cleveland, Ohio — with the exception of London-based Terence Baker — while I am based in the Houston CoStar office. HDC is the one time a year we are all in the same hotel for three whole days. It's also the only time I get any facetime with everyone else at the company. It's a lot of matching email addresses to names and, as an extrovert, I thrive.
But I'm not the only one who gets an opportunity for the aforementioned facetime. This conference is everyone's chance to meet and connect with the powerful teams behind both STR and CoStar News Hotels. Networking at an event is always a huge opportunity — make time for it, have a strategy, etc. It's no different from any other conference, except at HDC, you can get to know the people behind the news and data you trust on your dashboard and in your inboxes.
While at the conference, my colleagues and I will be walking around, moderating panels, conducting video and podcast interviews, reporting on the sessions, and even getting a little outside the comfort zone of our keyboards to take the main stage for a live news report on Friday morning. Broadcast journalists we are not, but Sean McCracken, Trevor Simpson and I will make an exception for HDC — and only HDC.
I look forward to again witness all the magic of HDC next week, and I'm actually hoping to bring a little bit of it home with me to Houston. I'm getting married the following weekend and need all the positive vibes I can get crossing the event-planning finish line.
See y'all in Nashville — don't forget to say hi!
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