This morning Dara Khosrowshahi, CEO & President of Expedia, spoke to the audience about what we call the " 3 waves."  The 3 waves is how we think about the evolution of corporate travel.

Wave 1 was the growth of online booking. 
Wave 2 is the integration of online and offline travel into the larger procurement and line of business environment of a company.  This is the wave we are in today.
Wave 3 is just beginning, and is the integration of user generated content into the corporate travel management world.

Dara pointed out the inherent tension that exists in Wave 3, namely that user generated content means that control of the content is handed over to the traveler, but corporate travel management is based on controlling the travel process.  He asked whether the industry is ready to hand control  over to the traveler, and if so to what extent.  It's an interesting question to ponder.

Doris Kearns Goodwin spoke about leadership and shared a number of stories, mostly from her most recent book Team of Rivals, which discusses the composition of Lincoln's cabinet during the Civil War.  Having read much of the book it was particularly interesting to hear her insights.  Her premise was that being a great leader means seeking out and acknowleding competing points of view and being able to know when to say "I have enough information, here is my decision."  As an aside she pointed out that this is something that we are not likely to see in today's political climate.

After the talk Doris signed books for our customers.  And I got to talk a little baseball with her, which was nearly as much a highlight as the talk itself.  At least for me.

Signing off from Boston.

-Stan Sorensen, VP Marketing, Expedia Corporate Travel