It used to be that the annual convention of the Brazilian Association of Travel Agents, or ABAV, devoted mornings to plenary sessions and workshops and afternoons to milling and contact-making in the exhibition hall. This year the educational program, in what is being called the Vila do Saber or, in English, Knowledge Village, is running from 10:30 in the morning until 6 in the afternoon and with hour-and-a-half-long sessions scheduled for both noon and 1:30 p.m., which encompass the usually sacred Brazilian lunch hour(s). São Paulo likes to say that São Paulo means business, and São Paulo, which is now hosting the ABAV congress for the second year running, really means it.
Among the themes being addressed in Knowledge Village, the following are among the seemingly most tantalizing:
The Challenges Involved in Dealing with a New Client Profile. The Workers Party that has occupied the Brazilian Presidency for now nearly 12 years claims to have welcomed some 40 million formerly poor people into the middle class, and they may not be all that far off the mark. Brazilians who have never previously had the experience of discretionary spending are having the experience now, and they are not merely buying new cars for the first time in their lives, they are also using airplanes and hotels for the first time and traveling for the first time for pleasure. For the travel agent, this means new opportunities. It also means potential pitfalls.
The Behavior of First Time Travelers. See above.
How to Deal with the Client Who Is Better Informed Than You Are. This, obviously, is the other side of the coin.
How to Meet the Needs of the Independent Traveler. Further recognition that the coin has two sides.
How to Make Facebook, Instagram and Pintarest Work for You. Don’t be daunted by them. Use them.
Facebook — How It Can Help You Sell More Travel. Again, Facebook and its competitors may look like the enemy, but you can make them your allies.
Social Media: Challenges and Opportunities. Obviously the one theme that absolutely positively cannot be avoided.
The 2016 Rio Olympics. This year Brazil hosted the World Cup. But the demand for top-notch product and competent services may be even greater when Brazil hosts the next great megaevent just 23 months hence.
If You Weren’t a Travel Agent, Would You Buy Products or Services from What in Fact Is Your Own Agency? Could this be the most challenging question of all? If the answer is yes, the organizers say, don’t bother coming. If the answer is no or you’re not quite sure, come running.
You think you’ve seen it all, and then in the far reaches of the Anhembi Convention Center exhibition hall you see a booth under the sign “Ser Mamãe em Miami,” or Be a Mommy in Miami. To combine child-birthing with the Brazilian elect’s cherished pastime of shopping? Could be that, say Dr. Ernesto Cardenas of Bayshore Women’s Health, of Doral, FL, and Dr. Wladimir Lorentz of Night n’ Day Pediatrics, of Hialeah, FL, but the real target publics are prosperous couples in Brazil, Colombia and Venezuela who would like to give their newborns the advantage of the U.S. citizenship that comes on a silver platter to those who first see light of day on U.S. soil. VIP services available on request.
ABAV, www.abav.com.br