KTN President Doug Kennedy Addresses Questions About His Monthly Training Webcast Series

Each month, Doug Kennedy presents a live webcast from the KTN headquarters office in Florida, reaching hotel and lodging professionals of all levels around the globe. The rotating menu of topics includes content for all disciplines within the industry, including rooms operations, sales, and even F&B. Some topics have a broad-based theme, such as hospitality & guest service excellence, while others are very specific such as training tips, transient reservations sales, and hotel group and event sales.

Everyone who registers receives a link to a live recording which they can view later if they missed the live event, or select segments to share at departmental or pre-shift meetings. To register and view upcoming topics and dates, visit www.KTNWebcast.com

Why did you start offering this webcast series? For years now I’ve been writing several training-style articles and blogs. I’ve also enjoyed being a featured guest on dozens of lodging industry podcasts. But I created this series as a new medium for reaching an audience of aspiring hospitality and lodging professionals.

What’s unique about this format vs. Other webinars? Because I present full-screen, and not a narrated screen share like a traditional webinar, it has an unscripted, live, vibe. My presentation deck is displayed on a large TV behind me, and I’m imagining people watching on a large monitor or TV, so I’m shooting for the feeling of seeing one of my conference keynotes in person.

What audience are you targeting? When we launched this, I thought the audience would self-segregate by topic so that salespeople would attend the sales topics and operations staff attend those relating to operations, etc… But what we’ve found is there are a lot of people who are interested in cross-training. People are saying that the content is usually broad enough that they can see how most concepts apply regardless of the title on their nametag. I’m also guessing that some leaders are signing up for all topics, then forwarding the recording links to various departments and teams.

What sectors of lodging is this targeted for? Is this more for resorts vs. hotels, branded vs. independent, upscale vs. focused, etc…? Although the overall theme rotates each month to address specific sectors and segments of our industry, most topics have proven to be relatable to a diversity of lodging and hospitality organizations. I mean, we have had participants from world-class five-star hotels through focused service, branded hotels and independents, and even lots of people from non-traditional lodging such as vacation home rental and adventure travel.

Are These For Managers Or Frontline Workers? Once again, we’ve been surprised by the diversity of the audience. We’ve had everything from students to frontline staff to executive-level managers. In fact, there’s a CEO of a hotel brand who has personally attended every webcast I’ve presented so far. When I see the actual participant names, I’m extremely honored to see some of the smartest people I’ve known for years as clients still turn out, despite how many times they’ve been in my workshops.

Where do you get your content from? You know, what I love about this webcast series is the creative license and immediacy it affords. That I can literally come up with a new training concept and present it worldwide a few days later. This actually happened recently. I was flying to Reno, Nevada to speak at a conference and discovered a new word, Kama Muta, which is a Sanskrit word that describes that warm fuzzy feeling that all hospitality providers have shared with a guest. I used that in my keynote at the conference and a few days later to an audience that literally included hoteliers from six continents. 

Complimentary Registration Sponsored By Travel Outlook, the only KTN Certified call center, Better Talent, a subscription-based talent acquisition company serving the lodging sector, and Track Hospitality Software, a TravelNet Solution, whose products include a PMS and CRM.

Register at www.KTNwebcast.com.

Here are the topics and dates for the next three events. All live webcasts are at Noon, EDT USA, but those who register receive a link to the recording.

How Hotel Salespeople Can Proactively Generate More Revenue. July 14

Reservations Sales: Remember, Ring-Ring Means Cha-Ching! August 18