***ISPY 2011 Highlights and promo videos are now available for viewing in the Downloads area***

ISPY 2011 concluded with a grand gala dinner and after party to announce and honour ISPY award winners.  

ISPY2011 press release

Facts:

Date: 14^th – 18^th November

Venue: Hilton Metropole Hotel - Brighton

Guest Profile:

                85 x World’s Greatest Selling Cabin Crew representing…

                42 x Airlines

                7 x Major Concessionaires

                34 x Sponsors/Leading Suppliers to Inflight Retail)

                5 x Press Representatives

400 x Guests attending the Gala Awards

Programme Statistics:

                Monday: 26 hours of learning

• Crew training - 18 hours
• Management Workshops - 6 hours
• Wine Tasting - 1 hour
• Product Presentation – 1 hour

Philosophy welcome dinner sponsored by Coty

                                Tuesday: 29 hours of learning

• Crew Training – 13 hours
• Crew Assessments - 10 hours
• Management Workshops – 6 hours

ISPY’s Got Talent sponsored by Britvic

                                Wednesday: 26 hours of learning

• Crew assessments – 11 hours
• Supplier Showcase - (7 hours) involving everyone
• Airline Consultations – 8 hours

Night at the Races sponsored by DFASS and Diageo

                                Thursday: 19 hours of learning

• Crew Assessments – 5.5 hours
  • Crew Challenge – 4 hours
  • ispyPLUS Conference – 3.5 hours
  • The Dragons’ Den – 3 hours
  • Networking – 3 hours

ISPY Family Fortunes sponsored by Tourvest and Advanced Wireless Technologies

                                Friday: 16 hours of learning

• Product Enlightenment – 10 hours
• ispyPLUS Workshop – 3 hours
• Networking – 3 hours

Gala awards sponsored by Coty

GRAND TOTAL: 116 hours of Learning at ISPY2011! What other event gets close?

Background

On Monday 14^th November ,the good and the great from Inflight Retail gathered for their event of the year ‘ISPY’. The excitement and anticipation this event creates, has to be experienced to really be understood. No other organisation goes to such lengths to train, reward and recognise frontline sales staff with such creativity, professionalism and friendliness as the team at ISPY.

The world’s greatest selling cabin crew arrived looking rather like ‘rabbits caught in headlights’, but by the end of the week they seem to be standing taller, with broader smiles and a spring in their step; all of which comes from a week of confidence boosting training sessions and interaction with their peers, suppliers and management. 

Whilst the world’s greatest selling cabin crew was being sales trained by the winners from 2010, their management were treated to a fantastic series of workshops, including presentations from the 4 airlines shortlisted for the ISPY2011 Airline of the Year award. The following day, the management workshops continued with another four presentations from companies outside of Inflight Retail - The Body Shop, The Hilton Hotel Group, Dufry and the M&M Flagship Store - on how they train, reward and recognise their frontline sales staff. The comparing and learning was invaluable.

At the first ever ISPY Supplier Showcase, airline delegations worked together to select the product range for ‘ISPY Airways’. The results of the listings were compiled and added to the testimonials supplied by the airlines on behalf of the suppliers to give us the Supplier and Product awards for Gift and Café categories winners.

The ispyPLUS (sponsored by Gate Onboard Retail) programme was full of interesting and interactive sessions. Wayne Hemingway kicked off the proceedings by giving delegates his perspective - as an internationally seasoned traveller and businessman who is not from our industry - on everything that can affect the crew’s sales potential. He lead an interactive session entitled ‘The Power of 3’ where delegates were asked to come up with 3 of the following :- 

Products they consider as ‘must have’s’ and which are not currently available inflight.

Services they would like to see available inflight

Ways of exciting the passenger enough to become a customer.

This was followed by an engaging presentation by Andrew Sibree, Director of Chain Supply Operations at Gate Group, on how the supply chain actually works and where it can go wrong. 

The highlight of the day was keynote speaker, Alan Chambers MBE. He had the delegates spellbound by his story of leading the first east to west, unsupported walk to the North Pole. It was a truly motivational and moving presentation by a very humble man. 

That afternoon, ispyPLUS delegates got to choose either to participate in the Dragons’ Den or Networking sessions.

The ispyPLUS Friday morning workshop was facilitated by successful businessman and inspirational speaker, Hamish Taylor, and was entitled ‘Are our Eyes and Minds Open and Ready for Business’. Again Hamish was hugely engaging and clearly stimulated the delegates into thinking differently. With more networking in the afternoon, ispyPLUS has surely earned its place as a regular and popular fixture at ISPY. 

The Dragons’ Den (sponsored by Uleotech) was huge fun and the crew supported each other’s presentations brilliantly. A nerve-racking experience for many, but very enjoyable for all. 

The Product Enlightenment sessions held by Platinum sponsor - Coty and Gold sponsors - Mars and Portfolio Partners were hugely entertaining. Each year our sponsors go to extraordinary lengths to impart brand and product information in a fun and motivating way. 

The ISPY2011 Awards Gala evening was worthy of the OSCARS. The stage set, the room decoration and the choreography/music were all stunning. The new format of awarding bronze, silver and gold medals, along with a jaw dropping crystal trophy to the winner worked perfectly. All ran like clockwork too, making sure there was plenty of time for the after Awards party. 

Christine Martin, Managing Director TRT & ISPY said “We are immensely pleased with the way everything has gone this week. The crew has been so enthusiastic and many of them have told me that this week has been life changing for them. Not only in their ability to do their jobs better, but in their personal lives too. They have learnt so much about themselves, which they did not expect. We think that our mission to create an event which encourages all stakeholders to attend, has taken another step in the right direction. 

Airlines attending:

List of sponsors