Guest Column: WTCE diary
This is a special feature from PAX International's July 2024 issue, on page 27.
This diary-entry style guest column by Alison Wells, Co-Director, Plane Talking Products, recounts the company’s daily highlights from WTCE 2024.
Alison Wells, Co-Director, Plane Talking Products
Day 1 – Monday May 27
We’ve arrived in Hamburg! Head to the Messe and check on our booth and most importantly the arrival of our product samples for our displays. We unpack—and quickly realize we’ve brought way too much product for the size of the booth. We repack half of it and display the rest as per our designer, Bryony’s very specific instructions!
Day 2 – Tuesday May 28
First meeting of the day is with Jane from PAX International! Great to catch up with industry friends and colleagues and we’re very busy all day. One of the many features on our booth is the Artchocolat range of chocolates which are so beautiful that many people don’t realize they are edible. We fashion an “Eat me” sign and that seems to work.
In the afternoon, some of the team take the time to listen to the Aviation Sustainability Forum’s Taste of Travel session on the issue of cabin waste. Really insightful and good to see an influential group of people from across the sector aligning around this topic.
Day 3 – Wednesday May 29
I’m moderating a Taste of Travel session this morning on "Enhancing the Journey Experience" so I make sure I get to the theatre to listen to one of the panellists, Vimal Kumar Rai, keynote speech beforehand on "How AI can Transform the Customer Experience." Completely fascinating and a great lead into the panel discussion.
We have an enjoyable hour talking about personalization, technology, cultural influence, preorder challenges and sustainability with one of the best takeaways being that AI is coming but nothing beats the human touch!
The Plane Talking Products team at the WTCE 2024 booth
Day 4 – Thursday May 30
Everyone is a little tired this morning (!)… however we are soon engrossed in good conversations and the booth is busy again. Our innovation station featuring groundbreaking product and service ideas is proving really popular as well our exclusive tableware ranges in partnership with Steelite International. I particularly love our Happy Ocean textiles produced from ocean bound plastics.
At this point the chocolates are all gone…
Once the show closes, the team pops the cork on the champagne, and we toast another great WTCE (in our sustainable cups!)
