This past Monday, we held the HFTP Caribbean Finance and Technology Conference at the beautiful Rose Hall Resort & Spa in Montego Bay, Jamaica. 
There were around 30 in attendance for the one-day conference. Most of the attendees were members of our Jamaica chapter that is being lead by Mr. Joe Hylton. Joe is a 30+ year member of HFTP and has been a faithful supporter and attendee at several HFTP events over the years. Joe is also the Director of Finance at the host property and was a gratious host. We really appreciate all the work he did in assisting us with the conference. Especially his tireless efforts to promote the conference amoung the members of his chapter. It really paid off with well over 50% of his members in attendance. THANKS JOE. 
I began the conference sharing with them how to Be the "You", You Always Wanted to Be. We talked about how we all need to look at ourself and analyze the type of person that we are right now. Then we started looking at the building blocks necessary to build the person that we'd want to be. When we all come to the end of our time here on earth, what do we want people to say about us? That's a question we need to answer sooner rather than later so we can begin building that life that we will be proud to leave behind.
Then Frank Wolfe, CEO of HFTP shared with the attendees about things to be aware of concerning hotel contracts. He shared several examples of clauses to be careful about as well as clauses that we all need to make sure are included in our contracts. Frank has been in the business of negotiating contracts with hotels and convention centers for many years on the behalf of HFTP. So, he was able to provide the attendees with some very practical and tried and true practices.
Frank then shared about Social Networking. This is, as Frank put it, "One of the biggest drug addictions ever." With sites such as Facebook with 70+ million accounts, I can believe it. He shared many examples of how people need to be very protective of their personal information. We all need to be aware that our information is very public on these sites, therefore, we must be careful.
Jules Sieburg, Immediate Past President of HFTP took the stage after a fabulous lunch at one of the restaurants at Rose Hall. His topic was Freeware: Tools That Work and Won't Break the Bank. All of our businesses are always looking for ways that we can save money. Jules shared some technology solutions that are available on the internet that can be used in our operations at a very reasonable price, FREE. Can't beat that price! Computing in the Cloud is a big movement and a big opportunity for companies to start looking at less expensive software solutions. Jules listed out several solutions under categories such as: Accounting, Customer Relation Management (CRM), Collaboration Tools, Communication & Multimedia, Photo Editing and other various utilities. These solutions can save hundreds of dollars per user for your company.
RP Rama, Secretary of HFTP provided the attendees a very impressive session about how he helped convert JHM Hotels from "Paper to Paperless." RP is the VP of Technology of JHM Hotels which he is also part owner. JHM has around 40 properties in their portfolio all over the country and also a few in India. RP shared with us how he has utilized internet technologies to eliminate storage and processing of paper documents. Most all the documents utilized by JHM are scanned and stored electronically. Including accounts payable invoices and checks. By utilizing this technology he has eliminated many layers of costs associated with the storage and processing of hardcopy paperwork. Once a document is scanned and stored, it is actually shreaded. Management is also able to approve or reject any of the items being submitted for payment from anywhere in the world through a secured internet connection. RP took us to the next level by actually connecting to his system during the session and giving us a demonstration of his system and how it has revolutionized his company. RP also shared that he got the idea of installing such as system from sessions that he attended at HITEC. Another shining example of the benefits of attending the HFTP conferences.
We finished off the conference by having an "Ask the Experts" session. Since we couldn't really find any "experts," Frank, Jules, RP, Tom Smith (VP of HFTP) and I set on a panel to do the best we could. 
We were extremely pleased that most all the questions that were ask centered around the wealth of HFTP benefits that are available and our certification program. There was a lot of interest in becoming more involved in attending HFTP conferences and furthering their careers by becoming a CHAE or CHTP. Questions that we actually knew how to answer. 
The conference was a great success! I feel that the attendees were excited about the sessions and the opportunity to learn. We felt privileged to be involved and to have the opportunity to share with them. We look forward to future meetings and encourage the members of the Jamaica chapter to continue reaching out with their fellow professionals and introduce them to our great association. Below is a group picture of the attendees of the conference. Let's show them our support by posting a comment to this blog and encourage them.
Terry
