Hospitality Financial and Technology Professionals (HFTP®) is making some key updates to its 2016 Annual Convention, which it has produced since 1952. The event, which offers essential educational and networking opportunities for hospitality finance and technology professionals, has expanded on the offered session formats and changed vendor interaction. The popular element that does remain is the informative and motivating keynotes, which will be present each day at the convention. The HFTP Annual Convention is scheduled for October 19–21, 2016 at Caesar's Palace Las Vegas Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nev. USA.

"We have reformatted Annual Convention this year to offer new ways for delivering information and networking opportunities," said HFTP CEO Frank Wolfe, CAE. "HFTP is continuously striving to promote education and create better professional opportunities for its members and the hospitality industry at large. Annual Convention provides the perfect platform to make this happen."

The selected keynote speakers for Wednesday, October 19, 2016 are James Giszczak and Dominic Paluzzi. Giszczak is an attorney, vice chair of the litigation department and chair of the data privacy and cybersecurity practice group at McDonald Hopkins PLC. Paluzzi is an attorney and a member of the data privacy and cybersecurity practice group at McDonald Hopkins PLC. Both speakers will speak from 9:00 a.m. to noon about "Breach Response Workshop & Interactive Tabletop Exercise" and from 5:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. about "Cybersecurity Risks & Data Breach Response Tips."

The selected keynote speaker for Thursday, October 20, 2016 is Michael Levie, CHTP. Levie is a globally known hospitality executive and successful entrepreneur. He is a current member of the HFTP Board of Directors and has been given awards from organizations around over the globe. Most recently, he was one of the 2016 inductees to the HFTP International Hospitality Technology Hall of Fame. Levie is an aggressively sought after speaker, and has presented to the hospitality industry on all continents, prime ministers and CEO's. A native of The Netherlands and a Essec Mba in hospitality management (IMHI Cornell / Essec) Graduate, Levie will speak to the topic of "Making Your Competition Irrelevant: Strategies For Success in a Global Economy" from 2:15 p.m. to 3:45 p.m. on Thursday.

The selected keynote speaker for Friday, October 21, 2016 is Neil Hoyne. Hoyne is head of customer analytics at Google and co-chair of the performance marketing committee at IAB. Hoyne's general session will take place from 8:00 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. on Friday.

New this year, the convention will run the full day Wednesday through Friday. Education sessions will be presented in a variety of formats including: longer workshops, 20-minute quick information sessions, one-hour concurrent sessions and plus the three keynote speakers. Also, vendor interaction this year will allow attendees to meet with vendors in a speed-dating style lunch as well as table top exhibits.

Registration is open for the 2016 Annual Convention. For the latest news and updates, visit the Annual Convention web page and follow HFTP/HITEC on HITEC Bytes, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. For more information about HFTP's Annual Convention, contact the HFTP Meetings & Special Events Department at [email protected] or +1 (512) 249-5333.

About HFTP

Hospitality Financial and Technology Professionals (HFTP®) is a global nonprofit hospitality association, headquartered in Austin, Texas, USA, that uniquely understands the industry's problems. HFTP has over 5,200 members and several thousand stakeholders across the globe. HFTP assists its members in finding solutions to industry problems more efficiently than any organization via its expert networks, research, conferences such as HITECSM and certification programs. HFTP also owns the world's only hospitality specific search engine, PineappleSearch.com. HFTP is recognized as the spokes group for the finance and technology segment of the hospitality. For more information about HFTP, e-mail [email protected].

Jessica Blankenship
Public Relations Manager
HFTP

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