On September 27th and 28th, we participated in the World Aviation Festival (WAF) in Lisbon, Portugal. It was a great experience for me personally, and I think also for my teammates and be bolder.
What I learned personally
- It is okay to push yourself out of your comfort zone, to go outside your country, and to leave many of your responsibilities at home and day-to-day work. You get to live new experiences and broaden your horizons.
- It is nice to create more personal relationships with your teammates and clients, and being in contact personally, outside of the office or the videoconference tools allows you to build stronger relationships.
- We usually are very perfectionists when it comes to speaking in English. We think you are not good enough, and you can do better. Yes, maybe we have many things to learn, but if you try it, you will get it and make yourself understand. You see people on the stage being a panelist and are not native English speakers, and IT IS OK! The most important thing is what you have to say.
- It was very challenging for me to create a video for social media. In the end, it was possible: You only need to try!
- We are good at what we do, so we must believe in our company. I felt very proud about being part of this company at the event.
What I learned professionally
- Even though it was an industry event and not a technology one, everywhere you were, every topic and every presentation had high-technology content; from CEOs to engineers, everyone was talking about ways to use technology to improve the business.
- The main topics were sustainability, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning (AI/ML), and automation.
- Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning (AI/ML) were addressed in many tracks and panels throughout the conference. This is the following step after controlling your data and understanding your business. The results are still emerging, but there are projects, startups, and products related to revenue management, customer relationships, loyalty, personalization, etc.
- You don’t see many tangible results in these areas, but this is something to take from the event. This is where the interest is, this is where our innovation efforts should be, and this is something that we know we have been doing and we can provide our customers.
- I feel that what we do is appreciated by our potential customers. It is hard to open the way, but we are in that process, and we were received very well by the contacts we wanted to do during the event. That is, for me, a big win.
- As I have been involved in the Apps projects, I was very interested in the topic and saw it was relevant. To the point that “The Battle of the Apps” was the last event on the agenda. I saw pretty good apps and ideas; the focus is on having self-service options for the passengers, including buying, managing my booking, baggage claim, and IROPs. Some have added functions such as helping passengers with map options to get to the gates in some airports, and leading companies have made great efforts to get the best apps.
- I think the apps we are building have many of the capabilities of their competitors. Some companies add functions that might not be necessary for every company. For example, the Emirates app offers the option to book a private car and luxury services.
The conclusion
On a final note: Thanks to be bolder for this opportunity. I hope many of you could have an opportunity like this one… Also, visit Portugal, it is beautiful, with lots of history, and the food is spectacular!
* Image by César Ahmedt
