The New York Times Travel Show, presented by American Express, announced its trade day schedule for Friday, Feb. 23. The trade day includes a Travel Industry Conference that offers seminars and workshops with some of the top leaders of the travel industry, as well as a preview of the travel show's nearly 500 show exhibitors. The entire trade day will focus on the evolving marketplace and new approaches to doing business. The New York Times Travel Show and travel trade day will be held at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York City. The trade day program is supported by leading travel industry organizations, including Cruise Lines International Association, The Travel Institute, Modern Agent, Pacific Asia Travel Association, Caribbean Tourism Organization, American Express/Travel Impressions and Society of American Travel Writers-Northeast Chapter.

This year's Trade Day workshops and seminars include: Booking Travel with Travel Impressions; Home-Based Travel Agents: How the home-based agent market is evolving; Questions and Answers for Home-Based Agents; Selling Cruises: Finding a cruise for every customer; Selling Culinary Travel to Clients; Selling Luxury Travel: The keys to understanding the new luxury market; Selling Stories: Finding new opportunities in travel writing; Selling Tours: The evolution of the new tour product – and how to sell it; Special Interest Marketing; Successful Web Marketing; Today's Carnival: New Sales Opportunities; Travel Technology: the essential technology for travel agents; Turning Groups into Gold with Tauck; The Ultimate Selling Workshop; VAX VacationAccess Training

More than 35 top travel executives will share their expertise at the conference, including: Scott Ahlsmith, chairman, The Travel Institute; and vice president of global network solutions, Virtuoso; William Alverson, president & CEO, Joystar Travel Network; Jeff Anderson, vice president-Marketing, America's Vacation Center; Chris Austin, vice president-global customer partnerships, Starwood Hotels & Resorts; Rick Baron, director of worldwide accounts, Tauck World Discovery; Bruce Beckham, executive director, Tourism Cares; Bernie Blomquist, manager-training development, CLIA; Terri Burke, vice president-business development, Norwegian Cruise Lines; Steve Byrne, Group managing director, Travel Counsellors PLC; Jeff Drew, senior vice president of sales, Oceania Cruises; Susie Ellis, president, Spa Finder; Gary Fee, president, Outside Sales Support Network; Jerre Fuqua, president, First Choice Expeditions/Travcoa; Steve Gorga, president & CEO, Travel Impressions; Jean Marie Healy, vice president of strategic partnerships, American Express Consumer Travel; Michael Ihle, vice president-product management, Galileo Americas; Marc Kazlauskas, president, Insight Vacations; Scott Koepf, general manager, Nexion/Jurni; Bob LaCroix, senior vice president-sales and marketing, Trisept Solutions; Patty Mattler, manager-travel agency training, Funjet Vacations; Dave Menzel, chief operating officer, G2 SwitchWorks; Mark Murphy, president, Performance Media Group/Modern Agent; Kenneth Muskat, market development vice president, Royal Caribbean International; Theresa Norton Masek, editor-in-chief, Vacation Agent; Jeff O'Rourke, director of sales-Eastern Region, Viking River Cruises; Steve Gorga, president, Travel Impressions; Larry Pimentel, president, SeaDream Yacht Club; Dennis Pinto, managing director, Micato Safaris; Kate Rice, executive editor-travel technology, Performance Media Group; Hans Rood, president, Norwegian Coastal Voyage; Navin Sawhney, senior vice president-sales & marketing, Tauck World Discovery; John Severini, president, Trafalgar; James Shillinglaw, editor in chief/editorial director, Performance Media Group; Stacy Small, president, Elite Travel International; Karin Viera, vice president-Eastern Region, Carnival Cruise Lines; Dan Westbrook, vice president-merchandise strategy & innovation, Sabre; Scott Whitley, vice president-sales & marketing, Performance Media Group; Kimberly Wilson Wetty, co-president, Valerie Wilson Travel. Register online for the Travel Industry Conference for $15 (a $10 discount from the normal $25 fee) at www.nytravelshow.com.