MURTEC 2010 Preview

Tomorrow marks the official start of Hospitality Technology's sponsorship sold-out event, Multi-Unit Restaurant Technology Conference (MURTEC). Now in its 15th year, MURTEC (March 10-12 at Caesar's Palace, Las Vegas) promises to deliver a powerful lineup of high-profile executive speakers to an audience of nearly 300 restaurant technology, finance and operations professionals. Lauded by last year's attendees as "the Gold Standard Restaurant Technology Event," MURTEC 2010 will carry on that mission with a theme focused on Intelligent Innovation: Strategies and Technologies for Growth and Profitability, to help restaurant executives succeed in the year ahead.

The 2010 speaker roster includes executives from nearly 20 leading restaurant operators, plus a selection of industry academics. Baron Concors, Pizza Hut's chief information officer, will kick off this year's educational sessions with a keynote presentation that offers attendees a behind-the-scenes look into the planning and execution of his company's highly successful iPhone ordering app (check out HT's interview with Concors in our March cover story, How iPizza is Made).

"There are a lot of people who still think social media is a fad and they shouldn't be playing in the mobile space. I really worry for those companies," Concors tells Hospitality Technology, the leading business-to-business publication that produces MURTEC.

Todd L. Michaud, FOCUS Brands' vice president of IT, will address the challenges associated with finding effective methods for identifying with and attracting profitable customers during his day two keynote. During this session, Michaud will detail how to achieve effective customer communications by creating a data-driven architecture that ties together BI, CRM, loyalty and other systems -- all designed to make communications, whether they are through traditional media, social media, e-mail, print or in-store outlets, more effective.Õ

Thanks in part to its powerful speaker line-up, pre-registered attendance levels are tracking more than 50 percent higher in 2010 over the exact same period of time last year. "These stellar attendance levels mean two things for the hospitality industry," comments Hospitality Technology's editor-in-chief Abigail A. Lorden. "First, every time a new attendee registers for MURTEC, a hotel books a room night and a restaurant can expect to seat one more, and that's great news for our industry. But in addition, the industry's overwhelming response to this event is a sure indicator that food and lodging companies are ready to move forward. With MURTEC, we're thrilled to deliver a powerful educational and networking platform that helps them do just that."

Additional sessions include:

• Decisions in 10 Seconds or Less: Real-time Data for Enterprise Intel
• Maximum Visibility Inventory Management
• PCI in Franchised Environments
• Loss Prevention & Remote Surveillance: Convergence at the POS
• Remote Device Management
• Disaster Planning: Data Back-up & Recovery
• POS Platform Innovations: Open Source, Centralization
• Getting Results from Your Social Media Strategy
• From Concept to Execution: Building Buy-in with Your CFO, Management Team and Franchisees

In addition to its high-level educational sessions, MURTEC also serves as a powerful vehicle for peer networking. Attendees can expect to mix and mingle with fellow operators through the event's multiple networking opportunities or demo some of the hottest solutions on the market from leading technology vendors.

Hospitality Technology will be offering live coverage of this event through Twitter (www.twitter.com/htmagazine). For more information about MURTEC, visit htmagazine.com/murtec10.