Blog 
After receiving over 30,000 votes in just two weeks from airline, airport and hotel fans all over the world, we announced the finalists for the 2nd Annual SimpliFlying Awards in Social Media Excellence, to be held at the EyeforTravel Online Marketing and Social Media Summit on Oct 10 in Amsterdam.
Now, we are announcing a panel of distinguished judges who will preside over the 10 minute presentations by each of the finalist hotel, airline and airport. These judges will take a decision on the winner after viewing the presentations Live in front of the full conference audience!
Raymond Kollau – Airlinetrends.com
Raymond Kollau is founder of an independent industry and consumer trends research agency airlinetrends.com. Airlinetrends.com monitors the global aviation industry for commercial innovations in response to changing consumer behavior. Having been part of leading consumer trend firm trendwatching.com since its inception, Raymond founded airlinetrends.com to focus on trends and innovations in the global airline industry.
Raymond holds a Master degree in Business from the University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands and also studied International Relations at Yonsei University in Seoul, South Korea. His professional background also includes positions as Industry Analyst at PricewaterhouseCoopers and Internet Strategist at agency.com.
David McMullen – Routesonline/UBM Aviation
With a career that demonstrates over a decade of continuous success in sales and marketing, David was introduced to UBM Aviation Routes Ltd in 2008 to provide leadership on digital strategy and drive their new online concept for route development – Routesonline.
During the last 4 years, working with airports of all sizes, guiding clients in route development strategy and marketing communications he has assisted over 500 airports to develop their online presence and revolutionised the way airports and airlines collaborate with their latest innovation Route Exchange – the online trading zone for airline capacity. With over 350 airline and airport members, Route Exchange has become the secure and trusted platform for airlines to tender for new air service.
In addition to his work with the award-winning Routesonline, he is a regular speaker with Airport Strategy & Marketing (ASM) – global route development experts, introducing social media and digital marketing into the ‘fundamentals’ of route development.
Joantxo Llantada – Valencia Tourism Board
Joantxo Llantada (see LinkedIn profile) has been marketing Valencia region for some time, and has hands-on experience of multiple social media tools, not just as part of his job, but also personally. His knowledge of social media is expansive and he has been speaking at leading conferences on travel marketing.