VOYAGER STUDY ABROAD

September 21, 10:00-11:00 am  (New York time)

Please email your questions before or during the Webinar to Admin@X-Culture.org

You can passively watch the webinar live on YouTube: http://youtu.be/rQJXMCLeH_Q

Or you can join the webinar in person in the virtual webinar room and talk to the presenter using this link: https://hangouts.google.com/call/hrj7arkxk5ciffoob7egnaf6gae. This is the best option if you’d like to engage in the discussion with the presenter. A new window will open. If you will be using YouTube Live (former Google Hangout), the system will ask you to download a plugin (will take a few seconds) and then ask you to click “JOIN”. You may also be asked to give the system permission to use your audio and video.

The second part of the webinar did not record the presenter’s audio, so here is a brief summary of some of the more important points he made:

• VSA’s main competition are the study-abroad programs run by the on-campus Study Abroad offices of the universities and colleges and private study-abroad companies that offer much lower quality trips at a low price. Those cheaper options offer much less developmental programs: usually a trip to only one country, or even just one city within the country and the program is rather low-intensity. VSA offers trips include visiting multiple countries, multiple cities, multiple business and agencies, several meetings every day. This costs more, but offers a much more developmental experience.
• VSA’s trips cost about $9,000 and are currently offered at nearly 0% profit with the aim to grow market share and increase the profit margins in the future.
• The price charged by VSA includes everything, from airfare, to intercity train/bus tickets, to meals, hotels, and professional sightseeing tours.
• VSA is open to the ideas of adding new products, such as trips to new locations, as well as trips to the U.S. for students from other countries. However, developing such new propositions may be a lot of work.
• VSA’s target audience are students, and to a lesser degree parents, educators, and on-campus study-abroad administrators.
• VSA currently uses a variety of advertisement channels, including direct mail, social media, ad words, and more. The advertising strategy has underwhelming effect and VSA looking for more effective advertising ideas.
• One advertising tool that worked pretty well was to advertise VSA via Study Abroad databases.
• VSA encourages students to try to put their business idea to a viability test: see if there is a demand for VSA’s services in your location by trying to get a contract with a student there, or perhaps a partnership agreement with a local college. VSA will offer generous after-market commission for any new business, and is open to the idea of long-term partnership with people who show they can make their model work.
• VSA is not limited to the U.S. It has a growing number of clients (students) going on VSA-organized study-abroad tours to Europe from various countries outside the U.S.