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Next March, Tnooz will hold its first conference. We’ve picked Boston as the place to gather with readers, and it’s something of a homecoming.

Seven years ago, the company’s founders met in this Massachusetts tech-and-university center, flying in from locations across the US, Canada, and the UK.

They started with a simple idea: There was room in the market for a fresh way to cover what they knew was one of the most fascinating, dynamic, and frustrating industries in modern business — travel.

Legacy publications were often niche, or else too cozy with the companies they covered.

Tnooz set itself apart by looking at technology changes that cut across sectors. The team prioritized scoops, even if the stories irritated some people. Our exclusive report last year on how Lufthansa’s moves into direct distribution may have been affecting its bottom line reshaped how players approached the broader, industry-wide issues.

Tnooz built its editorial’s standards on solid reporting, picking up on issues not covered elsewhere, objectivity, fairness, and allowing others to comment and shape opinion and trends — rather than thinking we are the only purveyors of the moves we cover every day.

Unlike most news companies, we don’t have corporate owners and aren’t backed by venture capital, which has helped us to have an independent voice. Our contributing authors, called Nodes, have sharpened up and differentiated the perspectives we share.

Together we’ve been able to nerd out on the hard questions of distribution and digital marketing that most others shy away from.

Our thoroughly reported articles have attracted a global community of engaged readers. We’ve tapped into a hunger among top professionals for rigorous analysis, as illustrated by the comments posted on our think piece last week about the true cost of direct versus indirect hotel distribution.

From August 2015, our average unique pageviews have gone up 16.8% a month, year-over-year. Our daily newsletter subscriber list has grown by 14%.

Building on this momentum, we hope you’ll join us March 2017 for Tnooz LIVE.

Our conference format will stand out from typical delegate and vendor events. There won’t be cookie-cutter kiosks or on-stage schmoozefests. Our single-track program, theater-in-the-round seating, and clever use of social breaks will make this a time where ideas get ignited and deals get done.

We’ll also offer a fresh format for a startup pitch competition. We’ll pinpoint which startups are tackling actual problems that the industry truly needs solving.

Most importantly, we’ll gather top performers at the heart of technology and digital operations at travel brands worldwide for compelling interviews and spiky debates. Our early list of confirmed on-stage guests includes TripAdvisor’s Adam Medros, WayBlazer’s Terry Jones, JetBlue Technology Ventures‘ Bonny Simi, GetYourGuide’s Tao Tao, CarTrawler’s Bobby Healy, CarTrawler and Hopper’s Fred Lalonde.

You’ll come away with a better sense of which KPIs and other metrics truly drive improvement and what changes are coming next to the digital travel economy.

Please join us. We’d love to meet you in person. Click here for more details on Tnooz LIVE.

And thanks for your support! We aim to be 100% aligned with our readers. Feel free to share feedback by emailing me or other team members.