Over the course of the next several months, we already have an exciting slate of upcoming events. Here’s what we have planned so far:

Feb. 15: Lakshman Ratnapala will be giving an evening presentation on Sri Lanka at the Presidio Branch of the S.F. Public Library, from 5-7:30 p.m. Details can be found online at the BATW site.

March 17: Elisa Southard and Sandy Sims will be spearheading the BATW Anthology Book Launch party at Book Passage in Corte Madera.

April 21: Lee Foster is coordinating an event in Berkeley; details to come.

May 19: Karen Ballard of the Idaho Dept. of Commerce/Division of Tourism will be coming to San Francisco to give us some details on what’s happening in her state.

June 16: Laurie King and Suzie Rodriguez will be providing a professional development presentation on collaboration: the pluses, and the minuses. (Venue TBD.)

If anyone would like to volunteer to help coordinate a meeting, or propose a topic for presentation, please contact Erin Caslavka (erin.caslavka@gmail.com) and present your ideas. Some really great meetings have come about from member suggestions, so don’t hesitate to formulate – and share – yours!

And 2012 promises to be just as exciting, not only with compelling programs, but also with more changes and additions designed to attract new members and raise the caliber of professionalism in our organization.

Many thanks to those who have helped in 2011, and those who will help in 2012. Though I am retiring from the Board, the team that continues is one of the brightest and most committed I’ve had the pleasure to work with. BATW is in good hands.

Here’s to the best year yet.

Sincerely, Kris Carber

November’s BATW meeting was a colorful kickoff to the holiday season, complete with snow in the lobby of the Hyatt Regency Hotel in San Francisco. (See Georgia Hesse’s article for the full story.) But while the day’s events seemed so seamless and magical, the hard work that went into this meeting was very real. Thanks, again, to everyone who had a hand in planning our November trade show, panel and luncheon. It’s been a tremendous year of programs and mixers, and our “brand” is building every day.

Now, let’s go back about 28 years, to our humble beginnings. BATW began circa 1984 with a handful of aspiring travel writers, including Chris Baker and Elaine O’Gara. This small group—about six or seven people—took turns hosting meetings.

Patricia Lee remembers being introduced to the group through a travel writing class she was taking in San Francisco. “One of the students asked the teacher if she could send a paper around for people to sign up to meet at one another’s houses, to read scripts and talk about our writing.”

In those early days, much like today, the group was skewed heavily toward women. “There were just a few of us and one guy,” Lee says. Somehow, she says, she got “nudged” into running the meetings. “I did not want to be president. I was the chair person with the idea that, when we got a president, I wouldn’t be running things.”

Not surprisingly, Lee ended up running BATW in those early years—and loving every minute of it. By the mid-1980s, several other familiar names had joined, including Monica Conrady, Maxine Cass and Fred Gebhart, who helped BATW come up with its first set of bylaws.

Diane LeBow says that by the time she joined in the mid-to-late ’80s, there were about 30 writers in the group.

“We met at the Fort Mason Youth Hostel in S.F., mainly as a round-table discussion about what we were working on or where we were traveling,” she says. LeBow also remembers an occasional speaker, like the woman who talked to them about Italian bicycle tours.

Almost three decades later, we meet monthly in some of the most eclectic, interesting and elegant venues in the Bay Area. We are 175 members strong and growing. And we have the reputation of being a well-regarded, regional organization for talented writers, photographers and PR partners.

Kris and I are very proud to have been your co-presidents this year. We have had an exceptional board of directors, all of whom have agreed to return for another year. And we are blessed with a lot of other helpers who have made BATW prosper and grow.

Thank you to everyone who is a part of this wonderful organization. Have a joyous holiday season and safe travels.

—Ginny Prior

By Laurie King

One benefit of BATW membership is the opportunity for writers and photographers to meet and develop relationships with BATW’s Associate members—including talented and well-connected PR professionals. In anticipation of our November 19th Associates Meeting, we interviewed Molly Blaisdell (President of Hook, Line & Thinker — Public Relations and Marketing) about ways to get the most from your relationships with PR professionals.

BATW: Molly, what suggestions do you have for journalists who want to nurture relationships with PR professionals?

Molly: Writers can reach out to PR people in the same way PR people reach out to pitch journalists and maintain relationships: through meals, networking, Facebook, phone calls, and LinkedIn.

BATW: What do PR professionals expect from such relationships?

Molly: An exchange of ideas about how to pitch stories, and an honest representation of the journalist’s current outlets.

BATW: What if we’re willing to write something, but can’t confirm publication of the article?

Molly: Well, that happens. However, the journalist needs to be up front that he/she cannot confirm publication. I enjoy connecting responsible writers with editors who know and trust me, and who might be looking for new freelancers.

BATW: How about some DOs and DON’Ts for working with PR professionals?

Molly: DO:  Produce stories (!) and send links to the PR person; read and follow your itinerary on a press trip; praise our clients and make us look good … we’ll be a lot more productive for you! DON’T: We understand that you’re in the business of asking questions and uncovering information, but don’t expect PR people to do all your homework, writing and research. Don’t be a pain in the *%&! — too many journalists have excessive demands and expect the red carpet treatment; that’s wasteful and unnecessary.

BATW: What are your expectations about press trips?

Molly: PR pros know it’s a tough market out there, but we still expect each participating journalist to produce. If it’s a one-time thing and a journalist can’t publish, that’s understandable, but we PR people talk, and the “deadbeats” are usually revealed when we chat about prospects for press trips with our colleagues. If journalists don’t think they can publish, they should not accept a trip … it’s just not cool.

BATW: Is blogging about an event or venue helpful, or do you expect a more formal article?

Molly: LOVE the blogging, especially if it’s immediate and can either promote the event in advance or provide visibility right afterward. However, we do want traditional media as well as social marketing (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc.).

BATW: Thanks, Molly for clarifying those issues and expectations. We’re looking forward to a fun and fruitful Associates Meeting.

[Thanks to Laurie King for this interview with Molly Blaisdell, who is working fast and furiously on our November Associates Meeting and Media Marketplace.]

By Elisa Southard, Board Member and Chair, BATW Anthology

Deadline: Oct. 15. Entries: 75. Word count: 800-1800. Shelf life: digitally unlimited.

If you have not submitted your entry for the inaugural BATW anthology, grab some papyrus, for this applies to you! You owe yourself a potential publishing opportunity and your readers the chance to share in your travel experiences. October 15^th or 75 entries mark the cutoff; 800-1800 defines the word count. Shelf life? The anthology will be published in e-book form and available in print, too, for your personal collection and promotion. In addition, you’ll gain unlimited access to readers as they scroll down screens to read your story on their iPad, Tablet, SmartPhone or Laptop, even Desktop…

Submitting an entry aligns with a BATW core purpose, “to promote the exchange of ideas and information among the traveling public…” We all have a responsibility to inspire those around us to trek, travel, globetrot, tour and taste the palette of our planet, so why not take advantage of a unique opportunity to do so?

We welcome judges Janet Fullwood, who launched her travel editorial career at the Dallas Times Herald, then served as travel editor of the Sacramento Bee for 21 years; John Flinn, former long-time travel editor for the San Francisco Chronicle; and Julia Cosgrove, executive editor of AFAR, published in San Francisco.

The judges will look for well-written stories that represent the best of our membership, so craft a piece you’ve been noodling with, or rally a winning piece of the past into the present and submit it!

I will keep this short so you have more time to write! Sign in to the members-only section of the website, look on top and click where it reads New! BATW Inaugural Anthology: Call for Entries. It couldn’t be easier. Here is the link to log in: http://batw.memberclicks.net/login.

If you still have questions, look below for additional story possibilities that committee member Sandy Sims has complied.

Finally, mark your calendar for March 17, 2012. Join us to out-party St. Patrick when we celebrate BATW’s Anthology release.

Possibilities for Anthology Submissions:

1. Submit that perfect story that just happens to fit within the word count and publication dates. (Don’t forget to get permission from previous publisher.)

2. Write a brand new story (within the word count) just for the contest. Here’s your chance to put together the one you’ve always wanted to write.

3. Take a published story (within the dates) that is too short and add to it, expand it or, likewise, shorten a long one. Then, if you like, add a qualifier sentence at the end that this story was published on (date) by (publisher), but has been added to/altered/whatever you choose. (You still need permission from the publisher.)

4. Pull out that story that never got published, freshen it up and make it fit the word count.

5. You can even take an old story or a section of one, give it a whole new slant and make it a fresh new piece.

6. If you are in the process of writing a book, find a story within the book that works as a travel story. Just keep in mind the idea of it being a fresh story, not one published years ago.

Once again, here’s the log in for the full Call for Entries: http://batw.memberclicks.net/login.

Last year, 2010, international tourism rose from the depths of despair that came in the shape of global financial crises and economic recessions of the previous two years, 2008 and 2009. Worldwide, international tourist arrivals reached 940 million in 2010, up 6.6% from 2009. This is very good news for us, because prosperous tourism economies means that the destinations, products and tourism services will provide greater variety and more opportunities for us to write about and photograph.

Asia-Pacific was the first region to recover and among the strongest growing regions in 2010. This makes it also the most competitive region in promoting its destinations and products, which translates into more media trips, advertising and editorial promotions, not to mention tourism-related conventions, workshops and incentive tours. While the Asia Pacific region recorded a double-digit growth of +13 %, the Americas rebounded with a +6 % growth from the decline in 2009.

Almost all destinations measure tourism success by the number of tourist arrivals. I find this measure rather misleading. Countries, companies and individuals are in the business of tourism for profit. Therefore, the true measure of success should be in terms of earned cash in banks, not heads on hotel pillows or travelers in airline seats. International tourism receipts reached $919 billion in 2010, up from $851 billion in 2009. Measured in real terms, adjusting for inflation and exchange rate fluctuations, growth in tourism receipts was +4.7 %. Thus, international tourism receipts still lag that of arrivals (+6.6 %).

Last year, France continued to lead the world as the top tourism destination, with 77 million arrivals, with the U.S.A. coming in second place with 60 million arrivals. However, the most significant change among the top destinations was the rise of China to third position, ousting Spain to fourth place. The U.S.A. ranks first in tourism earnings with $104 billion, trailed by Spain, France and China. (see table below).

In the first few months of this year, tourism has recorded a 5% growth, consolidating the rebound registered last year. This trend is likely to continue through the rest of the year. Over the past six decades international tourism has become one of the largest and fastest growing economic sectors in the world. As an export category, global tourism ranks fourth after fuels, chemicals and automotive products.

TOP TEN DESTINATIONS 2010

]]> http://www.batw.org/news/presidents-message/lakshman-ratnapala-september-2011/feed/ 2 http://www.batw.org/news/presidents-message/from-the-board-august-2011/ http://www.batw.org/news/presidents-message/from-the-board-august-2011/#comments Mon, 01 Aug 2011 12:30:23 +0000 Carolyn Koenig http://www.batw.org/?p=10148 Wow! Every time a new BATW membership application comes in, I am more often than not amazed, humbled and downright stunned. The caliber of the typical new BATW member is the stuff of pure envy. Even former members who are coming back to the fold tend to be movers and shakers. For example, former board member Joanne Miller, who just rejoined a few weeks ago, is the author of five books and contributor to untold others. Her titles include Moon Guides to Maryland and Delaware; Chesapeake Bay; Pennsylvania as well as Best Places Marin. And then there are recent new members like photographer Jak Wonderly, who just happens to be drop-dead talented.

Best of all, the new-blood infusion also includes such talents as Margaret Seelie, whose qualifying publications were utterly engaging and well crafted; David Congalton, down San Luis Obispho way, who has been host of the David Congalton talk show on AM KVEC for about two decades; and Susan Cohn, who is Senior Correspondent for The San Mateo Journal but also manages to publish freelance features in her spare(!) time.

More than a few new members are also prolific authors, such as Sacramento resident Judith Horstman. Talk about a “brain”—Judith’s recent book titles include The Scientific American Day in the Life of Your Brain, and The Scientific American Brave New Brain.

Some who have joined during the last couple years have a tough time attending our monthly meetings (with excuses that go beyond geographic distances from the Bay Area). For instance, there’s the amazingly prolific Melanie Haiken, who juggles freelancing (Delta Sky, Spa, VIA, Continental and many more) with full-time mom responsibilities.

But wait, there’s more! On the Associate side, we recently had the pleasure of welcoming well-respected Patricia Meier-Johnson, whose client list includes VIA, Spring Design and WikiReader; and super-talented Lauren Eastman, with a roster of clients that includes Pacifica Chamber of Commerce, Press Club of San Francisco, Perfect Puree of Napa Valley, Green Couch Interior Design, and more.

OK. That’s it for today, kids, except for the following caveat: For everyone I talked about above, there’s another one equally deserving of mention. The exciting part is that all of us have so much more to look forward to at upcoming monthly meetings—and that’s getting to know the scores of new, incredibly talented and exceptionally engaging BATW members!

–Tom Wilmer

1)   Evening meetings. The first official evening program was held in June to a standing-room-only crowd. The evening included wine tasting and hors d’oeuvres followed by a behind-the-scenes look at the America’s Cup (AC34), and presentations on travel photography. The second evening meeting is scheduled for October.

2)   BATW anthology. The Board approved an anthology of member works in lieu of holding the BATW Best Awards. The book will showcase juried articles and will be available in an e-edition and hard copy. The entry deadline is Oct. 15 and the publication date is spring 2012.

3)   Social media. BATW has expanded its presence in social media with the addition of a LinkedIn page. BATW already operates an active Yahoo Groups and Facebook page.

4)   Bylaw revisions. The Board is moving forward on updating BATW bylaws. This project was started by the previous administration and is now in legal review. The bylaw revisions are scheduled to go before the members for a vote later this year.

5)   Podcasts. The Board is working on creating podcasts and/or videos of monthly programs.

6)   Associates press releases. The Board is working on a process for associates to post their press releases on the BATW website for member access.

7)   New newsletter column. The monthly President’s Column has been replaced with From the Board, so members can get to know BATW directors and their projects.

We look forward to an equally productive second half.

Regards, Kris

“Grammatical Errors Abound”

by Georgia Hesse

Grammatical errors are like ants; the second you squash one, a hundred others appear. Take “The pilot told Jim and I … .” Nobody, perhaps, would write “The pilot told I … ,” but if there’s a Jim involved, rationality jumps out the window. This stultifying sentence appeared online in a very badly written story by a writer joined by a Jim on an untoward flying adventure.

I hope the plane crashed.

Singulars and plurals have ceased to dance together comfortably. They now collide like bumper cars. “Nobody can write without their editor,” states a book on style.

Can’t that writer read? It is clear that “no-body, no-one and each” refer to a single person. That writer is terrified of the political incorrectness of using “his,” lest the feminist police be hiding just behind the next noun. He doesn’t mind being grammatically incorrect, but politically? No way. So why not just write “an editor” and make everybody happy?

“You can tell a lot about a country from it’s wines,” I learned from the Chronicle. When did the apostrophe become a bull in the woods, trampling upon the innocent possessive “its,” thus perverting it to the meaningless (in this instance) “it is”? Similarly, a friend encourages beginning writers to “Discover who your reader’s are.” (Probably not I.)

Travel writers, in particular, fling adjectives about as if they were confetti. Yosemite is always breathtaking; Palm Springs frequently exotic. (Exotic originally meant only foreign, although dictionaries increasingly allow popular usages – such as strikingly strange – to sneak in.)

Weather, in many writers’ minds, should behave itself and be balmy or invigorating, certainly not as unseemly and cliché-free as Jonathan Raban’s cold that in Montana comes on suddenly, “like a boot in the face.”

A frequent fault is the disagreement of an initial clause with its subject, which, at best, gives the reader a moment of hilarity and the writer a touch of witlessness: “Famous for decades, we dined at Maxim’s.” Surely there’s unintended fun here: “Back in the saddle by 8 in the morning, my horse … .”

Needless repetition is another sin, as the master travel writer Mark Twain observed in 1898: “At breakfast this morning, a member of the family read aloud an interesting review of a new book by Mr. Gladstone in which the reviewer used the strong adjective ‘delightful’ 13 times.” Looking in the thesaurus, Twain at once found four of the misused “delightfuls” and admits that with a longer search “I should have found [the] right words, to a shade, wherewith to replace the remaining delinquents.”

Stop, look and listen to a story before letting it out on its own. Print it and take it into a room where you can settle in a comfortable chair. Then read it aloud to yourself. Ear and eye will alert you to errors not only in spelling but also in repetition and, very importantly, in rhythm. Why use a two-syllable word when a three-syllable one would make the line sing?

If the lede puts you to sleep, think of the bored reader who will reach for the nearest wastebasket. Consider two very different but equally enthralling first lines: one, that of Gabriel Garcia Marquez in One Hundred Years of Solitude. “Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendía was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice.” Ah, you sigh: It’s going to be a long, luscious night.

Second: In The Lost Continent, take Bill Bryson’s short, sweet and snappy “I come from Des Moines. Somebody had to.”

Good writing is hard work.

Ginny Prior, writing for herself and Kris Carber, says, “April showers bring May flowers, but our recent rains have brought something even better—waterfalls.

The Falls Trail that runs up the back of Mt. Diablo has never been prettier, with its swollen creek and four waterfalls tumbling down from the peak. To be able to share destinations like this is part of the joy of being a travel journalist.

Speaking of Mother Nature, members are still talking about April’s meeting at historic Filoli estate and gardens. Thank you to BATW’s program chair, Erin Caslavka, for picking such a colorful venue, and thanks to the folks at Filoli for hosting our organization. Many articles have already come out of our day in the gardens.

We’re looking forward to next month, when high-tech is the focus of our meeting at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View. Not only will we be touring the museum— the largest of its kind in the world—we’ll also have a presentation on e-book publishing. Hope to see you there!”