President’s Column – January, 2009

New year, new website, more adventures for all of us and for our wonderful organization, BATW, coming up.

What an elegant and delicious holiday party a record number of BATW members enjoyed – many thanks to the generosity and hospitality of Associate Member, Bard Nordby, Tourisme Quebec, and his colleagues, Marie José Pinsonnault of Tourism Montréal; Paule Bergeron of Québec City Tourism; and Sylvain Gagné of the Winter Carnival.  As always, our enormous appreciation goes to the incomparable Associate Molly Blaisdell, of Hook, Line, and Thinker.

A few years ago, John Montgomery and I experienced the snowy wonders of the Québec Winter Carnival, complete with skiing, dog sledding, horse sleigh racing, and yes, the Ice Hotel, with its carved out ice beds and vodka served in ice goblets, and, of course, Bonhomme Carnaval. We enjoyed connecting with him for one of his hugs on Saturday.

At our January meeting, which is officially designated as our Annual Meeting, our new Board members will introduce themselves, Treasurer Laurie McAndish King will give her annual report, and I’ll give a brief State of our Organization summary.

Then our dear friend and Grande Dame of Travel Writing, the founder of the San Francisco Examiner Travel Section and internationally respected travel writer, Georgia Hesse, will talk about some marketing strategies and tips at the elegant St. Francis Hotel in SF.  Hope to see you there!

– Diane LeBow

PS: Remember that BATW is only as good as its members. Keep sharing ideas and volunteering by writing me, Sandy Sims, April Orcutt, or any of our other Board members.