Twitter chats are still occurring today and happen when a group of people all tweet about the same topic using a specific hashtag (#tourismchat) that allows it to be followed on Twitter. The chats are usually at a specific time and repeat monthly at only the announced times. This post is to give you a quick overview on how to participate in the twitter chat, #tourismchat.
Travel
Why I Value Experiences Over Things
I decided to take a break from writing about my marketing thoughts and mix it up a little bit and write about why should spend on experiences not things. As you know, travel is important to me. Not only because it’s the industry that I cut my marketing teeth in, but because when I was growing up, my memories are of my parents piling us in the care and taking us on trips around the country. It’s something that I will never forget and something that I want to give my family. We all work hard every day for our money. After we take care of our regular expenses we all wonder what to do with whatever we have remaining? Do we save for family getaway? Take our kids to a ballgame? Purchase the latest and greatest tech gadget? That’s the secret to our happiness, whatever we do with that extra that we have. The trouble that I have when I purchase things, is that the excitement fades and I have buyers remorse. But when I purchase an experience, that excitement stays with me for awhile.
Here is why I value experiences over things.
How Tourism Benefits a Community
Tourism is a billion dollar industry. In smaller communities it is a million dollar industry. Every community, along with their Destination Marketing Organization (DMO), expect to build of the previous years success with new attractions, restaurants, and amenities. My hometown of Sheboygan, WI is a small community whose tourism destination status is on the rise, and the community has definitely changed since I was a kid running through the streets. In 2015, visitors spent $215 million in Sheboygan County. A small amount compared to the visitor spending of $1 billion dollars in the DMO county in IL that I was a Director of Marketing of, BUT quite impressive for a community who is continuing to grow as a tourism destination. Now, the city has been mentioned as a possible location for an NBA D-League team. Impressive for a small community along the shores of Lake Michigan.
My First Half Marathon: Lessons Learned
I have dreamed of running a half marathon. I thought it would be such a major accomplishment and something that I thought would challenge me physically and mentally. Last January 2015, I made a commitment to start training for my first half marathon, as I had previously run 5ks. I did not sign up for a run or anything, I just started training, by following Hal Higdon’s plan. Halfway through my training, I realized that without signing up for anything the motivation could easily go away. With about 7 weeks or so to go before Wisconsin’s Cheesiest Half Marathon, which was the first weekend in May, I signed up for one after being inspired watching my Wisconsin Badgers make a deep NCAA tournament run and how hard those kids had worked to achieve what they were achieving. So, I was signed up, my training was rejuvenated and I was ready to go. I had a lot of rookie mistakes through training and running my first half marathon, 13.1 miles, and things that I will be sure to correct and be better at the second time around. Here are my lessons learned. Read more