Sheila's Guide To The Good Stuff

Welcome to the Carnival of Cities blog carnival, where we tour the world in a single post, via submissions from a variety of different blogs, all about any aspect of one, single city or fair-sized town.

The previous Carnival edition was hosted on Travel with Teens and Tweens, and you’ll find the next one (January 11, 2012) on Perceptive Travel Blog.

If you would like to host a future Carnival edition on your blog, please contact me at Sheila “at” sheilascarborough “dot” com. Thanks!

Off we go….

Cities in the Americas

Panama City, Panama Mary Jo Manzanares presents Casino glitz and indigenous Kunas are just two reasons to visit Panama posted at The Traveler’s Way, saying, “The San Blas Islands of Panama are largely uninhabited, but on those that are it is an opportunity to meet the indigenous Kuna Indians.”

Los Angeles, California, USA Jennifer Miner presents Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios Hollywood posted at The Vacation Gals, saying, “The Wizarding World of Harry Potter was such a huge success at Universal Studios Orlando, it’s no surprise that Universal Studios Hollywood has announced plans to build its own Harry Potter experience in Los Angeles.”

Chattanooga, Tennessee, USA Cynthia Miller presents Chattanooga Getaway posted at Our Travels Together.

Big Sky, Montana, USA Nancy Brown presents Insider Tips for Things to See and Do in Big Sky, Montana posted at Nancy D Brown, saying, “If you have never been to Montana, Travel Writer Nancy D. Brown suggests making Big Sky your home base for day trips to Yellowstone, horseback riding, rafting and fly fishing.”

Montevideo, Uruguay Michael Turtle presents Morning in Montevideo posted at Time Travel Turtle : Stories from the world.

Portland, Oregon, USA Andy Hayes presents Photo Essay: Christmas on Peacock Lane, Portland Oregon posted at Travel for Christmas, saying, “Prettiest street in the Pacific Northwest.”

Columbus, Ohio, USA Joe Vargo presents Columbus’ Coffee Scene Takes Center Stage posted at The Columbus Experience, saying, “Columbus is becoming a Coffee Capital! Food blogger and Columbus Food Adventures tour guide Bethia Woolf gives a rundown of the new crop of coffee shops that have opened recently.”

Park City, Utah, USA Sharlene Earnshaw presents Park City for Families- Winter Fun Abounds! posted at the talking trekaroo.

Lima, Peru Bastiaan Reinink presents It never rains down in Liiiiii-hiiiiii-maaaa posted at Perpetual Wonder.

Cities in Australia and New Zealand

Christchurch, New Zealand Liz Lewis presents A Christchurch Christmas Tale posted at Perceptive Travel Blog, saying, “In Christchurch, New Zealand mother nature might still be shaking but that doesn’t stop resilient Cantabrians from celebrating Christmas”

Sydney, Australia Vi presents What to do in Sydney in December, 2011 posted at Travel Tips.

Cities in Europe

Brussels, Belgium Mary presents Eating in Brussels with kids posted at The World Is A Book, saying, “Loved the chocolate samples throughout the city!”

Tallinn, Estonia MoTravels presents Exploring Tallinn in Winter posted at MO TRAVELS, saying, “Exploring the European City of Culture for 2011 and UNESCO World Heritage Site, Tallinn.”

London, England Caitlin Fitzsimmons presents London at Christmas: Ten Unmissable Spots posted at Roaming Tales, saying, “Guest post on London at Christmas time. By the way, technically it is still Christmas until the 6th of January!”

Brussels, Belgium Paige Totaro presents 5 Things to Do in Brussels With Kids posted at All Over the Map..

That concludes this Carnival edition, and thank you for visiting.

Please submit your (ONE, non-spammy) blog post to the next edition of the Carnival of Cities using our carnival submission form.

Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

Second in a blog post series for the get-revved-up week between Christmas and New Year’s.

If you have a fairly recent point-and-shoot camera, then you have a Macro setting for closeup shots.

How often do you use it?

Macro gives you another way to take what might be a ho-hum, expected photo and turn it into something more interesting.

The picture you see here was taken with my little Canon PowerShot Digital Elph;  it’s one of the handmade green icing trees, dusted with sugar “snow,” that surround the holiday village made of gingerbread in the lobby of the Four Seasons hotel (this one in Austin.)

Rev-up recommendation for you:

**  Play a bit with close-up photography in 2012.

—->>  Find the Macro setting on your camera (often a flower symbol.)  Look for interesting little details around town to photograph – perhaps that includes a mouthwatering close-up of a chocolate milkshake from the real corner drugstore that you still have downtown.

—->>  Put the milkshake photo into a round-up blog post that calls attention to fun, quick, family-friendly downtown places to eat. Link to each of those businesses in your post.

—->>  Link to your blog post in a Facebook Page update. Tag the place where you took the milkshake photo, and the other eateries, too.

—->>  Tweet the link to your post 2-3 times on Twitter, over a few days, at different times. Include the Twitter handles of those downtown businesses.

—->>  Pop the chocolate milkshake photo into your email newsletter.

—->>  Shoot a short video of a drugstore employee showing how he/she makes the perfect chocolate milkshake, then put that on YouTube, with a link back to your eateries blog post in the video description.

Can you think of any other way to use Macro photos to entrance visitors with an unexpected close-up view?

For more ideas on using one piece of content multiple times, look in the Solutions section of our Tourism Currents Store for a two-page download titled Create Once, Use Many Times – How to Think Like an Online Publisher.  It includes lots of different ways to use photos.

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First in a blog post series for the get-revved-up week between Christmas and New Year’s

Here’s a way to reach fans of your destination who live far away, but still want to connect even when they can’t visit …. tell them how to find and listen to your hometown radio stations that stream online.

People who enjoy familiar music, a long-time DJ’s voice or a particular show may not even know that they can now hear those sounds on the web, even when their regular radio is nowhere near the station’s terrestrial broadcast tower.

For example, my at-home radio is always tuned to FM 89.5 KMFA in Austin. It’s a public, listener-supported station that plays classical music in Central Texas. Unlike KUT, the other public station in town, KMFA does not have standard NPR fare like All Things Considered. It simply provides a wide variety of classical music, 24 hours a day. I love it.

When I’m far away from home in a hotel room, I do look for local stations, but even in music-rich places like New Orleans I seem to have a heck of a time finding them (or getting the hotel’s bedside clock radio to pick them up.) Often I default to playing KMFA in my room through my laptop, which is a nice homey Austin touch on a busy morning when I’m prepping to speak at a conference, for example.

Rev-up recommendation for you:

**  Do a little destination marketing with radio in 2012.

—->>  Write up a blog post that tells visitors where to find 3-4 of your best local radio stations online. Include their AM and/or FM station numbers for people to dial into when they are physically in town. Link to each of the station websites in your post.

—->>  Put a link to the post in a Facebook Page update. Tag the radio stations in your update.

—->>  Tweet the link to your post 2-3 times on Twitter, over a few days, at different times. Include the station or DJ Twitter handles.

—->>  Summarize the post as part of your email newsletter.

—->>  Ask the stations if your CVB or DMO can be a guest on any of the shows that cover local events or festivals, then make sure that your blog/Facebook Page/tweets/newsletter let people know when to tune in to hear you talk up your town. Shoot a short video of you on the air, and put that on YouTube, with a link back to your blog post in the video description.

Can you think of any other way to use radio to connect with visitors?

Oh, and I did finally find a great New Orleans station that streams local music and shows:  WWOZ online, or dial up 90.7 FM when you’re there.

Want more help and training in social communications, tourism and hospitality?  That’s why we started Tourism Currents.

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I saw a question by a New England DMO (Destination Marketing Organization) in the LinkedIn Group “DMAI Convention and Visitors Bureau Network” about how to best use online video – they had a few ideas but wanted to ensure that they “maximized potential reach.”

In the spirit of reusing content you’ve already made, here is my answer to them, made into this blog post:

Are the videos available on your YouTube channel?

If so, they can help you with SEO if they are titled, described and tagged with the applicable keywords for each particular video.

Make sure you allow sharing.  As a blogger I like to occasionally share good videos, either embedded in a blog post of my own – like I did with a Guerrilla Packs video in this year’s Passports with Purpose prize post - or, if it’s tourism-related, on our business Facebook Page.

I’d also recommend captioning them for the deaf/hard of hearing – the transcript attaches to the video description, which also helps SEO. Google offers an auto-transcript for some videos that are in English, but the voice recognition is a work in progress (to put it charitably) so you’ll need to heavily edit the text to make it accurate.

For more help with web accessibility issues like captioning, I cannot recommend Glenda Watson Hyatt enough – she’s dynamite.

Videos do very well on Facebook, especially if they’re short, and you can tweet about them as well (the shortened youtu.be URL will open and play right in TweetDeck, for example, so I’m more likely to watch it if I see the tweet.)

If the video would appeal to meeting and event planners, put it on your LinkedIn Company Page for your DMO. You can always get more out of LinkedIn than you think.

I’d have a blog post to go with every video, and of course that post itself will help with SEO. Nothing elaborate; just a little background about the video and then the embed box. Always include a direct text link to the video’s page on YouTube, in case someone is looking at the post via RSS (which won’t show embed boxes) or the embed box goes on the blink.

Once you have the permalink URL to your blog post, go back and add it to the video description on YouTube.  That’s one more way to close the communications loop so if someone finds the video directly on YouTube, they can click through to your blog from the video description. The link is No Follow, but humans can follow it, which is what really matters.

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While we mess around with our Facebook Pages, mobile devices and tweet-crafting, I’d like to pause for a moment and talk about books.

Lots of books, in a place that doesn’t have them, for people who want them very badly.

We’re talking about raising US$80,000 (yes, it’s a lot of zeroes) to build two libraries in Zambia …. the building construction, all the books and educational materials, teacher training and support for three years …. through Passports with Purpose, the annual travel bloggers’ fundraiser.

One of the PwP co-founders, Pam Mandel, is a dear friend of mine and a blogging kindred spirit, so I look forward to this every year. The #PwP hashtag is already jumping on Twitter.

Last year we raised enough money (mostly in US$10 increments) to build an entire village in southern India in partnership with Friends of LAFTI.  This year, PwP is partnering with Room to Read for the libraries.

I started my first travel blog in February 2006, and I’ve supported PwP since the beginning, but this is the first time that I’ve offered a sponsored prize as part of the fundraiser.

It works rather like a raffle – in addition to the goodie I’m showcasing below, you can browse through this full list of travel-related prizes and bid for chances to win whichever ones appeal to you.  At the end of the fundraiser – it runs through December 16, 2011 – one winner of each prize will be randomly selected from all of those who have bid.  A $10 donation per bid is suggested, but if you don’t want to make a donation, mail one self addressed stamped envelope to: Passports with Purpose, P.O. Box 16102, Seattle WA 98116.  Include the name of the prize you are entering to win.

Thanks to Nick from Guerrilla Packs, I get to showcase one of their top backpacks as the Sheila’s Guide PwP prize – the Voltij.  (Shipped to winners in the continental US only – bummer – but the winner can choose red, blue, or orange.)

This pack is designed for the serious traveler/hiker who needs cleverly designed storage space, comfort, and style.  My favorite feature is the detachable day pack, so you don’t have to look dorky wearing the whole framed backpack walking through, say the Uffizi in Florence or grabbing a bubble tea in Shanghai.

Here are some other Voltij specs:

- Detachable padded laptop sleeve shoulder carry bag
- Aluminum internal frame
- Fully adjustable EVERYTHING!
- Built in compass and thermometer
- Rain cover
- Passport pocket & cell phone pocket
- Supports H20 hydration system
- Sleeping bag / wet clothes pocket

Want to know more?

Here’s a helpful video about the pack (direct link to Voltij demo if you can’t see the embed box below:)

For a chance to win this prize or one of many others, go here to the PwP Prize List/Donate page and follow the directions.

Thanks for your support of Passports with Purpose, and I look forward to showing off some photos of the libraries in the next year or so.

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It can be difficult to keep up with current trends in tourism, hospitality, travel and technology….unless, of course, sleep is optional for you.

For the rest of us mere mortals, fast-paced Twitter chats are invaluable.  They are some of THE most useful hours I spend online researching industry happenings and discussions.  You’ll get help from peers and network with fellow professionals around the world (here are 9 tips for following hashtags.)

I offer my own list of resources below that I use for speaking and Tourism Currents online training.

I’d love to hear more ideas from you down in the comments.

If you follow no other chat….

New chats pop up all the time – some Scotland-based tourism businesses just launched the #ScotlandHour travel chat, for example – but for tried and true value, don’t miss #tourismchat.

It’s usually biweekly, at 2 pm CST on Thursdays. Check the #tourismchat Facebook Page for dates and topics.

Chat co-founder Anne Hornyak summarizes a #tourismchat session here, if you want a sense of how it works.

Other good tourism chats

Keep an eye out for the hashtags for conferences like ESTO, #SoMeT (this hashtag is active year-round,) PRSA Travel, eTourismSummit and the annual state/province Governor’s conferences.

The conference calendar on DMOPro can help you keep up with these.

Get some hybrid vigor

Following non-tourism hashtags ensures that I don’t get stuck in a stale echo chamber listening to the same people over and over. Mixing it up fosters what my Tourism Currents business partner Becky McCray calls “the hybrid vigor of ideas.”

Some of these chats include:

**  Crazy-fast #blogchat on Sunday nights, 8 pm CST.

**  Tech conference hashtags like #BWEchat (year-round for BlogWorld and New Media Expo East and West)  #SXSWi (mostly active January through March for South by Southwest Interactive) and #SOBCon (year-round for the SOBCon business blogging conferences.)

**  Since search engines are so integral to online activities, I keep an eye on hashtags for Search Marketing Expo / #SMX events worldwide, especially #SMXEast and #SMXWest.

**  I’m not a gadget person, but the annual Mobile World Congress in Barcelona / #MWC12 for 2012 and the CES (Consumer Electronics Show) / #CES in Las Vegas are worth a look, if only to find links to good event round-up blog posts towards the end.

How to keep track of all this chatter

You can follow and participate in chats with regular web-based Twitter, but I prefer a dashboard to keep things sorted. I use columns in TweetDeck for each hashtag, adding and removing as events come and go.

Others are fans of HootSuite;  since it’s cloud-based you can get around any IT download restrictions in your office, and multi-person team accounts seem to like it.

When the chat is actually in progress, I log into TweetChat to keep up with the conversation flow and add the hashtag to my tweets automatically.

Which chats or tools am I forgetting? Let us know in the comments….

Still a bit unsure of the value?  Here’s 60 seconds with Beth Conway from the St. Joseph, Missouri CVB on how she uses Twitter (direct link to the video on YouTube if you can’t see the embed box below.)

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Thank you, Mom.

Both my mother (a long-time journalist) and I are members of the AWC (Association for Women in Communications.)

This year, Mom noticed that there was a new category, Personal Blogs, in the Online Media section of AWC’s annual Clarion communications awards.

She encouraged me to enter this blog in competition for a Clarion.

Like a good Mom, she then followed up just before the deadline to ensure I’d entered. I’d totally forgotten, of course, and had to race off to the post office to mail in my paperwork.

So, it was pretty cool to attend the 2011 AWC National Conference in Tulsa with Mom last month, have her in the room when I spoke with Maria Henneberry about more effective webinars, and then turn around and win the Clarion for Sheila’s Guide.

Thank you to all of my readers for your support since I launched the blog in September 2008, and thanks, Mom, for always encouraging me to excel.

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Welcome to the Carnival of Cities blog carnival, where we tour the world in a single post, via submissions from a variety of different blogs, all about any aspect of one, single city (or fair-sized town.)

The previous Carnival edition was hosted on the Perceptive Travel Blog, and will return there on November 30.

If you would like to host a future Carnival edition on your blog, please contact me at Sheila “at” sheilascarborough “dot” com. Thanks!

Off we go….

Cities in the Americas

Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, USA   Amy @ The Q Family presents Myrtle Beach With Kids: Guided Kayak Tour with Black River Outdoors Center posted at The Q Family Adventures Travel Blog.

Santa Cruz, California, USA   Eileen Ludwig presents Exploring Coastal Highway Santa Cruz California posted at Freelance Tourist: Travel Tips.

Honolulu, Hawaii, USA   Jennifer Miner presents Hawaii History and Culture: Princess Ka’iulani posted at The Vacation Gals, saying, “A vacation in Waikiki is enriched by attending a ceremony honoring the last crown princess of Hawaii.”

Ottawa, Canada   Zhu presents Rideau Hall posted at Correr Es Mi Destino, saying, “In a typ­i­cal relaxed Cana­dian fash­ion, the offi­cial res­i­dence of the Gov­er­nor Gen­eral of Canada is open to the pub­lic and it’s not rare to see hordes of pho­tog­ra­phers, cricket play­ers (!) and fam­i­lies pic­nick­ing there.”

San Francisco, California, USA   Kristin presents Breakfast at the Ferry Building Farmer’s Market posted at SFTravel – San Francisco Underground Travel, saying, “A popular destination on Saturday morning in San Francisco becomes even better with savory and sweet offerings at gourmet breakfast stands.”

New Orleans, Louisiana, USA   Michael Turtle presents The Big Easy is harder than you think posted at Time Travel Turtle.

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil   Jason Noronha presents 10 Reasons to Pack Your Bags for Rio de Janeiro posted at theOrangeMango, saying, “Having spent 2 weeks in Rio de Janeiro recently, I fell in love with the city and decided that I’d have to move to this beautiful place at some stage in my life. Here’s why you need to pack your bags for Rio..”

Mountain View, California, USA   Byteful Travel presents Computer History Museum Review: 7 Striking Exhibits from the Digital Age posted at Byteful Travel, saying, “With over 90,000 objects, photographs, and films the Computer History Museum of Mountain View, CA has no equal in its field. In fact, the CHM contains the largest collection of computing artifacts on the planet! So, needless to say, we were in for a real treat, and in this article I reveal the 7 most memorable artifacts I stumbled across that day, including the “Godfather” of the iPhone and a 150 lb. computer that you just HAVE to get your loved one this holiday season. But we’ll get to that!”

Columbus, Ohio, USA   Joe Vargo presents Top Three Things to Do With Your Extra Hour of Darkness posted at The Columbus Experience.

Cabo Polonio, Uruguay   Michael Hodson presents Cabo Polonio, Uruguay in Photos posted at Go, See, Write – overland RTW adventure travel.

Laramie, Wyoming, USA   Angi Harper presents Wyoming Roundup: A Sunny Day in Laramie Town posted at Wyoming Roundup.

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA   JoAnna presents Images: Crystal Bridge Tropical Conservatory | Oklahoma City posted at Kaleidoscopic Wandering, saying, “I never expected to find botanical gardens in Oklahoma City, and that’s what I love about cities like this: They continue to surprise me.”

Seattle, Washington, USA   Mary T presents Photo Friday: Teen’s View of the Port of Seattle posted at Travel With Teens and Tweens, saying, “A short cruise of Seattle’s harborfront uncovered all kinds of interesting views. Our traveling teen captured some great photos along the way.”

San Francisco, California, USA   Kirsten Larsson presents San Francisco’s Chinatown posted at Aviators and a Camera.

Cities in Asia/Australia/New Zealand

Kyoto, Japan   Erin McNeaney presents The Weird and Wonderful World of Vegetarian Cuisine in Kyoto: Part 1 posted at Never Ending Voyage, saying, “Our exploration of Buddhist vegetarian cuisine in Kyoto, Japan.”

(more…)

I’m fresh off of a short Southern road trip between the Tourism track at BlogWorld and New Media Expo West in Los Angeles, and the Symposium on Social Media in Tourism (SoMeT) in Tunica, Mississippi.

In between LA and Tunica, I landed in Jackson, MS, put on my travel blogger hat and drove north for a few days while working on an article for Automotive Traveler.

Allow me to give a HUGE shout-out and thank you to my hosts at the Jackson, MS CVB (Convention and Visitors Bureau) especially their Public Relations Manager, Marika Cackett.

Marika, Sophie McNeil and crew went well beyond the call of duty to ensure that I got a well-rounded view of their city, even though I didn’t have much time there. I was on the football field at a Battle of the Bands to hear the Sonic Boom of the South marching band from Jackson State University, I ate one fabulous meal after another all over town, I visited Civil Rights landmarks like Medgar Evers’ home and I heard the Central Mississippi Blues Society at local joint Hal and Mal’s.

The most wonderful moments, however, were with the enthusiastic and fun Marika as she connected me with the people who are creating an incredible renaissance in the historically African-American Farish Street district, and when she and I made happy fools of ourselves singing along with Marvin Gaye and Etta James on the jukebox at Peaches Cafe.

Here’s the above-and-beyond part: I didn’t organize my travel plans as well as I usually do, and I hadn’t properly lined up a FIAT 500 from Jackson’s Enterprise car rental (for the Automotive Traveler story.) I was swamped by BlogWorld preps and just blew it.

Marika said, “Hey, I’ll call Enterprise for you about the FIAT rental.”  I felt like such a disorganized moron that I tried to turn her down, but she cheerfully blew me off and made the call anyway. A few hours later, my phone rings in Los Angeles. “I got your FIAT!” she says. I’ll swear, I could have crawled through the phone and hugged her. She saved my bacon.

Thank you so much, Marika and all of the tourism folks who help us out even when we don’t really deserve it.

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How do you keep up (or even better, stay ahead) in a fast-moving environment?

You pay attention to the important things, while everyone else gets sucked into a noise vortex and wastes time on the unimportant.

BusinessWeek had a cover story in April 2005 – yes, 2005 – called “Blogs Will Change Your Business.”

Then they did a follow-up social media report in May 2008, titled “Beyond Blogs.”

Yet, even today in 2011 (almost 2012) there are still plenty of professional communicators who seem rather gobsmacked by what’s happened to their world.

They would not pay attention, roll up their sleeves and do their homework even a year ago, and now they wonder how they got so far behind.

You fall behind by not keeping up.

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