You Can’t Replace a Visit

by Ashley Pinder

In the competitive hospitality industry there’s nothing like first-hand experience for travel reporters to get a taste of what a resort offers its guests. Last month, we managed a press trip for six travel writers from across the nation to visit Nickelodeon Family Suites along with one young guest, so they could experience the hotel through a child’s eyes.

We planned a poolside dinner with live entertainment, secured front-row seats at the Studio Nick nightly show, reserved a cabana and delivered milk and cookies to their rooms every night.

But it wasn’t this special treatment that made it into the feature articles that have come about from this trip, nor is it what impressed the trip attendees. In fact, it was the opposite. It was just being at the hotel. Seeing it in person and experiencing it by walking around and watching other guests.

We can tell the media that Nick Hotel is kid-friendly until we are blue in the face, but after seeing it first-hand, they know that is an understatement. A picture may say a thousand words, but it’s still two-dimensional.

The bean bags in the bright-orange-and-green lobby, the sound of upbeat music and laughing children, the themed KidSuites with life-size Nickelodeon characters on the wall …. you can’t experience that through a news release.

As the media relations industry changes and we rely less and less on traditional publicity tactics and move toward social media – let us not forget the true power of first-hand experience. This can apply to a company in any industry hoping to share its story. Because, you can’t replace a visit.

How Effective is Your Communication?

by Kim Taylor

Do you regularly spend weeks writing the content for your next big presentation and then wait until the night before to rehearse?

Do you know the difference between a transition and a ‘hot start’?

How about the importance of holding your gestures and keeping them ‘above the belt’ and outside the ‘breadbox’?

These are just a few of the things I learned while attending “Presenting with Impact & Influence” last week at the Academy of our affiliate, MS&L.

The stats were astonishing. When it comes to the 3 V’s of Effective Communications: Vocal, Visual and Verbal, we typically focus on the Verbal … the content of our presentation … yet, the Vocal and Visual are really what counts.

Try this exercise:

Say the heady words we all wait to hear: I Love You … and say it like you really mean it.

Now, say them again, but this time, say the word ‘love’ with doubt and questioning … I Love You?

The same result happens when you shift that doubt to the word ‘you.’

Same content, completely different meaning.

That exercise alone should help validate the importance of Visual and Vocal skills when presenting. Content still counts, but never underestimate the value of thoughtful gesturing, eye contact and replacing your ‘ums’ and ‘uhhs’ with silence.