Winter Travel Shows by John Dersham

I have just completed this year’s round of winter travel shows to promote tourism in DeKalb County. These shows are a fairly inexpensive way to talk to a lot of people in person about our area and basically try and sell them on planning their vacation to our area. This is done via conversation, travel guides, websites, social media and pictures. The primary objective is to educate our guests about us, i.e., what to see, where to go, how far away we are, how much it cost to visit our area. They want to know about lodging, attractions, food, entertainment, etc. Usually a discussion with visitors to our booth will last five to fifteen minutes based on the verbal level of detail they would like to talk about. We equip each guest with a bag of travel info from our area. This year I worked at the Columbus, Ohio AAA Great Vacations Expo, the Indianapolis Travel, Boat, and RV, fishing and Motorcycle Show and the Greenville, SC Southern Travel Show. We are represented by Alabama Mountain Lakes Tourist Association and the State of Alabama Department of Travel and Tourism and other shows too, including; Cincinnati, Ohio and Louisville, KY. In the spring I will attend the Southern Women’s show in Nashville and others will attend the Memphis and Chattanooga Shows and they will help represent our area. These travel expos are a very personal way to connect to our potential visitor and it gives us a chance to invite them to come see us in person.  Many of these shows are a winter attraction in themselves. People come to these shows for entertainment on a cold winter weekend. Many of these expos have stars performing or appearing for autographs. There are lectures and give a ways. There is food and beverage and lots to see. Travel organizations from around the world attend many of these shows. It is also a place to look at and buy an RV, boat, motorcycle or camping and fishing equipment.

We have continued to grow tourism in DeKalb even in an economy that is not that strong. I feel these shows are just another way we get our name and location out to the public. Many of these travel shows have existed since the early 50’s and have become an annual event for residents in their locations.

The Progress of Humanity by John Dersham

Yes, when you listen to the news of which there is plenty, especially with 24 hour news stations, all the news or most seems bad. Kidnappings, murders, hate crimes, robberies, war, greed, corruption, etc. It is my opinion that despite the bombardment of bad news that our world is getting better and better all the time. If you look back at our history we were quite barbaric people from our beginning. Technology, which I feel is also in perpetual improvement, is allowing us a voice we never had. Even in depressed dictator countries the voice of the people can no longer be silenced, thanks to smart phone technology, social media and the internet. No longer can people be isolated from the truth. I think this is why the time is coming when there will be no dictators. To be a dictator you must silence your people and this is no longer possible. Bad news aside let’s talk about how wonderful we are. When someone is in trouble we come to the rescue. When storms hit we come to help in masses. We provide physical labor and great amounts of financial support. We all remember April 27, 2011. Look how we came together to help. All around the world there have been disasters of the same magnitude and we the people have been there for those adversely affected. As we are able to communicate with everyone around the world, as we do via technology we find the vast majority of people all around the world are exactly like us. They want peace, they want to help their neighbors, they love their families and when we communicate with them they become our friends. No longer do we look at people we don’t know as the enemy. We, through growing and improving worldwide technology, are becoming friends. I feel step by step, year by year from the beginning of mankind we are inching our way to becoming that which God created us to be and that is the beautiful wonder individual God created in each of us. Yes, it is a journey and we have a long way to go but I am convinced the journey is always in the right direction despite the bad news along the way. It was not very long ago our leaders could be corrupt and the public never knew it. Now if you break the law or break the accepted morale code you will get caught and it will be publicized. Gradually we are figuring out what God put inside us to begin with and that is love, kindness and caring for fellow mankind and for all of Gods other creations. However you feel about Heaven or Hell or God and the Devil or if you don’t believe in either, there is Free Will. Free Will given to us by the creator lets us decide our choices, right or wrong, kind or hateful, greedy or sharing, egotistical or modest, war or peace, love or hate. These are our decisions everyday and have been from our beginning and now through our several thousand year journey we are gradually a fraction at a time learning our way.

Ohians Love Alabama! by John Dersham

I just got back from the AAA Great Vacations Expo in Columbus, Ohio. This expo is held every year in January at the War Memorial Exposition Hall in Columbus. This show is dedicated to travel and tourism. Each year hundreds of Destination Marketing Organizations, like ours, and Convention and Visitor Bureaus and other companies that promote travel for a living set up their individual booths at this show. There are many of these shows throughout the country. We attend 4-6 of these shows each year dependent on our demographic pull from each location. Most of the large travel expo’s are in the winter when people are looking for a place to go for something to do but also to plan their vacations for the spring, summer and fall. We had a crowded booth all the time during the three day weekend event. People from Ohio love Alabama. The reason is because we have mountains and we have a beach, both of which Ohio does not have. In addition we are a fairly short drive with good interstates that get visitors here in about 7-8 hours from Columbus. It always amazes me how many people at these shows are already familiar with our area and have visited us before and many have come multiple times.  We heard a whole lot of “Roll Tide” all weekend and lots of people stopped to get information about their next Alabama vacation but also to tell us about their previous trips to Alabama, where they went and what they did. Everyone had something good to say about us. They love our scenery, our camping, hiking and fishing. They love our low cost destinations. They like our Bar-B-Que and they love our Robert Trent Jones golf courses. We had at least two dozen people stop to say they had played these fantastic golf courses or were going to be there soon. The Robert Trent Jones golf trail is advertised on network TV affiliates throughout the country and is very well known. We also heard about our beautiful beaches at Gulf Shores and Orange Beach. Many people drive down I-65 from Ohio which is a straight shot for them to our beaches. In addition we hear about our area. They love the mountains and waterfalls and canyon that they do not get to see in Ohio. It is fun for us to participate in this expo. We know we are getting business by attending the winter travel shows but it is rewarding especially to hear from people who love our area and had a good experience here and want to come back again.

Winter is the travel expo season by John Dersham

Every winter DeKalb Tourism participates in some of the key travel shows around the Southeast and Midwest. These shows are held in large cities, usually at convention centers or complexes that can accommodate up to a thousand supplier booths and up to 140,000 visitors to the exhibits. These shows are held mostly in the coldest part of winter for a couple reasons.  Number one: people are looking for things to do and places to go during cold and sometimes ugly weather; Number two: people are interested in planning their warm weather vacations; and number three: many of these shows are comprised not only of Destination Marketing Organizations like ours, but they are boat, RV, fishing and motorcycle expo’s too. In cold weather visitors come to these shows longing for sunny days and warm weather and seeing RV’s, Boats and Motorcycles gets them in the mood to travel and in the mood to buy one of these products at the show or in our case plan to take a vacation to our area.

Our travel show season begins this weekend in Columbus, Ohio at the AAA Great Vacations Expo. This particular show is dedicated to travel and vacation planning. There will be organizations from all over the world set up to show off their destinations. This show is a three day event and will have up to 50,000 visitors. The next show is in Greenville, SC in February and it is also a three day AAA Great Vacations Expo. This is followed by the Indianapolis Travel, RV, Boat and Motorcycle Expo. It is held at the Indiana state fairgrounds and covers multiple buildings. This show began in 1954 and usually draws up to 150,000 people during the course of the ten day expo. In April we will attend the Nashville Women’s Expo. These women’s expos are held in various cities and they focus on products and services that appeal to women, including travel planning. In most cases it is women who plan their family vacations.

Overall this is a very effective way for DeKalb Tourism to promote to regions within our range of likely visitation. These shows are an opportunity to talk to and hopefully sell people on the reasons they should come to see us. We will give them travel guides and other pieces of printed information to take home with them. Every year when I go back to some of the same expo’s I will have people come by our booth and tell us they have been to our area and they tell us how much they enjoyed their visit. In several of these shows Alabama has a large presence. We partner with Alabama Mountain Lakes Tourist Association and the Alabama Department of Travel and Tourism. Our booths cover approximately 50 running feet down one of the isles. Like all forms of advertising, if you increase the visitor pool everyone will get more. The more people we can get to visit Alabama will increase our chances of some of them spending time in our area.

New Magazine coming to our area by John Dersham

Lookout Alabama is a new magazine focusing on the Lookout Mountain region. It will include towns, businesses and people living on the mountain but it will also include surrounding valley communities, including Fort Payne and most all of our DeKalb towns.

Lookout Alabama magazine in being produced and published by Olivia (Editor) and Randy Grider (Publisher). They have more than 35 years of publishing experience. Randy grew up in Rainsville and both Randy and Olivia have journalism degrees and have won numerous national and regional awards. They are the only husband and wife team to win the Jesse H. Neal award. This award is considered the Pulitzer Prize of business journalism.

I have included text below by Olivia and Randy Grider telling us more about this exciting new publication.

The first issue of Lookout Alabama magazine, a quarterly, regional publication showcasing the Lookout Mountain area, will be printed in June. The magazine will be distributed locally and mailed directly to households across Alabama and the Southeast.

Lookout Alabama’s mission is to celebrate, promote and preserve the unique culture, history and environmental treasures of the Lookout Mountain region through a high-quality publication, collaborative community partnerships and events.

“First and foremost, I'm very excited about coming home and being a part of the community that I love,” said Lookout Alabama Publisher Randy Grider. “I have spent the past two decades working in the publishing industry – at newspapers around the state and, for the last 12 years, at national magazines – but my heart has always been in Northeast Alabama. Wherever I went, I was constantly sharing stories about the people and the natural beauty of the area. Now I have the opportunity to spotlight the best of the region with many more people. It's literally a dream come true.”

Through articles and images, the magazine will highlight the many cultural, educational, outdoor-adventure, dining, shopping and child-friendly attractions that make Alabama’s Lookout Mountain region an ideal vacation and retirement destination as well as business location. LookoutAlabama.com will provide access to all Lookout Alabama magazine stories and photography as well as videos, musical recordings, additional images and other multi-media resources to provide a wide-ranging window on the area’s many treasures.

A major goal of Lookout Alabama is to support local businesses, artisans and parks and facilitate job creation by increasing tourism and retirement to the area and encouraging companies to locate here.

“I truly believe Lookout Alabama can be an asset to the people and businesses in the Lookout Mountain region,” said Editor Olivia Grider. “We want to help promote all the area has to offer and generate economic growth. At the same time, we don't want to see the region lose its unique charm and culture. It's possible to grow and create economic opportunities without becoming over-commercialized. Like many people here, we realize preservation is very important. Our goal is to keep in mind why people visit the area and help strike the right balance.”