At the September (2007)GFLCVB marketing luncheon, Virginia Sheridan with M. Silver Associates, the PR firm of the GFLCVB, mentioned during her portion of the presentation that “man vacations” were a new niche market. The first thing that came to mind was a group of college frat boys jumping in the car with beer and bathing suits and coming to South Florida for spring break. I knew that couldn’t be what she meant.
Now I’d heard of “girl” vacations – especially those to a spa or featuring shopping. In fact, there are even magazines dedicated to this type of travel. Two are called, appropriately, Girlfriend Getaways and Travel Girl (among others).
It got me thinking. What exactly is the “mancation”? In fact, it has nothing to do with drunken escapades or bachelor parties or marketing to the gay market.Turns out they are guy getaways – trips for heavy-duty male bonding. Made me think of the movie “City Slickers”.
Usually the “mancation” involves either watching sports, or participating in adventure travel, or doing some activity that allows some fun and quality time with the guys. Things that they think women wouldn’t enjoy.
So, South Florida, are you looking to reach this new market niche? Have you packaged your rooms with activities like fishing or diving? There are probably more creative solutions out there. What are you doing?
Julie Wernick, HSMAInsider
(Originally posted on September 27, 2007; While reading this article to re-post it, a whole topic previously not addressed came to mind: Why are they called manvacations and the female version are called girl getaways? Oh well, all new comments are welcome.)
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Monday, October 26, 2009
Are you a Floridian?
(As mentioned the other day, I will be re-releasing some articles from the first few months of the HSMAI-South Florida Blog which was prior to our being "linked" by our various social media. This article was originally posted on September 25, 2007.)
At what point do you stop saying, “Well, I was originally from _____”?
Let’s face it, most of the people living and working here were born somewhere else and moved to Florida. I should tell you, however, that my husband is one of the few people “of a certain age” that I know to be born here. In fact, he was born in Opa-locka on an airbase – the same base from which Amelia Earhart departed on her last flight.
But back to my main point, do you consider yourself a Floridian? And really, at what point do you stop saying you were born in (fill in the town name), and moved here in (fill in the year) from (fill in the city name)? At what point do you start rooting for the local sports teams and not your “former” one?
The other part of this question is: “So, how did you come to move to Florida?”And that’s when it really gets interesting… I’ve been asking this question the last few days. One person said she came here because she followed a guy she liked; One person said she ran away from home with her seven year old son; One person was working for a company and was transferred here; One person moved here to take care of his parents.
I grew up in New England. I came to open a branch of my brother's business. What’s your story? Where did YOU move from? Do you consider yourself a Floridian, yet? And why did you come to Florida as opposed to another state?
Won't you share YOUR story? Best, Julie Wernick, HSMAInsider
At what point do you stop saying, “Well, I was originally from _____”?
Let’s face it, most of the people living and working here were born somewhere else and moved to Florida. I should tell you, however, that my husband is one of the few people “of a certain age” that I know to be born here. In fact, he was born in Opa-locka on an airbase – the same base from which Amelia Earhart departed on her last flight.
But back to my main point, do you consider yourself a Floridian? And really, at what point do you stop saying you were born in (fill in the town name), and moved here in (fill in the year) from (fill in the city name)? At what point do you start rooting for the local sports teams and not your “former” one?
The other part of this question is: “So, how did you come to move to Florida?”And that’s when it really gets interesting… I’ve been asking this question the last few days. One person said she came here because she followed a guy she liked; One person said she ran away from home with her seven year old son; One person was working for a company and was transferred here; One person moved here to take care of his parents.
I grew up in New England. I came to open a branch of my brother's business. What’s your story? Where did YOU move from? Do you consider yourself a Floridian, yet? And why did you come to Florida as opposed to another state?
Won't you share YOUR story? Best, Julie Wernick, HSMAInsider
Sunday, October 25, 2009
HSMAI-South Florida Blog Celebrates Two-Year Anniversary
Amazing to think that’s it’s been only two years since “Scoop”, our Chapter’s blog began. Back in September 2007, when I started writing, we were in the early years of social media.
How time flies when you’re having fun! Time and technology have indeed moved fast. And now with our Chapter’s Twitter account, Linked-in group, and Facebook fan page, we’re keeping pace.
Our Blog was our Chapter’s first entrée, however, into interactive media. We were ahead of most other chapters with our website, as well. (Thank you Stacie Faulds.) We’re proud to say that it also was a contributing factor to our Chapter’s award winning status at national’s 2009 Leadership Conference.
In the early months of the Blog, we covered a wide variety of topics. Our “Table of Eight” which used to be a featured column in our Chapter’s printed quarterly newsletters, became just one of the many articles in our Blog. Our philosophy then (and still) was to maintain a comfortable, chatty style; to be educational and informative, but still enjoyable; to be of interest and relevant to our local readers and Chapter members.
This year we added something new – our linking capability. (Thank you Sheryl Cattell.) Our reach and readership has been expanded as our Blog also appears not only on our website (hsmaisouthflorida.org then click on Blog), but is repeated (“picked up”) in our other social media outlets. Since we didn’t originally have these links, you may have missed some of our early articles. In the next few weeks, I’ll be re-posting a selection of them.
Our readers still are a bit shy. Most prefer to email me directly with their questions and contributions rather than post comments on the site. Whichever method you prefer, we invite you to scroll back to some of those previously posted items, read, subscribe, and give us your input.
Best, Julie Wernick, HSMAInsider
P.S. Hope you can join us for our Social Media Panel, Wednesday, October 28th in Ft. Myers.
How time flies when you’re having fun! Time and technology have indeed moved fast. And now with our Chapter’s Twitter account, Linked-in group, and Facebook fan page, we’re keeping pace.
Our Blog was our Chapter’s first entrée, however, into interactive media. We were ahead of most other chapters with our website, as well. (Thank you Stacie Faulds.) We’re proud to say that it also was a contributing factor to our Chapter’s award winning status at national’s 2009 Leadership Conference.
In the early months of the Blog, we covered a wide variety of topics. Our “Table of Eight” which used to be a featured column in our Chapter’s printed quarterly newsletters, became just one of the many articles in our Blog. Our philosophy then (and still) was to maintain a comfortable, chatty style; to be educational and informative, but still enjoyable; to be of interest and relevant to our local readers and Chapter members.
This year we added something new – our linking capability. (Thank you Sheryl Cattell.) Our reach and readership has been expanded as our Blog also appears not only on our website (hsmaisouthflorida.org then click on Blog), but is repeated (“picked up”) in our other social media outlets. Since we didn’t originally have these links, you may have missed some of our early articles. In the next few weeks, I’ll be re-posting a selection of them.
Our readers still are a bit shy. Most prefer to email me directly with their questions and contributions rather than post comments on the site. Whichever method you prefer, we invite you to scroll back to some of those previously posted items, read, subscribe, and give us your input.
Best, Julie Wernick, HSMAInsider
P.S. Hope you can join us for our Social Media Panel, Wednesday, October 28th in Ft. Myers.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
National Cyber Security Awareness Month
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement/Office of Domestic Security has prepared information on how you can contribute to Cyber Security. October marks the 6th annual National Cyber Security Awareness Month sponsored by Homeland Security and has the theme of “Our Shared Responsibility”.
The idea is to reinforce the message that all computer users have a responsibility to practice good “cyber hygiene” to protect themselves.
They have issued the steps that you can take to keep safe online by keeping your personal assets and information secure as well as those of your clients/customers. Here are some of the key points from their list:
Make sure that you have anti-virus software and firewalls installed, properly configured, and up-to-date. New threats are discovered every day, and keeping your software updated is one of the easier ways to protect yourself from an attack. Set your computer to automatically update for you.
Update your operating system and critical program software. Software updates offer the latest protection against malicious activities. Turn on automatic updating if that feature is available.
Back up key files. If you have important files stored on your computer, copy them onto a removable disc and store it in a safe place.
Create a section for cybersecurity on your organization's Web site. Download banners at www.staysafeonline.org and post them on your organization's home page.
Find out what more you can do to secure cyberspace and how you can share this with others.
Print and post these cybersecurity tips near your computer and network printers.
Use regular communications in your business—newsletters, e-mail alerts, Web sites, etc.—to increase awareness on issues like updating software processes, protecting personal identifiable information, and securing your wireless network.
For more information on Awareness Month and for additional material, please visit www.us-cert.gov and www.staysafeonline.org/ncsam.
The idea is to reinforce the message that all computer users have a responsibility to practice good “cyber hygiene” to protect themselves.
They have issued the steps that you can take to keep safe online by keeping your personal assets and information secure as well as those of your clients/customers. Here are some of the key points from their list:
Make sure that you have anti-virus software and firewalls installed, properly configured, and up-to-date. New threats are discovered every day, and keeping your software updated is one of the easier ways to protect yourself from an attack. Set your computer to automatically update for you.
Update your operating system and critical program software. Software updates offer the latest protection against malicious activities. Turn on automatic updating if that feature is available.
Back up key files. If you have important files stored on your computer, copy them onto a removable disc and store it in a safe place.
Create a section for cybersecurity on your organization's Web site. Download banners at www.staysafeonline.org and post them on your organization's home page.
Find out what more you can do to secure cyberspace and how you can share this with others.
Print and post these cybersecurity tips near your computer and network printers.
Use regular communications in your business—newsletters, e-mail alerts, Web sites, etc.—to increase awareness on issues like updating software processes, protecting personal identifiable information, and securing your wireless network.
For more information on Awareness Month and for additional material, please visit www.us-cert.gov and www.staysafeonline.org/ncsam.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
GFLCVB Asks: “Are You With Us?”
The 2010 Marketing Plan was presented by the Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention & Visitors Bureau at a luncheon at the Broward Convention Center on October 8th. In addition to an overview provided by Nicki Grossman, President, we heard about travel trends and public relations initiatives from Virginia Sheridan, President, M. Silver Associates (their PR firm); some destination sales highlights from John Webb, Sr. VP, GFLCVB; Advertising Strategies from Lisa Hoffman, Group Acct. Director, Starmark Advertising (their ad agency); and a motivational talk by Jon Gordon, author of The Shark and The Goldfish.
One of the items we received at the meeting included a list of “Top 10 Things to Do Before 2010” which included the following:
1. LauderDeals – special fall hotel offers being promoted through an $800.000 marketing campaign. Make sure you send your October – December 20th hotel deals to Justin Flippen at jflippen@broward.org . Your listing will appear at their sunny.org website.
2. Download the new ivisitLauderdale iPhone app free (release is scheduled for 10/28).
3. Vote for Ft Lauderdale as the “Sexiest Place on Earth” at tripoutgaytravel.com/awards site.
4. Follow the CVB on twitter and/or fan them on Facebook at visitlauderdale
5. Attend the Co-op Advertising seminar on October 15th at 3 pm at the Convention Center, Room 305.
6. Send your special cruise deals to jflippen@broward.org
7. Send your Super Bowl/Pro Bowl themed events, specials, packages to Jessica at jtaylor@broward.org
8. Nominate someone for the 2009 SunSational Service Courtesy Awards.
9. Send your holiday seasonal events, special, packages, etc. to jtaylor@broward.org
10. Download a free app to your Smartphone to use mobile tags from print ads to websites http://gettag.mobi
Make sure your hotel/company is included! See you on October 21 at the Renaissance Plantation. Best, HSMAInsider, Julie Wernick
One of the items we received at the meeting included a list of “Top 10 Things to Do Before 2010” which included the following:
1. LauderDeals – special fall hotel offers being promoted through an $800.000 marketing campaign. Make sure you send your October – December 20th hotel deals to Justin Flippen at jflippen@broward.org . Your listing will appear at their sunny.org website.
2. Download the new ivisitLauderdale iPhone app free (release is scheduled for 10/28).
3. Vote for Ft Lauderdale as the “Sexiest Place on Earth” at tripoutgaytravel.com/awards site.
4. Follow the CVB on twitter and/or fan them on Facebook at visitlauderdale
5. Attend the Co-op Advertising seminar on October 15th at 3 pm at the Convention Center, Room 305.
6. Send your special cruise deals to jflippen@broward.org
7. Send your Super Bowl/Pro Bowl themed events, specials, packages to Jessica at jtaylor@broward.org
8. Nominate someone for the 2009 SunSational Service Courtesy Awards.
9. Send your holiday seasonal events, special, packages, etc. to jtaylor@broward.org
10. Download a free app to your Smartphone to use mobile tags from print ads to websites http://gettag.mobi
Make sure your hotel/company is included! See you on October 21 at the Renaissance Plantation. Best, HSMAInsider, Julie Wernick
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