I am in the fortunate position of receiving more invitations to travel than I know what to do with. The trouble is, of course, that when you are young and have the energy to stay on the go for virtually 24/7, you don't have the opportunities that come with experience and reputation. Now I am 55, I like to pace my travels so that there is a bit of recovery time in between.
When you are on an actual trip, especially one that is being laid on by a PR company or a tourism department, they very rarely take note of that, trying to make sure you see as much of their product as you can in the time available.
I have made it clear on more occasions than I care to mention that, when you have an editorial brief to provide a certain number of words, photographs or minutes of air-time, giving you too much information can be totally counter-productive. Just as I teach in my media training courses, losing focus of the main issues means that, all too often, the main messages are buried in the forest. Hence PR's and directors of tourism can be disappointed by what finally appears. I must fly the flag of the journalist. 99% of the time, getting things wrong is not their fault!
The intention of 'Hidden Florida' is to encourage the vast numbers of folk who are not remotely interested in family holidays and theme parks to discover a part of the USA that has a history, culture and climate that is well worth discovering.
As somebody who has spent over thirty years of his life working in the media full time, with fifteen more 'dabbling' in the subject, I probably understand the beast more than most. So I'll be very interested to see both how well Visit Florida manages to stick to the requested topics and just how often, through 'chinese whispers' and otherwise, I am sent to experience things which are not remotely of interest.
I am always particular to ensure that I communicate the requirements in advance. However, many PR people seem to have their 'standard tour' that they dish out to visitors and, often, you have to really stamp your feet to get them away from that. All too often, the regular tour does not remotely fit in with what the journalist actually wants. If only people trying to promote products and services to the media remembered that the key of a successful campaign is to: Think audience.
Endless facts and figures, statistics, the minutiae of historical trivia all have their part to play - if the information is valid to a brief. But if you have 1 minute of air time, 500 words, or six photographs to capture the essence of a destination, how often is all of that absolutely necessary? I would contend, almost never! Quite different if, perhaps, you are writing a book.....
Sometimes, of course, the communication breakdown between the journalist's requirements and the delivered goods, can be blamed on language difficulties.
In trying to discover 'Hidden Florida', there can be no such excuse.
Posts
