ITB Berlin- March 2009(one of the world’s leading travel trade show): some lucky bloggers will have a press pass in order to cover the event provided they leverage the major Web 2.0 tools during the event- those tools are mainly:
- blogging often DURING the event – giving their readers insights to this worldwide recognized event for the tourism industry,
- podcast and vidcast: audio/video are encouraged to be published online for people to listen to/watch it from different devices (iPod, multmimedia players, computers, …)
- micro-blogging via twitter: many people consider Twitter as a waste of time-I was part of this group until I decided to play the game too and become almost addicted to it 
. But considering that Phocuswright (a well-recognized online travel industry research) and the consortium of travel-related bloggers Tips from the T- list (BTW, if you haven’ t done it yet, I highly encourage you to download and read this Tips from the T list book-which is free- but where you can find a “condensé” of advices from recognized travel 2.0 bloggers all over the world) consider it as a requirement for a blogger to be given a pass proves that twitter is a tool to consider for covering such events.
Now what’s the point for Madagascar (the country)?
For the delegation that will go to ITB Berlin, or for our national DMO (Office National du Tourisme de Madagascar), I’ d suggest they do the following:
BEFORE THE EVENT
* from now (January 18th): create a twitter account and clearly indicate on your profile that you are from Madagascar preparing Madagascar’s participation to ITB, have people follow you on twitter
* get in touch with potential bloggers/journalists that will come to ITB. Have those people follow you on Twitter and do the effort of updating your tweets regularly. You can give them insights or excerpts of what you’re going to do before as teasing or as a PR efforts in the view of having a wider “media” coverage for the participation to the event, or in the view of attracting more people to Madagascar’s booth during the trade show
* publish on youtube or dailymotion the promotional videos you are planning to bring to the event,
* gather all the brochures of Madagascar’s participants and upload it on scribd (I’ ve already covered this topic on “how to give an online life to your brochure”), then motivate all your participants, as well as your contacts to spread the word about it through every channel (for example through connections on any social networks that they are member of : on facebook, flickr, wayn,…)
DURING THE EVENT
* increase the number/frequency of your tweets that may announce some events that will happen on Madagascar booth,
* take photos/videos and directly upload it for people to share it
While hints I’ m giving here are not exhaustive, you may consider having a look at “Trade Show insights”, which I particularly find useful for exhibitors to get used to as they deal with actual experiences
I’ ll also be intersted to discover other ways from you (readers of this blog) about how to leverage Web 2.0 tools for trade show exhibitors…
My online presence
January 19, 2009 at 6:59 am
im seriously doubting that someone will take yr advice seriously unless you use pressure :p. srsly yu know how mafy loha people can be when you just want them to share a little…the best way (i think) is to train the younger from the bunch, less pride i guess…
January 19, 2009 at 8:09 am
That does not mean, however, that I’m not going to do it (hoping that those new generation will get into the ring …). I think someone has to do it despite the fact that few people will really consider what I’m telling (although ‘m definitely convinced by the points I’m raising here). By keeipng telling here that having an online presence is not about booking a 10 million MGA every three year in order to renew a website, I hope that internet promotion of Madagascar will chage… And I am not only aiming at Madagascar officials, nor professionals … we are in the citizen media era, so everybody’s welcome to join the ride… I’m only sharing my points- this will also help me to have some trackbacks of my thinkings… which at least will help me if it won’t help the others
But since we’re talking about change – this will obviously take time- I know foko is doing pretty well with the “younger from the bunch”, as my manager use to say it “keep up the good work”
January 22, 2009 at 3:03 am
we always do as told ur adviced :p. thanks to the big “poppas” who are continuously watching after our foko bunch . if you have some times dont’ forget to check at the ‘tourism’ bloggers who are kick a*** with their extensive reporting and reporting on what to do visit why who where of their region (omg i had no idea howo fun a touristical blog can be when it’s very well written) and the videos…omg.
Any ideas on “branding” and “how to become ’something/someone’ on the web”? I know i know the ravinala, zébu stuffs … working very well but I sometimes find uncanny innovations coming from webmasters and graphists – who were very shy during barcamp btw pffff..- I know all about purple and green but any ideas on putting your brand where it should be ? especially if you want to promote a touristical spot, region, activity…
January 22, 2009 at 12:23 pm
yep, I love having a tour on Foko’s tourist posts that I’m following from Foko’s netvibes page… A big applause for the guys/gals behind those posts… so authentic and unique posts that deserves a lot more readers
As for the branding, I am personaly going the “one platform” (easier to create a buzz around it) and have lot of “guest posts” from different bloggers (or not necessarily bloggers), then leverage on community to spread the world (…. hmmm that can be an inspiration for another post)…
From a graphic standpoint, I had one designer work on my logo for one project I’m on (I’m way over schedule BTW… grmbl …this is not yet an official launch) whereby the platform will deal more about actual experience from tourist/local point of view while this blog (saveoursmile.wordpress.com) is more about exchanging tips on how to use the internet tools
January 27, 2009 at 8:04 pm
Manaoma,
Je suis l’éditeur de la T-List pour la France…
Viens de découvrir votre blog via un trackback du site e la T-List
Je serais à l’ITB et se serait sympas de se voir.
Je suis née à Tana et on a sans doute pas de choses à échanger sur Mada et le etourisme
Il reste peut-être des places pour l’invitation blogger de PhoCusWright, inscrivez-vous, on sais jamais
http://www.tipsfromthetlist.com/contribute/bloggers-summit-application
Si çà vous interesse, je vois pour incorporer votre blog à la T-List
A bientôt
Claude
January 28, 2009 at 5:47 am
“Tonga soa eto” Claude
Ce monde est vraiment petit. Je suis un lecteur assez régulier de lesexplorers.com avant que vous ne passiez à hotelitour.com. Je n’ aurais jamais imaginé que vous ayez un lien aussi proche avec Madagascar (quand bien même il y ait une ligne directe d’Air Madagascar vers Marseille
Effectivement on a sûrement beaucoup de choses à échanger sur Mada et le etourisme. Malheureusement je crains de ne pouvoir aller à ITB surtout avec la situation qui prévaut à Madagascar ces derniers jours. Toutefois, je serai honoré de faire partie de l’expérience Tips from the T-list et de continuer d’ echanger avec vous en attendant la rencontre IRL: n’hésitez pas à inclure ce blog à cette liste. Je pense que je vous contacte par e-mail pour ce que cela engendre comme responsabilités/engagements. Je vous remercie d’avance.
January 28, 2009 at 8:16 pm
Great blog, and keep up the interesting posts! As managing editor of the Tips From The T-List, I think you would be a good addition to our community. Check out our contribution terms and see if it is a good fit for you: http://www.tipsfromthetlist.com/contribute
Phil
January 29, 2009 at 6:18 am
Honored to have you walk by my blog, Phil. Yes, I’ll be very pleased to contribute to the TTFTL (BTW, Claude from hotelitour.com also made the same proposal, so I think I definitely need to join the ride and exchange with you guys who I consider as references in the field of e-tourism). I’ve read the contribute to TFTTL contribution rules and I am okay with this (I’ ve just checked with google reader that my blog is givving full feed). Kindly advise on the next steps for being a contributor to the TFTTL