Passport

Interview with Leah Shah from Visit Houston and Melvin Tennant from Meet Minneapolis about the planning and execution that goes into hosting the Super Bowl. Houston hosted the Super Bowl in 2017 and Minneapolis will host the Super Bowl in 2018.

Leah Shah is the director of public relations for Visit Houston and Houston First Corporation. In addition to working with journalists covering the city of Houston, she helps manage the online content of the organization’s network of websites.

Previously she’s served as the Public Information Officer for the City of Austin’s Transportation Department where she led all media relations and community engagement initiatives. Prior to that, she was the managing editor for two newspapers, The Taylor Daily Press and The Hutto News, near Austin, Texas.

Melvin Tennant has been president and chief executive officer of Meet Minneapolis, Convention and Visitors Association since 2008. He’s also executive director of Sports Minneapolis which had a big hand in locking in Super Bowl 2018, the NCAA Men’s Final Four Championship in 2019 and the X Games in 2017 and 2018.

He previously served in similar capacities in Charlotte, N.C., San Antonio, Texas and Oakland, Calif. Convention and visitor bureaus.

Hosts: Leif Pettersen of Leif Pettersen PR and Chris Christensen of BloggerBridge.com and AmateurTraveler.com.

Thanks to Ragan Awards for sponsoring this episode. Use the code TRAVEL to save 25% on the following:

Entries will be accepted through Dec. 20 at 11:59 p.m. CST.

Visit Ragan.com/Awards to enter.

The post Passport Travel Marketing & PR #015: Super Bowl appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

Interview with Nick Nerbonne from the award winning Michigan Economic Development Corporation about why they have been punching above their weight class in social media.

As Digital Media Director, Nick Nerbonne manages social media and other digital marketing efforts at the Michigan Economic Development Corporation. When he’s not highlighting economic development projects or promoting travel opportunities in Pure Michigan, you’ll find Nick fishing a trout stream, hitting the slopes, or elsewhere enjoying Michigan’s plentiful natural resources.

Hosts: Leif Pettersen of Leif Pettersen PR and Chris Christensen of BloggerBridge.com and AmateurTraveler.com.

The post Passport Travel Marketing & PR #014: Pure Michigan appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

Interview with David Brodie talking about the use of Virtual Reality in the Tourism space. David and his team were one of the first agencies to use the technology to promote travel and tourism.

David Brodie is a Senior Vice President & General Manager with Citizen Relations an award-winning global communications firm.

David Brodie brings 17 years of communications experience to clients providing strategic counsel to some of the best-known brands from around the world. He has led the team at Citizen in Vancouver, Canada since 2011, with the agency having been named Canadian PR Agency of the Year by the Holmes report in 2013 and Canadian PR Silver Agency of the Year by Strategy Magazine in 2015 & 2016.

His work at Citizen has included leading innovative and award-winning campaigns for leading global travel brands such as Tourism Australia, Destination British Columbia, Tourism Queensland, Tourism Anaheim, Princess Cruises, Rocky Mountaineer, Emirates and Travelocity. A campaign he led on behalf of Destination British Columbia won a Global Platinum Sabre Award for Best Travel and Tourism Campaign of 2014 and was named one of the top 50 Global PR campaigns of the year by the Holmes Report.

He has travelled to over 40 countries around the world and lived and worked in Japan, Australia and the US . In 2005 he created one of the world’s first travel podcasts Travel in 10.

Hosts: Leif Pettersen of Leif Pettersen PR and Chris Christensen of BloggerBridge.com and AmateurTraveler.com.

Thanks to Ragan Awards for sponsoring this episode. Use the code TRAVEL to save 25% on the following:

Entries will be accepted through Dec. 20 at 11:59 p.m. CST.

Visit Ragan.com/Awards to enter.

The post Passport Travel Marketing & PR #013: Virtual Reality appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

Interview of Sheila Scarborough talking about working with regional tourism boards and local CVBs and Chambers of Commerce to promote tourism. What can you do with a smaller budget but a little creativity.

Sheila Scarborough is a speaker and trainer specializing in tourism, travel, and social media. Along with Leslie McLellan, she’s part of the Tourism Currents team, offering online and in-person training in social media for tourism and hospitality.

She is on the National Professional Development Committee for the AWC (Association for Women in Communications,) co-founded and still writes for the award-winning Perceptive Travel blog, helps run #tourismchat on Twitter, and serves on the Programming Committee for SXSWi, the South by Southwest Interactive tech conference.

A U.S. Navy veteran, Sheila is an NHRA drag racing fan because there is one winner, one loser, and no whining.

Hosts: Leif Pettersen of Leif Pettersen PR and Chris Christensen of BloggerBridge.com and AmateurTraveler.com.

The post PASSPORT TRAVEL MARKETING & PR #012: Regional Tourism appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

Interview of Andrew Hickey about  Twitter Chats. Twitter Chats are popular with travel companies and we look at detail what they are, and when and how to use them effectively.

We debate, or at least discuss, what a twitter chat is worth and what a tweet is worth. We discuss why companies work with influencers when they set up twitter chats and how to find the right people to work with.

With more than eight years experience working in social media marketing for global travel brands, Andrew Hickey has worn many hats including running large digital marketing campaigns, increasing brand awareness, driving web traffic, supporting marketing initiatives, and increasing sales.

Andrew has worked for a number of travel companies including Fathom Travel, Adventure.com, Intrepid Travel and G Adventures.

Hosts: Leif Pettersen of Leif Pettersen PR and Chris Christensen of BloggerBridge.comand AmateurTraveler.com.

Thanks to Ragan Awards for sponsoring this episode. Use the code TRAVEL to save 25% on the following:

Entries will be accepted through Dec. 20 at 11:59 p.m. CST.

Visit Ragan.com/Awards to enter.

The post PASSPORT TRAVEL MARKETING & PR #011: Twitter Chats appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

Interview of Andy Levine from DCI about Working with Destinations.

Andy Levine has been with DCI (Development Counsellors International) since 1991. He is the son of founder Ted Levine, who started the company in 1960, and was thus introduced to the world of economic development and travel marketing pretty much at birth.

He enjoys exploring communities, sorting out the most interesting stories and storytellers, and then communicating these unique offerings to the right audience.

Andy has been a driving force in helping DCI enter a new era, including advancing the quality of client work performed, growing the number of staff and adding to the range of client services offered at DCI.

Hosts: Leif Pettersen of Leif Pettersen PR and Chris Christensen of BloggerBridge.com and AmateurTraveler.com.

The post PASSPORT TRAVEL MARKETING & PR #010: WORKING WITH DESTINATIONS appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

Interview of Louise Cottrell from TravelPinners.com about Pinterest:

Louise Cottrell is the founder of TravelPinners.com, where she offers her talents as a Pinterest marketing strategist working with travel content creators and business owners to generate traffic, grow their audience and increase sales. She does Pinterest account management as well as consulting and training for bloggers and social media teams through her Pinterest Marketing Mastery Program. She’s also a world traveler and dog enthusiast.

Hosts: Leif Pettersen of Leif Pettersen PR and Chris Christensen of BloggerBridge.com and AmateurTraveler.com.

The post PASSPORT TRAVEL MARKETING & PR #009: PINTEREST appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

Interview of Angie Orth from Angie Away Media about running great press trips:

Angie Orth is works both sides of the media fence as a freelance publicist, journalist, digital strategist, travel & lifestyle blogger and influencer. After a decade at PR agencies, representing chicken farms, peanuts, acne medicine, DMOs, airlines, theme parks and cruise lines, she left it all behind to explore the world and to write about it on her blog — AngieAway.com.

Hosts: Leif Pettersen of Leif Pettersen PR and Chris Christensen of BloggerBridge.com and AmateurTraveler.com.

The post PASSPORT TRAVEL MARKETING & PR #008: RUNNING GREAT PRESS TRIPS appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

Interview of Dalene Heck from Hecktic Media about how to choose the right influencers for a campaign. Break out your spreadsheets, and let Dalene add some rigor to the process.

Dalene and Pete Heck run Hecktic Media Inc. which works with some of the world’s best new media talent to create highly influential and inspirational campaigns for destinations and brands.

Dalene holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree and Pete is a Bachelor of Management graduate. They both spent about ten years in their respective fields before co-founding Hecktic media in 2013. They were named National Geographic Travelers of the Year in 2014.

Hosts: Leif Pettersen of Leif Pettersen PR and Chris Christensen of BloggerBridge.com and AmateurTraveler.com.

The post PASSPORT TRAVEL MARKETING & PR #007: Vetting Influencers appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

Interview of Angela Berardino from Turner PR about PR agency life in the travel space: retention and training, crisis management, client management and creativity.

Angela Berardino is a Chief Strategy and Integration Officer at Turner PR, where she oversees strategic public relations, brand collaboration and digital integration oversight for domestic and international tourism offices, hotel brands, and tour operators. Previously, she served as a Senior Communications Manager at Visit Denver. Angela holds a degree in International Relations from Tulane University, sits on the board of the Society of American Travel Writers and travels roughly 87 weeks a year.

Hosts: Leif Pettersen of Leif Pettersen PR and Chris Christensen of BloggerBridge.com and AmateurTraveler.com.

The post PASSPORT TRAVEL MARKETING & PR #006: PR AGENCY LIFE appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.