You know how some days are good, some days are so-so, and some days are, well, not so good? This past Wednesday, for me, was a really good day! What was so good about it, you may ask? I had the opportunity to do three great things:
– First, I enjoyed the opportunity to meet and chat with a few local Phoenicians who are involved in travel writing and travel photography – always very interesting;
– Second, I had the chance to see (and tour) the new Sheraton Phoenix Downtown – a truly lovely addition to the downtown area, as well as enjoy a terrific lunch at The District, the Sheraton’s American Kitchen & Wine Bar (our lunch was wonderful….if you’re in the Phoenix area and haven’t yet tried The District at the Sheraton Downtown, I highly recommend it), and;
– Third, I was able to meet Maralyn Hill, President of the International Food, Wine, and Travel Writers Association and to learn a bit about the IFWTWA.
So now you’re probably wondering “how did I manage to do all of that?”…..well even if you’re not wondering, I’ll tell you. Doug MacKenzie (Director of Communications) from the Greater Phoenix Convention and Visitors Bureau hosted a luncheon, held at The District at the Sheraton Downtown, for members of the IFWTWA. Maralyn was gracious enough to invite me and Rebecca, since we are located here in the greater phoenix area.
It has been a while since I’ve had the chance to get into Downtown Phoenix, and I was really impressed with the recent changes and improvements to the area!
I also thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to get to know a little bit about Maralyn and the organization that she is President of – the IFWTWA. If you haven’t yet heard of this group, I suggest you check out their website. I also encourage you to consider joining, as the benefits and opportunities they offer are many, ranging networking with other writers in your region (and in other regions a few times each year), the potential to be included on Media/Press trips, a member’s profile page where you can showcase your writing and website, and a forum for connecting with members from all over the world (and much more).
The point of this is that it’s important to remember to keep an eye out for such networking opportunities in your area. Keep in touch with what’s going on in your local area, and be sure to join organization that benefit travel and tourism as well as writing organizations – you never know when you’re going to meet someone or learn something that will help in you achieving success as you define it.
What organizations do you belong to? What benefits have you seen from networking?
That’s great that you were able to attend the luncheon. I’ll definitely visit the IFWTWA’s website. I wonder if they hold luncheon’s in other U.S. cities.
They do! They have chapters in many cities, and hold conferences regionally as well.
Cool interview! Not sure if I’ll join just yet. I’ve got a lot of islands to see, want to head to Hawaii. Great waves and people. It would be cool to connect with other travel writers thru the IFWTWA. The organization does have a tone of benefits. I’ll meditate on it! Aloha!