I would like to welcome you to this our 7th Annual General Meeting since the inception of BCATW in 1999. It is hard to believe that nine years have gone by since we sat around a table in Vic Foster’s house – Jane Cassie, Karoline Cullen, Donna Yuen and myself, along with Charlie and Susan Pitchford, and we sketched out a blueprint of BCATW’s mission and objectives. Vic’s idea was to launch a grass roots organization that was locally based. One that catered to B.C. writers—both experienced professionals and emerging travel writers.

Many travel journalists in B.C. at that time and now, already belonged to the Travel Media Association of Canada which was, and still is, the largest and most prestigious of professional organizations across Canada. As Andrew Renton once put it: ‘TMAC focuses on promoting the business of travel writing as an interaction between media and industry suppliers. BCATW on the other hand focuses on the travel writer who is striving to improve his or her writing and/or marketing skills.’

Even as far back as nine years ago, it was a struggle for freelancers, particularly those who were new to the profession, to find markets for their work. Newspaper editors routinely took articles off the wire, ignored freelancers, and accepted pieces only if they were offered gratis. Well…not much has changed since then. If anything it’s an even tougher road today. Newspaper chains like CanWest and their subsidiary VanNet newspapers, are now playing PacMan, and gobbling up all rights to freelancers’ work in perpetuity, for meagre payment. It’s a serious problem, to which many of us - and TMAC members too – are currently trying to find solutions. That said, it is still possible to find publishing outlets, but it requires bulldog-like tenacity in marketing our articles, plus well-above average writing skills and attention grabbing story angles.

In recognition of the difficulties of the market place, and in order to make it easier for writers to qualify for membership in BCATW, we kept the bar at a lower level than TMAC, i.e. three paid articles to be published within a two year period. We’ve maintained our annual membership rates too at an affordable level. In addition we also opened the door to new writers, by establishing an Associate Membership category which would allow them a year in which to find print and thereby qualify for full membership.

As part of this commitment to our members, one of our earliest Symposiums featured a workshop on honing travel writing and marketing skills. On a subsequent occasion we invited a panel of newspaper editors to share their views on what they look for in a travel story. A year or two ago, we asked a panel of travel industry suppliers to talk to us about what they expect of a writer who has been sponsored on a media or press trip. All of which was well received by our members.

Looking back over the past year, or rather since our last AGM which was held 15 months ago in October 2006, we have brought about some changes, the most significant of which is our decision to open the door to Industry members. The response has been disappointingly slow, but when I started to chafe, the team counselled patience! Cool it, they cautioned, even the Eternal City wasn’t built in a day! Or a year! Or even ten! Well I hope we won’t have to wait that long, but word of mouth is a powerful tool, and as time goes on, I’m sure that we’ll have more members from the travel industry on our rolls.

Our Symposium this year featured Daniel Woods, as our guest speaker. His name on the program brought in several eager fans, and in his own inimitable, droll style, he talked about the distinguishing features of a well written, well paced travel article, drawing on his own experiences.

Following on Daniel’s presentation, we were privileged to have three of our Industry members with us to talk about their organizations, and I would once again like to thank all of them for making the evening an informative and memorable one. Tourism Malaysia who has consistently supported all our BCATW writers by way of fam trips took front centre stage once again, to sponsor the evening’s grand prize—return air fare to Malaysia, and a 3-night hotel stay in Kuala Lumpur. Frank LaFleche who represents Jordan Tourism, put on a stunning visual show traversing a country that offers writers and photographers an extraordinary range of historical sites and starkly arresting landscapes. And I can attest to that from personal experience. Closer to home, Jayne Lloyd-Jones of Spectacular Ink, led us through her impressive portfolio of clients, and invited our members to contact her if they were interested in pursuing a travel article involving any of these properties.

Speaking of which, we’d like to also thank Amanda Goats of Spectacular Ink who co-ordinated a BCATW press trip through Richmond last September. It was the first of its kind for BCATW members and the theme was a tour of international culture & culinary delights in Richmond. It was apparently a fabulous tour and Lenora Hayman and Andrew Renton who are here tonight will attest to that! I was sorry to have missed it. By all accounts the waistbands of the five participating writers were seriously strained at the end of the day. BCATW member Barb Pearson penned a super article explaining why! Her account accompanied by excellent photographs is now on our BCATW website – so if you haven’t already done so, do take a look.

Terracom Inc had offered to arrange a second press trip in late October to visit a couple of Lower Mainland aboriginal sites - a popular theme with travel editors these days. However this had to be cancelled for reasons beyond our control. We hope that this initiative can be revived in the spring.

In an effort to assess the future needs of our membership, we circulated a survey in August and the response was interesting. 17 members (or 44% of our total membership) responded. Copies were circulated via e-mail, but I’ve included a hard copy in our handout folder for you to take a look at. During our discussion period later at the meeting, it would be useful to chat about some of the constructive suggestions offered by members, so as plan events in 2008.

There was an overwhelming majority who were in favour of more fam and press trips.
However, we do have to be cautious about this. It is important that those who sign up for press and fam trips can assure hosting travel suppliers of publishing outlets within a reasonable time frame (usually no more than a year). The world of B.C. based travel suppliers and travel industry operators is a very small one, and the word spreads quickly if a writer doesn’t live up to his or her commitments. So this is very much a matter of maintaining an exemplary level of credibility as writers, and of upholding BCATW’s reputation as a professional organization.

Although she is away on one of her many travels and unable to attend our AGM this year, I’d like to thank Colleen Freisen for her very able editorial assistance in producing The Buzz newsletter over the past several months. Irene Butler stepped in to fill the breach in the latter half of 2007 when Colleen was away on a long trip, and she did a remarkable job at short notice.

With Colleen’s assent, Irene will assume the mantle of Buzz editor from March onwards. She and her husband Rick are away on an extended trip till then, and Colleen has agreed to try and get a newsletter or two out in the interim, although she too has several trips scheduled for the first quarter of the year. We are travel writers after all, aren’t we! So, on behalf of all of us, a grateful thank you goes to both Colleen and Irene for their time and efforts in producing our Buzz newsletter – and to all our members for sending in their contributions each month.

I would also like to thank all our door prize donors for their wonderful contributions – and Tourism Richmond in particular in co-ordinating the collection of these gift certificates. Our grand prize donors, Gateway Theatre, Whistler Mountaineer, Harbour Air, Spinnakers and Coastal Peoples Fine Art Gallery were also most generous – and deserve a big thank-you for their support.

After all these years on the Board, in one capacity or another, I would like to step down as President at this meeting. My term is a two-year one, but I’m hoping that one of our members will fill my shoes until the next AGM at which time he or she will be eligible for re-election for a further two-year term.

Our next AGM will be scheduled for October or November 2008. Today’s AGM was, in fact, originally scheduled for last November, but since I was out of town for several weeks in the latter quarter of 2007, we had to postpone it until today.

It’s a truism that an organization is only as good as its members, so if BCATW is to survive and prosper, it is up to all its members to volunteer their time and expertise in steering the Association into the future. So it would be great to have our members step up to the Executive platform and hold the flag aloft over the ensuing term to October/November 2008.

Thank you.