This is what Sheila Scarborough and I talked about at the Texas Association of Convention and Visitors Bureaus conference in Lubbock, Texas, in "Hosting Wired Fam Tours."How are bloggers different? First, they aren't all bloggers. To promote your destination you also want photographers, video creators, audio podcasters, as well as people who use Twitter and location based services to get the word out.
Second, they need wifi, and make it free wifi. Don't let that local hotel charge them for wifi! And give them plenty of free time. If you'll let them, they will create and publish content instantly, or at least daily.
Third, they operate on a completely "now" schedule. They won't send a camera crew back later to pick up good shots. They need advance notice and time to set up before those cool visuals happen. See, they have a Flip camera in their pocket, and they aren't afraid to use it.
Those are just a few of the tips we shared on working with wired coverage and fam tours. The CVB crowd was very enthusiastic, and we had a packed house for our session.
We also did a lot of hands-on sharing with participants throughout the event. Sheila set up our booth in the trade show, complete with a pile of geek gear: cameras, web cams, microphones, etc. It seemed like everyone there was excited about social media tools, and they were eager to get their hands on them.
