501 Places

There are great stories in each of us

There have been many interesting discussions in recent months that are related, in some way at least, to this question. Whether it’s the journalist vs blogger debate, or the controversy over press trips and the value of the content that results, the subject sparks strong opinions on all sides.

I did read one sentiment that stuck in my mind although I can’t recall who wrote it (speak up and take credit and I’ll add your link), and it’s hard to disagree with this as a principle. It is this: if you’re going to add something to the mass of content that’s already filling the online world, make it something that is of value to your readers. Good advice I reckon. So let’s probe this a little deeper. What gives a blog post (or any online content for that matter) that necessary value? Here are a few of my suggestions.

1. Tell a story. Yes, it’s my favourite subject, but a simple point to remember that makes any post come to life. We are all storytellers, and we all love to read a good story. Think about the great speakers from history or your favourite lecturers, and they’ll almost certainly be connected by one trait: their effective use of stories to paint a vivid picture of what they want you to take away.  The blog should be the perfect medium for a good story. A typical post only takes a couple of minutes to read and you can even add a few photos to illustrate the message. A good post will put the reader in that place and time, and for that short time make them relive your experiences as if they were there.

2. Be original. It can be very hard to come up with an original topic, but it’s not so hard to add your own angle to a well worn subject. Thousands of people write about a day out in Paris, and describing a trip to the Eiffel Tower is not original. Your experiences of talking to an old lady on the Metro who invited you into her home and showed off her photo collections from her younger years as a showgirl at the Moulin Rouge will make one hell of a story. It’s certainly harder to create original material without straying off the beaten track.

3. Challenge commonly held beliefs. I am often far more drawn to a headline that makes me uncomfortable than one with which I instantly agree. Seeing a title of a post about ‘Why I hate the British’ will immediately draw me in, and I’ll want to know what bad experiences this person has had in my home country. A headline of ‘Thai meal for $1′ on the other hand, will not grab my attention.

4. Make it relevant. ‘A walking trip around Lima’ will be relevant to those who live in Lima, have just been there or are planning a Peruvian trip. To others, this story might have limited appeal. The post could however describe what made that walk around Lima so special, the sounds, the smells, the reactions of others and why it’s so different from a walk around London. That way it will start to draw in those people who might never intend to visit the city, but who are captivated by the quality of the story.

5. Provoke a discussion. Sometimes the strength of a blog post is not in the author’s words, but in the discussion that follows. If the sign of a good blog post is that it touches its audience in some way, what better evidence of this than in a string of comments that agree or disagree with the author. If I see a post has 10+ comments, I’ll be more inclined to find out what it was that motivated others to add their opinions.

6. Give useful information. Many blog posts focus on giving tips rather than telling stories. This can be very useful if the reader is planning a trip to that place. But even in a factual post, the message sticks in the mind so much easier when there is a story attached to it. Karen Bryan’s post about a stay in a York hotel is an example of this. I still remember the name of the hotel instantly, and it’s purely down to the way Karen shared her adventures  using words and video.

I remember attending a presentation some years ago on ‘How to deliver a great presentation’. I left the room thinking the speaker had been ok, but not great. But I did take one message out of that session. He said that as a speaker you should have one aim when preparing your presentation to any audience: that they leave the room having changed their thoughts in some way. Maybe they’ll be more accepting of a situation of which they had been intolerant; maybe they’ll feel inspired to change their habits or behaviours or challenge their fears; maybe they’ll enroll in a public speaking course. As long as there’s a way in which you’ve made one change, however small, then you have served a valuable role. Surely that same rule applies to blogging?

Souvenirs for sale, Luang Prabang

Our house is full of stuff from our trips. As I type this post I have a set of Malawian drums on the shelf above me alongside a strange unnamed string instument from Uganda. On the wall hangs a cartoon map of Argentina and a watercolour from Bristol (of all places). There’s a pottery piece from Peru and a Sri Lankan elephant on the window sill. It’s nice to have these mementos, although they’re a nuisance when we decide to move house.

As the years have passed we’ve become more sensible about bringing these bits of junk back from our trips. We normally settle for a painting or a batik, mainly for the ease of rolling it up and stuffing it in the pack without adding to the weight of what we carry. But it wasn’t always like this.

Perhaps our most impractical gift was not even for us, but for my brother. We had just visited the Terracotta Army in Xi’an in 1995, and we passed on the chance to buy the $30 clay figurines that were being sold in the shop on the site. Outside the kids were selling what appeared to be identical figures, although our guide warned us against buying these as they had not been properly fired in the kiln and would break when exposed to frost. A strange objection, and one we chose to ignore as we were offered 5 figures for $3.

These must have weighed almost 10kg between them and doubled the weight of the pack instantly! What seemed like a bargain at that instant soon proved to be a millstone around my neck (literally) as I had to carry these clay pieces for a further two weeks around China. Fortunately, my brother and his wife were thrilled with the little men and they still adorn their living room 15 years later.

We see many ridiculously bulky items for sale to tourists as we travel. We came across thousands of large wooden dolphins in northern Cambodia (there were probably more wooden dolphins than there are tourists passing by in a whole year), we saw tourists buying large pots in Laos and opting not to ship them but carry them on their trip, and even strange animal statues that serve as garden furniture in Africa, again often seen at the airport being packed into the hold and thrown to the mercy of the baggage handlers.

There are countless opportunities to buy useless rubbish when we travel. The item that looks fantastic on a street stall in Bali can often turn into a embarrassing and tacky eyesore when it’s back home in Birmingham. But people must buy them, or they wouldn’t be there in the first place. Anyone care to own up?

“Social media is revolutionising our world. It is changing the way we interact with others, and the way in which companies and individuals do business.” “The old ways are dead; long live Twitter and Facebook.”

Presumably this brave new world comes with its own set of new rules. In search of these new commandments I have pondered my time spent reading others’ interactions and have gleaned a few observations (I’m sure I’ve missed many more):

1. Be nice. Thank people when they promote your work, give credit to those whose work you share with your connections.

2. Laugh and the world laughs with you. Having a positive (while realistic) outlook on everyday issues will attract others to listen to you.

3. If you’ve nothing good to say, say nothing at all. It’s easy to sling mud, especially when hiding behind a veil of anonymity. Nobody likes to lose face, and stepping back before launching a critical tirade can often preserve the dignity of all sides.

4. Like it or not, we are judged not only by what we say but also by the words we choose to convey that message. Filling our communications with profanities inevitably puts the messenger in the spotlight at the expense of their content.

5. It is very easy to add labels to ourselves. Guru, expert, no.1 whatever. I look at the self-written descriptions of the widely recognised leaders in a field. None of these words ever show up. Why? Because they don’t need to tell anyone how good they are; their achievements speak for themselves. If I see a person describe themself as a guru, an expert, or ‘The Leading’ whatever, my immediate impression is not a positive one.

6. Friends come and go; they will follow others for as long as it suits them and drop them when they no longer serve a purpose; people have their own agendas and when yours coincides with that of another more inflential person you can make great progress very quickly; it’s best not to take these things personally.

7. Nobody likes being sold to, but we all appreciate others who can listen and provide an answer that meets our needs.

8. It’s easy for anyone to shout. Loud enough and people will hear. The challenge is getting them to listen.

If you hadn’t noticed, I never used the term ’social media’ once in these rules, nor mentioned any technological platform. Isn’t that the point here? That the rules of how to use social media are in fact not at all new: they are the same rules that have applied to human communication long before the advent of electricity, the telephone and even the printing press.
Social media is not rocket science. While there are particular nuances to adapting our social skills to any new outlet, one basic principle holds true: whatever the next great new advance will be, the ability to communicate intelligently with others will always be the cornerstone to using it successfully.

Greenwich Foot Tunnel under the Thames

Today we took a walk along the Thames from Blackfriars Bridge to Greenwich. The route is around 7 miles long and winds its way through the heart of London’s historic docklands. The purpose of our trek? To visit the new Solar Season at the Greenwich Observatory. It’s well worth a visit if you have an interest in astronomy, and the planetarium show ‘Secrets of the Sun’ is the highlight of the current exhibition. I’ve visited the observatory several times in recent years so my main reason for going was this temporary display, but we had a quick look at the camera obscura too (the ultimate spy device), something of which I never tire.

The Meridian Line in Greenwich: 0 deg E, 0 deg W

It got me thinking about the places I prefer to visit when we travel and how I tend to be very polarised (pardon the pun) in my interests. I have to admit to not being the world’s best appreciator of art. I will rarely go out of my way to visit a gallery. I’ve been to Madrid several times but never the Prado, and to Paris many times but only once to the Louvre; we were in New York for a year and lived three blocks from the Met and never set foot inside. I know, I know, it makes me a bad person in the eyes of many. In my defence I do enjoy looking at pictures in small galleries and displays when the mood takes me, and love staring at sea pictures and dramatic skies.

I do however enjoy science museums and get very excited by unusual natural phenomena. We have visited science and natural history museums across the world, and we both have a keen interest to see volcanoes wherever we can. We’ll travel out of our way to see meteor craters, unusual rock formations, geothermal spots, waterfalls, canyons, glaciers… any of the amazing natural wonders that grace our planet. I wrote yesterday about our experiences of seeing the aurora borealis; without doubt one of the greatest spectacles on earth.

Traffic light art; Canary Wharf

I wonder if others are also drawn strongly to either artistic achievements or natural wonders. Of course it is possible to appreciate both, but do most of us possess a strong bias for one or the other? I can look at a sculpture or painting and remain unmoved when others are speechless, while the sight of nearby flowing molten lava or a spectacular waterfall will have me enthralled and inspired, and I will want to spend a long time admiring the power and beauty of the sight in front of me. I appreciate that for others it is the opposite.

We are thinking of a trip to Italy at some point soon, and it’s not surprising that Florence will not be our destination. Instead we will head for the Aeolian Islands, and the active volcano of Stromboli in particular to see nature at its most fiery and majestic. And who knows, I might even buy a picture of the lava flows to hang on our wall back home.

75% of travellers take into account the reviews and comments of blogs and review sites before deciding on their holiday destination. That was one of the main findings of the GfK Ascent survey that was presented at last week’s CIMTIG Travel Vision 2010 event. Should that be a surprise? I suspect for those of us who book our travels independently the figure might even seem low. But when considering that the majority of the 15,000 respondents had just returned from a more traditional resort holiday, we should maybe sit up and listen.

If three quarters of holidaymakers are researching blogs and reviews to help them decide where they go on their vacations this confirms the high level of influence that certain sites have. I did get quite excited at this point. The thought of 75% of people consulting blogs before deciding where to go on holiday made me feel very important. Sadly that excitement was replaced by despondent realism after less than thirty seconds when the name TripAdvisor was uttered.

There was no breakdown presented of which sites people refer to for this ‘intelligence’. I would however suspect that TripAdvisor is far and away the most influential site in this regard. I rarely come across people who haven’t consulted TripAdvisor to check out the hotel they’re about to book, and most of us believe that they can see through the fake stuff and pick out the real reviews. So although I have no doubt that reading about a story on a blog can influence some people to want to visit a place (it’s certainly been the case with me), I am sure that most of the 75% of this sample was made up with those who just want to check out a hotel.

It is striking how much sway TripAdvisor does carry these days. I have stayed in a place where the owners need to spend almost nothing on marketing as almost all of their guests come via TripAdvisor. They provided outstanding service and people (myself included) were only too happy to spread the word.

When things go wrong on the other hand, there really is nowhere for hotel owners to hide. A bad review is seen by all, and if over half of future guests are reading the reviews, what does a hotelier do when a disgruntled client publishes his complaints online?

Some properties actively use Tripadvisor to manage their complaints publicly. They will reply to each comment, good or bad, thanking the reviewer and offering explanations or apologies as appropriate. It’s a great opportunity to show off customer service skills. After all, we all know that every business will get complaints. Those who are open enough to face up to these with public commitments to fix the problems identified will win out in this new world.

Of course this is only great as long as the hotel management are actually acting on their word. If you read the same complaints for six months and each time there is a promise to make things better with the complaint appearing again the following week (it happens), then it might have been better for the property management to have kept their head in the sand.