Suburban Nights

There's an exhibition about suburbia at the London Transport Museum http://www.ltmuseum.co.uk/ which has led me to muse on whether the suburbs are ever exciting destinations for visitors or whether they are just too, well, suburban.

My own village (which likes to pretend it's a proper village but is really the last gasp of South Manchester suburbia) has undoutedly become a food and drinking destination in the past 10 years. For a population of 5000 it has around 24 eating places. So every evening (and sometimes lunchtime too) there's an influx of visitors. Many come in swanky cars (with personalised plates naturally) and the pavement cafes give them ample opportunity to see and be seen.

Some of the older locals complain about the way the village has been 'ruined'. But to my mind it adds hugely to the gaiety of the scene and the identity of the place. It may not be the traditional and genteel character of suburban England but it's sure keeping the economy and employment alive in these parts.

Meetings - the verdict

According to Lord Judge this week, the jury system's threatened because people no longer get their information from listening to people speak. So where does that leave the conference industry?

Business Tourism guru Rob Davidson of the University of Westminster has done some fascinating research into what younger delegates expect from meetings. He says that - now that Generations X and Y are in the majority in the workforce - events organisers are having to adapt their approach to programming and marketing their conferences.

Here's me facilitating one of our interactive workshops. We've certainly found that today's delegates expect more interactive meetings, bite-sized sessions and integrated technology. They expect to learn and to be entertained.

And while they may be masters of social networking, younger delegates are often less comfortable with unstructured face-to-face business networking.

But that goes for a lot of people, whatever their age. So, when you look at it like that, won't getting meetings right for Gen Y mean better meetings for everyone?

Hotel Twitters

A very practical application of twitter which drives sales is being offered by Inoqo allowing hotels to distribute their 'distressed inventory' ie rooms they have vacant for the coming night.

Twitter users can follow the stream for their chosen destination and request deals directly into their personal Twitter stream as they go live. The service is free to travellers and Inoqo generates revenues by charging hotels a commission for each booking made.

Throwing urban shapes

At first glance I thought this was another contemporary way for intrepid visitors to experience cities (see my 'playing the city' blog post for 23 August).

These colourful bodies spread-eagled or squashed into the city landscape could be the urban equivalent of rock climbers or pot holers ... but in fact they are a living art installation by the Bodies in Urban Spaces project.

A trail of 'body sculptures' was laid along a route from London Bridge to More London (home, by the way, to Visit London) by Austrian choreographer Willi Dorner this weekend. It was sponsored by Bloomberg and supported by Southwark Council.

So, too late to go see this time ... but not too late to ask Dorner and dance promoter Dance Umbrella to bring the project to your destination - especially if you're celebrating a place-shaping initiative?

Confession of an ex-dancer

As Lorna has written in praise of the ancient art of the morris I think I had better own up to my short and largely inglorious career as a morris dancer when doing Museums Studies in Leicester. I can still do the steps, I think, but fortunately am not called upon to do so these days.
I reckon the reserve and scepticism of the English about the morris derives from not quite knowing what to make of a bunch of chaps dancing together. Usually rather hairy chaps too.
How far it is really an authentic folk art is the subject of scholarly debate. There are 16th century references to 'moriscos' and morris dancing, but some reckon the current form is largely a Victorian re-invention. But any way it's a lot of fun!

In praise of Morris Dancing

Last weekend was the Big Apple Festival in Herefordshire. It's a small scale event involving a few local apple and cider producers within a number of small communities but it has authenticity in bags (as well as apples).

But the interesting thing for me was the Morris Dancing provided by the Leominster Morris Men. The group of 8 dancers plus musicians performed at various venues with dances from around the west of England before inviting participation from the audience, young and old. They were entertaining and engaging, delivering their performances with wit and charm and not taking themselves terribly seriously. And they and their dances were so authentically English you could eat it up. And yet the English generally, and tourism marketers specifically, seem embarrassed by Morris Dancing. It is hardly up there as a cultural icon, and often spoken off disparagingly. As an incomer and a Scot I'm aware I don't carry any baggage (we have plenty of our own) so I think it is great and it is about time Morris Dancing was recognised for its long heritage, its entertainment value and - that rarest of tourism commodities - its authenticity.

Dig for Victory

Organic food sales are down 14%, apparently. Tesco and Asda are reducing their organic lines by 30%. (I learnt these useful facts at 5.45 this morning on Farming Today. Quite fancy being a farmer except they seem to get up abominably early).

The next big thing is 'Local'. That's what's filling the shelves and jingling the tills. So those promotions of local food and drink as part of the destination experience seem on the money right now.

Just off to my veg patch.

Treasure Trove

Academics say the Staffordshire Hoard of gold and silver artefacts will re-write our understanding of Anglo-Saxon and specifically Mercian history. Those like me and probably most of the visitors to the exhibition at Birmingham Museum with a shaky grasp of Mercian history and culture are more likely just to say 'Wow!' The scale and quality of the finds is staggering.

Ancient treasure has strong pulling power - the Tutankhamun exhibition has been touring the world profitably for 30 years - but it also represents local identity. So where will the Hoard end up? In the British Museum? Or back in the Midlands where it came from? The latter I hope. Re-branded as Mercia?

The art of place shaping

Just back from the TMI Annual Convention in Liverpool - where Lorna (right) and I helped Mark Stewart of Liverpool City Council with a Study Tour looking at the Rope Walks area - a great neighbourhood right in the heart of the city. Earlier this year we worked for LCC, Liverpool Vision and the Rope Walks stakeholders to take a market-focused look at this fascinating urban village.

It was great to be back there to talk to TMI delegates about what makes urban villages special, hear from entrepreneur and Rope Walks champion Dick Mawdsley, then get a guided tour and great insights from the guys - Steve Power and Matt Biagetti - who've been responsible for managing the regeneration of the area over the past few years.

Afterwards we had an inspiring talk from City Architect Rob Burns about the visionary place shaping of Liverpool - then a walk through Liverpool One to see this groundbreaking approach to city centre retail through his urban-designer eyes.

Exclusive spaces

Ever heard of an "anti-venue"?

Well, if you work in business tourism, you're no doubt familiar with event organisers' seemingly insatiable search for somewhere different and special enough to revive the jaded taste buds of today's hard-to-please delegates.

Now Space-2 - a London-based firm that does clever things with property - is marketing "anti-venues" as an antidote to venue fatigue: they are promising inspiring and exclusive spaces, only available for a limited period of time - and sometimes only at short notice.

I guess the recession has thrown up plenty of underused or suddenly vacant commercial property - and this is a great example of a company turning the recession to its advantage.