WHAT’S IN THIS NEWSLETTER:
- Intro from Chris
- AGM Date & Update
- Events
- January 9th – Maximising your Social Media: Posts, Presence and Profitability
- January 23rd – Photography for Travel Writers & Broadcasters
- February 12th – ANTOR/BGTW debate on Responsible Travel followed by a networking event
- Call for Ideas Regarding Out of Town Events – from Valery Collins
- Save the Date – January 30th
- Membership – Sarah Rodrigues
- Sponsorship and partnerships – Renate Ruge
- A postcard from … The Isle of Man
Intro from Chris
With Christmas fast approaching, the year seems to have flown by! This is our last newsletter before the festive break so first and foremost, a very HAPPY CHRISTMAS to everyone.
We have three events already in January and February so we hope to see lots of you at our social media evening hosted with delicious food and drink from Uzbekistan, photography workshop with cameras for all participants and Responsible Travel debate with ANTOR and networking opportunities. Sign up for them now. It’s great to hear people are already excited about coming to these.
It’s been a difficult year for AGM and Convention plans, but we are delighted to tell you that we will shortly be announcing not one, but several, overseas conventions for 2025.
It’s been a pleasure working with you all as members. I’d personally like to thank the Board for all their dedication and hard work. We hope you’ve seen progress over this year and that 2025 will continue this positivity. Have a great celebration and a wonderful New Year.
Please note the Board and Charlotte (BGTW administrator) will be “out of office” over the holidays between December 21st and January 5th inclusive. As such, any emails may go unanswered until January 6th.
Chris Coe,
On behalf of the BGTW Board
AGM Date & Update
AGM 2025 “Save The Date”
With no destination offering the required number of hosted spaces for 2025, the Annual General Meeting will now be a stand-alone event in the UK. Guild Conventions will cover the abroad element separately.
As such, the AGM will be held in the London area during the week commencing Monday 10th March, likely on Monday 10th (with an option to attend online). We will circulate the formal invite, location, timings (including an attached social event) and calls for motions in early January; we just wanted to put a “Save the Date” in the diary before Christmas.
We have exhaustively explored various options for the AGM, including abroad and alternative locations in the UK, to avoid another significant London event. However, given the spread of membership and direct rail access, this option was deemed the most efficient and cost-effective for the Guild. We will host some exciting events in other areas of the UK in 2025 as part of the Guild’s 65th Anniversary plans.
Events
The BGTW will be holding a panel debate at the Uzbek Embassy in London on 9 January 2025 from 5.30/6pm to 8.30/9pm on how Guild members can maximise their social media presence and profitability. The panel will consist of industry experts including BGTW member Steph Parker of Big World Small Pockets and Absolutely Lucy (other panellists to be confirmed), and will be moderated by Sarah Lee, former Deputy Chair and Director of Social Media of the BGTW.
The evening will be hosted by the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Uzbekistan to the UK, Ravshan Usmanov, and will include a welcome drinks reception, and Uzbeki Pilaf. There will also be a talk from the director of the BBC documentary The Aral Sea, and will include the screening of a short extract.
The panel will be introduced by Mark Bibby Jackson, Director of Communications for the BGTW. He will provide an update on the Guild’s communication plans for 2025, including redesigning the BGTW website and the proposed rebranding of the Guild. There will be time for networking, a Q and A session, and the chance to better familiarise yourself with this Central Asian nation. This is a FREE event for BGTW members. As numbers are limited, please confirm your attendance to charlotte.copeman@bgtw.org asap.
Contact Charlotte to register to attend.
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January 23rd – Photography workshop – rescheduled from October. Minimum 12 members needed. Photography for Travel Writers & Broadcasters
23rd January 2025, 11.30am to 4.30pm
If you want to maximise your earning opportunities, it’s not enough to write well but then support your work with mediocre photography. Improving your photography is a good way to maximise both opportunities and returns.
In this workshop Chris Coe will simplify and de-mystify photography and show you how to create photos with impact.
Fujifilm are supporting us and, in addition to providing cameras for everyone to use during the day, will be explaining the difference between phones and cameras, both in the how they work and the quality and type of images you can make.
The workshop will take place in the Fujifilm House of Photography on Longacre in Covent Garden, but will also include going out and taking pictures around Covent Garden, then reviewing them.
Fujifilm will provide teas, coffees and snacks.
The workshop is for a minimum of 12 participants. It will initially be exclusively for Guild member but if numbers are below the minimum on 9th January, the remaining places will be offered to non-Guild people.
Register for the photography workshop here
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February 12th – ANTOR/BGTW debate on Responsible Travel followed by a networking event.
ANTOR are great supporters of the Guild and we need a really good turn out for this one so please support it. We need two Guild members to represent travel journalists’ views on the topic. Chris will chair the debate along with a chair from ANTOR. If you’d like to be on the Guild team please let Charlotte or Chris know so that we can finalise the BGTW team before Christmas. Register to attend here.
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Call for Ideas Regarding Out of Town Events – from Valery Collins
I would love to hear from any members who would like to put forward ideas for Out of Town Events next year. I am looking for interesting attractions, exciting events, anything really that would interest members and to which the organisers might be happy to issue an invitation to members or organise an exclusive event for members. At this stage you don’t have to do any more than give me an idea, a contact would be very helpful if you have one. Let me have your thoughts at valery.collins@bgtw.org
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Save the Date – January 30th
Members of the Guild are invited to Kew Gardens for the media preview of Orchids Peru, on Thursday 30 January from 10am – entrance through the Victoria Gate. This exclusive preview will be an opportunity to see Kew’s spectacular orchid festival, this year celebrating the flora and fauna of Peru.
Interested? Please contact valery.collins@bgtw.org for more information.
Membership – Sarah Rodrigues
Ho Ho everyone – I hope you are all gearing up for a lovely and relaxed break.
A very warm welcome to our newest members, Katie McLeod, Vanessa Ball and Tom Burson! Please look out for them at any events in the New Year and make them feel at home.
We also have some new applicants in the gazetting phase, so if you’ve not already had a look at their profiles, please do so when you get a chance. They are Monica Meade and Noni Ware, and the email pertaining to them was sent out on December 3rd.
There will be another new applicant email from me in the coming days, which will relate to Hugh Tucker, so keep your eyes peeled for that one!
A note on the application process for anyone who may wish for clarification on how things are managed at this end. When a prospective member goes to the ‘Apply to the BGTW’ page on our website, where our guidelines for admission are set out, this also states the fact that, if accepted, they will be required to agree to our Code of Conduct. They are also required to provide a bio and examples of their work.
As a Board, we then consider their application and, where necessary, communicate with the applicant for more information or for clarification on any grey areas (or indeed, red flags!!)
All being well, we then put their details out to you, the Guild Members, so that you can have a say in how their applications progresses. You have 28 days in which to do this.
Please be aware that we will only consider genuine concerns about potential members and that this must be made clear to us in any communication. It is not enough to ask rhetorical questions or cast general criticisms.
Please also be aware that, at the interview stage, we ask questions such as “What do you think you can bring to the Guild?” We know, of course, why people may want to join the Guild (answers such as ‘to make contacts,’ ‘freelancing is lonely,’ ‘to learn from others more experienced than I’ are common) but we are genuinely committed to making the Guild into a constructive, collaborative community, where people will think as much about as what they can BRING as to what they can TAKE. This applies to existing members as well as to incoming ones.
Any questions on this, or anything else relating to membership, always feel free to drop me a line and I’ll get back to you as soon as is feasible.
Finally, a note on membership fees. We’re aware that working in travel media can be a frustratingly low paid gig, and that £175 may look like a pretty big chunk of cash. However, if you break it down, this is around £14.60 per month, which – I dunno about you, but I’d barely get change after grabbing lunch at Itsu for that. Additionally, we’re keen to promote the fact that many institutions will offer you free admission if you produce your card and ask nicely. I saved around €50 in Venice in September in this way. Seen like this, your membership can pretty much pay for itself over the course of the year. I love to hear your stories, so let me know if you’ve been able to use your card thus, as well as where you went and what you saw!
That’s all from me for now … I’m still in Australia and the ocean is calling. Scorcher out there today!
Happy festivities to everyone and thank you, as ever, for your support. Huge thanks also to the current Board who have been absolutely brilliant to work with this year, and who have achieved so many positive outcomes. Three cheers (or beers, I’m not fussy) to you all!
Sarah x
Sponsorship and partnerships – Renate Ruge
Planning your diary for 2025?
Don’t forget to block out Monday 3 November 2025. The eve of WTM and proposed date for 2025 BGTW Annual Gala Awards Dinner 2025
More details are coming soon but we already have plans afoot for the BGTW Annual Gala Awards Dinner 2025, also an anniversary dinner… So, with 65 years of the BGTW to celebrate, it’s going to be BIG!
Following on from this year’s glitzy Great Gatsby-esque roaring 20s event, which was enjoyed by all, there’s a new benchmark. Thank you again to Mary Anne, John Bell and the whole team who created such a smash hit of an event, to our BGTW partners and to all of you who made it such a wonderful evening. Congratulations from all of us on the BGTW Board to our worthy award winners too. Cheers!
A postcard from … The Isle of Man
IOM moments – please help!
Rugged landscapes, wild sea views, historic castles, chuffing steam trains, fantastic food – especially queenies (scallops) pan fried in butter – plus top notch hospitality thanks to the friendly locals, with a little Manx folk dancing thrown in… The stuff of legends.
What are your favourite memories of the Isle of Man AGM trip in 2024? Cast your minds back and please help us for future destination-based AGMs.
We are putting a presentation together for our kind hosts of the 2024 AGM and generous partner of the Annual Gala Awards this year.
Your contribution or postcard will also help to secure future AGM partners and will feature on the BGTW website.
Please send your words 80 or less to Charlotte with a fun photo of yourself in situ or an image of a favourite landscape or moment.
Thank you very much – gura mie ayd from Renate x
PS Hope you all have a wonderful Christmas. Sending you best wishes for a happy, healthy New Year and adventure-filled 2025 to you and yours.
Email:Charlotte.copeman@bgtw.org cc renate.ruge@bgtw.org with your Isle of Man postcard memory.
