Checking In - Old Reliable

June 7, 2012

Tyler Davidson

Welcome to the June/July issue. We’ve got plenty of great content to help you kick off your summer planning season, with destination stories stretching from New York City and Long Island to Maryland, New Jersey and Greater Hartford, Conn.

Our SMERF meetings story, “Old Reliable,” I think hits the nail right on the head regarding this consistent segment of the meetings industry.

Written by veteran meetings industry journalist Fred Gebhart, the title of the piece really nails it—the fact that these groups generally operate on less-than-extravagant budgets, but continue to meet in all economic seasons, means they are great business opportunities for independent planners and suppliers who want to fill need periods.

Happy reading and enjoy the summer!

About the author

Tyler Davidson is the vice president and chief content director for Meetings Today, which publishes the meetings industry trade magazine Meetings Today as well as MeetingsToday.com, various newsletters, webinars, the in-person Meetings Today LIVE! Hosted-buyer events and other meetings and events industry B2B channels.

Tyler has covered the travel trade for nearly 35 years. In his role with Meetings Today, which recently won the prestigious FOLIO: Eddies Award for best magazine issue, Tyler leads the editorial team on its mission to provide the most in-depth meetings content in the industry. Previously, he worked as the Asia, Canada, Pacific Northwest and Western U.S. editor at Travel Weekly magazine and TravelAge West. Before joining the dual editorial staff producing destination sections for Travel Weekly and TravelAge West, Tyler was the Africa, Israel, Middle East, Switzerland and Pacific Northwest editor at TravelAge West. He also undertook general news and feature assignments while working at the magazines.

Besides reporting on the travel trade, Tyler has covered the real estate industry, held various editorial positions at the San Francisco-based national satire magazine The Nose, wrote freelance technology industry pieces and covered the San Francisco 49ers and Oakland Raiders for a bilingual newspaper in San Francisco. He has a B.A. in Journalism from San Francisco State University, where he worked in various editorial capacities on its award-winning student magazine, Prism.

Contact: tyler.davidson@meetingstoday.com