Yodel-leh-hee-hoo!

April 18, 2013

Tyler Davidson

Sorry, couldn’t resist trotting out that old yodeling warble, as we’re mining for meetings high in the Swiss Alps this month.

Our cover story, detailing Switzerland, leads on the front of the magazine and anchors our International section.

Earlier in my career I had the distinction of being the Switzerland editor for a major travel trade magazine, along with the entirely unrelated destination combination of Africa, the Middle East, Canada, the Pacific Northwest and Tennessee— yeah, go figure. Anyway, I had the pleasure of traveling to Switzerland and zipping through the Alps on Swiss Rail; stopping in the medieval burg of Berne, with its standard-bearing bears; meandering through old school Lucerne; and thoroughly lapping up Lugano, with its Italian-influenced food and culture combined with Swiss efficiency and chocolate— what’s not to love!

And I think you’ll love Jeff Heilman’s piece on the country in this issue. Switzerland is truly an amalgam of European cultures, where English—as well as French, German and many other languages—is widely spoken. It’s a country that truly prides itself on being multilingual.

Highlights of the Features section this month include stories on boutique hotels, government meetings, historic places and conference centers, including a Q&A with Mark Cooper, new CEO of the International Association of Conference Centers.

Also on tap this spring is the rollout of our annual Meetings Focus Live! educational events. After making its 2013 debut in Las Vegas in April, the three-night hosted-buyer programs will travel to Los Angeles; Portland, Ore.; Biloxi, Miss.; Sandestin, Fla.; Branson, Mo.; Hershey, Pa.; and the Big Island of Hawaii.

I’m really excited to announce that a featured facilitator at all but one of this year’s Meetings Focus Live! programs is John Chen, president of Geoteaming, who will lead the groups through his company’s innovative team-building programs. You can check out his column to get a taste of what’s in store. For more info about the Meetings Focus Live! programs, go to www.meetingstoday.com/liveevents. Happy planning!

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