2010 Oregon Tourism Conference

So glad to hear the news that Bend (Riverhouse Convention Center) will be the site of the 2010 Oregon Tourism Conference. Something like 500 attendees from all over the state will descend upon us for the 3-day event next April. That's kinda big news for us, given that tourism seems to be the only industry we can still pin our hopes on. During last year's conference in Sunriver, we met several attendees who were using their free time to explore, have fun, shop, eat at our local restaurants... they were asking questions and taking notes, and I have to believe that they were returning to their home bases with a whole lot of good reasons for their constituents to visit Bend, too. The conference is not all about promoting Bend, of course, but it sure doesn't hurt that it's going to be held here.

So how does one of our venerable, local TV stations present this news (ad nauseum, on every newscast for two days)? The video footage rests on: a) a downtown lamp post still wrapped with holiday lights; b) a "for lease" sign in an empty downtown space; c) someone shuffling through meeting minutes at a Downtowner's monthly meeting; and d) a lone person walking down Minnesota Ave.

Arrrggghh! Hey, I know budgets are tight, but why not run some stock footage of Bend scenery? Or maybe walk down to Brooks Alley and take a little shot of Mirror Pond? A mountain? Downtown shops? Don't take umbrage at the lamp post by the way; it takes a crew of volunteers and extra long hours to put lights up and take them down. There's very little money to pay for that sort of thing downtown (unlike malls, which extract a certain percentage from tenants for lighting and beautification).