Overall, the tone was exceedingly positive and a wide variety of perspectives were provided, as each media attendee represented a very different area of the industry.

The media panel included:

• Kyle Wagner – travel editor of the Denver Post; an active blogger, tweeter and foodie.
• Lois Friedland – a freelance journalist, and editor of national and regional magazines and newspapers.  Friedland is also About.com’s adventure travel guide, and the Colorado Ski Resort Examiner for Examiner.com.
• Tim Shisler – a published writer, videographer, photographer, speaker and founder of Plus Ten Media, a digital content agency for outdoor and travel brands. Shisler’s work has appeared in numerous magazines, including Backpacker, Bicycling and Mountain Bike. (www.timshisler.com)
• Jason Hussong – an independent blogger who narrates stories about his travels around Colorado and the world at www.jasons-travels.com.
• Kara Williams – an award-winning freelance journalist with more than 18 years of national and regional print experience. She also is a founding member of both the successful www.travelingmamas.com and TheVacationGals.com.
• Kris Wagner – the map editor for Backpacker, Bicycling, and Mountain Bike magazines. His work in interactive media, GPS, and maps has garnered more than 20 web and publishing awards, including three national magazine awards. His research on the limited lifespan of digital gadgets was also published in Wired magazine.

Here are some of the key learnings:

• Travel trends we will see in 2010:  experiential travel, luxury travel deals/specials, volunteer travel, organized tours.
• As the media industry continues to evolve and print content decreases, the digital arena is becoming increasingly significant.  That doesn’t mean that print is totally dead (as some people love to claim),  it simply means that you shouldn’t ignore the digital world.
• Along with sending journalists a pitch from which they’d lift copy for a print outlet, send them a 40-character or less phrase that they can lift and use as a Twitter message to promote your story.
• Travel coverage may get more regionalized as local papers have fewer resources for national/international stories, and readers continue to take more driveable trips.  To this end, the future of print newspapers will be led by the larger, national dailies, with regional bureaus providing them with local news feeds.
• Travel content is more fluid than ever, and we’re seeing an evolution in formats. Audio slideshows, geo-coded maps and video are being used as regular parts of travel features.
• Not surprisingly, Twitter should be used to engage in a conversation with journalists and build a relationship, not just to push your ideas and pitches on them.