week in the life Paul Nelson
A week in the life of Paul Nelson
WTM portfolio press and PR manager I
cover all the key exhibitions, WTM London, Arabian Travel Market, WTM Latin America and WTM Africa.
There are two strands to my job: the first, like a corporate PR, is making sure WTM messaging is consistent. For instance, we’re promoting WTM London this year as ‘eight shows under one roof’ with our new strapline ‘Ideas Arrive Here’, with each region having its own theatre and zone so they can get to more sessions and the content is more focused to their business.
The second part of my job is acting as an exhibitor ally, working with them on PR.
Monday I have a breakfast meeting with PR
agency Hills Balfour to talk about which of their clients will be at WTM London and how their stories might work in the national and trade press. We talk about Jumeirah, Bahrain and Palm Beach; what they’re looking to get out of WTM London and their key messages. We also hear from Four
Communications confirming they’ll be taking part in our new Agency Pavilion.
Tuesday
We have a production meeting about the new International Travel & Tourism Awards at the Tobacco Dock venue, looking at the layout, stage and who is going to be presenting what. We also get to do a food and drink tasting, which is pretty cool. We’re chuffed with the number of entries, particularly as it’s our first year, and also with the quality, which
Paul’s biography
Studied: English Literature and Journalism at Middlesex University.
Worked: I started as a journalist for local papers then Reed, working on Personnel Today then Travel Weekly and Travolution. I moved to
lastminute.com Group to look after its PR before starting with WTM where my role has expanded.
Lives: In Crystal Palace, London with my wife Sam – we married this year. We’re having the cat versus dog debate at the moment!
Likes: Any sport, especially football, boxing and cricket. If I’m not watching, I’ll be playing.
Most looking forward to this year: Our new International Travel & Tourism Awards.
all the judges remarked on. People can buy individual tickets or tables for the event. It’s going to be a fun evening.
Wednesday
We get the designs for the new WTM London Agency Pavilion. It will have 24 pods at the entrance to the media centre for social media, marketing and representation companies. It’s crazy to think it’s the 39th show and this is the first time we’ve done this for PR agencies. I also interview some graduates for a PR assistant position. From September onwards it gets massively busy – we have the largest recurring press centre in the country – so every year from September to WTM London we thankfully get an extra pair of hands.
Thursday
We get some creative agency designs back with our ‘Ideas Arrive Here’ concept that will appear in adverts and our general messaging on email and so on. Before, we’ve focused on the business that happens at WTM London. Now we’re looking at the ideas, like perhaps a new venture or division, that people get for their businesses through a conversation at the show or the seminar programme, or because they were there for research. For instance, we know the founders behind influencers network Traverse had their first meeting at WTM London. Now they work for us and numerous tourist boards and run their own conference. I also have a meeting today with Lotus PR, planning how best we can create content related to the clients they will have at WTM London.
Friday
Press conferences at WTM London are always well attended
78 wtm insights autumn 2018
I spend the day meeting media and setting up other appointments. We had a meeting with the FT last week and we’ve got others lined up with The Telegraph and The Times in September to take them through who’s going to be at WTM London that they might be interested in. I work on behalf of exhibitors to promote what their key stories are and demonstrate to the media why WTM London is a must-attend event.
wtm.com
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