Guide Lines
10 January 2001
2001. Take a look at that number. Say it out loud. TWO THOUSAND AND ONE. Wow!! We really have made it
to this remarkable number. Remember
the old movie "2001: A Space Odyssey" which came out 'in 1968? It seemed then like the year 2001 was 100 years away.
. .and maybe it
would never happen. Well it is here
and there have been a number of technological advances and it's time the CTGA of
BC got on-board with two of these changes. We should at least give them a try. If what we are proposing doesn't work, we can always go back in time.
Here's our President Jeff Veniot to explain: Hello and Happy New Millennium, New Year, New Month, etc. We hope you and yours had a great holiday season. For sometime now myself and others have wondered how can we stay more
in-touch with the members of the CTGA of BC and not just during the winter
months with these newsletters. E-mails or a web site was mentioned about a year or two ago and to a small extent tried
but there seemed to be a few glitches (I now believe there are very few problems.
. .read on). Early last month I noticed that almost 60 of our 110 members
now have an E-mail address and I must admit, I've been putting off getting one
myself. However for the last four weeks I've been experimenting with and have
been part of an E-group through my employer. It works very well and I think the CTGA should try it. For those of you who do not yet have an E-mail address, (some advice will
follow) you would still receive a notice from us via Canada Post.
I'm proposing for those of us who have E-mails (yes I'm getting one) that we immediately sign on to our own
E-group which is a free service provided by egroups.com on the World Wide Web. It works like this: Only those CTGA of BC members who wish to participate
would be placed onto the E-group. Then any one member can send a message to the entire group by sending their message
to the group e-address (one address). You'll know if the group received your message because it will also be sent back to
you. Once a message has been sent to the group (including you), you can read it and then delete it.
. .you could
reply to it or send out a new message. If you wish you could also send a private message to the original sender via the
telephone or their individual e-mail address. As I said above, I've being trying this service out for the last month
and it's been great sending and receiving various bits of information to
and from everyone in that e-group. For
our purposes some of our messages would be about up-coming meetings and tourism
or guide related items. Plus it's
available 24/7 even though I only check for messages every couple of days or so.
I would be the moderator of the CTGA e-group, although this could be passed onto
someone else in the future if needed. The
moderator sends out the invitation to join the group (which you can accept or
decline) and can also edit or remove a member if it was found that they were
sending messages that are not appropriate. E-groups, by the way, does not allow "Spam" or advertising.
The other thing that we should do is to start posting our information and Guide Lines Newsletters on the Web (at an e-address
which would be different from our e-group address). This way members and potential members who also have web-access would be
able to receive it with out us having to mail it. Mailing 110 newsletters to members plus a bunch to new people
vs. mailing
to only 60 members, etc, is obviously much easier and cheaper. We have two offers at the moment from people capable of
creating our own website. One is for one-hundred dollars per year and the other for $200, a one-time fee, plus a
$30 yearly fee and a $25 per update fee which would be eliminated soon after. I'll have more details for you at the next meeting. Please plan to attend on the
25th of January (see below). Now. . .for those members who do not have a computer and hence no e-mail and certainly no access to the Internet (or web), there is
an in-expensive way for you to be able to send and receive e-mail without getting a fancy computer and then getting onto the internet. Talk to someone like me who will help you buy a used older small laptop
(portable) computer. These things
are cheap these days (and so are used home personal computers. . .the kind that
you leave sitting on a desk). Once
you have at least a laptop and a telephone modem it is possible to send and
receive text e-mail messages only (for example to and from the new proposed CTGA
E-group). You would not be on the
"web or internet" as they say, and you would not be able to open
"attachments," but who cares, at least you would have an e-mail
address. You would also not have to
add an extra phone line or cable line to your home ... talk to me and I'll give
you more details.
So. . .what do you think about the above mentioned
ideas? I think we should give it a
whirl and I need a quick and short response from you. The best way to do that is to call me between 9 AM and 8 PM at 876-2576
right away or dial 251-1500 and then dial 876-2576 (available 24/7). . .but
please read the rest of the newsletter first as there is another question
below).
The next meeting of the association will be held at The
Granville Island Museums which is located across the street from the Kids
Only Market just as you enter the Island. The
date is Thursday 25 of January 2001 at 7 PM sharp. There is plenty of free parking at that time of day.
Some of you will remember our last very interesting visit to this venue
about three years ago. Since then
they have added a Model Train exhibit. . .this is in-addition to the Sport
Fishing and Model Ships displays. Often
when you are taking a group to Granville Island, some of your passengers don't
really want to go into the market and so the GI Museums is a great alternative. Please plan to join us for this tour on January 25th. No need to rsvp.
The Vancouver AM Tourism Association is planning an overnight trip to Victoria beginning
on Friday night the 26th of January. We
have asked if we could go with them and of course they said yes. You could make your own overnight arrangements or stay at the Green
Gables Inn (downtown) for a special $59 (single or double) rate. On the following day there is an optional walking tour of Chinatown for
$30 which includes a lunch. You
could then head off to see the Circus Magicus (call 1-888-447-7977 for
ticket info) exhibit at the Royal BC Museum or go home. You could even stay a second or third night if you wish.
How we would get to and from the
Tsawwassen Ferry Terminal and to Victoria has not been worked out yet as we are
waiting for you to telephone Jeff right now to see if you and a guest (or two)
would be interested. Dial 876-2576
right away please or 251-1500 and then 876-2576.
While we are dealing with events here. . .there is going to be a Love Boat Cruise (Valentine Gourmet Dinner
and Dance to the live sounds of the "Continental Barbers") aboard the
luxury yacht the Queen of Diamonds on Saturday the 17th of February. The price of the ticket goes toward buying a new children's
playground in Guelph Park (near Broadway and Main Vancouver). Tickets are $100 per person or $175 per couple. There will also be a spectacular Silent Auction and door prizes!!
Boarding starts a 6 PM and sails at 7 PM from the Plaza of Nations. RSVP to 872-0092.
We are planning another About
Town Tour (our 3rd annual) sometime in February (maybe on the 12th?) and
our regular end of the month meeting will be held on Thursday the 22nd of
February at 7 PM at a location to be announced. Same for our Thursday March 29th meeting. As always your Board of Directors is open to ideas and suggestions
(this is another topic that would and will come up with greater ease on our proposed E-group).
It is with sadness that Guide Lines must report the following news just received: Long time United Kingdom
tour guide and Past-President of the World Federation of Tourist Guide Associations, Jane Orde has died. She
lost a long battle with cancer over two months ago. She once paid the CTGA of BC a visit here in Vancouver and we'll have
more on her in our next issue.
More sadness: We have received a phone call and a letter from the Pacific Rim Institute of Tourism dated
the 9th of January 2001. "The
Pacific Rim Institute Board of Directors has decided that PRIT can no longer
function in a cost-effective manner. As a result of this, they have decided to wind down the
Institute effective immediately. This
includes the Tourism Resource Centre.
While there are no confirmed
arrangements for delivery of programs to continue, there are agencies that have
come forward to discuss taking over PRIT's supplier contracts. Key tourism organizations are working hard to find sustainable,
cost-effective delivery channels for all the core programs and services that
PRIT provided.
We are sorry for any inconvenience this may cause you and offer sincere thanks for
your continued support. If you have
any questions, comments, issues of concern or words of support, please e-mail to
geninfo@prit.org." Many of the PRIT staffers have worked together for
the past ten years and are hopeful that things can be worked out. Those of you that had not yet finished the Local Tour Guide Certification
process should be patient. We'll pass on expected news as soon as we receive it. Almost since PRIT started the CTGA of BC has worked with them on various
projects including certification, the careers fairs and the Local Knowledge Exam
which lead to the "Key Facts About Vancouver, BC, and Canada" resource book. We shall miss you
all and we wish everyone the very best. Please
keep in touch.
Past meetings: December 7th saw us hold our annual Christmas
Party for the first time at The Burnaby Village Museum. The site was decorated with thousands of festive lights and the
traditional turkey dinner was very good. Later,
after we all took a ride on the beautifully restored 1911 Parker Carousel, we
saw a small play that was so lame it was excellent - Good ol' fashion vaudeville
entertainment complete with audience participation (Yahoo. . .Boo. . .Hiss). Member Shirley Hartwell would like to thank our
members for donating food items, cash, Canadian Tire money and toiletries and
will have a report in our next issue with some ideas on Christmas 2001. Thanks also to member Willem Liekens for getting us a tour and
drinks at the Hart House Restaurant which is just across the street.
On December 12th we held our annual Christmas Lights Tour around Vancouver
and Burnaby. This event raised $300
for the association. On January 7th
we headed north to Squamish and Brackendale for the 15th Annual Eagle Count. We had a beautiful mild day as we drove up the scenic Sea to Sky Highway
all the way to the Tantalus Mountain Range just north of Brackendale. At the main Eagle viewing site on Government Road we had never before
seen so many people taking in this excellent wild life event. The path was full of telescope, binocular and camera clad people
including Barbara Manchester of the CTGA of Toronto. At the Tenderfoot Fish Hatchery we met up with CTGA of BC member Judy
Wallace who gave a speech on the Eagles as we headed for our lunch stop. Later we paid a visit to the newly expanded West Coast Railway Heritage
Park for a indoor and outdoor short tour. This event raised $284 for our association and 2035 Eagles were counted.
We would like to thank Gray Line of Vancouver for donating the buses for the
Christmas Lights Tour and the Eagle Count.
This coming March we are thinking of doing a Spring Book and Brochure
Exchange. Guides and Tour
Directors who have collected various video's, books, brochures and travel
information that might be of use to others should hang onto them for this event. We are thinking that you may want to sell your old items or just give
them away. We have done this in the
past and it has been very successful. More
details will follow at the January 25th meeting and in the next
newsletter.
A welcome and hello to all of our brand new members and a thanks to those of
you who have recently renewed your memberships. Till next time. . .Happy Trails!!!
Please remember that our CTGA of BC info and message line is open 24/7 at
(604) 251-1500. . .pause. . .then dial 876-2576 after the prompt.