Black Meetings and Tourism

Black Meetings & Tourism June/July 2009: www.blackmeetingsandtourism.com 30 The 2009 13th Annual Bahamas Weather Conference was held April 15-19, at the Sheraton Nassau Beach Resort in Nassau. This signature event, created by the Bahamas Ministry of Tourism, has earned a loyal following, an enviable reputa- tion and many awards for its effectiveness as a crisis com- munications program. The festivities began with a warm Caribbean reception, featuring rhythmic island sounds and exotic dancers dressed in colorful Bahamian costumes. Vincent Vanderpool-Wallace took part in the opening ceremonies and in his address, likened the construc- tion of the annual conference to the building of an ark, as it too shelters and saves lives. This pre-hurricane season event is an important forum for Bahamian and U.S. meteorolo- gists, raising awareness of the particu- lar concerns and geographical fea- tures of the Islands of the Bahamas. "It has been incredible to watch this annual conference grow from a room of 20 meteorologists to nearly 100 meteorologist actively absorbing our message of the Bahamas being an expansive destination that requires accurate reporting on hurri- canes," said Vernice Walkine, director general of the Ministry of Tourism. "We know that hurricanes rarely affect our entire country and it is imperative that we continue sharing that message with U.S. television stations, so that Bahamian tourism and Bahamian residents can reap the benefits." The conference attracted close to 100 television meteorologists from the U.S., Canada and Europe. The Bahamas Ministry of Tourism & Aviation acquired Kim Hunter of LA Grant Communications, a Los Angeles based African-American Public Relations Agency, to assist in bringing Black Meetings & Tourism to the conference to interview African-American Meteorologists and gain their per- spective of this noteworthy event. Janice Huff of WNBC in New York, returned to this year's Weather Conference very excited about what she would learn. "As I live coastally, I've had the experience of how it feels to be vulnerable to coastal storms," says Huff. "Meteorologists, such as myself, attending the Weather Conference are instructed on how to warn and inform the public, and exactly the best way to communicate regarding pending storms. This is very beneficial to tourism; as people in my profession learn the correct way to communicate oncoming BY VICTORIA HEAD Photo Credit: Darlene Donloe

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