Over the past seven years I’ve written over 1500 blog posts (835 here). I’ve visited most of Canada’s provinces and territories and traveled extensively throughout Ontario helping tourism industry professionals get a handle on technology. In recent days I’ve been reflecting on where I want to invest my time and energy and the result of that reflection, in part; is that I will no longer be doing a number of things, including writing this blog.
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Over the years, I’ve written manuals and books for the tourism industry in Ontario and beyond, worked on research projects, given experience design presentations, too-many-to-count internet marketing trainings and conference keynote presentations, facilitated cluster development workshops and seminars and more. I’ve stood in front of over 4000 tourism professionals during that time and provided on average twice weekly updates to over a thousand blog subscribers like you.
I want to give you all a big hug and say thank you for reading, commenting and sharing the inspiration you’ve found here with colleagues.
Where it began:
I got my experience and expertise in tourism by being an operator first – founding Northern Edge Algonquin with my wife, Martha in 1995.
Part of my excitement in establishing and growing Northern Edge Algonquin was to demonstrate that a business could be environmentally, socially and economically sustainable. Our focus: paying our team a fair wage to do inspiring work, helping our guests experience nature, delivering lovingly prepared local and organic food, and providing learning experiences and outdoor activities so that our guests and our staff could Rediscover ourselves, Empower one another, and Restore their connection with the Earth.
To support my endeavors to help the industry, we created whole new ways of doing business at the Edge. We created co-operating partnerships with experience providers, facilitators and guides. With respect, trust, appreciation and caring we’ve empowered partners to make decisions, to learn and grow while providing partners direct benefits based on the success of experiences we’ve co-created.
Training began as a nice off-season endeavor that brought additional revenue into Northern Edge Algonquin. My background as an educator in the school system from ’87-’95 made teaching the tourism industry a great fit.
But . . .
External projects, blogging and producing media are too much fun! This “beyond the Edge” work takes most of my energy and doesn’t allow me to focus on my other business and community.
I am so thankful to have met so many people like you over the years who have inspired me to take on this role as advocate, educator, and industry supporter.
In my travels, I’ve inspired connections between other people and helped them connect with the people, places and experiences that make their tourism offerings special, at the cost of disconnecting myself from this special place, the experiences I designed, the people who deliver experiences and the guests who share them here.
Over the past few years I’ve spent less and less quality time with family, partners, and team members who deliver experiences, and communicate with our guests and fans. I have noticed that the allocation of time, resources and focus on things away from my Edge has led to a loss of my ability to demonstrate respect, trust, appreciation and caring for the people, experiences and places that are most important to me.
I need to spend my time and energy attending to the garden of people, facilities and experiences that I planted here at Northern Edge Algonquin.
It’s funny, that here in the middle of the woods we don’t let our guests use the Internet. We want them to have experiences here without the distraction of technology. Meanwhile, I’ve often been found, out of sight, nose down, pecking at the keyboard doing work for other – too much of the time.
From where I sit today
Over the past week I have had inspiring conversations about new projects involving a brand new workshop series, online training programs and media production projects; new and exciting initiatives to be sure. When they were offered, I was so excited, I couldn’t sit down. I missed dinner with family and found myself inspired . . . or perhaps a better word would be out-spired – excited about opportunities to use the new skills I’ve been developing over the past few years on new projects away from home.
I spent the weekend in quiet contemplation, getting a sense of where and how I want to spend my time and energy. I realized there are many projects here at Northern Edge Algonquin that cannot proceed without my undivided attention.
Small is Beautiful
E.F. Schumacher proposed the idea of “smallness within bigness”. One of his ideas was that consumption is merely a means to human well-being, the aim should be to obtain the maximum of well-being with the minimum of consumption. The less toil there is, the more time and strength is left for artistic creativity. ~ Wikipedia.
Less is More.
In short, I’m putting my time, attention, energy, focus on the place I call home, Northern Edge Algonquin. I need to focus on helping Northern Edge Algonquin get smaller and more beautiful.
It means, as of June 1, 2012 2011
- I’ll not be delivering workshops, keynotes, presentations or providing coaching on tourism or technology.
- I’ll discontinue writing my blogs here and at http://tourismcafe.ca
- I’ll not be tweeting or facebooking about tourism or technology.
- I’ll not be podcasting or producing media for clients or “This Week in Tourism” Videos that I, and many followers enjoyed.
- I’ll not be working on tourism industry projects or writing reports for tourism partners, attending tourism industry networking meetings and conferences, or responding to RFP’s.
To me, why I’m making the decision to leave isn’t quite as interesting a question as, What took me so long to make the shift? What makes the decision to leave something I’ve spent so much time developing is easier NOW, knowing that many of you are using social media and face to face meetings to help one another grow. Keep up the good work.
The World Needs Edginess . . .
The world needs edginess now more than ever. My role, is to demonstrate Edginess, rather than teaching others.
I’m super excited about the way forward as I plant my feet here on the ground on the Edge of Algonquin Park, Canada and rediscover myself, empower our guests and enhance my relationship with this little patch of earth I call home. Here, I’m investing my skills talents and abilities on behalf of this place, these people, and these experiences.
Once again, thank you for supporting this project. I look forward to crossing paths with many of you in the future.
cheers,
todd.
Final POST #835 on Tourism Keys
