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« Previous Story | The Industry Report Home Page | Next Story » Perino To Headline Colorado Ski Country Confab: 'Energy Issues Have Consequences'By Roger Leo 
"When people talk about conservative Democrats not supporting the global climate change bill, it's not because they're conservative Democrats, but look at where they're from, states with natural resources. "They come at it from a different point of view that's underrepresented in the media. ABC news, for example, doesn't have the resources to get the perspective from someone in Oklahoma, Nebraska, or Colorado," Perino told The Industry Report. "Almost all network and cable news is centered on issues and events from the perspective of New York, Washington D.C., and Los Angeles. "It's as if the rest of country doesn't exist. They're missing a lot of great stories, and also a lot of valuable input from people who come at these issues from different points of view. In particular on energy issues, people who live in Manhattan have very strong opinions on what should happen to our country's natural resources, but don't have to live with the consequences of policy decisions made in New York and Washington. "One thing I've always believed is that the West is almost ignored by the national media and some might think that's a good thing. ‘Leave us well enough alone,' they might believe. But these big national debates need to include the voices of the West." Perino, a Wyoming native who grew up in Colorado, has a sensitivity to Western viewpoints that should resonate with attendees. She served in President George W. Bush's administration as the second female White House press secretary in U.S. history. Perino is now chief issues counselor for the United States at Burson-Marsteller, one of the world's largest and most influential public relations firms. "I got my start in Colorado, first with my dad reading both the Denver Post and the now-defunct Rocky Mountain News when I was just in the third grade. And then after starting off in journalism, I realized that I would prefer to be on the communications-strategy and media-relations side of the relationship between journalism and government, and two Colorado congressmen gave me my start: Scott McInnis and Dan Schaefer. "I plan to talk about what it was like to be behind the scenes of the White House during the second term. I was, as a matter of fact, the spokesperson for President Bush's two Supreme Court nominees, Roberts and Alito. I got to see a lot of changes in the media over the years, and I will discuss that as well. And then I'll provide my perspective of how those changes in the media are affecting today's major public policy debates on energy, healthcare, and the economy." CSC President and CEO Melanie Mills told the IR the conference promises insight on politics, media, the economy, and the increasingly influential world of social networks. "Our theme this year is navigating the bumps that are out there, like the economy," she said. CSC's annual meeting comes at the end of a difficult winter season in the Rocky Mountains, including CSC's 22 member resorts. That's all major Colorado ski areas except the four Vail Resorts, which dropped out of the trade association a year ago in a dispute over the organization's direction. "We have found that despite the challenges of this past year with the economy, that there's enduring value to a Colorado ski vacation and our job is to get the word out on that to the public, and to promote our resorts' interests, primarily on the policy side, and work to have a favorable business climate for resorts in Colorado," Mills said. National Ski Areas Association preliminary data shows it wasn't a terrible year anywhere in terms of raw numbers. The Rocky Mountains had 19.79 million visits, down from last season's 21.32 million, and up 1.3 percent from its 10-year average. Winter 2008-09 was fifth best season on record overall, with 57.1 million visits nationwide. Raw numbers alone don't tell the story, however. NSAA reports, "Many day-ski areas in close proximity to major metropolitan markets benefitted as many guests chose to ski and ride at locations closer to home. Meanwhile destination resorts often reported fewer overnight visits and shorter stays." Economist Richard Wobbekind, PhD, publisher Michael Federle, and Web guru James Clark also will speak. Wobbekind is Director of the Business Research Division and Associate Dean for MBA and Enterprise Programs at the University of Colorado at Boulder. His responsibilities include developing an annual consensus forecast of the Colorado economy and performing various economic impact assessments of the Colorado economy. Federle is Group Publisher of Bonnier Corp.'s Mountain Division, publishers of Ski and Skiing magazines, SkiNet.com, and producer of Warren Miller Films. Clark is a social media and word-of-mouth marketing expert, blogger, podcaster, and corporate advisor. He co-founded Room 214 Inc., a social media engineering agency focusing on delivering online visibility and viral social media campaigns. What It Means: It will likely pay to listen carefully to Perino. There are very few people around who can bring firing line experience from the White House Press Room podium and the Oval Office internal workings to bear on a presentation to a key mountain resort audience. The twin issues of energy and dealing with the media are both critical to the industry. « Previous Story | The Industry Report Home Page | Next Story » |
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