Welcome to GoLive CyberStudio 3

The Mid-Valley Travel Club solicits proposals, particularly from new speakers, for its two presentation formats. Most previous speakers have been independent travelers, but participants in group tours are equally welcome. Travel agents and other travel professionals may also contribute, so long as they do not promote any specific offerings at our meetings, which are designed to be strictly non-commercial.

A. Illustrated Talks on Specific Destinations

1) The Travel Club has a world-wide reach. Any specific destination or group of destinations is welcome, provided that it has not been featured already in the current or very recent season. This includes destinations in the USA.
2) Prospective speakers need either digital images, 35mm slides, or a combination of both.
The Library provides a digital image projector, but you need to bring your digital images on a laptop computer. If you bring a Macintosh laptop, you also need to bring the video adapter cable, the short white cable with one end that fits the "video out" port on your Mac (the other end fits the library's digital projector). All Mac laptops are sold with this adapter cable. If you don't own a laptop (either Windows or Mac), or if you own a Mac, but have lost the video adapter cable, contact the Club president (see contact form on the Home page) for technical advice. For slides, the library can provide a single 35mm slide projector, but we encourage you to bring your own, in case of a breakdown.
3) The ideal length of the talk is 50-55 minutes. Try not to exceed 60 minutes, in order to leave adequate time for questions and discussion; also, the audience can get restless after an hour. If you approach 65 minutes, the moderator may seek to cut you off!
4) If you would like to make a presentation, but you don't have sufficient images for a 50-60 minutes talk, notify the Program Chairman (see contact form on the Home page), who may be able to team you up with another speaker on the same or a related destination.
5) Please provide a summary of 6-7 lines or longer, preferably in electronic format, no later than six weeks prior to your presentation. We use the summary for:
[a] posting on the Club's website (www.midvalleytravelclub.org). Examples of recent summaries are archived on the site; as you will see, any reasonable length is acceptable.
[b] incorporation into the e-mail notification to members about the forthcoming Club meeting.
[c] publication in the monthly Friends of the Library newsletter. The Library's editorial staff does an excellent job of reducing a long summary down to their preferred length of 6-7 lines.
6) If you have relevant photograph albums and/or "show & tell" souvenirs, please bring them to the meeting for perusal after the talk. This invitation is also extended to audience members, whose material is likely to be of particular interest to the speaker.

B. Introduction of a "Travel Skills" Topic

1) These short talks, which are generally not illustrated, consist of a 5-7 minute introduction of some aspect of a particular travel skill, rather than a destination, to open a 10-15 minute discussion by the audience. You do not have to be the world expert on the topic; you simply need a willingness to share your experiences and the ability to stimulate discussion among the members of the audience. We are not going into competition with Rick Steves, but we do want to share our ideas and our local experience. It is particularly helpful when we can learn from each other’s mistakes, so please be prepared to confess!
2) Please provide a summary of any reasonable length, preferably in electronic format, for posting on the Club's website AFTER the meeting. If you have access to a copying machine without incurring personal expense, or if you can print additional copies on a computer, it would be kind if you could bring to the meeting about 10 copies for distribution to those members of the audience who do not have internet access. Previous summaries are archived on the website for your guidance. As the number grows, we hope that these summaries can become a useful reference for future travel planning.