It’s been a crazy week so I wasn’t in tune to this one — but the awesome Karm at Vancity Buzz is holding a contest for two $100 gift certificates to Sabai Thai Spa. This will get you the value of one 60-minute traditional Thai Massage or nearly the cost of 90 minutes! A great way to try out a new type of massage before those back-to-school or Fall blues.

Check out the contest here – it’s easy to enter. Either post a comment on the blog and tell Vancity Buzz your favourite part of summer, or retweet this: “I entered to win 1 of 2 $100 gc’s to a @SabaiThai Spa experience via @VancityBuzz http://bit.ly/coWihJ  RT to Enter!“

The winner will be chosen after Wednesday, September 8, midnight.

And no, I will not be entering this contest!

***Update to workshop date and time:***
A workshop to demonstrate the new dances from Cuba (and classic programs) will be held on Thursday, September 16 from 9:00-10:00pm at the Scotiabank Dance Centre on 677 Davie & Granville Street. If you’d like to attend, RSVP at 604-708-2170 or at latidos (at) latidosproductions.com.

Every year, Founder Chen Lizra at Latidos trains with professional Cuban dancers (who hail from the National School of Art in Havana and National Folklore Group of Cuba) and tailors classes to the learning style of Canadians.  This term, the focus is on Women’s Styling with an array of intermediate programs for female dancers hoping to challenge their current dance skills with arm & hand styling and connecting the upper and lower body.  There are very interesting things to learn about how men dance and how women dance in Cuba and what their intentions are – in essence, it’s all about the connection and seduction. Women usually do all of the seducing.

Men can also take part in beginner and intermediate levels though, from a good workout class in Afro-Cuban Movements to Cuban Salsa, Levels 1 through 6.  If you’ve taken Salsa lessons elsewhere and don’t want to go back to basics, you can always skip levels if you have the instructor’s approval.

This term’s classes include:
- Beginner Afro-Cuban Movements for men and women
- Beginner Reggaeton for women
- Cuban Salsa Levels 1, 3, and 6 for men and women
- Intermediate Sueltas & Women’s Styling for women
- Intermediate Reggaeton for women

All programs are weekly for 10 sessions, starting as early as Sunday, September 19.  Each class is 1.5 hours long and an entire program is $145 (for Afro-Cuban Movements) to $160 (all other programs) + HST, so you’re only paying about $12 per hour, which is a great deal. There are also further discounts if you sign up with friends. And no, you do not need a partner to join Salsa – although there are usually 4 women to each man!

To register, go to LatidosProductions.com or call 604-708-2170. Prerequisites for the Intermediate classes are listed at the link above.

Here are the other new flyers for this term that you can download and forward to friends (click to enlarge):

Women’s Reggaeton

Women’s Reggaeton

Cuban Salsa

Cuban Salsa

Victoria Revay visited Sabai Thai Spa for what I believe was her first Thai massage. I’m glad because Sabai Thai is all about using natural (and high quality) products (no oils are used in Thai massage) and I knew it would be a good fit for the magazine.

Check out the article here.

Did you know? Victoria Revay writes on her own blog at victoriarevay.wordpress.com, was the first ever travel blogger for the Canadian Tourism Commission’s Media Centre, and is the co-founder of SPLRG.com. Think she’s busy much?

The survey was done via SurveyMonkey.com to editors (49%) and reporters or writers (26%). It’s quite lengthy to report ALL of the stats & observations, but I will repeat some of the ones I thought were worthy of blogging on.

Working conditions:
- 54% reported that editorial staff size decreased in the last year.
- Workload increased in the last year overall, but 26% reported no change in workload.
- 52% of journalists use social media to promote their work, with Facebook being #1 at 76.6% and Twitter a close second at 71.7%.

Media Relations Practices:
- 60% said the material received from PR people is written like advertising, not journalism. Definitely something we all need to improve on, apparently.
- 59.4% said the material received isn’t relevant to their work nor highlights why readers would care about the subject.
- 45% of journalists said that communications pros don’t understand which subjects they cover; similarly 27% of them said we don’t understand the subjects we’re pitching.
- 32% say they can’t find the name or # of the communications professional on the corporate website.
- 30% say they can’t find the info they need on a corporate website. (Sad!)
- 27% say they receive ideas from PR pros once per month or more, and 30% say even more frequently; every 2 weeks or more. Unless it’s a big corporation that affects mass readers, I’d try to stick to once a month at the most.
- Most journalists said that 20% or less of the stories they write are assisted or facilitated by PR people.
- 18% of journalists say that more than 60% of stories are helped by communications professionals, which is promising but still less than one-fifth of the whole lot.
- 5% say they are never helped by us.

Concerns with corporate communications or PR professionals
- 45.4% of journalists say they are annoyed when PR pros don’t know which beats they cover. 59% of trade publication journalists agree, and so do 57% of technology business journalists.
- 31.1% of us follow up releases with a phone call to see if it’s received. I personally really hate doing this, but if a week goes by without a response I call just to make sure they’re aware of the info. The people I’ve dealt with have been great with being able to use the info later, if not sooner.
- 20.8% don’t provide access to their clients when they’re needed. (Really?)
- 15.9% don’t return phone calls promptly enough. (Again – really? This is our job.)
- 13.9% of PR people don’t take “no” for an answer when a story idea is turned down. (Those people should be in sales, no?)
- 13.7% leave long voice mail messages.

Material received by journalists from communications or PR pros
- 68% of healthcare journalists echoed that PR pros sent material written like advertising, not journalism.
- 25% say the material sent contains too much jargon.
- 23.4% said the material is not clearly written, fails to focus on a story idea and say “Hey, does this company fit with anything you’re working on?”
- 12.4% said material contained typos or grammatical errors. Unacceptable in this era of spell-check!

Concerns with emails received from corporate communications & PR pros
- 52.2% say emails don’t tell why readers would care about the subject.
- 43.2% say emails don’t get to the point quickly enough.
- 26.3% say the email is too long.
- 23.5% say subject lines don’t grab attention.
- 10.6% say email wastes time with pleasantries. I’ve been told that journalists want a reminder of how we’ve worked together before, but I can also see how this can lead to a longer email than needed or wanted.

Professionalism of corporate communications & PR pros
- 57.4% say substantially professional.
- 27.7% say mostly professional.
- 12.5% say extremely professional.

How well PR pros meet or work with the editorial mission of media outlets
- 53.2% have some understanding.
- 22.8% have substantial understanding.
- 19.7% have poor understanding.

The stats were pretty nearly the same when asked how well PR pros understood journalists’ jobs and editorial focus.

Quality of writing in materials like news releases and email pitches
- 58.8% say somewhat skilled writing.
- 26.7% say substantially skilled writing.
- 11.8% say substandard writing.

Mastery that PR pros have of subject matter
- 48.9% say some understanding.
- 41.5% say substantial understanding.
- 6% say poor understanding.

At least we know we’re in the right fields, mostly!

Methods journalists use to let PR pros know how to work with them
- 61% say that this valuable info gets transmitted one-on-one over the phone. See, phone calls do come with benefits.
- 34.1% reveal them in surveys. (That most of us probably don’t read)
- 24.8% say they rarely or never reveal their preferences, which leads to the conclusion that this is one reason for why some of us are clueless about the best way to pitch them.
- 15.1% say they’re found on the media outlet’s website (I prefer this!)

Using social media to promote/publicize work
- 51.8% use social media. (Facebook and Twitter are the top 2 outlets used, with Linkedin following.)
- 48.2% do not.
- 59% of media don’t track pick-up mentions of their work referenced in social media or traditional media. In other words, most don’t care about who else picks up the story after they’ve written it.
- But, 41% do. And they should, if they want to keep their jobs.

My first piece of media coverage for Sabai Thai Spa was blogged today in Vitamin Daily. Thanks to Editor-in-Chief Sarah Bancroft for bravely sneaking out of work to try out Sabai Thai’s Signature Thai Herbal Compress Massage! It’s an ancient treatment that uses a steamed cotton compress filled with herbs. I’ve tried this service myself and I must say the heat feels REALLY good, even in summer!

Read the full blog here.

1) Filiere 13 – Week 2 – $939,571
2) Piche: En ciel et terre (Piche: Between Heaven and Earth) – Week 6 – $3,367,476
3) Hubble 3D – Week 22 – $1,407,200
4) Cabotins – Week 3 – $281,225
5) Les Amours Imaginaires (Heartbeats) - Week 9 – $489,148

On another note, a new Canadian documentary called Hugh Hefner – Playboy, Activist and Rebel, directed by Canadian Brigitte Berman, opens up this Friday in Vancouver, based on the early life of Hugh Hefner. I think of him as a womanizer – but did he break new ground for women and the way we view sex in society? Decide for yourself when this film opens.

Me avoiding the wax version of Hugh Hefner at Madame Tussaud’s in Las Vegas

A Canada Screens premiere of the film runs this Thursday – it may be too late to get tickets, but you can try the site and also at the door if they’re releasing them then.

If you’re able to see this film, please post comments!

1) Piche: Entre ciel et terre (Piche: Between Heaven and Earth) – 5 weeks – $3,122,008
2) Filiere 13 – 2 days – $243,956
3) Hubble 3D – 21 weeks – $1,294,629
4) Cabotins – 2 weeks – $273,858
5) Splice – 9 weeks – $2,141,246

Playback also reported today that Telefilm Canada (the film funding arm of the Government of Canada) is investing $11.3 million dollars into 22 films, including the sequel to Bruce McDonald’s 1996 film, Hard Core Logo. I could be wrong, but I think Americans were more gung ho on this film than we were when it came out because there are more metalheads down there. I watched it a few years ago and the mockumentary concert tour style just wasn’t my thing. But I guess the hard core Hard Core Logo fans will be happy.

Filiere 13 is a French-Canadian film starring Bon Cop Bad Cop‘s Patrick Huard. Please comment if you know if this film will be shown in Vancouver.

Last week I came back from my 4th trip to Las Vegas, 3rd if you don’t count when I went as a child. And I realized that Vegas is almost not a real city. Most of the action happens on the Las Vegas Boulevard strip, where most businesses are consumer-based (hotels, shops, nightclubs, restaurants, sex trade, and transportation). Nothing seems to close, and I have no idea where city hall would be. My aunt used to live off the strip, and in her area I can only remember seeing a lot of desert, heat waves, and roads leading to and from the strip.

So if everything happens within a few massive city blocks, why is Las Vegas one of the most visited cities in the world? Well, it’s how they run the place like a well-oiled machine. You will never find nothing to do there, and when things go wrong, we don’t see them, or are just too inebriated to notice.

1) Fulfill the basic demand.

On the Vegas strip, you won’t see one house. It’s all hotels, which means it’s all visitors. I was told by my shuttle driver that the biggest hotel in Vegas, Caesar’s Palace, held 5000 rooms. And they have valet parking just for their shops. Vegas is always building more to fulfill visitor demand. On the blocks with the most traffic, there are people handing out flyers advertising women to spend your night with. People take them, and after realizing they won’t be calling that 702 number, just throw them on the ground. But the sex industry in Vegas is huge – it drives their economy. So even despite the wasted paper and printing, day after day, you’ll see the same men and women flicking the flyers at your face (even if you are walking with your significant other) with big-bosomed Kelly on the front.

But you probably already knew all this.

In July, the weather was in the 40 degrees Celsius range (110+ F). 42 when we arrived at night, and up to 49 during the day. And what do people want when they’re sweating out their morning milk (or alcohol) as they walk the strip? Water.

At every walkway, corner, and shady sidewalk block there were men and women selling bottled water for $1 from portable coolers. And you can bet that we bought. Leo probably spent about $100 on water alone on our trip. One bottle went a long way for me, but he needed about 5 a day.

I’m not saying that in Vancouver it’s difficult to fulfill your basic needs, but in my city do often find myself wondering where I can get that cheap red belt without driving to and walking hours around a shopping mall. (Actually, I ended up getting the red belt in Vegas.) I wonder how many businesses would open and thrive if they only thought of a basic service that Vancouver could use.

2) Adjust your hours accordingly.

They call Vegas the city that never sleeps. And it’s true. Shops might close at night, but a lot of restaurants, clubs and bars are open until the wee hours of the morning. And it’s not because people love working the graveyard shift, but because business owners realized they could make money 24/7.

In Vancouver, I find a lot of the mom & pop shops close at the most important hours of the day when I need that quick photocopy or to pick up an order. And most local nightclubs here aren’t open past 3am, which makes the crowds spill out onto the street all at once for one big drunken fight. I think that if there were more after hours spots open – especially restaurants – it would both help businesses and satisfy the night owls’ need to party longer.

Our city does have some 24 hour joints, but I wonder how clean they are. Most of the malls I know still close at 6pm on weekdays. Some of the best restaurants I know of open just before lunch and then go til late with a DJ, and are still able to maintain a great look. But we could seriously hire more staff and keep businesses open longer if we tried.

3) Location, location, location, then market market market.

This is a weird one, because we’re talking about a city with one main street. So anything that gets built on the strip you can consider pretty successful. But everyone knows that most of the action is in the centre, between Sands and Tropicana Avenues. All the stuff here, you don’t even have to market because the traffic is there anyway.

It’s the other stuff off-strip – the Hooters Casino Hotel, the gun range, the naked bowling alley that’s rumoured to be at the Rio – that needs to be, and is, marketed. For this stuff, there are ads everywhere, from billboards to taxi lights to hotel TV commercials. And the thing is, it all works. No show gets cancelled because there’s a market for everything and everyone. And the stuff that does get old gets upgraded, like the free Mirago volcano show and the Sirens of TI show at Treasure Island (not that I agree with the cheesy dance upgrade!). Things that do not work in Vegas are gone before you notice it was there in the first place. Apparently the Jabbawockees show was so good, they brought it back for another week this month, and I just missed it!

In Vancouver there are so many businesses that come and go. The ones on Robson and Yaletown and other hubs stay forever if they do their marketing right, and the rest leave. The ones that aren’t on main streets have to do more work, but in my hood like Kingsway, you can have a dozen Chinese restaurants and they will all stay open because there is a market for it and they know how to reach it. So in Vancouver where things happen in many areas of the city, you’ve gotta find the ideal location for you, then market it right.

4) Find solutions to the bad stuff.

On top of Vegas never sleeping, you never see any of the bad stuff that’s so visible amongst the mountains and trees of “beautiful BC.” Garbage cans rarely overflow, and I used to wonder where I’d put all my empty water bottles once I was done with them. I learned from a little symbol on a trash bin that had a CODE GREEN logo on it (and some fine print), meant that recyclables would be separated at the disposal centre later. That made me feel much better about throwing away my bottles.

There are also no homeless people in Vegas. If there were, you couldn’t tell because everyone is drunk during the day anyway. The unemployment rate is 14.5% (much higher than what it is in BC), but you can’t tell because you can’t see any slums. I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a street off-strip where there were homeless people hanging out, but it doesn’t really matter anyway because the general visiting public will never know about it.

As for other unsightly things, well, there was the time during the recession last year when hotels were only half built. But I know that people were still visiting, so it’s obvious that the city was able to pick up ites development momentum again. The Trump Hotel is finished, so that’s always a good sign for American real estate.

5) Customer experience trumps all.

The most surprising thing I discovered in Vegas that I didn’t in previous trips is that customer service – but even more – EXPERIENCE – trumps all. If you read some of my restaurant reviews on MiddleChildReviews.com, you’ll read that at two of the fine restaurants I dined at had two servers per table – one to take orders and check in, and one to serve the food and refill drinks. At both restaurants, the server also refolded Leo’s napkin from his chair and put it back on the table.

Even if the food wasn’t outstanding, Leo and I were both wowed by the service, and not just from the restaurants: on our shuttle ride from the airport, each day we returned to our hotel room, the hotel security guards, the servers in the casino… you name it, there was no place I can remember where we received bad service. I even received a room change and discount 3 years ago when I got a late-night creepy phone call and knock on the door at Circus Circus (do NOT trust a clown-themed hotel!).

In Vancouver I see so many frustrated customers (regardless of whether or not the business was at fault) and businesses who fail to create great experiences. It’s no wonder people love getting married in Vegas – it may not have mountains nor Canadians, but damn, I’d take a serving staff there any day.

1) Piche: Entre Ciel et Terre (Piche: Between Heaven and Earth) – 4 weeks – $2,727,170
2) Cabotins – 1 week – $186,671
3) Hubble 3D – 20 weeks – $1,159,085
4) Les Amours Imaginaires (Heartbeats) – 7 weeks – $473,315
5) Mr. Nobody – 2 weeks – $25,805

1) Piche: En Ciel et Terre (Piche – Between Heaven and Earth) – 3 weeks – $2,169,062
2) Hubble 3D – 19 weeks – $1,028,757
3) Les amours imaginaires (Heartbeats) – 6 weeks – $456,277
4) Mr. Nobody – 1 week – $18,693
5) Splice – 7 weeks – $2,111,013

It’s another great week for French-Canadian cinema. Mr. Nobody is by a French filmmaker but stars Jared Leto and is in English. Never saw one ad for it. If you know that this film is showing in Vancouver, please post a comment on where and when it’s showing.

Hubble 3D is still going strong. I wonder if it’s because of all the elementary school fieldtrips.

On another note, I saw The Trotsky with Jay Baruchel on the plane ride back from Vegas. It was quite good – well written and funny. About a teenager who believes he’s the reincarnation of the socialist icon Leon Trotsky.

I encourage you to check it out when it comes out on rental. Here’s the trailer to get you going.