Sunday, September 20, 2009

My New Tnooz Gig with Kevin May

I'm taking on a new journalism assignment as the North America reporter for Tnooz, a global media brand for the travel industry which will tackle developments, small and large, related to travel technology.

Until we get under way, you can sign up on our website to be among the first to learn the details of this new venture.

We also have Facebook and LinkedIn pages where you can check us out.

Here's what's public so far (I know more but I ain't telling): The founders are Editor Kevin May and President and CEO Gene Quinn.

I am excited about the tasks at hand, the dialogue we are going to create with our readers, the buzz, the scoops, the posts and our prospects. Among the reasons for my optimism? These lads know what they are doing.

Kevin created a name for himself over the last few years as he essentially created the Travolution brand and tore up the European online-travel market with his unique analysis and gotta-be-there conferences.

Gene has made his mark in the wireless, travel technology and media industries. He has a track record in traditional and new media, and e-commerce, too.

The three of us have roots in traditional journalism. But, along the way, we got hooked on the whole technology thing and grew right along with it.

Kevin started as a police reporter/editor for the Police Gazette; my editorial initiation occurred as a cub reporter covering Trumbull Town Hall for the Bridgeport (Connecticut) Post; and Gene got his seasoning as the sports editor at a couple of big-city daily newspapers, including the Chicago Tribune.

What you are going to get from us is the most modern form of e-journalism and analysis, coupled with the highest standards.

We -- meaning the Tnooz team -- are going to cover the world. Kevin is rolling out the names of our editorial contributors, including Alex Bainbridge in the U.K., Claude Benard in France, and Charlie Li in China.

And, we're just getting started with our name-dropping. There are many more notable editorial contributors to be announced in the coming days. Think global and think thought-leaders.

I'm itching to get this thing started and can't wait to take it up several notches in my across-the-Atlantic collaboration with U.K.-based Kevin.

We started working together in December 2005 when he became editor of Travolution and I began writing its U.S. View column.

In the interim, I've became a huge fan of his blog, and I think he's read mine, too.

We penned a joint byline for Travolution a few months ago when DialAFlight began suing or threatening to sue TripAdvisor's HolidayWatchdog, Microsoft's Ciao and Travel Rants over dubious reader comments.

Now that Kevin has left Travolution and I've joined Tnooz, I'm confident a few more joint bylines will be forthcoming.

With your help and insights, we aim to fill a huge gap in the current state of travel-technology reportage.

We'll endeavor to be provocative and informative. We hope to drill down on travel-technology developments where others just scrape the surface.

We'll champion travel start-ups when they do something valuable, and we won't be afraid to point out their failings.

I'll leave it to Kevin to fill in the blanks about Tnooz and its direction.

Meanwhile, I merely want to say that it's great to be part of the Tnooz team.

Let's roll.

16 comments:

Martin said...

Dennis,
Best of luck with the new venture.
"We hope to drill down on travel-technology developments where others just scrape the surface."
Any additional insight you can bring to the industry in this area is to be welcomed.

Claude said...

Dennis,

I think Tnooz wil help you to switch your blog to Wordpress ;-)

BTW, I am happy to be in the Tnooz editorial team, new syngergies, new visions are on the way.

Best regards form Marseille

Claude

Dennis Schaal said...

Claude: Switching to Wordpress has been high on my agenda anyway. Definitely. And it will be great working with you in Tnooz. Can't wait to get this party started.

Dennis Schaal said...

Martin: Thanks about the Tnooz venture. Speaking of insights, I read your blog to get plenty of those regarding airline/technology developments. I used to live in a place called Shearwater Court. There must be something about it:)

Hotel-Blogs.com said...

Congrats. This is great to see such a team in action.

@Claude: maybe Dennis owns some Google stock so he needs to keep using Blogger to make it a sound acquisition from Google. :-) :-) (just kidding of course)

Did you know blogger was created by the founders of Twitter?

Guillaume

Happy Hotelier said...

Hey great news for y'all!

You're my heroes!

On an anecdotal side note I just returned from Paris and saw a strip exhibition at the Fondation Cartier featuring several strip heroes in an old age people's home
Batman immobile in a hospital bed
Spiderman with a rollator

I can envisage your team growing old together
Success!

Jan Peeters said...

Great news, just a thought: maybe travel journalism is growing up faster that the travel industry itself? Here in Belgium, www.travolon.com will be honoured to refer to and link with Tnooz.

Cara Kretz said...

Dennis,
Congrats! Sounds like a winning venture. Can't wait to be a subscriber.
Best,
Cara

Dennis Schaal said...

Thanks, Cara. I hope to be writing about algorithms and cloud computing and semantic search:) And ITA.......

Cara said...

I love it when you talk techie Dennis!

Dennis Schaal said...

Cara: ha!

Barry Smith said...

Just a big "Good Luck" to you and the rest of your new team.

Been following you for a fair while now - and have had the pleasure of talking football with Kevin on a few occassions, despite of who he supports.

Looking forward to the output of Tnooz.

Always a pleasure.
Barry

Costa Rica Hotels said...

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Flights said...

Hey Denis, I just gone through your whole blog. Your blog is fantastic. Just complete your assignment soon and start posting again.

Unknown said...

Good luck Denis! I've been following Tnooz for a while - what a great source of travel industry news!
I am sure you'll do great - loved your most recent post about your parents' flight experience.

Mark Mattson said...

Love your stuff!!