April 28th, April – A warm hello from the city that never sleeps, New York!
Sarah in NYC
It sure is an exciting time to be in New York. Spring has just arrived and the flowers are in bloom. The Roosevelt Hotel at Madison Avenue is swarming with buzzing journalists from all industries. I am one of the few foreign journalists present at the 44th annual writer’s conference organised by the American Society of Journalists and Authors.
In this moment, I am very grateful to Sarawak Convention Bureau for giving me this opportunity to be in the Big Apple for this conference and to be among leading writers in their respective fields.
It is Day 1 as I am writing this from the beautiful Bryant Park in midtown Manhattan, enjoying the sounds of carefree laughter from children as they ride the carousel and the gentle chirping of birds amid lush forestry.
The day started off with a great session on how to break into content marketing writing, something highly relevant in this day and age to our social media-laden world. Whether it is on business events or current events, writing timely and pertinent content for readers is something every journalist must be well-versed in.
We are competing in a fast-paced society of tech-savvy audiences and every second counts when it comes to getting your information out.
I was also excited to see a session on food writing – something I am personally interested in, having been running a food and travel Instagram and Facebook page (@foodievstheworld) since last October. I learnt much from very experienced writers in the field.
I am anticipating another great day tomorrow and I am so grateful to SCB and the Malaysia MICE Journalism Award initiative for giving journalists in Malaysia the chance to see how journalists from other parts of the world work.
