Hey, I’m live-blogging via free wi-fi from the 23rd annual Vermont Travel Industry Conference  at the uber-swank Equinox Resort in Manchester Vermont. Theme — “From Yesterday to Tomorrow: Marketing the Vermont Brand.” This conference draws folks from Vermont’s hospitality industry, as well as representatives from media ad departments, state government, educational institutions, etc. Needless to say, it’s a well-heeled affair.

There’s a lot of talk here about using the internet. There are sessions called “Websites that work for Vermont,” and “Marketing your website to capture real business, though I didn’t get to either one. There are also a bunch of web-related sponsors, like NoWirz, which implements wi-fi systems, and websites like ExploreNewEngland.com and VisitNewEngland.com. Oddly, though, nobody here seems to have a laptop. They’re all filtering into the hotel’s business center to check their email. Or maybe they’ve just left their laptops in their rooms.

I stopped in Rutland on the way down here, to see a nun. I saw a couple houses on Baxter Street that had peace-related displays out front, and snapped some pictures for posterity’s sake. This is what comes to mind when I think of the Vermont brand — outspoken, stubborn, creative, resourceful.

UPDATE: Here’s a link to the story I wrote about the conference in Manchester.

Seven Days’ deputy publisher and co-owner Cathy Resmer is a writer, editor and advocate for local journalism. She works in the paper’s Burlington office and lives vicariously through the reporters while raising money to pay them. Cathy started at Seven Days as a freelance writer in 2001 and still has the Rolodex to prove it. As the paper’s first online editor, she launched Seven Days email newsletters and started the paper’s first social media accounts. Cathy has overseen Kids VT, Vermont’s...