Guest Blogs
Knowitall.ch often invites local experts in their field to contribute to their own blogs on our site. This means not only you will benefit from the useful recommendations that we make on our News pages, but you can also profit from some of the great advice and tips that these experts have to make on their favorite subjects. Whilst each of these bloggers has been recommended to us at some point during the evolution of Know-it-all passport and knowitall.ch, obviously we are not able to test out all the suggestions they make on their blogs, nor do we necessarily agree with all their opinions. So if you do find one of their tips useful (or not!), do let us know!
To make these blogs more accessible to you, we have now decided to group them altogether in one section, entitled Guest Blogs, accessible from our main menu bar. We will also post the most recent blogs on the home page of our site in the right hand column.
We are still building up this area of the site, and are looking for bloggers in a number of sections, including Your Home, Travel, and Leisure, so if you feel you have a useful contribution to make in either of these areas, and have the time to submit blog entries approximately every month, then please get in touch!
Photo courtesy of Women's Forum for Economy and Society
By Claire Doole, Claire Doole Communications
The audience is king in communications. Whether giving a presentation, talking to the media, or writing a document, who matters most is the viewer, listener or reader. What do you want them to do, feel or say as a result of your communications?
How strange this is too often forgotten when organising a conference.
I am sure you have attended conferences where death by PowerPoint was a real possibility or panel discussions where the moderator runs out of time for the Q and A session with the audience.
Have a read of this article by Guardian journalist, Duncan Green, entitled "Conference rage: How did awful panel discussions become the default format?"
He says, "a badly run conference is not only a lost opportunity, but a waste of time. How can we improve them?"
He gives a lot of good ideas, but doesn't mention how technology can really make a difference, putting the audience back in the driving seat.
Legoland Windsor Resort Fireworks
By Rachel Beacher, Journalist
Back in the days before the British government was intent on destroying itself, Guy Fawkes was infamous for his foiled attempt to blow up the House of Lords.
The thwarting of this 17th century terrorist plot is remembered every year in the UK with public fireworks displays across the country.
These days the celebrations span several weeks up to 5 November, with some of the best Bonfire Night shows at amusement parks, where you can stay in on-site hotels if you choose to travel for the weekend. Here is a selection of this year's events, most of which are just a short flight away in the UK.
Legoland, Windsor, Berkshire
27 and 28 October
Ninjago-themed displays, where you can use 3D glasses to watch the fireworks explode into thousands of tiny Lego bricks. The shows mark the opening of Lego Ninjago World and coincide with a Brick or Treat Halloween festival, which runs until 30 October. Under-threes go free. The park has two hotels that look like they've been built out of giant Lego bricks.
Nearest airport: Heathrow
By Tara Lissner, Swiss Gardening School
This perfect light, golden tones all around and cooler temperatures gently ease us into this new season of Autumn. The summer bedding is fading but trying to hang on continuing to perform in the sunshine, the summer veggie plot is almost at an end with the soft herbs going to seed and the green tomatoes fooling us into thinking that they may ripen on the vine (they will not), the lawn is showing signs of worm casings and a scattering of colourful leaves greets us ever morning – a time of change.
It has to be said that this summer was really fantastic, long days of warm sunshine, almost enough rain to keep the lawn green and that perfect blue sky. A hot summer like this reminds me to take a closer look at my garden. It brings to the forefront the areas I will need to concentrate on when the guests have departed and the rosé is finished. And so the list begins; add even more mulch to keep greater moisture in the beds, explore even more fully hardy but drought resistant perennials to reduce watering, reconsider the choice of planting for the vegetable plot when a holiday is planned – goodness I’m beginning to see a pattern, all of these issues revolve around water, the lack of rain and the need to irrigate. This may have something perhaps everything to do with the fact that I have a south facing garden on a hill with clay soil. Oh the work!
By Sunita Sehmi, Walk The Talk
The Hotel Valrose in Rougemont, Switzerland is a delightful property, located a few minutes from the ski slopes in Switzerland's Lake Geneva region. It was constructed in 1904 to coincide with the opening of the Montreux-Oberland Bernois railway in the Pays-d'Enhaut district. The hotel is being managed by Florian Carrard, a former chef at the Lausanne Palace. This venture was the idea of Jean-Jacques Gauer, a former director of the Lausanne Palace, and Edgar Bovier, executive chef at the Palace. I was very fortunate to spend a weekend there and interview one of the investors, John Grohe, a business man with a soul and a deep desire to connect communities. I hope you enjoy his interview as much as I did.
What was the idea behind revamping, redesigning and rejuvenating the Valrose and how did the project become a reality?
My brother and I have always had a deep connection to Rougemont, as our father has been living here for many years, and thus spent a lot of time here with our own families. For all the residents, and us, seeing this establishment closed was a real shame. The discussion to define the project began in 2013, with our friend Edgard Bovier (Chef at the Lausanne Palace, and Rougemont resident) and Jean-Jaques Gauer (former Director of the Lausanne Palace), and later on a couple more partners. It did not take much time for us to be convinced and motivated to rehabilitate the Valrose – as the land was acquired in 2014. We are all lovers of the village and of good food, so it was important for us to create something reflecting that.
By Dean Marriott
This summer I made the move from Morges to Berlin. After 4 years in Switzerland, the time was right for a change.
I had bought my apartment in Berlin some 10 years ago with the intention of one day taking advantage of this wonderful city. Having studied in Germany as part of my undergraduate program, I always knew that eventually I would return and hopefully revive my hibernating language skills.
The curious thing about language is how dynamic it really is – it evolves without you even noticing. That is unless you have been out of that linguistic framework for some 25 years! Indeed, it’s proving difficult to substitute my antiquated German expressions for the modern parlance, especially when it feels that I am adopting the persona of an MTV presenter, injecting apparently ‘cool-sounding’ English words into an otherwise standard German phrase. I never thought that I would feel empathy for the Académie française, but sometimes I can’t help it.
Anyway, as part of my integration into my new world, I felt that I should embrace change wholeheartedly. So, what better way to face this head on than to join a gym. But not just any old gym. Oh no. This is a gym where I only need to (in fact I am limited to) attend a maximum of 3 times per week for a maximum duration of 20 minutes per session. Sceptical? I certainly was. So, I signed up for a free trial.
