SAN FRANCISCO, CA (Jan 26, 2012) - Kred, a leader in influence measurement, announced today that Porter Gale has been named Lead Advisor of its Kred Stars and Kred Leaders programs. Gale will be Kred’s chief evangelist to marketing executives and influence marketing advocates in the social media community.

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“…so once you have identified these influential bloggers, what do you do with them?”

The question comes up a lot, and I am very happy to provide my advice, however the question seems to come up just a little too often for me at the tail end of 2011 from large, global PR agencies who you would think have already nailed blogger engagement…

At this point in the conversation, I figuratively take off my “PeopleBrowsr” (read: vendor) hat and put on my blogger hat.

Agencies like this, because they rarely get to meet an active, respected and long-term blogger with a senior role in a vendor company providing social media analytics (and this issue alone could fill up another blog post).

I am always more than happy to provide free and impartial blogger advice to my clients and prospective clients as I believe I am in a privileged position, being paid to work in an industry I love, and meeting lots of interesting people along the way.

I often cite a couple of personal blogger engagement examples

1. Vodafone 360 Blogger SIM – where Vodafone provided myself and 4 other bloggers with a global SIM card (£500/month limit) and encouraged us to “blog for a year about Vodafone 360 on us”.

Hats off to the then head of communities Bob Rapp who supported this initiative. Unfortunately at the end of the 12 months, there was no on-going dialogue with these Global Vodafone ambassadors – shame really as I continue to play this unpaid role for Vodafone on a weekly basis.

2. Mark Hopkins Intercontinental – read about how one tweet secured me an upgrade to a suite at this prestigious San Francisco landmark, as well as free internet for my stay – a great example of blogger engagement. The post is now used an internal training resource for the Intercontinental Hotels Group worldwide.

World’s best practice blogger engagement

The best example (and one that will never be repeated) of blogger engagement involves Her Majesty the Queen.

Her super-smart media advisers thought it would be a good idea to invite those journalists AND bloggers who are covering (or are likely to cover) her Diamond Jubilee in 2012 to a reception in November at Buckingham Palace. The big guns were rolled out for this event – the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and the Prince of Wales and Camilla were there as well. They even had a hashtag ready – #diamondjubilee. Not a bad Royal line-up for a bunch of journos and bloggers!

Assuring a Twitter “photo op”, they set aside the East Gallery of Buckingham Palace as a “Tweet Suite” – a smart touch guaranteeing coverage by those invited bloggers and twitter journalist/celebs.

Phillip Schofield shared a picture with his Twitter followers from the Tweet Suite (as did most of the other twitter savvy guests there on the night).

I am not sure who drew up the blogger list (well advised obviously), and there is no guarantee of favourable coverage from bloggers (or Journalists) ever, but when they file their copy on the Golden Jubilee, I am sure they will look back to the event in November 2011 when they met the subject of their post (and William and Catherine).

The smart courtiers decided that in the age of social media, if you can’t beat them – join them and hence ensured that enough bloggers of note would find an invitation to meet HM the Queen irresistible and also feel the need to show off that they had net the Queen with a tweet from the Tweet suite.

What a pity Royal protocol still forbids a one-handed “self portrait instagram with the Queen” from your mobile.

In answer to “so what do you do with the bloggers once you find them?” – here are some quick tips

1. Just as the Queen did – give them something money can’t buy – an exclusive, advance viewing/trial, meet someone from your brand or your brand ambassador ie give them something to blog about!

2. Bring them into your office and meet them! You will not realise how powerful this can be to acknowledge the work of a blogger

3. If nothing else – call them – don’t just tweet, reach out and put a voice to the brand – and make sure you DO read their blog before you call.

4. Follow up and stay in touch – after you’ve met them, ensure you keep in touch.

5. Use influencer identification and measurement tools such as Kred (disclosure: I work as UK CEO of PeopleBrowsr, makers of Kred) to find those “local rock stars” that would love to be in touch with your brand.

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Google have the money and the reach to pull this off, and they have partnered with the citizen’s advice bureau to look at issues in 4 main areas

1. Staying safe online

2. Your data on the web [and how it makes websites more useful]

3. Your data on Google [and how it makes Google services more profitable]

4. Manage your data

The whole campaign can be accessed via

http://www.google.com/goodtoknow

Google has to balance that fine line in promoting to consumers why cookies and IP location, preferences etc are a good thing (for them and advertisers) as well as outlining the issues and explaining how to stay in control.

These ads have appeared in newspapers (consecutive full page ads), outdoor in underground stations and also on digital escalator panels in tube stations – so a pretty broad (and expensive) campaign.

The ads can also be used to educate children about how the web works and how Google sometimes “knows” where you are also how it manages to anticipate your typing mistakes.

Examples of the campaign can be seen below (click on each one for a larger view)

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Specifically I asked “when will I be able to see how long it is until my bus turns up via my mobile?”.

What I was after was a mobile version of those bus countdown screens that are located at some major stops in London.

He teased me at the time by saying “watch this space”.

Little did I know, a few weeks later, the beta version of the TFL countdown site was launched.

I extensively tested the beta service and saw it move into a live service a few weeks ago with some extensive publicity.

The service is nothing short of brilliant, and it is super simple to use.

Each and every bus stop now has a fairly prominent sticker on the bus stop pole (example below) which asks you to send a code to the SMS bus service (87287).

Instantly, the SMS version of the service sends back the next few buses due at that stop.

There is of course a mobile version, and it even allows you the option to show stops near you by geo-locating your phone (with your permission of course).

In testing the service, I can only assume that it does take a live feed from the TFL bus positioning system that feeds the exact GPS position of each bus into a central server.  I say this because the service has been super accurate. If it says the bus is “due” then I can normally see it approaching.  When I have seen a bus stuck in traffic or roadworks, the arrival time updates in real time.

Not only is this a somewhat simple use of technology (exposing a huge live database of bus locations and routes to an SMS or mobile site interface), it has saved me time and frustration on nearly a daily basis.

When racing to get Miss 5, @madeleinegrill off to school via bus (we are a 3 minute walk from the nearest direct bus to school), I can pull up my own bookmarked list of frequently used stations and see if we should race to the stop or take it easy.

I use the service so often I have even set up my own bus arrivals portal with my most frequent stops in a list, with a link to the search page for stops I don’t visit regularly.

You don’t need to do this, as the mobile site’s search engine lets you search via one of the following: street, postcode, route number or bus stop code and even shows you every bus stop on the route – so in just a few clicks you can get the live and real-time bus arrivals information you need.

I use the service so that when packing up in my local Starbucks (right outside a bus stop), I can now look up how far the bus is away and quickly down my coffee, or drink it at a more leisurely pace depending on how far away my bus is.

While there have been many posters around London about the new service, I don’t believe many travellers have yet latched onto the service and how easy it is to use.

I even used the SMS lookup to demonstrate in a workshop to a client about mobile and social how a simple SMS <> database service could be used.

Everyone in the group could immediately see how easy and simple it was to us, although none had heard of it, or knew what the stickers at the bus stops were all about.

If you catch a bus in London on a regular or even infrequent basis, then the Transport for London Bus Countdown service is a must!

You can get to the mobile version by bookmarking http://lc.tl/bc

More Governments around the world should look at launching their own version of this service – perfect if they already have a live feed of their bus fleet’s location.

This service gets my mobile service of the year award for 2011!

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As I have one of the few commercially available NFC handsets in the UK (a Blackberry 9900), I decided to turn on the NFC function and tap my phone on the big blue NFC logo.

When I did this, this is what I received (click on all images for larger view)

Clicking on the link delivered the following

The Canon winter cashback offer directed me to www.canon.co.uk/wintercashback

which is a NON mobile optimised website, as a result of a mobile NFC read on a poster that is outdoors.

NFC fail – so NFC yet so far – a long way to go Clear Channel.

I know that your London Digital 6 sheets are all the rage, and you are promoting “interaction through NFC and social media”, but you need to make the target content viewable on a mobile!

A few weeks ago, one of the panels on this outdoor screen encouraged me to “tweet how you’re feeling as a colour to @cc_play”

I did this – received no response and I am the ONLY follower of the @cc_play account!

If this is interaction through NFC and social media in 2011 then we have a loooong way to go!

I wonder how many advertisers being sold the “London Digital 6 sheets” are being given the NFC/twitter stats on these posters?

Hats off to Clear Channel for trying though!

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I remember my first “sales” call back in 2001 when I had just taken the position of CEO of PropertyLook, an online commercial property marketplace.

Having held technical, marketing and client side business development roles until this point, I had never needed to make a “sales call” to someone I had never met – the cold call.

Needless to say, my 1st cold call was not so bad, so I followed it with another and thousands of calls later, I find myself wanting to help others with their business development activities using social media.

One of the softest ways to introduce yourself to a new prospect is via what I am coining the “eTap”, where you sensitively use LinkedIn and Twitter to provide a very gentle “tap on the shoulder” to say hello.

This should lead to a warmer reception when you do email or call them, as they will know that you exist, and have some expectation of a contact request in the not-too-distant future.

Here is how it works:

1. Make sure you are on LinkedIn and have a premium (paid) account.

2. Ensure your LinkedIn privacy settings are set to “your name and headline” on the ”select what others see when you’ve viewed their profile” option

3. Look up your target on LinkedIn

4. The very action of doing this will be an eTap as they will be able to see you looked at their profile by using the “who viewed my profile” feature that can be accessed via http://lc.tl/vmp when logged in (this requires them to have a premium paid account to access the WVMP feature).

5. If they have a twitter account linked to their profile, click on the follow button to follow them on Twitter directly from this page.

These simple actions will tell your intended target that you HAVE done your homework, and you are interested in their background and what they have to say on Twitter.

I use this technique myself, as I know it works in reverse – I am always interested in doing a spot of “reverse stalking” and seeing who it is that has chosen to look at my LinkedIn profile and do some research on me.

The image on the left (click for larger view) is the “who’s viewed my profile” list and shows who has recently viewed my profile.

As you can see from the larger view, there is a mix of full names, job titles and companies along with “someone” at company X as well as “anonymous Linkedin user”.

Unless you change your privacy settings (see screenshots below – click for full size image) under the link “select what others see when you’ve viewed their profile” to “your name and headline”, then all of that eTappping will be in vain as the person you want to tap on the shoulder with a virtual “hello” will not know it was you.

[top tip] make sure your privacy settings for your who viewed my profile are set to open – I much prefer knowing who has looked at me rather than guess and look at the company name.

Having your full name appear on my who viewed list tells me you are open and honest from the start and want to build a relationship with me rather than just sell me stuff.

The Twitter follow also forms part of the eTap strategy as there are 2 types of twitter users:

1. Those who check their new follower numbers on a regular basis

2. those who are lying (ie we all check our twitter followers from time to time).

I check these new followers to see what content I am tweeting and blogging is resonating.  It is not just some popularity contest. I want new followers because what I am saying is useful, and therefore the more I know about what content drives new followers,  I can ensure my content (tweets, photos, blog posts etc) is welcomed by my followers.

If I am contacted by someone who is already following me on Twitter (or has just started as part of an eTap), then I am generally more receptive because I can see that they have taken some time to see what makes me tick, so I allocate them more time our of the professional courtesy and respect they have shown me in doing their research.

Have you tried eTapping people before you meet? What has been your experience? Please leave a comment below of send me a tweet to @andrewgrill

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Lately, my role with PeopleBrowsr has seen me in San Francisco on a regular basis.

One of the most popular posts on this site is the one about saving costs on data roaming – share this with your friends via http://lc.tl/dr

I have been using a number of MiFi hotspots for the last year or so when I travel with a local data SIM inside to run my phone, iPad and laptop from the one device, I am not being stung by hideous data roaming costs.

To date I have owned both E585 MiFi and E586 mobile hotspots from 3 and also the R201 from Vodafone.

Each has their own benefits, and as each new one is released, the features improve.

As I travel to the US a lot, I was hoping that the new E586 MiFi from Three would live up to the promise of 1900 UMTS (AT&T support this here in the US).

I was sadly disappointed as there is no US 3G support on this device even though all of the reviews (and the manufacturer) said this was true.

Luckily the Vodafone R201 does support 1900 UMTS, however it is a fairly bulky unit.

So imagine my delight when in San Francisco on Sunday and I wandered into the nearby T-Mobile shop.

They had on display their Sonic 4G mobile hotspot which is not much larger than the E585/E586, and packs some impressive specs. Needless to say, I grabbed one.

• DC-PA+: 42Mbps (Downlink) 5.76Mbps (Uplink)
• HSPA+/HSPA/UMTS 2100/1700 AWS/2100/1900/900/850MHz
• Smart Media sharing, Smart Routing, Smart Surfing
• WiFi 802.11b/g/n
• Rechargeable 2200MAh capacity battery
• Micro SD Card Slot: up to 32 GB
• Size: 102.0 x 56.0 x 15.5 mm

Translating this , DC-PA+ = double carrier. This allows you to take advantage of networks such as T-Mobile USA and Telstra Australia that have upgraded their HSPA networks (marketed here as 4G) to permit “up to“ 42MB/s download.

In practice in San Francisco, I experienced a peak download of over 13Mb/s, and regularly saw between 4-6MB downloads in the SOMA area – quite impressive speeds!

I unlocked the device via Swiftlocks (ebay link here) and now can use it on any GSM/UMTS network!

Using my AT&T data SIM on the faster isp.cingular APN I could only manage 2-3MB/s maximum speeds on the same unit. proving that the T-Mobile network really is fast!

The T-Mobile data plans are reasonable for prepay – you can get 3GB for $50 (30 day expiry), or 1GB for $30.  This is compared to the AT&T Data connect pass which only gives you 1GB for $50 (30 day expiry).

Some of the other improvements in the E587 include

• more intuitive web interface (really nice to navigate)
• better APN profile management
• Allows the ability to auto power off (or not) after 10-30 mins when on batteries
• Extra capacity 2200MAh battery
• The back cover slides of easily for SIM change (no broken fingernails)

As the frequencies in the T-Mobile variant support the funny AWS frequencies (2100/1700 UMTS) as well as the EU 2100MHz 3G, AND 900/850MHz 3G frequencies used in Australia, this means that I now truly have ONE MiFi that will work at fast speeds in pretty much any of the countries I visit on a regular basis.

If you travel a lot internationally, this could be the device for you.

FOOTNOTE: As I now have the E587 I am selling my old MiFis on eBay.

If you want an unlocked E586 (Great in UK, Europe and US at HSPA+ 21.6 MB/s speeds) head to http://lc.tl/586 to bid.
if you travel to the US, have a look at my unlocked Vodafone R201 (up to 7.2MB/s and works on AT&T in the US).  Bid via http://lc.tl/201

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I arrived over the weekend, so had a chance to indulge in some retail therapy on a wet Sunday afternoon.

What struck me is that everywhere I went, people were talking about or promoting Black Friday sales.

Black Friday is the day following Thanksgiving Day in the United States, traditionally the beginning of the Christmas shopping season.

On this day, most major retailers open extremely early, often at 4 a.m., or earlier, and offer promotional sales to kick off the shopping season, similar to Boxing Day sales in the UK and Australia.

From what I hear it is crazy here with people lining up overnight to grab a bargain.

I read an interesting story in the New York Times that explained how some of the online retailers and less well known chains are using mobile-only offers timed for 6 a.m. — precisely when shoppers are expected to be waiting outside or in line at the big stores.

This is a really smart use of mobile, and talks to the one of the allures of mobile that Alan Moore speaks of – it is there at “the point of creative impulse”.

The NYT article also talks about retailers removing point of sale barcodes to prevent shoppers from doing mobile price comparisons.

Indeed there have been reports of shoppers being prevented from even writing down prices in a Tesco store.

Interestingly though, stores such as Tesco are now offering free WiFi in-store (when linked to a Tesco Clubcard) which you would think could make it easier for shoppers to compare prices while in a Tesco store.

Expect consumers to become more and more savvy with their mobiles and being able to perform real time price checks in one store, and then visit another, or even buy it from a competitor on their mobile while in a particular store.

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“we are VC funded so don’t have to worry much about hosting costs…”

Having worked for about 6 startups over the last 10 years (none of them VC funded incidentally), this was probably the most arresting thing I have heard all year.

To be fair, it was not the CEO of the company talking, but what was perhaps more worrying was that the Gen Y chap presenting probably believed this from something that has been said at a more senior level.

It reminded me of back in the late 90s and early 2000 when dotcom valuations were sky-high and Wired, Business 2.0, Fast Company and Red Herring (remember the last 3?) regularly published 200+ page editions filled with the promise of blue sky investments.

Having worked in the start-up space for so long, I know first-hand what can happen when you don’t have your costs controlled, or have inexperienced management who are making mistakes for the first time with a large amount of funding in the bank.

I was involved in an Australian start-up a few years ago (personally invested my own money also), and saw a company with a bright future, some smart technology with a $MM investment struggle, the result being the company was wound up and the IP sold for a song.

So when I hear “we’re VC funded so we don’t have to worry about costs”, I immediately sense a company that is not in control of their own destiny and reliant on other people for success (or the hope of it).

My strong advice as a multi-startup veteran is if you are Gen Y and are in a start-up, treat the money invested by the VCs or Angels to get you started as if it was your own money invested and spend it wisely.

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For those of us for which this is our first taste of an Olympics in our home town or country, some of the antics such as Visa’s exclusive position as the only way to buy Olympic tickets and merchandise seem anti-competitive.

The Telegraph story talks about how the local organising committee (LOCOG) has struck a deal with BT and mobile operator O2 to be the exclusive provider of mobile services in the Olympic hospitality areas at the 2012 games.

Having been involved with the Sydney 2000 games while working for Telstra, I have seen first-hand how an Olympics machine works.

The Visa arrangement existed 11 years ago in Sydney, and you could only buy a ticket to the games with a Visa card.  Virtual Visa cards did not exist back then, and so I had to rely on a friend to buy the tickets with her Visa card and pay her back to secure my opening and closing ceremony tickets ($1,200 each back then).

Just as one mobile operator (in this case O2) seems to have an unfair advantage, in Sydney at the 2000 games, official provider Telstra was also in the box seat.

Telstra built their millennium network (archived website here) to carry all voice, data, TV signals from the games to the world.

They also installed a massive GSM network in the Olympic stadium and surrounds at the Homebush site.

Literally every light pole along Olympic Boulevard contained a GSM micro-cell to help with phone coverage and capacity around the site.

At the peak events such as the opening and closing ceremonies (both of which I attended), there were 110,000 spectators in the stadium.  Telstra’s planning had to accommodate the fact that at any one time, half of these spectators would be making or receiving a call.

With the help of more microcells inside the stadium, as well as picocells in the stadium roof with directional antennas pointing to the seats below, it was estimated that the stadium GSM network alone was the same size as Adelaide’s GSM network (a city of some 1M people at that stage).

Other networks (at the time Vodafone and Optus) were not afforded the same planning privileges, so had to serve their GSM customers using existing local cells.

In fact I had my parents call me several times during the opening ceremony on my (Telstra) mobile and there were absolutely no congestion of interference issues – and that was with just a 2G 900/1800 GSM network.

It is probably fair that if O2 has agreed to sponsor (ie fund) part of the games, then they should be able to place additional equipment in the hospitality areas.

To correct some of the comments on the Telegraph article, O2 are not jamming or blocking competitor signals, instead they will have the best and least congested signals around particular areas of the games.

In 2012, we should expect massive mobile internet traffic at the games sites (something we did not have to plan for in 2000 – GPRS was 2 years away) and this is likely to be the largest problem LOCOG faces.

At the 2012 London games many visitors will want to browse the Games mobile portals for information, tweet, as well as update their Facebook profiles and send pictures, all from their mobile.

What is amazing is that back in 2000 all we had to do was send voice and SMS traffic!

See my Sydney 2000 Olympic games photos on Flickr.

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Much of the first morning was spent talking about “millennials” and how to market to them.  The conference venue was the Crowne Plaza right on Times Square, and perhaps a coincidence, one block away was a Time Magazine billboard (click for larger view).

The caption says “overeducated, underemployed, wildly optimistic”

Seeing it reminded me of a May 1999 full page advertisement in the Australian Financial Review (think WSJ/Financial Times) promoting their sister magazine the “Business Review Weekly” (BRW). Click for larger view.

This ad was run in a similar vein.  The main copy reads

“Positions Vacant:
Team leader for exciting
new e-Business. Successful
applicant should be disloyal,
break rules, reset authority,
and flout dress codes. CBD,
$150K+ options”

The ad appeared at the height of the dotcom boom in 1999 and was designed to promote the BRW as a place to read all about the new economy.  Back then I was earning $A150K and I was working in the dotcom area of Telstra called Telstra.com – exciting times!

In 2001 I went on to become CEO of PropertyLook, an online commercial property portal, right after the dotcom crash.

The copy below the orange text reads

The new e-conomy isn’t just redefining the future of business.
It’s completely upending the qualities expected of the middle and senior executives who drive it.
Shareholders who’ve tasted the multiples that pour from online now demand more than old style wealth maintenance – instead wealth creation.

The kind provided by the shock troops of the hot desk world. The best of whom are a lore unto themselves.
Yet, tangible businesses still needs loyal staff, and losing them can be costly.

Does grey hair still matter? Or is it just grey matter?
Stewardship or entrepreneurship? Project or permanence?

How do you follow business changes that are happening by the job lot?
With the business magazine that employs the widest field of vision.

So while the Time ad at the top is much cleaner and exists in 2011, it is interesting to see how little really has changed since 1999.

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He was speaking on a panel at a CMO lunch organised by @JeffreyHayzlett and we chatted afterwards.

On the panel, Jeff mentioned that he was a Ham radio operator. For those Generation Y/ Millennials out there, Ham radio (also known as Amateur radio), describes the use of “designated radio frequency spectrum for purposes of private recreation, non-commercial exchange of messages, wireless experimentation, self-training, and emergency communication.”

Ham radio operators are well known for providing assistance in natural disasters when all other communications have failed.

Jeff mentioned his message to @usairforce during the Haiti earthquake when Doctors Without Borders tweeted they could not land their plane.

@AnnCurry famously tweeted

@usairforce find a way to let Doctors without Borders planes land in Haiti: http://bit.ly/8hYZOK THE most effective at this

which went on to be voted the most powerful tweet of 2010.

Jeff mentioned he retweeted this and was then followed by @USAirforce.

When Jeff mentioned he is a Ham radio operator, I thought back to 1995 when I was at School in Adelaide, and was part of an after-school ham radio club.

The power of global communications became clear when I contacted a US expat in Japan using the 15 metre (21MHz)  band.  I found him by transmitting “CQ DX this is VK5ASP” which translates to “is anyone out there that would like to talk to me, I am in South Australia”.  The Vk5 part of the callsign identifies this.

Later on, I sat for my own amateur radio licence and was granted the callsign VK5ZEZ (I no longer a a licenced amateur radio operator).

After the session at the Pivot conference, Jeff and I remarked that ham/amateur radio is probably one of the first examples of “social” media – when dissected we can see the parallels – namely:

1. it is a broadcast mechanism – anyone “tuned in” to a specific frequency can hear you

2. It identifies each person uniquely by a callsign (and tells you where they are in the world by the callsign)

3. Contains people that are generous and want to help you (this has always been true of ham operators)

4. It is two way in that one person speaks (transmits) and others listen, then it is your turn to join the conversation

Jeff and I talked about CB radio vs Ham radio and agreed that CB radio was a bit like spam (anyone could buy a transmitter and start talking), however with ham radio, you must be licenced and take a test.  This means that other ham radio operators know that you have a certain level of proficiency and know the “rules” of the community.

So in many ways, not only is Ham radio probably one of the first examples of social media, it also accurately describes a global community.

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or this

You haven’t had your account “hacked”, but I bet you have recently tried that latest free tool to show you how many people followed you recently etc and provided it with access to your twitter account.

To stop you looking silly, here is what you do in 3 easy steps to revoke Twitter authorisation to applications to tweet on your behalf.

Step 1

On Twitter.com, click the dropdown under your name on the RHS of the page and select “Settings” (click for larger view)

Step 2

On the next menu select “Applications”  (click for larger view)

Step 3

Click the “Revoke Access” button for each and EVERY application that is not essential.  The latest ones there are most probably the ones sending DMs on your behalf.  In my example below this is not the case though. (click for larger view)

Step 4

Use a paid for and responsible tool such as @PeopleBrowsr (free 7 day trial) to manage your twitter presence.

Remember if the product is free, then the product is me (and thus your reputation online).

Don’t look silly, de-authorise spammy apps NOW!

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McGraw-Hill Professional’s most recent publication, “The Zappos Experience”, written by best-selling author Joseph Michelli, bridges the gap between the printed and digital world using QR codes embedded in over 15 individual chapters.

Link.Me is the start-up behind this unique publishing solution, bringing the print edition of the “The Zappos Experience” to life.  Scan a code with your smartphone and directly access supporting multimedia content such a Facebook page devoted entirely to “Delivering Happiness” or video clips sharing peek into the Zappos conference room and an epic Nerf battle at Zappos headquarters.

“This is one of the first times that a publisher is embedding QR Codes throughout a book, not just on the jacket,” says Antony McGregor Dey, CEO at Link.Me.

“This interactive experience really enhances the reader’s level of engagement and creates a modern twist on a favorite pastime.”

It’s modern twist with foresight into future trends as publishers are looking for new ways to adapt to a digital world. With publishing companies facing an uncertain frontier combating the threat of e-readers, tablets and new multimedia channels, Link.Me offers a creative and cost effective alternative for publishers print titles, while retaining the digital experience that readers are beginning to expect.

Unique user experience aside, the Link.Me platform is also giving McGraw-Hill new insights into readers habits. “Link.Me is all about connecting brands to their retail customers,” says McGregor Dey. “We use our mobile Tags coupled with compelling mobile content to encourage readers to register directly with the brand.

Using the Link.Me platform, McGraw-Hill has direct access to their readers for the first time, enabling a relationship built through interactive content.”

Link.Me’s expertise aligned seamlessly with McGraw Hill’s vision creating a mutually beneficial relationship.

Joseph Michelli, Ph.D., is also known for The New York Times bestseller “The Starbucks Experience.” In “The Zappos Experience”, Michelli distils the five primary leadership principles and core values that enhance the customer experience, increase employee engagement, and drive innovation. The book is available at all national retailers October 2011.

Link.Me is a tech start-up with an extensive background in mobile and CRM that specializes in connecting publishers directly to their reading audience through cutting edge mobile technologies. The Link.Me platform not only delivers compelling content but also builds a long term relationship between brands and their retail customers. Link.Me is quickly building a new media and marketing channel for retail brands.

To learn more about Link.Me:
Website: http://link.me
Email: info@link.me
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/linkmeCRM
Twiter:@linkmeCRM

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• New York Times article on the use of QR codes in retail and on TV
• I remain a QR code skeptic – here is why

The resulting article “Scan-to-Buy Gets a Trial on Television” appears at lc.tl/nytqr

As a well known QR sceptic, I thought it worthwhile publishing the questions Stephanie put to me as well as my full answers, some of which made it to the article.

NYT: advertisers and media companies seem wild about QR codes; what’s your sense of how promising they are, and how well consumers understand them?

Andrew Grill: I think there continues to be a lot of hype around QR codes, and I am seeing many billboards, newspaper ads and magazines carrying QR codes in US and UK markets with little or no explanation of what these “squiggly squares” are and why consumers should use them.
My personal view is that with any new technology is introduced, if there are barriers placed in the way of activating the technology and consuming or redeeming content, then consumer adoption will drop of rapidly.

At the moment, QR codes are not the easiest to use. In a test today, I tried to scan three separate QR codes printed the London evening standard, a commuter newspaper. In each case, the codes failed to scan on a latest model Blackberry.

I persevered for several minutes to try and get them to scan. Other consumers may not have been prepared to try so hard and perhaps would not try again. In this case (and with QR codes I scanned in national US newspapers last week) the codes seem to have been printed too small to be easily scanned by a mobile phone. Perhaps the ad agency sold in the idea to the client, however no-one actually tested they would work properly?

My measure of new technology/platform success is how often I overhear them being discussed in my local Starbucks. In 2007 it was all about WiFi, in 2009 it was Facebook and in 2010 Twitter. To date, I have not overheard a QR code discussion, and while not a scientific study, shows that consumers don’t see the technology as useful just yet.

NYT: what do the companies using QR codes need to do to increase response/use of them by consumers?

Andrew Grill: I think that consumer adoption of QR codes will really take off when phone manufacturers embed QR readers into existing smartphone cameras, so that scanning a QR code is a simple one –click process when the camera is on, just as sending an SMS is simple and integrated into all phones. At present, few handsets have a QR code reader pre-installed, meaning a consumer needs to source and download a reader for themselves.

I believe the issue with QR codes today is twofold:

Firstly, I am not convinced that the average user knows what to do when presented with the “squiggly square” on an ad. Few, if any QR codes come with a simple “how to” guide. There are multiple steps between seeing and recognising a QR code, finding a suitable reader on an app store or website, installing it then redeeming a code. Advertisers seem to assume all consumers will know how to read QR codes, and therefore no explanation is required.
Secondly, assuming that a consumer can readily scan a QR code, often the target website linked to the code is not mobile optimised, so the overall experience is not ideal. If a user scans a QR code on a mobile phone, the target website needs to be mobile-optimised as a minimum, and for best practice, be an integrated mobile experience.

In one famous QR code campaign for a well-known Italian handbag manufacturer featured as a full page ad in a major UK newspaper in 2009, a QR code with no explanation appeared along with a beautiful picture of the product. When scanned, the website it presented was a non-mobile optimised version in Italian – completely missing the value of a QR code call to action.

Another example of a QR code campaign that had not been properly thought out was a well-known supermarket in the UK that showed a QR code during the last two seconds of a 30 second TV ad. Even when paused on YouTube, the QR code will not scan.

Just as SMS “just works” and is pre-installed into pretty much every phone on the planet, for QR codes to be successful, handset manufacturers need to build a QR reader into the camera application, so a simple menu item “scan barcode” allows any consumer to use the camera application to scan a barcode without having to download and install a thing.

Until this happens, QR code marketers must continue to actively educate consumers about what a QR code is, and how to source, download, install and scan a barcode. A simple Google search for QR code readers brings up so many options, and my fear is that it is simply too complicated for consumers to bother with.

QR code marketers also need to respect the fact that QR codes are most likely being read on a mobile phone, while mobile so the target websites need to be not only mobile optimised, but present and deliver mobile friendly content.

NYT: HSN, the home-shopping network here in the States, will be using QR codes on-screen that people can scan to go directly to the product page for the item being sold at the moment. HSN hosts will be explaining what QR codes are and how to use them during the broadcasts. What’s your take on this? Is it a smart way to use QR codes or do you think it will confuse consumers?

Andrew Grill: Education of consumers around QR codes is critical for success, and any company that invests in this will help with the overall adoption of new technologies such as QR codes.

The HSN are to be applauded for investing time and effort into educating viewers on the what/how/why of QR codes, but I fear that we are perhaps looking for a solution to a problem that may not exist.

A simple short URL like http://lc.tl/qr as used effectively on channels such as Twitter may be more effective as a mobile call to action for an in-broadcast advertisement. I can imagine that HSN will have to spend a considerable amount of time to educate viewers on how to find and download a QR code reader for their phone, then get lots of frenzied calls from viewers aiming their phone at the HSN screen from their armchair and not being able to scan the code. It may have been easier to simply publish a mobile friendly short-URL to achieve the same aim.

Until technologies such as QR code readers are completely integrated into a mobile phone’s hardware, then my view is that adoption will be slow, and alternative technologies such as near field communication (NFC) which will double as smart-cash and transport smartcards may overtake them because they have a far greater utility than just a lazy way of typing a URL into a mobile browser.

Footnote: the QR supporters who know me well have all been in touch today after seeing the NYT article.  I have promised to become the word’s biggest QR advocate when phone manufacturers embed QR scanning software in the phone’s firmware so you can take a picture, or scan a barcode – nothing to download!

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Even though the Bold 9900 was delayed by months, it looks like they still have some gremlins to iron out.  The Vodafone team even suggested I get a different phone because they had no idea of how long the fix would take.  Now back to the initial story…

Those avid readers of London Calling will know that I’m pretty mobile savvy.  I’m often called on to present, consult or train people on mobile across Europe – so some say I know what I’m talking about.

I have owned a mobile since 1994 (Nokia N1000 AMPS model if you’re curious) and since then have owned 15 Nokias, one Motorola and two Blackberries.

I changed to Blackberry only this year after my mail client provider Goodlink decided to no longer support hosted exchange – meaning smart email on a Nokia was no more.

So I but the bullet, and swapped to a Blackberry (Bold 9780) and had very few issues – nice phone but just a wee bit small.

Imagine how excited I was when I heard that the new Bold 9900 was coming out – fast phone, touch screen, larger keyboard – a road warrior’s delight!

I decided to upgrade my Vodafone account and take delivery of a new Bold 9900.

The Bold arrived last Monday (15th September) as promised. By the following Saturday, it had succumbed to the dreaded JVM 517 error – basically the Blackberry equivalent of the blue screen of death.  It never recovers from this and you can’t plug in the desktop manager and bring it back to life.

So I called Vodafone they were great and arranged a replacement which arrived on Tuesday (23rd August).

Finally finished setting the thing up again, and was mid-tweet at the #CIPR function last night in London and – JVM Error 517 on the SECOND replacement phone!

I called Vodafone when I got home (phone cannot be used in this state) and was told the correct team was away until 8am tomorrow.  I called this morning at 8am, and told that the replacement team is not there until 9am.  Just enough time to post this account of my experience with 2 brand new Bold 9900 phones.

Blackberry UK if you are listening – please get in touch.  I love the phone but I can take only so many JVM Error 517 messages.  Happy to take an unbranded Bold 9900 (is it the VF UK software causing the issue – I am using the same programs I used on the BB 9780?) and test for you, but can you give me a Band 1,2,5,6, so it will work on AT&T when I am there next month. UK BB Bold 9900s are shipped with 1,2,4 UMTS bands which only work on T-Mobile USA.

I will update you as to how this saga unfolds – annoying but hopefully Blackberry and Vodafone can provide a solution.

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I write this post with some degree of personal insight as to how an Olympic games can affect a city, as I was living and working in Sydney during the 2000 games.

Back in 2000, while I was working for Telstra (the BT of Australia) who were also a major Olympic sponsor, I managed to see first hand how companies were preparing for the games.

I was also a regular presenter to small businesses on behalf of Telstra on “how to ensure you and your business is ready for the games.”

I managed to find the slides I presented back in February 2000 to a group from the New South Wales Chamber of Commerce on how to prepare for the games – presented again below.

Much of the advice I provided back then is relevant 11 years later.  Back then we could only dream about ubiquitous ADSL, so “teleworking” as we all called it was not very practical over dial-up lines.

Fast forward to 2011, and 3G networks and high speed broadband in most areas of London and the UK ensure that this is a real option.

While working at Telstra, I was fortunate to be able to visit the Bellsouth Olympic team in Atlanta that had been involved in the 1996 games.

The one piece of advice that has stuck since that meeting was

“…you watch, as has happened in Atlanta before and will happen in Sydney and future games, the local government scares the public into thinking that the traffic around the Olympics will be a nightmare.

This has the correct effect, as the smart locals and businesses prepare well and stay out of the city, meaning the traffic flows well”.

My experience of working an living in Sydney for the 2000 games was just that.  The local authorities had warned how busy Sydney would be, and how special “Olympic lanes” would cut the available traffic lanes, and increase congestion.

The effect was amazing, and Sydney was really easy to get around during the games because most people scheduled leave, left town, or worked from home and this massively reduced congestion in the city.

The effect of the 2012 London Olympics has been described as like 14 Royal Weddings, combined with 14 heads of government meetings all at the sane time.

Coupled with the main public transport route being the already crowded Jubilee line and you get the picture.

So what can you do to prepare?

LOCOG, the London 2012 organisers have some very handy tips on their website to help businesses plan ahead.

UPDATE: Deloitte also have a very handy Games Readiness report on their deloittelondon2012.co.uk website.

One other way to avoid the crowds while working is do what I did and take 2 weeks of and become a volunteer.

Just a few weeks before the games, I realised that I wasn’t going to be allocated a role via Telstra, so I approached Volunteering NSW (when I served as a board member) to see if there were any volunteer spots let so close to the games.

To my surprise, they could offer me roles at either Gymnastics, Weightlifting or Beach Volleyball.

No prizes for guessing I chose Beach Volleyball – on a real beach (Bondi). Not only was it a great feeling wearing the uniform and helping the games to become what those inside the Olympic movement call the “high watermark games”, but the Volunteer parade through the streets of Sydney (54,000 volunteers and probably half a million cheering us on) I will never forget.

I will be lucky enough to have seen two Olympic games in two cities in my lifetime, so if you are in London, I encourage you to prepare well get involved and enjoy London 2012.

PS if you saw the BBC “Twenty Twelve” Olympics spoof show, then you will love the original created by John Clarke, Brian Dawe and Gina Riley (Kim from Kath & Kim) called simply “The Games”.

So real were the stories, SOCOG (Sydney Organising Committee for the Olympic Games) thought they may have a mole inside.

My all-time favourite is “the 94 metre track” sketch – shown below, which is based on the (alleged) story that the original plans for the Olympic stadium in Sydney did not include enough of a run off area at the end of the 100 metre track.

More of my 2000 Olympic Games pictures can be found over on Flickr.

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I noticed that my newest follower was the famous Landmark Hotel in London (@Landmark_London).

Intrigued as to why they were following me, I looked at their stream to see that they are now offering a room upgrade when you check in via Foursquare.

Starwood Hotels Group were one of the first hotel chains to really adopt Foursquare as a loyalty device, and I have earned extra Starwood preferred points simply by checking into the Westin Market Street (physically as well as via Foursquare) on a previous visit to San Francisco.

As I have blogged previously in my post why hospitality and social media are such a good fit, hotels are a perfect fit for social loyalty programs, especially so as the notion of “checking in” fits perfectly with a hotel.

Good to see the Landmark getting social!

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Sponsored by Google and organised by @dr_black it was a great afternoon, raising over £10,000 for the Museum, and even Jeremy Paxman from the BBC turned up!

We also were fortunate enough to have a tour of the museum.

Read the tweets from the event at http://research.ly/#bparty

Click each thumbnail for a larger view.

The original sized pictures can be found on my Flickr page.

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from howsecureismypassword.net

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Nice bit of branding from @loudmouthman

Read more about MiFis at http://lc.tl/dr

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I am not for sale.

Is this the best we can do in 2011?

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On the final confirmation screen I was met with

Firstly, I had no option to “tick here” as the lazy marketers at London Midland had done it for me, knowing that unless they pre-ticked it I would not do it myself.

Guys, this is 1990′s marketing and has no place in the preference society of  2011.

If I WANT your email spam I would ask for it – so don’t pre-tick boxes.

Pre-ticked boxes confirm to me lazy marketing practices and shortly I will refuse to do business with firms that pre-tick.

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As I took this photo, I overheard some people nearby saying

“So what, you just take a picture of it? That’s wicked.”

Following my tweet about this, Raimo van der Klein (CEO of Augmented Reality leader Layar) tweeted (tongue in cheek)

However, I remain a QR code skeptic – and here is why.

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I’m wondering outside of the US how this compares to say foursquare users in the UK and Australia?

Feel free to leave your comments below, or tweet @andrewgrill and follow me on foursquare via http://lc.tl/4

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PeopleBrowsr is hiring in the UK!
We need smart and social media savvy Account Managers to join our growing UK team.

Details below – and please pass onto someone you think might be a good fit.

Position: Account Manager (2), full-time positions
Location: London
Compensation: Competitive
We want an Account Manager who understands the social media revolution is changing everything. And loves it!

We’re a serious business. Our clients are serious businesses. And we take their business very seriously.

Getting this gig means you’ll be working in one of our Social Media Command Centres surrounded by some very big thinkers.

About Our Company:

PeopleBrowsr is a rapidly expanding, leading global provider of social media data, analytics and brand engagement to enterprise brand managers, agencies, and software developers. We have developed a deep social media archive and sophisticated analysis services to identify key influencers and engaged audiences and activate communities through social media channels.

Our rich data mine can be filtered by keywords, location, time, bios of all Twitter users and which can be used to find a target audiences on both demographic, psychographic, geo-targeted, time-targeted criteria. This provides the basis for us to offer superior sentiment analysis to 95% accuracy, provide media buy opportunities on Twitter, and encourage authentic conversation. We also support monitoring and analytics on MySpace, Facebook Fanpages, YouTube, Flickr, LinkedIn, and more.

Summary:

The Business Development Group within PeopleBrowsr is seeking an Account Manager to support aspects of business development and project management from generating leads, technical and marketing assessment of client opportunities, preparation of responses to RFPs, and management of campaigns, reports, and development projects on both client and internal operations.

Job Description:

This Account Management opportunity is excellent for an individual with a data, analytics, and internet background, and/or new business development experience, and/or experience working on a new business pitch team to coordinate and grow the new business. PeopleBrowsr has offices in the UK, US and Australia, your role will include travel to and working with our global sales team

This person will help to expand our customer base by attending tradeshows, conferences, cold calling prospects, and retaining clients through excellent service both on a technical and relationship-front in Europe. The ideal candidate will be quick on his/her feet, motivated, and willing to take direction. Driven with an entrepreneurial spirit, resourceful, innovative, forward thinking and committed.

This position will report to the Business Development Manager.

Responsibilities:

• Qualify prospects from various sources (e.g. web, trade shows, phone, site visits, etc.)
• Follow up with new prospects & renewing customers
• Document all Prospect / Customer interactions in SalesForce.com
• Generate proposals to RFPs
• Write briefs for the operations staff
• Manage that process across multiple timezones to ensure delivery of quality product to clients on time and on budget
• Manage client relationships by setting strong yet achievable goals on campaigns, reporting, and custom development of our analytics platform
• Provide marketing communication support as needed

Qualifications & Skills:

• Strong Work Ethic
• Great at approaching new contacts at conferences, trade shows or by cold-calling to get meetings
• Ability to perform routine duties independently, setting priorities and scheduling own work in accordance with job description and performance goals
• Facilitate with ease with technical concepts and details of managing data for our projects to ensure that the client’s deliverables are on time and on budget
• Must have experience in business correspondence and the ability to proofread for grammar, spelling and punctuation with a high degree of accuracy
• Ability to present and articulate technical solutions to both technical and non-technical audiences
• Have a team mentality and possess the ability to effectively work with all levels of management
• Be proficient in Microsoft programs including but not limited to Excel, Word, Powerpoint, and also learn other programs as needed
• Open to occasional travel

Experience:

1-2 years relevant experience in either:

• Account / Project Management within the Data and/or Technology Industry
• Business Development (preferably within digital media) with an affinity toward spreadsheets and analytical thinking

To Apply:

Please send your resume alongside why you currently enjoy or would like to work in Social Media to:

Michelle Macarounas michelle@peoplebrowsr.com  AND
Christabelle Tani christabelle@peoplebrowsr

For more information: see the slideshare below

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Quoting from Tim’s article

According to three people familiar with the situation, Twitter’s plans under consideration would see “promoted tweets” appear in their main timeline, the main focus of the Twitter website. Twitter had tested such ads with a third-party mobile client, HootSuite.

Users could also see tweets from a brand they follow appear high up in their stream even though they were posted hours previously.

In many ways this is not new.  Twitter has been promoting a range of advertising products for some time now namely:

Promoted Tweets appearing as content in search results, not alongside them

Promoted Trends artificially promote a particular brand or keyword as a trend

Promoted Accounts are a paid for placement in the “who to follow” area

As many commentators have pointed out, Twitter’s ad revenue (rumoured to be around $100M in 2011) doesn’t compare that favourably to Facebook’s estimated $4Bn revenue number for 2011).

It’s a tough call for Twitter to generate significant ad revenue from a “conversation service” without really annoying their users.

Twitter has shied away from what may have seen an obvious route – that of banner ads or display ads on the site, but now 5 years in and millions of dollars later, they need to up the revenue from advertising.

Looking at Tim Bradshaw’s article in more detail (and I can only assume his scoop is correct because I am yet to see a retraction from Twitter), we can expect to see more aggressive placement of “promoted tweets” (read Twitter ads) in user’s timelines very soon.

Below is an example of a tame Starbucks promoted tweet – and I would expect the new forms of Twitter ads (because that’s what advertising agencies will call them) might look like.

Twitter’s dilemma – “social media advertising” is an oxymoron

You can’t buy space in a conversation – a great quote I saw from one of David Cushman’s talks (slide 14) and one that makes great sense.  It also points to the problem with trying to apply the same advertising buying metrics to social media.

To be clear you CANNOT ADVERTISE on social media in the same way as you can with TV, you need a different approach to buying “space” in a conversation (just as you can’t buy space in a conversation at the pub, or a conference, or anywhere for that matter).

And here lies Twitter’s greatest challenge.  If they insert promoted tweets in a user’s timeline, I am assuming that they will be selling them on a cost/per basis (whether this stays as cost per engagement, cost per mille etc we will soon see).

The problem they will face is that the advertising world is used to buying advertising in bulk (specific TARPs or GRP for TV, CPM for web etc) so an ad planner will say “I want my Twitter ad to appear to 50,000 Twitter users”

The poor old Twitter ad sales exec will explain that it is not so simple, and it needs to be relevant, must resonate and be able to be re-tweeted etc etc

A possible response from a non-social media savvy planner might just be “I want my Twitter ad to appear to 50,000 Twitter users”…… sigh.

Will Twitter chose the nuclear option?

Could Twitter bite the bullet and start to push promoted tweets (Twitter ads) in a big way to a wider audience than they are currently serving, to increase ad revenue and keep the VC’s and backers happy?

Whichever way they ramp up their advertising business, the one thing I really hope they are working on is an ad relevance engine.

You see, I am quite happy to see more promoted tweets in my timeline, even as a persistent “DickBar” style method AS LONG AS the tweets are RELEVANT.

This is a huge deal for me (and will probably also be for 1000’s of other Twitter users) and I really hope that Twitter uses my previous 13,000+ tweets as a way of ensuring that the ads I see are relevant.

What I don’t want Twitter to do is make the same mistakes that the mobile advertising industry made a few years ago, and tried to transplant banner ads from the web to the mobile.

Because the mobile is such a personal device (have a look at this video below from the 4:40 minute mark, when I asked an audience of 400 in Amsterdam in 2009 to swap their mobile with the person next to them.

What this exercise proved in 2009 (and still gets the same reaction in every city and country I speak at) is that the mobile is personal. We can transplant this mobile example for social media conversations and tweets. To interrupt a social media conversation in a non-relevant way (we call this broadcast advertising) would be classified as butting into a conversation.

Old advertising rules no longer apply

What I advise clients over and over again is that they can no longer simply take a TV campaign and retro-fit it to twitter.

You have to be much smarter at this, just as when you approach a group of people you have never met at a conference and hover, waiting for the right moment to inject your view into the conversation, you are waiting for the moment when you will be most relevant.

Getting the balance right

Twitter needs to get this balance right, and if they do they stand to make a lot of money.

Get it wrong and it is another color.com moment, where they will have to go back to the drawing board (and the investors) to keep the now very expensive (400+ staff and recent $50M TweetDeck acquisition) lights on.

Twitter’s Cannes trip is a step in the right direction

Looking at the tweets from Katie Jacobs Stanton (@katies), Twitter sent a sizeable team from San Francisco (as well as their new UK GM Tony Wang) to the Cannes Lions last week to schmoose ad agencies.

I had the pleasure of meeting Katie in person at the Twitter HQ recently, and know her to be a smart operator.  I guess that they spent a lot of time testing their new proposition with agencies and brands in Cannes to see if it would fly.

I’m a huge fan of Twitter, and I hope they figure out the ad model

I want twitter to figure this out , and I know they are capable of this because they are a smart bunch (flock), but they possibly need to ignore some of the feedback they received from their meetings in Cannes and instead go with their gut instincts and develop commercial communications (read relevant and wanted ads) that twitter users are willing to not only receive, but also click on and engage with.

Ad agencies are probably not the best people to advise on how to advertise on social media, because they are so used to the reach & frequency broadcast model we have been using for the last 50 years.

I will be watching this space closely, and I’m likely to come across some of those who were in Cannes and met with Twitter at the PeopleBrowsr UK launch party this week so perhaps I will hear first-hand if I am right or not.

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If you cannot be in the same room (or country) as a prospective client, then the next best thing is sharing your screen with them in real time so they can see what your piece of software can do, or what your PowerPoint slides are saying, as you present them.

There are a number of these services out there – the best known being GoToMeeting (by Citrix), and Webex (by Cisco).

I have used both of these in anger as part of a wider company account.  Now I’m running PeopleBrowsr in the UK, I need a cost effective way to share my screen.

Join.me is now my favourite tool for screen sharing, and the entry level price is free!  Just head to join.me and you can instantly set up a session for multiple people to view your screen from anywhere in the world.

For a small $29 per month to upgrade to the pro version (see a comparison of the options below), you can have your own join.me/url, as well as access to a range of global voice conference numbers.

Best of all, it is really easy to use, and having used all 4 services compared below, I can confidently say that join.me has become my preferred service.

If you need to share your screen quickly and easily to 1 or 100 people at once, I recommend join.me.

With Webex and GoToMeeting, it has always been a bit of a barrier to get clients who have never used a screen sharing service to get the service running, and on several occasions internal firewalls have completely thwarted these services working.

The thing I really like about join.me is that it is deliberately simple to set up and use – rather than having multiple settings and options, it has worked first time, every time to date.

How the services stack up

Join.me is free for the basic service and up to 250 participants. $29/month gets you a personal URL and unlimited global conference calling, scheduling etc

Webex $49/month VoIP only for this price and just 25 participants

GoToMeeting $49/month gets you just 15 participants with a VoIP/telephone conference

Glance $49.95/month 100 participants and a US conference number only

My experience with join.me is that it is simple to use, not just for the presenter, but also the participants.

I have no affiliation with join.me and I am currently on the 14 day Pro trial, but if the join.me team want to extend my trial or make me an offer on the pro service, I am more than happy to promote and recommend it to my readers and followers :-)

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At the 2000 games, I was a Volunteer, and saw the opening ceremony twice!  Once during the dress rehearsal with Volunteers filling the stadium, and at the actual opening ceremony on Friday 15th September 2000.

Back in Sydney we had a similar ticket ballot process, and you had to bid for tickets with everyone else.  At the time I assumed that I would not get tickets so I did not participate in the ballot.

My experience from the Sydney 2000 Games is likely to ring true for the London 2012 games, so I thought I would post my experiences here.

Firstly, the Olympic behaviour in each host city is pretty predictable.  When I was working alongside the Olympic marketing team at Telstra, I was provided an introduction to the Bellsouth Olympic marketing team from the previous 1996 games.

On a trip to Atlanta in 1998, I spoke to one of the people in charge of BellSouth’s Olympic involvement.  What struck me was his quote

“every Organising Committee tries to scare the local city population with stories about traffic congestion. It works perfectly every time because everyone stays home or goes away and there are no traffic problems at the games”.

What rang true was that in Athens in 1996, and Sydney in 2000, the traffic on the streets was significantly reduced as the “warnings” were heeded.

In a similar vein, in Sydney, there were grumbles about ticket allocations in the ballot, but my personal experience was that there are lots of tickets about, you just need to know of be friends with a games sponsor.

During the 2000 games, I held a fairly senior role at Telstra, the country’s largest fixed and mobile telecommunications provider – and also a major national sponsor of the games (as BT is here in London).

This meant that I was offered many tickets that no-one else wanted over the course of the 2 week event.

As such I saw Athletics, Hockey, Rowing, Gymnastics as well as the Opening and Closing Ceremonies (these 2 events I paid for myself).

In fact I probably secured the very last Opening Ceremony ticket in Australia, as the day before the ceremony, and email came around at Telstra to say that Visa had some unallocated single tickets (at $1,500 each) and I managed to grab one.

The ticket was actually delivered to my office at 1pm on the 15th September, so I was cutting it pretty fine!

My point is that more tickets will find their way into the hands of fans though direct sponsor invitations, as well as returns from sponsors who can’t give away all of their allocation.

Some may argue that unless you know a sponsor you will have little chance of a ticket outside the ballot process, but I expect several major sponsors to distribute tickets they have been allocated to community groups as well.

Become a Volunteer

The best way to savour the Olympics in London will be as a Volunteer.  In Sydney, I was a Volunteer at the Beach Volleyball site, and had a great experience.

The Volunteer parade through the streets of Sydney post-games in front of 100,000 will stick with me forever.

You can Volunteer for the London 2012 Olympics at http://www.london2012.com/volunteer

See all of my pictures from the Sydney 2000 Olympic at http://lc.tl/sydney2000

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