Sona also shares some video tips from Debbie Davies (former tv producer and private investigator!), including:

8. Think about lighting, background scenery and noise - even things like air conditioning can be disturbing. Put up a do not disturb sign if necessary.

9. Avoid fancy shots - zooming in and out can be distracting and also waste battery power.

10. Remember to get permission! Look on the internet for downloadable contracts of agreement. As a last minute option, get the interviewee to say on camera "My name is xxx and I am being interviewed by xxx about xxx and am aware that this will be broadcast on xxx," and then keep this as a record.

I strongly recommend you check out the full list of tips, and of course check out Abi’s video interview about how Virgin are using social media internally.

Great stuff!

Gratefully, over the last several months over $5,000 has been donated online towards a 2 year microfinance program in the Philippines, helping women to work their way out of poverty.

This week is her final fundraising week for an Opportunity International Trust Group and I hope you don’t mind me asking you a very simple favour for this important cause.

Jasmin still needs to raise a further $5,000 (US$4,000) by June 30th to create this microfinance program for up to 30 women in poverty and I’m simply asking for ‘a tweet’ on Twitter this week to help raise awareness about this fundraiser: http://wonderwebby.chipin.com

You can see examples of tweets and find out why she’s asking for help on Jasmin’s blog.

You might enjoy these slides which include links to the online fundraising activities held so far and pictures of Opportunity’s clients. Remember, there less than one week to go so please give generously before June 30th and donations made by Australian residents are tax deductible.

Thank you for your support and for helping to improve the lives of Filipino women living in poverty.

I have spent the better part of a day wrestling with a printer issue. My trusty office-strength Lexmark  Optra T614 laser printer wouldn’t print double-sided, even though every ‘flag’ in the entire universe told it to.

I even went and somehow corrupted the print spooler so that no printers showed at all and I couldn’t add any. Grrrr…

Much wailing and gnashing of teeth here at BetterComms Towers as our entire IT staff (me, Boof and Ratbag - my two trusty and faithful killer attack labradors) laboured long and hard to get things right.

In the end I did the unthinkable – I visited the Microsoft Help site.

Thirty seconds later I was reading an article that claimed it would solve all my problems. Devotees of mid-period Rolling Stones will remember the girl with far-away eyes and how Country Mick ran a succession of red stop signs because of a tangentially-similar claim.

So I clicked on the ‘fix this problem’ button which came with the following promise:

Fix it for me

 

To fix this problem automatically, click the Fix this problem link. Then click Run in the File Download dialog box, and follow the steps in this wizard.

Fix this problem

Note The Fix it solution can be run in either Light mode or Full mode.
Light mode makes changes to the spooler that should not require you to make any additional changes. Full mode will restore the print spooler to default settings and require that you reinstall your printers.
Note This wizard is temporarily in English only. However, the automatic fix also works for other language versions of Windows.
Note If you are not on the computer that has the problem, you can save the automatic fix to a flash drive or to a CD, and then you can run it on the computer that has the problem.
Now go to the "Did this fix the problem?" section.

I am joyously delighted to report that it bloomin’ well DID fix my problem – well, almost.

I decided to take the radical step of turning my printer off and on and trying my double-sided printing again.

Chuffin’ Nora!

Printer compliance once again reigns in BetterComms Towers.

As Country Mick said, “Thank you Jesus, Thank you Lord.” To which I add, “Thank you, Microsofties”

Here’s the presentation; I strongly suggest you download the slides (they are PowerPoint 2007 format) as there are some key slides at the end of the slide deck that I ran out of time to give justice to, and that don’t show on the slideshare presentation.

• Tricia Langdren and the Business Class Toilet Shuffle
• James Langanke and the Sydney Airport Kerfuffle
• Debbie Richards and the Personal Journal
  De-commissioned Plane Scuffle

Tricia Langdren and the Business Class Toilet Shuffle

Firstly, on a recent flight I was travelling in Business Class and the Customer Service Manager on the flight, Tricia Langdren, shortly after takeoff announced over the PA that the toilet at the front of the plane was for Business Class passengers only; should passengers travelling in Economy class wish to use a toilet theirs were located at the rear of the plane. Why was this so important to me?

Snobbishness?

Alas, no. Because of a medical condition I suffer from I occasionally have a need to avail myself of a toilet with short notice, particularly when flying. There’s nothing more frustrating and potentially embarrassing as being stuck in a queue waiting for a free toilet, which is just one of the many reasons I pay Business Class fare whenever possible.

Now that curtains can no longer be drawn across aisles for reasons of safety and security, it was really heartening to hear Tricia’s announcement over the PA; I have since heard her words used by other flight staff on other flights, so others must be seeing the value in her original idea.

I’m not sure why Qantas cannot incorporate a retracting belt across the aisle, like those you find in the queue at check-in, but without the curtain Tricia’s announcement is wonderful.

James Langanke and the Sydney Airport Kerfuffle

Next, I recently returned from the USA and got caught up in the madness that is Sydney Airport under reconstruction. I’m not sure whether there were also late-arriving planes along with ours, but the queues to get through Customs and Immigration were bad enough, but then when you had hordes of folks trying to wedge themselves into a tiny security area for transit passengers you knew there were going to be delays and missed connections.

Indeed, the Qantas ground staff were walking up and down the queues advising weary and frustrated travellers that they were more than likely going to miss their flight, but to see the Service Desk staff after they had cleared Domestic Security and the staff would attempt to get them on the next available flight.

Naturellement, I missed my 8.30am flight to Adelaide. The best that could be done for me was a 14.30 flight – the interim flights were already fully-booked.

So imagine my frustration when I finally got on the plane and then told by the Captain that everyone had to disembark because of a fault; a new plane was coming and would be ready to board in about 30-45 minutes.

I already had spent eight hours in transit and transit lounges to get to my Qantas flight from LAX to SYD; after a 15-hour flight with very little sleep (courtesy of a screaming infant and also a similarly nearby young female child who reminded me of the little girl in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory – you know the one who had to have everything and stamped her feet until she got it?) my stoic, stiff-upper-lip, zen-like calm was wearing off and the Grumpy Old Man so beloved of my stepchildren and followers of Allan Jenkins & I started to rear his ugly head.

Being turfed off my 2.30pm flight home and forced to wait another 45 minutes before I could expect to get airborne again was too much for a man with too little sleep and I carried on like a pork chop at the counter, demanding to be upgraded for the massive inconveniences I had suffered.

Thankfully for me, James Langanke was the Customer Service Supervisor on duty and with calmness and aplomb that made me realise what a complete goober I was, he checked every flight available, including for upcoming trips I had scheduled and was unable to offer anything by way of compensation. But at least he tried!

It turned out that every flight I was scheduled to take was already fully booked. Which raised an interesting question for me when I had recovered my senses later that day – if the airline industry is facing such dramatic loss of passenger numbers, how come every single Qantas flight I took both out to the USA and again back, and on another internal trip shortly after, was absolutely packed to the gunnels, no spare seat to be found? But that question only found its way to the front of my brain later… back to James and the delayed Sydney-Adelaide flight.

James was a superb example of grace under pressure (I wasn’t the only perturbed customer – many fellow stranded travellers were trying to get to other SA country regions and were scared of missing their connections in Adelaide). I was by far the most ‘Angry of Mayfair’ customer, but he was waylaid by many of us who were frustrated, tired after a series of long flights and long waits in other airport lounges, and he made us all feel ‘listened to’ and ‘understood’. Superb customer service skills, in my book! Even though he couldn’t solve my problem nor offer any alternative, he took the time to make me feel special and a valued customer.

Thanks, James!

Finally, there comes yet more superb customer service, this time from Debbie.

Debbie Richards and the Personal Journal De-commissioned Plane Scuffle

One of the activities I was looking forward to on my flight from SYD-ADL was adding to a personal journal I keep; handwritten in lovely Noodler’s ink with one of my many beloved fountain pens purchased from Pendamonium, I was looking forward to a good whinge about the screaming infant (see above) that kept me (and many others) from getting much sleep.

On boarding the 2.30pm flight, I popped my A5 leather-bound journal into my seat pocket and looked forward to taking off.

Of course, it was only minutes later that we were all asked to leave the plane; I left the plane, and left my journal behind, eventually boarding a new plane some forty-five minutes later.

As tired as I was (and there were TWO screaming infants on this later, equally jam-packed flight! [see the passionate comments to an earlier post about why I believe that it is parental cruelty to inflict flying on the under-fives) I failed to notice that I had left my journal behind. It was only a few days later, when I had finished my mad whirlwind of flights that I realised I had misplaced it.

So imagine my delight when it appeared in my post box, courtesy of Customer Service Manager Debbie Richards.

She wrote a very kind note, hoping that I was relieved to have my journal back with me as she knew how special such items are. She didn’t know my name, but just sent it to the address I’d written at the front of the journal.

I thought about sending her a monetary reward – and I may still do – but I figured that a public recognition of her kindness was also in order.

I only hope that Qantas management are forced to read this public declaration of Debbie’s, James’ and Tricia’s outstanding customer service.

To Debbie Richards, James Langanke and Tricia Langdren: thank you from the bottom of my heart.

* yes, even the new Qantas A380 seat is uncomfortable for tall-ish buggers like me – heavens knows what really tall folk like Trevor Cook would make of them.

The good news is that with all the other stuff I have to get done I couldn’t be bothered jiggery-pokerying with putting a ‘lite’ version of the ebook up in place of the ‘full flavoured’ version.

So if you haven’t yet taken advantage of my largesse, subscribe to this blog and grab the ebook. As a subscriber you get kept up-to-date on when new articles are added.

Subscribe now! and receive a free copy of my $49 report, "Twitter Mastery for Business".

It’s the first in a series of reports I’m writing on how to master the various key elements of social media.

Each report is an-depth, step-by-step process that explains in clear, plain English how to master a particular social media tool and help your business communicate better for better business results.

Each report is easy to read, easy to implement and easy on the pocket — just $49 per copy.

But as a new subscriber to my blog and newsletter, I’m giving you a free copy of the Twitter Mastery for Business report as a way of saying "thank you" for joining my community.

Please subscribe, then check for the email you will receive from me shortly after — in the email will be details of how to download the report [1.2mb pdf]

And tell your friends…

Well, the 16th and 17th are the summit ‘proper’, the 15th is a pre-summit workshop day with Melissa Dunn from Gallup Consulting and Bill Quirke (see below) and the 18th is a full day workshop on Social Media run by yours truly, but I know that you wouldn’t want to miss out on anything over the four days.

Here’s the line-up:

• Melissa Dunn from Gallup Consulting
  “The 12 conditions that matter – what leaders need to know” pre-summit workshop
• Bill Quirke of Synopsis Communication Consulting
  “Leading engagement: how to get buy-in from business leaders to drive engagement” pre-summit workshop
• Danielle Koopman from Tourism Australia
  “The best social and viral media campaign in the world? Outcomes of the ‘Best Job in the World’ campaign”
• Herna van Reenen from Siemens
  “A picture of the future”
• Jonathan Champ from QBE Australia
  “Delivering ‘strategic communication’ one tactic at a time…”
• David Miller from the ATO
  “The ATO’s challenge”
• Nigel Haworth from Westaff (Australia)
  “Exploring engagement as an emotional state”
• Shannon Kliendienst from Leighton Contractors
  “Communicating effectively with a hard-to-reach workforce”
• Mike Tancred from the Australian Olympics Committee
  “Communication challenges – the Beijing Olympics”
• Alison Brown from IBM Australia
  “Hitting the restart button: Redesigning communication systems to reflect the reality of today’s working environment”
• Emma Rugge-Price from GE Australia & New Zealand
  “Meeting customer needs during rapidly changing times”
• Sam Werner from Zurich Financial Services Australia
  “Reconnecting: Getting the Chief Executive back in the room”
• Justin Gehde from the Department of Justice, Victoria
  “Effective compliance communication CAN change behaviour”
• Brian Giesen from Ogilvy PR, Ogilvy 360° Digital Influence
  “Yamming it up! Internal Comms & Web 2.0”

and the must-not-miss keynote speaker is Bill Quirke, a master communicator and highly respected communication strategist from the UK (he’s worth the admission price alone, let alone the other speakers!). Bill is one of the IABC’s six “All Star Speakers” and a regular on the international speaking circuit; he’s also the author of numerous books on communication strategy and how to turn strategy into action.

Then on the 18th I’m running a full-day workshop on Social Media, wherein you can find out how to harness social media and do more with less.

Look, if you really just want to see me and not attend the full Summit you can, but I reckon you’d be a mug to miss out on the others…

You can download the summit brochure as well as find out more about each of the speakers and their sessions on the Melcrum site.

FREE MELCRUM MEMBERSHIP WHEN YOU ATTEND THE SCM SUMMIT
At the SCM Summit not only will you hear two days of best-practice case studies and receive practical tools to immediately help you, but you’ll also become a Melcrum member FREE (usually $845 + GST) — which means you’ll get 12 months of help through Melcrum’s Strategic Communication Management Journal AND the Internal Comms Hub member-only website!

Go on, click on the link and find out more… you know you want to! See you there!

For your humble aging rock star whose words you are currently reading, Gerry is absolutely spot on.

Like Gerry, I presented at the recent #iabc09 conference in San Fran (“man”), and I can certainly concur that punk rock and my presentation met in a holocaust of violence:

• I had several people spit on me
• One kicked me in the shins, then threw up on me
• The majority of the audience (all seven of them) swore at me afterwards.

But, in the tradition of all good punk rockers, I had my revenge: on the flight back from LAX to SYD (on a A380 no less!) I had the pleasure of spitting on an infant that exercised its lungs rather vociferously for many hours on end.

To add delight to piquancy, I then flicked the ears of two separate toddlers on the SYD-ADL leg who belted out their frustrations at a volume level that even Barnesy at the height of his powers would have been proud of.

At the risk of causing a torrent of abusive comment and email, I wonder why airlines allow toddlers and infants to fly, seeing as how the vast majority of them suffer excruciating pain in their ears as a result of the changing air pressure. I honestly do feel sorry for the poor little rug rats. The fact that their screaming also causes excruciating pain on all surrounding passengers is inconsequential; it is massively cruel that parents inflict the cause of the pain on their offspring.

Perhaps there is another one of those senseless and futile Facebook groups in the offing…

And, like Gerry, I wish I could shake this damn jet lag!

Many thanks, far too many to actually count, must go to the following for their unbelievable kindness, generosity and goodwill.

In no particular order except for the Holtz’s at the top:

• Shel  & Michele Holtz
• @allanjenkins
• Karoline Hausted
• Bryan Person
• Sallie Goetsch and Stefan Didak
• Donna Pepsicola Papacosta
• Adrian Copley
• Stacey Thornberry
• Janna White
• Kare Anderson
• Bruce the barman at the Marriott Hotel, San Francisco
• Barbara Gibson
• Neville Hobson
• Sasha the killer attack guard dog
• Mrs BetterComms

He then interviewed us for his own vidcast… you can see what we said by watching the video below.

I also strongly recommend you visit Bryan’s video stream, as he has some fabulous video interviews on it. Well done, Bryper!