Gordon's Personal Blog

fatBuzz: Social Media Podcast 31 - Phoenix head to NADA San Francisco and, the usual social media chat

2011-02-04T09:46:00.000Z

fatBuzz: Social Media Podcast 31 - Phoenix head to NADA San Francisco and, the usual social media chat

How to make boring journeys more interesting...

2010-05-24T16:07:00.001+01:00

I discovered a way to make a boring journey from Edinburgh to Glasgow much more interesting the other night, here's the secret: switch the dashboard display to "Range" when your tank is almost empty and see how near you can get it to zero before you fill up.

I did this the other night and 'rolled' into the garage at Woodlands Road with 0 miles left. Getting stopped at the last two sets of lights when I left the motorway at Charing Cross also added to the excitement.

I imagine it could be even more exciting if it's a particularly cold wet night, can't wait till next winter now!

My solution to determining who should govern the UK

2010-05-07T09:12:00.000+01:00

In light of the outright failure of the top three political leaders I have an idea to determine who should govern the country.

Gordon Brown has clearly failed to win the hearts or minds of the electorate as Labour leader or Prime Minister; this is clearly demonstrated by a massive loss of seats.

David Cameron, perhaps the biggest failure last night, has been unable to get a clear majority against probably the most unpopular Labour leader in modern history.

Nick Clegg's telegenic qualities clearly don't translate to votes; he's ended up, not in 2nd place as he was predicting but, with less seats than he started with.

The solution - all three leaders resign immediately, appoint new party leaders and hold another General Election as quickly as possible.

To those who have said to me over the last few weeks that this election is not about the personalities I say rubbish; with three new leaders a second election result will be entirely different. The UK people have demonstrated they don't trust any of these leaders.

How to cut traffic on the roads

2010-02-24T22:05:00.000Z

I travelled back from Edinburgh by car tonight and, form George Street to my home in Newton Mearns took me 1 hour and 10 minutes. What's even more remarkable is that I left George Street at 5.15pm, usually this trip would take me 2 hours or more.

Lots of people didn't make it to work today so there were less cars on the road than normal which I believe made the difference.

That got me thinking about a system I saw in Houston, Texas some years ago; they had a single lane running between the two highways where the traffic travelled in single file into the city in the morning and the same single lane takes traffic out of the city at night. You can only travel in this lane if you are car sharing so, nobody traveling alone is allowed in the "express" lane.

If we introduced a system during rush hours in Glasgow whereby you can only use the outside lane if you are car sharing, we might be able to encourage more people to share the journey and cut the number of cars on the road. Yes, it may seem like a hair-brained scheme but, if you could cut one hour of your traveling time every day and, help the environment at the same time, would it be that mad?

Proud Father...even more proud!

2010-02-18T16:26:00.001Z

Well done to my son, Ben White and Hutchesons' Under 15s for winning a closely contested and nail biting final against Stewart's Melville at Murrayfield Stadium. Both teams contributed to a great game with Hutchesons' determination and will to win edging the contest in front of a crowd of 5821. Congratulations to the squad, the coaching staff and Hutchesons' Grammar School, it's a great achievement.

I shot this video on a small flip video camera and I'm sure there will be much better coverage available soon but, for now, here's a sample of the tremendous atmosphere at Murrayfield.

My apologies for misspelling "Murrayfield" in the end credit - all the excitement I guess but, you'll get the idea.

Proud Father...

2010-02-11T01:44:00.000Z

I'm looking forward to a game of Rugby at Murrayfield Stadium tomorrow; not just any old game, the Final of the Brewin Dolphin Under 15s Scottish Schools Cup. My son Ben is playing in the final for Hutchesons' Grammar School and I wish hi, his team mates and the coaching staff all the best for the game. Reaching the final and playing at Murrayfiled is a great achievement and everyone concerned should be very proud and just go out and enjoy the experience.

Busy, busy, busy...

2010-02-05T00:46:00.001Z

What a start to the year, extremely busy with lots of good things happening.

Last week we were in Lowestoft for two days then back for a great New Media Breakfast about the burning issue of Social Media in the Workplace; 80+ people turned up and we had some great discussion.

This week we've done a New Media Workshop in Aberdeen, a presentation to CIPR in Aberdeen, two presentations to potential new clients today.

Tomorrow I'm visiting the "with Kids" project in the East End of Glasgow; I have offered some help to them and I want to see it first hand. Then I'm back to the office for a client meeting before I interview Paul Levinson, Professor of Communication and Media Studies at Fordham University, about his new book "New New Media" for the Social Media Podcast.

All good fun but hasn't left much time for my little drawing project and I haven't lifted a golf club for three months.

Marilyn Munro and Mother Teresa

2009-12-28T20:10:00.024Z

Now that I've completed the drawing of Marilyn Munro I've moved onto Mother Teresa - what a contrast in the lives of two women who left their mark on the World.

I notice that I haven't actually posted all of the images on the blog so, I have included the missing ones on this post. I am still looking for ideas for future drawings. So far I've I have had a wide variety of suggestions including:

Andrew Carnegie
Martin Luther King
Steve Jobs
Bill Gates
David Sole
Princess Diana
Lance Armstrong
Sir Jackie Stewart
Michael Schumacher
George Best
Nicola Benedetti
Frank Sinatra
David Beckham
Jack Nicklaus

Still not sure where I'm going with this project; I like the book for charity idea and some people have suggested a traveling exhibition with limited edition print sales to raise money and awareness for selected charities. These ideas are all good and I would appreciate input from anyone to advance these ideas or if you have any other idea, please share them here on the blog.

I've also had a number of people suggesting that I do some animal pictures, maybe this will be my next project - let's get this one done first though!

Barack Obama and Marilyn Munro?

2009-12-21T23:36:00.003Z

Quick update on my little personal project. I've finished Barack Obama and I'm now working on Marilyn Munro. Still looking for suggestions, I will be doing Mother Teresa and Martin Luther King but open to more suggestions.

I'm also still considering suggestions as to what I do with the final set of pictures so please feel free to make your suggestions.

Can you opt out of Social Media?

2009-12-15T19:11:00.005Z

You may have seen my recent Twitter post about the Atholl Hotel in Aberdeen not allowing us to plug in a laptop - we were asked not to use their electricity. There were many comments and retweets about this; one Twitter user even recalled a food poisoning scare from last year at the same hotel - not something they would have wanted to re-kindle I'm sure.

This was a good example of how businesses will end up on social media whether they like it or not. People can update their status anytime, anywhere. So, people involved in customer service should be particularly mindful that a bad customer experience will be transmitted around the world instantly. Just the other day a friend of mine, John McGlynn of the Airlink Group posted about a bad experience he was having with EasyJet, I knew all about it, while it was happening. To be fair to EasyJet, they do monitor Twitter posts and I know that Iain Murray of ChardFM received a voucher because he did defend EasyJet in a Twitter post.

The Atholl Hotel incident was closely followed (the next day) by a similar set of circumstances in Simpson's Hotel in Aberdeen - we needed to charge our laptops whilst having a meeting and coffees in their lounge area, they were happy to let us do it - and their coffee was better and cheaper!

The whole incident reminded me of a blog post I read back in February this year from Chris Brogan about the Roger Smith Hotel in New York who actively promote their understanding and commitment to new media by encouraging users to have their meetings in the hotel. Now it's the place that most new media people (and I suspect many from traditional media) choose to stay in New York City, the Atholl Hotel could do with taking a leaf out of their book.

The point is, you can't opt out of social media, everyone is now connected and bad customer experiences will be reported. Understanding and embracing social media is the way forward, connect and engage with your customers, watch what their saying about you and act accordingly.

A cautionary tale... about O2 Mobile Broadband

2009-11-10T22:23:00.006Z

Imagine that you have a deal with the local courier who will deliver three packages a month for £28 but, due to an unusual request from a customer, you had to send seven packages in one month. The courier takes the packages and delivers them, then he bill's you for £720 (including VAT) for delivering the four extra packages.

To make matters worse, he puts your account on hold because you have gone over your three-package limit. The account will be re-instated when you pay the bill (which is not yet due) at the end of the month, including the £720 surcharge.

On making an enquiry about getting a different contract for more packages the courier tells you that he can give you a package that gives you up to 9 packages delivered every month for £34.50 an increase in contract of £6.50 a month.

Now:

Why didn't the courier tell me that I was at my limit before accepting the delivery of four extra packages?

Why didn't the courier suggest that I change my tariff before he took the extra four packages?

How does the courier justify a charge of £720 for four extra packages in a single month when they can deliver six extra every month for an increase of £6.50?

Do you think there is an element of extortion here?

Now to reality...I use O2 Mobile Broadband when I'm out of the office and my contract allows me 3Gb of bandwidth usage per month. Realistically, I haven't a clue what that means. Last month I had to send a file while I was in London and I did this from my hotel room using the O2 Mobile Broadband connection, now I have a bill for £750 (including VAT).

On enquiry I have discovered that I went over my allowable usage by 4.5Gb and O2 charge £150 per Gb you go over your tariff. Now this will be noted somewhere in the small print therefore I don't have a leg to stand on...just take the punishment and pay the bill.

However, I wanted to sound a note of caution to anyone using O2 Mobile Broadband because I'm sure, like me, you have no idea what 4.5Gb of overage actually is. For the record, the file I transferred was 51Mb but that transfers somehow to over 4.5Gb of bandwidth.

I would like you all to note: if O2 can put my account on hold mid month because I have gone over my tariff the must be able to monitor my usage so, why don't they notify you when you are close to or, about to go over, your tariff?

Why don't they offer you a more appropriate tariff to match your usage?

Why give you the extra then put your account on hold before the bill is even due?

How do they justify a bill of £720 for 4.5Gb overage when the can give you 6Gb extra for £6.50 a month?

Do you think there is an element of extortion here?

Finally, is the extortion more or less acceptable because O2 is a large organisation? An interesting question!

I need your help...

2009-10-21T00:44:00.017+01:00

Most of my life I have painted for relaxation but recently, due to pressure of work, I have not been able to paint so often. Instead, I have been drawing; the difference is that I can draw when I have 10 minutes, and hour or a couple of hours to spare, something I can't do with painting.

I started by drawing a picture of Tiger Woods, this related to my passion for golf and my history of painting golf courses. While working on this picture I got the idea of painting other notable characters past and present, to date these have all been people that I admire. Drawings I have now completed include; Michael Jordan, Pavaroti, Nelson Mandela, HRH The Queen, John F Kennedy, Rudolph Nureyev, Dame Helen Mirren, Elvis Presley, Pele, Sir Alex Ferguson, Sir Anthony Hopkins and Katerina Witt.

I am currently working on drawings of Barak Obama, Marlyn Munro, Martin Luther King and Mother Teresa...this is the first thing I need your help with; I would like suggestions for other eminent people to draw, who do you think should join this list of people?

Secondly, what do I do with the pictures? My first idea was to sell these by auction and donate the proceeds to charity however, I have a couple of issues with this. Firstly, I would like the pictures to stay together in a single collection and I don't imagine too many people will want all of the images or, have room to display them. Secondly, I think there may be other ways to raise significantly more for charity by keeping the images in a single collection.

I have been talking to people involved in fundraising about the potential opportunities that the collection could offer. Perhaps the publication of a coffee table style book with the proceeds goings to a selected charity. Maybe a traveling exhibition (possibly connected to a book launch) to help raise awareness for a charity. Possibly a set of limited edition prints with the proceeds going to charity. Perhaps I could donate the original works to a charity for a year at a time to do all of the above so that more than one charity can benefit from whatever fundraising opportunities they can arrange.

I am entirely open to suggestions, comments and ideas. If you think I would be better to just sell them off and donate the proceeds to a single charity, lease let me know. If you feel there is a bigger opportunity, please let me know.

Don't forget, I'm still looking for ideas for celebrities and iconic people that should be included in the collection so please send me any comments you have about this.

Lastly, it would help me greatly if you could share this blog post with your friends, the more comments and input the better. You can use the "Share" button on the right hand column to add the blog post to your Facebook profile, Twitter page, Digg, Delicious and a whole host of sharing sites, please do what you can to spread the word, the more people I get involved, the greater the interest will be when I finally decide on a fund-raising route.

Thank you.

I'm here!

2009-10-17T17:02:00.006+01:00

I've been posting blogs to the Design Matters and Podcastmatters blog for some time now and these tend to be about things I'm up to within these businesses. There are lots of things I want to blog about that are not business related - rants about things that irritate me (of which there are many), views and comments on news or events not directly related to my business and, family/friend related stories. I will be posting this content here in future.

Because many people know me through my business activities, I may also post some business related stuff on here. In fact, the convergence of personal and business life on Social Media is something I've been thinking about lately. It is getting increasingly difficult to separate both although, I think in many respects it is important to do so. Many of my social media "friends" only know me through business, do they really want to know I've just fired up the bar-b-cue or, I'm enjoying a beer? I think not. Especially if they're in a different time zone and they've just arrived at work.

Maybe we should operate two profiles - one personal, the other business. But, what about the people that fall into both? OK, I'll operate three profiles - one personal, one business and one for both. But, what about my male and female friends? OK, I'll operate five profiles - now this is getting stupid.

Joking aside, the messages we send differ depending on the the peer group we're addressing; how do we manage the distribution of content so that the appropriate messages are getting to the right people? Or, do messages need to be kept so general that it doesn't matter, surely this then defeats the purpose of social networking?

I need to give this some more though. Meantime, if you have any views on the subject I would love to get them.