Experience Manifesto

Another Quick Trip to Poland

Another trip to Poland, this time heading to Wisla in the south. It's kind of a quick trip, so I don't think I'll get much sightseeing in, unfortunately. Had dinner in Warsaw my first night with Jacek Zięba and we went to Restauracja Zapiecek - Polskie Pierogarnie z Tradycjam (see photo below), a pierogi restaurant that Clilly & I found on our first trip here. Since they had pierogi's, I already wanted to eat here, but the addition of fried chicken livers moved it to the top of my list. I just don't eat pierogi and fried chicken liver enough at home. Although I am a Slovak on my father's side, my Polish pronunciation is apparently very bad. So, while I was trying to order a Tyskie beer, I apparently mangled the name so badly, the waitress wasn't quite sure what I was ordering. I said it a few more times before she started blushing and spoke to Jacek in Polish while I tried to point to the beer in the menu. While relieved to see I was ordering beer, but still blushing, she explained to me that the way I was saying it sounded like the slang for "tits" and she was trying to figure out why I was asking for tits from her. We all had a good laugh about it and it became a running joke everytime I ordered a beer with Jacek.

On Wednesday, we drove from Warsaw to Wisla with Jacek & Piotr Panek, who are learning the AudienceGames system for some upcoming events here in Poland. Also with us on the bus were the 10 model/hostesses for the event in Wilsa, who started out pretty strong, laughing, talking, etc., but were soon all sacked out.

We stopped at Wiejska Chata, a small, roadside restaurant that seem to be all over the highways here. Old-fashioned places, kinda' like truck stops, but very rustic and charming. They served very traditional Polish food, including a very sweet, berry drink that I unfortunately didn't try. Next time I guess! I had some more pierogi's and would've eaten more if not for an earlier stop at McDonald's. Although I'm not slim by any standards, I'd really be huge if I stayed here for a while and continued to eat pierogi's, kielbasa and drink this much beer.

We stayed at the Hotel Gołębiewski and it was a well-known, Polish ski resort. Although for the life of me, I can't understand why a resort with as many modern amenities as this one, only offered dial up internet in the rooms and only one place, the lobby, with a wireless hotspot. I heard a few people grumbling and when I asked the clerk at the front desk, she said Yes, everyone complains about that. Here's a Brand Experience Lab Rule -- if everyone is complaining about something, it's probably something you should fix! The show went well and I, left Jacek & Piotr behind to party with our model friends, as I headed back to Warsaw, so I could be back on Saturday for my flight home.

I decided to head into Warsaw for one last meal at my pierogi place a little sightseeing. Yes, I got the same waitress as I had the other day and we laughed again about my bad pronunciation!

I also went to Fotoplastikon Warszawski (see two photos below), something Clilly & I missed the last time we were here. It opened about 1905 and since then, it's offered residents of Warsaw a 3D journey around the world and an escape during bad times. It's actually a stereoscopic display with approximately 3,000 photographs in the collection. Just seeing the stereoscope system itself was pretty cool. According to their information, it's the only system of its type in the world. As someone who studies how audiences react to group experiences, it was really cool to see something that's been around as long as this has. If you're in Warsaw, make sure you stop by and see it. It's at Jerozolimskie Avenue 51, in the courtyard.

We're two hours away from NYC and its another successful AudienceGames installation and another good trip exploring the world and meeting new people. If my family were with me, then I'd be able to say It doesn't get any better then that!

Flying Home

Heading back after our really great vacation in Sydney and the return trip hasn't started off well. Upon arriving, we found out that our plane was going to be delayed two hours. Fortunately, it didn't seem to interfere with our connecting flight at LAX, so that was cool.

Of course, that meant an extra two hours at the airport which is enough to send me off the deep end. Not really crazy about killing time at the airport, especially an extra 2 hours. But we got some cool last minute items at the gift shop, so I guess it wasn't too bad.

But then came the logging onto the Telstra internet service at the airport and that didn't work so well. It's bad enough to pay such high prices for short term connections ($14 for 60 minutes) but then they disconnected me after 5 minutes! So I made the mistake of trying to call customer service and then letting that experience really piss me off. First guy seemed totally clueless as to anything I was talking about, putting me on hold for a while and then disconnecting me. So, I called back. This person also had no clue about anything and yes, he disconnected me too. Yes, I did have an attitude, but I wasn't rude, just exasperated.

On my 3rd call, I just asked for a supervisor and waited on hold for that to happen. He couldn't help me either and started to explain to me how I called the wrong number. I explained that he should just get someone to help me. I was transferred again and by this time, I had already bought another 30 minutes and now all I wanted was a refund for my first 60 minutes. Not surprisingly, he couldn't help me with that and I was once again transferred to a number that doesn't work on the weekends! What's up with that? How could five people, including a supervisor, not be able to help with my fairly simple request?

In my e-mail to them, I said I'd be tracking the story on the blog, so let's see how they respond. I deserve a refund for the first $14 and expect a refund for the second $8 I spent. Of course it probably cost me $30 in phone charges to get absolutely no help from 5 of their customer service reps. We'll see how this all works out. Telstra, we're waiting! (UPDATE -- It's been over a week since I had this problem with Telstra and not a single response from them. Not very customer focused of them!)

On the plane and just found out that the TV system in our section isn't working. When I asked, the steward said "Well, we were having problems and if we waited to fix it all, then we would've had to wait another two days before this crew could fly again. So since everything but this section was working, we thought that was better then nothing" I reminded him that back here, we had nothing and he pointed to a monitor that was akin to a "water view apartment" in NY, where yea, if I sat at just the right angle, I could almost see the whole screen. And Sydney, from her seat next to me, couldn't see anything.

Not sure what they should. We spent $3,000 for our RT seats and certainly we should expect the service that money buys. Is it really fair that they're not giving us the service promised but not offering anything in return? They could've offered something, a free drink maybe? Maybe some bonus miles? I'm not sure, anyone here have any suggestions for United and other airlines that have problems like this? A two hour delay and a 14 hour flight with no video entertainment is just going to be painful. I'll certainly reach out to United when I get home and see what they offer. As you might have read, I really enjoyed the flight out, so I was hoping for an enjoyable flight home. A much nicer stewardess said she'd see if they had a seat where Sydney could see the screen, so we'll see how that works out. For the time being, Sydney & I are doing a crossword puzzle and rocking out to Kids XM radio. I've gotten hooked on YouTube - YEAH TOAST!!! and we've been singing it the whole flight!

UPDATE -- OK, they did give everyone in our section of the plane a certificate to redeem online, so they did acknowledged the problem, apologized again and they did make the offer. So I'll give them positive marks for this flight as well.

So, that's the end of the trip. Monday it's back to our regular routine and organizing photos. I'll post a link as soon as we have some up. Can't wait to see what next year's adventure will be!

Last Day in Sydney

Another slow morning, although today was spent with my relatives here, so we did enjoy ourselves. About 1 or so, Sydney stayed behind while I decided to hit Paddy's Market and bring home some souvenirs for Kristen. Paddy's Market is a fairly large market that pretty much sells everything. Trinkets to clothing to food to, well you name it. The problem with a place like this is that I need to visit the entire place before I can actually make any purchases. You know, there could be a better deal around the corner! And once I've decided a specific vendor has the right item, then I have to find them all over again! I had given myself an hour here and then I was going to try to head up to the Paddington Market for their last hour. But, I soon realized that I was either going to drive myself insane or relax and just enjoy Paddy's Market and that's what I did. Got some Aborigine art t-shirts, some little things that we can use for grab bag & teacher gifts and even got a small didgiredoo for Sydney. If she really decides to learn how to play it, this could've been a big mistake! I did break down and buy a nice, Australian hat, so if you see me wearing it, make sure to tell me how good I look in it!

So, that was my last day in Sydney. Heading to my Aunt & Uncle's for dinner there, then packing and relaxing for tomorrow's trip. The Sharks, their rugby, team lost last night, so they'll be needing some cheering up. And there's nothing light the storytelling of a 7 year old to make that happen!

Tomorrow, we'll head to the airport and begin our journey home and back to our usual routine Monday morning. It's been a great trip, althought we could've spent a few more weeks here.

Tonight we're watching a semi-final rugby match between Manly and the Warriors and holy smokers what a strange and really rough game this is. All my relatives were very upset that the Sharks lost 28 nil to Melborne yesterday and we watched some of the games last weekend as well. Trying to figure out what's more confusing to me, this or cricket. But given the popularity of things like mixed martial arts in the States, I don't know why rugby isn't played in our country. Big guys, no protective gear and the game moves really fast. Nick Truelson, the product manager of the Essendon Football Club invited me out to Melbourne to see a game the next time I'm in town and maybe he can help me better understand how it plays. But right now, Manly's up, so it's been a great game to watch. Very surprised to see how they do sponsor logos on these games. For example, there's no last names on their uniforms, just sponsor names. Not sure that'd ever work in the States. And they never stop the game! Someone gets hurt and they just play around him. and they hit hard. I've been feeling the hits just watching the game!

Since this is my last real post from Sydney, I'd like to once again like to thank:

Mark, Suzette, Rosa and all of the team that put together the Experiential Marketing Summit. It was well run and I hope the participants enjoyed the program as much as I did. I'll get my notes from the program organized and up when I get back into office next week.

Stuart Norris of Magic Memories in Sydney for tickets to the Sydney Aquarium, the Sydney Tower and Wildlife World.

Jo Gilbert over at OgilyAction for tickets to the Taronga Zoo.

And the folks over at Mindz, for helping me take Sydney with me on this trip.

Maybe I'll get lucky and be invited back to speak at Experiential Summit '09 and we'll visit again. Or thanks to an off the cuff invite from George Shinas, that he'll either forget or regret, I might be spending my 50th the Shinas Estate, drinking good wine, having a barbie on the billabong and thinking once again, what a great country Australia is.

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The Taronga Zoo

Keeping with our animal explorations, we're at the Taronga Zoo today (www.taronga.org.au). Big shout out to Jo Gilbert over at OgilyAction here in Sydney for hooking me up with some tickets for the day! They have a great set-up here, with many of the animals not really in cages, but sort of open. Not the dangerous animals of course, but many others. It's also a great location, across the way from Sydney and up on a hill. Some of the best views of Sydney are supposed to be from here.

We started in the Australian Wildlife area and got to see more kangaroos & wallabies. They were really in the open, so they could walk right up to you. They were busy eating so they weren't really all that interested in us, except for the ice cream that Sydney was eating!

They also have a good exhibit for kids that's set up to look like a house and a yard. Lots of good information for kids about the environment, recycling and taking care of the planet. They did it with a lot of fun exhibits that Sydney really wanted to explore, so I'd say it was a successful installation.

We saw a presentation about spiders that was pretty cool. I have arachnophobia, so I'm not always the best as these demos. Especially when they brought out the Sydney funnel spider, the deadliest spider in the world. It was much bigger then the spiders I'm used to seeing. Cocktail party fun -- turns out that spiders breath through their bottom. If they fall into a pool, they can't get out, however, the hair around it's butt captures air and they can actually stay under water for up to three days with their own air supply.

While we were looking at the snow leopard exhibit, Sydney was reading about how they've become endangered. She asked why people hunt them so much and I talked about how there were just too many people on the planet and we're using all of the resources. So she asked why we don't do something to limit the number of people on the planet. Surely brings up some interesting questions, that kid of mine.

Being an ex-theme park worker at Disney, I'm always amazed when I visit attractions like this and they close all of the gift shops down before the park closes. Don't they realize that people would spend more money if they were able to shop on their way out after they've seen everything? Guests hate to have to decide if they should see one more exhibit or go shopping. I bet they'd find the extra revenue would offset the additional costs and deliver a better guest experience.

After spending the day at the zoo, we relaxed a little before heading into the the area called the Rock to look for a place to eat. Food has been the one real challenge for me as Sydney's just a little picky. And after 5 days of eating McDonald's, Hungry Jack (their Burger King) and oatmeal we brought from home, I'm starting to lose my mind. So we stopped at a place called Zia Pina for pizza. We walked past it earlier in the week and there was a line out the door then too, so we figured it must be good. Or cheap. And it was both. And Sydney ate, so that was a bonus.

Heading home and we're both exhausted from a long day and lots of walking! Back tomorrow for lots more adventures! When I get home and back to having internet access, I'll get some pictures posted of our day.

Thanks again to the folks at Mindz (http://www.mindz.com/) for making it possible for me to bring Sydney with me on this great trip!

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The Sydney Aquarium

We're spending the day at the Sydney Aquarium, thanks to some free passes from Stuart Norris of Magic Memories here in Sydney. I'm trying very hard to do something I'm usually pretty bad at doing -- letting Sydney go at her own pace. Usually I'm running ahead of her pulling her in different directions. Today, she's exploring at her own pace.

The first thing we saw was the duck-billed platypus and boy, it's a strange looking creature! But it was cool to see and thanks to Sydney's need to ready everything in a musuem, we did learn a lot about the platypus! For example, it has waterproof fur and not skin and it closes its eyes, ears & nose when it goes underwater and when it catches things, it keeps it in a pouch in its mouth. Bet you didn't know that!

It's a nicely laid out and several of the tanks have an upper & lower viewing area,so that makes it more enjoyable. I asked Sydney what she thought of the place and she said it was fantistco! (That's an expression we use at our house.) They had a couple of petting tanks, which is nice because aquariums are notoriously hands off. So, we got to touch some starfish and coral and the like.

They had some learning stations around where we made sure to stop and learn. For example, we just learned that starfish feed by covering their prey and then extending its stomach outside of its body to digest. It's great to travel with a 7 year old because she's actually interested in learning things and that means I get to learn too.

We filled a good several hours and, given that it was a little cool & damp today, it was the perfect thing to do. I think it's a better place for younger children like Sydney, but it was worth the time to visit. Later in the week, we'll still do the Taronga Zoo, the Wildlife Experience and try to continue exploring Sydney.

Here's Sydney's review:

I loved it sooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!! much! my favorite part was the seal's!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

In the evening, we had dinner with Iven Frangi and his wife Joanne and son Josh and we had a really enjoyable evening on a harbor overlooking Sydney.

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A Day About Kirraowee

We're visiting the Symbio Wildlife Park (www.symbiozoo.com.au) near my Aunt & Uncle's house today and having fun with the animals. It's a little more like a large petting zoo then a more traditional zoo, but that's what's making it so much fun. We've fed a number of different kinds of animals, including kangaroos, wallabies & ostriches, and even petted a kaola bear. We also got to see a Tasmanian Devil, which was pretty cool. Now we're getting ready to play with the reptiles and Sydney's pretty psyched. We also got to see one of Sydney's favorite animals in the world -- meerkats. They were actually bigger then I thought but not really any cuter. Later in the week, we're visit the main zoo in Sydney and we're looking forward to that too.

Since Sydney (my daughter, not the city) is very interested in being either a vet or working in a zoo, visiting wildlife attractions has been a major part of our plans here at Sydney (the city, not my daughter). We'll be visiting the aquarium in addition to the zoo later this week.

Yesterday we spent the day with Terry Savage ,Chairman of the Cannes Lions, his wife Cheryl Wannel, head of SAWA and their friends David & Lynne. Sydney got to play a little bit with their daughter Torie, while we ate a great meal and drank some wine. OK, we drank a fair amount of wine. It was really fascinating to hear the Cannes story from Terry and, suffice it to say, he's working on some very cool plans for the future. But I won't be spilling the beans before he does! In all, it was a really fun day and my first time meeting both Terry & Cheryl. I'm looking forward to spending more time with them in the future.

Back at my aunt & uncle's house and just relaxing right now. Sydney's watching a movie and the weather looks like we might have our first rain since we got here. We took a walk to explore a little bit & stopped in at a McDonald's Cafe for a little snack. We were at a McDonald's earlier today that advertised all burgers were "cooked to order," as did this one, so maybe it's something new they're trying. I like the McCafe's and can see where they'll give Starbuck's a run for their money.

Had a conversation with Sydney how creative she is and how many ideas she comes up with while on our walk. Like her idea to have two of every Webkinz, one that's robotic so it can go with you to places and one that's stuffed so you can still cuddle with it at night. She's looking to learn how to express her ideas better, so if anyone has any suggestions for how to help a 7 yearr old express her ideas, would you leave me a comment? Thanks in advance!

So, that's the end of our day here. Tomorrow it's back into Sydney for the Aquarium and Wildlife experience and then dinner with Iven Frangi, a customer experience specialist here in Australia. Looking forward to learning more about what's happening here!

So thanks again to my friends at Mindz (http://www.mindz.com/) for making Sydney's trip possible! Be sure to check them out!

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On the Road to Sydney

We're maybe 3/4's of the way through the flight and Sydney summed it up quite nicely -- I'm really excited, but I wish it didn't take so long! Our United flight has actually been pretty good so far, we even landed an hour early in LA. But, coach is coach and my whole body aches. My neck is going to be stiff for days! Now, I stopped flying United a few years back because they really lost my luggage and I didn't like the way they handled it. I've flown them just twice since that incident and they lost my luggage on one of those flights too, so we'll see where are luggage is before we decide if we'll start flying them again. Although between this flight and my recent trip to Warsaw (on LOT, a partner airline), I'm wracking up some good frequent flyer miles.

Sydney wasn't feeling well when we got off the plane in LA, but I guess after a couple hours of eating snacks, combined with the excitement of the trip, will do that to you. She can be a very picky eater and airline food has been pushing her boundaries. The food's been fine, but things like pancakes, which she loves, filled with apples & raisins, makes it something she's not sure she wants to try.

We both slept much of the LAX - Sydney flight, although I did watch bits & pieces of the movies. It's a lot easier to sleep in coach when you're Sydney's size. We had the whole row to ourselves, so she just stretched out and slept soundly. Her stomach seems fine now, so hopefully her problems in LA are behind us.

We're both excited to watch the sunrise this morning and they just announced it's about a 90 minutes until we land. Sydney's just been getting more & more excited, saying Sweet about every 10 minutes. She thought it was cool that the staff had their own place to sleep upstairs.

I have to give United real credit for one very important item. I've flown some international flights where the bathrooms looked like hell holes by the end of the flight. They looked worse the port-o-lets at a rock concert. But this United crew kept these bathrooms almost spotless. Maybe we were a very clean group of passengers, but I give the crew high marks for this. As you know from the bathroom blogfest every year, bathrooms can really make or break an experience.

We arrived at about 7 in the morning and got a really great tour of Sydney by our driver. Our room wasn't ready, so Sydney & I just did some walking around to get some lay of the land. We'll be staying with my uncle in the 'burbs next week, so we're trying to get some ideas about where to spend our breaks from the conference. And, I have to say, that Sydney may just be a special kid, but watching her skip through the city with a big smile on her face is really energizing to me.

Afternoon was spent doing work things like testing out the AudienceGames system and making sure I had all of my last minute tweaks to the presentation. We tried to go swimming, but they didn't allow children in the pool from 4:30 - 7:30. The hotel shares the pool with a health club and it's really a lap pool, so they don't allow children between 4:30 & 7:30, so Sydney was very disappointed. We'll try again later!

It's tough trying to keep her awake to get on a better time schedule, we're both fighting the time changes. We've been waking up a 3 AM and then we're tired by 5 PM and ready for bed! But, we're going to push through and I'm sure it'll get better! Conference starting tomorrow, so I'd better finish the presentation and get some sleep!

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Getting Ready to Head to Warsaw

Leaving tonight for Warsaw and I'll be there tomorrow afternoon. First time going to Poland and I'm really looking forward to it. If anyone has anyone places in Warsaw that I have to see, please let me know! I'll be there until Friday afternoon if anyone there wants to meet for a drink or something.

We had so much fun doing the retail walking tour with the folks from Ad Age (see Niche Retailers Work Their Brands In-Store - Advertising Age - Video), that we're going to try to do some more from Warsaw as well. So look for some video postings later in the week of the coolest retail Warsaw has to offer!

do zobaczenia w następnym tygodniu (See you next week!)

Heading to Warsaw!

I'm going to be heading to Warsaw for my first visit next week and really looking forward to it! I'll be there September 1st through the 4th and maybe an extra day or two as well. We're heading there to present AudienceGames to ING and, while it's a quick trip, we'll hopefully get some time to visit Warsaw and explore the city. And if you're in Warsaw, give me a shout and let me know. Maybe we can get together for a quick vodka and Pierogi while I'm in town!

Land Of Make Believe, Hope NJ

Spending Memorial Day at the Land of Make Believe in Hope, NJ. It's one of those rare, non-corporate theme parks that existed everywhere when I was a kid. Today, these kind of parks are much harder to find, but they can still deliver a days worth of fun for a 7 year old.

One of the problems we have when going to most non-attraction (Disney, Universal, etc.) is finding something suitable for Sydney to spend the day. The Six Flags park here isn't really bad, but sometimes Sydney gets frustrated when there's so much she can't do. Here there are things she won't do, but it's her choice.

Interestingly, it's also one of the few places that I know of where adults pay less then the children. It makes sense when you think about jt it, since kids really use the park much more then adults. Usually we're standing on the sideline just watching, except for the water park where we all have a fun time.

They also have a picnic area where you can bring in your own food. It's not a prime location, but I really do appreciate that they let you have that option. In addition to how expensive park food can be (although LOMB isn't really that bad), they don't always have the best selections available and Sydney can be an awfully picky eater sometimes. So having the option of bringing in our own food really helps make it a better experience for us all.

They actually have a Santa's workshop there too (I forgot to take a picture) and it was kinda' hot the day we were there, but there was Santa ready to say hello. Oddly, Sydney's still a little afraid of Santa, so she didn't want to go to close. I don't know if LOMB is open at all in the winter, so I don't know if you can visit Santa there during the actual Christmas holiday.

Sydney loved the little tube ride around the water park and shooting the water cannons at Kristen and me. She's done some of the water flume rides before, but wasn't into to them on this visit. I honestly used to stress when we paid for something like this and then all Sydney wanted to do was the same one or two things over & over, but now I just let her have her fun how she wants it. Maybe if she had a friend with her, she would've done more rides.

But, we had a fun day and at the end, Sydney even won that game where you have to throw the little plastic golf ball into the right bucket. I didn't think to take a picture of that either, since I've never been able to win at that game. But she won on her first throw! She took home a big dragon and was very pleased with her accomplishment!

If you've got kids (toddler to may 10'ish), Land of Make Believe is a good way to spend the day!

Link: Welcome to the Land of Make Believe!

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