ConverStations

Brunch n Brains: United Breaks Guitars

The ground is getting more and more level every day. Consumers have voice. Sometimes the voice is a complaining in tone. We call these people "complaintant."

Many companies hate that this is going on. Ignore it even. Of course, there is a name for people/companies who ignore things. We call these people "ignore-ant."

For nine months, Dave Carroll followed the path (and jumped through the hoops) that United Airlines has customers go through when United errs. (Shame on us customers when we err -- but those are different hoops)

United Airlines broke Dave's guitar (which is a tool of his trade!). Admitted their gaffe. But refused to make up for it. So David used other tools at his disposal -- including YouTube.

 

Here's the thing: Many companies are going to look at this and point ugly fingernails at consumers who complain. But they were warned. Nine months. Now they'll probably try to make good. How come they didn't make good first?

United Breaks Guitars. The song has become a mantra. It'll last for awhile.

Update: Apparently United caught the turbulence the song has created and is back in conversation with Dave.

I've Seen the Light: I am MAC

I'd been into an Apple Store before. Never recognized the fuss the MAC-olytes make about the "experience" -- after all, it's retail for Woolworth's sake. Today was different.

Today, I gave hugs to everyone with a colored t-shirt. I had converted. One person told me my conversion actually happened 2,000 years ago -- I just found out about it today.

Angela and I had both talked about new computers. Should we get mini-netbooks with long life. Maybe one of us should get a MAC. Undecided, I called on the aide of two friends: Becky and Russ (I already knew what Drew would say).

Guess what -- we both got MacBookPro machines.

The fact that I am hesitant to open the box tells me how "special" this is. Yes, special. I've owned dozens of Windows machines and never hesitated opening the box. This is different. This      this     this is special.

Drew is helping me celebrate my new-found wisdom later.

I've seen the light.  I am MAC

A Beautiful Blend of Voice: Perpetuum Jazzile

On this Sunday morning, I am really diggin' this video/sound from Perpetuum Jazzile:

Perpetuum Jazzile is a jazz choir from Slovenia. From their website:

The stage is our canvas, our voices are our colours. We blend and unite them to create masterpieces. Happy faces give us energy and confirm that we are devoted to what we do with our hearts and souls. Their site also has a audio player in the top right corner so you can listen to more.

You can follow them on Twitter or Facebook.

Thanks to Gavin Heaton for sharing it this morning.

Brunch n Brains: On the Road to Innovation

Brunch n Brains is the new upscale version of our Lunch n Learn series, a chance to snack on some brilliance while grabbing a coffee or croissant.

Today, we take a shortcut on the path of innovation (if there is a such a thing...gotta view the show) and ponder these slides of wise all the way through Lunch:-)  Lots of Habitudes in this one:

Road To Innovation

View more presentations from Denise Caron.

More Denise Caron:
 - Denise on Twitter

Lafflaw Likes Lunches and Learning Lots and Legal

The folks at LaffLaw.com (serious!) have sent me a C&D note on the "Lunch n Learn" series (serious?) because they have a client who has that registered.

Their client has a "page" called Lunch 'N Learn, and I guess the series we have here promoting others and their brilliance was drinking some of their Google Juice?  Never mind that I don't capitalize the "N" or put an apostrophe in the mix; never mind that almost every Chamber of Commerce has some variation of lunches and learning (Did the "EDS" they refer to invest so much postage?  And does the real EDS know that LaffLaw refers to their client as EDS in their mailings?)

Lafflaw asked me to trash any catalogs, brochures and print advertising I might have with Lunch n Learn on it (did they even look at some of these posts?) Seriously?  I may have to kill the 30-second spot I was about to air during Cronkite hour.

I'll probably be changing the name of the series to Brunch n Learn as to play nice ... so if anyone has that registered and wants to send someone out to do their talking - let me know.

Why be so serious?

Aside: The attorney of record is a Mr. Tucker. No offense meant towards the late Mr. Laff. And they did say I could use the name by sending them some money for a limited license to use the term.

Lunch n Learn in the WWW (Wild, Wild, West)

Nice metaphor and story by Brandon Chestnutt in this How to Think Like a Social Media Cowboy presentation. I'm undecided whether slide # 9 or # 13 is my fave:

How to Think Like a Social Media Cowboy

View more OpenOffice presentations from Brandon Chesnutt.

More Brandon:

- on Twitter
- on FriendFeed
- IdentityPR

Off the Grid for a Bit

What a whirlwind week!  The Angela Maiers 21 Century workshop yesterday was a great success (though not without hurdles --  but hey, we have Habitudes!) Lots of grappling, lots of learning. I'm excited for those who attended -- and moreso for their students!

I'm going to take some time to catch up, reflect, and re-create.  Most of the activity around this site will be filled with Lunch n Learn type of stuff, book reviews I need to catch up on, and daily delicious links I find.

Thanks so much for your patience and peseverance:-)

links for 2009-06-18

• My Manifesto: Great Customer Experience Is Free « Customer Experience Matters
  If Classrooms are Conversation Stations (and they are) and our Students are our customers (and they are), then we would do wise to digest Bruce's Manifesto
  (tags: customer strategy experience usability education)
• TeachersFirst Resources by Subject & Grade
  Classroom Resources split into Elem, MS, HS for each subjects - Alpha List spread over 4 pages
  (tags: education resource LessonPlans maierswiki)