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Sometimes unsolicited email is not just 'spam'. It's disingenuous, dishonest, rude and insulting. I have had some lively discussions with marketing folk about this, and I find I have a minority view on it. If you insist on direct marketing from lists you purchase and don't ask your correspondents' permission to send them information, then please don't do what this 'marketer' did:

I had so many business cards in my drawer that

I have put them all in a Rolodex efficiently.

It may have been a while since we met,
sorry I haven’t been in touch sooner.

However, I would like to invite you to the Business 2012 Event
with Richard Branson & Lord Sugar on March 18^th – 20^th.

It would be a great opportunity to meet again after
such a long time.

It’s one of UK’s leading business events.

See details here <link deleted>

The event will provide outstanding insights
into many areas of business and personal development.

There are exhibitors some blue chip companies and workshops.

GRAB F*R*E*E TICKETS while they last – they have had over 25,000 registrations.
This email is going out to quite a few friends so don’t delay.

I am also one of the keynote speakers – just prior to Sir Branson on Sunday.

See details here <link deleted>

It will undoubtedly recharge your batteries in many ways.
You will meet some great people and share some great strategies.

This will be a very informative and fun event including
some latest news on Social Media ,outstanding business skills from
Sir Branson and Lord Sugar and much much more.

See details here <link deleted>

OH and off course - Cherrie Blaire is also attending and be saying a few words!
DON’T MISS IT….

As if reading it through once is not bad enough, I want to break it down a bit and explain why it insults me and just makes me cross:

I had so many business cards in my drawer that I have put them all in a Rolodex efficiently.

Really? So? Maybe sharing the efficient method of putting cards in a Rolodex would be informative.

It may have been a while since we met, sorry I haven’t been in touch sooner.

We have never met, and certainly never exchanged cards.

However, I would like to invite you to the Business 2012 Event with Richard Branson & Lord Sugar on March 18th – 20th.

Really, still not interested. Unfortunately these two personalities have become the champions of British business. Both have made more money than I can ever imagine, but would I want their reputations? Branson is the figurehead of a suite of companies that are best known for the complaints they attract from their customers, and Sugar is now identified with the most despicable show on television in which bullies, charlatans, liars and back-stabbers are heroes. That's not business.

It would be a great opportunity to meet again after such a long time.

We have never met. I'm not interested in meeting you.

It’s one of UK’s leading business events.

I've never heard of it.

See details here <link deleted>

If I follow that link, it will verify my email address to you and I will get this rubbish from you daily.

The event will provide outstanding insights into many areas of business and personal development.

Really? I doubt it.

There are exhibitors some blue chip companies and workshops.

So? Who? What does this illiterate sentence mean? Anyway, workshops are places where wood is whittled. You're still not interesting me.

GRAB F*R*E*E TICKETS while they last – they have had over 25,000 registrations. This email is going out to quite a few friends so don’t delay.

Who is "they" all of a sudden? I thought it was about you and me. Now we're talking about another 25,000 people and you want to meet me 'again'? I hope your friends will enjoy it.

I am also one of the keynote speakers – just prior to Sir Branson on Sunday.

And who are you? I always thought that the form to address a knight was Sir "Given Name", not Sir "Family Name".

See details here <link deleted>

No. See above.

It will undoubtedly recharge your batteries in many ways. You will meet some great people and share some great strategies.

How?

This will be a very informative and fun event including some latest news on Social Media ,outstanding business skills from Sir Branson and Lord Sugar and much much more.

What's that comma doing there? And what does this mean? I don't understand. And you've misused Sir again.

See details here <link deleted>

No, for the same reason as above - again.

OH and off course - Cherrie Blaire is also attending and be saying a few words! DON’T MISS IT….

If Cherrie Blaire is attending, something must be off course. And who is this "Cherrie" person anyway? And you've written another set of words that neither make sense nor comprise a sentence. And why are you shouting at me?

I am assuming that the person who wrote this paid for a list from which he got my email address (an address I use for one purpose only - a well known on-line payment system - so someone has broken a privacy agreement somewhere along the line). I never printed this address on a business card and never gave this person my permission to send me email.

Having paid for this list, he surely should have invested some time in composing his message with some care and attention, at least spelling the names of personalities correctly. A lousy phishing message from Nigeria or Siberia can be entertaining and is so transparent that dismissing it from the Inbox as junk is just a morning chore. Somehow, this is so much more insidious.

All unsolicited email is spam. Send messages to your customers and suppliers and to those with whom you have had business interaction, even if you never sent them an invoice. However, when dealing with people you have never met, please don't try to convince them that you have, and please seek permission to send them a message (a goldfish bowl collecting cards for a raffle prize at a trade show doesn't count - you're collecting cards for a raffle prize, not building a mailing list).

This message had no footer with any other contact information and was signed, not by a person, but with another link to that tracked link that I have deleted throughout.

And the worst bit? The salutation of this message which I did not copy and paste was "Hi Steven". Did I mention that I have never met this person before? Faux familiarity will stiffen my back even more than shouting at me NOT TO MISS IT.

Spam, plain and simple. There. It's off my chest.

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If you travel frequently, it's worth knowing that Google has launched a hotel search service called Google Hotel Finder.

It is described as an "experiment" at the moment, not even "beta", and it does not appear to be listed in any of the Google product lists that I can find (quickly). Who knows how long it will be around with this status and if Google will support it - seems a perfect addition to Google search services, though.

I like the highlighted "popular locations" (areas to avoid?) and the editable box/shape to select hotels only in specific geographic areas - great if, like me, you travel for conferences and find that conference centres are often built in slightly odd places, perhaps places that city and regional local governments select for regeneration and think that a conference centre might do the trick. Results are aggregates of booking sites and properties' own sites.

Useful.

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See the full gallery on Posterous

My favourite christmas tree since the ones of my childhood when we had real candles on drying conifer branches indoors (!).

Lego is so iconic, somehow, this doesn't seem commercial (not a logo in sight), though, of course, it is blatant seasonal advertising.

These branches really are made from individual Lego bricks.

Apologies for the photos - a poor photographer, using a lousy tool.

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When Extremism Damages the Brand

Joe Brockmeier wrote a post today on ReadWrite Enterprise suggesting that Richard M Stallman's intemperate, unsensitive, probably carefully considered and deliberately provocative, statement about Steve Jobs was contemptible.

Sadly, the diatribe of comment that follows the piece is predictable. Yes, Apple has done a lot that Stallman doesn't like, campaigns against, and is, in essence, anti-open source (The Register published a piece today giving ten reasons, some very compelling, not to buy an iPhone 4S).

While every movement, religion, belief, idea needs its originators, founders, believers, maybe even a few fanatics and fundamentalists, sometimes those fanatics and fundamentalists can damage the brand and movement beyond repair. Extreme Apple fans put people off purchasing macs and i-devices. Richard Stallman's unbending, unaccommodating fundamentailism is leading F/LOSS into a marsh in Venezuela whence it will never return.

At the end of August DrupalCon London showed how an open source project can thrive in the commercial world with much of its development arriving as contributions from businesses big and small. DrupalCon showed that open source software is not (all) developed by anti-Microsoft-spouting, anarchist teenagers with vitamin D deficiencies spending too much time coding and not having a social life. Even the list of contributors to the Linux kernel is dominated by enterprise (some may surprise): Red Hat, Intel, Novell, IBM, Microsoft, Broadcom, Atheros, Google, Samsung... apparently even the top individual contributor to kernel version 3.x is a Microsoft developer. The PR coming from the LibreOffice camp also seems encouraging and inclusive.

I hope the F/LOSS movement finds new voices, more temperate voices, voices that resonate in this great bazaar, not just the one shouting down and insulting anyone with a view not matching his own. Like a lousy politician, he gets some headlines, but no votes. F/LOSS needs more votes, but no more fanatics.

Written using Bean (GNU GPL), on a MacBook Pro (an old one, but still not open) and published using Posterous (free, though not, I think, open source). 

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I walk with my daughter, Alana, to school each morning. It's no more than a ten minute walk, but it's a moment in the day that is our's and our's alone, and sets me up nicely for my working day. We often have earnest conversations about nothing; perhaps speculating how a snail came to be crushed on the pavement.

Today, I had had the radio on while we had breakfast and did the morning chores. BBC Radio 4 led the news with an item about physics and the speed of light. Along with SIR David Attenborough and DOCTOR Alice Roberts, PROFESSOR Brian Cox is one of Alana's heroes (and titles are important to Alana). So, as we walked, I told her that scientists at CERN - she knows CERN because Professor Brian Cox works there - had sent particles from Geneva to a lab in Italy at what appears to be faster than the speed of light.

"Re-ally?" She asked, heavily emphasising the RE.

"Yes". Now Alana has an enthusiasm for science and archeology that seems genuine, bordering on the fanatic. At the moment becoming an archeologist is her ambition (unless Sir David Attenborough were to offer a traineeship to take up his mantle). So I continued "Yes, and if they are right, it could mean that what is understood about the universe might have to be reconsidered. The next twenty years could be very exciting times in physics and science."

"That changes everything," she declared. "I'm going to have to completely reconsider what I do with my life!"

Oh, Alana is eight years old.

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This does not quite follow my prescription; the banners chosen for this implementation are too "loose", so gaps get emphasised. However, it is effective, inexpensive and a doddle to set up. This particular wall of banners is 6m long.

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I am in the business of shipping exhibitors' displays to events that they attend. However, most of my clients attend events which are so geographically disparate that they need equipment that can be carried as accompanied luggage when they fly. I really don't like waste, and shipping makes up a big part of the footprint we leave on the planet while we go about our business.

This morning I was asked to recommend a display system that would have maximum impact, but be versatile and light enough to carry as accompanied luggage (though it may not always get under the baggage allowance of some airlines - and some travellers may not pack as lightly as others).

I ship, handle and install a lot of these displays. I thought some of that experience might be useful to people considering displays for the upcoming conference season. I recommended the following (anti-disclosure: I have no affiliation with any of the companies mentioned or linked):

The multiple banner display solution assuming a 3m/10ft exhibition space:

Build up a display with a series of banner stands; the advantage being that you can use one, two or more stands depending on the impact you want to make and the space available. If you are clever, design 3 or 4 banners that can be placed side by side to make up one wall display, but use the design so that each one could be used on its own in one way or another.

The Exalt range from Skyline is actually designed to do this, and has the advantage of being able to be "curved" slightly.

A more affordable form of the multiple banner idea can be achieved with the X-Presso display stand (no heavy base, just lightweight poles) available from various places, but this seems a good deal (it's budget option).

The Pop-Up Wall

I like the idea and look of Skyline's Regatta, but have not handled it - Skyline's take on Nomadic fabric display (see below). Neither company will thank me for making the comparison.

About 15 years ago, Jonathan, a sailor, had the great idea of getting his sail maker to print his artwork onto sail cloth and then adapting it to fit a Nomadic stand (remember studs and bands for Nomadic fixing?). Now Nomadic - still a favorite of mine make "fabric displays" which are very light because the artwork is printed fabric. The fabric is crease-proof, so can be folded into a suitcase. You just need to lug around the frame hardware. Have a look at FabriMural and XPlus. I haven't seen or used Hang Ten

I recently saw and liked the ISOframe Wave which looks very innovative. I'm interested to see how heavy it gets, though.

Green?

Finally, for a couple of years I have been advocating cardboard displays - recycled, reusable, and lightweight. So far, though, I have failed to sell anyone on the idea. I don't really know how green this is compared to something that can be re-used for years and years, but I love the idea of Green Graphics. Anybody used this before?

I'm sure many exhibitors have their favorites. Share them here and help eachother out. If you use any of these systems on a regular basis, let me know what you think.

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Google is describing Sparks, an element of its new social media platform Google+, thus: "Remember when your Grandpa used to cut articles out of the paper and send them to you? That was nice.". My daughter's grandpa still does that, for which I am grateful - it's still nice.

A recent bundle of cuttings that arrived through the mail contained a fascinating article by Bryan Appleyard about digital publishing and Faber & Faber's fabled (sorry) app of TS Eliot's The Waste Land. Interestingly and thankfully, Appleyard republishes his Sunday Times articles on his own blog so you don't have to pay to read it.

While the technology and innovation of the app are indisputably impressive, the best lines of the article are a quote from Henry Volans, Faber's head of digital who

admits he was “taken by surprise” by all the interest. “We didn’t try to second-guess our potential markets. We just thought we could make something good and see where it got us.”

Brilliant. Fans of Seth will recognise this attitude as "making art" and "shipping it".

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Submitting your details indicates your consent, until you choose otherwise

I read a consumer magazine dedicated to a specific brand of computers and phones - no prizes for guessing. The magazine's marketing is usually pretty good, permission based, and reflects well on the publisher.

However, this morning I received an email promoting its annual awards, voted for by its readers. Having five minutes to spend with my first mug of tea of the day, I ran through the survey. At the end of the survey was the usual privacy notice. I am quite diligent about double-checking these in a vain attempt to prevent my Inbox filling up with too much junk and not wanting an already busy phone ringing with offers I have not specifically sought or requested. To my dismay, I found this: 

"Please now click SUBMIT ANSWERS to send your responses to us. Your personal information will be used as set out in our Privacy Notice [link deleted]. Submitting your details indicates your consent, until you choose otherwise, that we and our partners may contact you about products and services that will be of relevance to you via, direct mail, phone, e-mail and SMS. You can opt-out at ANY time via the web or email."

I declined to submit my answers. Where is the permission here? "Submitting your details indicates your consent, until you choose otherwise". Not even an opt out. No "please may we contact you?", requiring a response. Not even a "please indicate that you do not wish to be contacted". Just "you can opt out at any time via" an unspecified website or an unspecified email address.

I am under no illusion that such a survey is a data farming exercise for the publisher, its affiliates and advertising clients.

So what was good about this? The email I received promoting the survey was signed by the magazine's editor with his name and (apparently) his personal email address. I fired off a message with my objections (perhaps a bit huffy, but not rude - I hope), and to his credit, I received a personal reply within the hour (it was Saturday morning) suggesting that he recognised that this was an issue and that he would look into it on Monday. "Aside from common courtesy, the fact that this put you off submitting the survey is a strong argument for getting it fixed."

This was not an auto-response, but something written by a human being who had just had an additional item added to his To Do list on a Saturday morning.

I like the fact that this editor put his name to his communication and has made himself accountable not just to the magazine's content, but the organisation's marketing activities, too.

Speaking of To Do lists, one of the most beautiful, simple (and free) tools for keeping track of your To Dos has got to be TeuxDeux - http://teuxdeux.com/. It's an online application, but it works well as an "app" with a Site Specific Browser tool like Prism, Fluid or Ice. Oh, and because of that, it will work on anything with an internet connection and a browser. You don't have to have the specific equipment that this magazine features.

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Update [24 August 2011): I had copied the article here, but feel it is better for the original writer to simply link to it; please read it here. Read the original article's comments section (something I usually avoid, but feel that this subject should be relatively troll-free). Some thoughtful rebuttals and comments there.

Who'd have thought? I'm not keen (aesthetically) on Comic Sans, but used in a learning environment, perhaps it has its place... I've read a lot of design blogs whose writers will not like reading this one bit. However, I will now start to hand write memos and messages; difficult to read = more chance of being committed to memory.

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At the risk of emulating Andrew Marr's stereotype of a blogger ("socially inadequate, pimpled, single, slightly seedy, bald, cauliflower-nosed young men sitting in their mother's basements and ranting"), a view with which I have some sympathy, I am motivated to vent a frustration today.

I received an email message (unsolicited, and without my permission that I am aware of) informing me that an early-bird discounted registration deadline for an upcoming event has been extended, because it has been so popular; because of "overwhelming demand", in fact.

I am all for early-bird discounts. However, if a discount offer period is extended, I cannot think why "overwhelming demand" could be the cause.

I can think of only three reasons to extend an early bird discount:

1. Underwhelming demand;

2. Price adjustment - the full price offering turned out to be too expensive, but the discounted price is about right, and;

3. Timing - just got it wrong for your target market.

Flanneling us with something that we can't believe, cheapens the offering and breaks down trust in the event and its organisers.

The offer? A one-day "effective email marketing" course, using the vendor's platform. I shan't attend. I hope that those that do seek my permission to use my details before sending me information that is, at best, inaccurate. Somehow, I doubt they will.

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I cut my teeth in exhibitions in the 1990s, a decade the meetings and exhibitions industry remember with misty eyes and romantic nostalgia; pre-web 2.0 (or whatever we're calling the social, interactive web these days), pre-SARS/bird flu/swine flu, pre-9/11, pre-green sensitivity (shouldn't have been but it hadn't yet gained traction), and the downturns of that decade no longer seem so traumatic compared to 2008-20??. In the publishing industry, showing books at international events was novel - get loads of product out in front of exhibition visitors and it was a big draw; exhibition stand visitors were keen to see the product because they had few other opportunities to do so. Ten years ago, marketers could treat an exhibition at a conference in just the same way as they treated exhibiting at a trade show (for the purposes of this, defined as an exhibition that is not a part of a conference, but a commercial exhibition event in its own right). I don't think that holds in 2010.

With so many digital and physical marketing channels, delegates at conferences demand more than product from an exhibition stand. Indeed commentators in the (I love this one) MICE sector - that's Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Events - like Jeff Hurt, argue that delegates are demanding more from conferences. More interaction, more networking, more value, less top-down one-way information exchange. 

I think that exhibitors at conferences will benefit by ditching the traditional trade show sales techniques and participate and contribute to the personal and professional development programmes of conferences. The exhibition stand/booth will become more of a base camp than a destination and the marketing and sales work will be done by exhibitors as delegates.

As the biggest jamboree of my year approaches, I would like to explore ways in which exhibitors might achieve this and how this might impact them. Thoughts and contributions are most welcome.

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Etymology:  "The specific epithet, attenboroughii, is a commemorative, genitive noun in apposition taken from the patronym Attenborough. We have chosen to name this species after broadcaster and naturalist, Sir David Attenborough, whose outstanding television documentaries have made the world’s natural history accessible and understandable to millions.  As a keen enthusiast of the genus and a patron of Philippine conservation efforts, it is fitting that this spectacular new species be dedicated to him on the occasion of his 80th birthday."

This from The Top 10 New Species 2010 - a very excellent list on Arizona State University's website (I attended the rival campus down the road, so should I be so nice about ASU?).

I have a problem. My latin teacher at school, the Reverend C R Stagg, was very particular about the pronunciation of latin words - hard Gs, even when followed by E and many more rules. I now understand that classical Latin might have been spoken as modern Italians speak their native language. Whichever is correct, what on earth do you make of "ATTENBOROUGHII"? I'm guessing "Attenburroogee", with a hard G.

I imagine Sir David is probably more thrilled with this than his knighthood.

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From the "tiny little savings add up" department:

This actually makes sense in my strange little world - I have installed ecofont and set it as my default font for word processing (drafts) and email (though I very rarely print email). I have always liked Vera Sans as a font; now it uses less ink than it used to.

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"Drayage".

It's a term that sends a shiver down American exhibitors' spines.

Google "Drayage" (worse yet, "Drayage + costs") and your results will feature numerous articles with headlines like "Is Drayage Destroying the Tradeshow?" In a recent post (recommended) about The 10 Main Players in the Trade Show Ecosystem on Skyline's (US display manufacturer) website, Mike Thimmersch describes drayage as "Pain #[no.]1 for trade show exhibitors" (I have also re-posted his blog about building a social media plan below).

On the eastern edge of the Atlantic, we are not very familiar with the term, especially in the exhibition/trade show environment. It is used in the containerised freight world to refer to the local movement of containers to or from rail or port terminals.  Drayage is an archaic term, dating back to the Middle Ages. A dray horse is a large horse - think Clydesdale or Shire. A drayman was typically a brewery delivery driver. Drayage is the movement of goods on a sideless cart (though, the Australians apparently consider a dray wagon to have only two wheels - always tougher in Oz). Those who have watched any American commercial television will immediately think of teams of Clydesdale horses pulling carts full of barrels, promoting one of the country's largest breweries.

Nowadays, in the exhibition/trade show industry, it describes a practice perhaps as archaic as the word: the movement of goods from the loading dock to the trade show booth space and back again. In many US and Canadian states, halls are heavily unionised (a Europe:US comparison of unionised labour - we can't even spell it right over here - is a subject for another place), and "drayage" is a service appointed by an event organiser to a monopolistic, approved supplier. Exhibitors consign their goods to the drayage contractor who then charges to deliver the consignment to the stand, remove empties and the reverse at the end of the show. When goods are sent to the event from overseas, this contractor also becomes the international consignee and often clears the goods, too.

I understand that charges for these services can be astronomical, often exceeding the shipping charges. I have read anecdotes that US marketers budget as much for drayage in one year as it would cost to replace their exhibit. It is no wonder that American marketers seem to hold these "service" providers in such low esteem. I can see how it can happen. I recently managed a consignment for a client attending a Canadian event. The local customs clearance and delivery charges did indeed exceed the airfreight costs. 

(Aside: Interestingly, drayage is also the most expensive element of containerised freight.)

Can these charges be justified? 

Maybe.

There are four handling movements involved: from storage to stand/booth; empties from stand/booth to storage; empties back to stand/booth at the end of the event; returning items back to storage and onward shipment. The labour, organisation and administration involved to do this well for a large number of exhibitors is expensive.

Is there another way?

In Europe, we are not saddled with the term. However, venue appointed contractors (furniture suppliers, freight forwarders, electrical and fittings contractors etc), often manage to negotiate similarly monopolistic contracts with some venues.

I would like to introduce another term: Exhibition Shipping Management as provided by my business, Atlas Promotions.

An Exhibition Shipping Manager is not a freight forwarder. S/he may partner a freight forwarder, but be independent of it, working with an event organiser to support a specific exhibition. An Exhibition Shipping Manager is not appointed by a venue, either. However, an event organiser may have to negotiate terms for an Exhibition Shipping Manager to work in a venue as part of the event contract. 

Her/his role is to manage the consolidation of exhibition materials, prepare the most appropriate customs documentation for international consignments, arrange dedicated transport to the event and to be on site to arrange delivery to the stand, storage of empties which are returned at the end of the show and return consignments to the exhibitors' premises. I believe that this service can be provided reliably, courteously and efficiently without making exhibitors so angry. It should also probably not cost as much as shipping + drayage, but it can never compete on price with straight-forward freight; I will analyse this in another post.

Of course this is not a new idea. Atlas has been providing a service like this for exhibitors at International School association conference exhibitions for twenty years.

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Would Alistair Cooke be a blogger?

Given his voice and delivery for which he is, perhaps, most missed, podcasting might have suited him better.

I am thrilled to find that the BBC keeps an archive of Alistair Cooke's Letter from America (1999-2003/4).

The BBC schedule still has a hole where Letter from America used to be.

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I accompanied my daughter to school this morning, discussing all the way the British electoral system. She is just seven, but she grasped the basics with surprising alacrity and clarity and given her ability to keep talking, no matter what is happening around her, a career in politics awaits. Whatever her future, it was for her sake, as much as mine, that I then walked across the road from the school to the polling station to cast my vote.

I do not intend to use this post to endorse or espouse any political theory, doctrine or manifesto, but to try to express why the x I marked was done so half-heartedly, despite my good intentions.

Much has been said about the public disenchantment of politicians, and British democracy in general, because of sensational expenses scandals, politicians' behaviour in the media and the convergence of party policies on the middle ground, making the prospect of a close 3-way tie inevitable. Fence-sitting and not addressing questions directly while garnering as much media exposure as possible has become an occupation, for which, it seems, advisors and consultants are engaged and paid handsomely. It is my impression that over the last eighteen months, banker-bashing and holier-than-thou pontificating about the morality of claiming expenses that was apparently permitted, if not encouraged, has been used to disguise the poverty of ideas in politics.

Political philosophers appear to have been replaced by skilled sales wonks - I am not denigrating sales professionals, and I wish it was something at which I was better. The motivation of sales is to do the deal. Sometimes the product or service seems secondary, as long as the deal can be closed. The current generation of politicians appear to have similar motivation and the philosophy of what they are selling us has been subsumed by political brands. It strikes me that we are given a choice between a menu of policies based on a hodge-podge of beliefs that are a century old, if not older, offered as fuzzy concepts like "change" and "fairness".

Surely the burst of the financial bubble and subsequent economic collapse, papered over by spending, creating debt at a scale that cannot be imagined, should have encouraged and stimulated new economic and political ideas, not just these tepid adaptations of old ones? Where are the Adam Smiths, Marxes, Ricardos, Jevonses, or Millses of the twenty first century? Can we think of nothing new? Perhaps new theories of value and distribution are out there, but their thinkers cannot get them into the mainstream (they do not have the sales-craft), or is it that they cannot be expressed in fewer than 147 characters?

On a lighter note: Dr Angie Hobbs' blog for Plato's Government of Philosophers.

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