One of the toughest things I've encountered, as I attend meetings, speak on panels, do interviews, and go to conferences, is that you never quite know what the tone of the room will be like until you get there. In other words, there are always a ton of different approaches you can take to a conversation, in terms of what you talk about and how you say it. And I never seem to really know what the right one is until after it's already happened. I'm thinking about it today because this afternoon I did a short interview with Rick Karr (from PBS's Blueprint for America, among other things) about open transit data and real-time bus & train information in NYC, for an upcoming episode of the Engadget Show. Of course, now that the interview's over, I'm thinking of all the witty things I could have said but didn't. But more importantly, thinking back, I wish I had thought harder about the audience and intention of the interview a bit more before going on air. (Hat tip to Nick for suggesting exactly this a few days ago, but apparently it wasn't quite enough.) We talk a lot about open data, and open transit data in particular. By and large, our audience consists of transit geeks, policy wonks, or bureaucrats (I mean all of those as terms of endearment); in each case, we dive into the policy and technical details of opening transit data. That's the mode I've been in: white papers, RFIs, formal letters, panel talks, etc. Today's interview was really for the consumer electronics crowd, and probably deserved a more gadgety/fun tone and emphasis than what I lead with. Anyway, I'm looking forward to seeing how it turns out, and meanwhile I'll continue on my quest to suss out the tone of the room before I get there... // image courtesy of
I get way too much spam in my inbox, even just counting things I've signed up for myself. Most of it I delete, but today's email from CoTweet stood out, and is worth mentioning. A while back I signed up for CoTweet, just to check it out -- nutshell: CoTweet lets you collaboratively monitor and manage multiple Twitter accounts -- but after my initial exploration I didn't go back to it. There may have been a reason, there may not have been. So, CoTweet, noticing my cold start, sent me an email, as any customer-aware and responsive web service should:
Subject: Is CoTweet for you? Hi Nick, We've noticed that no one has logged in to the @nickgrossman Twitter account through CoTweet lately. CoTweet is not for everyone. It's designed for teams who are managing the front-line of the real-time web for their organizations. .... No other tool allows you to engage customers one-on-one like CoTweet does. ....
They seem to have struck a nice balance between being self-promoting ("No other tool allows..."), while being self-aware and honest ("CoTweet is not for everyone"). In particular, I found the ordering of the argument to be effective. Here was my thought process:
Cotweet: "We've noticed that no one has logged in..." Me: "Yeah, yeah, I'm busy" (reaches to delete) CoTweet: "CoTweet is not for everyone" Me: "Ah nice, they're not trying to just straight up sell me. I appreciate that" CoTweet: "It's designed for teams who are managing the front-line of the real-time web for their organizations" Me: "Oh wait, that's me" (clicks sign in link)
So, thinking about my own work, there are two takeaways here: 1) make sure you follow up on cold starts (lord knows we don't do enough of this with some of our projects), and 2) when you do, phrase it in a way that's disarming, honest, and helpful. (looking forward to the email I get after I don't use it for another 3 weeks)
Yesterday, American Airlines announced that it's going to start charging a fee for checked baggage. Of course, this will draw the ire of frequent and not-so-frequent flyers everywhere. But, perhaps it makes some sense. What's making flying expensive right now is the cost of fuel. So, if people pack less, planes will be lighter and use less fuel. The logic is sound. Of all the cost-cutting approaches airlines have employed lately (charging for movies, food, etc.), this one is particularly interesting, because it puts a valid question to the consumer: Do I really need to pack that much? Can I pack less and still be ok? Every time I go to the airport, I'm blown away by how much people pack when they travel, even for short trips. Going on a weekend trip? You probably need a huge suitcase and a carry on. Taking a week vacation? Giant suitcase for everyone in the family. Please; give me a carry-on duffle and I won't pack all those extra clothes I'll never wear once I get there anyway. Of course, there are many cases where packing lots of stuff and checking your bag is unavoidable. But in reality, these occasions are quite limited, and I know that more people could pack less if they tried. My wife and I have been on the no-checked-baggage-unless-we-absolutely-have-to plan for a while now, and let me tell you, it's the way to go. No waiting at the baggage claim, and no schlepping around extra crap that you don't need. Regardless, I'm sure American is going to take some flack for this. We were just talking about this here at the office, and Bryan pointed out that being a first-mover on a fee like this is risky business. That's for sure, although it sounds like United is seriously considering going next. Phil raised a good point that this fee would feel much better if it were posed as a discount rather than a fee. For example, a $15 discount for not checking a bag would be much more palatable to consumers. Now that's nice. It will be interesting to see what happens to American here, whether people will run to other airlines or take the "discount" and pack light. Unfortunately, what's likely to happen is that everyone will start overpacking their carry-ons...
One of the toughest things I've encountered, as I attend meetings, speak on panels, do interviews, and go to conferences, is that you never quite know what the tone of the room will be like until you get there. In other words, there are always a ton of different approaches you can take to a conversation, in terms of what you talk about and how you say it. And I never seem to really know what the right one is until after it's already happened. I'm thinking about it today because this afternoon I did a short interview with Rick Karr (from PBS's Blueprint for America, among other things) about open transit data and real-time bus & train information in NYC, for an upcoming episode of the Engadget Show. Of course, now that the interview's over, I'm thinking of all the witty things I could have said but didn't. But more importantly, thinking back, I wish I had thought harder about the audience and intention of the interview a bit more before going on air. (Hat tip to Nick for suggesting exactly this a few days ago, but apparently it wasn't quite enough.) We talk a lot about open data, and open transit data in particular. By and large, our audience consists of transit geeks, policy wonks, or bureaucrats (I mean all of those as terms of endearment); in each case, we dive into the policy and technical details of opening transit data. That's the mode I've been in: white papers, RFIs, formal letters, panel talks, etc. Today's interview was really for the consumer electronics crowd, and probably deserved a more gadgety/fun tone and emphasis than what I lead with. Anyway, I'm looking forward to seeing how it turns out, and meanwhile I'll continue on my quest to suss out the tone of the room before I get there... // image courtesy of
I get way too much spam in my inbox, even just counting things I've signed up for myself. Most of it I delete, but today's email from CoTweet stood out, and is worth mentioning. A while back I signed up for CoTweet, just to check it out -- nutshell: CoTweet lets you collaboratively monitor and manage multiple Twitter accounts -- but after my initial exploration I didn't go back to it. There may have been a reason, there may not have been. So, CoTweet, noticing my cold start, sent me an email, as any customer-aware and responsive web service should:
Subject: Is CoTweet for you? Hi Nick, We've noticed that no one has logged in to the @nickgrossman Twitter account through CoTweet lately. CoTweet is not for everyone. It's designed for teams who are managing the front-line of the real-time web for their organizations. .... No other tool allows you to engage customers one-on-one like CoTweet does. ....
They seem to have struck a nice balance between being self-promoting ("No other tool allows..."), while being self-aware and honest ("CoTweet is not for everyone"). In particular, I found the ordering of the argument to be effective. Here was my thought process:
Cotweet: "We've noticed that no one has logged in..." Me: "Yeah, yeah, I'm busy" (reaches to delete) CoTweet: "CoTweet is not for everyone" Me: "Ah nice, they're not trying to just straight up sell me. I appreciate that" CoTweet: "It's designed for teams who are managing the front-line of the real-time web for their organizations" Me: "Oh wait, that's me" (clicks sign in link)
So, thinking about my own work, there are two takeaways here: 1) make sure you follow up on cold starts (lord knows we don't do enough of this with some of our projects), and 2) when you do, phrase it in a way that's disarming, honest, and helpful. (looking forward to the email I get after I don't use it for another 3 weeks)
Yesterday, American Airlines announced that it's going to start charging a fee for checked baggage. Of course, this will draw the ire of frequent and not-so-frequent flyers everywhere. But, perhaps it makes some sense. What's making flying expensive right now is the cost of fuel. So, if people pack less, planes will be lighter and use less fuel. The logic is sound. Of all the cost-cutting approaches airlines have employed lately (charging for movies, food, etc.), this one is particularly interesting, because it puts a valid question to the consumer: Do I really need to pack that much? Can I pack less and still be ok? Every time I go to the airport, I'm blown away by how much people pack when they travel, even for short trips. Going on a weekend trip? You probably need a huge suitcase and a carry on. Taking a week vacation? Giant suitcase for everyone in the family. Please; give me a carry-on duffle and I won't pack all those extra clothes I'll never wear once I get there anyway. Of course, there are many cases where packing lots of stuff and checking your bag is unavoidable. But in reality, these occasions are quite limited, and I know that more people could pack less if they tried. My wife and I have been on the no-checked-baggage-unless-we-absolutely-have-to plan for a while now, and let me tell you, it's the way to go. No waiting at the baggage claim, and no schlepping around extra crap that you don't need. Regardless, I'm sure American is going to take some flack for this. We were just talking about this here at the office, and Bryan pointed out that being a first-mover on a fee like this is risky business. That's for sure, although it sounds like United is seriously considering going next. Phil raised a good point that this fee would feel much better if it were posed as a discount rather than a fee. For example, a $15 discount for not checking a bag would be much more palatable to consumers. Now that's nice. It will be interesting to see what happens to American here, whether people will run to other airlines or take the "discount" and pack light. Unfortunately, what's likely to happen is that everyone will start overpacking their carry-ons...
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