Was this trip really necessary?

As of the writing of this blog, there are 40” of snow on the ground at www.quinnipiac.edu  Most of Connecticut and New England got slammed with the storm. Some people in Long Island slept in their cars. Many are trying to figure out how they are going to get to work tomorrow morning. It is hard to take a train when there is several feet of snow covering the tracks.

Here in New Jersey we were lucky with less than 10” of snow in our town.  And according to Mayor Michael Bloomberg everyone in New York City “dodged a bullet” as far as the storm is concerned.

Because we did not lose power, the storm had zero effect on me and my business. As long as I have the Internet, I am a happy camper. But when the Internet goes down, well, let’s just say you don’t want me in your Internet-less lifeboat.

So, people will not be able to get to class tomorrow at Quinnipiac and UCONN as will be the case with many of the major colleges and universities in the region. People will not be able to take the train to work in New York City, and most of of the major highways in the area have yet to be properly cleared.  

Why not work from home?  Why not take classes from home?

Both of my sons went to college in Connecticut (who just got dumped on with snow). Tommy is now taking Graduate classes at Quinnipiac University (online). My youngest son Robert has one more semester to go (brick and mortar) at UCONN.

The COA (Cost of Attendance) for college is made up of direct charges such as tuition, fees, room and board. Indirect costs are things like books, transportation and personal expenses. 

For a Freshman Resident at Quinnipiac here are the numbers:

Tuition & Fees: $36,130  
Room & Board: $13,430  
Books: $800  
Personal: $900  
Transportation: $500  
Total: $51,760

I can tell you this: the above numbers are just an estimate - a low estimate. Factor in trips to visit campus, special events, special sporting events and dining out. Also iPads, iPhones, various types of tablets and smartphones. Throw a few thousand dollars per year on top and you might be close to the real numbers. Then multiply by four years (and how many kids do you have again?)

The Internet has changed the world forever. It has changed the way that we work, live and play. It certainly has changed the way that we learn. The costs of higher education have spiraled out of control, and it not clear if the value of a four-year education is worth the expense.

Tomorrow, all classes on campuses in Connecticut will be canceled. Many people will not be able to make it to work in NYC. Airports will be trying to recover from thousands of canceled flights from the weekend. For me, the “Blizzard of 2013” has reminded me of the true costs of traditional business and classic higher education. If you were one of the unfortunate people who had to sleep in their cars on the Long Island Expressway, you will be thinking about this storm for quite some time, I am sure.

I believe that the future of education is distance learning. I think that the future of work is telework, and I believe that technology will continue to change the way that we live, work and play.

The “Blizzard of 2013” is making people think about distance learning because of the snow on the roads and the canceled trains. But when you look at the spiraling costs of higher education, it looks like it has been "snowing" on college and university campuses for many, many years. 

We are just now starting to take notice of how deep the cost of a four-year college education has become. When buried by snow - eventually it melts. 

Sadly, it does not work the same way with college debt.

What Time is the Game On? VI?

Roman numerals, the numeric system in ancient Rome, uses combinations of letters from the Latin alphabet to signify values. The numbers 1 to 10 can be expressed in Roman numerals as follows: I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII, IX, and X.

The Roman numeral system is a cousin of Etruscan numerals. Use of Roman numerals continued after the decline of the Roman Empire. From the 14th century on, Roman numerals began to be replaced in most contexts by more convenient Arabic numerals; however this process was gradual, and the use of Roman numerals in some minor applications continues to this day.

Numbers are formed by combining symbols together and adding the values. For example, MMVI is 1000 + 1000 + 5 + 1 = 2006. Generally, symbols are placed in order of value, starting with the largest values. When smaller values precede larger values, the smaller values are subtracted from the larger values and the result is added to the total. 

For example MCMXLIV = 1000 + (1000 − 100) + (50 − 10) + (5 − 1) = 1944.

But why? Why do we still see Roman numerals with things like the Super Bowl? Why do we see Roman numerals on clocks, after names (John Jeffrey Jones III) and certain things, but not other things?

What time is the big game?  You know, the XLVII Super Bowl? Are you having a Super Bowl Party? How many people are coming over? X? L??? Wow, C?!!!

There is a marketing lesson here buried in letters and numbers. 

There is a reason why our brains accept Roman numerals for certain things, and yet we completely reject Roman numerals for others. It was explained to me by my friend Seth Godin. This "brain trick" goes to the core of the advertising world including social media and mass media. 

Want a hint why the use of Roman numerals makes perfect sense on some things and not others? Think Twitter, Tweets and TXT MSGS. RU LOL? WTH?  

See my blog next week for the answer....... TTYL!

Quick: What Number Super Bowl is this?

The Boston Post Road

The Boston Post Road was a system of mail delivery routes between New York City and Boston, Massachusetts that evolved into the first major highways in the United States. The three major alignments were the Lower Post Road (now U.S. Route 1 along the shore via Providence, Rhode Island), the Upper Post Road (now US 5 and US 20 from New Haven, Connecticut by way of Springfield, Massachusetts), and the Middle Post Road (which diverged from the Upper Road in Hartford, Connecticut and ran northeastward to Boston via Pomfret, Connecticut).

Tomorrow, my two sons and I embark on our first official “road trip” for business. We have 20+ years of family vacations under our belt, but this is not personal. This is “business”. We have meetings all day long on the way to Boston. Rye, New York, Stamford Connecticut, and then a few meetings at www.Quinnipiac.edu. Then, we're off to Boston for a week with MTP vendors and clients. I think we have a few NHL games on the docket as well (Go Devils!). We have our Verizon Jetpack 4G LTE Mobile Hotspot, so we are “in” the office even when on the road (the legal speed limit, right Tommy?) and zipping up the highway. We have our laptops, iPads, iPhones and Bluetooth headsets. If we wanted to, we could host a full-blown webinar from the back of the Navigator, but that would just be showing off.

In some towns, the area near the Boston Post Road has been placed on the National Register of Historic Places since it was often the first road in the area, and some buildings of historical significance were built along it. The Boston Post Road Historic District, including part of the road in Rye, New York, has been designated a National Historic Landmark. The Post Road is also famous for milestones that date back to the 18th century (many of which survive to this day).

At last count, we have 390+ people working at www.MTP-BPO.com and they are located in every corner of the globe. Our current big thing is “distance learning” via www.NYDLA.org and it is my contention that in today's world EVERYTHING is distance learning.  While in Boston, I’ll be hosting a webinar with thousands of people invited to attend (a few hundred should show up). So, I will be virtually attending a virtual meeting (virtually) since I am on the road, and not back in the home office, but how would they know where I was unless they read this blog?

When they were building the Boston Post Road, it was a technological marvel. It changed the country, and it was the model for what can be done. The information superhighway or "infobahn" were popular terms used through the 1990s to refer to digital communication systems and the Internet. 

The Boston Post Road. The Information Superhighway. What’s next?

I’ll be sure to blog next Sunday on the results of the trip - unless we post it on YouTube first. Let's hope we are all still speaking to each other come this time next week. This will be my first time riding in the back seat instead of doing the driving. 

“Jeeves, bring around the long car, we are going to Boston. And don’t disturb me while I am working.”  

Feeling Fluish

If you are thinking about getting the flu shot this year, check this out: www.flu.gov

If you do a Google Search for “Flu” or “Flu Shot” you will find many articles and posts, many more than you would ever need.  But the flu is serious business, especially for young kids or the elderly.

www.Flu.gov is a federal government website managed by the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services 200 Independence Avenue, S.W. - Washington, D.C. 20201

Which means that you and I jointly own the www.flu.gov website - we paid for it. So, since you and I paid for it, you might as well check it out.

I was due for my annual physical and I planned on getting my flu shot this week. Guess what - they are all out. My local physician is all out of flu vaccines and they don’t know when they will be getting in a new supply.  

www.Flu.gov can help. It shows who has the vaccine in stock, driving directions, hours of operation for dozens of locations. It is a wealth of information. And all of this information is free, it is easily accessible, and it can save a life (maybe the lives of your children or your grandparents).

If my local physician was not out of flu vaccine, I would have never Googled “Flu Shot”. I would have never known about this great website that you and I paid for with our tax dollars.

I wonder how many other cool websites are out there that you and I own, that we never knew about?

In The Pink

Meaning: In perfect condition, especially of health.

Origin

The general usage of this phrase has altered somewhat since it first entered the language. We now usually see it with the specific meaning of 'the pink of condition', i.e. in the best possible health. It is to assume an association between 'the pink of condition' as the best that one can hope for.

Full disclosure: I think that I have a man crush on www.DanPink.com  All of his books are great. His Ted.com talk rocks. I have been chasing him to give a keynote for our team and his last email to me on the topic said “One day, Tom.... one day”. Dan has figured out a way to masterfully bridge the virtual and “real” worlds via technology. 

I was going to buy his new book anyway. But if I pre-ordered his book, the promises from the website were too good to ignore:

Anybody who ordered the new book To Sell is Human — hardcover or e-book, from any bookseller — before December 30, 2012, received the following:

1. A free 20-page PDF workbook, based on To Sell is Human, giving you a two-week plan to get better at selling and a head start on those who won’t have the book until January.
2. A free New Year’s Day webinar – with an exclusive look at the ideas, people, and publications that Dan will be watching in 2013 along with a chance to ask Dan questions live.
3. A free customized Field Notes memo book – Dan's favorite notebook of all time, printed in a (very) limited edition batch commemorating publication of the book.
4. A free signed To Sell is Human bookplate.
5. A free audio download of a one-hour special edition of Office Hours (which won’t be available anywhere else) featuring exclusive interviews with Robert Cialdini, author of the classic book, Influence, and Adam Grant, the Wharton professor’s not-yet-published study is one of the biggest pieces of news in To Sell is Human.

All five freebies were cool - but #2 above was amazing. Do you remember your New Year’s day? (...it was only a few days ago).  What were you doing at 1pm EST on 1/1/13? I spent my New Year’s day with Dan Pink. From his home office, he hosted a live webinar. He fielded questions from a worldwide audience of first movers. This was an invite-only event for those people who bought his book before 12/30/12. Me in my home office in New Jersey, Dan in his home office in Washington DC, on a national holiday. It was very cool indeed. It felt like I was attending a virtual book signing.

Dan’s website is well done on many levels.  It is clean, well thought out and easy to navigate. He is an author, and he makes it easy to buy his books. He is a speaker, and he makes it easy to contact him for speaking engagements. His website has an elegant use of video, audio, and social media. His website is a tool - it is a portal to the world of Dan Pink.

OFFICE HOURS  http://www.danpink.com/office-hours

About once a month, Dan opens the phone lines for an hour -- and special guests and Dan take your questions about work, business, life and everything else. Think of it as "Car Talk" . . . for the human engine.  Do this - sign up for Dan’s newsletter. Listen to some of the archived “Office Hours” and tell me what you think. I don’t know of many people that have so successfully bridged the virtual to the real world.

A great number of the people who read my blog have a website (or a blog) of their own. Most have dabbled with Twitter, Facebook and maintain a LinkedIn account. Some folks that are reading this will launch their own eBook this year.

If you are looking for a shining example of what works (including a glimpse into the future of global distance learning), the multi-disciplined world of www.DanPink.com is a good place to start.  

Class dismissed.

      

You have a blogger in your nose

I think you should blog. 

If you want a New Year’s resolution that is easy to start and easy to keep going, start a blog. Especially if you are an entrepreneur.  Here are some great reasons why you should be blogging in 2013 if you are not already doing so:

1. It’s your resume. “Hello, I just finished reading your blog and I don’t really have any questions. I just wanted to let you know that you are perfect for the job and I wanted to see if you would be interested.” Your blog, combined with your traditional resume is an online virtual “you”. Also, if someone wants to work with me, they should read my blog. Love me or hate me, it is hard to hide the real you when you blog from the heart.

2. It’s your new hiring tool. If you are trying to hire employees or contractors, they will want to know who you are and what you are about. Show people why they should be a part of your team. Show them the real you. Let people see why they should (or should not) be on board. Maybe they will not be a fit for your corporate culture. Blogging is a great way to get to know someone. Welcome to my dementia!

3. Network with people. You can stumble upon blogs that will help you with just about anything. Many times I Google “how to make / do / fix something. I find a few blogs on the topic, leave comments, and before you know it, new friends are connected. People that I never met before have helped me understand what I was trying to learn. After some back and forth on the blog, problems can be solved.

4. Turn chaos into clarity.  Ideas exist as something that lives in your head. When you write about ideas they make more sense. This is often the reason why people write business plans. Having a blog is a great outlet to make your ideas come alive. Yeah, you could do this in a paper notebook but that is not scaleable. Also, you can find business partners or new employees as they were first attracted to you via your blog.

5. Reflect on your past so that you can improve your future. When you blog, your thoughts and ideas are documented. Sometimes you may take a stance that may prove to be right or wrong. By documenting your ideas, you can reflect on how your ideas evolved. Looking at the past is critically important in understanding the future. This is why students at major business schools review hundreds of business cases. Learn from your past and prepare for your future - via your blogs.

6. Get peace of mind. I blog every Sunday morning, and I rarely miss. So that is 52 blogs per year. As I write I focus my mind on one thing. Focus can be hard in today’s multitasking world. I have emails waiting for me, but for now, I’ll ignore those and continue on with writing my blog.

7. Your Blog as your PR machine. Your blog can be your own Public Relations soapbox. It gives a voice to your views on a specific topic or industry. Your blog might help you win new business. In the past, we needed radio and TV to get our messages out there. Now your blog can do this for you.

8. He got skills. I enjoy writing, so I do it. I don’t know if I am any good but I like blogging. I’ve maybe taken two or three writing classes in college. Practice makes perfect and the more I blog the more my skills improve. When you consider that most work and sales today is done over email or online, you realize that it’s critical to have good writing skills.

9. Make, don’t take.  It’s very easy to get caught up with media consumption. Some days I feel like I spent my entire day consuming content. If you become a contributor instead of a consumer of content, you are now a part of the solution. Via your blog, you can become a builder, a producer.

So, you should blog in 2013. This is one of those New Year’s resolutions that you just might keep, as we all know that New Year's diet is never going to last past January. 

Unless of course, you blog about it.

Santa's Fight Club

Santa Claus is comin’ to town, but you won’t be able to find him on Google Maps. (Not even the new version that just came to iPhones.)

NORAD — the North American Aerospace Defense Command decided to switch from Google Maps to Microsoft’s Bing maps for its annual NORAD Tracks Santa project. http://www.noradsanta.org

This is the first time NORAD is inserting Bing maps into the interactive experience. Smartphone apps will track Santa this Christmas, allowing families to spot and pinpoint Santa through Bing maps on the iPhone, and Android and Windows Phone 8 smartphones.

NORAD relies on technology to reach a broader audience through its website, which includes families around the world. Twenty-nine percent of the site’s visitors are from the UK, 7 percent from Canada and 5 percent from Japan.

Technology has exponentially increased the tracking of Mr. C and that technology also includes social media. Yes, Santa Claus tweets.

NORAD’s Santa tracker has a Twitter following of close to 95,000, a Facebook page with well over a million likes and over 4,000 Google+ subscribers.

NORAD began tracking Santa from Peterson Air Force Base in 1955 when a child accidently called the base in hopes of speaking with Santa Claus. The phone number was misprinted in a Sears newspaper ad.  Children placing calls to Santa were actually sent to Peterson Air Force Base via the typo, and folks at the Air Force Base played along.

Only on the Internet could you find tech companies competing to track Santa.

But Google’s not giving up on the business of tracking Mr. Big. Using its Google Earth and Google Maps products they are tracking The Chairman of Jolly on its own this year with a brand new algorithm. http://www.google.com/santatracker

You’ve got two Santa tracker options to pick from starting on Christmas Eve. But how can they both be right?

The new Google Santa Tracker does not only live online. There is now a new Chrome extension and Android app to let you follow Santa.

Google’s got more to offer kids as far as entertainment goes. They have an entire Santa site where you can provide information about your a friend or family member and have Santa give them a call or send them an audio message via email. There’s also a few online games. The Santa Racer game lets you steer Santa’s sleigh through a track and collect presents and the Present Drop game lets you drop presents into moving chimneys.

Both Google and NORAD will begin actually tracking Santa on Christmas Eve. No word on if Santa himself plans to use Google or Bing Maps to get to all his destinations.

Let’s hope that Rudolph is ready to go "old school" with or without the power of the Internet. I think Rudolph “nose” to steer clear of using Apple’s maps this year (FAIL) that’s for sure!