LEADERHUNTRESS

Now there’s no need to trawl through hundreds of brochures to find the perfect cruise. Choosing a cruise can be challenging– and one of the great features introduced to the new Berlitz Cruise Ships 2012 app (launched this week priced $9.99) is an enhanced filter button that allows users to narrow down their preference of ship.  With just a couple of taps, would-be cruise-goers can search through more than 275 cruise ships to find the one that suits them best.  Choose according to whatever floats your boat, whether family-friendliness, quality of cuisine, size of ship, accommodation, cruise line, star rating or entertainment facilities.  There’s a new sharing facility, too, allowing users to recommend cruise ships to their friends and family, making the whole business of deciding upon a holiday so much easier.

• Twice as many ship photographs as last year.
• More in-depth information on major and minor cruise lines.
• A new cruise ship filter function to search by preference. 
• All you need to know about each cruise ship’s accommodation, cuisine, entertainment and spa/fitness facilities.
• Frank answers from Douglas Ward to frequently asked cruise questions.
• Must-read practical tips that relate to both before and during a cruise.
• Facilities to mark favorite cruise ships for future reference, and share with friends and family.
• A fresh user-friendly design.

This just in from Robert Fleming, President/CEO, eMarketing Association:


"Everything comes with an expiration date. Your college diploma, your knowledge and experience become dated, even your life won't last forever. Yesterday is gone, and with it all the old rules, processes and techniques. Marketing is evolving at a staggering rate, and if you are not on the steamroller you will be under it. There are hazards and opportunities in this new marketing landscape, continue to develop and learn and you can meet the challenge, and take advantages of the opportunities. The worst thing you can do as a marketer is nothing. Don’t read books and articles on marketing trends, don't attend conferences, seminars and trade shows, don't do your homework, and you will be quickly left behind. Squished."

"We now compete in a global market, unlike any in the history of marketing. Knowledge and execution are the keys to the new marketing universe."

"If you haven't already, subscribe to some good tech and marketing publications and blogs. But be aware that nobody nowadays is really an expert, we are in unchartered waters, a place where no one has ever been (like star trek). So take information, research it, collaborate it, build your networks, partner with your competitors and keep focused."

"I will be at the ad:tech show in NYC next week, my twitter is: @fleming29 if you are there, I would love to meet you, so tweet me and we may be able to get together. Making new connections, and renewing old ones is essential. While your efforts in professional development may not always be super successful, one thing is for sure, you will most certainly fail if you don't even try."

Mr. Fleming, who has managed to put into words exactly what I think about how difficult it is to really be on top of ALL OF THIS will be at Ad Tech in NYC next week and has an event in April that is the one event you won't want to miss (if you decide to get as much as you can in ONE event). This is THE one. SF: in April (what could be better)?


http://www.emarketingassociation.com/2012/register.html

The Ralph Kramden Special Crosses Town, While Pushing Courtesy, Wall Street Occupation and Possibly a Happy Pill

NEW YORK, NY, Nov 2, 2011--Did you ever have the experience of being in a public place -- then something happened, and you didn't know whether to be outraged, entertained, or just ignore it?

That pretty much describes every bus ride and subway ride in NYC -- and it happened today when my driver (aka Swami "Everythingsucksananda") calmed his squashed and befuddled swarm of passengers, using a wonderfully modulated tone of voice over the mic, suggesting the hope of being discovered in a drugstore by a theatrical agent (do they ride buses?)

I and other New Yorkers -- all ages and all stages of anger management and mourning -- had a chance to actually experience being "bozos" on the crosstown 42nd Street bus. Our very strange, wonderful and warped bus driver took us on an entertaining experience.

Whispering in his dramatic theatrical voice, he was enouraging "better behavior," as he edged toward his political statement. (There's always an agenda; it's not always hidden. It was only a matter of time, which I had; my ETA was already late -- it's an MTA bus.) 


"Isn't this wonderful?" he asked."We're in an environmentally friendly bus. Listen to the hum as we do not ruin our city."

Then:
"You hate your job?" he coked a cocky eyebrow in the rearview.

Everyone looked at each other guiltily, many knowing the true secret -(What's a job?)

"Are you just fed up because I came late because there are not enough buses and they closed your afterschool program and you had to leave your lousy job to go pick up your kid?" he queried.

More befuddled looks. And then the point:

"Well you can gripe about it and treat everyone like garbage. or you can HAVE A NICE DAY," he quipped, as the sound of a waterfall entered my mind, and I went into time travel, landing at a meditation retreat.

"You can really be a nice person and MEAN have a nice day. Or just be miserable."

Light. Lurch. Pregnant pause. Pregnant lady rolls eyes and rings the "I gotta get off at the next stop" bell.

"That's sooo nice," says Swami-MTAnanda. "Ringing the bell is a form of COMMUNICATION. Communication is a wonderful thing."

At this point, I found myself judging. Is he fit to drive this bus, on drugs, out of line professionally? I created a mental assessment sheet and started checking boxes.

But then I stopped because he was funny. WE NEED FUNNY.

"Consider the alternative," he continued. "You can be under a slab.Or you can actually HAVE A NICE DAY."

I wondered if this was a video bus and I hoped he wouldn't get in trouble, mostly because it was a whole lot more entertaining than the blasting TVs in the back of taxis.

"If you don't like the way things are, you can actually do something - did you know?"

We all looked at each other. Huh?

"You can OCCUPY WALL STREET."

Ah. The agenda appears. Revolution on an MTA bus, while I struggle with a giant Trader Joe shopping bag and my other stuff. Where's the cell phone? I need to record this. Too late.We're at Second Avenue.

My fellow busmate is laughing. "What's he on?" she says.

Another New Yorker put her nose in the air. "Crazies everywhere."

This has been another New York moment brought to you by LeaderHuntress whose goal it has become to say less, listen more and now I HAVE to talk about it.
 I can't wait for my next bus ride. Listen, he's right. There are many folks walking around with the world on their shoulders. Give everyone the benefit of the doubt. Shine it on. It doesn't take much to have a good time or be nice.