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MH3 Living Life, Work

Linguge

I quit French in Grade 10.

My parents warned me not to. In English, to be clear. I didn’t listen. In any language. Sounds natural for a 14 year old, doesn’t it?

Of course, they were right. I was wrong. Still am. Even more so today than in 1979. As my career has revealed the obvious flaw of not being able to speak French, while attempting to be a marketing thought leader in Canada, I regularly kick myself for being unilingual. Especially given the extent to which Québec embraces activation, promotion, celebrity endorsement, sponsorship, festivals and events.

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MH3 Olympics, Opinion, Sports

Black September

The masked man on the balcony still haunts me to this day.

I don’t know whether these are real memories, real time wounds, slashed in my then seven-year-old brain. Or are they a cumulation of painful reminders echoed through news clips, books, and digital articles I have been subjected to for years.

When I press my eyelids closed to forget, they are met with the stinging of my salted tears. The memory of being so frightened that somehow that masked man on the TV set was going to come hunting for this scared seven-year-old boy, thousands of miles away. The memory of asking my parents if this marked the return of a Holocaust-like situation.

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MH3 Business, Living Life, TrojanOne, Work

Executive Education

Summer is over.

At this point my kids would shout, “Well, THANK-YOU Captain Obvious!”

But it is.

I know cause I froze my arse off last night at football practice for my youngest. I am talking at 7:00 PM I was freezing.

Of course maybe my arse was cold due to the fact that I had a colonoscopy yesterday. It certainly was empty! Okay too much information, but if you doubt me just Google Dulcolax and Picolax….
I also know that summer is over because nothing got done this week. Or at least it felt that way. Something about the Labour Day long weekend. Amazing how one final Monday off (with due apologies to Thanksgiving) can create a psychological wall in people’s minds. Somehow this is a slack week. Of course the people working this week won’t agree with me. But trust me, September is tomorrow… not in a week.

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MH3 Business Lessons, Events, Marketing, Olympics, Sports, Travel

Olympic Gold: Lessons from the 2012 London Olympic Games

I didn’t plan to blog three times about my London experience. Sorry if you have heard enough! Hopefully, third time is the charm?

But the more times I have recounted my holiday to people the more I realize what a wonderful professional experience the Games were. I cannot exaggerate what a magnificent demonstration of event management they were to behold. In fact, event management is not a lofty enough title. This was brand management. This was client fulfillment. This was satisfying your customer. This was delivering on your value proposition. This was brand experience personified.

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MH3 Events, Living Life, Olympics, Sports, Travel, vacation

Games and Frontiers: European Vacation Stirs a Range of Feelings

My blog needs a vacation. It’s feeling slighted.

It knows I’m on vacation. Last week the Olympics, this week Normandy.

Don’t side with my blog by calling me spoiled. It can see my entire family is on vacation. It doesn’t need new allies.

My blog is feeling treated like a dog. It should feel worse, because my dog is also away, at a friend’s cottage. How does that work?!

By coincidence, my sister is on vacay right now as well. On the West Coast, California style. Her husband used to play football with my buddy Rico. He’s chilling on the East Coast, Hampton Beach style. There is no deep connection here. I’m just trying to make sure my blog feels as crummy as possible. Even if I have to resort to entirely random connections.

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MH3 Events, Living Life, Olympics, Sports, Travel, vacation

Cheer to the End

Words escape me.

With powerful memories of the Vancouver Olympics and Whistler Paralympics still fresh in my mind, l booked a trek to the London Games. Yes, I’m incredibly spoiled.

I write to you from Olympic Stadium at this very moment.
The appropriate words to describe how I feel are far beyond my writing skills or even my fictional powers. In part because I was worried that after spending all the time and money to get here that it wouldn’t be as amazing as the 2010 Games.

Silly me. It is unreal here.

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MH3 Canadian Sponsorship Forum, Events, Marketing, Properties, Sponsors, Sponsorship, TrojanOne

An Open Letter to All 2012 Canadian Sponsorship Forum Delegates

I want to thank you for joining us in Montréal last week.

It was fun.
Thank you for honouring Marc Kielburger with the five-minute standing ovation that he so richly deserved. I know many of you were moved to tears by his presentation about the work that Me to We and Free The Children perform.

Your enthusiasm for all of the speakers was remarkable. Whether it be learning how to reach youth in
Québec through the wisdom of Danick Archambault of Astral TVPlus or how to touch the hearts of consumers through the passion of Nancy Marcus of Kruger Products or understanding how to do more with less via Michelle (sister of Olympian hoopster Kim Smith) and her teammate Louise Della Fortuna of Energizer.

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MH3 Events, Living Life, TrojanOne

The Crazy 8: Triumph and Tears at Oxfam Trailwalker

Ever heard the expression “Vegas Mile”?

In simple terms, it means the distance between you and an object that appears close but is really far away. Such as a mountain. Or retirement. Or your vacation. Or losing 20 pounds.

Okay the last three were not the right examples. “Vegas Mile” does refer to the trick your mind plays on you when you eyeball a destination and think it’s much closer than it really is. Try it someday. On the Prairies. On Water. On the Vegas Strip.

I think if there was a contagious disease of having “Vegas Mile,” or “VM” for short, it certainly infected dozens of participants at the Oxfam Trailwalker event last weekend in cottage country Ontario. If you don’t know Trailwalker, it’s a 100-km hike that must be completed in 48 hours by all four members of your team.

To call it a hike is unfair. It’s like calling the Olympics a game of tag.

It’s a mental, physical, spiritual and anthropological challenge.

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MH3 Business Lessons, Canadian Sponsorship Forum, Events, Properties, Sponsors, Sponsorship

Lesson 13: Forecast for 2012 Varying and Ripe for Rainmakers

CSLSLessons Learned in 2011: Canadian Sponsorship Landscape Study

For sponsors, sponsees and agencies, the forecast for the upcoming year was that most see a glass half full scenario, with 35.9 per cent of sponsors expecting to spend more, 58.8 per cent of sponsees expecting more revenue and 70.3 per cent of agencies expecting more billing.

While 48.4 per cent of sponsors plan on similar spending to last year, 32.5 per cent of sponsees expect similar revenue and 8.1 per cent of agencies expect similar billing.

Agencies had the most reserved expectations, with 21.6 per cent predicting less billings, whereas 15.6 per cent of sponsors plan to spend less and only 8.8 per cent of sponsees projected less revenue.

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