Coming of Age in the Time of $75 Passes

As a kid I visited Orlando's theme parks and found it strange to see moms pulling bag lunches out of their purses. After all, a $6 cheeseburger (fries and soda not included) were all part of the theme park experience. Now that I've gotten married and the prospect of taking my own children to these parks grows closer, what I once thought strange now seems unavoidable. Kind of like bringing your own pillow or sandwich on a plane.

As an Orlando resident and next door neighbor to Universal Studios, I rarely ever paid to enter parks. I always knew someone who knew someone who worked at Disney, and Universal would do the neighborly thing and send free passes to our house several times a year.

Now that the cost to enter the most popular Orlando parks is around $75 per adult, I wonder... will large handbags still be in style when I'm a mom?

Be Sure Your Antlers Are in the Secure, Upright Position

Criticizing airlines is easy; running one is hard.

That’s why you will not hear any of the travel group voices joining the chorus of critics even though we have just finished a month of day-trips to Nassau and Florida and practically Los Angeles. Some of those might barely qualify if you keep a strict 24-hour, door-to-door rule once you allow for ATC holds, circling Richmond or just plain sitting in the airport hoping it will finally stop raining. We spend our fair share of time on airplanes. These days we spend that time trying to balance all our inflight “must haves” on our laps since that Wall Street Journal exposé of the terrors of the seatback pocket. So ... when one of our favorite columnists, Samantha Bennett of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, made us laugh with her summer air travel story, we had to share.

A Royal Reveal

Webster defines a hero as a mythological or legendary figure often of divine descent endowed with great strength or ability. We agree. Our heroes, to name them specifically, are Larry Abel Designs and Mary Giuliani Catering.

Back in late March the Royal Caribbean team was charged with pulling together an event for more than 100 attendees, all in less than three weeks time. What really upped the pressure was that the event was to reveal possibly one of the biggest architectural feats in Royal Caribbean’s corporate history—the first announcement of what will be featured onboard the cruise line’s biggest and most impressive ship ever, Oasis of the Seas.

With no real images of the ship to speak of, only renderings created by a Chinese art company contracted by Royal Caribbean, and signed NDAs needed before we could disclose any details of the announcement to anyone working on the event, it made the three week window all the harder.

Basically the weeks ticked by in a blur. We crazily spat instructions and stream of consciousness thoughts at both Larry Abel and Mary Giuliani (once those NDAs were signed) as we at Weber worked on all the final details that go into event planning and make that degree in public relations seem all the more worthwhile… “Does he spell his name with an ‘i’ or a ‘y’ for these nametags? “Is it THE New York Times for these tags or just New York Times”- OK we know that one… but you get the drift.

The end result of our first reveal was a very happy client and an amazing list of attendees. But I think above all, one of the biggest lessons our team took away was how crucial the event planner is in steering the ship (pun intended). (And no, Larry and Mary aren’t paying us for this publicity. This is free of charge for our 2 a.m. emails and last minute tasting requests for 25 people). On our way back to our office after the event, as our bodies melted into the leather seats of our rented car, we exchanged war stories of less-than-successful events past. The common thread that connected them all: less-than-stellar planners. As I regained feeling in my throbbing feet, I was just happy we didn’t have another fatality to add to the pile.

Oh, and I haven’t even mentioned anything about our second reveal. It’s also three weeks out…

The Glamour of Live Television

Each year, a small group of Weber Shandwick Bahamas team members devote several months of planning to the annual Bahamas Weather Conference, where top hurricane experts, researchers and meteorologists gather to discuss hurricanes and forecasting.

This year, I inherited the role of managing the meteorologists' live broadcasts from the Bahamas. From February to April, I focused on my Excel spreadsheets, organizing broadcast times for about 70 meteorologists from around North America. I had big shoes to fill -- my colleagues before me, referred to as the "satellite queens," secured hundreds of live shots, never missing a live window. As we got closer and closer to the conference, I started to feel my nervous energy increasing.

The first day of the conference, I woke up at 5 a.m. and reported to the beach in the dark. The sun rose about an hour later, with soft pink light illuminating the giant sandcastle on the edge of the beach. With the help of my fantastic colleagues, I managed to simultaneously keep the constant live and taped shots organized throughout the day, hitting 10-minute satellite windows from Colorado Springs, CO to Miami, FL. It was nerve-racking and thrilling at the exact same time.

By the time the sun set the next night, I had over 80 live shots under my belt, which resulted in more than 147 broadcast hits. I'd successfully completed my first live television experience!

Bahamas Weather Conference: Satellite Truck, "Organic" Sandcastle and 125,000 Hits

"Sailing," the Christopher Cross version, is what comes to mind when I think of the 12th Bahamas Weather Conference. Along with my trusty colleagues, I sailed into Grand Bahama in April, helped the Bahamas Ministry of Tourism put on a successful conference, and sailed back to New York. Well actually we flew, but you get the point.

Weber Shandwick is challenged with making each Bahamas Weather Conference grander than the last, so how did we pull it off and make it look easy? First, we put on the standard issue conference polo shirt, which automatically makes us look more intelligent. For substance, secured Dr. William Gray and Dr. Phil Klotzbach to announce the 2008 Atlantic Basin Hurricane Forecast at the start of the conference. Then pitched the AP, CNBC and other media to interview them from The Bahamas. Next, we jazzed-up the http://www.bahamaswxconference.com/ VODCast site so that 125,000 people have a reason to visit the site over the course of four days (and they did.) And finally, built an "organic-looking", oversized, branded sandcastle to serve as the backdrop for live broadcasts.

The 2008 conference was amazing. Everyone had a job to do and they did it well. The beach at the Westin Grand Bahama Resort also held up its end of the bargain.

It’s Still Better in The Bahamas

My experience as a member of the Weber Shandwick Bahamas team has given me the opportunity to take journalists on amazing adventures to Grand Bahama Island, the Abacos, the Exumas and coming soon, South Andros and Long Island. But I’ve recently come across a family photo that reminded me that press trips weren’t my first introduction to the island nation, its cruise ports or its ingenious branding campaigns.



Pictured in this circa 1990 photo are my dad, great-grandma, mom, me and my younger brother. (Incidentally, my brother and I probably only stopped punching each other long enough to smile for the camera.) The picture captures the excitement of boarding our very first family cruise on now defunct Premier Cruise line. As my shirt says, I knew it was Better in The Bahamas way before I was paid to know it.

My favorite part of the picture remains unseen. Hidden behind the big pink beach bag, my brother is sporting the same Bahamas shirt as me, because I told him he had to. How's that for being a brand advocate! It appears I joined The Bahamas team long, long before 2006.

A Ship By Any Other Name

How do you put a name to something you know little about? I guess the argument can be made that each of us were named before we formally made a name for ourselves. But when it comes down to it, it’s no easy task finding that perfect name. The task is elevated when you tack on a few stipulations: it must end in “of the Seas” and cannot begin with Liberty, Freedom or contain any of its sisters’ given names. You may have guessed we’re not talking babies anymore. We’re talking cruise ships. Specifically Royal Caribbean’s soon-to-be newest and most awe-inspiring “babies”—now code named “Project Genesis I and II.” In an unprecedented naming contest launched with USA Today, Royal Caribbean has opened up the naming of what will be its most prestigious and innovative cruise ships to date to the general public. And you thought naming one little baby was hard?! Try culling down 60,000-something entries—all equally creative in their own right. The winner(s) don’t necessarily have to name both of the Project Genesis ships. The honor could go to two individuals—one for Project Genesis I, launching in 2009, and the other for Project Genesis II, debuting in 2010. That said, from what I’ve seen, some pretty creative pairs have been entered—Adam and Eve; Pioneer and Frontier—as have some quite comical single names: Chicken of the Seas; Mermaid of the Seas; Earth of the Seas. And there are still two weeks left to enter.

I think this is why I love public relations. You honestly never know what will be thrown your way from week to week. There's little college could have done to prepare me for what I've encountered in this industry, and there's no textbook definition of what we “do.” This week it looks like my main title will be “panelist,” as I'll be helping to trim down these thousands of entries before the panel of experts take over. Next week... who knows? I'll report back.