Nearly half (45 percent) of airline passengers admit to flirting while in the air, with 95 percent aspiring to join the Mile High Club, according to a ‘Valentine’s Day’ survey by Skyscanner a Scotland-based travel booking site.
The survey of over 1000 travelers revealed that one third of those who admitted flirting on board, ‘had a rendezvous after the flight,’ with 8 percent resulting in a relationship.
‘You are sitting next to someone for an hour or more, and the fact that you’re both traveling to the same place means you already have something in common,’ Karin Noble, a Skyscanner employee and a former cabin crew member, wrote in a statement from the site.’ Add this to the heightened effect that alcohol can have at altitude and the more relaxed ‘holiday mood’ that many travelers feel, and it tends to give people the courage to flirt with a fellow passenger, or even take things further, especially on long haul routes such as flights to Australia.’
There’s no doubt that the relationship between passengers sitting next to one another in a plane has a confessional element to it. Relaxed by food and drink, you can unburden your soul without trepidation, safe in the knowledge that you are unlikely to see your in-flight companion once the wheels have touched down.
A separate survey found that 20% of travelers already claim to be members of the Mile High Club and half of these had qualified for membership with a stranger they met on a flight.
Several high profile celebrities have enjoyed a bit of flirting in the air, it seems. Virgin boss, Richard Branson and actor Ralph Fiennes both claim to have taken it to the next step with membership of the Mile high Club.
That I should be so lucky: Invariably, the most attractive woman on the plane is sitting 10 rows in front of me. I wonder if the MHC offers ‘associate membership.’
The desire to get amorous at altitude has even spawned services that offer private flights specifically for joining the club. The Chicagoland Skydiving Center runs flights on a plane that has been converted for romance and comes complete with private double bed, champagne and promises of complete discretion.
However, a British firm offering similar ‘Mile High’ flights was recently shut down by the Civil Aviation Authority after two years of operation, as they were not satisfied that onboard safety criteria were being met – fearing that such in-flight action could be ‘too distracting’ for pilots. Not to mention cabin crew and other passengers. There may be scope for specialist dating agencies.
Research is only as good as the questions asked and the way they are phrased. I’d like to have seen some sort of scale - from exchanging pleasantries to serious chatting up. And knowing how many passengers joined the MHC with their regular partners. It would also be nice to have a ‘cross-analysis’ for gender, occupation, age and nationality. Did cabin crew male/female participate in the hanky panky?
I must confess that the most exciting in-flight adventures I’ve had have been in the mind. You can date whoever you wish; and no-one will ever know.
I’m fond of recalling a Len Deighton character who asked: ‘Do you like garlic?’ to get the reply, ‘Yes, but not secondhand!’
It figures, doesn’t it? The smell of frying onions is marvelous – but only if they are your onions! Gratuitous cooking smells are invariably noxious – an invasion of privacy; an assault on our senses, not to mention our clothes… no matter what the culinary outcome. Can you imagine anything worse than living above the kitchen vent of a three-star restaurant? I once knew a Spanish millionaire who had a duplex apartment off Berkeley Square in London’s Mayfair. But the public entrance was a Cape Horn of pungent Middle Eastern cooking smells – welcome perhaps in another context.
I guess for most of us, other people’s cooking smells (OPCS) can be an occupational, pretty well wherever one lives – and especially in Summer when burger fumes from the neighbor’s barbecue waft over the garden fence.
Summer was a hazardous season for OPCS when I lived on the Cote d’Azur. Our fifth floor apartment had a long wide balcony with a fabulous view of the sea and two light houses; great for entertaining, especially as the kitchen opened on to the balcony. The bad news is that the whole side of the building came alive with chatter and conflicting cooking smells.
Imagine the scene.
‘Mmmmm,’ the lady says as you emerge with your guests on the balcony for aperitifs. ‘I can smell wonderful roast lamb; I’ll never forget the gigot you cooked when we last came round, when was it?’ She takes a kir royale (royally made with crème de mur as you know she likes it) and raises a smiling glass…
Actually, you had planned a cold lunch – a choice of terrines - terrine de campagne, terrine d’oie; terrine de canard, with garniture (sliced tomatoes; cornichons; those cocktail onions… Crusty pain de campagne. Dressed poached salmon with cucumber scales and mayonnaise, to follow; a nice brie, if anyone wants it; a mixture of fraises des bois (wild strawberries) and raspberries, and cream. And all washed down with a nicely chilled Sancerre. Then black coffee and a petit Calvados. Perfect; you’ve won your brownie points.
You’ll have guessed, of course, that the ‘roast lamb’ was gratuitously wrought by the demon cook on the third floor. Or was it the concierge?
As Shakespeare might have said: ‘On your olfactory senses work, and make imaginary puissance…’
Well, garlic takes a lot of beating – I have diabolical thoughts of a custom-made urn which wafts authentic garlic smoke in the way of recalcitrant neighbors. Or sardines delicately fried…
You get the drift?
Cooking is fraught with olfactory problems – and opportunities.
‘Writers’ Workshop’ April 23-25, 2010. Summer Lodge, Dorset, England
-What is the story? The angle? It may be clear at the outset; it may emerge, or change, in the course of research. (Writing a weekly – especially a monthly – column, there is the risk of being pre-empted by news reports; the more spectacular the news, the more likely this is. One answer is to acknowledge knowledge of the news and comment on it from a fresh angle with your own inimitable spin.)
-Researching the story: sources can be news clippings (which may spark the idea for a story; people… who can lead you to other people… the rush of excitement when suddenly you hit ‘pay dirt’ after a series of cold calls. Check and re-check the facts.
-Research the publication; the people who read it – and their level of understanding. How much interest/knowledge can be assumed? Inform; but don’t teach experts in the field how to suck eggs.
-Get to know the readers and talk directly to them (always be aware of the ‘reader over the shoulder’). [My readers of The Frequent Traveler column in the International Herald Tribune seemed to have a better knowledge of certain acronyms and travel jargon than those of the New York Times, for whom I often had to spell things out, only because they tended to be less informed about events outside the United States.]
-Focus the story into the words/space available. (Don’t try to write ‘War and Peace’ in 600 words. However limited your space, selective detail can make the story come alive.
-A news story is the antithesis of the short story (and often the feature) – the ‘denouement’ should be at the beginning, not at the end.
-Hence the ‘pyramid lead.’ You need to engage the reader and explain what the story is about and why it is important – instantly. The lead might be a quotation, anecdotal, simply declamatory; the idea is to lead the reader into the next graf which tells the reader what the story is about and why it is important. The rest of the story is to ‘explain and amplify.’ If it needs to be cut half way down through lack of space on the page, it should still hold together. A good copy editor will try to ‘shrink’ your copy rather than cut it off at the end. But be prepared to sacrifice your ego.
-Be active not passive; go easy on adjectives and adverbs; use concrete not abstract nouns. The best reporting rule is still to begin every story with the classic: who, what, when and where.
-Use quotes sparingly but powerfully. Don’t pile quotes on quotes; measure them out with editorial. Give examples. Be aware of the ‘editor over the shoulder’
-Tell people what they didn’t know
-Style; ‘tone of voice;’ ‘point of view.’ Write as simply, as succinctly as you can and style will follow. Avoid mannerisms in the pursuit of ‘style.’ Fats Waller, when asked for a definition of jazz: ‘Lady if you have to ask, I can’t tell you.’
-If you’re finding a pattern in disparate information and new ideas about it as you write, write on!
-Get a ‘style book;’ what ever it is, be consistent. [For example I always use the singular after the collective noun; and tuck commas, semi-colons and full stops inside quotation marks] Good grammar matters.
-If in doubt, cut it out. Don’t take risks on getting facts wrong.
-Avoid ‘fine writing.’ Think about what Elmore Leonard said, ‘If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it.’
-Satire in my view should be almost indistinguishable from reality. (Satirists these days are always being second-guessed by real events.) Now you see it, now you don’t. I was amused to hear the other day that a CCN copy editor had tried in vain to trace my favorite deus ex machina ‘Stanley Zilch, director of Blue Skies Research Institute in Broken Springs, Colorado,’whom I had resurrected in a recent column.
-Leave readers thinking that you could have written a lot more/given more detail on the subject if only they had given you more space. It is often the subtext, what you leave out which counts.
-Columns are ‘the art of the possible;’ if only because you’re always a phone-call away from that last vital source when the deadline looms. Or the subject is only half-way ready before you have to file.
-Deadlines and the ‘automatic pilot.’ This is when experience counts; mysterious reflexes seem to kick in when you are up against the wire and passionately trying to get the damned thing filed. You’ll recognize it when it happens; it is one of the exquisitely painful joys of writing journalism.
-If you think the story is great when you file it, think again. A little anxiety is a good thing. It’s when you think you’ve done a great piece that it all falls apart. Believe me; I’ve been there.
-Yes, it’s great to see your by-line in the paper. But remember; you are only as good as your last story.
The joys of convalescence: there comes a time during convalescence when you start to enjoy the process of recovery; obligations have been lifted for a while; you are freed from deadlines; you are fussed over; the work ethic has been suspended; guilt is assuaged; you are free to roam and experiment. And be creative. It can be a delicious time floating between frailness and gathering strength. So oh, boy, enjoy! The honeymoon will soon be over.
This only compares to that exquisite time between handing in your notice and starting a new job. Or going into a budget meeting with a job offer in your pocket; or having three job offers to choose from.
About 100 years ago, my agent, Pat Lomax, was quite interested in my idea for a cook book: ‘food and the single man.’
The moment has long passed. But having revisited my notes, I am intrigued once more. so here are my:
NOTES IN PROGRESS
Food and the single man: recipes for survival (and seduction)
Rack of lamb:
Spike a small carre d’agneau (500-600g) with garlic; place in a small baking pan and dress with rosemary, Dijon mustard; olive oil and balsamic vinegar; maybe a knife-tip of spice (raz el hanout). Surround with a few small tomatoes and a little of my home-made gravy stock, which I often refresh by splashing in some red wine.
Roast for 35 minutes (160 degrees). I often simply eat it with steamed leaf spinach (three minutes).
Serves one (or two)
Nora Ephron’s Mashed Potatoes:
‘Nothing like mashed potatoes when you’re feeling blue. Nothing like getting into bed with a bowl of hot mashed potatoes already loaded with butter, and methodically adding a thin cold slice of butter to every forkful.’
‘For mashed potatoes: Put one large (or 2 small) potatoes in a large pot of salted water and bring to the boil. Lower the heat and simmer for at least 20 minutes, until tender. Drain and place the potatoes back in the pot and shake over low heat to eliminate excess moisture. Peel. Put through a potato ricer and immediately add 1 tablespoon of heavy cream and as much butter and salt and pepper as you feel like. Eat immediately. Serves one.’
Perfect Four-Minute Eggs: Put the eggs into cold water and bring to the boil. Turn off the heat immediately and cover the saucepan. In 3 minutes, you will have perfect four-minute eggs. (Nora Ephron)
Boiled Eggs: Allow a pint of water for each egg. Bring water to a rolling boil. Put a lid on the saucepan and turn off the heat. Wait six minutes and serve.
Hard-boiled Eggs: Place the eggs carefully into plenty of boiling water. Give the eggs about 8 minutes from the time the water starts boiling again. Then put them in a large bowl of cold water, or run them under the cold tap, before shelling them. Heating the eggs too much or boiling them too long produces that unattractive gray-black ring around the yolk. This is due to the sulphur in the egg white combining with iron in the yolk. A good talking point.
Spanish Omelet (from Javier Benedi-Garcia: a traditional recipe from his mother): Dice 4 cooked potatoes and 1 large onion. Salt and pepper them and put in a medium-size frying pan with a generous amount of olive oil and cornflower/sunflower oil. Cook at moderate heat, removing the pan constantly from the flame. Beat 6 eggs in a large bowl. When the potatoes are soft, remove the pan from the flame and tip out all the oil. Add the eggs and cook over low heat. Turn the omelet over with a spatula so that it cooks on both sides. The inside should be runny or undercooked. Cut the omelet into slices like a cake. Serves four. According to Javier, this is a dish that is even more delicious when eaten cold. Like revenge, perhaps.
Bacon Hash: Chop some bacon into small cubes in a heavy frying pan and cook over a slow flame until it starts to sizzle. Then add diced cooked potatoes, rake the mixture with a spatula and cook slowly until the potatoes and bacon are brown and crisp. Serve with fried eggs.
Peggy’s Pate (from my mother):
A pot (3/4 lb) of fresh chicken livers (or 3 packets quick-frozen chicken livers), ¼ lb butter, an eggcup of brandy, a large clove of garlic, 2 tablespoons cream, salt, pepper, paprika, a pinch each of marjoram, nutmeg and basil. (I sometimes add a pinch of tarragon).
If using fresh chicken livers, be sure to cut out any yellow bits, since this can make the pate bitter.
Melt a tablespoon of butter in a thick frying pan (I sometimes add a splash of sunflower oil). Add the livers, cover with a lid and simmer very gently. Meanwhile, cut the rest of the butter into small cubes. Turn the livers over and simmer them until they are cooked. Take care not to overcook – they should be slightly pink inside. Lift the livers out of the pan, put them in a blender and add the butter and cream. To the liquid in the pan, add salt, pepper and paprika, the nutmeg and the herbs. Pour the liquid over the livers, add the garlic and the brandy. Blend until the mixture is the consistency of thick whipped cream. This takes about 2 minutes. Pour the mixture into an earthenware pot and chill it. The pate will keep for 8-10 days in the fridge. Serve with crusty bread and a crisp, green salad.
Ham with Orange Sauce (from my mother):
Soak a nice piece of smoked ham with its rind overnight in cold water. Add a slice of lemon. Change the water, bring to the boil and simmer – allow half an hour’s cooking per pound.
Prepare the sauce: juice of three oranges; Dijon mustard, brown sugar, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg. When the ham is cooked, place it in a roasting pan in a medium oven for 20 minutes and baste with the sauce. Carve and serve with mashed potatoes and a green vegetable.
Chicken Noodle Soup with Spicy Meatballs:
Make the chicken soup or bouillon your favorite way. I usually boil up the carcass and leftovers from a previous meal. You can cheat by adding a discreet chicken cube. Take care. Any hint of Maggi or Knorr will destroy the effect. Cook small pasta al dente. I use those tiny curved macaroni) and drain. Use best ground steak for the meatballs. Season well. I add curry powder or my special hot spice with a touch of mustard. Mold them so that won’t break apart in the hot soup. Add the pasta to the soup and bring to a boil. Drop in the meatballs and turn down the heat. Let the soup simmer for 2 minutes and serve in little bowls. Sprinkle parsley or grated parmesan on top to show you really care.
Spaghetti alla Notte di San Lorenzo (from Hazel Selbourne): Chop and mix the following ingredients with cooked and well olive-oiled al dente spaghetti: I nice fresh (buffalo) mozzarella, several anchovy fillets (those you buy in a tin or jar in olive oil), several nice grape tomatoes and fresh basil leaves. Mix well with spaghetti and oil in a pan and heat gently until the mozzarella begins to melt but the basil isn’t spoilt. Add black pepper and more salt if necessary. If everything is fresh and the spaghetti well a dente, this is easy, quick and delicious. Buon appetito!
[I usually pass on the anchovies and use gorgonzola instead of mozzarella. Spaghetti ‘al dente’ for Italians is too chewy for my taste. I cook spaghetti no. 5 for 15 minutes instead of the 8 minutes on the packet. Cooked spaghetti is always useful. To stop it going dry, untangle the cold spaghetti with a fork, dribble olive oil over it, add dried basil, turn it over well with a fork and stick it in a covered bowl on the bottom shelf of the fridge.]
Pat’s Toasted Avocado: Take an avocado. Halve it and remove stone. Slice the flesh and spread out in a fan shape on a plate. Crumble some stilton (or any other tangy cheese) and mix with butter to make a paste (quantities depend on how much you like cheese). Spread over the avocado and put under a grill to heat until the cheese is melted. Eat immediately.
(Pat Lomax)
Cheat’s Bouillabaisse: Buy two or three fillets of fish (cod, loup de mer, rougets…) and fry lightly in a pan with a little sunflower oil and seasoning. Take a jar of (expensive) fish soup, heat in a saucepan, but do not bring it to the boil. Add crushed garlic. Pour the soup over the fish fillets (throw in a prawn or two) and serve with rouille and crusty bread. You can buy rouille in little cans or jars or make it by adding crushed garlic to Hellman’s mayonnaise laced with Dijon mustard.
Moules Marinieres: Buy 500 gms each of mussels (and any small shellfish or clams). Clean the mussels well in a colander under running cold water. Remove the ‘beard’ or fuzzy bit from the ‘hinge’ side. Simmer in a casserole with water and dry white wine, garlic and seasoning. Let the soup cool and pop in the fridge. Next morning, filter the soup, throwing out the shells and cooked shellfish. Check the seasoning. Bring soup to the boil and add a new batch of mussels. Cook for about 10 minutes until shells have opened. Serve.
(N.B. my rule with shellfish – or anything else for that matter – is if you don’t like the look of it, throw it out. This includes cracked shells along with mussels that have not opened in the cooking.)
Vegetable Soup: This is what French friends call ‘soupe a la fourchette.’ Chop mixed vegetables – cauliflower, leeks, onions, carrots, celery, potatoes – and cover with cold water in a saucepan. Cook until they are tender and leave to cool. Blend in the mixer, add more water, season, and stash in the fridge. ‘Later that day…’ or whenever, put a similar mix of vegetables (roughly cut) in salted water and simmer gently until lightly cooked (crunchy or al dente). Add the newly-cooked vegetables to the original soup; heat gently, season and serve. I add a dash of Worcester and sprinkle with parmesan.
*Recipes for cooking rice – my way, my Pakistani friend’s way…
My Way to Cook Rice: Take half a cup of rice and wash thoroughly for at least three minutes in a colander under cold running water. Put in a small frying pan, add water nearly to the brim and bring to the boil. Then turn down to the lowest heat and stick a lid on the pan. When the rice is nicely moist and most of the water has evaporated it is ready to serve. Allow about 20 minutes. The method requires some trial and error. But once you get it right – the quantities, heat and timing, it is (almost infallible). Cold rice is a versatile staple to keep in the fridge for last minute salads and stir fried dishes.
The Hefferlump’s Mackerel Pate
Smoked mackerel fillets
Butter
Garlic flavored olive oil
Coarse-chopped garlic
Moroccan spices/café de Paris butter
Hot horseradish
Drop of soya sauce
Lemon juice
Soured cream
Black pepper
Fine-chopped parsley
Cognac
Mash up with a fork (very tedious) put in little pots and chill.
Potato Salad
Boil spuds and slice when hot; toss with lemon juice, olive oil, splash of vinegar, salt. When tepid, add chopped dill.
Serve on a plate of smoked salmon.
Splash dressing made from: crème fraiche, lemon juice, and grated horseradish.
Potato ‘Chobble’
Slice some cold potatoes; add chopped apple; chopped (red) onion; capers; chopped cornichons. Dressing: vinaigrette of Dijon mustard, olive oil and balsamic vinegar.
Cappucino d’avocat
Avocat (avocado)
Bouillon de volaille (chicken stock)
Crème
Jus de citron
Piment rouge
Roughly cut avocat to fill about half of mixer
Add bouillon nearly to the top, then crème, jus de citron, and piment.
Mix
If consistency is too thick, add more bouillon.
Chill
RAZ EL HANOUT (my favorite all-purpose mixed spice) contains:
cumin/caraway
carvi
aniseed
ginger
coriander
fennel
cloves
chili
turmeric
basil
rosemary
thyme
sarriette/savory
origano
Beatrice Tollman, President and Founder of the Red Carnation Hotel Collection, a luxury collection of five and four-star family run boutique properties, has recently published a cookbook that is her memoir of “A Life in Food”, all proceeds of which will be going to her two favorite UK charities, the Starlight Children’s Foundation and The Tick Tock Club.
This book is a celebration of recipes that have either been passed down in the family or discovered while traveling, and all have been perfected from her own personal experience and expertise in the kitchen. The joys of cooking are expressed through a fascinating collection of personal reminiscences that reveal how the hotels and many of their signature dishes were inspired and created.
Her love affair with food began when she married Stanley Tollman, at the tender young age of 18. His family had always been in the hospitality business and, from an early age, he was always passionate about food and wine and dreamed of one day creating a hotel that excelled in fine dining, and a restaurant in South Africa along the lines of legendary supper clubs in New York.
Nothing truly great was ever achieved without passion, and that is what shines out from every page of this remarkable collection of photos, menus and other nostalgic moments of their life together, with delicious and easy to follow recipes that have been perfected by Bea from her years of experience in the kitchen.
In 1954, from humble beginnings, they started their journey together hand in hand, to make this dream come true. Bea had little experience as a chef, but immediately took charge of the kitchen “teaching myself by constantly tasting each dish to see how different methods and techniques worked”.
The rest, as they say, is history. The couple built up a legendary reputation, and an international, family-run collection of exceptional hotels and restaurants. Today the Red Carnation Hotel Collection includes thirteen 5 and 4 star hotels on three continents, as well as a popular London restaurant and a country Inn in Dorset. Each is overseen and supervised by Bea Tollman herself, and managed by her outstanding team of loyal and dedicated staff.
The hotels are internationally recognised for their spectacular service, excellent value and attention to detail, which is reflected by the many industry awards and plaudits each hotel receives. This is also largely thanks to the feedback and comments from enthusiastic and satisfied guests who rave about the genuinely warm and attentive personal service and the caring details they enjoy and experience when staying in one of her beautiful individually designed hotels.
When reading this book one immediately realises that the inspiration behind such endearing hospitality is driven by Beatrice Tollman herself. Many of the signature dishes that guests come back for time and again are those she has collected, refined and perfected, and that she personally teaches to each chef in each property. Every dish is presented with a fascinating story of how the recipe came into being.
Perhaps the most surprising thing about the recipes, especially for the enthusiastic amateur cook, is the fact that they are relatively quick, simple to prepare with ingredients that are easily sourced. This is explained by her belief that, “Delicious comfort food has always been my speciality , with each dish highlighting the ingredients and none being overpowering. I believe that most people when dining out or staying at hotels want good value, tasty and satisfying food, without too much complication or fuss.”
Just to let everyone know that I’m doing more ‘voice’ work with podcasts and recorded interviews. And here’s a promotion I have been putting out. I have purchased the domain name Voicesetcetera.com which I hope to lionk up with Rogerand Randy.com.
I’ll keep you posted.
Roger Collis – Business travel guru; journalist, author, veteran corporate infighter; broadcaster; and ‘Man of Many Voices’ can provide the voice (and ideas) you need for:
-Podcasts: One-on-one recorded interviews of management personalities, employees, customers, clients, on any agreed subject, suitable for power-point presentations or posting on your Web site, or e-marketing. Remember, you control the final product. Podcasts have proven to be powerful motivational and promotional tools.
(You can review some of my podcasts at http://www.redcarnationhotels.com/press-room/podcasts)
-Voice-overs: For corporate presentations; videos; radio and TV commercials; documentary films. To paraphrase Groucho, ‘I have voices – and if you don’t like them, I have others!’ (You’ll soon be able to listen to my 28-track demo CD at www.rogercollis.co.uk.)
I narrated a prize-winning video for the Red Carnation Hotels Collection (www.redcarnationhotels.com) which won the ‘video category’ of the ‘2009 Travelmole UK web awards 2009’ with a ‘video tour’ of the Egerton House Hotel in London. View the 3-minute video at http://www.egertonhousehotel.com/your-stay/egerton-video-tour.
-Focus Groups: I plan, direct and animate/facilitate small focus groups (up to 10 people) – in your office, studio, or over breakfast, lunch or dinner. The Focus Group is a qualitative research tool involving ‘open-ended’ questioning of a small group of respondents.
Focus groups are invaluable in getting quick ‘dip-stick’ feedback on broad or specific issues; ‘verbatims’ – the words people use in describing a product or service – are a guide for creative teams to develop promotional concepts – that may in turn be tested in further focus groups.
Selection of the group is crucial: for example, you might want a mix of people who are frequent users of a product or service, occasional users, non-users and those who are familiar, but have not used, or those who are critical.
‘Success’ depends on the skill of the leader in ‘focusing’ the discussion, and the choice of participants. For example, a group of regular users of a product/service can offer guidance in how to attract like-minded people who might not have tried (or be aware of) the product.
e-mail: rcollis25@hotmail.com; www.rogerandrandy.com.
Roger Collis – Business travel guru; journalist, author, veteran corporate infighter; broadcaster; and ‘Man of Many Voices’ can provide the voice (and ideas) you need for:
-Podcasts: One-on-one recorded interviews of management personalities, employees, customers, clients, on any agreed subject, suitable for power-point presentations or posting on your Web site, or e-marketing. Remember, you control the final product. Podcasts have proven to be powerful motivational and promotional tools.
(You can review some of my podcasts at http://www.redcarnationhotels.com/press-room/podcasts)
-Voice-overs: For corporate presentations; videos; radio and TV commercials; documentary films. To paraphrase Groucho, ‘I have voices – and if you don’t like them, I have others!’ (Listen to my 28-track demo CD at www.rogercollis.co.uk.)
I narrated a prize-winning video for the Red Carnation Hotels Collection (www.redcarnationhotels.com) which won the ‘video category’ of the ‘2009 Travelmole UK web awards 2009’ with a ‘video tour’ of the Egerton House Hotel in London. View the 3-minute video at http://www.egertonhousehotel.com/your-stay/egerton-video-tour.
-Focus Groups: I plan, direct and animate/facilitate small focus groups (up to 10 people) – in your office, studio, or over breakfast, lunch or dinner. The Focus Group is a qualitative research tool involving ‘open-ended’ questioning of a small group of respondents.
Focus groups are invaluable in getting quick ‘dip-stick’ feedback on broad or specific issues; ‘verbatims’ – the words people use in describing a product or service – are a guide for creative teams to develop promotional concepts – that may in turn be tested in further focus groups.
Selection of the group is crucial: for example, you might want a mix of people who are frequent users of a product or service, occasional users, non-users and those who are familiar, but have not used, or those who are critical.
‘Success’ depends on the skill of the leader in ‘focusing’ the discussion, and the choice of participants. For example, a group of regular users of a product/service can offer guidance in how to attract like-minded people who might not have tried (or be aware of) the product.
e-mail: rcollis25@hotmail.com; www.rogerandrandy.com.
I am getting more and more enquiries for ‘voice work,’ especially podcasts. So I put together this promo.
Hollywood here we come!
Roger Collis – Business travel guru; journalist, author, veteran corporate infighter; broadcaster; and ‘Man of Many Voices’ can provide the voice (and ideas) you need for:
-Podcasts: One-on-one recorded interviews of management personalities, employees, customers, clients, on any agreed subject, suitable for power-point presentations or posting on your Web site, or e-marketing. Remember, you control the final product. Podcasts have proven to be powerful motivational and promotional tools.
(You can review some of my podcasts at http://www.redcarnationhotels.com/press-room/podcasts)
-Voice-overs: For corporate presentations; videos; radio and TV commercials; documentary films. To paraphrase Groucho, ‘I have voices – and if you don’t like them, I have others!’ Ask for a copy of my 28-track demo CD.
-Focus Groups: I plan, direct and animate/facilitate small focus groups (up to 10 people) – in your office, studio, or over breakfast, lunch or dinner. The Focus Group is a qualitative research tool involving ‘open-ended’ questioning of a small group of respondents.
Focus groups are invaluable in getting quick ‘dip-stick’ feedback on broad or specific issues; ‘verbatims’ – the words people use in describing a product or service – are a guide for creative teams to develop promotional concepts – that may in turn be tested in further focus groups.
Selection of the group is crucial: for example, you might want a mix of people who are frequent users of a product or service, occasional users, non-users and those who are familiar, but have not used, or those who are critical.
‘Success’ depends on the skill of the leader in ‘focusing’ the discussion, and the choice of participants. For example, a group of heavy/regular users of a product/service can offer guidance in how to attract like-minded people who might not have tried (or be aware of) the product. (Regular/loyal customers often provide the most revealing criticism.)
It’s the kind of nightmare that when you wake up you find it’s really happening.
You are about to join the swelling ranks of the ‘empty-deskers,’ bemusedly toting their boxes from the cathedrals of steel and glass at Canary Wharf.
Welcome to the wide world of, ‘Don’t call us: we’ll call you.’
Kafka, thou shouldst be living at this hour/the City hath need of thee/She is a fen of stagnant waters…
At least the bastards forewarned you (if not forearmed you).
(‘I hear that Tom’s leaving Diamond Securities.’ ‘Really! does Tom know yet?’) Perhaps Tom is already on gardening leave, planting out new hedge-funds; or toying with derivatives in the wood shed.
Yes, they told you to clear your desk ‘of personal effects’ by lunchtime; which should allow time (allowing for a late lunch) to retrieve the framed set of hunting prints, golf clubs, fishing gear and your remote-controlled toy Lamborghini…
By their possessions shall ye know them.
But there is no way you can get hold of the precious files from your office PC. What this? You enter the password and a sign comes up, ‘Denied Access.’ And they’ve already blocked your all-singing-all-dancing PDA, which contains thousands of precious addresses – along with your platinum corporate credit card.
Suddenly, your PC is no longer your PC. In the old days, you’d just pick up your Rolodex (remember the Rolodex?), or Filofax, and head for the woods. There’s a lot to be said, even today, especially today, for the Little Black Book (LBB).
‘Everything in your life is with the company,’ laments a freshly fired Lehman Bros employee.
Talk about the naked ape. You have become The Naked Manager.
So much for the information age, when information can so easily dissolve before the eyes.
Unless you’ve had the prescience in these tremulous times to back up your data on your very own laptop or memory sticks; as much corporate data as you can download. And perhaps a few recordings of meetings that you made with a tie-clip microphone on your Olympus LS-10 digital recorder. Strictly for insurance (or re-assurance) purposes you understand.
Mind you, it needn’t be so bad.
Perhaps you don’t really care, leaving without a backward glance as you head for ‘early retirement’ in the Cayman Islands: ‘In order to spend more time with my money.’ More productive, surely, than moving on to wreck another financial institution.
Then again, it could be a lot worse.
You could be a middle-management road warrior, without a pension, and your savings stashed under the mattress. And got the news of imminent exodus from your day job in the course of an already stressful business trip.
A major cause (and effect) of executive stress is insecurity. Not necessarily fear of losing your job, but the fact that the higher up you are in the hierarchy, the more dependent you are on administrative/political skills you’ve acquired in that culture. The danger is that you can lose your ‘trade skills’ and with them your flexibility.
Security is something we all crave. But it means different things to different people – a golden parachute, or an account in the Cayman Islands. For me it means flexibility, to have what I call, ‘portable skills’ that I can employ pretty well anywhere. An illusion perhaps, but a comforting one. This is why the freelance or the consultant often feels more secure than the corporate man or woman. It’s good to have several strings to your bow; even if several strings are liable to break at once.
Survival is to keep your data bank up to date, develop your contacts, and sharpen your portable skills.
I’ve just had the following report from our peripatetic correspondent Stanley Zilch in Tokyo:
Following the banking sector meltdown in North America and Europe, financial uncertainty has now hit Japan.
In the last seven days, Origami Bank has folded; Sumo Bank has gone belly up and Bonsai Bank announced plans to cut some of its branches.
Yesterday, it was announced that Karaoke Bank is up for sale and will likely go for a song, while today shares in Kamikaze Bank were suspended after they nose-dived.
Meanwhile, Samurai Bank is soldiering on despite sharp cutbacks; Ninja Bank is reported to have taken a hit; but nevertheless remains in the black.
Another 500 more employees at Karate Bank got the chop; and analysts report that ‘there is something fishy going on’ at Sushi Bank, where it is feared that staff may end up with a raw deal.