Archive for September, 2009

My folks have lived in a village in the rolling Oxfordshire countryside for about ten years now and, despite constant assertions to the contrary, have both become indispensable members of the local community. Dropping in on them has become quite a challenge; if she’s not dashing out to do the church flowers before Girl Guides, he’s off winding the clock in the tower or surveying a new village path.  Early in September, however, they pulled together an entirely new contribution to village life: the first ever East Hendred Beer Festival!

We ordered in nine barrels of prime ale from breweries up and down the country and over a hundred pounds’ worth of sausages from the local butcher. We booked the village hall and a bouncy castle. We borrowed a stillage (strong racking) and a barbecue. We even signed up the local wine shop to do a tasting for those with a lighter enthusiasm for beer. It took nearly six months of steady preparation to pull off and, in the end, it went swimmingly. The best part was, the more we organised, the more enthusiasm we got from the local community. People volunteered their time and local businesses agreed to buy programme space to sponsor barrels to help keep the costs down. The event was just gaining momentum when, back in July, I mentioned it to Powwownow technical director and notorious beer enthusiast Mick Kemp. He immediately demanded to get involved and, after working hard to persuade the other two directors for literally a couple of minutes, secured a generous donation to pay for branded glasses. That was the watershed; once I’d placed the order for a couple of hundred of our very own over-size glasses there was no going back – this thing was going ahead come swine flu or bad weather!

On the weekend of September 12th, go ahead it did – and how! We opened for four hours on the Friday night, just to test the water, and sold so much beer that we had a bit of a panic and had to order in another couple of barrels at short notice. One of the guys from the local “Best Mates” brewery was there at closing time.

“You’re in luck,” he said before draining his glass. “Entirely by chance, I’ve got a couple drawn off bright for you so they won’t even have to settle. Very lucky, that.” He gave me a broad wink. “See you in the morning!”

And what a glorious morning it was. After such a substandard August we had been rather concerned that we might be hosting a rather miserable afternoon indoors but we were treated to one of the brightest days of the year and with a huge turnout all day long we were soon racing through the beers. Until we opened the doors, of course, we hadn’t had the faintest idea whether we’d ordered far too much beer or far too little.

The most gratifying sight for me was the arrival of almost half the employees of Powwownow and sundry partners – that was when I could be sure we’d sell out! Indeed, at twenty past six, our first barrel shed its last drop and was followed by a steady progression through the rest. They weren’t just drinking, though; my recollection is hazy at best but I have photo evidence of Stewart helping out on the barbecue. At 7pm we estimated to have sold our 500th pint and by the time the band came on at 8 we had another two barrels with EMPTY scrawled across their cards.

There was dancing and merriment (and minor injury when Mark and I got a little over-enthusiastic) and as the last sausage came off the barbecue and disappeared into certain ravenous reveller the flush of success washed over us like beer over the tongue of a thirsty traveller. We closed the doors with barely half a barrel left over and over £2,000 in pure profit for the hall – a tidy sum.

So thanks to everybody that turned out and thanks in particular to Andy Pearce, our esteemed marketing director, who signed off the fantastic glasses. If you want to see one, we’ve got about 50 extras floating around the office as I write.

See you next year!

I’m delighted to announce that we have recently launched Powwownow in both South Africa and Canada.

Allowing us as Europes’ leading provider of conference calls to not only offer services within South Africa and Canada, but also allow participants from these countries to join European and American conference calls without the requirement to make an international call.

We hope to be adding more countries in the very near future.

About a month ago My friend and I made the decision to drive to Nice in the South of France. But we both agreed that we would like to take in some of the sights on the way. We set off from Richmond Surrey at around 14.00 on our way for a 16.10 Eurotunnel crossing to Calais, the M25 had other ideas, making us sit in stationary traffic for well over an hour!

We finally made it to Folkstone and boarded the 17.40 arriving in Calais at 19.20 (with the hours time change) and we set about heading to Eperney approximately 300KM from Calais where we had booked ourselves into and the IBIS for a couple of nights.

The following Morning we decided to head off on foot as our plan was to tour the Caves of the Champagne region, first stop, Moet and Chandon although originally it was set up as The House Of Moet by Claude Moet in 1743, It wasnt until 1833 when Jean Remy Moet decided to sell to his son Victor Moet and his son inlaw Pierre-Gabriel Chandon that Moet and Chandon was finally born. An Interesting fact about Moet and Chandon that i was unaware was they own Dom Perignon. We Started our tour with a video on the history of the Caves, toured the Caves and Finished with a a glass of vintage chanpagne and a glass of vintage rose champagne, and off to the next Caves we went!

Perrier Jouet was our next stop, created in 1811 bu the marriage of Pierre Nicolas Perrier and Adele Jouet, fortunately we had pre-booked this tour as you cannot just turn up. we were in a small tour of just 4 people and we definately learnt more on this tour than on the others, interesting cellar set-up and very importantly they actually show you the factory with the bottling plants and the great big vats which most of the other houses tend to ignore and the Champagne is to die for.

We then headed off for a late lunch / dinner where we endulged our newly found taste for a couple of bottles of Perrier Jouet, then headed back to the IBIS for preparations for drive. we made the decision to head to Grenoble the following day a trip of about 500KM so we made the decision to do the journey in one day and spend a couple of days driving from Grenoble to Nice across the Alps.

The Drive from Eperney to Grenoble was mainly motorway, and we arrived at our hotel in Grenoble with just enough time to have a tour of the city and settle down for a long delicious dinner.

The following day we were up early for the drive to Nice, we headed out of Grenoble on the N85 towards GAP, passing through some out standing senery as we heading up into the alps and towards Sisteron on the E712, after Sisteron we took the A51 towards Les Mees, passing through some of the most beautiful villages along our windy route before stopping to collect the items for our picnic. TBC……………….

Boris Johnson’s trip to New York yesterday to attend a press conference – admittedly to promote business travel – got us thinking about one of the main reasons for organising a conference call instead of a face-to-face meeting: time. Whilst he may have had other things to do whilst there, Boris’ press conference probably lasted only an hour, so he effectively travelled over 10 hours (return trip) not including getting to and returning from the airport, for a one-hour meeting. Ten hours which would surely have been better spent in and around his office in London.

Travelling to a meeting often takes more time than the meeting itself, and even in this age of the mobile internet, travelling is never as productive as sitting in the office with all the necessary tools to hand. What is scary, too, is how little distance you need to travel in order for travelling time to exceed meeting time. For instance, Powwownow’s offices are based in Richmond, so only around 15 miles from Central London, and yet even from this distance it will typically take two hours of travel to get there and back again once you take into account walking to and from stations, waiting for trains, changing trains, etc. This means that a one-hour meeting will in fact take three hours of potentially billable time, and this doesn’t even take into account the cost of travel, or the cost to the environment. Once you start to go further afield, say Leeds, then a whole day will basically be consumed for a 1-2 hour meeting.

We’re not saying there aren’t good reasons for face to travelling to face meetings, but there are many more bad reasons. In all of these cases, a conference call is undoubtedly cheaper and greener, and it will also save time every time.

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As responsible, green-minded people, we are aware of the big issues facing the planet. We like to think we are not complacent and that we don’t need reminding of the importance of respecting the natural balance around us.

But we can’t help wondering about the uproar caused by the recent WWF ad that was allegedly accidentally on purpose released onto the web over the last week or so. In case you still haven’t seen it, it uses the shock tactics of comparing the unforgettable horror of the 9/11 attacks to the easily forgotten catastrophe of the 2006 tsunami. Their point is that we should remember it because ten times as many people perished. See video below (if they haven’t taken it down yet).

There has been predictable outrage – heightened by the fact that this week sees the 8 anniversary of the event. But should we be complaining about the people who created it? Should we criticise those who took a few risks to bring an important subject back into the public eye?

Or should we be complaining about the complacent few who made those shock tactics necessary?

Whichever way you look at it, it’s got us talking, and that’s the point of it isn’t it?

One day I hopped in a taxi and we took off for the airport. We were
driving in the right lane when suddenly a black car jumped out of a
parking space right in front of us. My taxi driver slammed on his breaks,
skidded, and missed the other car by just inches! The driver of the other
car whipped his head around and started yelling at us. My taxi driver
just smiled and waved at the guy. And I mean, he was really friendly.

So I asked, ‘Why did you just do that? This guy almost caused an accident
and sent us to the hospital!’ This is when my taxi driver taught me what
I now call, ‘The Law of the Garbage Truck.’

He explained that many people are like garbage trucks. They run around
full of garbage, full of frustration, full of anger, full of
disappointment and rage. As their garbage piles up, they need a place to
dump it and sometimes they’ll dump it on you. Don’t take it personally.
Just smile, wave, wish them well, and move on. Don’t pick up their
garbage and spread it to other people in your life, whether at work, at
home, or to people that you don’t even know on the streets.

Always remember that good people do not let garbage trucks take over
their day. Life’s too short to wake up in the morning with regrets,
so…..

‘Love the people who treat you right and forgive the ones who don’t.’