Getting Back to the Basics

Finally getting some time to do real development work. NewRelic and Azure Monitoring. Followed by Azure DevOps Certification later this year.

Priority is Shopify Plus integration with GTM not playing nicely. Look for some updates on getting Single Page App triggers working and cross domain tracking based on good documentation from GTM experts.

Oh and check out this deal...$500 for Jimmy Johns, now that's awesome.

https://www.quikly.com/jimmyjohns/s/jJMVOwvW?utm_content=blogger

Todays Online Convservation Challenges and Success Stories

In light of today's stay at home, work from home, quarantine mind sets has given rise to more than just text and email communications now to full video chats and group meetings. We have always been a people who thrive off face to face discussions given the growth of apps and other technologies. There is so much more we express through our body language and facial expressions. Not to mention the loss of social iteration when we just talk over a voice based system.

As many of us have jumped on the bandwagon of using Zoom, WebEx, Teams and dozens more of video conferencing systems we have moved to an unstructured method of interacting. And most importantly have not paid attention to the risks and challenges that come with these tools. They are not necessarily a dangerous technology, however our lack of understanding how to deploy and use them is what can be dangerous.

How do you find the right tool for your audience? Do you need just audio. Do you need group or individual chat? Do you need to share file? Do you need "broadcast" video for a single person to a group? Do you need full group discussion for 5, 10 or 500 people? And do you mind if the information becomes publicly available through Google, Yahoo or Facebook?

Some services may take your meeting discussion, notes, documents and make them publicly available. Your meeting may be publicly available by default for others to join. Read about the story this week from California this week where several schools were #zoombombing interrupted the education experience with profane and disgusting content.

Be smart. Talk to your IT expert. Take time to read through all of the "Settings" in the application. If you don't know what something means like "Chime on Entry" then ask on Twitter or another platform or to other users. Do a dry run of the meeting between your phone & computer or someone else and see the experience from a "host" and a "participant". Learn what it means to use a password with your meeting or a waiting room?

If you are going to hand over the meeting to another host then practice that so you know what to expect in terms of delay on the screen and experience on the screen. Be cautious when you start using a new technology, especially when it comes to work.

Reaching the Audience at the Right Time through the Right Channel

My endeavor this year is not much different than most marketers. Find a marketing automation tool that will improve my overall campaign effectiveness, be easy to use and finally complete the mapping of the customers' journey, through that elusive term Omnichannel Marketing. Easy, right?

Well the market place is full. Check out anyone's Marketing Automation Landscape infographic and you'll become dizzy with the enormous number of toolsets available. And that's not the complete list, there are dozens more that didn't make the landscape graphic...maybe we start building it in a panoramic view.

The challenges I face are similar if not exactly the same as everyone else. And the market has too many tools that are nice, look good but can they do the job. That's the problem. I read case studies, watch Vimeo and YouTube videos showing a specific use case for a specific vertical. Of course it's not a one-stop shop, you plug it in, turn it on, and campaigns start flowing. There's integration, workflows and strategies to build & monitor. But, we all have the same underlying needs. Be able to easily build our own templates, drag & drop the features and modules, segment the universe and send to tens of thousands at once.

What we need is to find the partner, that understands the in's & out's of the marketing automation landscape and determine who can satisfy our specific quarks and meet our goals & requirements. The sales talks are all the same, products do basically the same, or have easy enough integrations. What I need is that partner who will bring to forefront the toolset & vendor that will do it and do it to my liking & grow with me as my business changes.

What about you? How are you working to complete the omnichannel? Do you have a data plan? Do you have a content marketing plan? Do you know what channels are important to your customers?

Where have all of the volunteer leaders gone?

Volunteer groups like the Boy Scouts of America function and exist because there are adult leaders. At its core they are the reason the boys keep coming back, especially in cubs scouts. The adults brainstorm and commit program activities like camping, community service, fundraising and education to name a few. Without them the boys would be unable to function.

Sitting at a recent district commissioner meeting I was singled out as one of those 'young' parents, though I don't consider that true as I'm nearly 40. But looking around the room everyone was 50, 60, 65 years old or older. I was the young guy. But wait, my sons are in third & fifth grade. Where are the new Tiger parents, those young 30ish adults??? Aren't they also planning and running cub events? Why am I the sole adult in their 30's taking part in planning the years program for our 800+ scouts?


I read recently the young parents are now called the Connected generation. They thrive on Instagram and Facebook. Opting for a text rather than a call. They don't do paper newsletters, phone trees and old fashion calendars. But something else is happening, they are not driving the planning and execution of the bigger events. Are they intimidated or scared to step up? I will be honest, I only have 5 years of Scouting knowledge, not 40 or 50 years like some of my peers. And I was quiet and reserved my first few months as a commissioner. But I was learning, who the thought leaders were, who was the performer and who posed a challenge to work with...let's not forget these adults have decades of experience so they tend to push their agenda.

Out of 30 active cub units I have one or two adults in this age bracket who help. That is help with a project or event. Not at the strategy and planning level with the district. Why?

Over the next four months I M going to try something different at Roundtable. I'm going to challenge the cub adults who attend to take on chairman ship of an event like pinewood derby or On Target or Friends Of Scouting. Not as a direct assignment. But more as a challenge to keep scouting fun and make it fun and interesting for the young adults. This includes opening up our private Facebook page to encourage them to post events and videos, not just photos and training reminders. Utilize snapchap and Instagram to drive home the reason why we are here. To make the program safe and fun.

Home Away from Home

It is interesting to hear what families do when they go on a vacation. Being in the heart of tourist central...Orlando we have done the parks. Not in the typical 4 day flash where most families are pressed to get into and experience each and every ride and experience. Leaving the fourth evening excited and exhausted. But rather quick and targeted trips, visiting the critical rides. If we find one is too busy or shut down we know we can hit it the next trip.

In my experience I'm taking a step back. In my childhood we did those items but we also did something else. We got out away from it all. Experiencing the "Real Florida" TM. This  year we have already experienced five trips. Two were not your run of the mill woods adventures. They were a night on the outfield for the Daytona Tortugas (Reds minor league) field. Scout day as it's known has become a tradition. Hot, long games, popcorn & movie and a experience under the stars. This year it got exciting at 3AM when the sprinklers kicked on for about 5 minutes. The other was a traditional camp out at Daytona International Speedway for Scout Days during the Roar Before the 24. Hundreds of scouts and families from all over the area converge on the infield for a three day camp out. There's something awesome about hearing the roar of the engines as cars test and prepare for the endurance race in late January. And seeing hundreds of boys learning skills, taking part in adventures and making new friends.

Now I see that Vantage Hotels is doing a promotion to get families out and help with road trips. I'm getting ready to do one of these later this month as the family drives north to Maryland. For a 5 day experience of seeing the DC area museums, baseball and hiking trails. Let's see maybe I can help some extra spending money...

Go ahead and enter, maybe you can too #homeawayfromhome http://virl.io/vokDRaTr

Cub Scout Year Round Recruitment

What is a leader to do when they are asked to focus on year round recruitment? We have heard the news, overall declining numbers of new youth joining Scouting. Why? In my opinion it's due to our ever changing loves. Sports, academics, friends, parental jobs, I am sure you can provide me with at least five more.

Well as the round table commissioner for Three Rivers District in Central Florida I'm dealing with the same challenge as everyone else. My own pack has had dwindling enrollment, we lose scouts throughout the year. But how do we keep going?

Year round activities, including Summer Time activities. Well I have two ideas, one is to provide an incentive to scouts for bringing friends to scouting. And a second is to promote inter pack activities.

The first is simple, tell your scouts, if you bring in at least one friend who joins you automatically earn the Recruitment patch, but you also get to enjoy a pizza or ice cream party with your fellow scouts. Bring in at least three friends and you get free admission to a special scouting event. In my district its the On Target for Scouting event, a full day of all shooting and action events. Bring five or more friends into scouting and earn a free camping weekend at our local scout ranch.

The district net members and other pack leaders like the idea, I just need to get it approved at the council.


The other activity is one of my wood badge tickets, setup a inter pack sports event. Just one time, have the boys get together and earn a loop, have fun, get to know each other and enjoy friendship. In my case I've expanded it to include all packs. But instead of managing it all push the leaders to talk with other leaders and setup their own events. Nothing like this is happening today.

If you are doing either of these at your local district or council let me know. I want to help not only my own pack but also my district expand its reach into the community and provide a great program to the youth.

To Ooma or not Ooma

I have been thinking about dropping my home VoIP service with BrightHouse. There have only been a few times over the last 6 years where the services was less than desirable. But the main factor is the damn price. VoIP is VoIP why like other service providers do the continue to charge so much?

I have looked at spinning up my own Asterisk server, yea its all pretty straight forward but I really don't want to rely on just my skills and time. Products like Ooma on the other hand are so tempting.

I just checked the Amazon reviews and they have a huge majority of 5 star ratings. And my gmail had an offer from Ooma (direct marketing at its best) for 50% off! Now that's a bargain. If I pay $99 for the product I can port my local number for about $32. And then pay a mere $4 per month in Uncle Sam taxes.

After a few months I would have basically cut even when compared to BH. and then its just extra money in the family budget there after.

Now what about 911 and Internet outages?? Well my home security has built in cell backup. So with or without it will still call. If all cell coverage is down then we are all out of luck. And there are hot buttons on my security panel that will let the family call directly to EMS, fire and police. So I am not overly concerned.

Regular cell service is sketchy at best inside the house with both Sprint 3G and Verizon 4G. So that's just a crap shoot. Oh and there is the occasional Fax...yea still need that for work.


I really think I might go for Ooma, try their pre selected number or maybe port my Google Voice and try it for 30 days. If it sucks then I'll return it. Otherwise its bye-bye BrightHouse.