Think Tank 2013- Paris

WOW- the first word that comes to my mind when I look back at the condensed day of Monday 29, April 2013. The Think Tank day. A day full of richness, new information, and innovative ideas. Simply a WOW day.

The Prezi presentation below shows the key themes and topics that were discussed during the Think Tank. However, my favorite, and what impressed me more than anything was the development of new technologies: the 3D printer.

I think that this will impact the world a lot. Firstly, this will change the business cycle. Shops such as hardware stores, appliances, and generally all stores producing goods, will eventually begin disappearing, as it will be easier/cheaper to just print whatever you need at home. So I think that the development of a 3D printer will have a very large economic impact. It is true, that new jobs will be created, but I don't think as many as will be destroyed.

Secondly, this will impact future generations. The children in the next 5 years, will find it normal to just print out whatever they need. They may lose the sense of value for money, and will look at us (the current generation) like we look at those who lived through a war: careful, and anticipating, something we don't do as much now a days and will do even less in the future.

Thirdly, I don't think it will stop at just printing in 3D, but as Charlotte from the Apprevous company also mentioned, it will be matched and combined with applications, and other technologies, developing a whole new business sector and a new cycle.

Like the Harvard Business Review states "As 3-D printing takes hold, the factors that have made China the workshop of the world will lose much of their force." I fully agree, but I don't think it will stop at just China being the issue, but a whole lot more of countries, and more specifically, sectors and industries as mentioned previously. 

Fourthly, like all new things, it takes time: to create, develop, test the printer etc... Yes, once the 3D printer will be ready for sale, it still requires specific software and knowledge which will take the consumer time to learn and adapt. However, get a head- start by learning how exactly it works with Mashable, a technology savvy website, which fully explains the process- yet it does not settle the price of the 3D printer, which for now remains reasonably high for the average individual. 

I found a quote on the internet, which in general summarizes the differences between the 20th century and 21st century with regards to the important changes in technology. I think it summarizes the current situation better than anything: The end of the 20th century was about information becoming digital. The 21st century is going to be about bringing the virtual world into closer alignment with the physical one.

Best Practices of Jumeirah, Sanderson, & Marriott

Points in common between Jumeirah Living, Sanderson, and Marriott:

*compelling pictures
*general layout of the website- pictures, tabs, random information, languages
* information about the city
*division of categories within the website
*easy booking access and simple method of checking your reservations
*well narrowed-down target

Cheval Residences- Improvements

Cheval Residence website is quite attractive, with a good use of pictures, and colors. However it could change a few things on their website, that could help them promote their properties:

* encourage guest comments on their website (difficult to find any, even on the internet)

* Tabs get confusing, as they keep subdividing into more and more categories

*Once a guest picks a residence, the guest remains 'stuck' = must wait for someone to contact them

*Lack of dining suggestions for each residence

*Involve a search engine on the website- a confused guest wants to be able to type what they are looking for and for it to just pop up, rather than sit and search, and lose time

*Tabs or places where the customer can check the his reservation, after reservation, through reservation number or email. Once a customer books, personalized emails should be sent with information about the residence, the area, dining, events, the customer could be interested in. 

*current news on the website- promotions, events occurring, around the residences.
*communicate on personalized services a guest could have access to.
* a virtual concierge on the website to answer questions

Think Tank Contest- "Order Me Lunch"
  By: Alexandra Humnicki and Floriane Brette

Luxury Hotels- A short Analysis

A short case study showing the impact of changing technology on concierge department in luxury hotels.

The Luxury Industry Content Strategy vs. Hospitality Industry Content Strategy

The Burberry holiday postcard, just left me in 'awe'. Burberry has managed to create a WOW effect for the customer that watches it, and makes the reader want to share it with friends and family- had it not been a Holiday card, I would have also shared it on Facebook.

The main difference spotted, is that Burberry does not ask for customer interaction (just to sit, relax and watch), yet it so captivating, that the consumer is compelled to want to share it even though it doesn't require any interaction from the consumer side.

From what we have been seeing in the hotel industry, it is the complete opposite- the hotel industry wants the consumer to do everything- from taking pictures, to articles etc... in order to be able to create a buzz for the hotel. Burberry, creates a buzz for itself by captivating the audience. So very different methods of using content strategy, yet both very attractive to the consumer.

The Five Hotel- Improving Customer Content Generation

The Five Hotel- an already very lifestyle hotel, but a good method to show, that having color, and style, you can still find room to improve and get your guests to help you generate your own content. This presentation demonstrates one way to do so for the Five Hotel in Paris.

The five hotel paris from ahumnicki

Glittaste- Lifestyle

An example of lifestyle, is "Gilt Taste"- a magazine that reunites the idea of an interactive magazine with stories and recipes and the idea of groupon, with limited sales and interesting discounts. However, the particularity of the this website/magazine, is that it focuses only on gourmet foods and wine. Of, course, it has been expanded to also provide other products such as housing, womens' clothes etc... but the initial 'lifestyle' idea was for gourmet food and wine. The only negative side to it, is that so far, it is only available in the US...

How can a hotel without a 'lifestyle vibe' develop an effective content strategy? Being 'lifestyle' is a choice, and can cost quite some money, but in order to have effective content strategy it is not necessary. In order to have an effective content strategy, a 'dull' hotel, simply needs to be creative. Like mentioned in the case study of the 'five hotel', by creating interactive, fun methods to engage the consumer, the hotel may achieve a high level of content strategy, without being all hip and 'in-fashion' such as the W Hotels. 

TED-ED 4 Principles for the Open World

'THINK' Questions: 

Question 1: answer D (net generation)

Question 2: answer B (release his data and held the GoldCorp Challenge)

Question 3: When Don refers to the 'burning platform' he means that core activities such as Wallstreet, nearly brought down capitalism. He refers to it, as the cost of staying where you are is more expensive than the cost of radical change. 

Question 4: Transparency is making available to all information or as Don states it ' the communication of information', whilst sharing, he refers to as giving up assets (intellectual property) such as IBM giving away 4 

billion USD of software, giving IBM a multi-million dollar payoff. 

Question 5: answer B: (power becomes decentralized)

Question 6: answer E (the age of networked intelligence)

Question 7: To demonstrate his four principles, Don uses the example of starling birds near Edinburgh  which are said to come in 'murmuration'.  The principle purpose of this act, is to protect the birds from predators, in ways which require collaboration. For the best interest of each bird, they must collaborate together to create a collective power- just like in the human world. Furthermore, he refers to the fact that in this murmur, there is leadership, but not one leader. 

Phrase.It

The Power of Mobile- Class Exercise

1. What is ASAT and 3 non- traditional examples:

ASAT stands for any screen, any time, mobility and internet access anywhere and anyhow.

Three Examples from Slideshare: airplanes using it to tell their customers when they are landing, on the treadmill  in a gym, and on a car's dashboard. 

2. What is meant by mobile enhanced experience? 


Mobile enhanced experience refers to using mobile devices in situations where all you have is your mobile to enhance your experience. Such as when visiting a city, from a bus you see a restaurant you want to try. You type the name of the restaurant into your mobile to be able to come back later and try the restaurant. This creates a positive experience and enhances your trip, through simple acts on your mobile device. 

3. How could a hotel provide a mobile enhanced experience?

A hotel could provide such experiences, for guests, for example, the guest could take pictures of their activities in the hotel (ie. such as a massage or a meal) and share with friends, in exchange for a discount at the bar. Or, when a guest touring the city sees a restaurant they are interested in, they could take a picture, show the hotel the restaurant, and have the hotel book a table for the next day. This would create a mobile enhanced experience for the guest. 

A hotel could use vine to enhance mobile experience, by creating vines of the hotel rooms and services, or advertising events that will occur in the week through fun vines. They can also create welcome vines that will be published on a guest's twitter once they have checked in.  Furthermore, they can create vines on recommendation of places to visit or eat around the hotel. 

4. List the customer decision journey digital touchpoints shown in one of the scenerios. 


From scenario 1, the customer decision journey digital touchpoints are as follows: 
* watching tv- touchpoint 1: sees the advert for a trip

*visits the website on a mobile phone: touchpoint 2: using the mobile for more information

*visits the website again: touchpoint 3: using a computer to re-visit the website

*calls to book the holiday: touchpoint 4: uses the mobile phone to make a reservation

*check emails for the confirmation: touchpoint 5: uses a mobile to check the email confirmation

Why Four Season Was Outrun by W Hotels?

A short presentation determining the reasons Four Season dropped from being 1st place in innovation and digital IQ to being 4th, while W Hotels took over, within a very short time frame.

Comparing hotel groups’ digital iq from MarieGodard

Is it Possible to Prevent Jet Lag?

Now a days, travelling by air has nearly become a daily habit. With professionals travelling more and more, and further and further away with less and less time spent in each destination, jet lag has become a corporate issue. How? Because it decreases productivity, increases frustration and simple mistakes that could have been avoided. When a company sends a delegate to a certain country for negotiations, they want the person to be atop of everything to make sure to get the best deal possible, but how is that possible if the person is woozy and drowsy from the long-haul flight? Jet Lag Rooster, is a site that was created to calculate times you should try remaining awake and when you should sleep to be able to adapt rapidly upon arrival and avoid the drowsy state. I did the test, assuming I was flying from Paris to Bali, Indonesia. Here is the page where you fill in the form:

And the results the website gave me. You can select different options, like getting your body ready before the trip, during the trip, or upon arriving at the destination. In this case, I chose the option of during the trip.

Society for New Communications Research

For those interested, SNCR has launched a volunteer program to allow students, scholars, technologists, business leaders, professional communicators and members of the media from around the globe to be involved in research concerning the development of communications now-a-days. The SNCR is a non-profit global think tank and research "dedicated to the advanced study of the latest developments in new and emerging communications tools and technologies such as digital, social media, and mobile, and their effect on business, culture, and society" [quoted from socialmediatoday]

The program allows those interested in applying with hopes to win an entry to conduct research and learn more about these changing tools. Personally, I believe this can create a big opportunity for those in search of a job. Most business' now-a-days must rely heavily on the changing technologies and must adapt as fast as these new tools change. If a potential applicant has this knowledge and training, what more could be perfect for a company looking to be successful in modern days technology?

Dismoiou & Coca-Cola

A short case study to see the success of dismoiou & Coca Cola, emphasizing the need of companies to constantly adapt and follow technology changes:



Done in partnership with Marie Charbonnier and Akram Nehme