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By now, you've heard the statistic: Americans leave over 658 million vacation days on the table each year.
So, do something about it. Today.
Because it's National Plan for Vacation Day.
No...really, it is. Check out the video.
And plan something cool.
I was searching for an old blog post over the weekend when I stumbled upon a eulogy for a dearly departed friend and mentor. And, as readers come and readers go, some may not have heard about my friend George Nelson who departed terra firma two years ago this weekend.
We enjoyed a chance encounter the prior summer when we bumped into each other at the Madison Club...both of us vowing to get together soon. And, we never did.
I've lost a couple more friends this past year with whom I wish I could have shared with them how much they meant to me. When will I learn not to put off these opportunities?
George Nelson is one of the reasons I am who I am and do what I do today. Permit me to reprise that eulogy today in his memory.
Thanks for everything, George.
I first heard Susan Tedeschi on our local "progressive rock" radio station back around the turn of the century. I was transfixed by her rich snarl...which she could produce with both her voice and her guitar.
During the first decade of this millennium, she and husband Derek Trucks fronted their own projects...with Derek also spending time in the Allman Brothers Band. Indeed, that's how they met. Susan opened for the Allmans on their '99 tour...and the rest, as they say, is history.
But, in 2010, they formed the Tedeschi Trucks Band. And, their onstage and musical chemistry produced something even more magical.
They played the Orpheum in Madison in the fall of 2015...and the entire smokin' concert is available on YouTube. If you've got AppleTV or another way to throw it on the big screen, treat yourself. Or, better yet, if you're near Chattanooga or Savanah this weekend, go see 'em.
If you don't have two hours...Click on the "Show More" tab under the video player and click to be transported to the sizzling "Break in the Road" at the 1:05:50 mark.
Oh, hell yeah.
I coulda picked several others from this show for this Music Friday. Which is your favorite?
Or, do you call it Alternate Facts? From the President's Press Secretary's math to a local government official that proclaims a Destination Marketing Organization is out of touch because they don't (fill in the blank), when they clearly do.
A little information can be a dangerous thing in the hands of someone trying to blow up an organization or an individual doing a very strategic thing in a very unsophisticated environment.
Today's case study: Cyprus. The DMO there is taking heat during budget hearings because regional neighbor Crete had 25% more visitors last year.
Cyprus Tourism's Angelos Loizou countered with this: “None of you would want Crete’s tourism – not with an average €460 per-head spending.” That's why Cyprus targets consumer in countries (like Germany) which average €900 spending per head.
“We should be aware of these things so we don’t shoot ourselves in the foot,” he said.
Sadly, that isn't as easily understood by a media that can only grasp simple math. But that's no reason we stop trying to break through.
It’s always fun to imagine the future. From the Jetson’s to The Time Machine and Star Trek to Soylent Green, we’ve envisioned the years ahead in a myriad of ways.
But, no one has ever envisioned the hotel room of the future quite like this.
This video is the winning concept from a competition to imagine the hotel room of 2033.
Hotel room, hell…I want this for my house!
Telling stats from eMarketer Daily yesterday in which they shared data from last week's study from Nielsen on how we all consume Social Media.
The amount of time spent on Social Media as a percentage by platform?
18-34: 78% (desktop 12%)
35-49: 69% (desktop 18%)
50+: 63% (desktop 25%)
Yeah, 63% of the old farts are accessing your content via Mobile.
So, why are you still designing for desktop?
Just a thought...
OK...it happened. To the disbelief of a majority of Americans, Donald Trump is officially the President of the United States of America. And, now...the great dismantling of iconic institutions such as the National Endowment for the Arts and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting is set to commence.
But I see opportunities in these Presidential proclamations. Let's say that government gets out of the arts and culture game (which, let me be clear, I think is boneheaded as hell). Will this result in corporate America stepping up to fill the void?
The annual budget of the NEA is roughly $150 million. Apple and Bill Gates together could double that tomorrow without breaking a sweat. Imagine if the members of the Fortune 500 club each contributed $1 million to arts in our schools. The NEA would look positively cute by comparison.
Have we, as a society, allowed government to operate in such a way that the private sector has been able to shrug off its responsibility to the greater good? We're about to see.
On another angle, this video from ESPN's Stephen A. Smith sums it up perfectly.
The hand has been dealt. How we all play it is up to us.
You gotta love the first few lines of his online bio:
"So, what to make of this Rick Brantley? This seeker of the life-changing novel and the perfect pair of beat-to-hell boots; this connoisseur of the cool classic movie and the greasiest dive-bar cheeseburger, disciple of the museum’s masterpiece and the panhandler’s wiliest street-pitch? This guy who lives it, loves it, takes it all in and pours out something so tight and right you just gotta hear it again and again."
He says his Dad was into Three Dog Night...so, it's no surprise that he recently covered the Otis Redding track the band covered during its glory years.
On this Music Friday, dig Rick Brantley's version of "Try a Little Tenderness."
He's at one of our favorite venues in Virginia's Blue Ridge next week with Shawn Mullins, with a couple dates in Nashville next month.
Terri and I were on a Destination Assessment assignment a couple years ago when we stumbled upon a Farmer's Market. I was instantly drawn to one vendor that was offering his best produce...along side his "worst" (click on image to enlarge).
I asked him which sold out first. He laughed and said, "the ugly ones."
Indeed, over a fourth of all produce in this country is thrown out because it's deemed not "pretty" enough for a grocery store or restaurant to purchase. That's billions of pounds of food waste and billions of dollars lost.
But a new initiative at Hy-Vee grocery stores is hoping to reverse that trend. Called "Misfits," Hy-Vee is taking a page from the playbook of our Farmer's Market friend and offering "ugly" fruit and veggies at 30% off.
And, that's good for all of us.
As citizens of the world travel in increasing numbers, the inevitable residential push back is sure to occur. And, as we've said before, responsible Destination Marketers need to be sensitive to the fact that our success bears the seeds of our demise.
While most destinations give lip service to sustainability, the island nation of Palau has thrown down the gauntlet. The President has introduced a bill that would restrict all lodging on the island to be 5-star as a way of eliminating hoards of tourists traveling on a shoestring.
The President said, "do we want to control growth or do we want growth to control us?"
True 'dat.
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