Currently back home in Los Angeles sorting through the mountain of info I collected at the 2009 Marketing and Communications Workshop.  Thanks to everyone who stopped by to say hi!  One final happy note from SF - the group from Honolulu Rail Transit threw up their shakas while riding BART, and we’ve got the art [...]

Yesterday, the Marketing and Communications Workshop attendees were taunted by a GORGEOUS San Fran day.  This morning?  Well, the picture above says it all.  We woke to more of the same rain and gloom that greeted us when we arrived here on Sunday.  We can’t complain too loudly though - SF residents have been teetering [...]

Virginia Miller @ the 2009 Marketing and Communications Workshop (photo by Felicia Friesema)

Hi Folks:
Yesterday we had a terrific Media Coaching Session and it was GREAT! With about 40 people attending, it was a big hit.
The coaching team was led by Mary Currie, public affairs director, Golden Gate Bridge, Highway & Transportation [...]

From tarantulas to strippers to anger management patients to people requesting door-to-door service, the Call Center Challenge is a minefield of customer service obstacles that is not for the faint-of-heart or the unsmiling.
I think the one word that comes to mind in describing this year’s contestants is unflappable. These men and women have seen and [...]

Currently sitting in the Call Center Challenge…SO MUCH FUN. The picture above (missing Robert who was inside on stage) is of a few of the waiting contestants (with Rose from APTA on the far left…Robyn just to the right of her is currently up on stage making it look EASY) and really, based [...]

One of the many benefits of working for APTA is the opportunity to travel to conferences and workshops like this one; and an added benefit is sampling outstanding restaurants all over the country (I’ll never forget the incredible find in Milwaukee’s Lake Park Bistro).   And even though I didn’t step outside the hotel for a single [...]

The one thing that I have really enjoyed about
being part of this industry is that every day is
completely different. Today was a perfect example
of this within the conference. In what other
world do you learn that cows are suspects in police
reports in Montana, moderate a panel,
eat ice cream while discussing logos, and
get thrown into a press [...]

Hope you left some room in your suitcases! If the bagloads of information being carted away were any indication, this was a very successful marketing exchange. Some of you might want to weigh your luggage before going to the airport–those “too heavy” fees are pretty steep. A special shout out to Greater Bridgeport Transit. Our [...]

Part of the advantage of attending conferences is the change of perspective that it gives you.  It’s so easy when managing crisis after crisis (Fellow PIOs?) or trying to put together a campaign or event to get into a narrow point of view.  Getting out of your normal routine is vital to keeping things fresh [...]

I did double duty this morning and hit both morning sessions – Dump the Pump and Marketing and Communications in a 2.0 World (my own favorite – I’m addicted to Facebook and use it often as a tool for media relations – friend me! ).
Doug Bartlett from BART detailed an impressive response [...]

At today’s Marketing and Communications Committee meeting, Jessie Baginski (LAKETRAN), chair of the Passenger Information and Wayfinding Task Force discussed the group’s efforts toward standardization of how the transit industry presents information to the public.  This worthwhile effort is part of APTA’s Standards Development Program.  Perhaps the task force will take a page from the European transit [...]

Greetings from not-so-sunny California! I’m currently sitting in the Marketing and Communication Committee meeting on the fourth floor of the San Fran Hilton looking out the giant picture windows over this beautiful city and seeing nothing but rain and bleak, gray skies. That said? Nothing but sunny dispositions and smiles in here.
For those of [...]

After an uneventful plane ride of nearly six hours , I arrived in San Francisco this afternoon.   Unwilling to shell out $9 for a boxed “meal” on the plane, I arrived starving.  So my first stop in the City by the Bay was Chinatown.  After a delicious lunch at Cathay House of California, I was presented with [...]