Ah, Bahston

Hi Everyone,

I'm baaaaaack! Boston was great; although the only areas that I visited were the Seaport World Trade Center, Fenway Park, an accidental joy ride (I'll explain on Tuesday before class), and my hotel room at the Seaport Hotel. I was extremely busy while I was at the Trade Show. I clocked 45 hours of working time from Monday through Wednesday. In fact, my boss told me to take half days off on Thursday and Friday.

So, what was my first business trip in six years like? Different than the last trip, that's for sure. The interesting part is that this time, I was on the other side of the spectrum in terms of the type of business. For example, the last business trip. which was in NYC, was for the non-profit agency for which I worked at the time. The trade show portion of that trip was a room full of booths that promoted services, rather than products. Whereas, the trade show in Boston was a products show -- telecommunications products, to be exact.

Much of what I observed there was familiar in that some of the concepts have been discussed in our previous MSMK modules. For example, I gleaned a greater understanding of channel marketing, distribution, pricing, agents, carriers, and direct sales. I was actualy able to associate what I learned for the past year to what was happening on the exhibit hall floor, and during the entire trade show. I found the experience to be very exciting and certainly an enhancement to the overall learning experience in which I am currently enrolled.

Then came the public relations portion of my duties for the three days. One Communications is a sponsor the Boston Red Sox. On Tuesday, we hosted a Red Sox Legend at our booth. Wow! All I can say is that Jim Rice, THE Boston Red Sox Legend, was so awesome that he is now my dear friend and I will cherish my four hours with him for the rest of my life. My responsiblity was to meet Jim (that's what he told me to call him) at the entrance to the Seaport World Trade Center, usher him to a VIP room to sign some specially designed (by our terrific in-house graphics designer) co-branded (One Communications and Boston Red Sox) baseball stats cards featuring Jim Rice (I'll take along a card to class on Tuesday), then take him to the exhibit hall, where he was stationed in our booth for an hour and half in order to autographed more cards for the people who formed a rather large line.

After the booth session, I had to take him to another meeting room where he was the center of attention in a meet and greet with several VIPs and top sales agents associated with our company. They all sat around and talked baseball (until I was going "batty"). Jim was very engaging, extremely likable, eager to answer all questions, autograph personal memorabilia, and talk about the old days to the delight of all who were present. Then, I took pictures of each and every person in the room with his arm around Jim Rice. I think someone forgot to take a picture of me with Jim. However, I did have my picture taken with the Red Sox 2007 World Series Trophy later that night!

BTW, I missed my moment to greet Jim upon his arrival at the Seaport World Trade Center-- he was a bit early and I was in the bathrom (so what else is new?). Thankfully, my boss was there to greet him. When I came running toward him, apologizing profusely, he smiled and gave me a big hug. I explained that I was in bathroom -- to much information . . . Jim laughed really, really hard; the ice was broken, and we hit if off famously.

Just a little side note: Jim Rice is a celebrity -- a pretty big celebrity in the world of sports. Yet, he has been married to the same woman for 37 years, has two children who are in their late twenties, and three grandchildren. Given the way celebrities go through spouses like water, I think that Mr. Rice's personal accomplishment is larger than his Boston Red Sox Hall of Fame Induction.

Given the fact that I was working pretty much non-stop while in Boston, I did manage to find a quiet place for about 45 minutes wherein I read the BMW Z3 Roadster launch case study. I found the article to be a great read!

Well, this is my blog for this week. I will be happy to tell more about the trip to anyone who asks, especially my story about meat, meat, and more meat!

See you all on Tuesday! -Josette