Digital Insanity Magazine by Bruno Amaral

7 Things I learned on my trip to Bled

Mon, 17 Jun 2013 14:23:12 +0000

I had my trip all planned out so I could walk around Venice and get to (finally) know the city. That didn’t happen. The trip was off to a bad start after the flight got canceled because of an air controllers strike in france ¹and it got worse when on the 14th my credit limit foiled my plans to rent a car and make it to Bled in three hours.

Maybe some sort of Kismet or Fado was keeping me from reaching BledCom in time to be in the discussion panel. Either way, let me try to make something good out of my mis-adventures.

1. People are what make a trip memorable

The train was my only option with little hope of getting to Bled at a decent hour. In the process I met Filipe, an opera singer, and getting back to Venice I shared most of the trip with Liz and Steve.

Back in 2009 I had to spend the night in Nova Gorica where I met a slovenian who was heading to what he described as “Europe’s biggest heavy metal festival”. And when a trip means you’ll find old friends at your destination, it is even better.

2. Don’t just rely on Google

Here’s a good tip from Steve: If you’re traveling by train in Europe, check the DB.de, deutsche bahn website. Google Maps failed to provide a useful itinerary to reach Venice in time for my flight and the DB website provided the whole timetable in a few minutes.

3. History does repeat itself every once in a while

A few months before the trip I had promised myself that I wouldn’t take the train and find myself in Nova Gorica again.

Yeah, well …

Nova Gorica train station

**** There are a few things in my personal life that seem to be repeating as well. Some of which are pretty good. Here’s hoping.

4. “You’re not stubborn, you’re persistent”

Part of the conversation with Felipe went something like this.

Felipe: I hope you make it on time.

Bruno: Well, my mother gave me a gift that will help.

Felipe: What?

Bruno: I’m stubborn.

Felipe: You’re not stubborn, you’re persistent.

There is so much that makes sense in that sentence, being persistent and stubborn are in fact two very different things, two approaches towards the same end.

“You’re not stubborn,you’re persistent” was also a conversation i used to have with a friend very dear to me. It immediately brought back a flood of good memories that lasted for the rest of the trip.

5. Document your trip

No matter how good your memory is, you’re going to forget things. Take pictures, save notes and if you can build yourself a little travel notebook.

Use evernote, a moleskine, a pad and paper, anything. You don’t need to share it with the world or bother people with your vacation photos but do keep it at hand in case you need to look up a name or information, or in case you need to take the trip again.

One of the things I would like, would be to have a map showing where I met people and where they actually live in. If someone makes this happen with the evernote API, please send me a beta invitation!

6. Always take a book

We’re not always lucky enough to find someone interesting to talk too during a long train ride or waiting at a bus stop. (And we don’t do much talking to strangers on planes, at least I don’t.)

Whenever I travel I take a book, back in 2009 I know I read David Philip’s and Philip Young’s Book: Online Public Relations 2ed during the whole trip.

This time I have been reading “You are not a gadget” by Jaron Lanier.

But I mean a real book. Not a kindle, not an iPad, a book. Something other’s can look at and ask “what are you reading?”. Every once in a while this question actually translates to “I am bored in this long trip, want to chat?”.

7. Go offline every once in a while

I am going to try to log off more during the next 30 days. The plan is to schedule a time during the day or during the week when I switch off the phone and close the laptop and go do “whatever”. It helps to process ideas and refocus so that you can be more productive when you in fact do get back to work.

That is what I believe in since watching this video.

I do feel motivated to write and read more after being mostly offline during the weekend.

Bonus tip: Don’t just share the boring stuff.

Ironically it is the second time that french air controllers decide to re-arrange my travels. Guys, if you’re reading this, we should talk. You were protesting the Single European Airspace project and in the process showed just how much we need it. Talk about shooting yourselves in the foot…

? ↩︎

Bledcom, Last day and final thoughts

Mon, 06 Jul 2009 22:15:16 +0000

Following the bar set high by the first day of the conference, the second and last part of the event lived up to expectations.

New Zealand contributed with an interesting perspective and explanation of the Maori Party’s campaign. Other presentations focused more on cultural aspects as well as in the analysis of discourse.

This is where David Phillips and I had a chance to participate.

We presented our paper on the analysis of online discourse and at the last minute thought about analysing the hyperlink network around BledCom.com.

And so we did.

Both the network analysis and the semantic analysis showed to be in tune with the spirit of the conference. As David Phillips explains, it’s not about the words we use the most, but the concepts present along the discourse.

This example of real time analysis allows for an up to the minute monitoring of a public relations strategy as well as an initial assessment on publics’ values. And we are just looking at the tip of the iceberg.

last but not least, I would like to thank everyone who took a part in organizing the conference. Your effort did not go unnoticed.

Bledcom, First Day

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 22:59:27 +0000

Made it to Bled after a trip that proved to be longer than expected.

And so far I most say that the choice of subject for the conference was perfect — Culture and Public Relations.

It was interesting to listen to perspectives on how culture changes Public Relations from Hong Kong to Germany, no matter what area we are talking about — Lobby, Stakeholder Management, Political Communication and more.

Such presentations do more than just spark curiosity, they make me re-think what I know about Public Relations in a broader scale. Due to the different values that help make up each culture practices and strategy need to be re-thought.

Each presentation can also serve to point out to a need to understand values systems and how they influence relationships as being the challenge for practitioners.

Cannot wait to see how tomorrow will turn out to be.

Bledcom 2009

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 23:59:12 +0000

In a few hours I will be travelling to Venice, so I can then reach Bled in Slovenia by train.

The occasion, Bledcom 2009 where I am presenting a paper with Professor David Phillips. We will be talking about A proof of concept for automated discourse analysis in support of identification of relationship building online.

What this means is that due to the way we now communicate it is possible to identify relationships and networks of relationships. Thus placing Public Relations in a new light.

But more on that later, I will try to post on the blog and on twitter as much as possible using #bledcom as a tag.

Photo Copyright: http://www.flickr.com/photos/trentstrohm/130077084/