This post has nothing to do with Media, Marketing, start-ups or Inbound Marketing. Instead its about the fact that my home town of Newcastle has just been listed by Lonely Planet as one of the 1o best cities in the world to visit in 2010. I just wanted to record this for posterity.

Newcastle Beach. Photo by Kitty Hill (Fairfax)

I’m proud to come from Newcastle. It’s town that has never had it easy. We’ve taken our lumps over the years (earthquake, major industry withdrawal, flooding) and have been poorly neglected by government at both State and Federal level despite contributing significantly to the economy. We don’t complain, and we just smile at those who condescendingly dismiss Newcastle as an unfashionable old steel town.

Why? Because we all know how bloody good it is to live here. And now Lonely Planet is letting the cat out of the bag.

Is Newcastle one of the Top Ten cities of the world (as has been misnamed in reports following the Lonely Planet listing)? Who can ever answer that? Its totally subjective.

What I do know is that I have lived in Scandinavia and several parts of the USA. I have traveled to many countries of the world and I’ve also been lucky enough to make the choice about where I was going to settle, raise a family and start a business. That choice was Newcastle.

We still have a long way to go to improve the decaying areas of Newcastle. We still seem to have a segment of the community who fear change and are determined to stop progress. We still are neglected by government. But those who live here also know the tide has begun to turn and pretty soon we’ll have the investment and infrastructure to match the amazing natural resources we enjoy. Beach, harbour, bushland, stunning nearby waterways in Lake Macquarie and Port Stephens and word class vineyards just up the road.

Drop by and say hi.
Following article taken from News.com.au
NEWCASTLE has been named as one of the top 10 must-see destinations in the world according to Lonely Planet’s ‘Best in Travel 2011′ book.
Cities like London and Paris failed to make the list, with the NSW harbour city ranked ninth the selection.

The authors have described Newcastle as “underrated”, saying the city has been “overshadowed by its bigger, bolder and better-known sibling, Sydney”.

However Sydney, and Melbourne, have never made the list before as they are “too dull”.

Lonely Planet Asia Pacific travel editor Shawn Low said the book aims to inspire travellers to pick lesser known cities to explore.

Mr Low said hundreds of ideas were submitted by authors, staff and bloggers, then refined by a panel of in-house travel experts.

“The rankings come down to topicality, excitement, value for money and that special X-factor.

“We want to pick a destination that has good thing about it that has been flying under the radar a bit.

“Newcastle is a great city.”

Mr Low said that Australia’s better-know cities such as Sydney and Melbourne haven’t made the list as they are not interesting enough.

“Sydney and Melbourne are obvious choices, they are quite dull. We want to inspire people to think more broadly.”

Newcastle’s beaches, climate, night-life and arts were listed as key elements placing the city on the radar.

“Today’s ‘new’ Newcastle is a unique blend of imagination, sophistication and laid-back surf culture,” Lonely Planet‘s book says.

Tourism Hunter’s Executive Manager Sheridan Ferrier says it is an “honour” to be included in the top 10 list.

“I think it is testament to the range of experiences that we have to offer in Newcastle and is certainly attributed to our lifestyle as well,” Ms Ferrier told ABC News.

The city’s most bizarre sight, according to the authors, is the dome-shaped Queens Wharf Tower, which is 40m tall.

The city receives over 100,000 visitors per year.

Other cities to make the list include New York City, US; Tangier, Morocco; Tel Aviv, Israel; Wellington, New Zealand; Valencia, Spain; Iquitos, Peru; Ghent, Belgium; Delhi, India and Chang Mai, Thailand.

You might also want to read this by Renew Newcastle Founder Marcus Westbury

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Friday 15 October 2010 is Blog Action Day – and this year’s focus is water. To participate in Blog Action Day, you simply register your blog and then write a post.

WHAT can you write about? Here’s where Age of Conversation comes in!

Coincidentally, our chosen charity for this edition of the Age of Conversation is Charity: Water, who are also one of the participating partners for Blog Action Day. So what we’d like you to do is to help us with a Bum Rush on the Amazon charts – generate sales for AoC3 and raise money for charity: water.

By writing about Age of Conversation 3 and our chosen charity you manage to promote Blog Action Day, charity:water and help sales of the book. Its win-win all round.

Or just buy the book anyway. Its a great read and is chock-a-block with amazing advice and insights from some of the world’s leading marketers. Buy one for the kids, buy one for you grandma and buy a few for your office.

• Kindle Version
• Paperback Version
• Hardcover Version

charity: water is a non-profit organization bringing clean and safe drinking water to people in developing nations. 100% of public donations directly fund water projects.

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Almost every week I am asked by a social media sceptic why I spend so much time on Twitter. For many, Twitter is seen as just a time sucking site to provide useful updates about your cat’s acrobatic prowess. However, for those of us who use the service on a daily basis it can be so much more.

In fact, I believe, and have often stated, that Twitter is whatever you really want it to be.

Here are the main reasons I use and benefit from Twitter.

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Popularity: unranked

Last week I was on a panel at the Australasian Media & Broadcasting Congress where we were discussing the future of advertising. One of the questions I was asked was whether I thought 3D TV was the future of television advertising. My response was an emphatic NO.

Masterchef winner Adam Liaw

Nonetheless we did discuss many concepts that probably going to be a big part of television and advertising going forward and it seems to me that Masterchef has them in spades.

1. A good storyline will always be successful, even if its not alone in guaranteeing success. Masterchef cleverly builds towards a climax like most reality TV shows but really allows us to follow the growth of the contestants over the series. We get to know them and see them improve.

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Popularity: 11%

For decades governments of western nations have granted permission for media licenses but also regulated the general nature of media content, deciding what can and can’t be offered to the public.

The Internet has been the one form of media that seemed to escape regulation. The ease of content creation and distribution online has allowed the Internet to become the most lawless media, with our own common sense and decency being the main filters.

Clearly this unregulated and uncensored media has been a concern to governments around the world. Strict nations, such as Iran and China, with a history of cracking down on free speech have imposed strong filters to prevent their people from accessing material not deemed acceptable, but recently it seems that countries usually associated with free speech are now getting into the act.

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Popularity: 8%

The Toowoomba property market received a significant boost when Dan Dwan and Markus Eames established the Colliers International office last year.

Colliers International Toowoomba specialises in Commercial, Industrial, Retail & Residential property in Toowoomba and surrounding areas. They represent property investors, developers and occupiers in local and global markets and offer service ranging from Facility Management, Project Marketing to Sales and Leasing.

Toowoomba is a diverse real estate market with everything from modern offices, pubs and clubs to rural retreats, resorts and retirement villages. Dan Dwan and Markus Eames focus on delivery the best reals estate advice and service in the region.

Note: this post is a search engine optimisation test.

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some of the Colliers International riders in Tour de Kids

I had the distinct honour of participating in the Tour de Kids charity ride from Melbourne to Sydney last week as part of the Colliers International team. Part of my job was to cover the event online for Colliers and demonstrate how effective modern mobile and web-based tools can be.

We decided to keep things simple by setting up a Posterous site to post all the daily updates and photos then compliment it with a dedicated Twitter account.

It couldn’t have been easier. Another Colliers rider and I were able to post directly to the website from our phones. The PicPosterous iPhone app meant that I could post images and short descriptions immediately from anywhere on the ride, allowing those following the event to gain almost real-time access.

We also pointed visitors and Twitter followers to the donations page of Tour de Kids urging them to support the riders. We felt it was important as a charity event to encourage donations whilst people were engaged rather than delay action.

It worked extremely well with riders raising more money for Starlight Foundation than ever before in the ten year history of the Tour de Kids and generating a considerable amount of media coverage.

Tour de Kids Peloton - photo by Steve Ferguson

All-in-all it was a great example of how easy it can be to engage and share online.

On a personal note, the Tour de Kids was an amazing experience. The people who rode and ran the event were extremely generous, paying their own way and raising almost $500,000 for seriously sick kids whilst enjoying the highs and lows (literally) of pedalling 1200km in 7 days. Meeting some of the families who Starlight help and hearing their stories was truly moving and was a reminder of how lucky most of us are to be in good health.

Congratulations to everyone involved.

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Trade Promotion Optimisation helps products fly off shelves

Trade promotion optimisation involves analyzing and understanding what worked, what didn’t and why, in the retail trade and FMCG industry. In Australia its a fascinating field that we’ve been investigating lately.

It seems that most FMCG’s have highly sophisticated delivery chains but desperately need effective trade promotion optimisation to track the effectiveness of campaigns on stock movement.

Trade promotion optimisation software provides FMCG’s with the ability to quickly and accurately TRACK their sales and promotional funds, use sophisticated multi-causal models to confidently PREDICT consumer response to promotions, and streamline the entire promotions lifecycle to OPTIMIZE the price, volume and profit across their entire customer landscape.

We believe that integrating an online optimisation strategy can complete the sales and analytics cycle from FMCG supply chain, retailer and consumer.

Its an interesting area that we’ll be monitoring over the coming months.

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Last year's Tour de Kids riders

In early March I will be riding in the Tour de Kids, an annual cycling challenge raising vital funds for a variety of children’s charities. My charity for this event is the Starlight Children’s Foundation.

Starlight are dedicated to granting a once in a lifetime, life changing experience to wish children who are referred by qualified health professionals. Starlight’s aim is to create long lasting memories for the wish child and their entire family.

Sadly Starlight has had to cut down on the amount of wishes granted throughout Australia because of funding. I’m hoping that we can turn this around and help Starlight grant the wishes of serious ill children all over the country by donating to Tour De Kids for 2010.

The fundraising target I have been set is $1000 but I’d love to show the corporate community how bloggers and social media types (i.e. you) have the ability to band together for a good cause…how the long tail of an online community can collectively achieve great results.

Every dollar can help, so your contribution – large or small -  to my fundraising efforts will be enormously appreciated.

You can donate here on my Tour de Kids Page.

I will be riding on behalf of one of the event’s major sponsors, Colliers International and will be covering the event for them online via a dedicated blogsite and Twitter (links coming soon) so everyone can see the action and follow the ride.

The event is fairly demanding with an average distance of 150km per day and some hilly terrain. The second last day from Canberra to Bowral is around 190km, so I’ll be suffering plenty but knowing that its all for a great cause and worth every bit of it.

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The Internet, Twitter especially, exploded with indignation today when the Australian government announced it will proceed with controversial plans to censor the Internet.

The Communications Minister, Stephen Conroy, said today he would introduce legislation just before next year’s elections to force ISPs to block a blacklist of “refused classification” (RC) websites for all Australian internet users.

While the Australian government may be proposing an Internet filter with the best intentions of protecting the youth of our nation against “immoral content”, most experts agree that this is easier said than done and could do more harm than good.

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