Il y maintenant près d’un mois que j’ai joint l’équipe de Thornley Fallis. Quelle merveilleuse expérience! Et je ne dis pas ça pour être « téteuse ».  En effet, mon passage à la fonction publique, quoique de très courte durée, fût un peu monotone. Au mauvais endroit au mauvais moment? Fort possible!  Enfin me voilà bien installée dans mes nouvelles fonctions et même partie intégrante de ce blogue. Vous me permettrez d’ailleurs de pouvoir m’y exprimer en français, ma langue maternelle.

Pour ceux qui rigole au sujet des mes exploits de marche athlétique, veuillez je vous pris consulter ceci!!

Every time I see commentators from Quebec on Radio-Canada or TVA analyzing results of an election or referendum vote in Quebec, they always break down the votes into anglophone Quebecers and francophone Quebecers, thereby creating two classes of Quebecers.

These analysts are typically pro-sovereignist, talking about how the federalist cause (i.e. the Quebec liberals) are doing among francophones, etc.  Every single time I hear this, I think about moving across the river to Gatineau so that I too can become a Quebecois and drive the sovereignists mad by getting a vote.

If you live in Quebec, you’re a Quebecer.  I’m aware that drives sovereignists crazy, given their desire for an independent nation, but we live in a democracy, where everyone’s votes – man, woman, English, French, Catholic, Protesant, Muslim, etc. — count equally.

And a final aside — if Canada is divisible … Do the math.

My colleague and friend Aimee Deziel is featured in this article that appeared on the front page of the Globe and Mail Careers section on Friday.

Aimee has been working with Eileen Chadnick of Big Cheese Coaching for about a year now and has gone from dreading Mondays to looking forward to them. 

“I called it the Sunday night dreads,” Aimee said in the article. “It got to the point that I couldn’t enjoy half my weekend…”

She then goes on to say, “I feel completely different. I am energized and excited. It is 180 degrees from what I used to feel. In fact, now I feel a Sunday night enthusiasm.  My focus is on coming back to a community, rather than thinking of the office just as the work at hand. I look forward to seeing my co-workers. We have a planning meeting for the week on Monday morning and the first 10 minutes or so is devoted to catching up on what people did on the weekend.”

The article by Wallace Immen also included the following tips from Eileen Chadnick, who also has a blog called TGIM Work-Life!

• Organize ahead. Before you leave on Friday, clear the clutter and write down an agenda for the next week. This way you can know where you left off, and start with a clean plate on Monday.
• Focus on the positive. Think of at least three things you look forward to at work, such as camaraderie with colleagues, meeting clients or learning something new.
• Make the mountain easier to climb. Break down looming projects into small, manageable tasks, which will help you feel like you can move in on Monday and achieve success.
• Write it down. To create a sense of progress, make a “to-do” list and check off tasks as you complete them.
• Keep it simple. Don’t schedule a big meeting on Monday and keep your morning agenda light.
• Find a challenge for the day. Having something you want to accomplish makes it more interesting and easier to get back to work.
• Encourage interaction. “If people are fired up about working with others as a team. it adds a lot more meaning to the day,” Ms. Chadnick says.
• Renew and review. Make Monday morning a time to meet informally to go over progress and plan the rest of the week.
• Create variety. Think about ways to make your work different and more creative. Ask your boss if there are new projects or initiatives that will help you stretch your skills.
• Anticipate good times. Have something to look forward to by planning a lunch or a special evening event during the week.
• Make down time your time. A dinner with friends, a movie or other diversions on Sunday evening will keep your mind off the work week ahead.

On the day before presenting the 2007 Federal Budget on March 19^th, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty marked the tradition of the Finance Minister buying new footwear by purchasing a pair of new skates (instead of shoes) and for his son at a sports store in his home town of Whitby, Ontario.

What could be more Canadian?  

I think this was a really smart move that made the Minister seem more like a regular guy to Canadians before being all over the media today and for the remainder of the week.

Photos, like this one from Finance Canada’s website, appeared in most papers across Canada today.

A few months ago, CBC started a series on their website called ‘Live Chats’.

So far these have been with people like Martha Hall Findlay and Roberta Bondar.

The way it works: CBC posts an article about the live chat personality and then people can submit questions to the person through the website.

A cool idea that lets people ask questions to prominent Canadians (that they would likely otherwise never have the opportunity to ask) and potentially receive a response.  I say ‘potentially’ because not all questions will be answered.  It makes sense not to commit to answering all the questions in case hundreds are submitted.

The current chat is with Canadian Rock Star, I mean Chief of Defence Staff, Rick Hillier.

Now I didn’t have a huge interest in following any of the previous Live Chats, so I don’t know how long it took to post the Qs & As for each of them.

I do have an interest in this one with General Hillier and, unfortunately, it has not been well executed.

The opportunity to submit questions opened on March 9^th and closed (I believe) on March 12^th.  Qs & As were first supposed to be posted on March 14^th, which was then changed to March 15^th.  The latter is still the date indicated, but General Hillier’s Qs & As are not yet up.  CBC has now added the following note:

We have received word from General Hillier that he has been delayed in answering you but will be sending his answers very soon. He says “I will respond fully as soon as I can, and appreciate your patience in the meantime.”

Fortunately, there is a RSS feed so I don’t have to keep checking back to the website.

Given General Hillier’s responsibilities, CBC should have provided a longer than normal turn-around time for this particular chat.  Say two weeks instead of two days.  It is better to get them up early rather than several days late.

General Hillier is also currently doing a similar session with the Globe and Mail, which is also running late.  It now has the following note from the General up:

I have received your questions as forwarded by Brodie Fenlon your web host, and I am impressed by their scope, their depth, their quantity, and what they demonstrate about your interest and understanding about the Canadian Forces. Your questions deserve my considered answers that will take some time – several hours in fact. I will respond fully as soon as I can, and appreciate your patience in the meantime.

The PR machine that is General Rick Hillier, with his many other important commitments, appears to have stretched himself a little thin on both of these outreach opportunities.

I’m sure this isn’t going to negatively impact Canada’s most popular CDS in recent memory, but both sessions likely should have been better planned to allow General Hillier more time to respond.

…sort of the way recent polls indicate Harper is going to.

Gone are the days of Rick and Stephane frolicking in a Montreal park with dog Kyoto (January 9, 2007).

In last night’s rant segment Mercer unleashed on the Liberal party leader, with comments like:

• [he] can’t really communicate
• [I] can’t figure out why he wanted the job in the first place
• Wow, talk about a great communications strategy there Stephane
• [the] Liberals went out and elected a leader that can’t talk and Canadians aren’t that interested in what he has to say

Ouch!

Also check out: Canada Revenue Agency: Taking your money old school.

A couple of weeks ago I posted about a less than positive experience I had when making a purchase from Rogers, including the hassle of the mail-in rebate process.

This time its Staples.  Now Staples at least allows you to complete the rebate online.  I thought this was a good thing.

However, they make you type in a 12 digit UPC barcode number, a 6 digit rebate offer number and a 17 digit ID number.  The latter, they call an “Easy Rebates ID Number” because keying in 17 digits without error is so easy.  Anyway, whatever, I did all that and hit submit.

What happened next is the annoyance.

I made the purchase and completed the online rebate on March 7^th.

On March 8^th, I received the following email from Staples:

Rebate Claim Number XXXXXX

Thank you for submitting your rebate claim online.

Over the next few days we will confirm your purchase details and you will receive another email updating you on the status of your rebate.

Thank you,

STAPLES Business Depot Rebate Centre

If you have any questions, please do not reply to this message. You may contact the Rebate Centre on the web at staples.rebatestatus.ca, or by phone at 1 (866) 464-1122.

A day later (March 9^th), I received the same email again:

Rebate Claim Number XXXXXX

Thank you for submitting your rebate claim online.

Over the next few days we will confirm your purchase details and you will receive another email updating you on the status of your rebate.

Thank you,

STAPLES Business Depot Rebate Centre

If you have any questions, please do not reply to this message. You may contact the Rebate Centre on the web at staples.rebatestatus.ca, or by phone at 1 (866) 464-1122.

Then later in the day on March 9^th, a second email.  This one confirming that I had indeed bought the product – thanks for confirming Staples! – and notice that I will be receiving yet another email updating me on the status of my rebate in (quick order) 4 weeks. 

Rebate Claim Number XXXXXX

Details of your rebate claim are as follows.

Department: XXXXXX
Submission ID: XXXXXX

We have confirmed that you have bought this product. We are in the process of verifying that this rebate meets all terms and conditions (i.e. Limit per household criteria, returns, etc).

You will receive another email updating you on the status of your rebate within approximately 4 weeks.

To access the status of your submission during processing, you may contact us at:

Online: XXXXXX
Customer Service: 1 (866) 464–1122

Thank you,

STAPLES Business Depot Rebate Centre

If you have any questions, please do not reply to this message. You may contact the Rebate Centre on the web at http://staples.rebatestatus.ca, or by phone at 1 (866) 464-1122.

To date, I have had to submit some information online (fine), but I have now received three emails, am expecting a fourth and I’m sure at least a fifth after that. 

All this to get a $20 rebate they could have easily just knocked off the price I paid at the cash register.

Ottawa-based Novel Solutions, maker of handy devices such as the Bookhug book holder and the Handyfold paper/letter folder, now brings us the Rimroller.

Paul Kind’s “labour-saving device” made it onto the front page (above the fold) of today’s Ottawa Citizen.

The device is aimed at assisting Tim Hortons coffee drinkers see if they won a prize during the company’s annual Roll Up the Rim To Win promotion, which started a couple of weeks ago on February 26, 2007.

So the release of the Rimroller is a little late and it is not yet available for purchase, although it will be soon through Lee Valley Tools.

In the Citizen article, they asked a few people what they thought about the Rimroller.  I think this comment from one person sums it up best:

“I won’t be buying one.  Nails and teeth work just as well.  But I didn’t think people would ever buy the pet rock either.”

With Tim Hortons selling 300 million cups of coffee per year, if only a small portion of those customers buy a Rimroller…

The other side of it is, given the popularity of Tim Hortons Roll Up the Rim To Win promotion across Canada, linking the Rimroller to it may be a good way for Novel Solutions to raise awareness of its other products amongst its target market (people that buy handy little time-saving devices) and drive sales of them.

Todd Defren of Shift Communications recently posted on his PR Squared blog a template for a Social Media Newsroom.

One of Todd’s/Shift’s clients Neatreceipts has launched a Social Media Newsroom.  Check it out here. (by the way, Neatreceipts’ Scanalizer looks like a cool product)

In his post, Todd has a couple of questions company’s should ask before launching a blog, podcast or Social Media Newsroom where anyone can post comments about their products and/or services:

• Are you confident enough in your product that you’re willing to endure the potential for public criticism? 
• Are you sure that you have enough time, and adequate support resources, to respond to such criticisms in a consistently prompt and professional and public manner?

I think both Shift’s template and Neatreceipts application of it are really good and hope the format will begin to be implemented by other organizations – maybe by one of my clients at Thornley Fallis.

Ryan Anderson of The New PR also posted his comments on it.

A couple of weeks ago I posted about a less than positive experience I had with Rogers when purchasing a new Blackberry Pearl.

Today, I received this email asking me to join the new Rogers Advisory Panel.  Two undoubtedly unrelated events.

I have joined the panel, which means I will be contacted up to twice a month to participate in short online surveys to help Rogers “better understand what customers like me want, both right now and in the future.”

I’ll see how it goes and will report anything of interest here.