Being a bit of a road warrior the last many years, I have gone through a LOT of luggage. I’ve written before about some of my experience on best practices for travel, and there has been plenty added to the comments of that post.

I have two modes of travel I operate under, one is the multi-day trip and the other is the day or overnight trip. For each one I now use a particular brand of luggage that suits my needs.

The Day / Overnight Bag:

The first is my day / overnight bag. I have been looking for a road warrior, daily / overnight bag that I could use that ideally was a roller (to save the shoulder). In full disclosure, shortly after I published the 10 Tips to Achieving Travel Zen post mentioned above, the nice folks at Briggs & Riley reached out to me and offered to send me a 15.4 inch Rolling Multicase (KR307) to kick the tires on (see below):

When I first received the Briggs & Riley, I was really worried about the space for an overnight bag. Though the bag also expands, I was still slightly concerned. Needless to say, my first trip tested all of the boundaries of the bag. I brought a change of clothes and a pair of running shoes, shorts and shirt, in addition to my laptop, cords, and notebook. I maxed the bag out and vowed never to put myself through such a frustrating experience again. Since then, I have mastered the art of the day bag, and the Briggs & Riley is what I have been using every day for the past couple of months. The roller aspect alone is worth it It has turned into my office bag, and my travel bag for any trip that requires me to spend the night. I definitely recommend the KR307, and in fact one of the other members of my executive team has already purchased one.

The Multi-day Rig:

For any trip that requires more than a nights stay, I bring my tried, true and tested Tumi Townhouse roller. I usually bring the Tumi Westminster bag that straps onto the top of the roller for my laptop, notebook and accessories, and the rest goes into the roller. Like I said, tried, true and tested. This is very high quality luggage that can take a beating yet always be functional. In addition to being functional, its pretty good looking luggage, I mean check out those chrome rims Tumi certainly brings it and is a major contender in the road warrior space.

In addition, for any travel where I require a suit or multiple dress shirts, I use my Tumi garment bag (below). This great bag also features and external pocket on the front that can store all sorts of  “extra’s” for the intrepid traveler, cords, chargers, etc. I’ve used it for things I need quick access to in the airport or during travel.

The one point I want to mention is that none of my travel gear is designed for checking baggage. I absolutely avoid checking luggage at all costs. The gear mentioned above allows me to always travel with carry on (unless I’m flying a prop or a puddle jumper but thats another situation altogether).

What is your travel rig? Would love to hear your thoughts on the gear you use and how it streamlines or enhances your travel experience. Thanks for reading.

This morning I was inspired to write about some tips for the business traveler, fittingly enough on my flight out to Dallas, TX. The question I asked myself was how does one stay sane with a business travel schedule that just won’t quit? I’m actually not sure that’s possible, but I can share with you the following 10 tips (In no particular order) that help me stay as close to a state of travel zen as I can. I hope these help you when you get ready to jet set again:

1. Show up ready to board. Always check-in and have your boarding pass in hand before you get to the airport. This allows you to skip the crowded counters, eliminates a potential delay, and allows you to head right for the security line when you get to the airport.

2. Never check luggage. I mean ever. As long as you can avoid it. I realize this can be tough for some people, but I can easily go 5 days on the road with a carry on suitcase and a separate carry on shoulder bag. This is key for travel flow, as it allows you to get right on the plane, and right off the plane then get on your way. More importantly, you never have to worry about losing your luggage, something that happens way too much these days.

3. Choose the right airline. Depending on where you are going you should give serious thought to which airline you choose. For business, Airtran & Southwest go almost everywhere for a decent fare, but if you are going cross country, Virgin America is the only way to go. They’ve got flying down.

4. Buy good luggage. Don’t take this one too lightly either. I have had a ton of luggage over the last few years and its all been beaten & broken. Nothing is worse than when the zipper on your suitcase breaks! If you travel a lot don’t skimp on the luggage. I finally upgraded to a nice set of Tumi luggage, a wheeled carry on and a shoulder bag. I can’t believe the difference its made in my travel experience and its only been a month.

5. Stay hydrated. Drink a LOT of water when you travel. Although you should drink water all of the time, drink it even more of it when you travel. Its easy to get dehydrated when you are at 30,000 ft. Stay hydrated it helps all around.

6. Boost your immune system. I try to stay healthy in general, but prior to flying I always go for that extra immune system boost of vitamins and nutrients with Airborne. Let’s face it, airplanes are pretty much germ central. Giving your body that extra boost can’t do you any harm at all. I try to do it before every flight, it’s easy and it doesn’t taste bad at all.

7. Always sleep in a good bed. This is probably one of the more important ones to me. Anytime business takes me away from home, I make sure I am comfortable. Fortunately, a lot of hotels these days have good beds and plenty of other amenities. I am personally a fan of Kimpton Hotels, they offer a good selection of hotels in almost every major market, and they have a great loyalty program (plus free wi-fi).

8. Make time to exercise. This is sometimes hard to do on the road, but I always bring work out clothes with me when I travel. I try to hit the gym at the hotel or hit a local yoga class if convenient. When you travel, sometimes a good sweat makes you feel great and completely rejuvenates you.

9. Pace yourself. Depending on your travel itinerary, you may, like I do, often find yourself faced with back-to-back activities day and night. Take it easy and find a pace. Watch your alcohol intake, and make sure you get enough sleep every night. You know what your body needs to be on point. Try to keep that balance (easier said than done, I know).

10. Eat well my friends. Yes, we all know it’s VERY easy to go off of your diet when you are constantly traveling. But it is possible to eat healthy and stay on track when on the road. I’m a pescatarian (I’m vegetarian but eat fish as well), so my diet is usually limited. I try to research decent restaurants and food establishments before I head out just to get a sense of what’s out there. This is hard with groups of people, etc, but do your best and try to eat well.

Have a tip you would like to add? Please do so in the comments, I’m always looking for more travel tips to streamline the process! What works for you?

Steve Fisher did a brief interview with me in the hallway of SXSW for Network Solutions, Solutions are Power blog. I talk about Blue Sky Factory’s latest Publicaster release and my thoughts on SXSW. Check it out:

Click here to view the embedded video.

I just returned from the lovely city of Seattle where I attended Gnomedex 8.0, the incredible event put on by Chris and Ponzi Pirillo. Blue Sky Factory was a sponsor of the event and this time we set up a table, gave out our minty fresh email marketing gum and also sponsored the wifi. In short, we love Gnomedex, its a one of a kind event, and my favorite conference of the year.

Throughout the event, I broke out the Sanyo Xacti and asked a random sampling of the attendees why they come to Gnomedex, below is the video we cut of the responses. Check it out:

Well, 2008 has definitely “kicked in” in regards to travel, events, speaking, etc. After a week long trip of visiting clients on the west coast, and attending the EEC’s Email Evolution conference, the travel and events continue.

Below, is a list of the next few events I will be attending and speaking at over the next month. Drop me a comment or an email if you are in one of these cities and will be attending any of these events:

Attending:

Tech Cocktail Chicago 7
Feb 21, 2008 – Chicago, IL

Marketing Sherpa’s Email Summit 2008
February 24-26 – Miami, FL

Speaking:

DMA’s The B-to-B Marketing Conference
March 3-5 – Orlando, FL

BIMA – Email Marketing, RSS and the Next Frontier of Content Delivery
March 25th – Boston, MA

Good stuff. There will also be a trip to Europe wedged into mid-March, look out London / Bristol, Brussels & Netherlands. I am looking forward to all of the upcoming events, and travel, and looking forward to connecting with you if you are going to be in attendance or in the cities listed above. Many more good things to come, and aside from all of the travel, I am also hoping to wrap up a couple of the half baked posts I have here in my drafts folder, so stay tuned!

I will be on the west coast this coming week from Feb 12 – 16th. The tour begins in San Diego at the Email Evolution Conference, being put on by the Email Experience Council. I am really looking forward to participating, as this is the first annual Email Evolution conference, and Blue Sky Factory is proud to be a sponsor. If you are attending, look out for our “minty fresh” sponsorship, it will be hard to miss. Drop me a line or a comment if you are also planning on attending the event, as I am looking to meet as many folks as possible.

From San Diego I move up the coast to Los Angeles, and will spend the evening of the 13th, and the majority of the 14th in the zone of the OC. I will be in Huntington Beach to LA visiting clients before boarding an evening flight to San Francisco.

I will be spending Friday in the city visiting clients, then after that its linking up with friends and having good times in the bay area before heading back east Sunday.

If you are in one of the upcoming cities that I will be in and know of any interesting evening events that are happening, please drop a comment or an email. Looking forward to seeing colleagues, clients, friends and meeting some new folks out on the west coast.

I am still traveling in the beautiful country of Mexico. I haven’t been blogging lately, but will get back to it next week. In the meantime please check out my daily del.icio.us links that have been auto-posting to my blog. Enjoy and happy Friday.

I have been meaning to write on this topic for a while now, and have finally gotten around to putting some of my thoughts on public speaking into a post.

About 6 months ago, I realized just how much of a positive impact that my public speaking has had on my company. I always knew public speaking was a good thing for any organization, but I recently did a quick analysis to see exactly what some of the “net” measurable results were of my attendance and participation at conferences, events, etc. For the past 2 years, I have been very focused on where and what I spend my time on, and how those efforts impact my company.

About a year and a half ago, I made a conscious decision to get out there, do more public speaking and attend more industry events. What I had come to realize was, like a lot of people, the thought of public speaking was a little unsettling to me, but at the same time I knew in my gut that the more I spoke at events (the right events), that good things would come. Given the situation, I figured that in order to conquer the nerves I was feeling at the time, the quickest solution would be for me to sign up to speak at as many events as possible (that made sense of course). And with that, the old, “just do it” mantra kicked in full force.

I used to get wired out before the events I was speaking at, even as recent as earlier this past summer. I would focus intensely on my presentation decks, combing over them again and again, rehearsing my points over and over, losing sleep, editing slides to the last minute (I still do that), and rarely ever getting a good nights sleep ever the night before an event. That said, I still trudged forward knowing that eventually it will get better.

Sitting here now, in the end of November 2007, and coming off my 5th speaking engagement in the past 8 weeks, I am happy to report that YES, it does get easier, and is a lot more fun (for me at least), the more you get out and do it. I pushed myself, and went out and spoke at 13 events in the past 16 months. I also pushed myself by NOT speaking on the same topic every time, which meant I was almost always out of my comfort zone (within reason). It made it so that almost every event was on a different topic. That meant a new presentation, new research, new format and flow, etc.. I started out slow, then increased my commitments and shortened the intervals in between them. You can check out my speaking schedule here to see my ramp up.

So, let me tell you a little about why I chose to get actively involved in public speaking, and looking back after a solid year, what it has done for me as both a person and as an entrepreneur, and why I think you should do the same:

The Power of the Personal Brand:

It should be no surprise that by participating in public speaking it will lead to more personal brand awareness. When people read your blog, know your company, connect with you online, and then see you speak and meet you in person, you build your brand. The brand that is you. By adding the human side to the marketing, outreach and education mix ,i.e. speaking in public, you build your own presence and awareness, and assuming that your not a jerk, there are people who remember you, and often will want to connect with you after the event. I have gained numerous newsletter subscribers, Facebook friends, RSS subscribers, Twitter followers, etc as a direct result of getting out there. Additionally, by building your brand through public speaking, it can lead to other speaking opportunities. As an example, this past year I was asked to speak at three of the events I participated in, and next year I have already been invited to speak at three.

There has been a lot written on the power of personal branding. Check out Chris Brogan’s recent post on the “Elements of a Personal Brand”. Of course, I should point out that speaking is just one component of the personal brand. This fits into an entire ecosystem that makes up a persons perception of your brand. As example, check out Mitch Joel’s post on how your blog fits into your personal brand’s long tail.

The Corporate Brand

As you would expect, if you are out there building the personal brand, and also representing a company (which is more often the case than not), then your organization is also getting incredible exposure through your public speaking engagements. One of the main reasons that I chose to speak more occurred last fall when I spoke at a Click Z email marketing conference in NYC. I realized that after, at the time, almost 6 years of Blue Sky Factory being in business, that most of the attendees, and worse, my other industry colleagues who were also speaking, hadn’t heard of my company, only a handful of people had.

I was determined to get the company name out there and brand ourselves better. One of the main tactics in the plan was layering in a solid schedule of speaking events, in geographically diverse locations, from February – November of this year. As a result, I have increased the exposure of my company’s name and brand exponentially. Think about it, your name and your company’s name is all over the web when you speak at an event. Your bio, your company’s boiler, information on a session your giving, etc. All of these elements are brand builders. Again, speaking is just one spoke on the corporate branding wheel, but its a powerful one.

Lead Generation & New Sales

One of the best by-products of public speaking is the sheer amount of new prospective customers that you meet and connect with. Whats even more impressive is that I can’t tell you how many times a simple question from an attendee after my session has lead to five figure annual accounts. Events are an incredible opportunity to meet and connect with many people at once, and get them into your universe. These events are some of the strongest network builders. In my own experience, getting out there and getting the company and the brand in a brighter public eye, has lead to numerous opportunities and very respectable growth for us.

Thought Leadership

This is an important one. First we should ask, what is a thought leader? Lets not over-complicate it, the dictionary defines a thought leader as “one whose views on a subject are taken as authoritative and influential.” Sounds about right to me. And simply put, public speaking breeds thought leadership. Thought leadership is also something that once you establish yourself, you need to continue to keep up and build momentum around your perspective on the industry and space you are in. When you are out “on the circuit,” talking about interesting topics, presenting case studies and your perspective, and answer questions, people listen and they often respect your opinion. And at the same time some good debate is always healthy as well.

Establishing yourself as a thought leader in your industry, or area of expertise by public speaking, your thoughts on trends and insights will most likely have an affect on the way people think of things. Thats influence, or thought leadership.

Key Take Away’s

Public speaking is one spoke on the marketing and PR wheel, but is a very powerful medium to get your name, your company’s name out there and to brand yourself and your organization as thought leaders. In 2008 at Blue Sky Factory, more of us will be getting out there and speaking so we can cover even more ground. I am looking forward to having my team participate at events and watching the same results apply.

If you are nervous about public speaking, try to start out in small groups, even at the community level. I assure you the more you do it the more comfortable you will become. The reality is, if you know your subject and have a good understanding of the flow and format you want to present, it will get easier every time you get out there.

Don’t let anything stop you. If you have the opportunity to get in front of people and have knowledge, insight and wisdom around a particular subject matter thats important in your industry, don’t pass it up. The benefits of public speaking far outweigh the negatives.

If you enjoyed this post, please pass it along to a friend, or subscribe to the feed here or via email in the sidebar.

2007.09.06-Tech-Cocktail-4124

Originally uploaded by Greg Cangialosi

Tonight is Tech Cocktail Chicago number 6. The nations premiere technology networking event returns to the place where it all began once again.

If you are in the windy city area hopefully you can make it out. As usual the event is already sold out, but I am sure there are a few of you out there that are planning on being in attendance.

As usual, Blue Sky Factory will be present and accounted for by yours truly. Make sure to swing by and get your photo taken in front of the Blue Sky Factory / Tech Cocktail wall of fame

You can check out the photos from Tech Cocktail Boston here.