Washington trip day 6

It was difficult to get up this morning but it had to be done. We were checking out and I needed to pack, get the suit on and get breakfast. This was the toughest of the early morning starts. All because this was after a late night of fun. At least the re-hydration worked and I don't feel too bad. Today was to be another fun filled day with multiple meetings, the morning schedule was AARP and if successful Google. Then in the afternoon a line up of people back in the hotel before we jetted off to the West coast.

We started with a short taxi ride to the marble halls of AARP. This place is huge, they have 4 buildings that  line the street for a block, I guess that is what it takes to serve the largest market in the US - "The Boomers" The first of which is due to retire in 2011 and the market is forecast to be worth ~$40 billion in 2020. Even a 1% market share would be good, send your ideas on a post card to .....
At AARP we met Jeff McCalke and Rick (Harry) Moody. This is a an organization that believes in fulfilling a society need and serving the community. They support multiple portfolios (Health, Financial and Lifestyle) and market to the over 50s. They also have a small younger market and are actively trying to grow and target different ethnic groups. Rick's presentation style was just what we needed, simple slides each with a picture or a brand. He basically us through an entertaining presentation explaining "age affirmative branding" and how beneficial it is in growing acceptance for your products. All in all an interesting morning. If you don't have an idea yet on how to capture some of the $40b market check out the AARP site as they have research and data on the likely needs and good products for this market.

Google Reception Area

After the meeting we had received confirmation that the Google meeting was going to go ahead. Thanks to Andrew and Shelley for their hard work and getting us in. From AARP we walked to Google about 8 blocks away. Google is on the 2nd floor of an unassuming tall building, but one you enter the Google space you see the difference. Inadvertently we walked in the wrong door and right in to the middle of the office area. This was quickly sorted and we moved out to reception. The reception was full of color and I felt like I was back in the Bay, but a little overdressed. The first part of this visit was a tour of the office, cafeteria and games room followed by a Q&A session with ... the head of the office.


Basically what Google does in this office comes under the title of "Policy Engineering", a great way to describe working with legal and government. Much of the discussion was around Net Neutrality and the recent white paper produced by Google with Verizon. This paper focused on the wired side of the broadband bill, while the wireless side was put off to a future date. Google said the collaboration with Verizon required both parties to make compromises. The key question is around prioritization and under what conditions, if any, this should occur. We also learned that the collaboration came about during a meeting between the two CEO's. They were discussing about what they were dealing with in the government and felt that if they contributed to the debate they maybe able to create more discussion and get the bill moving. This was a great visit and I was delighted that Andrew and Shelley were able to make it happen.

Porter Novelli

After this it was on to SubWay for a quick lunch and then back to the hotel to finish packing, check out and start the next round of briefings. I had an over roasted chicken sandwich and then headed to the hotel. Checkout for me was easy as I was packed and ready to go in the morning. Luckily our next set of briefings were to take place in the hotel and were all back to back. We started with the World Bank, then on to Porter Novelli a PR agency, then another great talk with vince Reinhart, followed by our last briefing for the week from Peter Bell who runs a trade association management company, that happens to represents reverse mortgage interests on Capitol Hill. Peter is also on the board of DC Jazz.

Vince Reinhart

After this there was a rushed photograph with the usual group and then Daniel, Hixia, Kyle and I jumped in a cab to the airport. We were ~20 minutes later leaving than we expected, and with DC traffic this could have made it a close call. In the end we got their in plenty of time. Daniel was on an earlier flight than Hixia, Kyle and me, so he headed off. We took our time in the terminal, grabbed a bite to eat and headed for the plane. It jsut so happens that Kyle lives close to me so I offered him a ride home. We were all traveling on United and kyle was our VIP allowing Hixia and me to jump the line and get on board early. Thankfully this was an uneventful flight and we arrived pretty much on time. I went and picked up my car from the parking lot and the came back and picked up Kyle. Off we drove down 101 and on to 85 and soon we were home.

What a week it'll take a couple of days to recover, luckily tomorrow is Saturday and college doesn't begin until Tuesday! Oh and in the mean time I have to get all the assignments done :(

Thanks Mary and Shelley for an amazing week in Washington!

Washington trip day 5 - Cosmos Club and Monument Tour

This is one of the top places in DC to met and greet in Washington. Thanks to Charlie Firestone we we're able to get a room for our happy hour. Prior to the happy hour we hosted we had a meeting with ... From Verizon and Blair Levin from ... This meeting was all about the technical policies and net neutrality. Blair is the leading expect in FCC policy, having worked for the FCC and being the person that helped to write the regulations for the latest version of

the Communications bill. It was fascinating to hear his ideas and the problems that government facing in defining the regulations. Blair makes a very good case to define the process by which regulation and disputes will be resolved rather than defining the regulation for each piece/part of the Internet. He believe that regulation could be very restrictive and that it is likely to stifle innovation.

After the talk we went to our happy hour party and enjoyed some lovely food (salmon, ham, vegetables, cheese, crackers, bread, fruit and more) and wine. A number of people from our meetings that week came to join us. This allowed us to get to know these people in more detail and to get a deeper understanding of their views and ideas. We also took the opportunity to wish Kelly a very happy birthday, which we all sang in tune while the birthday cake arrived. Kelly blew out the candles and a few small speeches took place.

After the Cosmos Club we did a bus tour of the monuments, first stop was the cathedral ... Which was one of the biggest churches I had ever seen. After this we stopped at a quaint wine store in Georgetown pick up some beer, wine and champagne to really kiosk the party off. After this we stopped at the Georgetown Cup Cake shop, which was closed, but Mary negotiated a couple of boxes of cup cakes and the tour was back on again.

First stop was the Lincoln Memorial, which is fabulous. From here you see straight up the Mall to the Washington memorial and if you stand to the side you can see capital lined up behind the Washington monument. I climbed the steps and read the words and then i stop and stood where Martin Luther king made his speech. A magical moment!

Next we walk off to the left and to the Vietnam memorial, a subtle monument with the list of all those that died in that war. I walked much of this on my own and I was over come with sadness at how many lives were lost. This is a war that I have read and watched a lot about and this memorial brought home the real cost of the war.

Next was the Korean memorial, which is a short walk from the Vietnam memorial at the other side of the Lincoln Monument. This was an era place, with statues of men that look like ghost come out from the trees and walking, combat style through the soft under growth! Seeing this at night is probably best as it gives you a true sense of how it might be for the soldiers as the patrol lonely place at night and how the ghosts of those that died may still patrol those foreign lands looking for peace.

After these monuments we got back on the bus and had major monument moment, we needed a rest room. The bus headed at high speed and in high spirits to the FDR monument where we were assured of relief. When the bus stopped there was a fight to get out the door and a quick march to find restrooms.

Soon we were back on the road and driving back down the Mall to the world war II monument and up towards the white house. We finished up about 10:30 at the hotel, with a plan to go out together.

We coerced the driver to take us to an Irish pub called Fado (meaning long ago) where we settled in for an hour or two of discussion and relaxation. I had a couple of pints of Guinness, served by a Galway man who slagged me off for not drinking Murphys (which was not available in this establishment :).

Everyone relaxed and unwound and over the course of the evening we managed to fit in a round of Jameson to warm our hearts.

By the time we were done it had started to rain and the walk home that would sober us up was changed to a cab ride. Once in the hotel it was time to re-hydrate and thanks to Alejandro we managed to get some munchies (the nicest pizza ever) in.

Washington trip day 5

This day started with a breakfast discussion with Laurie Olaf and Gail Hunt. Both people talked about the aging community and how they are served from there two organizations. They gave us some insight in to research and how these publications are used for advocacy and to influence and frame discussions around specific groups and Capitol Hill. We also heard about how when services are being cut back that, that is a time for innovation and an opportunity for technology and business to come in and fill the gap. It is amazing to think that the boomer market will be ~$40 billion in 2020. If you could capture 1% of this you would be set for life - worth considering isn't!!!!

Our next guest also came to the hotel and it was Rob Atkinson the President of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF). Rob reminded us that

Washington is not a dictatorship, but a democracy. That is in order to get things done you need to compromise. He described the attitude of Silicon Valley and companies there as the "Infant birth mentality" - which is similar to them wanting to do it all themselves. He indicated that there needs to be a closer link between Silicon Valley and Washington, because when the bills, laws and regulations are defined they will impact companies in Silicon Valley. If you are not part of the process then the end result may surprise you.

Two areas that the US needs to work on are 1. the reduced number of graduates and the higher R&D tax policy and 2. the lack of government support for US companies when going global.

It was surprising to many of us how Washington understands (or doesn't) technology and secondly how technology is used in Washington. One of the big fears about Washington is that there are large public interest groups that fight technology and are very active on Capital Hill. The same cannot be said for technology companies and this gap may mean that innovation gets stifled or deferred. Another issue we learned about was the large reduction of investment in innovation in the US. The US sees itself as #1, yet since 2001 it has been slipping down the charts and much of the funds for investment have come from offshore and ended up in other areas. This is also not just technology innovation but in business innovation, health care, etc...

The main source of interest from this discussion for me was how the US could be impacted by the results of the privacy and competes bill. These could be extremely detrimental to business and the internet in the US and could make businesses uncompetitive and build and Internet that does not benefit and build business. What is an innovation economy to see whether you understand it?

Our next meeting was with Jennifer Choi at the Emerging Markets and Private Equity Association (EMPEA). From Jennifer we got a view of Private Equity

and how the new finance reform bill (Dodd-Frank bill) could potentially impact their investment community (in terms of returns) and how it is likely to stifle Venture Capital (VC) in the US and abroad. We also learned that Washington puts many of the different types of investors and investment funds in the same bucket (Venture Fund, VC, Private Equity, etc...) and plans to treat it all the same. Since there is a difference in the asset classes invested in and the effort put in by the different types of investor EMPEA believes the different funds and asset classes should be treated and taxed differently. This was an interesting insight to the Private Equity market issues that EMPEA is battling on Capitol Hill. I would need a lot more information to give an opinion but Jennifer was advocating that we would see innovation further impacted by these changes.

After this we pilled out on to the street and in to a bus for our trip to Alexandria, Virginia. This was a fabulous journey through Georgetown and out to one of the

nicest little towns surrounding Washington. When we arrived we pulled up outside a tavern called Gadsby's. This is one of the most famous taverns in the US, this is where the first President of the US wined, dined, convened, danced and enjoyed life outside the White House. But not only Washington frequented this tavern so did Jefferson and many others. This was the place of all places to be back in the day.

This afternoon was planned to be our interaction with small and local business in the greater Washington

area and was most enjoyable. At Gadsby's Tavern we had lunch with two companies that have used innovation and technology to build their companies and their brands. The first was Forum One and the second The Motley Fool. This was a most 

enjoyable lunch with very interesting company. After lunch we took a short walk to a local gallery, Gallery Lafayette.

Todd Healy is the Artist and owner of the gallery and talked to us about the difficulties of running a small business and how he experienced the financial downturn.

He was able to predict the tightening of

credit and capital long before the official economic crisis hit by tracking the number of frames and pieces of art he was making/turning over.

He also showed us an example (from one of his suppliers) of how poor quality and poor customer service does not delight customers and yields poor product and unhappy customers.

Todd said he had more tenacity than talent and that is what allowed him to build a business and make it successful. He always goes above and beyond what his customers expect and aims to delight them with his work. He is a believer in delivering above expectations to keep customers and to generate new business. Todd is an Irish man and is looking to start drawing some Irish cottages, those from the famine era and the auld thatch type cottage. My plan is to connect him with my father-in-law who is a keen photographer and always looking for a project/theme. Hopefully this introduction will work out and soon Todd can produce Irish Cottage Drawings to the high standard of his present work. Check it out at www.ToddHealy.com

After this we were left to our own devices and to get ourselves back to the Hotel by 4:30 for our next briefing and our trip to the Cosmos Club. A small group of us decided to get the train/metro back to the Hotel. The station was right at the other end of the town and it being quite warm we were quite thirsty. Fortunately for us the walk to the train took us past the oldest tavern in town, Murphy's and we dropped in to refresh ourselves. We stay for about 30 minutes and then headed off to catch the metro. In this brief time period Scott met the Earl of Haig and discussed a business opportunity that would change the world. We are awaiting ghe business plan and hoping that this could be our route to retirement, stay posted for updates, but don't hold your breath!

Washington trip day 4

Our first meeting today was with Global Giving and Alejandro provided the briefing. We then walked a couple of blocks to their offices. We were all stunned when we walked in the office on the 9th floor of a very nice building to find a company with the attitude of a start up in the Bay Area. This was the first company that did not dress in formal business attire! When we arrived they said we looked like bankers or Lawyers, while they on the other hand look cool and relaxed dressed in jeans, shorts, flip flops, etc... The offices were open plan and you got a sense that they all liked working there and 

Global Giving

together. They started with their usual weekly brief, an internal meeting that we sat in on and the business or information owner presented. The amazing hting is it was not in a stuffy room but up at one end of the office area in an open area with a large screen surrounded by tables, chairs and bookshelves. It was really neat to hear the briefing and what is important to them. After the briefing Mari Kuraishi gave us an overview of their work and why she and Dennis Whittle set up the organization. One key takeaway from her talk is that real innovation learning comes from failure and the World Bank can not have people failing with billions of dollars. But with Global Giving people have the opportunity to learn and if it fails it is only a small amount, but from that learning comes a better result.

Shelley

Today we spent the whole day on Capital Hill. We visited Senator Dodd's office, and meet with his chief of staff. Senator Dodd is the chair of the Senate committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs.

Fidelis

After this we had lunch in the Senate Cafeteria and went in search of the two hearings that were on. While doing this Shelley and Mary organized tickets for us to visit the Senate, so we got to sit right in the gallery overlooking the Senate floor. It took near 20 minutes to get from the front door of the Senate to our seats and we had to pass 2 security checks and check anything electronic (cameras, phones, etc...). The inside of the Senate building is amazing in its architecture with ornate rooms and corridors through out. When we finally got to the Senate floor we were able to hear a debate on energy and oil from Senator Dorgan from North Dakota.

Tony & Barrie

When this finished we decided to leave and head for a near by cafe/restaurant for refreshments. Our plan was to go back to the Senate for the vote on the Small Business bill and then on to a party near the congress buildings with Nancy Polosi and a few other congress people.

Lost looking for happy hour

One the way to the cafe we got split up and the two groups each found a different Thai restaurant to have a refreshing drink and to take the weight off our feet. At this stage we had been walking the city for a number of hours and our feet were hot and tired. I called the Senate to check if the vote was going ahead, and to our disappointment it was canceled. This did mean we could head to the party early, and so off our small group went on what should have been a short walk. Rob lead the way to the address and we entered the congress building. We searched for the room with out any luck.

I stopped by one of the congress offices and asked and they sent us to the next building. It was at this point I assumed the blind position leading the blind as none of us had a clue where we were going. In the next building we found a forum/party celebrating organic fruits and vegetables and heard about a party up stairs for pork. Funny that the meat and veg were on different floors. At this point I asked a security person and they sent us to the next building, Cannon where we should find our treasury.

On the steps of Capital Hill

 On we walked through buildings, up and down stairs looking for the elusive party. In the end we exited the building next to Capitol Hill with out any luck and still separated from the rest of our group. Then we spotted some of the group getting out of a cab across the road. We all headed up to the Congress side of Capitol Hill and proceeded to trip and harass Congressmen as they exited.

Xilinx Trio: Barrie, Faten & Robert

This was fun to watch as we tried to schmooze our way up for a discussion and a photo. As you can see we were successful and at the end of it tired.

After that it was off to dinner (in a lovely Turkish restaurant) and to bed from what was a very tiring day for everyone walking the corridors of power and visiting with Senators and Congress men to talk about the important issues of the day.

Washington trip day 3

This day started with an early breakfast with Faten and Tony. Everyone was slowly getting in to a routine. Scott and a group had gone for a run on Monday and followed it up with a run down the Mall and the monuments today. The photos were superb, what with the sun coming up over the monuments. Their early start gave them some breath taking views of the US capital. Later in the week we will do the monument tour so they will get to experience the early morning and late evening monument experience.

Treasury building

Back to the business part of the trip, we started our briefs at 8:30 and then had a short walk to the American Advertising Foundation (AAF). Here we met with Connie Frazier the COO and Andrea Alsup. It was interesting to hear how this group promotes its clients and has clubs all over the country. This Federation is aimed to be the unifying voice of the advertising industry and forms a link between "the hill" and it's members. Some of the AAF executives a re registered lobbyists and use this position to communicate and pressure senators and congressperson on bills, legislation and regulation.

Chopper on White House lawn

Their goal is to be self-regulating and not to have government regulating them. They also have ~ 200 under grad college chapters, and are starting to set up graduate chapters - we may want to get one in SCU to stay in touch with what is going on in advertising.

Next it was off to the world renowned Press Club for a lunch panel to discuss social media and technology. The panel was made up of 5 people from AARP, tbd.com,

National Press Club

gregslistdc.com, a written news paper and a writer. The venue was very impressive and there were a number of seminars going on. Two of our group went to a republican seminar on healthcare to see what was being said. The lunch itself was good with a great selection of sandwiches, fruit and drinks.

The main topics were around twitter and blogging. AARP now have their CEO and other executives twittering regularly, a radical change for traditionalists. It was amazing to see and hear how popular twitter is on the East coast. Many people use it as a tool to build their personal brand. Both blogging and twitter are mechanism for companies to listen to their members/customers and also a way to communicate quickly to a dedicated audience. Building on the discussion (and theme) with Politico, building your personal brand was one of the themes. For those that tweeted and blogged they referred to this as their digital persona and used it to build their personal brand.

Social Media Panel

Many seem to have dual digital identities, their work one and their personal one. We were told that the key to learning and adopting twitter and blogging is to first find people that tweet/blog about things you are interested in and follow them. Based on this you can learn more and respond/tweet/blog when you are ready or have something to say.

We finished with a brief discussion about the changing business models for the online news media. The key take away was customer/audience orientated content and everything should be considered with the following: "Content, Context, Community and Commerce". Once this was over we took photos in front of all the flags and we headed off to Sun Trust bank.

The SunTrust bank headquarters is only a block from the white house and overlooks the treasury building. As with most of our meetings we were on the top floor, which had a very impressive view, including part of the white house back garden.

While in the closing room we spotted the presidential helicopters coming in and they landed in the white house. Three helicopters swooping in and touching down, two are decoys and one will carry the president.

I missed the landing and takeoff but if you examine the picture closely you should be able to see the helicopters rotors, just to the right of the gold-topped tower.

Our meeting here was with a legal firm that represents clients against the government. One of the things we learned here was how a bill moves from being passed as a bill and makes it through to being legislation and regulations. If you would like to learn more go you tube and check out "I'm just the bill on Capital Hill". We also discussed some of the key technology companies on Capitol Hill, these include Microsoft, Verizon, Google, At&T and a few others. We also learned more about Net Neutrality and the FCC and the impact these have on these large companies.

Italian Embassy

Our day was not over yet! From here we jumped in cabs and raced off to the Italian embassy to meet with the Scientific Attaché. On the way we drove down embassy road, which is very impressive, as is the Italian Embassy.