On Tuesday, I received my daily email newsletter from the Social Media Club and something
Every 80 Seconds Homepage
really caught my eye.
The American Red Cross recently launched a new Fire Awareness Campaign, and what they are doing truly makes an impact. With this campaign, Every 80 Seconds, once you connect through your Facebook account, six random photos from your profile are burned right in front of your eyes. Watching your memories burn away right in front of your eyes truly brings to light how your life can change in an instant.
How would you feel if all your memories were just gone – all your personal belongings, everything that meant so much to you?
A photo from my wedding burning away...
This campaign makes you think about those things, and while it is something we never want to think about, it is something we absolutely need to. This campaign is not your average campaign, asking you to make a donation for help a worthy cause. This campaign hits you hard and does an amazing job of making such a potentially awful occurrence personal and imaginable. It immerses you in the situation, and prompts you to take action.
There is a ton of advertising out there for so many causes, and they usually show you a patient in need of a transplant, a victim of an earthquake, someone that has no where to live, and other victims to whom you have no direct ties. While these campaigns touch our hearts, they are all happening to someone else, not us. What this campaign does is make you the victim. It puts you in the shoes of a victim and makes you feel the real emotions behind such a loss.
We always sympathize with people, but it is hard to truly understand what they are going through until you’ve been in their spot and experienced what they have. This social media campaign does just that. The idea is a great one, and I am sure the Red Cross will see a lot of good things come from it.
What other social media campaigns can you think of that really made you think?
For more information about the Red Cross and what you can do to help, visit their website (redcross.org).
Mothers have so many decisions to make!
On top of donating whole blood, red cells, plasma and platelets, families can also donate the blood from their newborn’s umbilical cord.
This blood is a source of stem cells, which helps with modern medical treatments. Stem cells are the “building blocks of organ tissue, blood and the immune system” and are used to help patients with leukemia, lymphoma, anemia and some types of cancer. These stem cells are not embryonic. They are not taken from fertilized eggs.
Why donate cord blood?
In addition to having the potential to help patients afflicted with the conditions above, parents also choose to have their baby’s cord blood preserved as a safeguard to help their child in the event of a future illness. There are far fewer complications when cord blood stem cells are used in such situations, because the cells are younger than bone marrow. So, if the baby becomes ill, his or her own stem cells can be used to assist in the treatment.
Types of Cord Blood Donation
There are two options for donating cord blood: family banking and public donation. Families can collect the baby’s blood specifically for the family (for a fee). Or they can donate it to the public – for free – where it will be used for anyone who needs stem cells. As with all blood donations, both the mother and the baby must meet certain eligibility requirements before they are permitted to blood to the public.
How Can I Donate?
If you are interested in donating your child’s cord blood, contact Cord Blood Registry at 1-888-932-6568 or visit their website (www.cordblood.com) for additional information and to find a local hospital that collects cord blood.
What’s your stance on saving your child’s cord blood?
Photo Credit:
The average adult human has about ten pints of blood in their body.
For having such a large amount of blood, we rarely stop to think about it. We know that our blood carries oxygen and nutrients to our cells, cleans and clots wounds and helps us fight diseases (through the white blood cells), but how much do we really know about it?
Firstly, we need to think about what composes our blood, and where it comes from. Blood is made up of four parts: red blood cells, white blood cells, plasma and platelets.
Red blood cells are the part of the blood that carries oxygen to and away from our cells. These round cells are biconcave-shaped, having a bowl-like depression on each side. Red blood cells are produced by the body’s red bone marrow and usually have a lifespan of about 120 days. Fun fact for blood donors: the red blood cells are fully replaced within 56 days following a blood donation. When they become too old and need replaced, the cells are removed from the blood by the macrophages in the liver and spleen.
The disease-fighting part of our blood – white blood cells, also referred to as leukocytes – are made in the white bone marrow of the body. Usually, there are about 7,000 white blood cells in a microliter of blood. When fighting an illness, however, that number increases. Believe it or not, there are actually six main types of white blood cells (neutrophils, eosinophils,
basophils, bands, monocytes and lymphocytes), with each fighting different kinds of bacterial or parasitic infections. The white blood cells usually only have a lifespan of 13 to 20 days before they are destroyed by our lymphatic system.
Plasma is the fluid part of the blood (made by the liver) in which the other parts are suspended. It’s made up of about 92% water and normally appears yellowish – though it can sometimes be milky after a meal high in fat. The remaining 8% of plasma is comprised of dissolved proteins, salts, glucose and other chemicals necessary to the body. Plasma also carries hormones and electrolytes throughout the body, making up the largest portion of the blood.
The last part of the blood, platelets, are also made by white bone marrow and are responsible for clotting wounds. Humans have between 150,000 to 400,000 platelets in each microliter of blood. These spiky-looking cells usually only last about ten days before they become too old and worn (and are destroyed by the lymphatic system).
As you can see, blood is more complicated than we tend to think.
Studies show that 1 in 7 people who go to the hospital will need blood. That may not seem like a huge amount, but when you consider that only 38% of the U.S. population are actually able to donate, and less than 10% of these eligible individuals actually do donate, the need becomes more apparent.
If we could all take the time once a year to donate blood, this simple deed would have a huge impact on the blood shortages hospitals face every day. Donating blood only takes about an hour, but it could have a lasting impact on the life of another.
Photo Credits:
Peter Facinelli: "Carlisle" from the Twilight series.
During a recent lunch break at Incept, I was flipping through one of those celebrity gossip magazines.
Normally, I avoid them. In my opinion, all they’re good for is finding a personality quirk or a neat outfit to give to a protagonist in one of my short stories. One of the articles, however, was about what celebrities are doing to help raise money for the victims of the recent earthquake in Japan and the Pacific tsunami. It occurred to me that perhaps there are celebrities who advocate blood donation, as well!
Rachelle Lefevre, who plays the vampire "Victoria" in the Twilight series.
Ironically, a lot of actors who play vampires happen to donate blood! The hit CW show, The Vampire Diaries, teamed up with the Red Cross to encourage teenagers to donate blood. Additionally, several cast members of the Twilight series also give blood.
Musicians are helping out too! Rascal Flatts, the country band, provided free tickets and backstage passes for the Red Cross to use in a drawing. Comedians/illusionists Penn and Teller gave tickets away to hundreds of blood donors in Las Vegas! Heck, even celebrities like Miley Cyrus, Jane Seymour and Kristin Cavallari, Dr. Phil, Jackie Chan and Josh Duhamel are regular blood donors.
Rascal Flatts
The Red Cross even has a “National Celebrity Cabinet” in their organization. It’s an “award-winning combination of well-respected actors, musical artists, television personalities, athletes and other public figures [who] are ‘on-call’ to help the Red Cross by donating their time, skills, passion and energy for a one-year term when it’s needed most.” It’s great that these groups and individuals give their time and money to not only donate blood themselves, but also to encourage others.
What other celebrity blood donor advocates do you know of who deserve recognition?
Photo Credits:
Jeremiah Cerny's mugshot for the "Locked Up For Muscular Dystrophy" fundraiser at Carrabba's.
Everyone holds their own values and beliefs.
At Incept, one of the most important values we believe in is compassion. Compassion isn’t just a company value, but one our employees show on a regular basis. On March 31st, our very own Jeremiah Cerny stepped up to show everyone just how it’s done.
It started out as a challenge. One of Jeremiah’s friends was attending a fundraiser for the Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA), a group dedicated to finding a cure for muscular dystrophy, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and other similar diseases, at Carrabba’s Italian Grill here in Canton, Ohio. Not only did he dare Jeremiah to attend, but he also made the mistake of challenging Jeremiah to see who could raise the most money. Considering he was one of our conversational marketing experts (CME) and now a conversational quality representative, Jeremiah couldn’t let that challenge go unanswered. And so the telethon began.
Carrabba's Italian Grill in Canton, OH.
Attendees were “locked up” at the Carrabba’s and told that if they wanted their freedom, they’d have to “make bail.” It was a battle of wills to see who had the biggest heart and the best phone skills to raise money for the MDA, but Jeremiah – and the MDA, for that matter – emerged victorious. He single-handedly raised more than $300 over the course of the evening and bested his friend. His experience as a blood donor recruiter, as well as his caring and compassionate nature, gave him the edge he needed to reach out to the community and gain their support. All of the money raised was donated to the Muscular Dystrophy Association.
When I asked him about the event, Jeremiah said he enjoyed the chance to put skills he learned here at Incept to the test for a good cause. He also shared that he is already forward to next year’s “lock up,” at which he plans to do even better. Jeremiah also wanted to thank Carrabba’s for hosting the event and supplying delicious food to the event’s participants. Their support really made a difference.
I really want to tip my hat to Jeremiah. He took the time out of his evening off to help others in need. Who would have thought that skills learned at work could have such a positive impact outside of the office? The next time you see Jeremiah, give him a shout-out for his compassion.
What fundraisers for charity have you participated in? Do you have any stories you’d like to share?
Photo Credits:
“Goals are the fuel in the furnace of achievement.” ~ Brian Tracy
What drives you to reach your goals?
When it comes to something as complex as success, everyone always wants to know, “How do I become successful?” People appear to have the misconception that success comes in a one-size-fits-all package, which in most circumstances is wrong. Living in contemporary America, as a young, up-and-coming adult, I notice that many people my age seem to think that just wanting something bad enough will eventually get them where they want to be. All that is really needed is a solid foundation, beginning with setting a simple goal.
Recent studies have shown that only
3% of the American population actually set goals consistently. Little do most people know that the same 3% of American goal setters are also amongst the nation’s wealthiest citizens. What it comes down to is this: it pays to plan. It pays to have something to work towards in the long term, but it also helps in the short-term scope of things. People will always continue striving to be successful, whether that be in their professional or personal lives. Learning to set goals, however, is what will actually give you the capacity to achieve.
- What is your long-term goal?
I’m somebody who always, initially, looks at the bigger picture of a situation rather than the smaller pieces of the puzzle. By setting a long-term goal, you aren’t just setting a goal, you are delivering yourself a call to action that relates to something significant you want to obtain or achieve. But long-term goals are just that: long-term. They aim for a point of time in the future and will generally not be immediately achievable. Do not let this discourage you or take away your goal-setting gusto. Instead, allow it to be your drive. Maybe a long-term goal is to lose thirty pounds this year. Maybe you’d like to pay off college debt or perhaps get a new car. Pick a long-term goal that will motivate you. An easy example that many can relate to is trying to lose a certain amount of weight or attain a certain weight at the end of the year.
- So you have a long-term goal, but what are your short-term goals?
Short-term goals are your stepping stones to reaching your long-term goals. They are the checkpoints on your journey to success. When making short-term goals, ensure they are relevant and realistic. That doesn’t mean you should avoid shooting for the stars in your aspirations, but make sure your short-term goals enable you to further your progress towards your long-term goals. For instance, if my long-term goal was to lose five pounds this month, one of my short-term goals would be to walk five miles per week for that same month.
At Incept, we take goal setting seriously. We have weekly, monthly and even yearly goals we meet for clients and our own company. One of the reasons we are consistently able to meet these goals is because everywhere you look you’ll see how we are doing, whether that be via graph, statistics, performance metrics, etc. Part of meeting both long-term and short-term goals is being able to track your progress. Write down your goals! Check out my past blog post on writing down goals for more info on how much that simple addition can improve your success in working towards (and eventually achieving) your long-term goals.
How do you reach your goals? Do you have a goal you would like to share?
Photo Credit: http://steven-dean.com
If there’s one charity out there that deserves your time, money and admiration, it’s Habitat for Humanity.
I have so many fond memories of volunteering with Habitat! When I was in college, I helped lay down the foundation of a house in Poland (where I got my shoe stuck in cement). As a teenager, I helped put up walls after a tornado devastated a small town near the college I would eventually attend (where I stepped on a nail). As soon as I was old enough to use a hammer without being a threat to myself or others – around age 12 or so – I climbed up ladders and helped install roofs with Habitat (where I hit my thumb more than once).
And during that period between being old enough to help out but too young to be trusted with tools, my mother and I carried cups of water to the workers and set the table for lunch.
That’s what’s so great about Habitat for Humanity. No matter your age or ability, there’s some way you can help. You can build a house for a friend, family member, stranger or for yourself – a brand new house.
On top of meeting certain income guidelines, families who apply to receive a house – referred to as “partner families” – have to invest “sweat-equity hours.” This means they make up for reduced mortgage payments by working for a certain number of hours on Habitat houses. They help pay their mortgage with their sweat! There’s a great sense of community, mutual compassion, loyalty, teamwork and generosity between the volunteers and the families.
Habitat does more than build homes, however. It hosts a Youth Leadership Conference, recycles cars, sells reduced-priced furniture and appliances at the ReStore shops and helps homeowners with exterior home preservation like painting, landscaping and weatherstripping. Habitat helps needy families all over the world, from the United States and Africa to Europe and Asia.
Enter your zip code on Habitat for Humanity’s webpage to find out about local volunteer opportunities!
Have you ever volunteered with Habitat for Humanity?
Photo Credits:
Last week, I discussed some of the transitions that our industry channel has undergone, including overcoming the labels of telemarketing and call centers, and now being referred to as contact centers. I mentioned some of the services that have been deployed to cater to the needs of our constituents, as well as talking about how these additional services fall short of delivering the experience that donors and consumers want.
At Incept, we believe that the front-line worker is the best source of information for identifying what stands in their way regarding building relationships and producing meaningful results. Incept leadership also recognizes that in order to deliver world-class performance, we need to attract the best talent the market has to offer. Attracting employees who are bright, compassionate and tenacious in their efforts to satisfy clients takes a culture that gives them more than just the training and tools found in typical contact centers. We believe that the fundamental requirement for consistently building relationships is a culture that gives employees the opportunity to take advantage of their strengths, as well as their values.
Consequently, we created focus groups of the people who talk with the blood donors and commercial clients every day. We listened very carefully to their concerns and accompanying recommendations. Then we took it a step further. We didn’t stop at just asking for input. We responded by making the front-line employees part of the solution. Some leaders in this channel might think that’s a bold move to have the producers actually design both the work and the culture, but, to us, it makes perfect sense. We listen to blood donors and commercial customers every day to identify what they need and want. Some of the world’s leading organizations have proven that it also makes sense to listen to those who interact with them daily in order to identify roadblocks.
Actually, that’s the name of one of the committees that we formed:“Removing Roadblocks.” These team members told us that roadblocks to building relationships and producing meaningful results come in different shapes and forms. Incept had already recognized that today’s donor/consumer doesn’t want to be read a telemarketing script. It wasn’t really that bold of a move for us to distance ourselves from script reading and to invest training into team members who wanted to become conversational marketing experts (CMEs). The Removing Roadblocks Committee is also tackling other cultural challenges, such polices and procedures.
Here’s a good opportunity for you to share some of the roadblocks that you have seen, or perhaps even personally experienced, when dealing with a business or customers. Heck, they might be the same kinds of things that our employees identified! Or, they might be something we haven’t tackled yet. In return, we’ll be more than happy to share some of what we’ve learned along the way.
What hindrances to building relationships and producing meaningful results have you encountered? If left up to you, what would you do to remove them?
Near field communication (NFC) chips might eventually make carrying that giant brick you call a wallet disappear.
The technology behind NFC is really complex and not the subject of this post. However, if you would like to know all of the detailed ins-and-out of how it works, then check out this post: Near Field Communications: A Technology Primer. The idea behind this post is similar to one I recently wrote about QR codes, a nice summary of something complex and new.
But What Are Near Field Communication (NFC) Chips?
To put it simply,
“NFC is an evolution of the RFID technology employed in “contact-less” payment systems such as MasterCard PayPass and Visa PayWave, and is mostly known in the U.S. as a means of enabling wireless payments at retail stores. That’s not all NFC can be used for, though. It can also keep track of gift card and ticketing balances, as well as personal information and consumer preferences.” ~ Jacqui Cheng, Ars Technica
NFC uses and possibilities.
NFC technology has been around since 2003, but it failed to catch. In fact, Sprint introduced a mobile phone with a NFC chip specifically for use on the BART system in San Francisco back in 2008. Unfortunately, it went nowhere. Nokia introduced a phone as well – it was available in the U.S. one year earlier – that failed just the same. In order for NFC technology to take off and be successful, it needs the support of retailers, consumers and mobile device manufacturers alike.
However, I’m sure if a certain company (who dabbles in code and search and some mobile software for mobile products) was really, really interested in this technology, they may first try subsidizing the readers at targeted retail stores. This should help kick-start this next generation in commerce, as there needs to be one reader at every cash register. How many retailers do you know of that would fork over the money to do this?
Should You Care?
Yes. Why? First off, it’s already happening under our noses – Japan has been using NFC for their mass transit system (with a rechargeable smart card). Supposedly the DC Metro (WMATA) and Vancouver’s mass transit systems are also considering bids for this technology. Secondly, it stands to replace that kitchen sink you call a wallet, that resides in your back pocket or purse.
The Nexus S, powered by Android 2.3, offers support for NFC in that the hardware inside the phone, as well as the software that runs the phone make it ready for use. By offering this, Google has the competitive advantage over Apple, RIM and Microsoft for NFC-capable devices. Microsoft is even starting to consider putting NFC in the WP7. And while Apple has more applications that are developed for making payments via iPhone, that is not the same as NFC. Making payments through your phone still requires access to the internet and a third party to process the transaction. With an NFC-capable device, the transaction is instant and “contact-less,” meaning the only thing you touch is your phone. As soon as you pass your phone over the reader, the transaction takes less than a few seconds to complete.
You don’t really need to worry about it yet, because NFC most likely won’t be going mainstream anytime soon. The type of testing involved with something as involved as this is going to be heavily monitored by all parties – from developers and manufacturers of the readers on down to the consumers – with code being tweaked and bugs worked out as they go. By the time NFC becomes as common as biometric scanning or facial recognition, these words will have been long forgotten.
In all honesty, I give it about one-and-a-half years before this starts making its way into some of the large metropolitan cities (as far as testing is concerned) and about three years before nationally televised ads start appearing.
When do you think NFC will become mainstream? What are the security implications you foresee?
Photo Credit: NFC News
