Kiki’s Korner

While in town for the Social Media Masters event, we had a chance to revisit the World Trade Center and it is incredible to see how much they were able to complete since our last trip in May.

We held a cocktail party on the 5th Floor of the W Hotel that overlooks the World Trade Center and Memorial Park and while the construction crew was still hammering in the background, it was fantastic to hear, and eerily soothing to see, the water gushing from the memorial pool. There is still a lot of work to be completed here, and hopefully, on our next trip we will have time to actually walk through the park. I want to see it all up close.

We also stumbled across a group of Occupy Wall Street protesters in Zuccotti Park who had been camping there for almost a week. While many were not 100% sure what message they wanted me to walk away with, there were two kids (in their 20’s) who knew what they wanted, and were eloquent with their words. Tried to interview them, but all I had was my iPhone and the shot was too dark and there was too much background noise so the video is unwatchable. Sucks as I would have loved to have done more to support their voice.

I was invited to speak at the 2011 Marketing and Communications Conference/JumpStart® Air Service Development Program in Cleveland, Ohio on June 21st and dug into Social Media Best Practices for Airports and Airlines.

As an ‘outsider’, it was nice being invited into their community and given the chance to share how I see the interactions between airports and airlines with fellow travelers. Some do exceptionally well – others have a long road ahead of them – but as with anything socially based, it takes practice, it takes dedication, and it takes someone willing to put the time in to help others.

My Presentation was called ‘Social Media Best Practices for the Airline Industry‘ and it can be seen below:




View more presentations from Kristie Wells

Headed to DC for a couple of days, played tourist a bit, met some of Heuer’s American University buddies and spent time with our friends Coleman, Nabeeha and beautiful baby Sanah.



Didn’t take a lot of photos this trip, but was able to get down to the Tidal Basin in West Potomac Park and catch the last bit of the Cherry Blossom Festival. So beautiful this time of year, and you can see the few photos I took here.

I was invited to speak at the Social Media & Community 2.0 conference in Boston and was lucky enough to have a little free time to walk around the city. I have not been in Boston in a while, but always good to get back.

So much history.

So much good chowdah to eat.

Took a handful of photos, this time, swayed by the Central Burying Ground and a short walk along the Freedom Trail.

And if not you, exactly, something extremely similar to you.

When we arrived in Paris last Sunday, the Social Media Club House mates took a stroll through the courtyard of the Louvre, but didn’t go in as the line already formed was re-dunk-dic-u-lous. Not wishing to leave town before I see the Mona Lisa, we are planning a geek field trip to the Louvre tomorrow (Saturday) and invite all who would like to join us.

We are meeting at 8:30 (doors open at 9am) hopefully get a decent spot in line. If you get there a few minutes late, no worries, just stroll along the line and look for a geeky group with lots of camera bags.

Thoughts are to visit to the Mona Lisa first (get that out of the way early) and then explore from there. Based on the verbal confirmations received during Le Web, we are expecting about 15 people to join us.

It is recommended that you pre-purchase tickets online (10.10 euros per ticket), as it makes it easier to pick up (just be sure to bring the credit card you used to pick up on site). Hope you will join us for this little field trip and see some of the great works of art Paris has to offer.

When discussing activities for our week in Paris, we thought what better way to break the flat in than to host a small dinner party on the first night we are here. We are fortunate to have an amazing market called La Grande Epicerie du Bon Marche, similar to our Whole Foods, just a few blocks away from our flat – so Cathy, Chris and I took a stroll over on Sunday afternoon and picked up some tasty bits for the group.

We invited Mark and Laurant from PayPal over as a way to thank them for their support of Social Media Club House then Heuer headed into the kitchen and whipped up a stellar meal of salmon, potatoes and asparagus.

These are the type moments I love the most, getting people together from all around the world, sharing great stories over good food and wine. It’s the beauty of Social Media Club House. It is not only a work place. Or a sleeping place. It is the perfect gathering place.

To say I am excited to be in Paris this week would be a severe understatement. I have been wanting to visit for year+++++, and had to pull back from three other trips in 2009 due to various client commitments (and a flu bug). So this jaunt feels like a long time coming for sure.

Heuer and I are headed over for Le Web, a tech conference bringing the best of French entrepreneurs together with other tech enthusiasts from around the world to talk innovation and trends around the ‘tubes’. While the conference is sure to be a hit, in all honesty, I am most looking forward to hanging in the Social Media Club House with @chrisheuer @scobleizer, @cathybrooks, @suzyperplexus and @stephtara as we break bread, sip wine together and explore Paris and all that it has to offer.

We have a pretty full schedule planned, but I expect to get a little tourist time in as well, as this is…my first time in Paris. Expect to find me at the Louvre and the Eiffel Tower for sure.

To keep up on our activities, follow along on our Fan Page.

I needed some down time. I needed something to get Friday’s accident out of mind. I needed to be surrounded by loved ones, doing nothing of great importance, outside of making sure the beer was cold enough to satisfy our thirst.

I needed this weekend.

The weather was perfect. The crab was fresh. The beer was cold (I did my job right). It was a hum dinger and I am grateful I was able to take this time to be with my family.

I probably won’t get a chance to see mom and dad again until Christmas time, but already making plans as I love hanging at the beach house. Just wish it wasn’t a six (6) hour drive away.

I love taking road trips. Packing up the car. Filling up the tank (ok, I don’t really love this part of the road trip). Getting our ‘mix tape’ together. Putting the pedal to the medal and exploring all that this fine planet of ours has to offer.

The last couple of years have found Heuer and I in planes more than cars, so I love it when the road trip presents itself…

When we were offered the opportunity to host the Ultimate Blogger Dinner (UBD) with Lenovo during CES, we started evaluating all the equipment we needed to bring for the event (cameras, light kit for video shoots, recorders, collateral, extension cords, power strips, etc.) and realized quickly it would be a huge pain in the ass flying with it all.

We needed to drive to Vegas, and Heuer’s Cherokee was not going to be big enough. Did I mention I needed to pack shoes too?

So we jumped on the horn with our pal Scott Monty over at Ford, and threw out the idea of us taking their just released Ford Flex for an extended road test.

Scott made a few calls and the day before we were scheduled to leave for CES, a cinnamon colored 2009 Ford Flex was sitting in my driveway just begging to have its tires kicked. Awesome.

My initial thought of the truck (sorry Scott, I have a hard time calling it a ‘cross over’ vehicle even though I get why its classified as that) was how much it looked like the big brother to the Mini Cooper Clubman. Nice. Heuer and I have talked about buying me a Mini Cooper once my Lexus finally bites the dust, so already the Flex was winning me over in the aesthetics department.

Next test – capacity. The Flex has three rows of seats and can sit seven (7) people comfortably. We put all the seats down and packed six suitcases into the back of the Flex along with a small cooler and a bag of snacks for the road. And you know what? It all fit, with room to spare. Sweet.

We were ready to hit the road.

I wanted to drive the first leg of the trip to give Heuer a chance to play with the Sync system and get familiar with all the gadgets so he could then train me. LOL. Side note: Heuer and I have an understanding that if we were ever to be accepted in the Amazing Race series, I would be the primary driver so he could man the maps and the gadgets. It always works best that way as even though I think I have a sense of direction…I really don’t. I am meant to drive…so I do.

I settle in behind the wheel, immediately noticing how ’sedan like’ it felt. To me, this is a good thing as if given the choice between driving a sedan or a SUV full time, I will always pick a sedan for shear comfort. The Flex really scores on this level.

We head South…

About an hour into the trip, Heuer discovered the USB port AND the electric outlet in the middle console. Who ever added that into the product plan is a genius. Seriously. Every new car should have this capability. So.Damn.Smart.

Now here comes more information than you probably wanted to know:

Along the way, we stopped in Santa Nella for Andersen’s famous split pea soup (a Wells family favorite pit stop), in Kettleman City for a really crappy pot roast (took two bites, gagged, paid the bill and left), and ‘harassed’ some sheep on the side of the road. Each time we stopped, folks mentioned what a sharp looking truck we had. No lie. The barista at the drive through coffee shop, the older couple at the split pea joint, the attendant at the gas station. I will admit, it was kind of cool to have something so bright and shiny at my control.

And each time we stopped, Heuer asked if it was time to change drivers and each time he heard the same thing, no. I enjoyed driving the Flex and was not ready to turn the keys over to him. It handled well. It was comfortable. And after six hours behind the wheel, I was not tired…so we carried on.

I ended up driving all 12 hours of the trip to Vegas (did I mention it was a smooth ride?) and when we arrived at the hotel, the valet sized up the truck, and again – all positive comments. We drove the Flex all week in Vegas, and I will say it continued to receive high marks from everyone we met. When we were transporting a couple of our friends home from a party, there were sounds of glee from the back as they both found the heat button for their seats. I know this is such a simple option, but it is again a sign of a thoughtful designer.

When Heuer and I started plotting our trip back home, we decided to extend it one more day and see how the Flex felt about the Ocean. It liked it. At least, it felt like it liked it as it handled the flat roads of 1-15 as well as it did the hills of Route 223/I-5. Smoothly. And who was behind the wheel? That’s right. Me.

We met up with our Social Media Club Los Angeles crew and had a wonderful brunch in Malibu. After filling our bellies we contemplated hanging out in Los Angeles for a day, but realized after being on the road for a week – we were ready to head home. So we packed ourselves back into the truck and headed North.

I do think it important to note that Heuer did, in fact, get to drive the Flex. We were about three hours from San Francisco on the return home when I finally turned the keys over to him. I was tired. Vegas has finally caught up to me. And you know what? The passenger seat was as comfortable as the drivers seat.

I will admit I was sad to return the truck back to Ford the next day as I surely could have kept driving it longer.

I will say the ‘real world’ experience driving the Flex really turned my views of Ford around as I come from a Ford loving clan (the ones I can remember – as there were more – are two Broncos, a Ranger, a F150, two Mustangs, a Thunderbird and a couple of Jaguars) and my entire family strayed years ago due to one reason or another, mostly technical/ performance based. My last Ford was the 1990 Thunderbird SC that I turned in after 18 months due to transmission issues that could never be fixed – in shop four times. I think it important to note this as when talking about buying new cars, Ford has not been top of mind for me for 18 years.

The Flex really put them back on the map for me.

Heuer and I chatted at length on the way home as to whether or not we would consider purchasing the Flex, and both agreed we would, if (1) we had kids (or dogs, which is more likely) as it is too big for just the two of us and (2) we did not live in San Francisco where parking is tough (though not impossible) for a large[r] vehicle. The Flex just isn’t practical for us [today], but would be cool to rent if we headed to Tahoe or wanted to take a road trip with a few friends in tow. I want to drive this truck again.

I do think it is brilliant for Ford to put every day people in their cars and let them live life for a bit. They will naturally win with some and not with others, but overall, smart marketing on their part. It also shows confidence in their product as people will normally find something they don’t like after they ‘drive it off the lot’. When they don’t – you should pat yourself on the back for a job well done.

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I linked to a bunch in this post, but if you would like to see more photos of our trip, check out my photo stream and Heuer’s too.