I have plenty of bandwidth for you!

Day Thirteen,

"Good morning!  You must be Buzzwordy.  I saw your picture in one of the trade magazines last year.  Some kind of telco magazine, I think!  Please allow me to introduce myself - my name is Timar and I work for the Minister of IT in Malaysia.  It is great to have you here.  I hope that you will find Kuala Lumpur a wonderful city for sightseeing during your trip." shouted a young and energetic man in a navy blue suit.  He reached his hand out to give Buzzwordy a firm handshake and guided him to the podium. 

Buzzwordy kept asking himself why did this person have to shout.  Judging by the commotion and the exceedingly large number of people inside of CHARITY Salon, it shouldn't surprise Buzzwordy to see that everyone was shouting at everyone else.  He took a quick peek at the number of reporters there and told himself that there must be more than a dozen of them standing around with their cameras and video recording equipment.  Besides the reporters, there were quite a large number of press conference attendees, hotel staffs, and some government officials as well.  They were all waiting for the Minister to arrive. 

"Thank you Timar!  It is already 5 minutes after 8AM.  I thought that the press conference was supposed to start 5 minutes ago.  Are we going to be OK?" asked Buzzwordy.

"Perfectly fine sir.  I just got a call from the Minister and he is on his way.  Have you prepared a speech on the telco market trend?  You should provide the audience with a brief introduction of yourself as well as your company." smiled Timar.

Buzzwordy nodded and told him that he's been rehearsing rigorously for this event and everything should be just fine.

"The Minister and his entourage are here!" yelled a reporter.  Everyone stood up and clapped their hands.  Again, the room was filled with cheers and plenty of commotion as the Minister entered the CHARITY Salon and walked steadily towards the podium.

"Your excellency, this is Buzzwordy from the United States.  He is here to educate us on the telco market trend and also introduce us to his company.  Someone said that he is quite knowledgeable in many areas - they call him the marketing whiz kid!" greeted Timar as he gestured Buzzwordy to approach the Minister for a brief introduction.

"It gives me great pleasure to meet you today Buzzwordy.   I did have an opportunity to read your article in that telco magazine and found your comments very interesting.  As you may know, I have plenty of bandwidth in my country and many applications can be supported with such a large bandwidth.  The future is incredible and I want you to be a part of it." said the excited Minister.

"The pleasure is all mine and I'm honored to meet you today sir.  Looks like you and I may have some time to chat about your bandwidth idea.  It would be helpful if you could share with me the types of application that you are thinking about." replied Buzzwordy.  Incidentally, Buzzwordy was uncomfortable when he heard the Minister offer him a piece of the action in their very first meeting.  He was getting nervous all of a sudden and remembered the short dialogue that he had with the waiter (remember the stubby guy with a pair of over-sized forearms) during breakfast.  

Was the Minister expecting to strike a deal with Buzzwordy before he headed back to the States?  What was his true intention?  Should Buzzwordy call Xavia later to discuss the Minister's offer, if so, what would the offer be?    

"Sorry Buzzwordy!  The Minister is a very busy man and he must leave the press conference within 10 minutes.  I think it will be better for you and I to chat instead." suggested Timar.

Buzzwordy concurred and before he could return to his chair, Timar announced to everyone that the Minister only had 10 minutes to spare before he had to catch his next event so the press conference should start immediately and be kept short and concise.

During the next 10 minutes, the Minister took over the floor and delivered his speech without even mentioning Buzzwordy and his company.  His speech centered around how much bandwidth his country had and the future would be bright.

"Let me repeat again.  I have plenty of bandwidth for you so please think about the applications.  I will end my speech here." exclaimed the Minister.

Buzzwordy sat in his chair with disbelief as the crowd cheered and clapped when the Minister and his entourage walked out of the CHARITY Salon.  He didn't even get a chance to say anything.

"Thanks very much for coming Buzzwordy.  It was a great event.  Please make sure that you join our lunch social since there will be plenty of opportunities to meet a lot of famous people" smiled Timar.


Feeling disenchanted, Buzzwordy wasn't sure if he would bother to meet all those famous people later.

Lets see what his option is on Day Fourteen.


Buzzwordy


Video references

The Wild Reporter

Revenge of the Radioactive Reporter [VHS]

Candid Camera: Greatest Moments  

Salon Mexico [NTSC/REGION 1 & 4 DVD. Import-Latin America] (English subtitles)



Book references

Video Shooter, Second Edition: Storytelling with HD Cameras

Video Production Handbook, Fourth Edition

Charity Girl

Power ForeArms!

   

Giving away something today!

Day Twelve,

Buzzwordy woke up early the next day and felt great about the 8AM telecom press conference which he was invited to present his company's vision and solution.  He's been preparing his speech since boarding the plane at the San Francisco International Airport and just couldn't wait to share it with everyone in the audience. 

"Good morning sir!  Table for one?" greeted by a hostess from the same hotel restaurant where he dined last evening.

"Yes and I will go for your continental breakfast.  Decaf with cream and sugar please!" answered Buzzwordy.

The time was about 7:15AM and the restaurant was literally packed.  Buzzwordy saw many business-like people working on their laptops, texting short messages on their cell phones, and reading the local newspapers.  He was led to a small table next to the kitchen and before he could settle into a chair, a stubby waiter with a pair of enormous forearms greeted him with his decaf.  Buzzwordy couldn't stop staring at his forearms because they were ridiculously big, making this guy look like the Malaysian version of Popeye.

"Thank you.  I'll help myself with the food." nodded Buzzwordy as he turned his body and pointed to the breakfast table.

"Please sir!  May I ask why are you here?  Are you attending the big telecom show today?" smiled the Popeye-like waiter. 

"Yes I am and as a matter of fact, I'm really looking forward to it since I will have a chance to meet with your Minister of Information Technology as well as presenting my company's vision and solution to the audience.  I think it will be a great day today." grinned Buzzwordy.

"Are you giving your company's technology away today?" asked the curious Popeye-like waiter.

"No, not at all, I'll only present and not give anything.  Am I supposed to give the Minister something?" asked the puzzled Buzzwordy.

The Popeye-like waiter shifted his attention to another table and left Buzzwordy in a haste.  He never responded.

This little incident got Buzzwordy thinking about how the press conference was going to unfold.  He couldn't figure out why the Popeye-like waiter asked him such a direct question.  The whole thing was just too odd for Buzzwordy to fathom.

As he walked closer to the CHARITY salon on the second floor of the hotel, he began to notice a large presence of local reporters gathering right outside of the salon. 

Why did they pick the CHARITY salon for this event?  Was there a hidden meaning?  Buzzwordy felt his palms getting sweaty and this was certainly not the time to have a nervous wreck.

The little voice inside of Buzzwordy told him to calm down but it was not working.  Buzzwordy found himself shaking nervously as he approached the entrance of the CHARITY salon.

Lets measure Buzzwordy's pulse on Day Thirteen.


Buzzwordy

It is going to be a long ride!

Day Eleven,

Buzzwordy walked out to the taxi stand outside of the airport in Kuala Lumpur.  The scene was nothing like the normal taxi stand back in the States - there were people everywhere and he was having heck of a time finding the end of the taxi line.  The monsoon climate (doused with the intolerable heat) was enough to cause him to faint.

"Excuse me Mister, are you waiting for a cab like everyone here?  Where is the end of the line?" asked Buzzwordy.

A skinny man with a large mole on his face did not bother to respond to Buzzwordy's question.  His hawk-like eyes were busy scouting for any available cab.  Judging by the chaos at the taxi stand, Buzzwordy soon realized that there was never a line anywhere near the curb.  People were fighting to hop into any available taxi, and Buzzwordy had to learn to quickly adapt himself to this new found custom.

"I'm so happy to see you finally!" said the exhausted Buzzwordy as he climbed inside a cab.

"Thank you sir and welcome to Kuala Lumpur.  Please call me Upur.  Is this your first time?  Do you want A/C or no A/C?" greeted the cab driver.

"Hello Upur!  Nice to meet you and yes, this is my first time to Malaysia.  Is there a difference in price?" queried Buzzwordy.

"No sir.  So you don't want A/C I suppose.  Please roll down the window." smiled Upur.

"In this case, I'll take the A/C instead!  As you can see, I'm sweating bullets now!" replied Buzzwordy.

The cab driver pressed the A/C button on the dashboard and there he went.  It was supposed to be an hour ride from the airport to the hotel and Buzzwordy intended to just sit back and enjoy the ride.  15 minutes later, the inside of the cab was still like an oven, and he knew that something was not right.

"Excuse me Upur, I could not feel any cold air in the back of your cab.  Is your A/C working OK?" asked Buzzwordy.

"Sorry sir.  It is better to use no A/C and I suggest for you to roll down the window." apologized Upur.

"I don't get it Upur.  Are you telling me that your A/C has never worked in the first place, if so, why did you ask me if I want A/C or no A/C?" questioned the puzzled Buzzwordy.

"Thank you sir.  There is no extra cost for A/C.  I think I mentioned this point to you when you got into my cab." responded Upur.

The hot wind was blowing against Buzzwordy's face once he rolled the window down and he found himself struggling with the right words to respond to Upur.  Nothing seemed to make sense to him so far.  It was very much like the big A in wonderland for Buzzwordy. 

"I guess that's fine Upur.  I got your point.  I think it is going to be a long ride to the hotel!" quipped Buzzwordy.

"Not really sir!  We are almost there." replied Upur.

The sweltering heat had turned all the passing images into mirages and Buzzwordy couldn't wait to jump into the pool once he checked into the hotel.

Lets see how Buzzwordy fares on Day Twelve.


Buzzwordy


Video references

Alice in Wonderland

Doctor Who: Image of the Fendahl (Story 94)

Green Day: Bullet in a Bible [Blu-ray]

Swimming Pool (Unrated Version)

The Dead Pool (Deluxe Edition)


MP3 references

Monsoon


Book references

Monsoon: The Indian Ocean and the Future of American Power

The 1939-1940 New York World's Fair (Images of America)

Los Angeles California (Images of America)

The Grand Canyon: Native People and Early Visitors (Images of America: Arizona)

Santa Cruz, California (CA) (Images of America)


Product references

Haier 9,000-BTU Portable Heat and Cool Air Conditioner

Haier 17,000 BTU ENERGY STAR Air Conditioner

Portable Air Conditioner 9,000 BTU Digital w/ remote. (Cooling Only)

Traffic sucks

Day Ten,

Even though Xavia was doing his very best with the steering wheel and the gas pedal, the Los Angeles traffic on highway 405 could be intimating even after 9PM.  Cars just did not seem to move much of a distance and as the minutes continued to tick, both Xavia and Buzzwordy knew that they were going to miss their flight.

"Traffic sucks!" complained Buzzwordy.

Xavia did not respond but the pain on his face clearly sent an I-agree-with-you message to Buzzwordy.  Confronted by defeat, Xavia decided to slow down since it was useless to try to win any horse race on the freeway. 

"Oh by the way, I think you want to take the next step with this vendor here, right?  According to your analysis, we will have a chance to leverage their embedded software stack for our product and really gun for the blood & glucose meter market." said Xavia.

"Correct Xavia!  I would strongly suggest for us to perform a deep-dive technical assessment on their solution to ensure that we are going to get our money worth.  Also, we should get their last 2 years of financial statements to make sure that they have enough stashed away to handle the rainy days!" replied Buzzwordy.

"OK!  Please drive this project to a successful closure." requested Xavia.

Buzzwordy nodded and from that point on, the two guys no longer communicated with each other.  Buzzwordy shifted his gear to a trip which he took to Malaysia many years ago.  He began to conjure up images and activities from a government-sponsored telecom event that brought him to that country in the first place.  He still remembered the sweltering heat, traffic jam, and the large bath tub in his hotel room.  What about the interview and presentation that he participated?

"Buzzwordy.  Lets try to get a red eye flight back to Seattle now.  Hurry up!" shouted Xavia as he feverishly ran towards the Southwest Airline ticket counter.  

Buzzwordy wasn't sure if they could still get on any flight but doing a 200 yard dash inside the airport wasn't a fun experience at all.  Wait a second, he just found out that they had made it back to the rental car return place in one piece.  

The images of his taxi ride from the airport to the hotel with the huge bath tub in Kuala Lumpur kicked in again while he sprinted right behind Xavia.

"We better get on the red eye!" shouted Xavia.

See you all on Day Eleven.


Buzzwordy

Video references:

Lonely Planet Six Degrees Series 1: Kuala Lumpur

Charlie Rose with Herb Kelleher; Thelma Golden, Adia Millett & Sanford Biggers; Yogi Berra (June 8, 2001)

Jackson, Michael - The Interview Collection

MP3 downloads:

T. Kuala Lumpur's Siti

Book references:

Nuts! Southwest Airlines' Crazy Recipe for Business and Personal Success

Flying for Peanuts: The ABCs of Flying Southwest Airlines

Telecom For Dummies

Fundamentals of Financial Accounting with Annual Report

We are not late!

Day Nine

It was habitual for Xavia to be purposely late for the airport when he was going on a business trip with his marketing team, especially when he traveled with Buzzwordy alone.  After a long day with the vendor in Southern California, Buzzwordy captured a laundry list of action items.  He couldn't relax himself during the dinner event regardless of how many jokes his vendor threw at him.

"Xavia, our flight back to Seattle will happen in approximately one and half hours, I think we should wrap our dinner up soon.  What do you think?" asked Buzzwordy.

"Don't worry!  Since I'm driving, we will be there just on time for boarding." said Xavia.

This is a typical response from Xavia and Buzzwordy knows that once the two of them hop into the rental car, there will be some tense moments on the road.  His boss is a smart but extremely impatient marketer who has a wealth of knowledge, a big ego, and some unspeakable quirks.  Getting to the airport late is just one of his diabolical quirks.

Buzzwordy felt his heart pounding in an accelerated rate when Xavia cut in and out the lanes on the freeway.  By the look on his boss's face, he could tell that Xavia is actually getting a kick out of this adrenaline rush.  


"Buzzwordy, what do you think about our meeting today?  Do you honestly believe that they will have a shot at the glucose meter market with their embedded software stack product?"  quizzed Xavia.

It wasn't the right place or time for Xavia to initiate this question.  Buzzwordy didn't feel like answering but he did it anyway.

"I think their stack is pretty thin.  What I mean is that it doesn't take up too much memory space since the code density is low.  Once their stack is loaded into the hardware (in this case, it will be the glucose meter), it runs pretty darn fast.  I also like their innovative business model - nothing upfront and they will provide free on-site support until the design is completed.  They will only make money when our customers start the mass production officially.  There is a catch here - if we decide to go with them, we will have to sign a 3-year agreement and guarantee them a minimum of three projects." replied Buzzwordy.

Xavia nodded his head, took a quick glance at the clock on the dashboard, and came to realize that they are running late for their flight.  He accelerated even faster and Buzzwordy became fearful for his life. 

"Hold on tight Buzzwordy.  I know what you are thinking but we are not late!" exclaimed Xavia. 

I will be back with the airport tale on Day Ten.


Buzzwordy 


An Embedded Software Primer

Embedded Linux Primer: A Practical Real-World Approach

ACCU-CHEK Aviva Blood Glucose Meter  

Abbott Precision Xtra-Blood Glucose Meter Kit, 1ct (Mail Order Kit)

Kingston 4 GB Class 4 SDHC Flash Memory Card SD4/4GBET

APPLE AIRPORT EXPRESS BASE STATION A1084

Here comes Buzzwordy's strategy!

Day Eight,

It was a rather short pizza-centric dinner for everyone.  Buzzwordy had been thinking and composing his reply while munching on his combo pizza.

"Hey Buzzwordy, lets start so we can all hear your strategy and see if we agree with it or not," gestured Xavia.

Buzzwordy was convinced that his company only had 4 to 5 products that they could really sell and win customers with.  In general, only about less than 40% of the design-in customers ended up going to mass production.  The target customer identification and qualification process had to be streamlined and literally error free.  Given the very short time frame that the company had to make up for the 20% revenue shortfall, this process must get started immediately.

"Xavia and my fellow marketing colleagues, in my opinion, we only have 4 to 5 products that could really help us close the revenue gap in this fiscal year.  All these products belong to the industrial segment - they are competitive in prices, features, performances, and all the needed collaterals like data sheets, user manuals, application notes, ... etc are in place today.  By the way, I forget to mention that we have won some industrial awards for some of these products.  My strategy is to leverage the success stories of these few products to generate goodwill among our target customers.  Small sample quantities will be provided at no cost to these customers.  If they have needs for our other products, we could take full advantage of the situation and promote them aggressively as well.  We must be diligent, knowledgeable, and result-oriented when pursuing our target customers.  We must understand their business models, their markets and customers, their perception of our competitors, and their requirements.  Since there is no time to waste, we must act immediately.  We will need to appoint a champion for this cause and hold him or her completely responsible for the outcome, however, we must allocate adequate and right resources to enable this cause to be successful." presented Buzzwordy.

"Is this the only strategy?" queried Xavia.

"This is the core strategy but we have a few other things that we must do as well.  For example, we have to focus on blowing out some of our old inventories.  We should offer discounts to entice customers to take these products.  I know that some of these products do have steady customers so lets approach them now.  We are also bidding on several custom design projects and if our bids are competitive, we will get upfront design fees.  This is another way for us to get short-term revenue.  My point is that all the cylinders must be running at the same time in order for us to optimize our efforts." exclaimed Buzzwordy.

Xavia's face lit up with a big grin, the kind of grin that can swallow anyone up without notice.  There were some more discussions among the team, however, everyone seemed to be geniunely supportive of Buzzwordy's strategy.

"In this case, lets roll this strategy out tomorrow morning!" acknowledged Xavia.

When Buzzwordy walked out into the parking lot, he realized that it was almost 1:00AM.  It will be another exciting day in just a few hours.

Lets see what Day Nine will be like.


Buzzwordy

Useful references:

The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference

The Marketing Gurus: Lessons from the Best Marketing Books of All Time

Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die

Product Strategy for High Technology Companies

Hands-On Inventory Management (Resource Management)

Strategy is king!

Day Seven,

It just wasn't fun to see Xavia (Buzzwordy's boss) spinning out of control when the company's quarterly revenue came down by 20% from the budget.  Everytime when something like this happened, Buzzwordy could take a quick look at Xavia and saw the veins on his forehead pulsating.  Xavia would shut everyone out for about 30 seconds before making his infamous speech.

"Strategy is king and we will all need to find this king again!" screamed Xavia.

Buzzwordy could sense that Xavia was expecting him to respond - just him and not the other marketing brains in the audience.

"Xavia and my fellow marketing comrades, in order for us to significantly improve our revenue situation, I would suggest for us to take a hard look at the crappy product lines that we are currently carrying within our company.  If they cannot generate revenue, we should consider abandoning them once and for all.  In fact, I have pretty much identified what products should stay and what products should go.  It is very simple to make this decision because if a particular product hasn't gained any traction for the last 2 to 3 years, it will most likely not going to improve in the coming months.  Lets review my list and make a concerted effort on the products that we should keep." explained Buzzwordy.

Xavia seemed skeptical but agreed to review Buzzwordy's list as a group. 

"Wait a second!  Didn't we have some high quality account calls when promoting this media sensation product?  What happened?" yelled Xavia.

"Yes we did, however, since we did not have any working software and an easy-to-understand user manual to accompany this product, we haven't won any customer in the last 3 years.  My understanding is that we have no one working on this software now because there are no customers for our great media sensation product.  All the technical resources have been directed towards another project at this moment." said Buzzwordy.

There was no response from Xavia so more discussions were carried out into the evening.  The To-keep list was becoming shorter and shorter, and everyone agreed that their decision-making process made sense.

"OK Buzzwordy.  I can see that our To-keep list is shrinking, meaning that we're all going to have less products to sell.  What is your strategy in growing or should I say making up for the revenue shortfall with less products?" quizzed Xavia.

It must be the air inside the war room or could it be a lack of carb intake, Buzzwordy's ability to focus deteriorated precipitously. 

"Got to get some food first Xavia.  How about a company-sponsored pizza for everyone here?" requested Buzzwordy.

Lets resume our strategy discussions on Day Eight.

Buzzwordy