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Following in the footsteps of ‘The Bens’ (and Jon) I now find myself 4,500 miles and 8 time zones away from home. Despite the distance, Seattle is remarkably similar to Scotland; when it rains you want to get as far away as you possibly can but when it’s sunny, there’s nowhere else you’d rather be! And I’ve been particularly lucky to have come to Seattle at “the best time of year”.

In a city that is surrounded by mountains and water and that is notorious for its changeable weather, I am regularly amazed that every single Seattle citizen can accurately tell you the weather forecast for the next full week, right down to the hour – “What a beautiful morning”, “Yes but it’s going to rain at 2pm” or “If you go running on Saturday you should wait till the afternoon, the temperature will drop 15 degrees and it’ll be way more pleasant”… How do they know?! In Scotland we can barely predict what the weather will be like 30 minutes from now!

My office here in Seattle is amazing. Having just moved into this office in December, this is everyone’s first summer here and so we are all making the most of our large seafront terrace and grill! Indoors however there is still an atmosphere of three businesses (TUI, TCS & Starquest and Zegrahm Expeditions) sharing an office, which can at times be difficult as I am tasked with a project that concerns both TCS & Starquest and Zegrahm. I’m working on a product-based project looking to expand the part of our business that offers tailor-made luxury trips to destinations around the world. At the moment there is a lot of research involved as I put together a business case. In a few weeks’ time I will present my business case and hopefully begin to implement some of the ideas before the end of the placement.

Out of work I have been hitting up the usual tourist spots and getting involved in as many outdoor activities as my currently unfit body can handle – boot camp starts next week! I also took part in a local 5 mile charity run – ‘Beat the bridge’ – so called because the University Bridge is raised during the race and the aim is to ‘beat’ the raising of the bridge.the moment there is a lot of research involved as I put together a business case. In a few weeks’ time I will present my business case and hopefully begin to implement some of the ideas before the end of the placement.

Last weekend my roommate and I took a road trip up north to her hometown of Bellingham for the annual Memorial Weekend Ski-to-Sea race – a 93.5 mile, 7 sport relay Race from Mount Baker down to Bellingham Bay. Thankfully we did not take part in this race, rather the street party at the finish line where we watched the final leg of the race over a nice cold drink!

Well that’s all for now guys…it’s almost lunchtime here and there are bbq left overs to be had!

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My placement with the Official UEFA EURO 2012 Accommodation Agency finished just over a month ago to positive reviews after doing a lot of work with spreadsheets and internet booking portals. I’ve been given the privilege of being given three sports placements in a row, and this second sport placement is with Danish company Travel Sense A/S.

Having just come from a placement solely concerned with the EURO 2012 tournament, I’ve stepped into a placement where all talk is of the next big event… the EURO 2012 tournament, no change there then. But I did get given my official Dansk Boldspil Union shirt today, just in case I’m needed in Kharkiv or Lviv to represent my adopted home, or, y’know, help with Travel Sense guests. No one expects Denmark to win the tournament (their odds are comparable with the Republic of Ireland) but no one expected them to win the tournament in 1992. The Danes might have known. Anyway, I’ll be watching their form closely when I attend the Denmark v Australia match in my new Danish shirt this Saturday.

Football is the most popular sport in Denmark and there are a number of big clubs in Copenhagen, some which you may have heard of, none of which you can pronounce correctly (unless you have knowledge of how the Danes use letters). Travel Sense sponsor a number of clubs in Denmark and I was lucky enough to attend one of the penultimate matches of the season where Brøndby hosted FC Nordsjælland. The title was unfortunately out of reach for Brøndby this season, but FC Nordsjælland were just 2 points behind FC København, the big fish in Danish football.

Brøndby fans hate FC København. HATE them. FC Nordsjælland hate FC København too. So for the entire game, the two sets of fans sang the same song to one another: Vi hader F.C.K.! (We hate F.C.K.). That was funny enough but when FC Nordsjælland, the AWAY team scored, everyone in the stadium clapped and cheered! And when the scoreboard showed that FCK had lost, there was uproar – all FC Nordsjæalland needed to do was win the final game and they would be the first Danish team to have an automatic place in the Champions’ League.

Which, of course, they did…

Goal mouth scramble at Brøndby

It’s important for me to know these things, I’m not just here to hang out. I’ve been putting together a fact base about the sports travel company I’m placed with which will be informing strategy for the next financial year. But there’s no way I’m going to discuss the intricacies of the data I’ve been working with, or mention the nightmare that is building graphs and pivot tables in the Danish version of Excel… sorteringsindstillinger means sorting options, I know that much. Right, I’m off to eat kangaroo and crocodile at an Australian restaurant a few streets away. Thanks Australian tourism bureau!

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Laura gives an overview on her key learnings during placement 2 at Quark Expeditions, Toronto…

Terrified of heights, I never climbed trees as a kid, would avoid any jobs requiring me to ascend a ladder and never stood too near the edge on balconies or rooftops. My fear frustrated me, and so, in November of 2007, I started skydiving – after all, what better way to get over a fear than to face it head on! Now, I spend as much time as I can jumping out of planes and recently celebrated my 500th jump.

And it was this same attitude that took me to Toronto, Canada, for a placement solely focused on Finance.

I knew nothing about the discipline other than the fact it scared the bejeepers out of me! Spreadsheets meant nothing to me and numbers made my head spin, whilst the amount of jargon and abbreviations seemingly used when discussing finance was enough to send me running in the opposite direction whenever it came up in conversation!

Three months later, I’ve scaled the metaphorical heights of Finance and jumped right in! I’ve learned so much, from how to forecast sales for a season to running a comprehensive competitor analysis, hedging, fuel bunkering, 5 year plans and even that people from Loughborough call them ‘pikelets’ instead of ‘crumpets’! It’s been an intense 3 months but one which has produced some really valuable work for the business (according to my boss) and cleared up the maze of Finance from a personal point of view.

The main thing I learned about Finance though is how integral a part it can, and should, play in a business. Through high quality reporting, Finance can provide the tools to make predictions and understand how to improve and business and continue to grow moving forward. Far from the reactive process I believed it to be before working with Quark, I’ve found their finance team to be extremely proactive, engaging all areas of the business in the key decisions needed to provide the guidelines for success. I fully believe in the importance of maintaining communication with a finance team and in working with them closely.

Outside of Finance, I learned a lot too; I’ve blogged already about the small benefits the team receives at Quark which keeps them motivated and involved, and about the team meetings which ensure everyone is up to date and feels a part of the business, the Division and of the Sector as a whole.

I thoroughly enjoyed my experience in Toronto and am so grateful to everyone who made me feel so welcome. I now look forward to using the skills I have obtained out there and continuing to build on them through my next placements.

My next placement will see me join the Commercial team at SHG, based in Crawley (*insert Canada to Crawley joke here*) – keep watching for more updates…

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Laura talks about fighting her fears on this episode of Canada’s Motivational TV:

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A birthday treat for Quark Expeditions employees

Laura thinks about how the small things we do can have a big impact…

Whilst walking to work this morning, I was met by a group of library workers who are on strike due to conflicts over pay. I feel sorry for them; to feel so undervalued that you choose to display your discontent in such a public manner must make your working day really difficult.

But this isn’t a post about politics, nor is it about pay. It’s about the small things we do that make employees and customers alike feel valued and appreciated.

Here at Quark, there are a few traditions which really add to the family atmosphere of the office. One example is the weekly Friday afternoon drinks and nibbles, where we finish what we’re doing around 4-4.30pm and stroll into Hans (the MD)’s office for a bit of relaxation and a chance to chat and unwind together. It’s a really nice opportunity to get to know people on a social level and has certainly been a benefit to me in particular as a newbie in the office.

Then there’s the coffee machine. A small addition, it’s really not much and can’t have been too much of an investment for the office either, but everyone loves taking advantage of the array of different coffees, teas and hot chocolates it makes – and it’s so much quicker than waiting around for the kettle to boil!

We also have a good supply of fruit and a regular supply of treats that everyone in the office gets to share. There’s really nothing nicer on a nice sunny day than getting the office wide email telling us strawberries and fruit bread are waiting for us in the kitchen and it gives a real boost to the day. And with my body struggling to cope with the changing temperatures here in Toronto, I’m loving the fact that there are Kleenex issues supplied for every employee!

All of these things are only very small and don’t require a big investment from the business. Though Quark is a business doing well, it seems to me that there is no reason that even businesses struggling in the current climate can’t set aside a small pot each week to provide these little things for their employees that can really make a big difference. If we can provide small treats that make people feel special and encourage relaxation and chatting at an appropriate time, I believe we can create a nicer working atmosphere and a culture of communication and collaboration which can only help the business in the long run. Add this to the regular team meetings held at Quark and, in my opinion, you’ve got a recipe for a really satisfied workforce.

And it’s not just employees who benefit from small additions. I know from speaking to fellow grad Ben Cook that TCS Starquest offer small add ons for their customers on luxury trips, including pre-paid postcards at every destination and ‘spending money’ in the local currency. By adding these little treats and bringing an element of personalisation to the experience, I believe we can really add a lot of value for the customer without a great deal of investment on our part.

The experiences we have are not all about the money. They’re about the little things that make us feel extra special. I really hope I can carry that philosophy throughout my career and hopefully encourage the use of some of Quark’s little treats in the other placements I undertake.

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Ben describes his challenging experience of moving to a new city, finding somewhere to live and launching an exciting new business in North America.

Views like this make going to work a lot less painful...

Life

Moving to Seattle was an exciting prospect: from Starbucks, Microsoft and Boeing to Pearl Jam, Nirvana and Jimi Hendrix to mountains, ocean and microbrews – it seemingly had everything – even Amazon.com!

Although I was sad to leave my friends and beloved pet sharks (RIP George) in London behind, I love a good adventure and the excitement that comes with visiting a new place.

The first week was wild. I slept in the basement apartment of one of our colleagues’ houses, along with another TUI Grad (Ben Ireland), a professional American football player (Brian), and a genius IT wizard straight out of Silicon Valley (Erik). The apartment was small and bedding was sparse. We took it in turns to sleep in the laundry room, the closet and the “art room”, which was interesting to say the least. However, fortunately (thanks initially to my jet lag and then to our nights out in Seattle) I slept like a baby on the hard floor. Then suddenly everybody left.

After only a week, Ben went back to England for training, Brian was extradited to Canada (even Stanford alumni struggle to get a visa for the US nowadays) and Erik flew back to Cal for some sunshine, so I was left alone. Life immediately got a lot quieter and became far more challenging that I had anticipated. Work was fine, finding my way to the office was a daily challenge (until I got my American sim card and was able to use Google maps) and getting into a normal routine was tough.

Fortunately I did eventually sort myself out with a house, gym membership and social life, which combined to help me find my feet and enjoy Seattle once more.

Work

Work has been a lot of fun. I’m currently assisting with the launch of a new company called FanTravel (www.fantravel.com), a joint venture between TUI Travel and 2 former Stanford football players. We’re aiming to tap into the potentially huge market of travelling college (university) sports fans, as most American college football matches attract over 60,000 fans every week, some over 110,000!

I’m working with a small team in the TUI North America office in Seattle, Brian (currently in Canada) and Erik (in California). Due to our dispersed team, we’re forced to use innovative communication techniques. So in addition to the standard male grunts and mumbles, we also use Yammer (like a private Facebook for companies), Skype and Dropbox. These tools have been invaluable, enabling seamless workflow across states and time zones.

I’ve been tasked with creating a marketing plan, strategy and launching the brand. As I haven’t done much marketing before, this was quite a steep learning curve! However I think I’ve finally got my head around it and in a matter of weeks have created a solid brand strategy, style guide, marketing strategy, schedule and budget for the coming year. Now all I have to do is to do it!

So next is the exciting bit… I’ll soon be launching a Facebook competition, Facebook ads and PPC campaign in order to generate awareness of our new brand. Then we’ll be touring around the West Coast (visiting LA, Oregon, and Arizona) in order to meet our target market and promote the new company at the upcoming Spring Practice football games (which are a big deal over here; last year the University of Oregon game attracted 45,000 people!). This should be a lot of fun. I’m really excited about promoting our company that we’ve all been working so hard on to create. Of course, I’m also excited about experiencing American college culture (it is literally just like what you see in the movies…).

Play

Aside from work, I’ve been making the most of living within an hour from the mountains by going skiing as much as possible. Seattle is in a fantastic location, with the Cascade Mountains on one side and the Pacific Ocean on the other. It’s an outdoor enthusiasts dream and the standard uniform around here is a fleece jacket.

In fact, the fleece jacket represents Seattle pretty well: not good in wet weather but dries quickly, unfashionable but carefree as there’s so much more to life.

P.S.

This is my first post since Movember, during which I raised a total of £135 – Thank you. Thank you. Thank you! It was worth it in the end.

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The CN Tower - formally the world's tallest building

Laura explains her latest extra-curricular challenge…

Moving to a new country, making new friends, learning a new discipline, getting a new mentor, living in a new house, learning a new sport… it’s been a placement full of challenges so far and now I’m adding climbing the CN Tower to that list!

On April 21st, I will scale the dizzy heights of the CN Tower, formally the world’s tallest building, to raise money for WWF. I will have to climb 144 floors – that’s 1776 steps – quite a challenge!

But that’s what this graduate scheme is all about: challenges. It’s about pushing ourselves beyond our limits and getting the most out of every experience.

If you’d like to support me in my climb, please visit my sponsorship page; I only have to raise $75 so I’d love to smash that total.

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Benjamin fills us in on his number-crunching North-West placement…

There is nothing I like more than staring at maps. Unfortunately, during this placement I spend more of my time staring at maths. My project on this placement with Thomson Sport’s Official UEFA Euro 2012™ Accommodation Agency focuses on devising strategies to generate revenue from benefits in our supplier contracts. When I write ‘devising’, read ‘building’; when I write strategies, read ‘spreadsheets’.

My Workstation: calculator, Excel, mathematical workings, contract benefit list, model contract...

I’m now very familiar with the IF function, and now know how to use FLOOR, which is a bizarre name for rounding down to the nearest specified number. The advantage of these weird functions is that there’s a lot of money to be saved for the Accommodation Agency if I get the calculations right.

Manchester’s nice, the team is welcoming and friendly, and I only live a short drive from the Didsbury based office, in a southern suburb called Withington. My current housemates are two professionals, both called John, one who works in banking, the other in English teaching. I’ve been watching the numbers here too, inflicting a Lent diet on myself which involves abstaining from meat (fish is okay) and chocolate, swimming regularly, as well as counting the calories generally (“you’re turning into a girl”, says English teaching John – I have been gaining an insight into why choosing food is so difficult when you are considering price, calorific value, meat content…). Lent ends on my birthday, and my sister has promised me a meat platter to mark the occasion. Now it’s on the internet, she has to honour her promise!

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Let’s face it, no one really likes change…particularly when that change involves relocating from sunny Clearwater to a rather, well miserable, Crawley. However, once settled in my new South London flatshare, armed with a new winter coat, an abundance of scarves and an umbrella I felt more than ready to embrace the tail-end of the Great British winter.

I’m currently working on an operational efficiency project; evaluating the current booking terms and conditions of our Sector businesses, recognising that these are a means to protecting our revenue by ensuring correct cancellations fees and amendment charges are collected, ensuring that our Ts&Cs are fair to our customers, are in line with those of our competitors and are easy for our teams to understand and apply.

As someone who had never previously read a full set of terms and conditions – really who does? – I had no idea of the complexities that a business needs to consider (particularly some of our North American Education businesses!). And although it is a bit of a dry project, I am learning a lot about our portfolio of brands and the opportunities to ‘clean up’ some of our Ts&Cs and maximise our revenue in the process.

In more general terms, it has been really interesting to experience working at Sector level; torn between the financial demands of the TUI Group and the resource requirements of our Divisions and businesses is no plain sailing! Detachment from the brands, our products and most importantly our customers makes difficult decisions all the more challenging.

So it has been a bit of a culture shock to say the least but I am now settling into my new role in TTH and my new life in London (and I must admit my waistline has definitely benefited from being back in the UK!)

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Quark Expeditions office, Toronto

Laura explains that finance isn’t all about spreadsheets…

This past few weeks has been quite an experience. Not only have I moved to a new country that I’ve never been to before, I’m undertaking a placement that is potentially the most challenging I will do. And I’m loving every minute.

Before I got here, I thought finance was all about spreadsheets. Now, this is not to say my perception of this has changed that much – I do work with a lot of spreadsheets – but there’s also so much more to finance that I hadn’t really understood before.

Take, for example, the work I’ve been doing the past couple of weeks. By extracting data from the Quark reservation system (and putting it into spreadsheets), I was able to map exactly how the seasons of Antarctic 11/12, Arctic 11 and Arctic 12 sold from launch to season end, extracting further detail such as when the customers tended to book more expensive trips, how long their lead time was and how sales compared between ships and products. I then took all of this information and put it into the form of graphs and a report which give real clarity to each season and customer trends.

Now that’s all well and good – and plenty of spreadsheets – but it means something too. From this information, useful marketing data can be taken from which the marketing and sales teams can make better informed decisions on their activity but, perhaps more importantly, this data can be used to map out how we expect sales to progress next season and how we can push that further, but realistically, to create even better results. The season map I create will then be the basis of the whole sales season for Antarctic 12/13, Arctic 13 and Antarctic 13/14, including notation at various points which indicates what should happen in the event of sales falling above or ahead of target, and all coming together to form the budget for the year – all pretty exciting stuff, all from “boring” spreadsheets!

I’m learning that finance is atool – it guides the business and ensures everything stays on track. As my line manager Edwin tells me, we can tell them what they need to do but not how to do it – which is a fantastic way of understanding not only how finance works but how it fits in to the business as a whole. Understanding spreadsheets is one thing (and no doubt my new-found Excel skills will be incredibly useful in the future) but it is the communication and impact of the messages therein that really make a difference.

And if I’ve learned this much already, I can’t wait to see how much I learn by the end of the placement. Watch this space!