If you’ve been reading this blog, Training That Sticks, you may notice that, usually once a month, we have a different department employee from Signature Worldwide contributing an article. Our goal is to give people a glimpse into the inner workings of a training organization. We try to answer some of the most frequent questions we get with these articles. For example, everyone always wants to know what it is like to be a Signature trainer, so we asked Norma Jarman to write an article and let everyone in on that lifestyle choice. And we thought people might find it interesting that when we do mystery shopping, we have different people making the shopping calls vs. scoring the shopping calls so we wrote about that.
But finally, it was my turn. I had asked pretty much every one else in the organization to contribute and eventually they noticed that I hadn’t really written anything about what I do here at Signature for this blog. Technically, I am in sales. And sometimes I think it would actually be fun to write about that – and you might even find it fun to read about it. But, not today. Today, I decided to write about another aspect of what I do here at Signature, which is that I am one of those people who find new stuff for us to do.
I love new apps and new technology. I cannot lie, for the most part I just waste a lot of my time figuring out what they do. By the time I have mastered them, I realize they are not all that interesting and I just move on to the next one. However, every once in a while I stumble on one that I really like and I feel like it might have some application for either the training or hospitality world, so I explore it a little further. Sometimes, I hold on to them for far too long…like Foursquare. As soon as they stopped having mayors I should have dropped Foursquare, but, still, I check in on the app out of some odd loyalty.
I have found one app recently that I think is worth some further investigating. It’s called Periscope and it is brought to you by the fine folks at Twitter. I admit, I have mixed feelings because first there was something very similar and exciting, called Meerkat. Since Twitter has released their own version, everyone seems to have abandoned Meerkat and gone to Periscope, but in truth, both are very cool.
So, what is Periscope exactly and why would you care? It sounds a little bit crazy but Periscope allows anyone to live stream video to the Twitter universe and then save that video. As you are streaming, or broadcasting your video live, anyone who wants to can watch that video stream, ‘like’ it by just tapping their screen or comment on it live. Which means total strangers can watch your videos and have conversations with other total strangers about it. How great is that? And not just the strangers that you follow or follow you on Twitter, but anyone on Twitter!
Not seeing the point yet? How about this? I happen to love the series Breaking Bad and my favorite character was Jesse, who is played by actor Aaron Paul. I follow Aaron Paul on Twitter because, well, why not? I was sound asleep a few nights ago when my phone beeps at 2AM because Aaron Paul is broadcasting live on Periscope from his house. Of course I log on to watch and sure enough, there he is, in his house, showing us all around and introducing us to some guy who is at his house playing acoustic guitar and singing. I mean, really, how awesome is that?
Still not sold? If you are in the hotel business, I think there really is a legitimate reason to check it out. There are really quite a few possibilities to use Periscope. Is your property in a destination location? Show off your property with a live walking tour. Are you steps away from the Magic Kingdom? Make a video and stream it of a group of guests walking from your front door to the gates and heading in to have a great day. Are you having a special event at your hotel? Promote that you will be live streaming it on Periscope and people can join in the fun by watching and commenting on it. Set up a webcam in your lobby and let your guests wave hello to their family and friends via Periscope – what a fun experience that would be!
Did I mention it was completely free? All it will cost you is a little time to check out. And don’t be surprised if you start to see Periscope being used here in some capacity at Signature, or in your next training class!
Update – Hilton Worldwide has already jumped on the Periscope bandwagon – check out how they used it here – http://news.hiltonworldwide.com/index.cfm/newsroom/detail/28573