A Hospital’s Hand-y Hygiene Hint

We have had a lot of fun this past week celebrating Bathroom Blogfest. Bloggers from around the globe have written about the importance of bathrooms in the customer experience and shared many different points of view. I can imagine also that our customers appreciate when we offer an easy solution to their need to go… when all they need to go do is wash their hands!

Just when are the common sense times to clean our hands? Examples according to the Soap and Detergent Association: after using the bathroom, after coughing or sneezing into our hands, before food preparation and when we eat, after changing diapers, after petting your dog or cat, and after taking out the trash.

So your customers may not be taking out the trash but I wonder if they might see you, the proprietor, do that or maybe even pet the cat? And just sometimes, it is not completely convenient for our customers to have to go, all the way to the restroom, to take care of a little hand cleanup. Now of course, you can imagine that.

A perfect example of how to help everyone have clean hands is often set by hospital staff. In particular, how about these rapping nurses in Boston hospitals where creative hand-washing campaigns have recently launched?

Make your customer’s experience simple and safe. Of course you need a glorious bathroom facility. But your patrons will thank you profoundly when the hand sanitizer is readily available and easily found.

Thank you Kaboom, for your inaugural sponsorship and a very special thanks to C.B. Whittemore at Flooring The Consumer and Simple Marketing Blog for your outstanding leadership of a most successful event!

You’ve Got a Mystery on Your Hands

You've got a mystery on your hands

H1N1 may be a Novel Virus but separate the Fiction from the Non-Fiction and get the facts. Hand washing prevents the spread of germs.  Encourage your customers and staff with these helpful hand washing posters available from Yale University Emergency Management.

Improve your customer experience by following the 2009 Bathroom Blogfest posts on their Facebook Fan Page and via Twitter @BathroomBlogfes to “Flush The Recession & Plunge Into Forgotten Spaces”.

Flush The Recession & Plunge Into Forgotten Spaces

From Behind Closed Doors, Writers Direct Their Expertise to the Topic as
BATHROOM BLOGFEST 2009 Welcomes Its First Sponsor

Kinnelon, NJ – The 2009 Bathroom Blogfest, now in its fourth year, brings together 20 bloggers from the U.S., Canada, the UK and India posting on some aspect of the theme: “Flush the Recession and Plunge Into Forgotten Spaces.” A blogfest gathers writers who direct their posts around a single subject while making the subject relevant to their readers. Between October 26 and 28, these experts in marketing, customer experience and service, public relations, library sciences, life, retail—toilets and bathrooms—will call attention to improving the overall bathroom experience.

“Kaboom, the Blogfest’s first sponsor, will play a part in some of the blogs,” said Christine Whittemore, who manages the Blogfest. “The brand is adventuresome and innovative, volunteering to take its chances with this social networking experience,” said the chief simplifier of Simple Marketing Now, Kinnelon, N.J. “Kaboom has sent its cleaning products to nine writers whom we expect to report on their findings. Some may also add Kaboom giveaways/contests to their coverage.”

Along with a sponsor, Whittemore added to this year’s initiative a Facebook Fan Page and way to keep up via Twitter @BathroomBlogfes. In addition, to monitor the conversation, photos and posts, look for the tag #ladiesrooms09 on flickr, del.icio.us, Technorati, Twitter and Google.

The Bathroom Blogfest began in 2006 as the brainchild of Stephanie Weaver, Experienceology author and consultant, and Susan Abbott, a business consultant and consumer researcher in Toronto. “They wanted to generate awareness for bloggers passionate about the customer experience at a time when blogging was more experimental. The Bathroom Blogfest created a forum for focusing on spaces that are not a subject of conversation, which they should be,” added Whittemore.

Whittemore believes that today’s bloggers do it because it’s fun and they feel strongly about sharing their ideas for better bathroom experiences. She observes that retailers ignore the bathroom as a possible selling space and that most ignore it altogether. One of the bloggers added that it’s a way for her to potentially create more impact than she might with a single post while it introduces her readers to both a new subject and community of bloggers.

For more information about the blogfest visit http://www.BathroomBlogfest.com or contact Whittemore at cbwhittemore AT SimpleMarketingNow DOT com. For information about Kaboom, visit http://KaboomKaboom.com.

Participating bloggers for the Bathroom Blogfest ’09 include:

• Susan Abbott at Customer Experience Crossroads
• Reshma Anand at Qualitative Research Blog
• Shannon Bilby at From the Floors Up
• Shannon Bilby and Brad Millner at My Big Bob’s Blog
• Laurence Borel at Blog Till You Drop
• Jeanne Byington at The Importance of Earnest Service
• Becky Carroll at Customers Rock!
• Leslie Clagett at KB Culture
• Katie Clark at Practical Katie
• Iris Shreve Garrott at Checking In and Checking Out
• Julie at Julie’s Cleaning Secrets Blog
• Marianna Hayes at Results Revolution
• Maria Palma at People To People Service
• Professor Toilet at Professor Toilet’s Blog
• David Reich at My 2 Cents
• Bethany Richmond at The Carpet and Rug Institute Blog
• Carolyn Townes at Becoming a Woman of Purpose
• Stephanie Weaver at Experienceology
• C.B. Whittemore at Flooring The Consumer and Simple Marketing Blog
• Linda Wright at Lindaloo.com: Build Better Business with Better Bathrooms

Who Will You Vote For?

So.  Just for a few moments.  Imagine you can see inside these homes.

Watch the elderly lady who lives alone waiting for a ride to her doctor’s appointment today.

See the child who struggles to make a good grade in school this year.

Worry about the family whose dad got laid off last month.

Rejoice with the mother of three who finally got her GED.

Wonder at the smiles on the faces of the teenage couple, just married, about to become parents next spring.

Photo slide-show by Kittie55 / Kittie McMillan © All rights reserved

Be fearful of the temptations of dependence, depression and thievery that haunt the safety and security of neighborhoods like these every week.

Please click on this amazing photo, shared on flickr by Kittie McMillan, for anothe view of the Shotgun Houses slide-show.

Imagine you can see the people inside these homes.

Then consider, if you will, how Election 2008 will truly affect them.  And finally, make sure you remember someone besides yourself when you vote on November 4.

I know that is what my daddy would have wanted me to do.

When You Care Enough to Clean the Very Best

Does your business hire a housekeeper?  Maybe you employ a maintenance crew.  Does anyone still have janitors?

No matter what you call your clean-up crew, they have to truly care about what they do.

Clean-up crew by Xanboozled / xan latta Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike

Hands-down, the very best housekeeper we ever had at work was a retired school janitor.  She took everything personal.  It mattered to her that the windows were finger-print free and that the bathrooms smelled of citrus cleaner no matter what time of day you visited.

Outside trash receptacles were not just emptied but cleaned daily.  Ashcans were swiped to a shine and no butts were left to linger at curbside either.

Oh! the joy of dispensers always fully stocked with soap and toilet paper.  You know what I mean?  Surely you do if you have ever visited a ladies room to find only a shred remaining on the roll of TP.

It is wonderful to have lovely designed facilities but more heavenly to find them immaculately clean.  Thanks to those housekeepers, maintenance crews, and janitors who care enough to make a sparkling difference that can be seen!

Follow this year’s official, Bathroom Blogfest Community as we celebrate Bathroom Blogfest ‘08 – Cleaning Up Forgotten Spaces Around Us!  Consider the customer experience and all of those forgotten spaces that need cleaning up, including the bathrooms.

Bathroom Blogfest

Susan Abbott at Customer Experience Crossroads
Katia Adams at Transcultural Marketing
Shannon Bilby at Floor Talk!
Laurence Borel at Blog Till You Drop
Jo Brown and the blogging team at Kohler Talk
Lisbeth Calandrino at Lisbeth Calandrino
Sara Cantor at The Curious Shopper
Becky Carroll at Customers Rock!
Katie Clark at Practical Katie
Iris Shreve Garrott at Circulating
Ann Handley at Annarchy
Marianna Hayes at Results Revolution
Elizabeth Hise and C.B. Whittemore at The Carpetology Blog
Maria Palma at Customers Are Always
Sandra Renshaw at Purple Wren
Kate Rutter at Adaptive Path
Claudia Schiepers at Life and its little pleasures
Carolyn Townes at Becoming a Woman of Purpose
Stephanie Weaver at Experienceology
C.B. Whittemore at Flooring The Consumer

Jeffries Assures Faces of Poverty Not Forgotten

This is an image that I need to remember… this is a child who needs to be remembered even more.

The Forgotten by LJ. ©All rights reserved

Photographer Lee Jeffries, via flickr, allows me to share the pain of poverty that instigates my tears and promises prayers for grace on this face of our world.  Please visit his amazing flickr photostream to know more faces of poverty in our world.

For additional inspiration to care and ways to act on poverty please visit this list of bloggers for Blog Action Day 2008 Poverty.

Blog Action Day 2008

Blog Action Day is an annual non-profit event that asks bloggers to simultaneously discuss a single issue each year on October 15th. The aim of the event is to trigger widespread discussion around a global issue through niche-focused articles that appeal to their respective audiences. The event began in 2007 when a group of bloggers asked each other, “What would happen if …?” and then decided to find out.

13 of the world’s 100 most popular blogs according to Technorati.com have agreed to participate in Blog Action Day this year, including TechCrunch.com, Readwriteweb.com, Mashable.com, SmashingMagazine.com, Problogger.net, GigaOM.com, Copyblogger.com, ZenHabits.net, Inhabitat.com, VentureBeat.com, Mentalfloss.com, PronetAdvertising.com and TorrentFreak.com.

McNet Librarians Get Physical

McNet Librarians have once again out-performed themselves! This talented and fun-loving team were stars of the show during the Kentucky Library Association annual meeting’s “Out of the Stacks and Onto the Stage IV” KLA Talent Show.

A recent Los Angeles Times story reported on a Duke study that finds reading may be new way for tweens to slim down.  But leave it to these creative librarians to demonstrate working out with an encyclopedia and a computer mouse!

Representing the Paducah and McCracken County consortium of public, school and special libraries, the McNet Librarians getting physical are:

• Terri Kirk, Reidland High School
• Jennifer Wetzel, Hendron – Lone Oak Elementary
• Sheila Swab, Lone Oak Middle School
• Lisa Hughes, Heath High School
• Bobbie Wrinkle, McCracken County Public Library
• Brenda Metzger, Lone Oak High School
• Lynda Hiles, Graves County High School

The talent show was sponsored by the Special Libraries Section, KLA Recruitment, Mentoring and Diversity Committee, the African American Librarian & Library Employees Round Table, and KLDivERS of Kentucky Library Association.

Potty Propaganda

potty propaganda

Originally uploaded by circulating

I am traveling this week on the west coast, but wanted to kick off Bathroom Blogfest 2007 with a marketing piece from a trip to the east coast, Washington, D.C.

I must admit, it was my first pretense at potty photography. During a visit to the National Zoo, I visited their Ladies Room facility. Once tucked safely inside the stall I was truly shocked to find the Legend of Why the hippo spreads his poop…!!

Pretty neat marketing I think. A consumer in a private, confined space, is offered information, in a serious yet humorous way, about the company’s product.

I wonder what kinds of fun facts and fiction libraries could share behind their restroom doors?

The Public Library Potty Experience

Bathroom Blogfest logo, originally uploaded by circulating.

Just what does National Kitchen and Bath Month have to do with libraries…?? It is the perfect opportunity to showcase our exceptional library customer service via our public restroom facilities…!!

Come on now… you KNOW that “Do you have a bathroom?” is one of the most frequently asked questions we librarians are privileged to answer.

That alone should remind us to provide excellent service for our “users” (lol… pun intended). But do we consider our bathrooms when promoting library service? Do any of our patrons say “I can hold it until we get to the library!” just because they love the ladies room?

As part of Bathroom Blogfest, Helene, Katie, and I, at the least, are planning to join in as “bloggers from around the globe write about the importance of bathrooms in the customer experience with photographs of great and terrible bathrooms.” The blogfest runs from October 28 to November 2 this year.

Wanna help us out? Just tag your photos on flickr.com with library and ladiesrooms to share your stories of the public library potty experience!