Guest Blog: Birmingham - Secret Magic And How They Won Me Over

Today we'd like to introduce the next guest blog in our new mini series: Remembering 2010 Travels. Our fourth guest blogger is Chris Brogan is president and CEO of Human Business Works (humanbusinessworks.com), a company providing business systems for small businesses. He lives on airplanes but does his laundry in northern Massachusetts.

When I first started traveling all over the US, I went to the obvious places a business person would go: New York, San Francisco, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles. As time went on, and as my own business focus changed, I found myself taking the flights less traveled. I went to Madison and Memphis and Milwaukee along that road. But one place that really knocked my socks off (and don't worry - they manufacture socks there) was Birmingham, Alabama.

MY PRE-CONCEIVED NOTIONS
If I asked you what you thought about when you think about Birmingham, and you were really honest, we both have a sense of what you'd answer, wouldn't we? When I thought of Birmingham, what I thought was that it was a place that had a past of racial strife. Beyond that, I thought "southern" and I thought "not likely very techy-nerdy" (which is a good thing sometimes, as it's easy to burn out on tech stuff). What I found instead was something altogether different.

BIRMINGHAM IS ABOUT GROWTH AND REBIRTH
One thing that excites me about Birmingham is that it's a place in transit. The past was iron and iron ore, and in a lot of ways, Birmingham is an echo of Pittsburgh from the economic and industrial perspective. It went through this incredible pop-up experience of being not much of anything to being a huge industrial hub, and then in a short amount of time, it imploded when steel went elsewhere, and is now in that sweet spot of realizing that steel's not coming back, but that there's a lot that makes Birmingham inviting and gorgeous.

My guide to Birmingham was one Merrill Stewart of Stewart Perry. He came to my office quite far north of Boston and asked me to come and speak at an event, but more so, to come and experience a city he loved. It was Mr. Stewart's passion that excited me into going, and it was his engagement with so many people and places throughout the city of Birmingham that made me a huge fan.

The railroad park area of the city is a perfect example of it. I had the pleasure of meeting the people behind making this park a reality, and what it symbolizes will be quite different (and yet vital) to many segments of people in the room. When I visited, I saw what excites me most in architecture: adaptive reuse (words that I never knew existed until Merrill Stewart turned me on to their value in the green building world). Imagine a bunch of green land with gorgeous open area architecture mixed with all kinds of brick buildings that have been reborn as lofts and retail space, and the like.

BIRMINGHAM IS ABOUT ENGAGING PEOPLE
There's a college/learning vibe to the city, fueled in part by the university right downtown and its commitment to many subjects (their medical program is top notch, for instance). I met with a bunch of the new media types: the bloggers and Twitter types and podcasters, plus I met with the people who drive the economic levers in the city, including the Birmingham Business Alliance. Between these two groups, I got the sense that Birmingham is a city full of engaging people with ideas about growth and renewal.

Alan Hunter, one of the original MTV video jockeys, runs Hunter Films from there. He and I bumped into each other while I was out with Sarah Robinson for coffee, and this experience, running into someone I'd met the night before at a really hip coffee place inside a reconditioned building, is one snapshot in my mental photo album of what makes Birmingham a lot more cool than I'd imagined.

WHAT BIRMINGHAM GAVE ME
I'm wearing my "It's Nice to Have You In Birmingham" tee shirt while I write this. It was a gift from Andre Natta, someone who also adds to this feeling of Birmingham being all about engagement and the future. The folks at Holland and Holland advertising gave me a book full of historical and current delightful things to know about Birmingham. Besides the giant iron railroad spike that caused me some trouble at the airport, the gift was a really wonderful way of giving me a time machine on the Magic City. Oh, and they gave me some great Skana socks, made in B'Ham. (See? I told you it was okay that my socks were knocked off.)

But beyond those kinds of gifts, what I got from Birmingham was a passion to fly and discover the places that are reinvesting in themselves, the cities and towns that are rebuilding out of an old economy into a new one. And for that, I'm forever grateful for my trip to Birmingham, Alabama.

Have you ever, like Chris in his visit to Birmingham, visited a city that unexpectedly caught you by surprise when you arrived? Does Chris' experience in Birmingham inspire you to visit the city? Or, have you visited Birmingham and had an similar experience as described by Chris?

Air Travel, Socially Speaking with @flyingwithfish

Introducing the 4th guest post in this new fly HIA blog mini-series, a discussion on how social media has altered the way we travel. Today's guest blogger is Steven Frischling

is an airline and aerospace focused emerging media consultant, building and deploying strategies for airlines, aircraft manufacturers and the travel industry. He writes Flying With Fish a blog that has somehow managed to evolve into something far beyond what it was planned to be.

I sat down to write about travel and the importance of social media a few days ago. Once I finished the piece I realized I had over analyzed what I had written like is often done when pitching a corporation rather than having a conversation about the subject as a whole.

Others in this series by Harrisburg International Airport's series on social media has transforming how we travel have discussed the tools of social media. Tools, such as Twitter, Facebook, FourSquare, Blogs, etc etc etc, are important, they are not what makes social media … connecting and engaging is what makes social media effective.

Since HIA is hosting this series, I am going to focus on airports.

Most people never view an airport as a business. An airport to most travelers is a building, with some runways, gates and it’s a place you go through, but it is not generally viewed as a business. Airports need passengers to survive, especially airports that compete with other airports for traffic.

Where I live, the closest airport to my house lost its last airline in 2004 when US Airways Express terminated the service. The airport I prefer to use, Tweed-New Haven Airport (HVN), has now been left with a single airline, US Airways Express, since Delta Air Lines pulled out in 2006. These airports are fighting for passengers and their survival against larger airports such as Hartford's Bradley Airport (BDL) and Providence's TF Green Airport (PVD) … and in turn TF Green fights for passengers with Bradley Airport and the much larger Boston Logan Airport (BOS).

To compete, airports must find out the needs of their passengers, not only those in the 'home area' but also those coming to their region. social media opens up a whole new door for airports to explore travelers, build relationships with those who use or may use their facility, and improve the overall travel experience. I have often wondered if my 'home airport' would have a larger passenger base if they actively sought out passengers, recruiting them away from Hartford, Providence and White Plains (HPN). Frequently when speaking with travelers in my area I am met with "New Haven still has an airport?"

So how does an airport using social media change the travel experience? From the outset it is proactive. It puts the airport into a conversational space where they are able to alert travelers to their presence and recruit passengers for them.

While smaller, regional airports such as Harrisburg, Akron-Canton (CAK), Charlottesville (CHO) and Dallas Love Field (DAL) are able to connect with regular travelers, turning locals into brand ambassadors… larger airports that often seen as the 'large faceless corporations' of the airport world are also doing an excellent job in engaging.

For me a major airport that is shaping the way social media should be used by major global hub airports is London's Heathrow Airport. Heathrow Airport is a massive airport with airlines from every inhabited continent and yet those involved with Heathrow's social media are able to connect, be helpful and at times even playful with their passengers … all while helping build the airports brand image in, a city with five international airports, along the way.

A recent experience that brought a smile to my face upon landing at Heathrow and receiving a message saying "Welcome to Heathrow! There are Crunchie bars waiting for your at WH Smith." While this may seem odd … a few hours earlier, while boarding a flight to London Heathrow I sent a message out on Twitter saying I was on a certain British Airways flight to Heathrow and I couldn't wait to pick up a Crunchie Bar … the folks at Heathrow timed their message to when they knew my plane was at the gate.

Airports are the gateway to a region and an airport's ability to create content and interact with passengers directing them to hotels, restaurants, attractions, allows for an interactive opening with the social media programs in place by tourism boards, local attractions and the chambers of commerce. This flow of conversation gives travelers’ access to instant local insights and suggestions … something that never happened during the planning and transit stages of travel before.

Social media has allowed airports to become full partners with the airlines and those who support travel to a region in being proactive and reactive to travelers needs. Social media has opened the floodgates for airports to become competitive in recruiting and retention or passengers from not only the local population, but also those who visit. Social media has finally allowed airports to explore new revenue streams and have a voice of their own, not the voices of others around them speaking for them.

For airports … social media has been a fundamental game changer for their benefit and the travelers who use them.

Happy Flying!

Have you had an airport engage you on Twitter? Which airports do you fly to/from aren't using social media, but you wish they did?