First, Dubai, next Colombia

I'm in Dubai, getting ready to teach another round of the CEM Certification course that I've put together with my GCCRM global partners (see the link on the right). We've got folks from automotive, pharma, banking, hospitality -- it's going to be great, and a terrific opportunity to do cross-cultural strategizing with the people here in attendance.

We're staying at the Crowne Plaza Dubai, which is a popular stop for the local government folks every Thursday, and which sports Irish, Italian and Polynesian food. There's even a McDonalds on the first floor. (You can bet I'm photographing their merchandising on a break. I took a bunch of pics of Burger King when I was in Montreal -- that's worth a couple of blog postings by itself!) My colleague Sampson does a touchpoint/brand value assessment of McDonalds and Burger King in the course. It's fascinating.

Check out the May 20-21 lineup for a customer experience global summit here. We've got a terrific front-line team! And I've put together a private blog for all attendees. We hope to have over 100 in attendance, which should make for an invigorating session, and a blog with some staying power. (You need a high number of blog readers to ensure sustainability. The number varies with the blog's focus and the level of topical concern of the audience, so you can't generalize. If we get between 20 and 40 registered bloggers, we'll be good.)