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THE BUSINESS TRAVEL MAGAZINE I 39 The Review ➔ Return of The Badger


Badgers, Iron Maiden, panic buttons and slippers – welcome to The Alternative News page!


THE ALTERNATIVE NEWS


PANIC OVER AT PUSH OF BUTTON


WHO needs 999 and Superman when one company claims to have launched the first-ever panic button for British business travellers?


IMAGINE our delight when we recently received a call about past Apprentice runner-up Ruth Badger and her new line of work, motivational speeches. Who could possibly forget ‘The Badger’ and her unique approach to doing business? She went on to front her own TV show, Badger or Bust, and attract legions of fans, including celebrities such as footballer Phil Neville and Timmy Mallett (at least that's what that oh-so 'reliable' source of information, Wikipedia, claims).


Phil and Timmy will undoubtedly


be over the moon, therefore, to hear that bookers of events at the Hilton London Metropole and the Hilton Birmingham Metropole hotels can now secure The Badger to share her expertise on giving the perfect speech. “Ninety per cent of all my bookings are generated from a recommendation, which verifies that audiences enjoy my speeches,” Badger humbly claims. “Many conference organisers ask me how to create the wow


CAPTAIN BRUCE TAKES TO THE SKIES


factor at an event. My advice is getting a great speaker and a breathtaking venue as the memory will be lasting for the delegates,” adds The Badger. Among her pearls of wisdom


for speakers are to ‘demonstrate energy and use expressions‘, to ‘plan a route map for your speech’, to ‘jump around, not physically, but in your speech’, and to ‘push the audience and ask yourself why they have come to listen’, of which, presumably, she has plenty of experience from which to speak.


Although we had visions of a somewhat inconspicuous giant red button attached to a lanyard, we’re assured that Skyguard’s new emergency response button can easily be attached to keyrings and also comes as a BlackBerry app. When activated, an alert goes directly to Skyguard’s Incident Management Centre where staff can locate the victim, listen in, talk back if safe to do so, and call emergency services. We envisage numerous boardroom discussions on what exactly constitutes an emergency, but we on the


TBTM team eventually decided that not being able to find the trouser press and needing help locating the nearest source of Berocca are not cause for hitting the panic button.


The service is currently live across 34 European countries, the Russian Federation and South Africa, and costs from £29.95 a month.


DON'T FORGET YOUR SLIPPERS!


SILVER Travel Advisor, which offers 'personal advice for mature travellers' has proved that it doesn't take itself too seriously by issuing some interesting packing advice. On its list of essential items for


WHATEVER happened to the days when rock singers threw TVs out of windows? Iron Maiden's Bruce Dickinson


has certainly settled nicely into middle age by flying the band's Boeing 757 on scheduled services for Iceland Express. “I think it is very cool that the colours of the Iron Maiden livery have stayed on the plane, which of course was named Ed


Force One by our Iron Maiden fans,” says Captain Dickinson. Iceland Express managing director Mattias Imsland adds, ”We're extremely pleased that Iceland Express is associated with such an amazing band. They formed over 30 years ago, have held around 2,000 concerts worldwide and sold about 80 million copies of their albums.”


older travellers it includes flight compression socks, for wrapping around bottles of duty free; haemorrhoid cream, to conceal late night bags under the eyes; passport, in case you're ID checked in the local clubs; a compass, to help find your way home again; wet wipes, for cleaning red wine stains off the hotel bedroom carpet; slippers, to help you look eccentric and make all kinds of unreasonable demands; and a walking stick, ideal for jumping airport queues. ”We came up with our mature travellers' packing list to make the


point that older people are travelling further than any generation before them, they are active, and just want to have fun,” says Silver Travel Advisor's managing director, Debbie Marshall. ”Today's mature traveller is far more likely to pack a Rough Guide and a pack of malaria pills than the stereotypical comfortable shoes and cardigans that they were once associated with.”


46 I THE BUSINESS TRAVEL MAGAZINE 54


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