To view the photos from the tour please click here>

 

Some interesting stats about Turkey

• population of 73+ million
• 60% of the population under the age of 35
• approx 450,000 students graduatd from around 150 universities and other higher education institutions in 2009
• 30+ million internet users
• 43 airports
• 63 million mobile phone subscribers
• between 2002 and 2009 GDP increased 169%
• average of 6 days to start a business

 

 

Day 5 Sunday 27 March 2011

• Feeling much better today, over the worst of the man flu! Just in time for the 24hr flight home :)
• Another sunny day in Istanbul. Have been blessed with great weather this trip.
• Headed to the area where the famous mosques, the St Sophia and Blue Mosque are located.
• Jumped in a cab to come back to the hotel and taxi driver tried to tell me a road was closed and it would cost around 50 TR to drive me back to the hotel. Nice try, given it was on 20 TR to get here! So I jumped out and took another cab back!
• I think daylight savings was suppose to start today here, it says so when I google it! but just found out that it has been pushed back 1 day! Let's hope my plane tonight is on the same timezone!
• Heading out now for a boat trip down the Bosphorus which I'm really looking forward to. I walked about 2kms along it last night but much easier by boat!
• What an amazing trip down the Bosphorus, took a 1hr boat trip, beautiful sunny, blue skies, some nice real estate along the waterway and many restaurants, Something to explore next trip!

 

 

Day 4 Saturday 26 March 2011

• OK, time to hit the shops!
• Evrim picked me up and we head for the largest shopping mall in Istanbul.
• One of the nicest mall I've been too! Even better than some of the Dubai malls!
• After 2 floors of shopping I started to hit the wall!
• Walked about 2kms along the Bosphorus strip and took in some of the beautiful restaurants along the foreshore, I realised the one we went to the night I arrived!
• Had dinner amongst the mayhem at the AutoCue (I'm sure I spelt that wrong!) People and cars everywhere! You really have to watch when you cross the roads here, it's worse than in Paris. But so far so good, I haven't seen anyone run over!

 

 

Day 3 Friday 25 March 2011

• Woke to a gorgeous sunny day which is great because the venue overlooks the sea so the views in the breaks and at lunch are going to be superb.
• Really looking forward to today. Evrim Kuran, a Gen Y expert  is speaking on employer branding and its relevance to Gen Y and the HR Director from Global Bilgi is giving a case study presentation on their employer branding strategy for Gen Y's.
• Cuneyt Evirgen, Head of Sabanci University's Executive Development Unit opened up the day and made me feel very welcome amongst an audience of around 100, made up of mainly HRD's and Senior HR managers from local and global brands. Surprised to see only 5 or so marketing senior managers in the room, I guess it's a sign of the emergence of employer branding in the Turkish market. If it follows the trend of other countries I'd expect to see many more marketing amd comms managers becoming involved in employer branding in the next 1-2 years here.
• I opened up the masterclass with a 2hr session on employer brand strategic management, building a business case and global trends. Evrim them took the stage, very engaging speaker and the fact she spoke in English (she is Turkish!) was even testament to her ability.
• Had lunch with two execs from TNT, both whom had been there 20+ years, really interesting discussions, facing similar challenges to execs in other countries re: trying to attract and retain the best.
• I finished the day up with case studies of how companies were implementing their employer brand strategy and key focus areas for the future.
• After a 5.30am wake up I had very little left in the gas tank at the end of the day!
• Went to a lovely restaurant with Evrim and her husband that was tucked away off the main street close to my hotel, I don't know how they actually find these spots! The view was superb and a great way to finish the day with some great food and fine wine.

 

Day 2 Thursday 24 March 2011

 

 

• Spent a great day with Evrim Kuran, Director one of our event partners in Turkey will also be joining me at the Employer Branding & Generation Y mastercass in Istanbul tomorrow as a guest speaker.
• Had lunch at the Sabanci University with the Executive Development Unit faculty and met the team who have been driving the campaign for the masterclass over the past couple of months. They've achieved a fantastic result with more than 100 registered for the masterclass.
• Went on a guided tour of the University campus, it's the largest private University in Turkey and has some of the best facilities I have seen at a University. The Knowledge Centre (aka library) has an amazing ambience (and view!) and the campus also includes accommodation for 2000 students, movie theatre, drama theatre, basketball courts, full equipped weights and carido gym, massive lunchroom, man made lake, etc, etc The list goes on! They are also in the final stages of an impressive multi million dollar nanotechnology research centre.
• Visited the venue for tomorrow's masterclass. What an outstanding facility. The foyer has an amazing view over the sea so you actually feel like you're on a boat. Everyone of the chairs is in a different color and the walls and roof are black which along with the lighting provides an interesting mix of colors. Can't wait for tomorrow. Keen to get a good nights sleep to shake of a man flu I bought with me from Australia. Thanks to Evrim I found a chemist and have dosed up to get myself right for tomorrow.

 

 

Day 1 Wednesday 23 March 2011

• Arrived in Istanbul to be greeted at the airport by two friendly hosts, between us all I think we understood one word - Hello! But we still managed to talk in Turkish and English and wondered what we were all taking about! However there are two languages that are universal, the Smile and the Handshake! so we did alot of that!
• Took in some great views of Doha on the way to Istanbul, interesting city, rising out of the desert.
• The sunrise into Istanbul was pretty special!
• Great to be back in Istanbul, perfect sunny day today and the view across the water is amazing. I had lunch at a lovely cafe by the water.  I was here in 2009 but only for two days so I intend to take in as much of Istanbul I can on this trip.
• Checked in around 2pm to the hotel which is by the water and right in a shoping hotspot, very Turkey! great choice by our hosts.
• Wondering whether to try and get some sleep before dinner engagement tonight or go out and see some of Istanbul. I choose a hybrid model, ventured down to the water and settled on a double expresso at Starbucks, it hit the spot.
• Went to sleep and luckily I woke up at 7pm as my alarm didn't go off! 30 mins to get organised for dinner!
• Went to dinner with the Cuneyt Evirgen, Head of Sabanci University's Executive Development Unit at a beautiful seadfod restaurant. Had a lovely evening with some great discussion. 
• Looking forward to finally meeting Evrim Kuran in person after many calls on skype and phone over the past year!  Evrim is the Director of our other partners in Turkey, Dinamo Training and Consulting.
• BTW It's my mum's 77 birthday today! We had a lovely dinner on Sunday to celebrate it, happy birthday mum xx

 

Tuesday 22 March 2011

• Finalised preparation for Friday's Employer Branding & Generation Y masterclass in Istanbul.
• Didn't realise I had printed so much reading material for the plane trip! But with no where else to go on long haul plane trips I always find them useful to catch up on reading and to do some planning for the next 6 months.
• It's around 25 hours door to door, so a full day break after I arrive in Istanbul will allow me to recharge for the full day event, though by about 3pm on the day of the event the batteries start to drain.  However the thrill of the experiences of being in a foreign country always provides the energy to get through the day!
• Flying Qatar Airways which is a great way to fly, their service is amazing on all fronts, and flying 14hrs to the Middle East with short stopover on the connecting flight versus 7 hours and a long stop over in Singapore (I'm sure it's just to make you shop at the airport!) is a much better proposition when travelling to Europe. This will be one of 4-5 trips to Europe this year so I'm gald I've found a flight schedule and airline that works best for me!
• Picked my son up from school and headed straight to one of my favorite brands, McDonalds! Then spent the rest of the afternoon with my son trying to bowl him out in cricket whilst trying not to exert myself too much, nothing worse than a sore back at the start of a long haul light!

 

 

Monday 21 March 2011

 

• Finalised an Employer Brand Strategic Audit for a client I'm parterning with in the not-fot-profit aged care sector. Has been a really enjoyable project. Some amazing and inspiring stories shared by employees out in the field.
• Started packing today and will continue to do so over the next 24 hrs! I always seem to miss something even though I have a bullet proot checklist :)
• My head is really focused on the week ahead now, in full prepartion mode, I use visualisation techniques to walk me through the days ahead and the people whom I will meet, places I will visit, etc. I do alot of desktop research about the country before I depart. Makes it seem like I've been there before when I actually arrive!
• We have around 70 Turkish leaders already registered for the Employer Branding & Generation Y masterclass this week in Istanbul. Our partners ran ads in the newspapers last weekend so looks like we'll have 100+. Coming off the back of 200 delegates for my Moscow masterclass last month, our partners Sabanci University and Dinamo Training & Consulting have achieved a fantastic result  for the Turkey event. We have a great mix of leaders from local, national and global companies who will be attending. It's my second event in Istanbul and really looking forward to spending extra time in the country this trip and connecting with Turkish leaders from:

 

Jonhson&Johnson Henkel HSBC ING Bank Global Bilgi GSK Coca-Cola Company Kuveyt Türk Katilim Bankasii Borusan Holding

Migros Nestle Novartis Novartis Pharma Oyak Renault Sabanci Holding EnerjiSA Garanti Garanti Bankasi

Divan Efes Sandoz Aksigorta Is Bankasi Kibar Holding Akenerji Anadolu Grubu Avivasa

Arçelik Sabanci University TAV Teknosa THY TNT EXPRESS Tofai Ülker Yapi Kredi LCW

 

 

 

Sunday 20 March 2011

 

• Woke up at 6am (you can do that when you're in bed at 9.30pm on a Saturday night!) and did some desktop research on the companies who will be participating in the masterclass.
• I'm staying at a hotel by the Bosphorus in Istanbul which will provide some nice views!
• Spent the morning down with the kids playing cricket and football, they wore me out!
• Very quiet Sunday afternoon with mum who turns 77 on Wednesday but still has the evergy of a 30 year old!

 

 

Saturday 19  March 2011

 

• I've decided to start this tour blog a few days before I head out to provide some insights into my preparation for trips on my 2011 Employer Brand Global Tour. I try to keep a consistent preparation schedule, call me a traditionalist, but  there is a certain zone I need to get into with 20+ hours plane travel ahead and a full day masterclass with 100+ leaders whom I'm meeting for the first time.
• Having a hot stone massage today, previously I had one  when I arrived home but usually too jetlagged to enjoy them so have changed to having them before I fly out, usually 2-3 days before, really helps to relax me and ensures a couple of good nights of sleep before the trip.
• The week leading up to a trip is usually very hectic - this one moreso with tour events in New Zealand, Australian, Denmark, Belgium, Russia, Spain and Italy all coming up in the next 2 months.
• We have new partners in Turkey (Sabanci University and Dinamo Training and Consulting) and have been dealing with them virtually for the past 6 months. We completed an Employer Branding & Generation Y survey in Turkey late last year with Dinamo and this is our first event together in Turkey. We've had amazing suport from our partners and really looking forward to spending quality time with them this week. I've even agreed to go to dinner the evening I arrive which is usually set aside for sleeping!
• I've heard I'll be arriving in the middle of the Istanbul shoppingfest! One of the trade offs of travelling hey!