Ambassa-Shot # 2 revealed

Two alert Ambassablog readers, both of them Airport Authority employees, have correctly identified Ambassa-Shot #2, pictured here. Naty in Planning & Operations and Liz in Accounting revealed it is none other than Guillermo, an enormous freestanding sculpture of gleaming stainless steel by sculptor Steve Bartlett of San Francisco. Some refer to Guillermo by his nickname, Running Man, since he communicates a sense of urgent motion - perhaps a passenger hurriedly rushing through the airport to catch a flight. You will see Guillermo at the east end of Terminal 1, to the right as you approach the terminal. He is one of many unique works of public art at San Diego International Airport. Ambassa-Shot #3 is up now, at the bottom of the Ambassablog, along with a running archive of all Ambassa-Shots.

Who let these characters in the airport?

This fun video has been produced by San Diego International Airport to run at all terminal security checkpoints. It features TSA security screeners, travelers (and, well, you'll see who else) demonstrating important Department of Homeland Security rules that passengers should keep in mind to make their trip through the airport smoother. Click here to read more about the video.

Home Treat Alert! The multimedia feature above may not be accessible at work. But you can log on at home and check it out there!

Happy 4th!

As a special treat for the 4th of July, the Goodwill Ambassablog presents this YouTube video showing 4th of July fireworks over San Diego from the point of view of a passenger landing at Lindbergh Field in 2006.



[Home Treat Alert! The multimedia feature above may not be accessible at work. But you can log on at home and check it out there!]

Two new Ambassabloggers join the team

The Goodwill Ambassablog is proud to introduce two new Ambassabloggers to the team: Ed in the Airport Planning Department and Sjohnna in the Quieter Home Program (pictured here). They join the three existing Ambassabloggers and the Ambassablogmaster to give us six members of the Airport Authority's employee blogging team.

You'll be hearing from Ed an Sjohnna in future postings, as they bring new places, stories and faces to the Ambassablog.

Zoom Airlines reacquaints San Diego with London

It's been a long five years since San Diegans could fly nonstop between America's Finest City and London. But that came to an end today in resounding fashion, as San Diego International Airport welcomed this Zoom Airlines Boeing 767-300ER (above) with a special salute. The flight marked the resumption of twice-weekly service between San Diego and London (You might remember that British Airways used to fly this route nonstop.)

The Zoom service, along with each new international flight at SDIA, brings obvious convenience to business and leisure travelers, as well as big benefits to the region's tourism and other industries. Our thanks to Aaron in Facilities Development for snapping the awesome shots of the Zoom airplane.

[Home Treat Alert! The multimedia feature above may not be accessible at work. But you can log on at home and check it out there!]

New additions to the Ambassablog family

The Airport Authority recently held a So you think you can BLOG competition to find two employees to join Ryan, Mary and Dennise in the ranks of Goodwill Ambassabloggers. The auditions are over, and you will meet the two winners next week (as soon as we get their portraits to put up on the blog). We think you'll enjoy the unique perspectives they will be bringing to the blog.

New media in the old media

The Goodwill Ambassablog (new media) has been the subject of several newspaper articles (old media) over the last few weeks:

• The San Diego Business Journal covered it in a May 16 story headlined Blog Represents New Departure for Lindbergh Field Staff.

• Also on May 16, an article about the Ambassablog appeared in the Land, Sea, Air & Transit News section of the Daily Business Report of San Diego Metoropolitan magazine.
  

• San Diego's Daily Transcript published Airport authority launches employee blog on May 15 (you'll need an online subscription to the paper in order to read the full article).

• And the May issue of the Web Content Report, put out by Ragan Communications, featured the Ambassablog in an article titled Blogs: Even a government communicator can do it.

The stories appeared in both print and online versions. Since these publications have directed a fair amount of traffic our way, we thought it'd be nice to provide the links and return the favor by directing some of our visitors their way.

Introducing Ambassa-Shots

Close watchers of the Goodwill Ambassablog have noticed a new feature located at the very bottom of the blog: Ambassa-Shots. This section will feature spectacular photographs of life at San Diego International Airport sent in by airport employees and other Ambassablog readers.

We were inspired to start this new component of the Ambassablog by Joan-Marie, a member of the public whose home happens to command a bird's-eye view of Lindbergh Field. A self-described fan of the airport and of the Goodwill Ambassablog, she sent us an e-mail a few days back with some shots she took of the airport from her home, like the one above. She asked if we might feature them in the blog. They were such beautiful shots, we couldn't resist!

The Ambassa-Shots section will be updated intermittently with other shots sent in by our readers. Joan-Marie, thanks for motivating us to start a great new tradition at the Goodwill Ambassablog.

Making waves in employee communications

The Airport Authority's Goodwill Ambassador Program and Goodwill Ambassablog are making waves in the world of public agency employee communications. This week, Ambassablogmaster Steve presented a case study of the Ambassablog at the 6th National Forum on Strategic Internal Communications for federal, state and local government communicators. Part of the Advanced Learning Institute's Executive Training Series, the forum was held at the Loews Coronado Resort June 2-5.

The title of his presentation was Don’t Be Afraid of Employee Bloggers: How to Guide the Power of Employee Blogging to Engage Employees and Enhance Transparency - On A Shoestring Budget.

Attendees included communicators from the U.S. Air Force; Environmental Protection Agency; Washington State Attorney General's Office; Bonneville Power Administration in Portland, Oregon; Child Care Resource Center in Los Angeles; the City of Henderson, Nevada; and others. They were impressed with the success of the Goodwill Ambassador Program and the variety of posts from the Ambassabloggers and other features of the blog.

After hearing the Ambassablog case study, one forum attendee said she would be going back to her agency to start up an employee learning program modeled after our Goodwill Ambassador Program ... complete with a supporting employee blog.

And representatives from the Bonneville Power Administration (which is a federal agency under the U.S. Department of Energy) went a step further. They were so motivated by the story of the Ambassablog that they began devising plans to launch an employee blog of their own ... and they already have a name for it: the Bonne-Blog! We look forward to the day when the Bonne-Blog enters the blogosphere.

Employee blogging is still a new endeavor in the world of employee communications for many organizations. But examples like the Goodwill Ambassablog are leading the way in showing others just how easy, low-cost and effective it can be.

Transportation blogs take off

From time to time, we let Ambassablog readers know of cool new aviation- and transportation-related blogs appearing in the ... blogosphere. Two newcomers of note are:

• Fast Lane, the official blog of the U.S. Secretary of Transportation, Mary Peters, pictured to the right.

• Airport Check-In, a blog about airports by the president of Airports Council Internation-North America (ACI-NA), Greg Principato.

Fast Lane covers aviation issues, as well as the other facets of transportation under the domain of the U.S. Department of Transportation, such as shipping, rail and highways. It's a great resource to keep abreast of major transportation issues across the nation and across many industries.

Airport Check-In, on the other hand, is all about airports. It just kicked off this month, and we look forward to more great posts like the first one about how airports have become the new "town halls" of the 21st Century. We're thrilled that Airport Check-In chose to list the Goodwill Ambassablog as one of its first examples of airport employee blogs.

These blogs and several others related to aviation are conveniently listed in the "Brother Blogs" and "Other Aviaton-Related Blogs" sections over in the right-hand sidebar of the Goodwill Ambassablog. "Brother Blogs" are ones most similar to the Ambassablog, in that they are blogs by rank-and-file employees. These include employee blogs at other airports, airlines and the Transportation Security Administration. They feature continually updated live feeds showing their most recent postings.

The blogs listed in the right-hand sidebar can be a convenient way to stay informed about what's going on in our industry and gain a deeper understanding of what employees at other agencies and companies are doing and thinking.

So it seems that transportation blogs have been cleared for takeoff ... and are already flying high!

Cyclists step forward

OK, we promised to give some recognition to the Airport Authority employees who let us know they rode their bikes to work on -- you guessed it -- Bike to Work Day 2008, which took place last Friday, May 23. And here they are:

• Amiel - Landside Operations Department


• Brett - Airport Planning Department (pictured above with the green bike)


• Diann – Training & Organization Development


• Gary - Facilities Development Department

• John - Facilities Maintenance Department

• Marion - Environmental Department

• Paul - Airport Planning Department (pictured above with the red bike)

• Paul - Environmental Department

• Ray - Facilities Maintenance Department

• Richard - Environmental Department

• Randy - Quieter Home Program

• Scott - Office of the Chief Auditor

• Sjohnna - Quieter Home Program

Check the comments section in the earlier post about Bike to Work Day for some great stories of employees' two-wheeled journeys to and from work that day, like this one:

"My bike is the blue recumbent parked next to Scott's in the picture. I also rode from Lemon Grove, but unlike Scott, this was my first attempt. The ride into work took one hour, five minutes and was pleasant in the cool morning air. The ride back home was not so pleasant. The climb back up to Lemon Grove's elevation in 85-degree heat made the ride quite challenging, although it only took 10 minutes longer. I arrived home fully spent, but I made it! I am planning on doing this more often!" -- Gary (Facilities Development Department)

Bikes Ahoy!

Today is Bike to Work Day 2008, and Airport Authority employees responded in greater numbers than ever before, as evidenced by this photo montage of bikes parked at the West Wing next to the Commuter Terminal (where many Airport Authority employees work) and the former Teledyne Ryan -- or TDY -- property (where the Airport Authority's Environmental Department is located). Our thanks to Marion in the Environmental Department for providing such a cool photo. If one of the bikes above belongs to YOU, you're invited to submit a comment below and let the Ambassablog's readers know what your bike ride to and from work was like today.

Canine Comforts

From today's San Diego Union-Tribune:

For more on this story, click here.

A two-hour tour ...

Free behind-the-scenes tours of San Diego International Airport offered by the Airport Authority have educated and entertained nearly 1,000 visitors since they started up last November. To those in the know, they are referred to as the Terminals to Tarmac Tours. It's easy to sign up for one: just click here.

And now, thanks to one tour-taker with an excellent photographic eye, you can see some of the many highlights of the tour over at www.airliners.net. Here's just one of his shots to whet your appetite.

¡Feliz Cinco de Mayo!

Enjoy these pictures (thanks Susanna!) of today’s Cinco de Mayo celebration in Terminal 2 West at San Diego International Airport. The talented dancers of Ballet Folklorico wowed the passengers. The event was part of the airport's live performing arts series, which highlights various cultural holidays throughout the year and provides live music on the second and fourth Friday of each month.

Cinco de Mayo celebrations commemorate an initial victory of Mexican forces led by General Ignacio Zaragoza Seguín over French forces in the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862. The date is observed in the United States and other locations around the world as a celebration of Mexican heritage and pride.

Click here for more about the fascinating history behind Cinco de Mayo, such as this airport-related (sort of) tidbit:

"In the Peñón de los Baños, a small barrio or neighborhood in Mexico City, very near the airport, the people organize a very popular representation of the Cinco de Mayo battle. This play is a tradition that the people of the Peñón have kept alive for many years. Some of the inhabitants play the French invaders and others the Mexican army."

¡Feliz Cinco de Mayo!

So this is how they're made ...

Here's a special treat for a Monday. Amazing sped-up, time-lapse footage on YouTube showing a Boeing 777 aircraft being assembled and then painted in Delta colors before flying off into the wild blue yonder. Delta Airlines, located in Terminal 2 West, is one of our major partners at San Diego International Airport. It really makes you think about what goes into the construction of such a complex machine. Oh, and the video has some cool music to boot. Thanks to aviation blog Aircrew Buzz for bringing this to our attention.

Home Treat Alert! The multimedia feature below may not be accessible at work. But you can log on at home and check it out there!

Not alone any more

The world of airport employee blogs is a pretty small one. In fact, we used to think that San Diego International Airport's Goodwill Ambassablog was the only airport employee blog ... anywhere! But just the other week, we got word of an employee blog at another airport - Springfield-Branson National Airport in Springfield, Missouri. Their employee blog is called Flight Blog and is moderated by Kent Boyd, public information and marketing manager for Springfield-Branson National Airport. The blogosphere thrives on cross-linking, so we are pleased to include a live feed of Flight Blog (featuring its two most recent posts) under our Brother Blogs section in the right-hand sidebar. There it joins live feeds from three other (so far) aviation-related employee blogs: the TSA's Evolution of Security, Southwest Airlines' Nuts About Southwest and Delta Air Lines' Under the Wing. (OK, so we're still the only employee blog - that we know of - at an international airport.)

Daughters and sons and airports

San Diego International Airport participates each year in the Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day. This year on April 24 we tried something a little different. We wanted the kids to have fun, while at the same time learn something about what makes an airport operate.

Their morning was filled with a Scavenger Hunt. Each team was given a list of 75 questions or statements to complete. Part of their task was to create a photo journal of the hunt. The afternoon was spent creating this special web page in the 'Just For Kids' section of the airport's Web site. The children also created posts for the Goodwill Ambassablog, so they could share their feelings about how they spent the day at the airport. Stay tuned for those posts right here, soon!

In the meantime, click here and you will be brought to this map with 17 clickable points on it, all of which link directly to pages created by the kids who participated. It was a blast. See for yourself!

Getting the word out

The story of the Goodwill Ambassablog and the Goodwill Ambassador Program at San Diego International Airport was shared with top government communicators from dozens of federal, state and local public agencies yesterday at the Social Media for Government Conference in Washington, D.C. Here's a quick list of just some of the agencies who heard our story:

• U.S. Navy
• U.S. Department of Homeland Security
• TSA - Transportation Security Administration
• Centers for Disease Control
• Social Security Administration
• U.S. Geoligical Survey
• Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
• State of Louisiana
• National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
• California Department of Social Services - Child Protective Services
• U.S. Department of Transportation
• National Institutes of Health
• Provincial Government of British Columbia - Education Ministry
• U.S. Department of State - Office of eDiplomacy
• City of Scottsdale, Arizona
• NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration
• City of Minneapolis
• U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
• FEMA - Federal Emergency Management Agency
• Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
• U.S. Department of Veteran's Affairs

The presentation concluded with the conference delegates watching Ambassablogger Mary's special post (below) go up live on the site.

Stay tuned for a report on a similar presentation taking place Friday to delegates at the annual conference of the California Association of Public Information Officials.

The Ambassablog goes to Washington

It seems the Goodwill Ambassablog is a true trailblazer in employee blogging at government agencies. So much so, it has become a sought-after case study for government communicators around the country. The story of the Goodwill Ambassablog will be presented to delegates in sessions at two government communications conferences taking place this month:

• The Social Media for Government Conference in Washington, D.C.;
• And the Annual Conference of the California Association of Public Information Officials (CAPIO) in South Lake Tahoe, California

To learn more about the conferences, click the links above or the pictures below.

And click this link for more information on the presentation that will be given about the Goodwill Ambassablog: Don't Be Afraid of Employee Bloggers (Search for "Ambassablog.")

Plans are under way for the Goodwill Ambassabloggers to create a special interactive post on the Ambassablog to greet conference delegates on behalf of all Airport Authority employees. In addition, special posts from the conferences will bring you the reaction of delegates from around the country to this innovative new communications tool at the Airport Authority.