Presentation Zen: If you're in Tokyo for a presentation

June 05, 2007

If you're in Tokyo for a presentation

Ritz_tokyo While in Tokyo last week, I had the unusual honour (for me at least) of staying at three of the city’s finest five-star hotels. All three were incredible, just as I had expected, but it was The Ritz-Carlton Tokyo that stood out among the others. Most hotels in Tokyo — especially the four- and five-star variety — are going to give you amazing service, but the Ritz-Carlton takes it up another notch. In terms of “design” and “presentation” of the brand, and the generation of delight for the guests at all touch points, The Ritz-Carlton Tokyo hits the sweet spot.

What business are you really in?
Room_ritz If you were to ask The Ritz-Carlton Tokyo management what business they are in (and I did) they would say they were not in the hotel business but in the service business. However, I would say that the other hotels also try to be in the service business, and do a pretty good job of it. The Ritz-Carlton Tokyo, however, is not just in the service business, they are in the experience business. Tom Peters loves to use this quote from The Experience Economy (recommended): “Experiences are as distinct from services as services are from goods.” The Ritz-Carlton Tokyo, then, is in the experiences business and in the emotions business. You’ve got to have the operations right, but it’s really about emotions, delight, and warm memories. Operations alone can be copied, but “high touch” differentiation is nearly impossible to copy.

If you’re travelling to Tokyo for a presentation
Note_choco The Ritz-Carlton Tokyo clearly gets the concept of “high touch,” but I was surprised that they got the technology part right as well. If you’re travelling to Tokyo for an important presentation, I suggest you stay in the Ritz-Carlton. The rooms and the stunning lobby area on the 45th floor are all wireless and the ability to connect your laptop from the desk in your room to the huge flat panel display is a great convenience for international business travellers. Below I made a low-rez video (with a cheap camera I bought just down the street from the hotel) to show you the connectivity panel on the desk. I also recorded a short presentation in the room to give an idea of how you could use the space to rehearse your presentation.

Download File

If I had had more time I would have made the video shorter, cleaner, etc. I also would have positioned the camera closer to the screen. In the video the screen is hard to see, but from anywhere in the room, even small text could be read easily. Perhaps I’ll use my HD camera and proper microphone someday to make something much better for the blog.

June 05, 2007 in Delivery | Permalink

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» The customer experience at The Ritz-Carlton Tokyo from Passionate Marketing!
The Presentation Zen nails down the essence of customer experience management. The Ritz Carlton is not in the service business anymore, its the experience business, delivering remarkable experiences to customers. If you were to ask The Ri... [Read More]

» Why Ritz-Carlton beats the Grand from weconverse
When I shot my video from my room at the Grand in Divonne I could/did not go as far as Garr Reynold did at the Ritz-Carlton Tokyo. Both the room and my mind was less equipped than Garrs. Before you continue to read my post, check out his video a... [Read More]

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Comments

Hello,

Thanks for uploading this video, not only showing the hotel, but giving a short presentation yourself. It's great to see the words converted into experience.

Like your blog, this talk shows great insight - Thank You.

Regards,

Wade

Posted by: Wade M | June 05, 2007 at 01:53 PM

Hello there!

Loved the presentation! Much appreciated. I am a Brit designer just over the water in Taiwan, so it is great to see what you are doing!

Zai Jian!

Jonathan

Posted by: Jonathan Biddle | June 05, 2007 at 05:08 PM

Thanks for giving us an insight into your presentation and a glimpse of this very cool hotel room. That is VERY cool that they have that connection to the HD TV for presentation practice! Hmmmm... in the future the connection could be made wirelessly...

Posted by: Morriss Partee | June 05, 2007 at 10:46 PM

Considering that's a hotel bedroom, it makes a better location than most meeting rooms I've been in.

Great to see the presentation too, it was really engaging.

Posted by: Rob Brooks | June 06, 2007 at 06:39 AM

Hey Garr, how much did you get from the Ritz-Carlton' management for this wonderful ad ? Hope they brought you a bottle of (french) Champagne ;-)

Posted by: Marc Duchesne | June 06, 2007 at 10:59 PM

Marc, they only generated emotions in him! I'm sure he was the one paying, not the other side!

Very insightful presentation Garr, thanks.

Posted by: dharana | June 07, 2007 at 04:03 AM

I'm grateful for a chance to see your presentation.

I can't help but think that most educators would think you just came from Mars. What you talk about is fine for most business audiences, and for people who have the software, ability to use the software, and access to images to make things work.

How about down here on the real ground for teachers in public schools. More basic mechanics -- and are you serious about passion for the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS)? The State Board of Education has drained all the passion out of most topics, leaving them passion vacuums -- they suck passion from teachers just to get back to zero.

Are you saying that things only work if we have a lot of money to make them work?

(This isn't a rant so much as it is a serious question; you've got great stuff, please lend a hand.)

Posted by: Ed Darrell | June 07, 2007 at 01:32 PM

> Are you saying that things only work if we have
> a lot of money to make them work?

Wow, no not at all! In fact, I think I said as much during the talk when I said that you do not need ppt or a computer, etc., but what you do need (to teach, motivate, inspire, etc.) is passion, energy, and enthusiasm. It is not about tools or equipment. That's what the quote by Coltrane was saying -- "You can play a shoestring if you are sincere."

Perhaps presenting from inside a room at the Ritz-Carlton is just too incongruous with the message of simplicity and maximum effect with minimum needs, etc. :-(

Passion and enthusiasm may be necessary, but I totally understand that in the context of public education in the USA (and other places) that it is easy to say that, but the reality is different. The reality, of course, is that teachers have so many challenges placed on them that it can be hard (to say the least) to keep the enthusiasm and passion alive. I have such respect for public school teachers. If you ask me, they are the rock stars of today, but they often get little credit from society at large in terms of respect, salary, etc. I do not know why that is true. In Japan teachers are respected and generally paid pretty well although they work their butts off. Teachers more or less enjoy a pretty high social status in Japan...

In the case of business, from my point of view, it is up to management not to insist that staff be more passionate, engaged, etc. but to give them the tools, the supportive and caring environment, the empowerment (argh, hate that word, but...) so that they may flourish and find their enthusiasm for the job which can't help, then, to have an impact on the customer...

You can not tell people to be more passionate and engaged, but you can lead with enthusiasm and create an environment which allows passion and engagement to grow.

Posted by: Garr Reynolds | June 07, 2007 at 04:12 PM

Good advice.

Weird idea to do this while you had to check out, lol.

Anyway, I appriciate the effort, sharing your experience with me (us).

Posted by: Ton | June 08, 2007 at 09:36 AM

I really appreciated the video you posted because this was one of the single best ways for me to connect with YOU. I got a better sense of your mannerisms, your passions, your humanity. In doing so I find an even greater fondness for what you have to say and look forward to continuing to follow your insights. As for emotionally connecting with you and your blog, the video put me over the edge. I don't know why, the video was rather simple in its delivery and what it covered, but for some reason a connection was made.

p.s. This is of course was all possible because what you have to say holds great value and makes a difference. Thanks.

Posted by: Justin Esayian | June 11, 2007 at 03:19 AM

You video gives us a glimpse of your presentation style. Please post more videos if you can. Maybe you could record your presentations and publish them.
On the other hand, I started a brazilian blog www.outrojeito.com.br dedicated to presentations too, inspired in your work.
Its name "Outro Jeito" means Another Way, and relates to another way to think, live and ultimately give presentations!!

Posted by: Milton Yogi | June 12, 2007 at 03:36 AM

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