While in the UK recently, I had the pleasure of meeting Paul Charles, director of communications at Eurostar. Paul is a man on the move. He was awarded PRWEEK’s Communicator of the Year for 2004 and the campaign he and his team have been implementing, also won a Rail Business Award.

He’s recently joined LEWIS as a Non-Executive Director, or member of our Advisory Board and I’m looking forward to working with him. He’s a supremely talented communicator, as was amply demonstrated when we asked him to do a five minute piece to camera by way of introduction to the rest of the company. Five minutes, no hesitation, no repetition, eyes full screen center in just one take. I guess ten years at the BBC makes that second nature, but for us mere mortals it was impressive.

I see Eurostar has just announced WiFi access at Waterloo. Gare du Nord in Paris, France has had it for a while – certainly since September when I was last there. It’s really the access on the train itself though that will be most useful. I may not want cell phones on planes, but WiFi on the Eurostar will be excellent for all those who need to stay connected.