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As the weather in Las Vegas worsened, my confirmed hiker list dwindled, until Abe Degnan of Degnan Design Builders was all that remained.

Rain in Las Vegas turned out to mean snow at Red Rock Canyon, and as challenging as that sounds, it turned out to be wonderful. Click here to see all the pictures from our first annual GuildQuality hike. Abe is responsible for all the good photographs. I took the lousy ones.

Update: The new GQ badge went live on March 10. Click here to add one to your company’s website.

We will soon introduce a new and simplified way for our members to promote their membership in our community of quality: GuildQuality badges.

How do the badges work? Members can include a GuildQuality badge in their websites to connect directly to their member profiles. The badges are also dynamic, meaning the image and link changes depending on the marketing preferences you select in your account. For example, if you’ve not been publishing your customer feedback and you decide to make it accessible, the image will change to indicate that people can “View Customer Feedback.” If you’ve been a Guildmember for some time, and finally win a Guildmaster Award, the image will change to reflect that you are an award winner.

Why should you use a badge? Using a badge (en lieu of a simple link to our site or your profile page) will help you in two primary ways. First, our system will magically recognize which members are using their badge, and they’ll be promoted more prominently in our member directory. Second, using the badge will help us to present a consistent image of GuildQuality to the general public, thereby raising awareness of the brand and increasing the value of your membership.

Stay tuned for word about the introduction of GuildQuality badges!

A couple weeks ago, we applied for the Rackspace Fanati Award:

Here at Rackspace, we’ve built a reputation based on service, known to our customers as Fanatical Support®; our anytime, anywhere, any way approach to customer service. And we know we’re not the only ones who put customer needs first. That’s why we created The FANATI in 2007 to recognize one of our customers for valuing customer service as much as we do.

I was thrilled to hear that GuildQuality is among a handful of finalists. To determine the winner, Rackspace is presently surveying a random selection of our members (the irony!), as well as a selection of customers from the other finalists.

Rackspace is one of the companies we emulate for our own customer service, and being a finalist for this award is a big coup for our team.

Jan 6 Update: The meetup will be at 5:30 on January 19 at Tempo in the Las Vegas Hilton. For more details, visit the official meetup page.

On January 19 at 3:30 in South 221, Craig Schweikart (of Constellation Homebuilder Systems) and I are giving a talk entitled “Best Practices for Integrating Technology in Your Business�.

My portion of the session will cover how GuildQuality uses technology in both our operations and marketing. The show’s planners invited me to give the same talk I gave during November’s Custom Builder Symposium (I also gave a similar presentation at a couple of recent NARI events). I’ll be updating it to include some of my more recent finds, so even if you’ve seen it before, I encourage you to join us.

If you have interest in this session, my 1st annual IBS hike, a meetup at 5:30 on the 19th at Tempo (in the Las Vegas Hilton), or just getting together for a cup of coffee, please let me know!

Photo courtesy of ccharmon

I’ll be giving a talk at the IBS on Tuesday, January 19, and then staying in Las Vegas for a couple more days. I hate to say it, but I really can’t stand Las Vegas. The disposability of the place makes me feel sad for both humanity and our planet. So as a respite, I intend to escape Sin City for the afternoon of the 20th.

A few years ago, I had the great pleasure of hiking in Red Rock Canyon, about 30 minutes outside of town. This year, I intend to return. By hiking into the canyons on Wednesday afternoon, I’ll be missing some great stuff at the International Builder Show, but I expect to make it back to the convention center by dinner time. If this sounds tempting, check out these pictures.

If you are attending the show, and would like to get away for a few hours, please sign up here to join me, and I’ll include you in the trip details. If you can’t join me for the hike, but would still like to get together, please let me know and we’ll try to work out a time to circle up.