Like Shark Tank with a twist.
Sampath, Kyle & Joe are our 3 judges. Find out more about our new Innovation Accelerator.
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On today’s action-packed episode of Up to Speed:
- A toothy-mouthful of pop-culture,
- Running to the crisis: Updates on Hurricane Beryl and West Coast Wildfires,
- When you need us, VtoV is there,
- Engineer by day, firefighter by night,
- Jumping into the tank – not the one with the “Sharks,” but almost …
- 4th of July recap,
- Travel safely with the travel pathway,
- The Summer Scavenger Hunt continues,
- A surprise sign-off!
🦈 Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water … It’s your pop culture pulse.
John Cena recently announced his retirement from the wrestling ring, but not because he’s afraid of a terrifying opponent. In fact, he’s already back in the water, hosting Shark Week on the Discovery Channel. Verizon customers don’t have to miss a moment of the action: watch Cena circle his toothy prey on Max, available for just $10/month as a perk with myHome and myPlan.
⚠️ Running to the crisis: Updates on Hurricane Beryl and West Coast Wildfires.
The entire Up To Speed team is sending our best vibes to our teammates in Texas and Louisiana, who are working to recover from Hurricane Beryl and its aftermath. Hurricane Beryl made its way through parts of Mexico and the Caribbean before making landfall in Houston, Texas as a category 1 hurricane.
Our thoughts are also with V Teamers on the West Coast, where thousands of residents have been displaced due to wildfires fueled by an unusually extended heatwave.
Helping our customers: As always, our emergency response teams are working hard to help our customers dealing with the aftermath of disasters. Customers in Texas who were impacted by Hurricane Beryl will have postpaid domestic call/text/data waived for usage incurred from July 8 - July 17. Get more details on how we’re helping those affected by Beryl.
▶️ Press Play: Senior Director of Network Operations, Mark Paff, joins Raquel to talk about our network preparedness and response. [1:15]
📋 Emergency Response Resources:
- Hurricane Preparedness Tips
- Wildfire Preparedness Tips
- Emergency Resource Center
- BONUS: From the Environment, Health and Safety, a new Emergency Contact Card that is updated with our refreshed logo. Order online, complete the info, and slip right into your badge holder.
🫶 Reminder: VtoV is here to help.
Team, when disaster strikes, it’s a good time to remind you about VtoV, our very own, V Team-funded, program to provide aid to Verizon employees who are displaced from their homes due to natural disasters (like fire, flood, severe weather) or domestic violence.
Apply for a grant: If you’ve been affected by any of the above, it’s easy to apply for a VtoV grant. The process takes about 10 minutes, and is simple and respectful.
Donate today: Donations can be made by payroll deduction (Pro tip: this is the easiest way to give on a recurring basis), credit card, by purchasing gear and donating unused gift cards. Plus, you can get your gift matched via the matching gift program. Get all the details on donations here.
🧑🚒 Engineer by day, firefighter by night; or, “Sorry I’m late, boss. I was out late being a hero.”
This is just a quick shout out to V Teamer Don Gifford, who was late for work for a good cause. You see, when he’s not working as a planning engineer in Menands, New York, he spends his time as a volunteer firefighter, helping those in his community fight fires.
▶️ Press play on the video above for some remarkable pics of Don on duty while he’s off the clock. [4:48]
💡 Meet our very own “shark,” Chris Halton.
Are you the inventive type? A tinkerer? An “idea” person? If you set your alarm to watch “Shark Tank” and then think, “Amateurs!” then we have the program for you.
▶️ Press play to watch Raquel chat with Chris Halton, Senior Vice President of Product Strategy & Innovation about our new Verizon Innovation Accelerator program. [5:45]
If you’ve daydreamed about a great idea for a Verizon product or service, this is your program, and it starts today.
What they’re looking for: New products and services that will help transform how customers use wireless connectivity in their homes, while on the go, in a smart enterprise environment, or using AI-infused products.
Where to get the details: Visit the Verizon Innovation Accelerator website.
🎆 Baby you’re a firework …
This is a story worth hitting the play button, if only for the great pics – that’s because our Test Force was on the scene for July 4 in places like:
- Houston, Texas, where we brought our COW (cell on wheels) to manage the needs of roughly 50k spectators
- Dubuque, Iowa for the Fireworks and Air Show where we had an LTE on a mobile asset for support, and
- Columbus, Ohio, where we deployed three Cells on Light Trucks, (AKA COLTS), so viewers of Red White & Boom could share their pics without network hiccups!
🌎 Travel the world, but make sure to do it safely.
Are you planning to travel for summer vacation? Maybe a big business trip? To prepare for a smooth trip, the Global Travel Security team launched a series of educational videos this week.
It features tools, tips and recommendations for preparing and handling real time events while traveling.
For more info, go to the Global Travel Security Awareness and the travel learning pathway websites.
🔎 The Summer Scavenger Hunt Continues
We kicked off our Summer Scavenger hunt a few weeks ago, asking you for the name of the V Teamer who was gearing up for his first father’s day.
Believe it or not, 169 of you commented to participate! And most of you knew the right answer was Jan Carlos Caballero.
Congratulations to our two winners who were chosen at random, Steve W. Johnson, and Wendy Stowe! You were selected to win an eco-friendly Nimble Battery Pack!
❓This week’s question: On last week’s show, host Jen Marin welcomed V Teamer Jeff Holloway to show how he uses a certain product that helps him work productively despite having numbness in his hands.
What was that product?
How to enter: It’s easy– just go to the comments section of today’s episode and add a comment with your answer. If you’re one of our lucky winners, you’ll get a gift certificate to the newly updated Verizon Brand store, so you can preorder swag with our refreshed logo. You’ll be the fanciest V Teamer around!
🏈 This episode ends with a surprise sign-off! [12:45]
We’d tell you who, but that would ruin the surprise. Hit play, and see for yourself …
