Trending Topic - Management Novel

Now what? How will things develop for Victor, his colleagues and his friends? Will the romance between Catja and Casper flourish? What will Martine do after this dazzling success? Will Dick be able to get his career back on track? Will the Crippled Horse fill up again? And what does Hollywood want from Pooky? Follow their ongoing adventures on NatSoRoPro.orgConnect with your favorite character on LinkedInDo you feel like our heroes have become your friends? Luckily, you can continue to follow them online. Victor VanWely, Casper DeVries, Martine Zuidam and Catja VanLoon are all on LinkedIn and would love to connect with you! Ask your questions and join the discussionJoin the #ButWhat LinkedIn group. Ask your own burning questions about social media and get an answer from our friends, Mr. Red Sneakers and other members of the group. Sign up via www.ButWhat.org Practical tipsYou can find the many practical tips the NatSoRoPro team gets in the book on GerritHeijkoop.com/blog, in the form of useful free checklists and tools.  Because social media are continually in development, we are too. Therefore, you’ll keep finding new tips and considerations on the blog. About the authorsGerrit HeijkoopDutchman Gerrit Heijkoop is on a mission to change the attitude of marketing professionals towards online communication. He regularly takes the stage as a speaker, moderator or presenter. He has a passion for technology, innovation, events and social media, and manages to convey these topics in a creative way. He puts his audiences in motion and sparks conversation, both offline and online. Besides being co-author, he is also the publisher of Trending Topic.  GerritHeijkoop.com Paula VosPaula Vos is a writer, journalist and communications adviser. Before she started this book, she was no fan of social media. However, it has altered her opinion considerably. Her favorite animals are the capybara, the desert rain frog and the fennec. If you listen carefully, there’s a story in everything, she believes. Aside from publications she writes for others, she also produces her own work. Trending Topic is her first management novel. PaulaVos.nl And, last but not least, the AcknowledgementsYou really can’t get enough of it, can you? We love that you’re curious enough even to read the acknowledgements. Naturally, we cannot leave them out. We didn’t do it alone! This book could not have come into existence, had it not been for the patience of our families and friends, who had to spend a great many days, nights and weekends missing us, while we spent time with the characters in this book. Still, they encouraged us to push forward. Our enormous gratitude also goes out to Donald Roos, the creative mind who gave Pooky, Victor, Casper, Martine and Catja a face and made the book ‘really real’.            Our hands were shaking when we shoved the manuscript of ‘Trending Topic’ into the hands of our expert proofreaders: Joëlle Staps, Margot Lantinga, Mireille van den Dop-Andeweg, Geraldine Huybrechts, Mathys Vleeming, Gerry Kroeze, Jurgen de Ridder and Jeanette Wagenaar + PROOFREADERS UK. Their positive comments were a balm for the soul, their critical notes were taken to heart to tweak the first drafts into the book in front of you.And you! Our reader. Hi there! Without you, this would not be nearly as much fun. So thanks for reading. Even all the way down to this final acknowledgement. See you online! #ButWhatGerrit Heijkoop and Paula Vos 

Friday - November 13 | 3rd day of the conference | 2,000 registrations + 2,527 online participantsVictor rushed through the busy exhibition hall to the plenary theater. His head was heavy from the slightly-too-enjoyable gala dinner the night before, but at the same time he was positively bursting with energy. So far the conference had been running perfectly and the best was yet to come.            He greeted acquaintances left, right and center. Luckily, people barely added ‘prroo’ to their greetings anymore. That joke had run its course now, he hoped.            It was the last break of the day, and, unlike Victor’s experience with other conferences, everyone stayed for the final session.            There was something special about it. Two days ago, the minister of economic affairs had offered, on his own accord, to take part in this final session: the confrontation panel about pest control. The Frisian farmers would pose critical questions about the lack of decisive action on the government’s part, and demand compensation for damages sustained. It seemed like a good idea to the minister to address these matters in person.           In the run-up to the debate, heated discussions had taken place on social media. There were rumors about the minister using the session to announce financing from the government for research into more animal-friendly methods of pest control. Victor knew this to be true. The embargoed press release had already been sent out to leading journalists. Casper had been swallowed up by it completely these past few days. Yet, somehow he had managed to invite several national and international journalists to witness this unique moment: the presentation of a scientific solution, in combination with the financing of it. It was strong proof of the power of NatSoRoPro to bring parties together, and jointly work toward a better world. ....----Written by Gerrit Heijkoop & Paula Vos Narrated by Kevin Stillwell

Monday evening - October 5 | 37 days until the conference | 793 registrationsPresenter Mathys’ voice sounded through the speakers: ‘Tonight, on The World Spins: Frits Wester, Prem Rahdakishun, Halina Reyn, Victor VanWely, music by Porcupine Tree and my co-host for this evening is Marc-Marie Huybregts… this is The World Spins!’           The opening tune played, the first guests took their places at the table. Victor sat in the first row of the audience. Behind him were Casper, Martine, Catja, Stella, Dick, Ronald, Denise and Jacques. Every now and then, Dick shoved his phone under Victor’s nose to show him a special message. Victor could barely enjoy those, as he was far too nervous.            The items about a political riot and a new theater show escaped him completely. He was picking at his fingers, Denise placed a hand on his shoulder. Casper showed him how the international chairman wished him luck ‘on Dutch National Television.’           Finally, it was Victor’s turn. Next to him, a familiar looking man sat down.           Mathys introduced them: ‘Victor VanWely, director of the National Society for Rodent Professionals, next to you Mr. Red Sneakers, internationally sought-after speaker and expert in the field of social media, welcome.’           That’s where he knew the man from, it was the SoSuStar speaker.            ‘Victor VanWely, I’ll start with you. You run a society of people who deal with rodents in one way or another. Respectfully, I don’t think anyone outside of your circle of members had heard of you until today. And now you’re world famous!’....----Written by Gerrit Heijkoop & Paula Vos Narrated by Kevin Stillwell

Monday - October 5 | 37 days until the conference | 487 registrationsWhen Victor got home, he went straight to bed. Denise made him a cup of tea, which was still left untouched on the nightstand when he was woken up at 4pm by the doorbell. The shrill sound rang uninterrupted until the moment his wife answered the door.            Victor had had a completely dreamless sleep. He longed to return to it, because the painful truth creeping into his brain was not to his liking. With his eyes tightly shut, he desperately tried to fall back to sleep. Fragments of the interview were flashing through his mind. What in God’s name had he said in that parking lot? At that moment, it had seemed logical to attack the activists, make his love for Pooky abundantly clear and admit that he might be defeated. But now, it all seemed rather pathetic to him. That’s what it had been. Pathetic and uncontrolled. Unworthy of any director.            Downstairs, in the hallway, he heard Casper’s familiar voice. He couldn't hear what he was saying, but he could make out that Denise was trying with all her might to make it clear her husband was not to be disturbed. He sat upright in the bed. Through a gap in the curtains, a wide sunbeam fell on the duvet. He sighed deeply. By the excitement in Casper’s voice, he could tell it was bad.            When he had finally gotten the attention of the press, he’d blown it. Victor wished he could do something to make up for his failure, but so far he had only made things worse. He punched the mattress with his fist.            Downstairs, Casper’s excitement grew. Victor heard the words ‘television performance’, ‘Instinct’ and ‘Twitter’ and his stomach began to ache. He got up and mechanically brushed his teeth, splashed some cold water on his face and combed his hair. It was time to face the music.            Casper looked at him as he came down the stairs, and ran up a couple of steps to meet him. The boy looked more radiant than in his pictures with Catja. ....----Written by Gerrit Heijkoop & Paula Vos Narrated by Kevin Stillwell

Monday - October 5 | 37 days until the conference | 487 registrationsThe guinea pigs were wearing sailor’s outfits. And there were many of them. As fas as he could see. Victor was about to address the angry mob of rodents, when he heard Martine’s voice from a faraway distance.            ‘Victor?’           He felt a hand on his shoulder and realized he was dreaming. The relief this caused disappeared as soon as he remembered the reason for being in his office. His head was on the keyboard, the keys pressing into his cheek. With difficulty, he got himself up. His back appeared to be stuck in the position he had been sleeping in. His head felt heavy, as though he was hungover, and he could only just manage to open his eyes.            ‘Are you okay?’ she asked, sounding far too awake.           He didn’t answer, but looked at his screen instead. It took him a while to focus his eyes enough to be able to see what his last tweet had been:ertavxf r rgryv4gsdfhj           The activists hadn’t held back either. Among the stream of tweets, a pictured popped up recurrently of Pooky, inside a prohibitory traffic sign, captioned: STOP Rodentia.            Victor’s head began to pound. He opened his mouth to explain what had happened, but Martine beat him to it. ....----Written by Gerrit Heijkoop & Paula Vos Narrated by Kevin Stillwell

Sunday - October 4 | 38 days until the conference | 508 registrationsThe weekend had been glorious. Driving home on Sunday night, Victor was sitting behind the wheel, feeling relaxed, listening to music. He felt almost as happy as when he had just met Denise and they would spend whole nights driving around the city in his first car, just because they could. Back then, it was a grass-green Opel Manta. Quite a contrast to the comfortable grey Volvo they were driving now.            It was a clammy evening, so he had turned on the air conditioning. Up ahead he saw lightning flashes. Denise was dozing in the seat next to him, her head wobbling against the seat belt. The light from the street lanterns was shining on her relaxed face. They ought to do this sort of thing more often, he thought. Yesterday evening he had turned off his laptop and phone and decided not to turn them back on before Monday morning. They finally had some time for each other again, without all of those beeps and bleeps, which were so good at distracting them from what it was all about: real contact. They had talked, they had laughed, they had the best ever… he smiled.           His wife’s phone rang and she was startled from her sleep. Drowsily, she looked at the screen and frowned. ‘No idea.’ With her eye on Victor, she picked up. ‘Denise VanWely?’           (…)           ‘Oh, hello Jacques, what a pleasure.’           Victor looked at her. Jacques was calling his wife?....----Written by Gerrit Heijkoop & Paula Vos Narrated by Kevin Stillwell

Saturday - October 3 | 39 days until the conference | 515 registrationsIn the car, on the way to Maastricht, Denise hummed along to the radio. She smelled wonderful.           Victor thought about what a remarkable turnaround they had made in the past few weeks. Even he had started to enjoy social media, because it was working. As long as you considered a few basic rules: aim at your own network first and offer relevant content for people to talk about. He could barely imagine what he had found previously so complicated about it anymore. The promotion with the fluffy guinea pigs had been the icing on the cake. He would love to organize something like that again. He had made a provisional booking for a larger space at the conference center, because the registrations were ramping up. He was already dreaming of a new Rodentia record. The biggest so far, in 1999, had gathered 1837 participants. Would he be able to top that? The guinea pig promotion had gotten the registrations going. There were about twenty a day now. With another forty days to go, that would make for nearly thirteen hundred people. ....----Written by Gerrit Heijkoop & Paula Vos Narrated by Kevin Stillwell

Friday - October 2 | 40 days until the conference | 498 registrationsCatja entered Victor’s office, red-faced, followed closely by Casper.            ‘You need to see this, Mister VanWely.’           Victor was just closing his laptop; he was supposed to pick up Denise for a weekend break and he was already late. He pointed at the closed laptop.            ‘Then look on my computer,’ she said.           Casper nodded gravely. ‘You should.’           Victor picked up his coat and bag and followed Catja.            Her screen was showing a message from Professor Gentle on Rodentnet.org, titled:Dancing guinea pig an insult to Rodentia 2015           ‘Our Pooky,’ she said, indignantly.            Professor B. Gentle was a reputable man. The retired scientist had been at the forefront of the unraveling of rat DNA. Typically old-school: straightforward, singularly focused and deadly serious. ‘Science need not be entertaining, for science is useful,’ was one of his favorite phrases. Within the program committee, he was the front man of tradition.. He had resisted the new meeting formats such as the confrontation panel. ‘Science only knows one truth,’ was his argument. Luckily, the progressive voices had the majority. Victor and Jacques had avoided contact with Professor Gentle as much as possible since then. The fewer details the man was aware of, the smaller the chance of him interfering with their plans. ....----Written by Gerrit Heijkoop & Paula Vos Narrated by Kevin Stillwell           The content of the message on Rodentnet was formulated in a way one might expect from the professor: serious and leaving no room for argument:

Thursday - October 1 | 41 days until the conference | 468 registrationsThe first sponsored photo Catja took with Pooky was tasteful and not too obviously commercial. She held Pooky in her hand and stroked him. In the background, a bag of power food was visible. PetFoodies kept their word: they shared the photo on various channels, leading to enthusiastic responses and new Pooky fans. They had been able to move the site visit to today and the four of them were now sitting at a beautifully set table in a separate room inside the conference center.            ‘No way!’ Martine exclaimed, in the middle of swallowing her amuse-bouche of prawn mousse. She held up her phone.            ‘I just posted a picture of this nicely set table on my Facebook profile, and a friend of mine responded. Her brother is coming to Rodentia!’           ‘See,’ said Casper. ‘There’s always someone in your private circle to whom it applies.’           ‘Shall we all take a picture?’ suggested Victor. ‘And share it on our personal profiles, see what else we can achieve.’           Casper didn’t need to think twice, extended his selfie stick and took a picture of the entire group, then tagging everyone when he posted it online. Victor saw a little red dot appear on his phone’s Facebook app. When he clicked it, it said:          Casper DeVries has tagged you in his picture He thought he looked old. He placed a more serious message on LinkedIn. All perfectly taken care of here at the conference center. Hoping to have a bite with all the speakers at Rodentia 2015 soon. ....----Written by Gerrit Heijkoop & Paula Vos Narrated by Kevin Stillwell

Wednesday, September 30 | 42 days until the conference | 349 registrations‘Yes!’ Catja called out. ‘Yes, the first guinea pig!’ She had jumped up from her chair and was pointing at the computer screen. Casper gave her a high five.            Victor looked up from a report he had been reading, and walked over to her, grateful for the distraction.            One of the most important participants (@RodentWhisperer, with over thirteen thousand Twitter followers, Casper quickly filled in) had posted a picture of himself on Twitter with the stuffed guinea pig they had sent to his address a few days earlier. Very fitting surprise from #Rodentia15 #cantwait           They kept looking at it for a while, and saw comments appear:How did you get hold of that super cute thing?Must have!@NatSoRoPro - where can we order them?           ‘I told you this would work,’ said Casper. ‘Just wait and see.’           And, indeed, within an hour, the second photo appeared, posted by Bea Goffer. Me, too! There’s nothing to fix on this one. Thanks #Rodentia15           Lots of reactions and pictures followed. Someone had even posted a video of himself unwrapping his gift. ....----Written by Gerrit Heijkoop & Paula Vos Narrated by Kevin Stillwell

Tuesday, September 29 | 43 days until the conference | 340 registrations With six weeks to go before the start of the conference, the Dutch marketing director of PetFoodies came to the office to discuss the progress. So far, only Casper had been in contact with him, and only over the phone. The man had a rather assertive secretary you couldn’t easily bypass.            ‘Look,’ said the man in suit, before he had even sat down. ‘I think this is brilliant.’ He showed Victor their own SuperGnawer video on his phone. ‘You pretend you have your own actual guinea pig, as a mouthpiece for your conference.’           Victor held his hand out. ‘Welcome. Victor VanWely.’           ‘Yes, I know, sorry, Jeroen Pouw. Like the TV presenter, but with an ‘o’. Although I do have a good face for television, ha ha.’           Casper laughed along.           When the man started rummaging through his briefcase, making a plastic bag inside it rustle in the process, a loud wheek came from the corner.            ‘That’s Pooky,’ said Victor.           The man looked at the cage in confusion and walked over to it. ‘You actually have one?!’ Pooky continued wheeking for a while, but once he caught on to the fact he wasn’t getting fed, he fell silent.            ‘What a funny little thing!’ exclaimed the man. He stuck his hand inside the cage, but Pooky scuttled into a corner and buried himself into the hay.            ‘So this is the same little guy as in the video?’           Victor nodded.           ‘And on Instagram?’           ‘Indeed,’ said Casper. ‘He’s the axis of our social media presence.’....----Written by Gerrit Heijkoop & Paula Vos Narrated by Kevin Stillwell

Monday, September 28 | 44 days until the conference| 332registrationsThat morning, they agreed to automate the planned social media updates and mailings. Casper had found an easy tool for it, which would save them a lot of time.            Now that the team was on a roll, they found some space to focus on the physical aspects of the conference. Although it was still uncertain whether or not they would make it, they had to prepare the conference properly.            Victor added this point to the agenda, during a short meeting with his staff.            Joined by Catja, he reflected on the SoSuStar conference, where they had noticed some things to pay special attention to at Rodentia as well.            ‘The Wi-Fi was topnotch,’ Catja began. ‘I don’t know how they did it, but it was much faster than most other events I go to. But they’d forgotten one thing. Electricity!’ She turned to Martine, her voice getting progressively higher. ‘My phone had run out of power by midmorning already, but the few sockets they had were taken all the time.’           Victor remembered how small groups of people had congregated around the scarce electric supplies.            ‘I searched the entire building, no power to be found. Eventually I pretended to be interested in some pimply exhibitor’s story for about ten minutes, just to be able to plug my phone in at his stand.’           Martine laughed.            Catja continued: ‘Can we not make sure that everyone is able to charge their phone or tablet at our conference?’           ‘Additional power sockets, I think so, but it’s likely to be expensive,’ said Martine, looking at Victor.           Catja strengthened her argument: ‘I wasn’t able to tweet anything the entire afternoon, I couldn’t participate in the polls, and I couldn’t even post pictures on Facebook.’           Victor knew she was right. ‘If we’re making all of this effort to get our participants onto social media, then we shouldn’t just offer decent and fast Wi-Fi, but enough electricity too,’ he said. ‘Let me know what it’ll cost, it seems a worthwhile investment to me.’....----Written by Gerrit Heijkoop & Paula Vos Narrated by Kevin Stillwell

Saturday, September 26 and Sunday, September 27 | 45 days until the conference | 325 registrations On Saturday, Casper posted the following update:Ten fun things to do in The Netherlands - while you’re here. #Rodentia15           On Facebook, he posted a video by Amsterdam Marketing, on Twitter he posted a picture of a funny mouse and on LinkedIn he posted an article explaining why The Netherlands was becoming more popular as a destination for multinationals. The messages got a few likes, some nice comments and several suggestions, which Casper replied to efficiently, until about 4pm. After that, Victor still saw new comments, but no more replies from his communications officer. On Sunday, there was no new update posted at all. He should speak to Casper about that. They had thought long and hard about a logical and balanced posting calendar, he ought to stick to it.            When, at 4.30pm, he still didn’t see a message, he considered calling Casper, but felt it was a bit pushy on a Sunday. He didn’t want to be that kind of boss.            Shortly afterwards, the penny dropped. On Facebook, Catja posted some pictures of herself and Casper at a dance festival. Victor frowned when he saw it. They were out together rather a lot, it wouldn’t surprise him if something romantic was blossoming. He wasn’t sure whether he should be happy about it. Love and work were not an ideal match.            He was trying to come up with a suited reply, when Denise knocked on the door of his home office. ‘Are you coming downstairs at all?’ she asked. ‘I’ve barely seen you all weekend.’           Victor looked from the smiling photos on his laptop to his wife, who looked a little sad. Darn it, he thought, love and work really don’t go well together. But who had the right end of the stick? His employees, who had taken a nice break at the weekend, or him? He had been swallowed up completely by Rodentia and NatSoRoPro for weeks now. He only saw Denise at dinner.....----Written by Gerrit Heijkoop & Paula Vos Narrated by Kevin Stillwell

Friday, September 25 | 47 days until the conference | 318 registrationsWhen Victor entered the Crippled Horse that afternoon, Ronald started to laugh loudly.            Victor followed his gaze to the advertising screen and noticed a commercial for hair regrowth treatment. He involuntarily ran his hand over his own thin hair. He stopped and watched the whole of the subsequent ad for the new online TV channel ‘Instinct News’, before joining Ronald. Except for the two of them, the bar was completely deserted. The sound of the commercials sounded hollow in the large space.            He was just sitting down, when the door opened again and Dick came in.            ‘Look at this,’ said Ronald, and he pointed at the screen. A smiling woman appeared, praising Total Food Group’s potato chips.            Dick raised his middle finger.            ‘All personalized ads from Google,’ said Ronald.           ‘But how do they know who’s near?’ asked Victor.           Dick overheard and sighed. ‘You really are a digital illiterate, aren’t you?’ he said. ‘Your phone can always be tracked when it´s on. How else do you think you can get push notifications from Google Maps, traffic information and weather forecasts?’           ‘But they don’t know anything about me, do they?’           ‘So you think,’ answered Ronald. ‘Stella just explained it to me. All sorts of apps on your phone contain personal information about you and your preferences, and they register your location. Some apps sell such information on to advertisers, like Google’s ad company.’           ‘Is that allowed?’ Victor asked indignantly.           ‘It’s all in the app’s terms and conditions,’ growled Dick. ‘But no one reads them. Google can even link this information to your recent searches and visited websites, your Gmail inbox and your diary.’           ‘Exactly,’ said Ronald. ‘Based on that information they offer ads which should match your needs at the time.’....----Written by Gerrit Heijkoop & Paula Vos Narrated by Kevin Stillwell

Thursday, September 24 | 48 days until the conference | 312 registrationsVictor returned from an appointment on Thursday afternoon to find Martine engaged in a heated discussion with Casper.            ‘Why do you keep doing that?’ she asked, pointing at Casper’s screen.            ‘What?’ said Casper, stoically continuing to type. ‘I’m responding to people who have questions about our marketing tips for vets. It’s what we agreed, right?’           ‘Those reactions are fine,’ answered Martine, ‘but the explicit referral to the conference in each message gets annoying, right? “Bla bla bla, come to Rodentia.” We get the it!’           ‘The whole point of all of this social media activity is to bring the conference to people’s attention,’ said Catja. ‘So we have to refer to it.’           ‘Can´t they tell by the hashtag?’ Martine countered. ‘The people who follow us understand it’s about the conference. If you keep adding a call to action to each and every message, it still looks like advertising. I think that’s why you get so few responses sometimes. Remember, a few days ago, the question about vitamins? You asked a question first: luxury or necessity? And as soon as someone thinks, well I have an idea about that, you silence them with your commercial memo.’           ‘Perhaps Martine has a point,’ said Victor. ‘If people experience it as advertising, we’re still causing irritation.’           Reluctantly, Casper conceded: ‘Maybe. But I really want more conversion. That people not only read the messages, reply and share, but that they actually also register for the conference.’           ‘They won´t register any sooner if you annoy them,’ Martine pointed out. ‘If you don’t beg so explicitly, it works way better. Like the day before yesterday, with that discussion about plague prevention. You only added the hashtag. The post led to a heated debate, which then led to registrations. Just like the story about lab animals on Rodentnet. Especially since you weren’t so obvious about it.’            Casper grumbled a little more, but it was clear to Victor: ‘If it naturally suits the message, of course you can refer to the conference. But in many cases, the message itself should cause enough curiosity. If you just add the hashtag, it’ll be more effective.’ ....----Written by Gerrit Heijkoop & Paula Vos Narrated by Kevin Stillwell

Wednesday, September 23 | 49 days until the conference| 297 registrationsUsing all communication channels at their disposal, they were able to specify their messages to certain target groups. Some messages were only posted on Rodentnet.org, such as an article on new insights in care for lab animals. They felt this topic was too controversial for the general public. The researcher who was due to speak on the matter at the conference took a harsh stance on the issue and asked readers to respond to it, so he could use their ideas in his presentation.           After a while, a small debate ensued between a select few; though still held in public, the discussion was between the researcher and three scientists working with lab animals. They discussed the issue of psychological care of the animals, on which their opinions differed rather a lot. Victor followed the discussion with interest, although it felt a bit like eavesdropping.            They concluded their intense debate with the agreement that all three of them would register for the conference and would have dinner together on the first evening to continue their discussion face to face.            See, thought Victor, there you have it. The quality of the content was practically working on its own. The advertisements, which in retrospect were a little too elementary, appeared a thing from the faraway past. ....----Written by Gerrit Heijkoop & Paula Vos Narrated by Kevin Stillwell

Tuesday, September 22 | 50 days until the conference | 284 registrationsThe mouse plague in Japan had flared up again, the news reported. An excellent opportunity for NatSoRoPro to link in with current events, Catja pointed out. She called on Casper and Victor to help her do so.            They thought their message through, before posting it:Pest control should be more animal-friendly, what do you think? #Rodentia15           It triggered a lot of responses, including one from a Frisian dairy farmer. He contributed that, at NatSoRoPro, they ought to pay a little more attention to the position of farmers in the province of Friesland, where mice had all but destroyed their fields in the previous spring.            The farmer pulled the discussion more broadly into social media, by adding the hashtag #mouseplague, which caused several different parties to join the discussion. The farmers were angry because the government’s response wasn’t decisive enough, and they appeared to see an opportunity in NatSoRoPro to bring the topic to the public’s attention once more.           With Casper’s help, Victor participated in the dialogue, mentioning there would be a session dedicated to new forms of pest control at the conference. The farmer applauded it. He had applied different methods of extermination himself, but found he couldn’t bear to see the suffering he was causing to the mice. At the same time he was very clear and to the point about the amount of damage it was causing the farmers. Victor called Jaques to confer: would it not be an idea to highlight this perspective at the conference, too? It made the drama particularly palpable and brought it closer to home. They agreed they would like to add the man to the confrontation panel, and the farmer gladly accepted the invitation. He tweeted about it immediately. ....----Written by Gerrit Heijkoop & Paula Vos Narrated by Kevin Stillwell

Monday, September 21 | 51 days until the conference | 273 registrationsOn Monday, Bea Goffer gave Pooky his final vitamin C shot. The power food for guinea pigs was doing its job well, and if Victor continued to feed him that, he wouldn’t need to come back.            When Victor arrived at the office and quickly checked their social media channels, he noticed Casper had already posted a message about speaker Li Zhou-Wei, who would be talking about ‘feng shui for the rodent cage’ at the conference. Li had a pretty impressive fan base, who responded eagerly to the post.            Only one message was negative. Animal Revolution wrote: No cage is good for any animal           Hmm, thought Victor, Animal Revolution, the activist group that would be taking part in the confrontation panel at the conference. The fans ignored the message, posting only happy responses to the announcement of Li Zhou-Wei’s attendance, and sharing tips among themselves about cage organization. Victor noted a confirmation of Ronald’s theory: if you have a lot of fans, the risk of criticism growing into a riot is not so big. ....----Written by Gerrit Heijkoop & Paula Vos Narrated by Kevin Stillwell

Saturday, September 19 and Sunday, September 20 | 52 days until the conference | 259 registrationsAs agreed, Casper also posted messages on the weekend.            On Saturday, it was a ‘Laugh’ message: a top five of funny YouTube clips starring rodents. SuperGnawer in first place of course, in second place a group of capybaras in a Japanese hot spring, followed by clips of a sleeping squirrel, a nest of fifteen baby rats and Teddy Bear, the talking porcupine.            NatSoRoPro’s followers liked a lot of the videos, and suggested some of their own, including a dreaming hamster and a guinea pig with the voice of Ricky Gervais. Many followers posted links to clips of their own pets, or pets they looked after. Catja added all of the suggestions to their YouTube channel. ....----Written by Gerrit Heijkoop & Paula Vos Narrated by Kevin Stillwell

Friday, September 18 | 54 days until the conference | 250 registrationsThe beautiful weather of Indian Summer was now definitely over. At the Crippled Horse, the terrace chairs were piled up underneath a canopy and rain was drizzling onto the tiles.            Upon entry, Victor noticed how quiet it was in the usually buzzing bar. Only a few tables were occupied. The advertising screen, which had now been moved indoors and on which busy commercials were alternated with simple local clips, was spreading a harsh light.            At the bar, he saw Dick, hunched over a beer. Victor was relieved to see him. His friend hadn’t returned his calls since the Bugbites scandal broke out.            He didn’t look up until Victor tapped him on the shoulder.           ‘I’ve been here a couple of hours, already,’ Dick confessed, ‘Nothing left to do anyway.’           Stella met Victor’s eye, and shook her head.            Dick continued: ‘I was fired this morning. It took Total Food Group precisely three days to wash their hands of me. They needed a scape goat, and well, they found him.’ He spread his arms. ‘It’s all on Dick Driessen.’ His arms limply fell onto the bar.            ‘But it wasn’t your fault entirely, right?’ said Victor, taking a seat next to him. He’d never seen his friend this disheartened.            ‘Those Food Spies hyenas just kept going on and on and on.’ Dick picked up a beer coaster and tapped the bar with it. ‘They ruined a beautiful product. An amazing product. Only because they felt the need to spread all kinds of rumors.’           ‘Was it not true, then?’....----Written by Gerrit Heijkoop & Paula Vos Narrated by Kevin Stillwell