16 Mar 11 Boost the Brain Computer, Don’t Crash It
Maybe you’re not always what you eat but emerging studies do bolster the theory that eating the right foods can have a big impact on how your brain works. This becomes evident at corporate meetings and conferences where attendees are usually served high carb and white flour foods in breakfasts, lunches and snacks. The result? A quick sugar rush, followed by a sharp crash, often leading to unfocussed, sleepy and all-around cranky participants.
As Andrea Sullivan, president of BrainStrength Systems states, “For a long time, we’ve focused on what we should not eat. This shift is about focusing on what we should eat to produce desired results.” Rather than the traditional meeting menus, the goal should be to provide foods which aid the brain in learning and improve attention skills. In the article, Ms. Sullivan goes on to describe the benefits of a more balanced offering; “eggs are rich in choline, which aids healthy neurotransmission and enhances our ability to pay attention, form new memories, and make decisions.”
That doesn’t mean cutting out sweets altogether though. Instead, it’s about providing healthier choices with foods that enhance your program rather than work against it. Dark chocolate, for example, has been proven to have a positive effect on cognitive performance even for hours after consumption. Although the lower costs of the sugar-laden foods are attractive for keeping within your budgets, when you look at the overall cost of its effects, are you really getting such a good deal? After all, what good does it do to fly someone in, pay for their lodging and participation, only to have them zone out after a sugar buzz, and subsequent crash?
Instead of pastries and cinnamon rolls, try serving quiche, whole grain breads and some fresh berries. High protein salads with light vinaigrettes are a great alternative for lunch. So are salmon and mackerel, both of which contain the fatty acid, omega 3, proven to rev up your thinking power. For snacks, serving nuts, yogurt, and fruits will prove more effective than a sugary cookie or cake.
Although it’s not anything we don’t already know in our personal lives, carrying that thinking into the business meeting arena may show returns much greater than a snazzy presentation or a captivating guest speaker can ever provide. Besides, how likely will it be that your attendees will remember your message if they’re too busy trying to stay awake?
Tags: Attendees, Attention Skills, Boosting Brain Power, Brain foods, Choline, conference participation, Conferences, Corporate Meetings, Dark Chocolate, Desired Results, Eggs, Flour, guest speakers, Meeting Planners, Ms Sullivan, Mso, Neurotransmission, New Memories, Orphan, Positiv, Snacks, Style Definitions, Style Name, Sugar Rush, Sweets, Times New Roman
19 Feb 10 Balancing Planning Activities for Small and Large Events
Corporate meeting planners who are in charge of planning everything from weekly meetings to annual events constantly have a lot on their plate. Because the larger events and conferences are much more time-consuming and are typically the priority as far as planning resources are concerned, it can be easy to put off planning tasks for the weekly meetings, or to simply run out of time when attempting to pull together the larger events.
If the regularly scheduled meetings are check-ins, committee meetings that stick to specific topics or other meetings that are repetitive in nature, that will make your job a bit easier; however, there is still some planning that needs to take place on an ongoing basis and that cannot simply be put in place in the beginning like scheduling the room and equipment for a year of weekly meetings.
In order to keep these weekly or monthly meetings on track while focusing primarily on your larger responsibilities, setting up as much as you can beforehand and scheduling reminders will assist you in making sure you do not forget the tasks you need to complete for each meeting, such as confirming the room reservation, arranging for room set up, organizing the food and drinks, and sending out meeting reminders to the attendees.
Set up your email program, calendar, PDA or your mobile phone to notify you with reminders and you will be able to keep your smaller meetings just as well-organized as your major annual events.
Tags: Attendees, Committee Meetings, Conferences, Corporate Meeting Planners, Events Planners, Food And Drinks, Ins, Job, Mobile Phone, More Time Consuming, Organizing, Pda, Planning Resources, Priority, Program Calendar, Reminders, Room Reservation, Scheduling
30 Nov 09 Increase ROI on Meetings & Events
Most meeting planners have probably already read about how companies want more value than ever before from their conferences. While this can create more work for you, there are some things you can do to work out the kinks long before they happen.
Think Replacement
If you need to help the company keep expenses at a minimum, replace these meeting parts:
- Replace the reception with a working lunch — this will let people meet and network, as well as enjoy a meal together.
- Replace the open bar idea with team building exercises or mind storming training–these programs have a much better chance of improving the ROI than a bunch of drunk employees blowing off steam.
- Replace entertainment with a spa wellness trip. You will have more refreshed folks ready to work.
- Replace land based venues with a cruise meeting, and save as much as 40%. Cruising is all-inclusive, so planners may be surprised to know that meeting rooms, meals, A/V equipment and luxury accommodations are all included in one low price.
Think Reduction
What if the customer says, "Okay, these cost savings are great, let's get rid of the reception, evening entertainment, and and welcome reception open bar meet-and-greet! So what do we do on the last day, then?"
Get rid of it. Tell your client that not only will she not need to make the usual expenditures that don't improve ROI on the cost of the meeting, she can eliminate the last night's hotel bill as well.
By just replacing the non-ROI generating activities and events, you have already increased the value of the meeting. Your client will be grateful for that for a long time. And happy, satisfied clients translate to more meeting planning business for you in the future. So, it pays to find every way to cut out unnecessary expenses and increase meeting ROI for your clients.
Explode meeting ROI with a cruise event. Cruising offers a savings of as much as 40% of the cost of hotelvenues, since a cruise is all inclusive. Go to Seasite.com to use the state-of-the-art cruise meeting planner, and make your next company event a cruise event!
Tags: Amp, Better Chance, Blowing Off Steam, Conferences, Cruis, Cruise, Evening Entertainment, Events Planners, Expenditures, Hotel Bill, Kinks, Long Time, Luxury Accommodations, Meeting Planners, Meeting Planning, Meeting Rooms, Quot, Roi, Spa, Team Building Exercises, Unnecessary Expenses, Welcome Reception, Working Lunch
10 Nov 09 World Meeting Time Planner Tool
We just found an interesting new meeting planning tool – the World Meeting Planner.
Planning an important conference call or videoconference with participants from many different locations around the globe can be difficult, especially when you need to find a time in the day when everyone is in their business hours, or at least close to business hours! This world meeting planner tool allows you to select the date for your meeting and the various locations of the people attending.
Your world meeting time planner results show you the relationship each location has in regards to daytime hours with any needed adjustments for locations observing daylight saving time, so you can quickly target a time that works for everyone who is to be included in the virtual meeting.
For anyone who has had to try to plan a teleconference with participants from many locations around the world, you know how difficult it often is to determine a time that is convenient for all, and doesn't have anyone having to be on the call at 3am. The world meeting planner tool is a great resource for scheduling those calls and conferences.
Tags: 3am, Business Hours, Business Tool, Conference Call, Conferences, Daylight Saving Time, Globe, Important Conference, Meeting Planner, Meeting Planning, Meeting Time, Nbsp, New Meeting, Participants, People Meeting, Relationship, Target, Teleconference, Time Planner, Videoconference
10 Sep 09 Doing Your Part for the Economy
It’s been said–and posted on meeting planner blogs all over the internet–that the economy paired with recent government regulations for bailout companies is creating big trouble for meeting planners. Business are canceling meetings and conferences all over the world, and the ones that are not being canceled are being scaled down almost to ineffective levels. What’s a meeting planner to do?
Step One: Help Your Clients
Instead of canceling, make suggestions on how they can change or postpone the meeting. Also support them. Meetings are not going to hurt companies. They help them, and you need to be vocal about this–not only to companies but to the public. Let everyone know that meetings bring in money to local economies, and they also help the company on many different levels.
Step Two: Be Proactive
Long before your clients cancel a meeting, call them and compliment them on their decisions to continue the meeting. Send them emails with evidence of how meetings help companies. Get them charts, graphs, and testimonials on why their plans are good and you may prevent a problem down the road.
Step Three: Show Results
After a meeting, help your client measure the ROI of each meeting. Help her see the change for the better, and if the results are stellar get the press involved. Write a press release about it, which will get your name in front of the public as well.
Tags: Bailout, Big Business, Big Trouble, Cancel, Conferences, Decisions, Government Regulations, Graphs, Internet Economy, Meeting Planner, Meeting Planners, Money, Press Release, Proactive, Roi, Testimonials
21 Aug 09 Take Advantage of Federal Guidelines for Bailout Companies to Increase Your Value
As a business meeting and event planner, you are constantly searching for ideas to add value to your services. Recently the federal government published guidelines to the businesses receiving bailout dollars. These guidelines can in fact aid you to be a preferred planner.
The boards of directors of corporations getting cruicial relief from the government have to adopt a company-wide policy on any outlays linked to air travel services, entertainment and holiday parties, and conferences and events. This policy is not aimed to include justifiable outlays for sales conferences, human resources development, unexcessive performance incentives and other controls attached to a firm’s ordinary business operations. What does this mean? Here are a couple of the stipulations and ways you can employ them to cause your client’s businesses seem golden even if they are planning incentive travel. (more…)
Tags: Air Travel Services, Bailout, Boards Of Directors, Business Meeting, Business Operations, Conferences, Corporations, Event Planner, Federal Government, Holiday Parties, Human Resources Development, Incentive Rewards, Incentive Travel, Loyalty, Neighborhood, Outlays, Performance Incentives, Regard, Stipulations, Target, Travel Rewards
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- Stimulating Your Attendees in a Positive WayAfter reading the article Boost the Brain Computer, Don’t Crash It, I got to thinking about how foods definitely have an effect on mood and concentration. Anyone who has ever seen a child at a birthday party, loaded with candy, snow cones, cake and soda can attest to the fact that while the sugar will […]