08 Jul 10 Pitfalls on the Road to a Successful Meeting/Event
The following is a list of sentiments and ideas that many people have when planning meetings and/or events that should be avoided whenever possible:
• Who needs to eat? The answer is that everyone need to eat, and letting stomachs rumble is a sure way to ensure that nobody is paying attention to anything but the planning of their next meal. If you are planning a lengthy meeting or event, plan on talking to caterers or buying snacks.
• I get up at 4 A.M. so can everyone else! Just because you get up at the break of dawn to exercise and live a healthy lifestyle does not mean that everyone else does or even can. In some cases it may truly be a case of different lifestyles, but in other situations the early bird may be offended those taking care of young children and/or the infirm/elderly by implying that a 7 A.M. meeting is reasonable.
• Caffeine is a stimulant, and that is akin to offering a drug. Those that need caffeine to make it through their day can be indulged at very low prices. Imposing unwanted ethical beliefs on meeting and/or event participants is unlikely to go over well. At best, it will look cheap. At worst, it may look preachy.
• A penny saved is a penny earned. True, but it takes money to make money, so be willing to make an honest assessment of whether or not buying folding chairs instead of office chairs for a meeting is a good idea.
Tags: Break Of Dawn, Caffeine, Caterers, Early Bird, Elderly, Ethical Beliefs, Exercise, Folding Chairs, Healthy Lifestyle, Honest Assessment, Lifestyles, Money, Office Chairs, Participants, Paying Attention, Pitfalls, Sentiments, Snacks, Stimulant, Stomachs
21 Dec 09 Food For Thought
When planning your next business meeting, stop for a moment to consider how grouchy the head boss might be if you forget to feed her while she is away from home. In our multicultural society it is never wise to assume that the popular steak house across from the normal lodging area serves vegan meals, or that any self-respecting vegetarian could be inside of that building either.
Today, we live in an era where many individuals are participating in healthy lifestyle routines and doctor specified diets that are simply not compatible to many of the chain restaurants that only cater to yesterday’s traditional meal choices. Doctors may order a salt-free diet for one person, and inform the next that meat is out-of-line if they expect their heart to keep ticking without an overhaul.
Business meetings need to be planned with the thought that all types of diets will be present. The common diets to plan for include:
- Vegans do not eat any form of animal products and they do not sit on leather chairs or work on leather covered desks.
- Vegetarians do not eat meat, but they do enjoy many other forms of food.
- Doctor restricted diets often require plain food to be available that can be built-up into a finished dish according to directions.
- Traditional diets may not want the fat trimmed from their steaks and bacon should be available with the eggs for breakfast.
As a rule-of-thumb, the best way for businesses to plan their meetings is to simply determine that all of the food categories above are available to the meeting participants on the premises or in nearby facilities before booking the meeting rooms or lodgings. All minds are important to the meeting despite dietary differences; good food keeps those minds happy and focused on work.
Tags: Amp Nbsp, Business Meeting, Chain Restaurants, Finished Dish, Food Categories, Food Doctor, Head Boss, Healthy Lifestyle, Leather Chairs, Lodging Area, Meal Choices, Multicultural Society, Nearby Facilities, Plain Food, Rsquo, Rule Of Thumb, Salt Free Diet, Steak House, Traditional Diets, Vegan Meals, Vegans, Vegetarians
07 Dec 09 Yippee! It’s Government Meeting Time!
Planning for government meetings is never a problem when you consider all of the wonderful attractions that our American National Parks system has to offer. There are National Park locations near beachside resorts, cool mountain streams, and in exotic locations such as Alaska, Hawaii, Wyoming, The Virgin Islands, or Guam.
With our current government funding cutbacks and resource readjustments that are affecting government meeting plans from coast-to-coast, the only way for meeting planners to beat the system today is through working with the system by taking your important conference or business meeting on the road to a place that the government already owns.
The majority of the US National Parks have thriving tourist industries built up around their exteriors so that appropriate accommodations and meeting facilities are available to government employees near the chosen park if not actually on the property.
With so many people involved in healthy lifestyle routines today, a simple working cruise to the Virgin Islands to explore the government’s sandy beaches, beautiful coral reefs, and breathtakingly beautiful scenery, might just be the big answer towards planning your next government conference or meeting agenda.
From the days of our youth, we all remember that little rhyme about making lemonade when life hands you lemons. Funding cutbacks did not stop the President of the United States from remembering that Wyoming’s Yellowstone National Park could be his conference spot during the year 2009. If the government owns the land, it is fine to plan a government meeting or conference at that location.
Tags: Alaska Hawaii, Beachside Resorts, Beautiful Scenery, Cool Mountain, Coral Reefs, Government Conference, Government Meetings, Healthy Lifestyle, Important Conference, Life Hands, Meeting On The Road, Meeting Planners, Meeting Time, Mountain Streams, Rsquo, Sandy Beaches, Tourist Industries, Us National Parks, When Life Hands You Lemons, Yellowstone National Park
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