I write, talk about and order food for meetings and events which is brain-friendly, delicious and has a semblance of nutrition. I recently wrote about the three areas I think we could do better at in planning meetings - still - for Corporate Meetings Network. These are wellness, sustainability and technology. Don't get me wrong - many event professionals are doing a stellar job in these areas and more and I applaud the many amazing successes we see. Even as I was writing this, I thought maybe I was being a bit harsh, and then I went to another (otherwise fabulous) conference - where the content was fabulous, the people I met inspiring, the events great - but they promoted breakfast as being available, and this is what we got.
For anyone gluten-free, they were out of luck, for anyone who wanted to survive the morning sessions without a 10am sugar crash - they too were out of luck. There was no alternative offered so you could go down in the hotel and find something else, but if you hadn't allowed time for that, the inclination was to grab and go, which many people did.
As planners or venues when we offer this type of food we have done nothing to set our participants up for success - mental or physical - with this offering and it made me a little sad. Which also sounds a bit melodramatic but is how I felt. Please can we simply stop offering white-flour, white-sugar, coated in sugar food products as "breakfast" and create better meetings by doing so. Please.
