Food and Beverage and Event Design

At the recent MPI WEC10 I was invited by a former colleague Karen Massicotte, to join her panel speaking on "Putting Character into your F & B events". Along with the Executive Chef at the Vancouver Convention Centre  Chef Blair Rasmussen, nutritionist Ali Chernenkoff and the Executive Chef of the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver Chef Robert LeCrom

The idea was to give four perspectives on designing menus - the event designer (me!), an Executive Chef on foood, a the nutrition and its importance, along with allergies and special needs, and pairing wine, as Chef LeCrom said, that is just about love. There were some really fun perspectives, and some tangible tips for participants, on working with Chefs, and making the (oft dreaded based on the group's comments) break menus even more imaginative for our guests.  I shared some of my favorite ways we have presented food and beverage through a series of pictures (ok, about 70!)

This reminded me just how much I LOVE food and beverage - one of the most impactful parts of your events, and one that keeps people talking - the more positive food and beverage experience you can create, the better. Doing my small part of this session has seriously made me want to delve even deeper into its importance and to create some tools to inspire the Chefs and catering teams, including the CSMs to continue to push the bar on fresh, delicious and nutritious.

Caesar Shooter

MPI WEC the Ultimate Backyard Grapevine!

Blue Mountain, Networking in a Tennis Dome - with pub style food to impress!

Meeting Design - the Environment Matters

How to make meeting dialogue open up? That was the critical question for the clients who had recently undergone a massive change in their leadership. When I met with the clients for the first time - 3 1/2 weeks before their meeting that involved 25 national GMs, they told me their main goal was to engage these GMs and have them clearly understand this was a new way of doing business. The leadership was going to be more open and transparent, they were all going to be more accountable. So I asked about their environment - what was their plan? It included a screen, a projector, everyone at rounds, and each department sharing their perspective. Perhaps Finance would even share their ppt they had prepared recently for the board! In my head, I thought "YAWN" - so what I asked was "What if you turned the entire meeting upside down?" They keenly asked what would this look like, and I talked about creating a living space feel, plasmas replacing screens, comfortable seating replacing tables, all day snacks so you didn't have everyone feeling the pressure of ten minute coffee breaks and how can I also check my blackberry and have a coffee? Make a space where they felt comfortable, taken care of and that visibly showed this meeting was going to be different.

Two days later, we met with the responsible VP who shared his vision, which fortunately matched our two rabid days of planning and what a success it was in getting people talking. The shortest ppt - 5 slides - the longest maybe 17... and the presenters came prepared to open it up, share their messages in a way that enticed dialogue and questions vs being an edict, and the GMs all returned to their own business units two days later ready to "drive the experience" internally and engage their own teams in creating the best product they can deliver. That is what a great environment can set the stage for - let's keep finding ways to bring messages alive!

Meeting Design - If it was a TV Show

During the recent MPI WEC 2010 in Vancouver I thought a lot about meeting design, what works, what doesn't and why, why, why? 

Why do we put people in moderately comfortable chairs, all facing front, with a speaker pacing, or speakers perched somewhat uncomfortably on stools, or hidden behind a table, put a large projector in the sightline of a good portion of the room, and then assume this is an environment conducive to learning?

I had the opportunity to have a short discussion with the MC of the week,  Glenn Thayer whose perspective hit home with me. We have an audience that is a generation of tv watchers. We engage with a "show" for about five minutes, then we have two minutes of commercials, then we have another five minutes and we might get up and go to the fridge... but when we put people into a learning environment, we feel that one person can engage them for an hour or more, and that the learnings will be retained. There are ways to improve this, starting with making it fun, interesting and relevant.

Having a great MC helps keep it all in line, excellent speakers (a personal highlight was Emmanuel Gobillot) who understand communication as well as moments of silence, and sometimes it might be just about bringing it home with a game show.

Below are two events created in years past with other clients who were open to trying new ideas, and were successful for doing so. On the top, Jeopardy and on the bottom, Family Feud, both with questions that were all about the organization, with an actor / MC who kept it moving along quite nicely!

Meeting Design - Preparing the presenters

During the recent MPI WEC 2010 in Vancouver, I attended several sessions on meeting design and the future of meetings, and there were some excellent presentations, many recaps available on line - check them out. MPIWEB Events

The importance of meeting design can not be overstated. Organizations spend billions on meetings every year, and how much of the information that is delivered is retained? How much is used? With the importance of lifelong learning being recognized as a critical use of time to improve and engage a work force, are organizations really preparing every meeting to maximize the opportunities?

Are pre-assessments being conducted?

What is the format or the meeting? Is this conducive to the goals that have been set out being met?

Are you avoiding "death by powerpoint"? Coaching your presenters on delivery methods - pacing, tone, tools to engage the audience and help them walk away remembering the key messages? Are you allowing enough time to review the material with the group of presenters and ensure the messages are cohesive with the MVV (mission, vision, values) of the organization? That not only are they comfortable with the material and the presentation, they are excited about the possibilities in bringing these important messages to your teams.

As the meeting planners / event producers we may not be entirely responsible for the content but we sure can be responsible for helping ensure the message is delivered in a way that has the attendees walking out with tools to produce the desired change, having retained the critical information your organization is trying to deliver.  I will be looking at some of the effective tools I have seen in the next few posts.

Going For It!

It seems that after nearly two decades, it is a-ok to trust my event-stincts and be able to provide the best service and the best environment for your guests. It is great to be able to be so excited about the upcoming events and know that they will be the best they can be and to share the passion and enthusiasm for our industry with those of like minds. Think Big - deliver results. Let's keep going for it!

Issues in Tourism

Issue in tourism: a volcano erupts over Iceland disrupting air traffic for days to much of Europe, inbound and outbound. Meanwhile, certain trains in France are also on strike. Chaos ensues. It takes FIVE days for the transport ministers of the various countries to all speak together. Every world leader scheduled to attend the funeral of Poland's leader, one among many killed on a flight to Russia that was meant to recognize the peace found between these countries, is not able to fly in. The issues, the impacts for tourism, meetings, conferences, festivals, honeymoons continue seeming without end. The trains that are running are full, and even those without tickets ride, sitting in the aisles for hours across countries. Car rentals when available are at astronomical rates (2000 euros for two days...), hotels some remain fair, many gouge, airports become filled with mattresses as flyers await news. There is NO planning, no risk management, no contingency to allow for this type of natural disaster. Consumers are all out of pocket for expenses. Airlines are losing an estimated 200 million euros a day. chaos. no recovery will be enough. From 9-11 when humans caused chaos and disruption, nothing like this can be ammortized and insurance companies won't let the airlines take the risks. It is unthinkable and impossible to imagine.

We are the lucky ones. We have accommodation with friends and they continue to let us stay. We can shop at the market for meals, and we have, if they start flying again Tuesday, a confirmed flight for Wednesday. On Friday, Wednesday seemed ridiculous, impossible, so far away, and now we have one day left. The weather has finally warmed up, the family is finally all healthy, and we have enjoyed our "bonus" days very much. So we wait, in comfort and relaxed and able to work on line and meet all our needs, if not able to make all our meetings. Sometimes, life catches us up and we are forced to abide by new timelines, such is this time.

it's all about Mii

I have got to be mii, me, mii! Oh to watch the next generation and c them gro. to see how their virtual world collides with the real world. it is gr8. i (heart) the generation growing up so quickly and rapidly catching us and I long to b so quick to embrace change. and 2 send all my thoughts in 140 characters. definitely not yet!

We need to embrace the opportunities in SMS and tweeting and learning new ways to connect with our colleagues, peers and participants in programs - it is no longer about the keynote presenter's message but about the response to the keynote's message AS IT IS HAPPENING. Our audiences are now texting each other, updating their facebook statuses and tweeting their thoughts from the minute the speaker starts.

The only differentiator we truly have is to be able to deliver the best experience in real time! This is the je ne sais quoi that keeps us fascinated by this challenging industry in this interesting time - the belief that we can create an experience that inspires positive tweets, texts, blogs and pictures that show the beauty and magic that we create with environments and events that are gr8, and deliver to the individual needs of our many mii's! We (heart) this industry!