The Rockies and Banff

Oh how I love being in the Rockies and seeing the looks of awe on the faces of guests who are enjoying this spectacular locale, and hearing their stories of the activities they enjoyed.  It made me think of all the things I have not done while in the Rockies, again and again, for eighteen years of bringing groups here.

Things I have done
* eaten a lot of fantastic food
* floated down the Bow River
* stayed in gorgeous hotels "the Castle in the Rockies" among others
* produced fantastic events (shameless but true) with some excellent environments and entertainers
* enjoyed the spa - ok, once
* seen bears, elk, moose and a whole variety of cool wildlife, including the Mounties
* breathed in the freshest air around

Things I have not done
* drink fabulous wine (hey, we're working!)
* skiied
* been in a helicopter
* slept enough
* golfed
* swam in the beautiful pool
* gone horseback riding and had tea at the Teahouse
* been fly fishing
* gone river rafting
* played croquet on the lawn over the golf course
* line danced
* spelunked - really!
* atv'd
* biked
* hiked
* had ice wine by the firepit surrounded by ice sculptures

hmmmm, maybe one day! In the meantime, our lucky guests will continue to enjoy this fantastic location.

Bring your kids to work day?

Excerpts from conversations with the client...

Hey, we have a great idea! For the World's Greatest Backyard, we want to make sure it is easy for people to get their beverage of choice, of course. In addition to the greatest grapevine, we are definitely going to include the hydration station, with lots of flavoured water (a huge hit btw) and then we are going to have the specialty bars, and the beer stations with our great local microbrew from Granville Island Brewing, but what about that lemonade stand? Wouldn't it be great to have some kids?

At this point the event planner / mother in me feels a small start of... was that panic? Maybe as I seem to have stopped breathing. I definitely don't want to have to worry about kids at the largest most pressure filled event for our peers of all time... thinking, thinking... what is the right response... stalled completely by the next question, "What about your kids? They are adorable!".  Now, every mother wants to hear exactly those words, your kids are adorable. uh - oh, there is only one thing to say... "let me ask them!" I say brightly!

So I asked them if they might know any kids who would be interested in working at this large, important event, and their hands shot up. OK, I guess we will try this.  My daughter was especially keen and asked if she could come and spend the whole day with me setting up. Sure, why not, we can use more volunteers, so she did.  The first question, as we loaded into the car at 6am was "So Mom, is there like a main person who is in charge of this event tonight?"  Apparently my children, who have traveled to exotic destinations like Quebec City and Beijing with me on programs, have no idea what I do!

Well in the end, it was a fantastic day, and the joy of having a junior volunteer, is when you ask them to do anything, they RUN. Think about this high productivity booster, and how can we harness that? I generally discourage running on-site, but in this case, we had a lot of ground to cover. 

At the end of it all, they were adorable, and helpful and it was indeed a pleasure to bring my kids to work... and if you had any lemonade at the MPI WEC10 Welcome Reception, you got to meet them too!

Next time they want to be on the trampoline though!

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!