Room with a View, week 2 - The Vegans arrive

This may be the coolest meeting ever from what it means to the world. An organization that manufactures globally has brought together in Vancouver, a city working on its sustainability for future generations with this initiative -  Vancouver greenest city by 2020 a group of people dedicated to the same values.  They are together to look at every business unit and find more sustainable opportunities from products with no glues or toxins, to improved factory conditions and maximum positive impact in the communities they are part of.

Of the sixty, one-third are vegetarian / vegan and all have been riding skytrains, walking and taking the aquabus for their transfers required this week.  The food prepared by one of our favorite local caterers has been stellar, with many positive comments.  A member of the green table network, it is important to Culinary Capers to be a responsible part of the food chain also, and they have been a great partner to event planners for two decades.

The first evening included members of First Nations from here to welcome and bless the meeting, with a Chief from New York who is also working closely with their team to identify ways of including this culture in continuing initiatives to create a more solid future. This was held at the Museum of Anthropology at UBC, a perfect venue, not only for its spectacular setting and art, but also for setting the context that we have been here for thousands of years and we need to take care of our earth for the many generations to come.  Not one or two they suggested, but think ahead in your planning to seven or more generations from now.  Daunting, yes. Possible? Absolutely!

Again, we have used a sustainably manufactured furniture line to dress up Creekside, and it looks great! They are ready to engage!

Room with a View

To truly engage learners they need a combination of great environment, facilitators and presenters who understand the message and the method of delivery that will be the most beneficial for the learners and their organization. This week we have an amazing example of clients who know their audience, understand the messages they want to deliver, have brought in the right speakers and facilitators to deliver that message and then worked with us to create the setting.  The right venue helps too and in this case it is Creekside, a new legacy venue created out of the 2010 Winter Olympic Games, where this was a key part of the Athletes Village.

The message they chose is how to stay lean.  This is one that has been around for a number of years, and in these economic times, and particularly for our clients who manufacture and sell globally, one of renewed importance.  There are lots of places to find information on it - this is just one.
1000ventures.com - one look at Toyota's Lean Model

Here are a few pictures of where they get to meet, and where they get to eat, all inspired by nature, with sustainability planned throughout, a part of meeting in Vancouver that is easy to accomplish. The girari furniture line is a sustainably built line, and one we love to use for both its stylish features as well as its overall philosophies. The plants you see are all grown locally, and will all be sent to good homes following the meeting. The dining choices are healthy, they can fill their own water bottles from the coolers or the tap, and the group is transferring mainly with their feet, on the Skytrain and using our Aquabus system. Excellent choices all around.

Egonomics - What do YOU need?

As some of you know, I have worked across various sectors of the industry. I have been a PCO/Meeting Planner, an Event Producer at a DMC, a Sr. Event Producer (hey that's what happens when you change jobs right...) at an Incentive House, and now a Director of Creative and Production back at a DMC.

In any job we have had to answer this question, "What VALUE do you bring?" Whether asked by a meeting host (often in a profession completely unrelated to what we do and senior in their world), or a seasoned planner, my answer is consistent, “We will give you back time and use our expertise to create a memorable experience for your guests".

Anyone who is working in meetings and events is busy, working on mutliple projects for multiple stakeholders, who all work to their own time schedules, usually engaging less than three weeks before a program, and of course wanting us to adapt to their input. This is not even stressful, it is an anticipated reality.  The reality is, in any job or position I have had in this industry, our teams have always risen to the challenge and made it happen. We don't do this alone, we do this with our highly engaged and professional supplier / vendor partners - who also understand that we are all always only as good as our last event. 

Our last event is also very specific - very specific to meeting the individual needs of each and every guest who has participated, as everyone has an opinion.  Now I have been doing this long enough that in the olden days, we collected thousands of paper evaluations and spent a lot of time collating these results, which were shared with one or two people.  Then we moved into online surveys, an amazing tool for the instant results you can obtain, and again, reviewed by a handful of people.  Now as meeting and event professionals, we have the added challenge of social media, a great tool for marketing, and a tool where now, in nano seconds, any spectacular moments can be shared, and any flaws can be exploited for all the world to share, with words, pictures, video all able to be streamed instantly. As if there wasn't already enough pressure on us!  Are we ready to work tirelessly (or with a lot of 'insert energy beverage of choice') to create an end-to-end memorable experience for our participants - HECK YEAH!

This week I participated as a virtual participant in Event Camp Twin Cities  twitter #ectc10 and it was phenomonal to hear the same messages from a room and a virtual room of people who CARE about making events more meaningful - and how we will continue to do that now and into the future.
This is what I will continue to love about what we do - everyone who is part of our extended team, does what they do with passion, energy and a true expertise and we are so lucky to wake up every day not knowing exactly what the day will bring, but knowing what we do makes a difference to the people we touch.

Sport, Culture, Sustainability

Not only the three tenets of the Olympic movement, really just a great way to live life. Incorporate some sport, some form of fitness you enjoy, something that keeps your body limber - anything will do - and you will feel better. It is that simple.

Culture - keeping the mind active has proven itself again and again in making you more interesting as you grow up, and in defying age as we get older.  Culture can be anything you want it to be - play an instrument, enjoy a concert, act in a play, enjoy watching a play, paint, enjoy a museum or art gallery - so many ways to subtly improve our lives.

Current personal favorite - Robert Lepage - continues to astound

Sustainability - create less waste, eat more local food, be kind to the people you encounter, share knowledge, limit our foot print (see previous blog post for 20 event related ideas...)

Live well, enjoy, breathe...

What is sustainability?

The first time the Greater Vancouver Regional District wrote a green meetings guide it was 1995. We have come a long way, and now the Convention Industry Council, in partnership with a host of organizations is about to launch their guide, more excellent tools to come!


Green Meetings Standards Mark Industry Transformation


Below are some ideas of things we have been doing here for a while, in a city / country that embraces recycling of most paper, metal, plastic and more, where it is easy to do.
1. Eating local, using in season or locally available products whenever possible

2. Oceanwise seafood – ensures seafood is grown and harvested sustainably

3. Unused food is picked up by local shelters and shared with those in need

4. Water stations vs. bottled water, either guests “bring your own bottle”, or hosts can give them to attendees – a great branding opportunity that will last for years in the stainless steel version

5. What about giving them their own coffee cup?

6. China, glassware, flatware – with little need for disposable use the “good stuff”

7. Recycle everything you can in partnership with the venues – on the west coast this is really easy as separate containers for all types of waste are commonplace from paper to aluminum, glass and plastic

8. Recycle items like name badge holders, or use the cornstarch based plastic holders that decompose quickly

9. Think corn and bamboo – everything from “paper” plates to knives, forks and even golf balls!

10. e-send everything you can – ask your attendees if they prefer paperless – there are a small percentage that might still want paper, but certainly not all of them

11. Create signage that can be reused event to event or recycled / on recycled materials

12. Print using soy or vegetable inks on paper that can be recycled, or planted such as seed paper

13. Use your glass again – at a reception, asks guests just to refill – successful at the MPI WEC Welcome

14. Ask us about the Hybrid SUV’s, bio-fuel use, even incorporating the SkyTrain into your programs – and remember that a motorcoach with 50 people on it is actually pretty darn fuel-efficient when put on a per-person basis

15. We can provide a carbon off-set package when you book your air travel with our travel department

16. We design our environments using furniture made locally and / or sustainably produced

17. Centrepieces can be made from a myriad of substances – even the florals we use are grown within 100km of the downtown core!

18. Dine by candlelight – soy candles even!

19. Give back – have attendees bring work appropriate clothing they no longer wear and collect it for an organization such as Dress for Success with chapters across the country supporting women re-entering the workforce

20. Production value – what we have today uses less power and creates amazing impact – let’s talk about what you really need to deliver your message effectively

21. Incorporate activities that bring people back to nature – kayak, bike, hike, canoe around the amazing scenery and enjoy this time you have here at a slower pace and only human fuel required!

22. Gift if it makes sense – are you creating a memory and providing something useful (water holder, USB stick, clothing they can use for example)

23. Planning ahead – from the first meeting to the final guest departure, we will find ways to help you in both the messaging and the implementation around making your meeting the most sustainable it can be – it is just our way of thinking

24. What else can we do locally to leave behind a positive impact - bring your old suits to share with a local dress for success (seen at MPI WEC), bring books to support a local inner city school with limited library resources, spend an afternoon cooking where not only do you enjoy the meal but you also get to prepackage enough for groups like meals-on-wheels or the Dr Peter Foundation to share with those in need...

Ultimately it all just ties into thinking that the only footprint we leave behind is, well, from our own feet!  Here is another one of my favorite intiatives - being spearheaded by some of our favorite bands!  I also love when we can all get together to share and celebrate with music, and when we can do it in a way that makes sense.

Filter For Good

Smart Trade Show Idea

I have a confession, I love trade shows! I love walking through the entrance, seeing traffic on the floor, how organizations use booth space and design to engage clients, seeing colleagues and meeting people you have only had non-f2f interaction with.  This summer I enjoyed my time on the floor at MPI WEC10 - they drew you in with an excellent lunch that was easy to get to and energized you for the next hours on the floor, with some great suppliers to meet. Here the hosted buyer program many were on also worked well to connect qualified buyers with the right suppliers - something that for this reason continues to be popular at shows.

There were some great booths at Incentive Works, the larger hotel booths where you could come right in and at either a stand up table or sitting on comfortable furniture, with a beverage, catch up on the global properties available for your groups.  They did a great job of dividing this up by global destination so you could work through and really think about where you want to take your groups and meet appropriate suppliers along the way. 

Anyone who has spent any number of hours standing on a floor knows how hard this is - staying energetic and focused in a small space for A-type personalities is always a challenge and finding things to draw people in and have them remember you is tricky.  My favorite at this show was the Sheraton Parkway North who had their booth and surrounding area (good thing they were at the end of an aisle) packed with people who wrote a paragraph that started with "I _________ would love to book my next meeting ant the Sheraton Parkway North, only 20 minutes from downtown Toronto".  This paragraph was then analysed by a handwriting expert, she really knows her stuff - it was memorable, and it created a line that allowed the sales team to interact with those waiting - an excellent use of time all around!

YouTube, Twitter and more

So in this day and age of Social Media - what are we doing to use all these new tools to enhance our meeting and learning experiences?  What are we doing to connect people on a continuous basis via all the available mediums?
Social Media Revolution

They say that there is 24 hours of content posted to YouTube every minute.  That is exponential.

Two great examples from Incentive Works were first the session on engaging the human dimension with @Alissa Hurley and Gayle Duncan from Maritz - with many examples on the ppt, in the room and using live feeds to drive content (and win prizes) who had fun with SMS, polling and tweets in the room. That added to and did not take over the session.

A great session on social media with Gary Vaynerchuk - a man who has driven sales in their family business using primarily social media tools, including their own YouTube channel - check this out - 125,000 daily - DAILY - viewers!

WineLibraryTV

When I sat down to hear Gary (@Garyvee) speak, he had been following the #incentiveworks I think as I had a direct message saying - hope you are in the session today - so a little new technology to embrace I think! 

btw if you have a nice steak, a little smoked sea salt on top - pair with a bordeaux!