New Job Week One

Share the action

First let me tell you this is not the beginning of a week to week dialogue of my new job, but I know many of us have faced the same first week anxiety I did this week, so here we go... Tahira's short list of highlights of my first week as the Manager, Events at QuickMobile.

1. QuickMobile is a collaborative environment - there are always multiple meetings going on crossing departments, sharing ideas.  This collaborative mindset also reaches externally as the power of "collective smartness" is embraced and truly understanding partnerships and dialogue is a core value. There are no silos. (I love this)
2. I will never meet everyone. Since I have never worked at a company with more than 35 people, this is an idea I am having a hard time wrapping my head around. Not that I won't make the effort - there are just a lot of people to meet!
3. They want us to meet each other. The first thing you have to do - in the first three hours of your job - is send an email to everyone introducing yourself.  They also do a weekly appy hour - and yes, the keg is open for those who choose to enjoy a tall, cold, fresh one.  Why? It promotes idea flow, which is the first step to innovation.
4. Accessible C-Suite. The doors really are always open, and our CEO Patrick is often seen roaming the floor and engaging in active conversations about every aspect of the business - he cares about how the end product will make meetings better, and also about the environment which nurtures these products and the people who create them and since 2008 (for real!) has been active in building this.
5. Food always breaks down boundaries. In my immediate vicinity I know who are the healthy eaters (ie the chocolate has to cover fruit to be considered) and those who are on the flip side of this (ie they wish chocolate could be deep fried) and I am happy to share any kind of chocolate, or whatever works to start a discussion and bring a smile to someone's face.
6. The coffee robot. There is no other way to describe this magical machine, but I thank whoever thought this was a good idea. I also appreciate the coffee purists in the office who made sure the espresso machine remains a countertop feature.
7. Mobile, mobile, mobile... for years as a meeting planner and event producer I have been working to see apps integrated into meeting design and exploited for the possibilities to begin connecting people, to instigate and continue conversations, and yes to be the next step in building communities and as a place to collect and share content.  To be surrounded by heaps of like minded people - it is a highlight of going to work every day to be surrounded by others who are embroiled in working with so many organizations to make this a reality and to be part of the continual evolution of mobile and meetings!

And now... it is time to rest. Tahira

Now found at tahira.endean@quickmobile.com and lots of awesome events in 2014!

Event Design eh - Talking with Lars

The original Canadian Hudson's
Bay Blanket. Just wait to see
how we translate this icon!

I am very excited to be part of an interactive session taking place in just over a week at The Special Event in Nashville, Event Design 'eh where we will bring together a fabulous group of Canadian event designers to talk about our perspectives on design, collaboration and do this all with visual mediums that are designed to spark discussion.

Lars Erickson is the Director of Business Development for Special Event Rentals, a leader in the Alberta special event rental marketplace with facilities in Edmonton, Calgary and Red Deer, and a selection of product suiting each market and many thoughtful designers.  At last year's TSE I had the opportunity as a roving report for Meetings Podcast to have a great discussion with Lars on his philosophy, eye to partnership and Canadian design, which sparked this idea for a session. To hear this interview, click here.

I asked Lars to tell us a little about what this session will bring to those who choose to attend next week, and here is what he said.

Q1. Can you tell us briefly about your current role and involvement in the design process? 

LE :  As a rental company, Special Event Rentals provides the building blocks of event design. I work with planners to ensure we have the right inventory to create the designs they dream up.

Q2. Beyond our ubiquitous Mountie, what is one thing you consider “Canadian” when we talk about event design?LE: Maples, Mountains and Snow… but more important is our willingness to embrace our environment.

Q3. If you were giving special event participants one reason to attend our session, what would you say?LE: Collaboration is key with all events. Come and see how we work together in Canada.

Well, he said it!  All of us are pumped up and making sure you have an experience where you walk away with useful tips and ideas you can use the minute you return home, about design, collaboration and selling design. It is going to be great!

Create with Intent

Create with intent. It sounds so simple. It seems so obvious. If we are going to create an event experience, we should know some very basic things.

1. Why is the organization hosting an event?  Always start with WHY.
2. Who is our audience?
3. What will create positive surprises for them?
4. Where will you host the event (destination and specific venue)?
5. How does the choice of location, and the timing / when of the event impact your design and development?

It is the answers that will guide the creation. Many producers and planners can write a great theme idea, but it is when the ideas have context that they will build on the core messages and leave your guests feeling connected to and understanding the cause they are supporting / the organization they work for / the association they belong to, and how this brings value to their lives.

When you can leave people feeling good about any of the above because you created with intention... well for me, that is when my job satisfactions is at its penultimate, and it is this feeling that keeps all of us in this demanding industry, in it.

Experiences and Influence

The raging #eventprofs debate over the past week has evolved around the Successful Meetings launching of the first 13 of the "25 most influential people in the meetings industry" which included 12 men and a bed bug. I thought that MeetingChange had an excellent response to this, worth a read if you want to consider influence at all.

This was followed up by an #eventtable chat on who our Influencers are led by Jenise Fryatt, and the storify of this chat is included here.

My question is this - when planning events, how do you define if the experience was successful? If your objective is to influence thought or change patterns of behaviour how are you working with the people involved - facilitators, presenters, participants to do this?

Can an event create action or change that spreads out through your participants spheres of influence? (I would argue yes if you have clear objectives and a plan to do this such as we did with Get your Green on at EventCamp Vancouver)

Who are the people who influence our industry? I believe each of us will have our own stories to tell and our own influencers, and it is incumbent upon each of us to be part of the continued positive power that meetings and events have, and to ensure that in our individual roles we step up and take responsibility, and bring our teams along with us.

How have you used an event to create transformation successfully?
What barriers have you encountered?

CMP recertification



Brain Friendly All Day Snacks at
the Vancouver Convention Centre

 Anyone with the CMP usually dreads that five year mark approaching as you have to collect information on what you have done that would let you re-certify. I am no different. This year though has been a bit more fun, as it allowed me to reflect on what I have done beyond finishing (at last!) a degree in Hospitality Management, instructing in the BCIT Event Marketing course (always good for a few points) and producing fantastic events for a wide range of clients, from mountaintops to boardrooms, in art galleries and ski resorts and many other spectacular places.

Thank you to the following organizations that allowed me to share my passion for the industry and for the trends that are continuing to shape how we can do meetings better.

First, talking with @brainstrength Andrea Sullivan on Brain Friendly Food: Changing your Meeting One Meal at a Time at both SPINCon 2011 and FICP 2011 and then putting this into practice at Event Camp Vancouver - spectacular to see the results when you incorporate true brain friendly principles into your meeting environment and meals.

Following Event Camp Vancouver, a spectacular collaboration of many industry partners to create a collective experience second to none in education, connections and relevance, there have been opportunities to share what was learned.   

AssociCom invited me to talk about how we can add social gaming layers to enhance a conference experience - a conversation that still has room to grow!

Trevor Roald and I also had the opportunity to do a quick webinar with etouches on our experiment in event engagement, and how pieces that add to positive experiences can be incorporated.

I am also looking forward next week to joining Erica St. Angel at Sonic Foundry's headquarters in Madison, WI to look "Behind the Black Curtain" on hybrid events.

What is fun about all this? For me and many others we work in the meeting and event industry because we enjoy seeing the difference we make for people who attend, and being able to talk about how we do it and open dialogue and create discussion - well that is why! I look forward to seeing you all at upcoming events and having fun together!

Talking Tech

Thank you to the MPI BC Chapter who invited me as the keynote to open the Technology Roundtable Education at this month's chapter meeting. It was a privilege to join the roundtable presenters Marc Smith from Amuse Consulting, Mike Granek of AI, Ciprian Bandu from PSAV, Romulus Tang from Vernon Technologies and Trevor Roald of QuickMobile to talk tech.

It was definitely daunting to consider how much technology is changing our (meeting and event) world, at a pace that it is difficult to keep up with and that determining not only where to focus our own organizations but also our clients', well it can make one's head spin! Deciding what to focus on in a maximum of 30 minutes was also a bit daunting, but knowing that if I was able to provide a solid overview, the participants who had the opportunity to attend three roundtable sessions and delve deep into the specific technologies would leave with more options in front of them made it less so.

While each individual will leave with their own takeaways based on the roundtables chosen, here is what I hope I was able to convey.

1. A girl opened technology day! I know that in the industry there are a few female producers and leaders in the event technology space but it is not the norm, interesting in an industy that is otherwise heavily weighted to the female gender. My point - if how technology impacts your events interests you, then dig in, learn about it and have some fun!
2. Start with Why. Technology can create WOW environments and support learning and connections. It can also be budget intensive so know why you are adding elements and how it will support messages and engage participants.
3. Technology provides tools that can create efficiencies - web registration, marketing, iPads with or in place of binders, replacing paper information with electronic distribution, and so much more. Find the tools that suit your needs.
4. Consider how a mobile app can fit into your overall event strategy and how it can benefit your community building efforts in particular.  With hundreds of thousands of apps in the world and millions of tablet users attending our meetings, this will become the new norm, an expectation of the participants.
5. Social media is not going away, so if you are not already using social media to promote your events and build community, start experimenting. It was great to see that at least half the room was already using this to their advantage.
6. Consider how a hybrid meeting can extend your reach, break down borders, allow for presenters and participants to both be included, and how it can be your best marketing tool to increase registration year to year as people see the great content, but still crave the human connections that come with face to face attendance.
7. Gamification can be fun, enhance learning, create a collective goal and friendly competition, and add context and excitement to learning.  It boosts endorphins, and creates hope and optimism, all positive feelings that will then be connected to your organization / event.
8. Make technology comfortable for people to use. Selling Vancouver at AIBTM and IMEX this year using the touchscreen presentation supported with the iPad app specific to selling the local hotels made it easy for people to access information in their own way, and they really, really liked it.
9. QR codes and their variants are also here to stay for a while and are inexpensive (or free) and fun to include.
10. FourSquare, NFC - near field communication and other location based software is not going away and it has many potential applications for conferences and events that connect people and could be worth exploring or promoting. 
11. Find trusted partners, collaborate, be transparent in your needs, expectations and budget, and then go forth and create really cool stuff.
12. Do not forget the human connection. If you are going to have a hybrid event, you need human hosts to embrace the remote audience and engage through the back channels. If you are going to create a game, you need creators and then you need players. If you have guests, the technology should enhance the experience, and add to the learning or connections.
13. Create space and time for conversations. Understand that some of these may be face-to-face and some may now be via other mediums, and that all are important.
14. Technology is a tool, not a strategy.

`The essential difference in service is not machines or things. The essential difference is hearts, minds, spirits and souls.`   Herb Kelleher, Southwest Airlines

Thoughtful Event Design and Production - It Matters



Event Camp Vancouver getting set for participants

When I wrote this post it was before Hybrid was the buzzword of the year, but it was not all that long ago. If it was a TV Show looks at the different ways we can make event education more memorable for the guests and while certainly not cutting edge (since we had several years of examples of doing this) it remains important.

As we move from our viewing audiences being used to produced shows, full of laugh tracks and canned lines, to Improv (think "Whose Line is it Anyway?") to the plethora of reality TV now available, our tastes may have evolved, but our need to be entertained continues to be a reality for meeting and event planners.

When we look at the 2012 Event Trends from David Adler of Bizbash which articulate so clearly what attendees will be looking for, it does all come back to careful meeting design and thoughtful production elements that add to the overall experience. It is no longer enough to build a conference or event full of pre-determined one-sided topics being delivered, paired with traditional evening events, perhaps a welcome, an awards gala and maybe a farewell or closing event. Now we need to offer not only excellent education, we must also work with the presenters on making it interactive to build relevance and applicability for the participants, allow room for "hot" topics or organic growth of topics within the sessions, provide nutritious offerings to sustain participants, offer events that meet the expectations of the guests but also offer some surprises and delights.  We need to create "tweetable" moments and blog-worthy stories, these that happen so much more immediately than any post show PR you may get in traditional media. You must also be staffed and ready to respond to changes that may be necessitated by this immediate feedback received.

In all of this we also are considering not only the needs of face to face guests, but also remote participants, and how we can create education and interaction that provides value for both, and ideally between both audiences. This does require a certain amount of technology and expertise in its use, careful preplanning and appropriate preparation. Is it worth it? If your participants then become your biggest advocates that lead to greater success for your events in the future - I say YES. Plan, prepare, produce - and make sure it is authentic, relevant and memorable!

Special Events - What Makes them Special?

The appeal of special events is precisely this: they are special. They elevate the everyday and allow people to live out a different way or being for a brief period of time.

If you are producing an event for the public, then you seek to promote and celebrate the special because special events hold public media appeal. They make good stories. The stories other people tell about an event are the realm of public relations. Now some of us are in the business of public relations, and kudos to you, for successfully sharing messages that bring brands to life and create connections for people to these.

From a pure Producer's point of view we want to create environments that allow escape from the everyday, where great company, food, beverage and engaging entertainment lets us not focus for a while... where we can put aside the every day things (and we all have them) and relax.

In the case of an evening event, one where the focus is on relationship building through shared experience, this would be an approach.

We create environments by first finding the "right" venue - whether it is the top of a mountain, inside an Aquarium, under a tent overlooking a sunset, or a purely blank space - dependant on where you are, the size of your group, the expectations, and so much more...

Once the venue is selected we combine furniture, linens, lighting, light, darkness, fabric, space, flow to create a sense of place that sets a tone and sends a specific message to the brain that you have arrived somewhere that is not "regular" and where you can allow yourself to be in the moment of where you are.

We use food and beverage in different ways in the evening than during the day. Through the day we want to use brain-friendly, lighter fare that allows us to produce the chemicals that provide a more alert state, allowing for greater contribution, learning and retention. In the evening however, we want beverages that say as you sip, relax. We can serve food that is richer, more luxurious in taste and texture and that send the messages that breaking bread in great company with great food is an excellent way to induce meaningful and thoughtful, relaxed discussion.

Entertainment can be used to set a background ambience, to provide close-up or interactive experiences, to provide a show that wows, get people moving on a dance floor, and to deliver key messages in ways that surprise. The entertainment when tied to the key objectives and integrated through the whole event is a layer that enhances in ways nothing else can, leaving lasting memories.

What really makes an event special though is a combination of all the above, and the small moments... a great takeway from a speaker, the person you meet and connect with instantly, a shared laugh over a moment of delight, a hand brushed in harmony during a powerful moment...

What memories will you create?

Fire and Ice - literally - with Cantrav Services

GMIC - Virtually Amazing

For those of you that have been following my blog, you know that I am basically addicted to events, and that I believe that all events can be done with sustainability front of mind. By sustainability, I mean BIG PICTURE sustainability, as I blogged about for Engage365 - the 3ps of Meeting Planning.

While I would have loved to have been live at the Green Meetings Industry Council Event in Portland this week, for time and money, I had to make a choice, and instead found myself at Event Camp live, and as a virtual attendee at GMIC and team member of Team Spruce Almighty.  What an awesome thing, to be able to be engaged from my desk and thank you to this team (GMIC and its many sponsors and Spruce specifically) for making this possible.

Things I have learned so far:

1. Face to face remains the most important way for people to connect, but
2. Engaged virtual attendees have a lot to offer and including this option increases opportunity on both sides
3. I am lucky to work now primarily in Vancouver / Whistler / Banff, all true leaders in sustainable meetings and living (I know but hey, it is my blog, right...)
4. Cooperation is necessary - integrate and initiate discussions about how all the partners you work with can fit into a more sustainable model
5. Solutions that start with looking at the entire supply chain and work their way through the various details of the meeting are integral to continued success
6. APEX is a great tool and will fit well with standards around the globe
7. We need to not only use the sustainable tools we have, but to communicate them, pre-event, during it and following - show what we are doing TOGETHER
8. We have the opportunity to be leaders in change and we must embrace the opportunities and be leaders in sustainability
9. Sustainability is thinking strategically - when we as planners can show that we think strategically we get to sit at the table with the "big kids" and be much, much more effective in bringing our organizations overriding brand messages and values to life in live events (which are fundamentally one of the most powerful tools in our marketing and communication mix)
10. Every step counts  

Event Leadership

Special Events: events for a new world by Dr. Joe Goldblatt (Sixth Edition) recently came across my desk for review. While the specific review was related to the new chapter on green meetings, I was inclined to start from the beginning, and boom, there it was, right at the beginning, what is this profession we call the event industry... defined.

Event leadership is defined as "a profession that requires public assembly for the purpose of celebration, education, marketing and reunion."

If we consider the characteristics that those who determine certifications and designations and how they qualify a specific job as a profession, we can assess if this applies.

1. The profession must have a unique body of knowledge.
2. The profession typically has voluntary standards that often result in certification. 
3. The profession has an accepted code of conduct or ethics.

Based on the above, and due to the great work of multiple organizations committed to the professionalism of this industry, we can indeed say it is a true profession. When we really consider our industry, no matter what avenue followed, from meeting planning to event production, incentive house, destination management, festivals, trade show and exhibition management, wedding planning, sponsorshp, fundraising, and the many specialized vendor partners we rely on, it is one that requires immense cooperation, and a great body of knowledge to be successful.

We have a number of designations available through a number of certifying bodies, and there are a plethora of certificates, diplomas and degrees, including masters, available around the world in institutions both private and public.  The interesting thing though, is that unlike other professions (law, architecture, engineering as examples that also fit the above criteria), our greatest challenge has been that to enter the event industry, you don't need to have any particular piece of paper or specific qualifications to enter. The only real barrier to entry is your self.

To be successful, a start is to have knowledge about the basic structure of the type of event you want to be part of. Then, to be solution oriented,  creative, forward thinking, strategic, a great communicator, and to have passion for an industry that requires intense collaboration, and often involves intense competition, are the next skills to develop.

This then becomes the base, (and tools like this textbook are meant to provide a basis for) is event leadership. When you take your skills and atributes, and combine this with that next layer, the ability to inspire and lead a team of people to be successful event after event, you begin to be a leader.  Eventually, leaders will create a culture and establish a vision for success that spans a variety of industry sectors, and to inspire a team - internal and partners - to truly be engaged and empowered to bring their unique skills as you work together to bring brands to life in unique settings, and to create environments that engage and deliver emotional connections that drive ROI.

I love seeing the students, the novices, and the newbies as they are so enthusiastic, and their desire to learn and grow continues to inspire me!  As we see the more experienced professionals continue to do this amazing work and to see the ideas that are generated and then brought to life is awesome.  To watch our industry work so hard with initiatives ike the Event Camp series, and knowing so many talented, committed people who work across the spectrum understand the need to deliver messages that will stick and are discovering better ways to do this and finding clients that "get that we get it" - while the economy is providing its challenges, the desire to use our skills to make the world a better meeting place remains great!

What do you think makes a great event leader?