Tea Tasting at Events - Sweet

In 2008 I had the pleasure of working with an amazing team in Beijing for the Summer Olympic Games. On arriving in Beijing, as one of the first to come during training, I was greeted at the large and overwhelming airport by Kiko and Lindsey, and a large group of super-cute, nervous and somewhat giggly Chinese team members in training.  They would be with us for the whole month, and were in great hands learning under Kiko, whose knowledge of event transportation is second to none, and anyone in this industry knows this is an art, especially on large, world-scaled events. Lindsey had a host of roles over the course of the Games, and I always found her presence to be one of calm and still get-it-done. Now, several years later to see them translating their skill set and love of tea into a business that would add something unique to events is quite fantastic, and I asked her to share her story in greater detail here.


1. Lindsey, tell me about why you created Blackbird Tea - what couldn't you 
find already in the world of tea?

The primary reason is that I love tea – the first time my mom made me English Breakfast tea with sugar and milk I fell completely in love – and when I started contemplating the idea of starting a business with my husband, Kiko, tea popped into my mind. He’s a coffee drinker, but he got on board. 

Also, I was noticing among the people around me that the story surrounding tea was, in my opinion, incomplete. Most of my friends saw tea as something you drink when you’re sick or in need of a health boost. And while tea is certainly comforting and healthy (especially when enjoyed without loads of sugar and milk), I think it’s also just a tasty beverage. And with loose leaf tea, which is the best type of tea to drink in terms of taste and health benefits, many people I’ve met tend to get nervous and think it has to be this mystical, serious process that is so concerned with steeping times, water temperature, and portioning that they just don’t try it. But you can make a great cup of tea just as easily as you can make coffee, and it doesn’t have to be a fussy, cumbersome process. Tea is good for us, it has a long history, and it can be ceremonial, but at the end of the day, it just tastes really good. You can take the other aspects of it or leave them.

So mainly, we’re aiming to share good, high quality tea and to demystify it in a way.

My experience: I too had a similar falling in love experience with my neighbours who moved in across the street when I was eight.  A British family, every day after school there was tea, with delicious treats I learned how to bake at their house, and cloth napkins. It was both grown-up and peaceful.

2. We have really seen a push towards wellness in the past year or so with meetings and events. This is something I feel very strongly about as we tend to fill up participant's time into very long days, and we don't always offer the most hydrating or nourishing items for these long days. Tell me about your vision for how Blackbird tea can fit into this new thinking.

I realize that I’ve just gotten done saying that people don’t need to think about health when it comes to tea, but when I say that I am mainly speaking to debunking the idea that if something is healthy is probably doesn’t taste good, or it’s something we’ll only have when we feel under the weather. We’ve made huge strides in the world of food with regards to realizing that things can be good for us and taste great, but I think that tea still has a ways to go with this. Part of the issue is the stories we tell about tea – that it’s a healthy alternative to coffee, that it’s a cancer fighter, etc, all of which are true, but I think we have to broaden the story.

Tahira: We certainly can't take away coffee, but as participants seek to personalize their experience having choices is always a good thing.

3. I love the idea of creating on-site tea experiences!  I see a ton of opportunities for both venues and hotel brands, particularly those embracing this movement towards health and offering lifestyle menus - to be able to offer planners something really creative.  What would a Blackbird tea tasting experience offer to event guests?

Blackbird is still really small, and with our experience with events we are drawn towards the evolution of both adding tea experiences to events, or eventually to supply product for meetings and events. So far we’ve done parties and some great pop-up shops and have found it is a great way to introduce people to another option. 

Plus, guests wouldn’t get those jitters associated with too much coffee but still have a way to connect with others over a hot cuppa!

You can make it a cocktail too – tea and spirits go well together! 

Tahira: I love the idea of offering alternatives to guests, and tea cocktails would be fun.  I see a workshop brewing!

Since we’re still small and nimble, there’s a flexibility there that wouldn’t exist with all brands. I think our best quality at the moment is that we are able to create most any kind of experience to complement the experience of the event – special wedding favors in  upstate New York; a small tasting stand at a private fundraiser for the surf industry in California; a retail pop up space in Seattle. All different looks and objectives but achievable through our small size, which in that sense, is an asset. We offer that flexibility coupled with some really tasty teas, a small, local business feel (because that’s what we are), and a love of sharing our knowledge of tea with guests. If people want to know, we’ll talk about the origins of the teas, ingredients, how to make them at home, and even the journey of starting a tea business. 

Lindsey, thank you for taking the time to share this with me.  I see so many opportunities for forward thinking events to add to what they are doing as you do offer more than just a teabag on a station, and I believe as we continue to seek more authentic experiences and connections, you offer a way to make this happen.  When we think about what we are learning about meeting and learning design, time for reflection and the introvert's need for quiet time, I think stopping at a tea station, or in a larger event even a great pop-up space, offers something really special.  For anyone who wants to reach out directly - hello@blackbirdteaco.com 

Doughnuts are not a Proper Breakfast

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.

Chocolate Krave -d

Some of you may remember when I woke up earlier this year at 4am and joined MPI Brussels for a hybrid chocolate tasting session. While pretty neat to see it work from my event producer perspective, it was a bit odd to do this in the middle of my night.

I love time with friends, chocolate and learning, so when MPI BC Chapter had a silent auction in June with a Chocolate Tasting for 12 with Krave Chocolat I could not resist bidding and winning such an item and sharing it! 

So this week we gathered inside Xoxolat where their owner Hodi welcomed us into their fabulous chocolate filled spacious new locale in Yaletown and together we learned about chocolate.  With Carrie and Anya, master chocolatiers with their own fabulous stories, we started learning about how cocoa grows, its origins and what to look for in great chocolate, but of course the best part was tasting the chocolate. This ranged from delicious milk all the way up to an 85% dark chocolate which surprised us with its smoothness.  A little pairing, a few Christmas gifts purchased, time with friends, and a spark for how we can include chocolate in even more of our corporate programs... ta da, a fabulous experience all around!  If you need a great experiential gift for the someone who has it all - consider a chocolate tasting!

Thinking Out Loud

Whistler Conference Centre Gala Entree

It was pointed out to me this week that my blog had been not that active lately, and that (kindly) the reader was looking forward to the next post. It seems that I have been busy this year writing, but more for others than for my own blog.  I have a few personal favorites from this year, by topic.

1. Food.  I was THRILLED to have been asked to contribute to MPI's Meeting Professional to talk about my perspective on meeting food. Fresh Thinking 

I was also able to contribute on this topic and more in the revamped CIC manual coming out this fall, and I can't wait to see the evolution of this text, as this is the ninth edition, and when I completed my diploma in Event Management a million years ago it was using the second edition.  We've come a long way baby!

2. Talented professionals make a difference, to anything, including meetings. We have seen so many of our clients trying to work around us, with mixed results, and it was this observation that inspired this article.  DMC or DIY? 

Take a few minutes and snoop around Corporate Meetings Network - there are some great articles to be found here.  

3. Neuroscience has been around for a while, but it is only in the past year or so we have been using this knowledge to positively impact your meetings. Also on the CMM digital edition Neuroscience and your meetings From this I had the idea to talk about this in a fun way to our industry, so I will be on the CIC stage at IMEX13 with a great session on My Meeting Smells Better than Your Meeting  - one of many fabulous educational opportunities being offered this year.

Thank you for reading, I appreciate it, and love your comments and shared ideas too.

Perfect Meal

Sunchoke foam with crispy bacon

A perfect meal is a combination of great company, environment, food and wine. Last night dinner with our fabulous friends Peter and Rosanna at the Pear Tree Restaurant in Burnaby delivered a perfect meal, rare and appreciated.

This was a five course tasting menu, and three of us had the well chosen wine pairings with the menu. The fourth person was our driver for the evening, and when we asked  for a suggestion for the one glass he could have, the server let us know they offered half glasses so he could pair one half glass of the whites from our pairings with the first two courses, and do the same for the red with the next two courses and skip the dessert wine. What a refreshing change from the super-size offerings and upselling we see at most restaurants - this restaurant has been smart enough to respond to the strict drinking and driving laws found here (and in other global destinations) by providing a solution that allows enjoyment without guilt or danger. The service across the board was attentive but not intrusive, warm but not overt, which when you are changing glasses and cutlery with every course is a feat in itself.  The food was without reproach, each bite of every course offering pleasure, and the wines truly well matched.  I also appreciated their use of seasonal and local offerings, and the way the Chef had thoughtfully garnished every dish. This restaurant is tucked away on Hastings Street in Burnaby, certainly worth the short drive and highly recommended.

This truly amazing meal had me thinking about the other fantastic places I have had the opportunity to eat, and here is my short list, in no particular order of best bites in great environments where excellent service is also the norm.  

1. The Irish Table, Cannon Beach Oregon. Tucked away behind the also excellent Sleepy Monk Coffee shop, a small well crafted menu in a very cute location.
2. Lula Cafe, Chicago. When Susan Cope asked the Chef she works with in Arizona to recommend a restaurant in Chicago he texted back with our reservation! They grow their own greens and herbs in the basement and on an empty lot next door - delicious and incredibly flexible, even when we picked our own favorite components from the dessert menu, they just whipped us up amazing plates.
3. Bluewater Cafe, Vancouver and CinCin, Vancouver. Always delicious.
4. Araxi Restaurant, Whistler. Forget they were a prize on Hell's Kitchen - another restaurant where it always is fantastic. Love the truffle oil popcorn at the bar too.
5. Province, Chicago. Enjoyed with a small group during GMIC, the LEED Gold restaurant also delivered on flavour with excellent, local products.
6. Rick Moonen's RM Seafood at the Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas. Excellent meal enjoyed with amazing people from the IMEX show floor - truly a great experience.
7. Gordon Ramsay Pub & Grill, Caesar's Palace, Las Vegas. Any restaurant that can make brussels sprouts taste this good, and the beef stew, and being in Vegas with my two sisters-in-law and 21 year old niece... all good.
8. Glowbal, Vancouver. I can still taste the halibut and Italian Couscous.
9. Boneta, Vancouver. Everything about this restaurant is great. Funky location in Gastown, Neil the sommelier is perfection at pairing and has a great energy, and the food - fantastic. The company, also excellent.
10. Pure Lotus, Beijing. Savvy monks run this restaurant where every bite - short rib or shark fin - is created from vegetables and tastes like something else. Food magic.

This is just my list - I would love to hear from you as well about places you have loved.

Food - Fresh IS Best

For some, food is plentiful, for others shockingly scarce.  For some food is fuel, for others gluttony, for most, it is a way to share – share the food, the growing or sourcing, the preparation, the conversations around it.  Eating in, eating out, in our cars (the worst) and in groups (the best), the money and time spent around food is enormous.  The energy spent on growing and processing; transporting and marketing; choosing and cooking is immense, and yet in all of this we have lost, certainly in North America, the soul of food.

When I was a child, I lived in the Queen Charlotte Islands (now Haida Gwaii) and my dad was a commercial fisherman.  What I have recently realized is that my entire life has been about eating what we could fish, forage, hunt, bake or grow as this is how it all began.  When we moved to larger centres, we always had gardens, and we often had game, farm raised chickens and the like. We rarely ate food from cans, unless we had canned it ourselves.  When I moved out on my own, the majority of my shopping was and is still down around the outside of the grocery store and at local bakeries, fishmongers and markets, and it has always made sense to me.  When I had children I planted berries and a small garden – enough for them to know that food comes from the ground and not a bag, box or can.  It is not to say we never eat fast food, or dried pasta, or things that are “easy”, but it is certainly the norm for them to grab a fruit over a processed snack item. 

While I appreciate the sentiment of the 100 mile diet, which was done locally in Mission, I would miss all the world offers.  If we didn’t have a global food market, we would miss out on so much from flavours and spices to styles of preparation and sauces, and from ingredients.  Rice and olive oil, saffron and shrimp, coconuts and mangoes, carrots and quinoa – all began in one region of the world and now are ubiquitous in many, and that is part of the magic of food.  When we plan menus for meetings and events, I believe seeking a balance of local and global, regional and seasonal, delicious and inspiring, it is all important.

There is nothing better to me than this “foodie” movement – I say bring it on and open up the palates and let's get exploring! 

F and B Smart Spending

Glitter Pop from Culinary Capers for
a Midsummer Night's Dream
with Cantrav Services

The most recent statistic I saw said that in just the US, over 34B is spent each year on food and beverage in the meetings industry. THIRTY FOUR BILLION DOLLARS. In ONE country, so imagine what the global spend is.  Now, think back to the last meeting you attended or planned, how much of the food was memorable? Delicious? Made you feel better? Created a positive discussion with the people you  were sharing the meal with?

We live in a world obsessed with food;  from TV shows to magazines, restaurants and cookbooks, the rise of the celebrity chef and a renewed interest in farm to table cooking, and we must take this momentum and collaborate with our caterers, CSMs, Chefs and move our industry collectively forward.

There is a whole range of research that shows how we will improve our meetings by including "brain-friendly" menu options that ensure we offer healthy choices that stabilize guest's blood sugar through a long day of meetings.  This is something I feel strongly we need to incorporate into our meetings, but not the primary focus for today.

Today is about how we take our passion, our global obsession with food and improve the way we spend money on F & B.  Let's take the basic tenets of what I consider the better way to plan, and explore these.

1. Regionalize your planning.  Where are you going, what do they grow there, and how are they going to make it delicious for you. When you cut down on transportation and processing, the money now goes to the product, and the preparation and you will likely spend less for much more delicious food.  Ask the Chef what they LIKE to showcase, and you will likely be stunned at the results.
2. Build conversations around food.  It is proven that when we "break bread" with other human beings, we are more apt to develop relationships, so allow time and space and provide service that provides this. No more sending a lone server out with 24 bites on a tray into a room of 200 where it is about grasping for food, instead consider setting  a large central station and inviting people to come and explore the options. Provide information on what you are serving, where it comes from, or even a story - get people talking about what they are actually tasting.
3. Make every bite count.  Create healthy menus, using fresh, delicious, recognizable products that will provide nutrition, not just fill space. 
4. Pair menus.  For plated dinners, consider pairing the courses, cucumber water with a fresh salad; a crisp white with a squash soup; a deep red with a lush entrée; mint tea with dates and pistachios or baklava style desserts might be one example that is healthy, delicious and creating levels of positive surprise and discussion.  There are thousands of possibilities depending on where you are - use the knowledge of your local partners to create amazing experiences. (Like Brain-Friendly, environments to support discussions is another whole subject)
5.  How about combining our passion for food with our interest in corporate social responsibility?  There are also opportunities to use our excess to support our communities, and certainly throughout North America many city's hotels and convention centres participate in food runner style programs that allow unused food to go to local shelters and soup kitchens.  Thank you to all of you who are doing what you can.

What if we took this another step, and instead of one break or one meal, we told our groups that we weren't going to provide anything for one break, but we would instead be donating the cost of that break to an organization like No Kid Hungry and feeding x number of children x number of hot meals?  Or sending that break to a local shelter.

Let's change the way we approach our food and beverage planning, and make every bite count.  Who's with me?

Celebrate Every Day

Some of you know that "Brain-friendly" food for meetings is a particular passion of mine and a subject I speak about at industry conferences. It is critical to provide nutrious food when you want people to engage and learn at your events.

BUT...Food and beverage should add to a celebration and when we add something festive to the event from blue martinis to ice luges and food that is artfully designed, it adds to the experience and adds to a sense of celebration.

But, imagine if we treated every day and every interaction as something special. How would our lives change?  This weekend I was at the store purchasing wine for a dinner we were going to - one bottle of bubbles for the friend how had achieved her black belt in TKD, and a beaujolais nouveau, because you can only get these once a year - now - and it seemed like the right choice. 

In front of me a woman struggled to lift her six pack of beer and three trio packs of champagne piccolo bottles to the counter. I assisted her with this as she was quite elderly and it was difficult, and assisted again as she put them into her roller bag. Here is what she told me "I can't drink coffee anymore, so now when guests come over I offer them champagne."

You can bet that as I enter my 8th decade, you too will be served champagne when you visit!

Events and Food - Critical to Success

I LOVE FOOD! I saw this today and it reminded me - I am not alone! I am not the only one who likes talking food - Food talk at SXSW is 3:1 a favorite subject on Twitter (with 300,000+ tweets) over talk about sessions or events!



I like planning for food, poring through group menus searching for standout items, I even like grocery shopping! I like making food with and for friends and family, talking about food, being on TV sharing dinner parties and for events considering the impacts of good nutrition on body and brain.  

Understanding the choices we make on behalf of our attendees by how it affects our brain at events is a recently understood and still under-utilized tool for creating more engagement and participation at events. I feel so fortunate to have connected this year and presented sessions with Andrea Sullivan (SPINCon and FICP in 2011) on how we can choose menus that support learning in partnership with venues and their Chefs. I look forward to continuing these discussions!

Food is memory. Whether it is a favorite family meal, a great night out, or a special event with delicious food artfully prepared and presented, or paired with wine and the environment to make something special... great food and all its sensory elements enhances our experiences.  Planning the integration of food into our events will remain one of the favorite parts of my job!

Dinner Party Wars - 1 year later

With "the Golden Colander"!

Have you ever watched a reality show and thought "I could do that"? This is what led my cousin Jacqui and I to being on Dinner Party Wars  which aired yesterday on my very favorite channel Food Network Canada.

Now we watch a fair amount of FNC at our house and when I saw the ads I thought "I could do that" and went on line to see who could! (that was August 2010) Great news - I could apply on line to be on the show! Two glitches - who would want to do this with me AND they film in Toronto and I live in Vancouver! Who did I know that is fun, loves to cook and lives in Toronto - ba da bing, Jacqui! I send a text message "do you want to go on food network with me?" "of course" and now, the rest is history.

Captured forever and on TV. Here is the weird thing. I never wanted to be on TV. Never. I am at heart a Producer, the girl behind the curtain who makes sure the show goes on - and is never seen. Would I do it again? Probably not. Did we have the best time ever doing it? Heck YES!

The things we enjoyed the most included

• the production team - experts at what they do, with a vision, keeping it fun
• spending more time together as cousins than since we were kids, a total blast
• cooking - we cooked and tasted and cooked some more and loved it
• eating and drinking and laughing and enjoying the other dinner parties
• the competitors were good opponents, they kept us on our toes!
• the hosts are just exactly as they appear on TV - warm, witty, edgy, fun - they totally embrace the experience

Last night Jacqui flew to Vancouver so we could watch the show together, and this was the perfect dessert to a smorgasbord of fun!

http://www.foodnetwork.ca/ontv/shows/dinner-party-wars/video.html?titleid=255588&type=specialshow

Food and Beverage Planning (the basics - a long one)

"What keeps me motivated is not food itself, but all the bonds & memories the food represents."~Julia Child

Buffet at the Fairmont Pacific Rim

So it is time to plan the food and beverage program for your upcoming meeting. For some, this is a passion, and they cannot wait to dig into the menus, discussion with Chefs and sommeliers, and to create a program that is delicious, nutritious and memorable. For others, it unleashes dread. For others, it means opening up the standard menu packages sent by the venues, and making selections. In this post I am going to look at the basic considerations when planning a food and beverage program. Future posts will provide fodder for the foodies and event geeks (like me) that live for this part.

Of course, budget will always play a factor, and it has to include the cost of food, labour / service, potentially rentals - particularly for offsite functions or functions that exceed the "normal" capacity of the venue you are working with, beverage selections, and then on top of these costs there will always be a mandatory service charge (sometimes erroneously referred to as a gratuity) and then the taxes. If someone else is doing all of the planning on your behalf, including menu selections, management, minding the details of any special requirements and more, then there may also be a management fee (generally well earned) for this service as well. So as you begin, here is the basic information your caterer will require.

a. Who are you planning for
• Number of guests
• Men or women
• Age of participants - average range and if there are children
• Activity level of the day or event
• Guest expectations
• Origin of guests

b. What are you planning
• Multi day program
• One off event
• Day of meeting including more than one meal

c. When are you feeding them
 • Time of day / meal
• Time of year


d. Where
• What country are you in
• What country(ies) are your participants from / food preferences / food styles
• Are you in a hot or cold climate?
• Are you eating inside or outside?

e. WHY are you feeding them
• To control costs (ie vs receiving unknown expense accounts later)
• As part of a meeting ie. Working lunch or coffee break
• As part of an activity - from a horseback picnic to a glacier reception or lunch on a ski or atv day
• As part of an awards function - often a dinner setting
• As a way to have them all seated together and interacting
• As part of a team building exercise where they contribute to the meal
 f. Style of the meal
• Formal, plated with a presentation
• Formal, plated, to create a feeling of "special"
• Formal, but buffet, for reasons of time or selection
• Informal, buffet
• Is it rollups or multiple place settings
• Compostable disposables or china
• Paper napkins or linen
• At rounds or at long empire style tables
• Mix of standing and seating, reception style

g. What will you serve
• Which meal is it and what else is happening at that time
• What is available (or not) in the region you are in? What regional specialties will your guests be willing to try / will not likely enjoy?
• What do your guests typically eat at the meal you are planning ie. Breakfast to an American is very different from European or Asian expectations
• Nutritional considerations
• Special needs considerations - allergies, vegetarian / vegan, kosher, halal, gluten free, diabetic / carb counts etc.
• Balance of meals over a program
• Which beverages will be served when

The reality is that over a multiple day program, you may have all of these. It might start with an informal welcome reception with a buffet reflective of the region you are meeting in and go from here. Breakfast might include meetings or presentations, or round-table networking, or perhaps you even have a breakfast in bed served, or breakfast at leisure or on their own. Lunch may include seated lunches with formal presentations, or on a trade show floor to drive traffic to this area, or buffet style to allow for more flexibility for guests in making their own choices. You may host or have included in your program by sponsors or committees receptions, offering generally more stand-up space, cocktail / cruiser tables, bars (hosted or cash) and bite size or small plate offerings. Dinners can range from a casual bbq where the hip of beef arrives on a pitchfork (really!) to a beachside seafood feast, a clambake or a four or five course formal dinner in a ballroom with formal presentations and dancing. Really, the only limits on what happens with food are your imagination, budget, understanding your group's preferences and needs, and finally what each Chef brings to the table.

Food and beverage management is truly an art unto itself, and one that once embraced, there is no looking back. Leave your personal preferences aside, and if this is something you are not comfortable with, enlist the help of others, in your office or on your catering team. Keep following for more fun tips and ideas!

The final reality... sometimes they just want to eat a donut. Homer Simpson and the Last Soul Donut