Scars and Healing

I have been thinking a lot about scars lately and today a post by the fabulous green-eyed Midori inspired me (if that is the right word) to talk about how I feel about scars.

First, I think scars are beautiful. They are part of our story. If you look here you will see two large scars that go across each side of my neck. These life-changing scars were at first "hideous" and then inconvenient, and now I barely / rarely see them. more of this story here

A note about this picture - a day with my favorite girl cousins - two generations (from 1yr to 4o+) of laughing, giggling, hair-curling, makeup experimenting and just being goofs in piles of shoes and closets of clothes - and the photographer my gorgeous cousin - this picture shows the energy of that day, a day of treasured moments.

Scars can be on the outside or the inside, and like many before me, as the scars inside have healed over time, there is no need to reopen them now. But they are deep and they give me a deep empathy for anyone suffering from loss of loved ones, damage inflicted without warning, and pain that you think will never heal. I know every day how lucky I am, how fortunate my family is to be whole and healthy and while there may be moments that are difficult, I know they will pass.

If you look closely at this or any other picture of me, one eye is always a little smaller, a scar of sorts. When I was 15 I had Bells Palsy. Imagine being 15 and having half of your face paralyzed suddenly one morning; enduring a five week treatment of Prednisone and its side effects; and returning to school to find out the uninformed had spread horrible and untrue rumours about why you had missed school. I understand the pain of teen angst, and again, empathy for anyone suffering temporary or chronic pain. Interestingly, Bells Palsy doesn't hurt - the one "benefit" of paralysis, but the emotional turmoil, at any age but certainly as an insecure teen, that changes you.  (side note on social media, the person that built and helped spread the rumour that caused me so much pain keeps trying to friend me on FB... guess what, I will never accept, because heart scars are deeper)

I believe that the reason we have scars is because we have gone through or are going through a healing process. Before Christmas, Lindsay (you know who you are) had shared a post about a painful and meaningful time in her life, and I began thinking about my story and what I might share then. As Midori sagely said, it is the scars on our heart and brain that make us more complex, more interesting, more of who we are...

The other part comes from the great people, the positive energy we share all around us, and for all the pieces of you that have contributed to who I am, I thank you.  Keep sharing.

Creativity, Innovation, Imagination, Truth

Scrap Art Rock Band by Nicholas



Today I read an article by Maddie Grant at Social Fishwhich made me think, as always thank you Maddie for your thoughtfulness! In this article she references an article by Rich Becker that also has some great points. Check these out too.

They are not the first people to comment on the keys to success in business and in doing business in a social media forum require that you have imagination, creativity, innovation and truth. This sounds great, but what does this mean - to us in our work at Cantrav, to me as an Event Producer, and most importantly to our clients as they share their concerns about creating an "ultimate guest experience"? First stop, dictionary.com

Imagination
the faculty of imaging, or of forming mental images or concepts of what is not actually present to the senses.
We never think of any event in isolation, we instead imagine it in the context of the overall experience. Then we combine the transportation, venue, food, beverage, entertainment and decor selections into a unique and seamlessly woven concept. For our team, the only way to approach it is from the beginning, and with consideration to all the senses. What our imagination, combined with research into your organizations' culture and resourcing the appropriate partners for all the above components - we imagine for your guests the entire experience and share our concepts with you.

Creativity
the ability to transcend traditional ideas, rules, patterns, relationships, or the like, and to create meaningful new ideas, forms, methods, interpretations, etc.; originality, progressiveness, or imagination:
We often are asked "to think outside the box". There is only one way to say this... WE HAVE NO BOX. When we approach event design, whether it is a meeting environment or the most out there concept ever, we are always considering how we can break the rules, and twist a little on norms.

Innovation
something new or different introduced:
I have just said we like to push it... But it is important that when something new is introduced that guests still are comfortable. So as we innovate - from including social media into events; creating new experiential spaces, and more - we always play within the boundaries of understanding the human psyche and create events that are essentially comfortable, but always interesting and ideally thought-provoking. If you are not creating a sense of reward, improving knowledge or creating a base for transformation, then what are your goals and what are the new approaches we can take to support you in achieving these - this is when innovation counts.

Truth
honesty; integrity; truthfulness
It is impossible to have an unauthentic or not relevant event that is successful, it is just that simple.

In Social Media, in face to face business relationships, in personal relationships, if you don't approach LIFE with honesty, integrity, and interest, you will not have a very rewarding life, so truth is the only way. While we always prefer to say "yes" when that is what a client wants to hear, being truthful about challenges and offering solutions and ideas, that is where our job satisfaction truly comes from. If we really think something will be a roaring success, we will suggest it; if we know something will not create a comfortable guest experience, we are going to share this as well and seek alternates with you.

My perspective is that in the event and meeting planning industry we get with each live event, ONE opportunity to succeed, and with creativity, imagination, innovation and truth as key overriding principles - we are going to have fun, learn and build amazing relationships; ultimately so will your guests and participants.

I would love to hear your comments too.

Awards Shows - an Addictive Time of Year

The stage is set... literally, for a Night of Stars

What I love about this time of pre-spring the most is the Awards shows - Grammy, Oscar, Juno, even the Country Music Awards draw me in. I am not alone in this, and we all have our own reasons; some of us watch all the movies, some of us listen to the latest music, some are in it for the fashion, and some for the show.

• Who will host and how will they do? Let's face it - some are better than others... I will leave your to your own opinions on this.
• What will the hosts AND the guests be wearing? The fashion always ranges from the stunning to the simply surprising
• Even more importantly - the hairstyles. A true sign of each passing decade is surely the hairstyles. 
• What acts, and even better, awesome combinations of acts will we see? The musical awards shows excel at this - from Beyonce in a painting to Dave Grohl with Paul McCartney, Lady Gaga or the Black Eyed Peas weaving magic on the stage...
• The staging - oh the staging... how I love to see what the directors and production teams come up with and how they will outdo what they have done before!

As an Event Producer, what fascinates me the most is how will they tell their story of what has come to pass in the last year of music and movies, I believe this is a key reason we all keep watching.

What I love about producing awards shows with our clients is exactly the same thing... what can we do to make each person feel rewarded, recognized, and know that this award they have spent at minimum a year working towards was well worth the effort. Bring on the magic, please!

Kids in Charge



wolf mom in the den

This year my daughter's grade five class had to do an expert file, so Julia did hers on Paris where we went last year, and a friend did hers on Great Wolf Lodge. When it turned out I had an event in the middle of Spring Break limiting our time to be away, we took the 10yo advice and headed off for three days at Great Wolf Lodge (one of about ten in North America) to enjoy some family time over Spring Break. With about 1,000 other families. The basic premise is to provide lots of indoor safe fun geared to kids of nearly any age, and it works.

The advertising - moms lounging in bed, or at the spa, or enjoying romantic dinners while the kids are engaged. Here the kids have fallen asleep in the big bed, so off to the bunk with mom...

The highlights

• a massive water park with lots of slide rides, wave pool, play parks and a 1,000 gallon bucket that dumps out every few minutes
• check in as early as 1pm and start using the water park, your room might not be ready until 4pm but that is a-ok with them. Check out time is 11am, but you can use the waterpark until 9pm on check out day!
• a hot tub with a locking gate so the wee ones can't accidentally get in
• alert and attentive lifeguards that rotate stations about every 30 minutes, staying fresh at each station
• clean water - about 340,000 gallons of it
• clean and non-slip floor surface - a feat in itself
• margaritas, and other beverages of choice available for the parents who might feel the need for some stronger refreshment
• clean and family sized rooms, with a variety of style options - ours had the wolf den - bunk beds with gaming station built in and a cute wall mural
• lots of food choices - yes all the "crap" you would expect including smiley face fried potato patties, but also lots of delicious salads, breakfast choices, wraps and other healthy choices - plus the family size s'more fondue for dessert
• a massive lobby area where story time and other activities happen - but also a good place for parents to hang out while
• a Starbucks in the lobby
• a fitness centre for adults (think of this as the quiet zone)
• MagiQuest - buy a wand and it is good and ANY of the Great Wolf Lodges around the country! Seriously, a well done game that children from 4 to 15 were easily participating in and enjoying, ideal for siblings - one kid invited me along, the other wanted to know why I was following them...
• a teen zone and a teen ice-cream themed spa
• well appointed gift store - all the basics and more (it would be ok if they lost the giant pucker power sugar station, but other than that...)
• an adult spa "the vacation from your vacation" in their words
• a massive arcade - but one where the pay to play is not too too expensive
• incredibly friendly staff - no matter how many people were inundating them with the same questions over and over again... friendly ruled - excellent customer service at every touchpoint
• free wireless - know your market, right?!

Check it out for yourself Great Wolf Lodge

If you don't have kids or grandkids, there are other choices you can make. If you do have kids, it is pretty great. Just ask them, they will tell you!

Life Long Learning - Maximize the Experience

Life-long learning is no longer an option. It is a mandatory part of being involved in business.

With the world around us rapidly advancing, and statistics that show we may have up to seven careers, over a life-time, continuous professional development is more critical than ever. The learning can happen formally, through either a traditional classroom, or on-line, or at meetings and conferences. One of the keys to learning is creating opportunities for meaningful engagement with your community of learners and the generating of shared ideas.

When it has been identified that a meeting or conference is the best way to share information by a community - organization, association, school, social group, social / professional group for example, then it must be determined the best way to bring this community together.

The method you choose for delivery will have several factors that will play into this decision and may include

1. What - the content you will deliver
2. Who - and the potential learner expectations; goal of the learning ie. Highly technical or more tactile
3. The driver of the learning, ie. Credits or extended credits required, personal development or a desire to share information
4. How will you include spaces and times for the networking that is important?
5. Is there a reason for celebration in the context of this particular meeting?
6. How - the methods of delivery
7. Where - origin of the attendees, the delivery destination, and then environment(s) you will deliver it in
8. When - time of year, days of week, time required overall
• and how immediate is the need
9. Why is there a meeting - find clarity among your stakeholders! First, the goals of meeting. Are you seeking to educate? Motivate? Change perceptions? Affect change? Create a greater sense of community? 

Once you have determined the above, you may also consider other current models to share knowledge and engage community which may include a hybrid element, where a virtual audience may be included through the use of live feeds of learning streams, an opportunity to post questions and have dialogue with other remote and in-room learners via a moderated forum (such as a twitter stream). There are many advantages to this including geography, limits on time, financial considerations and primarily, the opportunity for pre and post engagement with the community members.

Now you have decided how you are going to bring people together, where, when and why, the next step is choosing the location and then setting an environment and designing programming that will actively engage learners, allowing for maximum take-aways. Consider alternative locations and room set-ups. Get out of the front facing theatre and get people talking to each other. If you have a keynote, have followup discussion pods, as an example. How to increase retention and motivation to do something with the information are key factors in what happens next, and in how valuable your attendees will find the meeting, especially when they reflect back, and consider your meeting for next year's budget planning - so pull out all the stops you can, take some calculated risks, and help people improve their life-long learning experience.

Any comments on how you are engaging your communities? Please share your thoughts!

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

Balance... ummmm yeah

From Dictionary.com - Balance has 31 definitions. I have chosen two I find most appropriate to what balance means when it comes to life, and in particular the life of an event professional (what in the TwitterVerse we call #eventprofs). I think about this a LOT and @carolyn_ray and @judylaine reminded me yesterday about this word.

Definition (noun)
1. a state of equilibrium or equipoise; equal distribution of weight, amount, etc.
7. the power or ability to decide an outcome by throwing one's strength, influence, support, or the like, to one side or the other.

First let me state, that this concept of "balance" sounds good but seems highly unrealistic in our industry where we are constantly being pulled with multiple demands. I do not know anyone in this field who has an equal amount of work / family and friends / play - recreation - sport / free time in their lives. Let alone enough sleep, or even rest time. Instead we have "work life integration" where we enjoy intersection points that bring our worlds together.

I definitely do not live with scales of balance, my world instead is a kaleidoscope, constantly shifting, full of colour, full of life and movement, always interesting. Always adapting to what is happening now. Like all of us, this can involve multiple ongoing programs/meetings/events, career and/or education, what is happening with our family or friends, and what is happening in the world around us. Most of us are extremely fortunate to have vast worlds open in front of us and finding balance as we scan the world for inspiration is nearly impossible.

Making balance tougher is that we have very little control over most of this - when we are excited about a challenging event, we take it on; when our loved ones need us, we respond; when opportunity opens a door, we go through. Nigel Marsh offers a great TEDx perspective on his perfect day and how we can achieve balance. This is a great video and I suggest squeezing in the ten minutes it takes to watch it! How we all strive for his perfect day, how we all should appreciate the perfect moments.

So what can we do?

1. First, accept the guilt. It is part of the deal.
2. Second, appreciate the moments.
3. Most important, be present for whatever is happening at the moment.

I hold out a (likely false) hope that one day I will achieve this mysterious balance, where the day begins with quiet time and exercise, moves on to a nutritious breakfast enjoyed on a sunny patio, leads into time to garden, read and do some intellectually stimulating work or discussions, and then do something that offers some good back to the world around me, add a delicious fresh lunch, a siesta, and a final meal enjoyed with friends, family and good wine. Unrealistic, pehaps, but that is the balance I can strive for! In the meantime, back to work (even though it is Sunday, the soccer game is over and clients are waiting on information, so on it goes...)

If you have found ways to better achieve balance, I would love to hear your comments.