Greg Elam
Principal
Solution House - Consultants
SolutionHouse@swbell.net

Spring 2008

Should You "Green" Your Meetings?

LET’S TALK.  There is a great deal being said about “Saving the Planet.”  Your company may or may not have taken on this calling in a serious way.  Are you open to a conversation about it?

Before we begin, there are two basic rules that we should all understand.  Rule #1:  Your responsibility is to create and manage effective meetings to the benefit of your employer. 

Rule #2:  Never do anything that does not support Rule #1.

With these guidelines in mind, let’s consider the topic of  “Greening.”  There are a whole bunch of things you can do painlessly to enhance your effective meeting management and sensitize your company.  Here’s a few simple ones to consider:  Print most hand-outs on both sides - that cuts some paper use in half!  Choose your badges or notebook binders because they will be bio-degradable or use less toxic materials.  If you offer bottled water, either select a brand that uses an eco-friendly bio-degradable design, or use glass tumblers rather than plastic. 

Is this a complication to your meeting?  Nope.  But it does require a bit of thought and possibly some Internet research for suggestions and advice.

There are several other notable observations to share:  Don’t get carried away as if you’re on a crusade.  Only a fool annoys the attendees or the boss.  Everyone will be pleased with clever solutions and positive actions so long as you are helping the company, the attendees as well as the environment.

If indeed you chose to “Green” your meeting, first get your boss’ permission.  Develop a cost measurement so you can report on the savings (or the expenses - not all changes will be cheaper), on the wisely chosen materials, or on the reduction in waste. 

You’ll want to tell all attendees what steps you have taken and why.  And you’ll want to have a complete summary to send to your boss.  The more you tune-in to this project, the more results you will discover.  Isn’t that what your job is all about!?!  

Winter 2008

Causing Highlights

AS THE EVENT’S COORDINATOR, you’ll have covered the facility, food, meeting room needs, registration, presenters, and all the myriad details that both justify your responsibilities and consume your time.

In truth, your badge of distinction comes from doing all of the above well and efficiently,  so let’s move beyond the necessary, the practical, and the obvious.  Let us ponder something else that can be a part of your “skills display.”

Consider how to make your events memorable in a pleasing, thoughtful way.  We are talking about moving from satisfying your boss - an important goal, to be sure - to delighting your attendees.  Everyone expects all the necessary things (appropriate food served on time, adequate facilities, etc.), but life is more than just the necessary.  You, more than most, can help create those touches of magic that can turn an ordinary event into a memorable one.  We are not talking about large amounts of money; we are talking about unique, thoughtful, special-to-that-attending-group actions to please the collection of people for which you have some responsibility.

Consider an event where a printed program is to be supplied with lists of recognized people and other important information.  We live in the digital age of instant printing, so why not have printed, full-color photographs in the program taken that very day?  Yes, it is a delight to have a slide show of highlights of the meeting where everyone sees others from that event; that is easily done with one roaming photographer.  In addition to that, or in lieu of it, a series of printed pictures in the program is both surprising and impressive.  Most of the program could be pre-printed except for the photo page.

What about a custom CD of a presentation, or presentations, of that day being distributed at the end!?!  Preprinting of the CD labels saves time and production of the CDs is inexpensive, quick … and very impressive.

As a demonstration of unique event highlights:  at a banquet for Mr. Stanley Marcus, creating a small pamphlet listing all the “His and Her Christmas Gifts” and “Fortnights” never before brought together is one memorable idea.  Have a Bowl Game banquet coming up?  How about creating a small deck of cards, each featuring the Game Day printed program cover on one side of the card and a summary of each game on the other?  Too complex?  OK, consider a Top Ten leaders booklet, or a list of enjoyable trivia of your company.  The point is to touch your attendees in a favorable way. 

It is your event – suggest how to make it special. 

Fall 2007

Details Matter

I'VE BEEN ASKED to share this story.  While most readers will never see such a situation, it is a reminder that meeting professionals should manage all parts of all events.

At an insurance company, we’d planned an honor trip to Hong Kong with the super stars going first to Beijing.  After all was set-up and organizing completed and the qualifiers had made their goal, new out-of-state owners decided to sell the company.  My department was eliminated and I was transferred to a subsidiary, which shouldn’t be important except… read on.

An executive decided to take the “planner’s” roll and precede the group to Beijing.  He required that one of the travel coordinators we hired to help us must travel with him and his wife.  Thus, when the group’s plane left Tokyo for Beijing, no professional was on the plane – after all, someone saw the 15 couples off – and the executive and professional would greet them in Beijing.

While over China the pilots began to exceed the international rule of number of hours in the air that day, so the plane was diverted to a Chinese military base rather than fly on to Beijing.   The plane landed and there was only one English speaker on board, a new bride with all her gifts.  She was ever so helpful, yet concerned.

Imagine the concern of “my” people when taken off the plane to a small hotel outside an isolated military base somewhere in China.  The men stayed up all night to “protect their wives and themselves.”

In Beijing it took a long time to determine why the plane had not arrived because it had left Tokyo.  The next morning the group re-boarded and found the bride had been beaten up and all her gifts stolen.  They were then asked to deplane again and refused.  They did ultimately arrive safely one day late.

Our plans had included having a professional on board that plane who would at least have been in contact and would have also had more “power” than those 30 non-native speakers who were simply seen as tourists.

As additional note:  After an enjoyable visit within Beijing and Hong Kong, all the group were several days home when Tiananmen Square occurred… so things could have been even worse.

Summer 2007

Are You Helping Yourself Help Yourself?

THE ART FORM OF COLLECTING IDEAS – and the value of doing so - would appear to be obvious, but somehow it does not seem to work out that way. Let’s face it; the planning that you do to produce a meeting (or any project for that matter) follows a certain pattern. You’ll have a checklist of things needed: accommodations, meeting space, room layout, supplies desired … and that list goes on.
 
 What you will next be doing is checking on the “flow” of things: subjects to cover, announcement, attendee list, speakers … and that list goes on.
 
 Each of the above will have been developed from experience, suggestions and making some improvements from a recent event. You are no doubt looked upon as a quasi-professional within your company. All this is good.
 
 But there is another step beyond being graded as “Good” – and that is in being graded as being “Great.” And the truth is that you already understand that the next step comes by improving your events in noticeable, satisfying ways.
 
 There are several secrets in becoming “Great.” The easiest one is in building an “Idea File.” Simple? Yep! But are you actually doing that? When you attended someone else’s meeting and admired the room layout, or registration, or handout materials – did you make a note to yourself about it and actually put it into a file? Or when you read of a clever concept in some industry publication, did you cut it out, or make yourself a note … and put it in your file? Every idea captured is a resource for you, and especially you. It represents a beginning thought that you may change or improve upon. It is like a garden – nothing will grow without some attention (water and nutrients).
 
 All this may sound so simple, even stupid, if you are not a believer. But I know no highly regarded meeting professional that does not improve themselves by building a resource file of neat ideas, concepts, solutions, actions or the avoidance of some problem you’ve once had. Torn-out paragraphs, cut-out articles or 3 x 5 cards dropped into a file or pasted into a book can become your “Improvement File.”
 
 There is even a delightful (free) software program that you ought to be using: www.EverNote.com. The basic program is free, and all you need. It provides a date, time, and easy search of your notes. See something, highlight it and “click” and you have captured it in your own computer. Now what is your excuse for not helping yourself help yourself?!?   

Enjoying the Journey

Spring 2007

IN THIS SPACE OVER THE YEARS we’ve shared “insider” stories, examples and solutions for the benefit of meeting planners. In thinking about what has been shared, and what ought to be told next, one thought kept coming to mind – “Enjoying the Journey.” It does not matter how you became involved in meetings - whether you asked for that responsibility or you were assigned that “opportunity”- it happened. Certainly that “duty” then became a part of your career path.

So let’s step back and look at this “duty:” what it means to you and what it means for you. The specialness of designing and developing a meeting is that you will directly impact a group of people. Most jobs don’t offer immediate results, or the opportunity to see your work in action. But you will know that you avoided certain problems, prevented some predictable situations, and that you have met the multifaceted goal assigned to you.

Yes, the requirements of the meetings kept being changed on you, and, yes, either the budget or your support staffing was less than you desired. But haven’t you found that to be true in other things in life also!?!

Let’s look at this situation from a different angle. (1) It became your responsibility to do these meetings. (2) You have the opportunity to do a superb job and even get recognition for doing well. (3) Well done work does not remain unnoticed. (4) Meetings have a dynamic of their own and your skill in making this event better, more valuable, and a pleasing event will matter to your boss.

Thus you found yourself with a goal to achieve. A target was placed upon you. Since that is true, you need to recognize that there is a “Journey” along the way to reaching that goal.

Therefore, logic (and good sense) suggests that you learn to enjoy your journey. Begin by sub-dividing this task into pieces and parts. Of course, you’ll begin finding ways to satisfy those parts. Along the way you’ll begin to recognize subtle ways to either make the rhythm and flow of the meeting be smoother or more powerful. And you’ll improve the ease of registration, the usefulness of the handouts and other ways to assure that their value to the event is better. These steps are all parts of your journey toward a goal. If you begin to actually “enjoy” doing these steps, you’ll find your task much more satisfying. And folks, that step turns your task into a pleasant experience … and a finer result.  

Help, Support, & Guidance for You
Winter 2007

Let’s visit about an organization named “Meeting Professional International” (MPI). Perhaps you’ve heard about it, or possibly you are a member. That doesn’t matter – read on.

The organization known as MPI has become the world’s largest organization of meeting planners and meeting services suppliers. It has grown to have 45 individual chapters in the US, 8 in Canada and 14 in other countries. There are 20,000+ members now.

This is remarkable when its purpose is not some grand save-the-world crusade, but indeed is focused on the meetings industry. The only requirement is to answer one of two questions with a “Yes.” Are you involved in meeting planning at all? Are you involved in supplying services to meeting planners?

If not a member, why? All it can do is help you. There is a resource library with many special-to-your-needs publications. There are education programs entirely intended to help you do a better job for your boss … and you. And if there is a chapter near you, it represents the finest opportunity to seek other opinions, trusted suppliers, ideas you may use and the list of advantages to you and your boss is broad, long and especially helpful.

If you are already a member, are you serving on a committee? Have you volunteered for some task? Why bother? – Only because it will help you. Involvement will expose you to good people, impressive ideas, trusted confidants … or even help you find out who you don’t want to help you because you don’t like their advice or style. The more involved you become, the more valuable you become to your boss, and to your career.

Isn’t it delightful that such a large organization exists as a benefit to you!?! In addition to monthly chapter meetings, and a monthly magazine, there are two North American Conferences with displays of all kinds of neat and clever items you should know about, and there are several days full of classes on all kinds of subjects – all of them intended only for meeting planners or suppliers.

Expensive? Not really, but your employer ought to pay for MPI, its chapter luncheon meetings and at least one North American Conference. Without question you will be better experienced, wiser, more productive, more useful and even more effective.

Not a bad trade-off for a small bit of your time. 

Let Your Alertness Show
Fall 2006

When it comes to your planning “opportunity” to develop and “run” a meeting, you actually have the inside track on doing your best … and doing it well enough that others will notice. The eternal challenge for a meeting planner is that when things run so smoothly, your efforts may be overlooked because everything seems “normal,” “natural,” even “effortless.”

But there are things you can do to the event’s materials that add a subtle “Wow” feature. These are small things that can contribute to everyone convenience, or that are helpful to each attendee.

Let me name three that perhaps you already do – but let us consider whether you could do them better. The lowly Name Tag can now be an incredibly useful item because of personal computers and easily bought supplies. When you create a name tag, you can also easily create a Receipt that is part of the tag. Or you can print a brief Schedule of Events that folds over (or to the side) in the tag holder. Or you can print-out event tickets needed to attend certain events – and all can be individualized. All this from the lowly Name Tag.

Or perhaps your meeting would benefit from a different (or better) Quick Reference list of events, room location, subject, etc. You have control of the information. Take the challenge of making an especially useful summary sheet that fits in a pocket or becomes a book-mark.

And, have you considered a really useful, helpful list of attendees and speakers? Name, city (or mailing address), contact information (including e-mail address). Sure all this is available “somewhere” – but should not your supplied materials be the best of all, rather than just “stuff” provided by an impersonal don’t-care-much type individual?

It is so very satisfying when you realize the many little things you can do to enhance the things you manage. Give it your very best and others will begin to appreciate your professionally capabilities. 

Pleasing the Boss and Getting Credit, Too
Summer 2006

Most meeting planners suffer the disadvantage of doing good, smooth work … and your results sort of being taken for granted. There is a practical way to begin showing (proving) your worth and its value to the organization.

Do you write a summary report? Do you bother to provide information on changes and improvements made, or on problems that arose and were solved? If you don’t do this, then either someone else got credit, or it was presumed that there were no problems.

There is a smart way to receive some recognition. It begins with compiling a report that tells how many attended, a summary of the program … and anything else that is useful to the boss. Don’t forget that your boss also has a boss somewhere and can benefit from having useful information to share.

But the smart part is to have a series of "Footnotes" or "Action Notes" that you add that identifies a room change, a cost savings, an improvement, a smoothing-out of registration or some such detail. Never give too much information – it is boring and can sound boastful – but always use appropriate adverbs and adjectives: "successfully solved," "smoothed out," "relieved congestion," "eliminated surcharge," "assisted," etc.

I must caution that there is an art form to doing a good, productive report. Always remember that your boss (or whosoever had requested the meeting you supervised) had a reason and purpose for having the event. Your report needs to serve as being valuable to that person. But it is ever-so-important to you that you explain what you did that made everything work so well. Was there a successful price negotiation at the beginning? Was there a hotel or location choice that proved to have been beneficial? Is there a change you’d suggest for the next time? Have you been telling of such information all along (?) – if so, a summary reminds that you were indeed working hard and smartly for them!

Do not take for granted that your "stay-up-late-at-night" work is known or remembered. Always see yourself as a Professional, and professionals provide honest, straightforward information in some permanent report. But the key ingredient for you is to add the information that acknowledges your involvement and concern for a job well done. 

Your Legs, or the Tables?
Spring 2006

It sounds mundane, even trivial, but a meeting organizer’s special opportunities are often hidden in the small details that impact the style and comfort of a gathering. Recognizing a source of potential irritation and eliminating it in advance is a major victory.

Wisely-designed seating and table arrangements assist in making a better meeting. The smooth flow of sessions, announcements, coffee service, meals, check-in and check-outs are all important. Most are controllable, adjustable and can be altered.

Let’s talk about table legs.

There are two primary designs for the legs on rectangular hotel tables. One has the legs at the very end of the table. The other, and most common type, has the legs located about one foot in from the end of the table. When putting two of these tables together, end to end, four people are forced to straddle a leg. When putting two of the first type of tables together only one of your guests will be inconvenienced. The facility you are using may not offer the better choice but it’s important to know this in advance.

I once attended a presentation made by senior executives of a major hotel chain. The executives were at a “head” table and the collection of meeting planners were at tables in the audience. The hotel execs asked the planners for suggestions about how to improve stack chairs and other hotel banquet equipment. A veteran planner in the audience stood up and asked, “For those of you seated at the head table, if you are straddling a table leg, please raise your hand.” One-in-three raised their hand. The planner then asked the “leg straddlers” if they would be comfortable at an all day meeting. Their answer was, “of course not.” The triumphant planner-lady then quietly said, “Gentlemen, this is the choice you have given us.”

You may not always get the better tables. But, if you recognize the potential problem and adjust the seating, your solution will have eliminated a “leg straddling” irritation.

Isn’t that what a “planner” is anyway – a problem solver?!? If there were no problems, there would be no need for professional planners. Smoothness matters. Allow me to offer one small suggestion. Include all of the changes and improvements you made prior to the meeting plus the results of these changes in your meeting summary report to your management. 

Ten Tiny Words
Winter 2006

If it is to be, it is up to me. Those 10 tiny two-letter words can represent both sides of your coin of success. Those words describe a professional commitment on your part; a declared acceptance that you accept the responsibility for your job and its duties.

Yet those same words can also represent an opportunity to show your skills in a most dramatic way…if you define your job from a slightly different perspective.

Many of us find ourselves not making time for a private, critical review of the final plans of an upcoming event. You certainly will have automatically covered the basics, but frequently we feel too busy to consider the simple things that can improve the event. You should set aside some quiet time, begin at the beginning, and feel your way through the entire event. There may be exciting discoveries available. Here are two personal examples.

I once realized that by rearranging my program and several scheduled events, I could afford a special speaker who not only had a significant success story but, early in his career, had worked within the same industry as my employer. He could work his success story around what he had learned within my industry, just as my audience desired to do for themselves. It was a major improvement to the content of the program and could only have happened after I’d acquired some additional information. My boss also recognized that the speaker added a strong benefit to his desired purpose for the meeting.

The next example shows that alertness can improve your program at no additional cost.

For my employer I had developed a sales reward trip to Switzerland and Monaco. The budget allowed for an airline flight from Zurich to Monaco. After a short, critical review I realized that if I put two couples together, for the same money we could rent Mercedes Benzs’ for everyone plus provide a unique meal along the way. Instead of an unremarkable flight, we enjoyed a Mercedes caravan adventure from Switzerland, through France, to Monaco that fit within the budget and created a memorable experience for our guests.

Both stories point out that a careful review of your plan can provide an impressive improvement … without increasing your budget.

Bosses admire such valuable recommendations. 

Two Rules for Responding to a Crisis
Fall 2005

The New Orleans hurricane disaster will remain in everyone’s “Hall of Horrors,” especially meeting planners, for years to come. Fortunately, there are two rules that will help any planner make it through a difficult situation.

Rule #1: Start your recovery from where you are now. Don’t look back and second guess how you could have avoided the situation. Don’t build a “blame list” of who let you down. Don’t fret about why you are surrounded by the mess. Start your recovery with where you are now and aim for where you need to be. Whatever the problem, it is the now that’s critical. Sure it sounds simple, but most folks fret about the source of the problem instead of moving toward the solution. Make the decision that brings relief and then aim directly for it.

Rule #2: You are not alone. Recognize your assets and use them - teammates, other departments within the company, or others outside the organization who have the expertise you need. Most organizers regularly use the skills of others in some way. Let’s not believe that we stand alone without help or support. Of course, the help may require a financial investment, but your boss will be interested in your solutions, and the solution has value. A meeting planner’s goal is to be effective and create a smooth and focused result – right!?! Then do just that.

I’m aware of a planner who looked at a wrist watch and said, “The charter aircraft is now in the air coming our way.” Just then the teacup on the table on the hotel balcony in the foreign city rattled as an earthquake occurred. The quake severely damaged the hotel the group on the charter flight was planning to use. Oops!

Because of the coordinated efforts of local ground operators, bus companies, an incentive company and others, when the jet arrived, the guests boarded busses that ferried them to a brand-new, not yet opened hotel – undamaged by the earthquake. Yes, as the guests were checking in, they were given light bulbs and other supplies for their rooms, and yes, their new beds were still being prepared. But, they had a new, fancy, secure place to enjoy and the meeting, considered a big success, went on as scheduled. Isn’t that how meeting planners are ultimately measured?!?  

Trust Your Gut Feeling
Summer 2005

My favorite example of a meeting planner’s value will require the reader to read the whole story that I share. This event is more lavish than many will ever do, but the important thing is the conduct of the planner. It validates that instinct matters and concerns are signals. Pay attention to yourself.

Some years ago a U.S.-based company had a reward trip planned to Vienna, Austria. It had been a complicated year with several terrorist events, but the company and its planner felt comfortable. On the day that the meeting’s team had its final check-all-the-lists, sweat-all-the-details countdown meeting, another attack occurred in Europe. They still planned to mail the airline tickets that afternoon.

But when the planner returned to his office, saw calls of concern from several travelers, and thought about it objectively, he decided that their team would not be in control and could not assure the safety of the company’s employees. His gut feeling told him that the trip abroad must be called off and proceeded to inform the company’s president of that decision.

The president objected until the planner told him that he would no longer go because others saw the planner as their safety factor, and the situation was now beyond his control. The planner recommended that they still have the trip on the same dates, stateside. The president felt they need not do so much work for the meeting at a new place, on such short notice. But the planner knew that everyone had the dates set aside, spouses had arranged vacations, and kids’ plans made.

All of the military veterans became angry that the planner had “given in” to the terrorists. But the meeting was moved, and did occur less than two weeks later, at a deluxe resort in Tucson. On the second day, the planner stood before the full room and announced that last evening, while they all slept, there had been a nuclear explosion in Chernobyl, Russia. A dark cloud of nuclear radiation had moved across the continent and had reached Vienna. They all would have been there and exposed to the fallout if the original plan had been kept in place.

Everyone in the room realized they and their families had been spared from a disaster. There had been early criticism of the planner, yet he knew the correct thing was done, against considerable pressure, because of his gut feeling. I was that planner.