February 2006

A MONTHLY DIGEST TO INFORM, ENLIGHTEN AND HUMOUR MEETING PLANNERS February 2006 Edition

VOL. 4 ISSUE 1

Photo courtesy of Renaissance Centre des Congrès et banquets

Conference centres

What you need to know

BY LEO GERVAIS

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here probably does not exist a seasoned event planner who has never worked on an event in a hotel. But it’s a fair guess that many have never worked with a conference center.

A conference centre can generally be defined as a fullservice hospitality entity that specializes in accommodating small- to medium-sized meetings as its first order of business.

Sometimes, the term “convention centre” is used interchangeably with conference centre, but in reality a convention centre is designed primarily for large groups, large association meetings, trade shows and other events. Conference centres normally accommodate groups in the 20- to 300-person range.

Roughly 50 percent of all meetings held at conference centres are for groups of 35 people or less, according to the Professional Convention Management Association.

Conference centres are a booming enterprise: In the U.S., 2004 saw a 7.5 percent revenue increase and a 9 percent increase was forecast for 2005, according to specialists PKF Consulting in their 2005 edition of Trends in the Conference Center Industry. Their survey also showed 47.5 percent of all

conference centre groups met in 2004 for the purpose of training or continuing education. Other meetings focused on management planning (20.4 percent) or professional conferences (18.2 percent).

Some hotels might argue that they do the same thing. Luis Ribeiro, the Director of Sales and Business Development at the Centre Mont-Royal in Montreal says there is a major distinction between hotels and conference centres.

“We are a true conference environment – we are in the meeting business,” he said. “We have real laminated surfaces, ergonomic chairs – sometimes called 8-hour chairs by people in the industry – and many other amenities you don’t find in hotels. There are very strict criteria to be a member of the International Association of Conference Centres, and to meet them is very exacting. We consider Centre Mont-Royal a fivestar establishment.”

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PLEASE SEE INDEX ON PAGE 4

Conference centres come in many variations Also, there are economies of scale to be realized when planners book hotel rooms and we discount the meeting rooms.

There is always room for negotiating,” she said.

Leslie has noticed a trend for SMERFS (Social, Medical, Educational, Religious or Fraternal) associations to change to a weekend pattern (Thursday to Sunday) to get better rates.

“Meeting planners are often looking for packaging and we believe we can do that very well,” she said.

Debra Johnson is the General Manager of the Best Western Barons Hotel and Conference Centre in Ottawa that features window-filled main floor meeting rooms and a garden courtyard designed to help create a relaxed environment for productive meetings. She cites another important reason to choose a hotel with a conference centre.

“All the coordinating is done through one person. It makes it a lot easier on the people planning the event,” she said.

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Ribeiro noted that the competition with hotels is less than one would think. In fact, there is a type of symbiotic relationship that goes on.

“We work with a great cast of hotels in the Golden Square Mile (a historic district in downtown Montreal). Hotels often have limited meeting space – especially the smaller hotels – so we definitely become a factor for meeting space.”

The Centre Mont-Royal, with 50,000 sq. ft. of total area, is located in the former IATA building near McGill University and has a multi-purpose ballroom as well as a very large auditorium that can seat up to 730 people. Add the in-house catering replete with a five-star chef and the CMR is ready to handle even convention-sized crowds. Despite all of that, big groups are not the biggest part of their revenues.

“Our bread and butter is still conferences,” said Ribeiro.

The Centre des Congrès Renaissance is one of the largest in Montreal. It can accommodate between 10 to 3,000 guests and has 25,000 sq. ft. of meeting space that can be configured in multiple ways. Located about 20 minutes from downtown, the ample free parking, cost and reputation for service allow it to compete well with downtown establishments.

Peter Kafantaris has been the General Manager at the Renaissance since 1990. He says there is a misguided perception among some planners that hotels mostly do corporate events and conference centres cater to family functions like weddings, etc.

“A hotel’s mandate is to book rooms. Our mandate is to cater to the event,” he said.

Kafantaris says corporate events now make up about 75 percent of his business, up from 10 percent five years ago.

Another trend is more hotels with conference centres. Alexis Leslie is the Director of Sales and Marketing for the Hilton Suites Toronto/Markham Conference Centre and Spa. She says there are several advantages for event planners to book at establishments like hers.

“Guests never have to leave the building, which is important from January to March for simplified logistics.

Attrition can be a factor One of the key factors that make conference centres attractive is their ability to book meetings at short notice. It is not uncommon for conference centres to book meetings during the week for later in the week. Some critics say the attrition penalty at a conference centre is usually more than at a hotel. Others, like Jack Schmidt of Benchmark Hospitality, point out meeting space at a conference is a perishable product, and once purchased is taken out of inventory. If cancelled and not resold for that specific day, the space and potential revenue is gone forever.

A hotel has the ability to resell space on very short notice to individual business and leisure travelers, so they can afford to be less restrictive with cancellation and attrition policies.

Here are some tips when booking a conference centre: • Ask colleagues or acquaintances for references.

• Make sure your budget is clearly defined.

• Check that you can bring your own A/V company.

• The management of the conference centre can ensure that the event you are expecting is what you get. Discuss all the details fully beforehand and make sure all items discussed are in the contract.

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Canadian cities remained relatively inexpensive but ranked higher than last year because the decline of the U.S. dollar has raised the prices of goods in Canada, said Danielle Buschen, business leader for information services at Mercer Canada.

Japan’s Tokyo and Osaka were ranked the world’s most expensive places to live. European cities, including the most expensive, London, dominated the top 20 spots because of high food and transportation costs.

New York, in 13th spot and the survey’s baseline, remained the most expensive place to live in North America.

Mercer’s survey results are used by multinational corporations to determine compensation for traveling employees.

Industry News Online bookings multiply Booked a flight over the Internet recently? You’re not alone.

It is estimated that about 400 million passengers around the world are now booking their flights on the Net, only 10 years after the technology was first inaugurated, a technology firm owned by airlines said recently.

The airline industry is now saving about US$1.2 billion annually by not having to pay flight reservation fees for the tickets sold on-line, said SITA Information Networking Computing. On the Web: www.sita.com.

WestJet celebrates its 10th birthday

Canada: Where the living is easy

Canadian discount carrier WestJet is celebrating its tenth year in business, and the discount carrier will hold various events throughout the year to mark the milestone, starting with the awarding of a prize for one randomly selected passenger on every flight in February operating out of Canada.

Details can be found on their Website.

On the Web: www.westjet.com LUCKY WINNERS: People who share their names with the federal party leaders were able to book free flights during a WestJet promotion on Jan. 24, the day after the Canadian federal election won by the Conservatives. The airline offered freebies to the leaders’ namesakes on domestic travel. Here is the final count of the same-name winners: Martin 265; Harris 110; Harper 92; Layton 33; Duceppe 0.

Canadians may complain about their politics, but they can’t complain about living in one of Canada’s major cities, where affordability and quality of life are among the best in the world, a recent survey says.

The annual Cost of Living survey by Mercer Resource Consulting ranked 144 cities around the world, measuring the comparable cost of everything from a cup of coffee to a house.

Toronto ranked as the 82nd most expensive city on the list, the most costly place to live of the five Canadian cities included in the survey. Meanwhile, lower food and utility prices allowed Ottawa to beat Winston-Salem, N.C., for the 112th spot and claim the title of most affordable city in North America.

Vancouver placed 87th, Calgary 98th and Montreal 107th.

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ED. NOTE

A new addition and a great contest!

A

s we enter our fourth year, we have looked at what we could do to offer our readers and more adequately meet your needs and expectations, as well as inform you with timely and useful information. In our quest, we have hired a planner to join our staff – Jyl Ashton Cunningham has joined The Planner team, effective January.

Jyl has worked in Montreal, Toronto and Britain as a planner, caterer and visual artist. Her wealth of experience will now be put to use for you. Her e-mail is: jashton@theplanner.ca and she will be working out of Toronto.

Once again this year, we are asking for your comments about The Planner: Let us know what’s on your mind!

Please fill out and fax us the enclosed coordinates and comments form by February 28, 2006 and your name will be entered in a draw for a one-week all-expenses paid vacation in Cancun, courtesy of Presidente Intercontinental Cancun.

We need these completed forms from all of our subscribers to assist us in the auditing of our circulation. All the information we get helps us keep the publication FREE and a viable concern for everyone involved. We figured why not make the task a little more fun than usual and reward a few lucky subscribers? This is a great prize for simply helping us continue to send you the most informative magazine for planners on the market.

As previously stated, our goals are simple: To inform and enlighten you and to pass on any profits as educational grants to planners.

So thank you for reading The Planner, and I look forward to your comments and suggestions in 2006.

In this issue 6

Taking action Goals are important, but we have to know the way to achieve them. Bob Urichuck explains how to make it happen.

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Losing luggage Is there anything worse than losing your luggage on a business trip? We look into the problem and offer some solutions, plus detail some good options for carry-ons.

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Looking for Mr. Good (Health) Bar Dr. Pierre Geoffroy explores the merits of health bars as an alternative to regular or non-existent airline fare.

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Stacey & Denise PowerPoint is either a great tool or the bane of humanity. S & D offer some timely tips on how to improve its use.

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Upcoming trends The Planner staff takes its best shot at predicting what 2006 will hold in store for meeting planners.

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Demonstrating the intangibles Veteran columnist and consumer show expert Barry Siskind illuminates us on important but invisible intangibles.

Published by:

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Futurist Peter de Jager tells us that to solve a problem, you really have to understand what it is first.

2105 rue de la Montagne, suite 100 • Montreal, Quebec • H3G 1Z8 Telephone: (514) 849-6841 ext. 333 • Fax: (514) 284-2282 We welcome your comments: info@theplanner.ca Editor: Leo Gervais Associate Editors: Camille Lay, Jyl Ashton Cunningham Proofreader: Keith Motton Administration: Patrick Galvin, Julie Boisvert, Patricia Lemus Sales: James Paulson Contributors: Mike Auctor, Michael H. Ballard, Anne Biarritz, Peter De Jager, Pierre Geoffroy, Marc Levasseur, Allison Martens, Denise McDonald, Jeff Mowatt, Matt Riopel, Don Quarles, Stacey Robinson, Barry Siskind, Bob Urichuck The Planner is a monthly publication distributed to 14, 000 professional meeting planners across Canada and the U.S. Poste-publication No. 40934013

What’s really going on here?

26

PEC in Charlotte, N.C. Associate Editor Jyl Ashton Cunningham reports back on a successful MPI PEC held in January in North Carolina.

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Musical magic Don Quarles writes that musical “triggers” enable planners to enhance their events and give guests an “experience” rather than just an event.

Taking action makes goals happen It all begins by becoming action oriented. You need a “do it now” attitude. The first two letters of goal are go. Now is the time to get going. “Do not tell the world what you can do – show it!”

BY BOB URICHUCK

D

iscipline is a commitment to yourself, to do what you have to do even when you don’t want to do it.

Success is the progressive realization of worthwhile goals.

Goals are what motivate us. Goals are our desires. Without goals there is no reason to act, no motivation to take daily actions or go the extra mile.

Behaviour is the manner in which you conduct yourself. It is the way you behave, the way you act, function or react.

Appropriate behaviour drives opportunities. Opportunities come from setting goals. Identify the daily behaviours you need to implement to meet your goals.

It is the implementation of those daily behaviors that will make a big difference in your level of success. To first identify and then to implement those behaviours is the key. That means you have to take action.

Avoid procrastination Procrastination is the process of habitually putting things off. It is tempting to make excuses such as “I don’t have the time,” “I think they said they were going to be in meetings all day, so I didn’t call,” or “This could take forever; I’ll do it when I have a spare day.”

Procrastination will cause you to miss deadlines, leading to lost opportunities and income, lower productivity and wasted time. It will lower your motivation, heighten your stress and generate frustration and anger. Is this the way you want to live?

Take control of your life now! Reverse the procrastination habit by being as clever about completing things as you have been about putting them off. Don’t expect to find time to achieve your goals. The only way to get time is to make time.

Start by committing to a do-it-now mentality.

Take action First of all, make a decision to be action-oriented. This is where the magic begins. By taking those steps to success daily, you start to feel good about yourself and your accomplishments.You are in control of your life and your attitude. You wake up each morning thankful for another day, with that great feeling that today is going to be worthwhile, rain or shine. Why? Because you are going to do something today to bring your dream closer to reality, and you are going to congratulate yourself for having done it.

Do it now A do-it-now attitude makes you a self-starter—a person who can recognize a need and take appropriate action without waiting to be told to. As a self-starter you will avoid the pressure, frustration and anxiety that come from having others tell you what and how to do things. You exercise your creativity in solving problems and doing work. As a result, you are more productive. You take maximum advantage of every opportunity, your sense of timing sharpening. You seldom miss something you want because of being late. Your services become more eagerly sought-after.

This type of do-it-now attitude will also help you overcome your resistance to dealing with unpleasant tasks. Don’t delay your gratification by delaying the unpleasant tasks. By tackling them first, you get them over with and can get on with the more pleasant things in life.

With an action-oriented, do-it-now attitude you get more out of your day. When you complete the unpleasant or hard jobs first and you act on the big tasks, little bites at a time, you’ll trim your anxiety and stress load while gaining selfrespect and self-confidence. After you exert this type of discipline long enough, you will establish a routine and make a new habit. Human behaviour studies suggest that if you do something every day for 30 days, it will become a habit. Be consciously action oriented for the next 30 days and you will conquer procrastination.

Next month we will provide you with some action-oriented techniques to help you increase your self-confidence, become more productive and ultimately reach your life dreams and desires – your goals.

••• Bob Urichuck is a renowned professional speaker, trainer and author of three best-selling books. Visit www.bobu.com and sign up for free weekly e-minutes. Bob can be reached via e-mail at: bob@bobu.com or toll free at 1-877-658-8224.

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Losing luggage is never fun The Planner tells you how NOT to lose your bags when traveling Any valuable items like money, jewellery, silverware, securities and electronics are usually specifically excluded by airlines as items eligible for compensation if lost.

The Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA), on their Website, recommends declaring a higher value at check-in and purchasing additional insurance from your carrier. For more information, visit their Website: www.cta-otc.gc.ca. Click the ‘Air’ section at the left side of the home page and then the ‘Fly Smart’ icon at the bottom right for valuable travel advice that can be downloaded or made available in a brochure.

BY THE PLANNER STAFF Ed. Note: This is the second in a two-part article on luggage.

W

hen you travel, your bags go with you. Hopefully.

Anyone who has lost their luggage (especially at Christmas or any other peak time) knows, it can be frustrating trying to find out where your bags have ended up.

Baggage claim systems are different with every airline, but generally speaking a lost bag is relatively easy to track as long as the baggage tag attached at the check-in counter has not been ripped off in transit.

Air Canada, for example, claims that 95 percent of bags that go astray are reunited with their owners within 24 hours.

Missing tags are usually kept in a room at the terminal for five days. Passengers can pick them up at the airport or have them couriered to their home. If left unclaimed, bags go to a central baggage claim area where they are kept for three to six months.

Any bags unclaimed after that time may be sold off to private companies that operate stores or warehouses where they sell off the contents.

Compensation for lost bags can be anywhere from $250 to $2,500, depending on weight. Critics say this is unfair as a silk tie, for example, might weigh almost nothing but be worth $200.

The problem of connecting flights Connecting flights pose another problem, as delays on takeoff make the window of time for a stopover shorter, possibly reducing the time for baggage handlers to transfer the bags properly.

The CTA lists a number of ways to reduce the chances of bags being damaged, delayed or lost: • Remove all old airline baggage tags. • Label all baggage with your name and a contact person or hotel at your destination. Also put your name, address and phone number inside each bag in case the external tag is accidentally torn off.

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Baggage courier services are quickly growing in popularity CONTINUED FROM PAGE 7

• Finally, be judicious in your packing. If you have to force your bag closed, it’s too full. Airlines won’t pay for damage caused by overpacking.

• Make a list of the contents of your checked luggage and keep it in your wallet.

• Carry essential overnight items in your carry-on luggage, just in case.

• Carry all essential medicines and medical devices, such as insulin, prosthetic wear, glasses and prescription medicine with you. Ensure any medication is in its original container with the name of the doctor and other info clearly marked.

• Always keep the baggage claim ticket you receive when checking your bags. It is difficult to substantiate a claim without it.

• Keep copies of all claim forms and loss reports you file with the airline, as well as any other correspondence, tickets and baggage claim checks. If you used more than one carrier on your trip, alert the final carrier of your loss, even if it happened on the first leg of your journey. Under international rules, if you have a through ticket for your trip, the final airline is responsible for tracing your bag and processing your claim.

• Some airlines will provide immediate cash relief – enough to buy a few toiletries and clothes – if your bag isn’t found quickly. But those interim payments will likely be considered an advance against any subsequent claim for loss or delay.

• Keep in touch with the airline’s claims department throughout the process. Contact the Air Travel Complaints Commissioner if you are unhappy with long delays or what you feel is inadequate compensation.

Baggage couriers The post 9/11 world is one fraught with long lines and delays due to increased security. This has spawned a whole new industry: the baggage courier. Companies like Luggage Express (www.usxpluggageexpress.com) and Sports Express (www.sportsexpress.com) are among a number of baggage courier services who will transport your luggage to the airport.

Luggage Express started in 2001 in the United States handling 30 to 40 bags a month, mainly for corporate executives. They now transport up to 25,000 pieces of luggage a month through partnerships with Fed Ex, UPS and DHL. The firm will either pick up at your door or at one of 9,000 postal stations across the U.S. The cost: Approximately US$90. Door-to-door service is available in Canada, although pickup stations are being considered. Prices are expected to drop as the demand keeps growing at a quick pace, about 25 percent per month.

Any bags diverted to these courier companies still go through rigourous security checks, X-rays and random hand checks. But the big difference is that passengers don’t have to be nearby to make sure everything goes smoothly.

Since the bags are generally picked up two or three days in advance of the flight, a traveler has lots of time to send off a new bag if there are any difficulties during the cargo screening process.

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Choices abound for stylish luggage Looking for a dependable carry-on with a little pizzaz?

I

recently checked out a very impressive carry-on suitcase from a company called Henk. It’s made of carbon fibre, has a case designed by the people responsible for the original Sony Trinitron and is only made in annual batches of 3,000. This little beauty costs more than a fully-loaded Toyota Corolla at US$20,000, but it is impressive to see what millionaires put their clothes in (www.henk.com).

For the rest of us, there is a plethora of attractive, sturdy bags out there for less than US$400 that take advantage of some of the materials and designs. This list focuses on best-selling carry-ons with wheels. Most can be found at a discount from the suggested retail price.

Briggs & Riley Model: 21” Carry-On Upright#TD-U521X Size: 14 x 21 x 8.5 inches Price: US$249

If you are an overpacker, this is the bag for you. The expandable upright offers additional packing space and has room for 3-4 hanging items. Perfect for a 2-5 day trip.

On the Web: www.briggs-riley.com ◆◆◆

Briggs & Riley Model: 22” T3 Transporter Expandable Wheeled Packing Case with Suiter Style Size: 13.5 x 22 x 9 inches Price: US$395 This is a popular wheeled case for 4-6 day trips. Features include an expandable main compartment (2”), removable garment sleeve and interior accessories pockets.

On the Web: www.tumi.com ◆◆◆

Expandable

Two popular choices Pictured at right (from left to right) is the Werks Traveler 2.0 from Victorinox (Swiss Army) and the Victorinox Medium Cruiser. The Werks Traveler advertises 20% more capacity and 30% less weight than the competition as well as an ergonomic rotating handle with Geluxe ™ grip.

Suggested retail price: US$325.

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The Medium Cruiser has a onetouch lightweight aluminum Rev360 gear shift handle with rotating bottom axis for optimum maneuverability. It opens book style revealing two spacious storage compartments.

It also features a top haul handle and bottom grab handle that provide leverage when lifting the bag.

Suggested retail price: US$245.

Photo courtesy of Azad Abbasi of Le Fil de Cuir, 550 Sherbrooke St. W. Montreal, Que. Tel: (514) 849-0136.

On the Web: www.lefildecuir.com

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Samsonite Model: 24” Sahora Spinners Hybrid 24” Upright Size: 17.5 x 24 x 9.5 inches Price: US$280 The four spinner wheels allow for upright rolling in multiple directions.

Features include durable polyester fabric reinforced with rugged ABS. It also has an interior mesh and Wetpak™ pockets for organization and large exterior pockets.

On the Web: www.samsonite.com ◆◆◆

There are many excellent websites that do comparisons of luggage prices and features. One of the best is www.bizrate.com, which has a vast amount of information.

Igniting the entrepreneurial spark entrepreneurs is Craig Dobbin of St. John's, Newfoundland, because exercising that trait literally saved his life. Started in 1947 with no assets but his brawn and bravura plus a small bank loan, his CHC Helicopter Corp. now earns annual revenues of $555 million, operating more than 300 flying machines in 23 countries, mostly servicing offshore oil-drilling platforms (Ed. note: $903 million with 200 machines in 35 countries in 2005).

A few years ago, when he was unexpectedly diagnosed with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, Dobbin's doctors blamed his potentially fatal disease on the use of a faulty compressor used during his younger days as a professional diver. "I was gradually running out of the capacity to breathe, because my lungs couldn’t deliver CO2 from my bloodstream,” he said in a recent interview.

“The doctors said I had four months to live unless I got myself a new lung. That's when I decided that death was not an option.”

“Whatever their specific goals, entrepreneurs in every context and at all levels constitute a fraternity joined by their quest for self-fulfillment.”

Dobbin analyzed the North American hospitals doing lung transplants, got himself listed in 10 of them as a “local resident,” by virtue of the fact that he was only two hours away on his leased jet, which he kept in Birmingham, Alabama, near the continent's mid-point. Dobbin is 6’3”, and there were few tall enough donors whose lungs would fit him. Eventually, he could only breathe through a full-face oxygen mask.

But success was his. He got new lungs at the University of Pennsylvania Hospital in Philadelphia, reaching the operating room two hours and 10 minutes after he received their call.

“It was a very hard chore," he recalls, "but the thought never ever entered my mind that I wouldn't be able to repair the inconvenience that was prohibiting me from having a full life.

Now, I just boogie down life's highway and feel the same age (Dobbin is 65) as some of the young guys around me. I was lucky, I guess. But you make your own luck.”

That’s hardly a typical case history, but the primary formula of any entrepreneurial success, is the lesson Dobbin passes on: “Make your own luck.”

BY PETER C. NEWMAN Ed. Note: This article originally appeared in the Royal Bank Letter in 2001. The writer’s main points still have great relevance today, hence our decision to provide the article for our readers.

“Only the professionally self-motivated will inherit and enhance tomorrow's economy. Inside large organizations, that means taking initiatives beyond job descriptions, while individually advancing collective corporate objectives.”

There was a time when the entrepreneurial spirit was welcomed but not compulsory. Survival was the main concern of most Canadians, and while much of business was competitive, there was enough room to grow and space to expand.

But in the 21st century, most of us have little choice about acting and thinking like entrepreneurs. The global economy has become so competitive that being entrepreneurial, whether we work for ourselves or for others, has become a given. Only the self-motivated will inherit and enhance tomorrow's economy. Inside large organizations, that means taking initiatives beyond job descriptions while individually advancing collective corporate objectives.

Whatever their specific goals, entrepreneurs in every context and at all levels constitute a fraternity joined by their quest for self-fulfillment. Rather than involving the exercise of any specific skills or talents, the entrepreneurial spirit places priority on certain qualities of thought and attitude. Few are immune from taking part in the entrepreneurial ethic.

The most unlikely professions require entrepreneurial talent. Authors, for example, who turn out books every three years or so, are producing a $35 product that nobody needs. To be successful, they must be as much marketers as writers, scattering their imagination along both paths equally. This Royal Bank Letter attempts to isolate some of the essential, rarely defined elements that combine to ignite the entrepreneurial spark, and more important, to keep that flame from flickering.

A Creed to Live By Among the most impressive of contemporary Canadian

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You must see what others don’t CONTINUED FROM PAGE 10

broker, enjoyed a justly-earned reputation for making his own luck. At one point, he purchased, at a ridiculously low price, an abandoned riding stable in downtown Manhattan. The blocklong structure was once used by the city’s upper crust to exercise their favourite mounts. It had been on the market for more than 20 years without attracting a single bidder.

Zeckendorf had heard that NBC was searching for new downtown TV studios that required large open spaces, unobstructed by pillars. A quick glance at the derelict riding stable convinced him that, once refurbished, it would make an ideal TV location, and he promptly flipped the "useless" building to the television network for ten times his cost. That story illustrates the twin, essential ingredients of successful entrepreneurship: vision and chutzpah.

Making your own luck “You must believe that what you're doing is beyond failure,” he insists. “And you need to be credible and you better be honest.

Banks, when they lend you money, want security and a repayment of their loan. You have to give that assurance and live up to it. Becoming a successful entrepreneur means being both highly competitive and slightly insecure. By that, I mean knowing that if you don’t make your own way, there is nobody out there to do it for you. There are no safety nets.”

Dobbin strongly advocates that people follow their own path, but not at any risk. The trick is learning how to manage or at least minimize risk, so that the chances of success are at least as high as the possibilities of failure.

Entrepreneurs aren’t born with do-it-yourself manuals, but some guideposts on how to tilt the odds in your favour can be useful. Here is one version of the Ten Commandments of Successful Entrepreneurship:

3. Launching an exciting vision doesn’t mean having to reinvent the wheel. Ted Turner didn’t create the idea of television news, but in 1968 he bought WJRJ, a debt-ridden Atlanta, Georgia, television station, and changed its call letters to WTCG (“Watch This Channel Go”). A dozen years later, realizing that traditional family life was becoming more hectic and fragmented, so that viewers in any given home seldom watched newscasts together, he established CNN, the 24-hour news network, which he sold 16 years later to Time-Warner for $7.5 billion. What any successful entrepreneur must bring to the table is not so much a revolutionary concept, as it is energy, enthusiasm and unbounded faith in him or herself.

1. Be adaptable. To discover this most basic rule of entrepreneurship, you must study Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species, first published in 1859. Actually, you don't have to plough through that ponderous tome’s scientific arguments, but you must draw from it one essential lesson. Darwin is constantly being quoted as having advocated "survival of the fittest". He never did, and it’s just as well, because in its modern meaning that would endow those muscle-bound, macho individuals who exercise daily with barbells as having the greatest chance of success. Darwin’s theory was based squarely on what he called "survival of the most adaptable".

Flexibility of thought and action in a world that’s changing as we walk in it, is what divides serious entrepreneurs who become long- distance runners, from one-shot-Charlies. Being and remaining adaptable is exactly what entrepreneurship is all about.

4. Take advantage of the most obvious opportunities, but never be satisfied with the status quo. One example is the story of Peter Armstrong, currently CEO and major shareholder in the Great Canadian Railway Tour Company. The largest privately owned passenger railroad in North America, it tours an average of 80,000 passengers a year through the Rockies, employing 350 in the process. Working as a doorman at the Hotel Vancouver, Armstrong kept watching Gray Line, then a provincially-owned bus tour company, turn away passengers. He leased his own tour bus, and eventually took over the Gray Line franchise, but his big

2. You must see what others don’t. One example: William Zeckendorf when he was New York City’s leading real estate

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Money should not be the main inspiration for greatness “Slightly ahead of our time,” is good advice. Michael Dell dropped out of university in the early 1980s to launch a mail-order computer company that tailored its units specifically to its customers’ needs, and promised virtually overnight delivery. He was a billionaire by the age of 31, since everybody else was still selling only standard units, and marketing them through dealer networks that involved high cost structures, including wholesale and retail middlemen. He invented nothing, but made a fortune out of reviving mail order sales, a distribution method that dates back to the days of outdoor privies. You must never rest on your laurels, no matter how comfortable they may feel. Not to grow is to slide backwards.

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 11 breakthrough was acquiring the heavily-subsidized and money-losing VIA Rail operation between Calgary and Vancouver. His Rocky Mountaineer train rides are a success, and he’s currently eyeing VIA’s transcontinental service as a possible follow up. This was hardly a precedent-shattering idea, but it took guts and determination to make Peter Armstrong’s ambitious dream come true. True entrepreneurs can never have enough of either of these valuable qualities.

5. Take a lesson from our historically most entrepreneurial Canadians, the cowboys. They were the ultimate loners of the western plains who made their own way, following highly individualistic lives. Their trail wisdom is worth repeating.

“A cowboy who says he ain’t been throwed ain’t telling the truth,” they contend, stressing their hard, sweaty labours.

“It takes a lot of wet saddles to train a horse.” But it is their lament about how tough a life they lead that makes the cowboy experience most relevant to contemporary entrepreneurs.

“Cowboying is a rough way of life,” complains Buzz Kirkpatrick, who knows the trails well and still rides them. “Despite the prevalence of four-wheel vehicles and high-priced machinery, the cowboy will never become extinct... They just ain’t come up with anything that will take as much abuse as a cowboy.” Many an entrepreneur, sitting alone in his office at midnight, worried about meeting his payroll and how to fatten next month’s thin order book, will sympathize with that sentiment.

9. Study your markets, but follow your fantasies. “If the barons of Silicon Valley were not chronic fantasizers, all of our mail would still come in envelopes,” points out James Champy and Nitin Nohria, in their recent best-seller, The Arc of Ambition.

“But dreams alone are not enough. Acting on one’s dreams, that’s the hard part. The good news is that daring is more often learned than inherited. To those who respond, life teaches courage, which then multiplies itself – as if by compound interest. What unites all achievers is that they see the world as it really is, without the fears, constructs and constraints that inhibit others from daring to act out their dreams, much less believe in them.” That’s sound planning: action should always take precedence over dreams, but both are necessary.

Becoming successful as an entrepreneur has a lot to do with being highly competitive and slightly insecure.

7. Be as eager to complete projects as you are to start them.

“Too many entrepreneurs abandon their enthusiasms too early – they are great starters but poor finishers,” claims Julia Levy, CEO of Quadra Logic Technologies, an up-and-at-’em biotech firm in downtown Vancouver. “I think of myself as someone who puts opportunities together.” It’s the stamina and determination you invest that achieve optimal results.

10. Your commitment must be so focused that it filters out distracting and unforeseen risks that might interfere with building equity in your dream.

“All I have is stubbornness,” insisted Albert Einstein. That never-give-up attitude remains a given, but there is one other quality without which no entrepreneur can succeed: plain, dumb luck.

“Running a business of your own,” concludes The Complete Entrepreneur, a recently published handbook by Mark Peterson on the subject, “has many of the same risks as picking up $100 bills scattered through a minefield. There is no wealth without risk, but your best opportunity is the day you invest in yourself.” Good advice: you are your company’s greatest asset. Keep it that way.

The above “Commandments” will be useful to present and future entrepreneurs, but the most essential and enduring quality is self-confidence. It takes courage to strike out on your own. It takes even more courage to not be discouraged by the unavoidable pitfalls along the way.

The only dependable rule is that despite the inevitable disappointments and shattered illusions, it may be absurd to believe that being a successful entrepreneur is an attainable goal. But it’s even more absurd not to try.

8. You must cater to existing markets, but keep switching your product and service lines to reflect the newest trends.

Timing is everything. The Panasonic advertising slogan

Reprinted with permission from the Royal Bank of Canada.

Visit their website: www.royalbank.com.

6. While making money is a useful ambition, it seldom provides adequate inspiration for greatness. “You can’t just want to succeed so you can drive a Porsche,” emphasized Paul Lum, the co-founder of Internet Gateway, one of western Canada’s most successful Internet service providers, in a recent interview with B.C. Business Magazine.

You have to be personally compelled to prove something to yourself, your friends or your family. If you’re happy with ordinary things, if you’re happy with five percent growth a year, you’ll never succeed as an entrepreneur. You have to be greedy."

In other words, enough is never enough, because allowances must be made for rainy days. They’ll come. Count on it.

•••

12

FEB. ’06

Looking for Mr. Good (Health) Bar

BY DR. PIERRE GEOFFROY

A huge variety of heath bars exist

A

In each category there might be over a dozen varieties, so I’ll keep my description broad and name a few as examples.

Turning first to the to the meal replacement bars, these will tend to contain more than the recommended allowance of macronutrients – protein, carbohydrates and fat. Thus, the energy content might be divided as follows: 30 percent fat, 40 percent protein and 40 percent carbohydrate. However, beware that not all carbohydrates are equal. Sugars such glucose, glucose-fructose syrup, sucrose and fructose are not nutritious and are readily converted to fat as opposed to more complex wheat flour, oats, soya flour or rice. Protein may come from many sources: egg, dairy, and vegetable being the predominant ones.

Finally, diet bars may contain a variety of vitamins and minerals. In many cases these bars are marketed for weight loss programs (e.g. The Zone) and are designed to emulate the nutritional value of a meal, albeit with fewer calories. These are generally good value. Their main drawback is that they supply little or no fibre .

irlines are increasingly cutting back. The victims of these cutbacks are free meals and snacks on short distance flights. While some airlines offer some simple foods for purchase, others do not. The wise traveler must come prepared.

Like many others, most of my travel is for business purposes.

Some flights can be very early in the day or late at night. In any case, I may not have had a chance to grab a bite. A fat-filled muffin or a bag of chips might seem tempting but, other than overwhelming my taste buds and making my belts seem smaller, these snacks add little else. Look at healthy alternatives.

Of course, if you can plan ahead, a nutritious ham and cheese sandwich (hold the mayo) is a healthy way to go.

Unfortunately, in these rush-rush times, this option may not be possible. An easy alternative might be one or more of the bewildering selection of nutritional bars now on the market. To help you pick the one that might best meet your needs, I will supply you with a little insight into these bars.

For the purpose of this discussion, I’ll divide the bars into five categories: Meal replacement or diet bars, protein bars, energy bars, dessert bars and breakfast bars.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 18

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FEB. ’06

How to Sudoku Sudoku (which loosely means “single number” in Japanese) is a deceptively simple yet addictive game of logic that consists of a nine-by-nine square grid, broke into three-by-three square cells. The object: fill each square with a number from 1 to 9 so that every number appears only once in each row, column and cell.

Level:Easy

FEB. ’06

15

Sudoku solution on Page 25.

W eb sit es

DATEBOOK

of int ere st

Upcoming Events February 21-23 Society of Independent Show Organizers, International Confex, Earls Court One, London, England. www.siso.org, (708) 361-0900.

February 26-28 American Society of Association Executives & the Center for Association Leadership, Great Ideas Conference, Loews Coronado Bay Resort, San Diego, Calif. (888) 950-2723. www.greatideasconference.org.

March 23-26 International Association of Conference Centres, Annual Conference, Cheyenne Mountain Resort, Colorado Springs, Colo. www.iacconline.org, (314) 993-8575.

March 26-28 Meeting Professionals International, Professional Education Conference–Europe, Congress Centre, Davos Switzerland. www.mpiweb.org, (011) 352-268-761-41.

One Bag www.onebag.com One bag is dedicated to one thing – traveling light.

With many suggestions and great links to other sites, they accomplish that in spades, and much more.

New York restaurant search www.menupages.com One of the great joys of visiting the Big Apple is the abundance of great restaurants one will find there.

This site provides a really simple avenue to searching for exactly what you want before you take in a show or visit the Empire State Building.

Translation site http://babelfish.altavista.com/ One of the great promises of the Internet was to allow people to communicate better. This site offers very good translations of text, although it is not perfect. Hey, you get what you pay for....

Do it yourself

March 26-29 Association of Collegiate Conference and Events Directors–International Annual Conference, Westin Park Central Hotel, Dallas, Tex. (970) 491-5151.

www.mrsfixit.com www.be-jane.com The best man for the job is a... woman? Lots of ladies are tired of waiting around for someone to do repair jobs.

Here are the perfect websites for any gal with the gusto to do it all by herself.

For more information on meetings around the world, please visit www.meetings-conventions.com. Click on Calendar under the Departments heading on the left.

••• Do you have a website you want to share with other planners?

Email us at: info@theplanner.ca

!

Jargon Buster Techno babble demystified sponsored by Avtec Professional A/V Services

What is podcasting?

P o d c a s t i n g : Podcasting is a term coined in 2004 when the use of Web syndication technologies became popular for distributing audio content for listening on mobile devices and personal computers. A podcast is a web feed of audio or video files placed on the Internet for anyone to subscribe to. Podcasters’ Web sites also may offer direct download of their files, but the subscription feed of automatically delivered new content is what distinguishes a podcast from a simple download or real-time streaming. Use of ‘podcast’ to describe both audio and video feeds seemed natural to some users, while others preferred to reserve the word for audio and coin new terms for video subscriptions. Other ‘pod’-derived neologisms include ‘podcasters’ for individuals or organizations offering feeds, and ‘podcatchers’ for special RSS aggregators with the ability to transfer the files to media player software or hardware.

Source: Wikipedia

16

FEB. ’06

What you always wanted to know about PowerPoint …

M

y pictures turned to Big Red X's: What happened? You are not alone; this is a serious problem that many people are running into. It is due to a file size bug; when PowerPoint doesn’t have enough memory to deal with the size of your file, the graphics get replaced with big red X images. If you can insert the pictures directly from PowerPoint (using Insert/Picture) as opposed to using copy/paste, the file size sometimes turns out to be much smaller (some applications create links and other exciting remnants when doing a paste operation). When saving and reopening these files, people find fewer problems. As for opening files which already have red crosses, Microsoft suggests closing the file WITHOUT saving (as saving would also save the red crosses), close all other programs to free up as much memory as possible, restart your computer, and reopen your file. We have tested this workaround and it seems to work; the problem is that almost everybody closes the file and saves it. In this case, you must manually reinsert the picture from its original source.

Why does the speed of animation effects change on different computers? Animations do run differently on different computers, depending primarily on the processor speed and the amount of RAM. If you are doing a lot of animation, you want to have lots of both. It may be that the second computer is not as powerful as the first. Sometimes another problem has to do with screen display speed; laptops with screen types other than active matrix displays are very slow, and tend to lag in displaying things.

Why don't sounds play when I move my file to another computer? When preparing a presentation (with sound) that is to be used from different computers, it is very important to make sure that all of the sound files are located in the same folder as the presentation that you’ve created, and that you insert them from this location. Sound files, because of their large size, don't become an actual part of the presentation file-a link is formed to the sound file. When the presentation is played, the program goes looking for the sound at the location described in the link. This works fine on the original creation machine, but as soon as you move things to another machine, the links don’t accurately describe where the files are, and things will fail to play. PowerPoint will always look for the sound in the folder that contains the presentation, so this is the best place to put them. You can't modify the links, so you have to start off by putting the sounds in the same folder as the presentation, and then inserting them into your presentation. This will create an internal link with no real address: PowerPoint knows that the sound is in the same folder as the presentation, and will look for it there regardless of what that folder's name is, or what machine it's on.

Why is my file still big, even after deleting things? For some mysterious reason, PowerPoint 97 and 2000 store lots of information in the file that does not get removed when the files are saved and closed. However, if you save the file as a new name, using the SAVE AS command, you will almost always find your files reduce in size, sometimes quite dramatically.

Do you have a PowerPoint mystery you want us to solve? Just e-mail us at: lsd@on.aibn.com

FEB. ’06

17

Dessert bars: “I see many of them as the equivalent of a conveniently wrapped piece of pie.”

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 14 As the name implies, protein bars have a high protein content. Usually the protein source is whey, a derivative of milk, and these bars can contain up to 40 g of protein. Some may be extremely low in fat and carbohydrates. These are designed to increase the protein intake of athletes and bodybuilders. In some instances, vitamins are also added. These bars can be quite expensive and do not supply a balanced meal. An unfortunate drawback of these bars, particularly if you sitting next to someone eating one, is that they can produce quite a bit of flatulence. Do not eat these on your way to a job interview!

Energy bars were originally developed to supply energy needs, usually of active people. Over time, several brands such as the Clif Bar have become better balanced and offer protein, carbohydrate and fat from an assortment of vegetable and fruit sources. When this is the case, they represent an alternative not too dissimilar from the meal replacement bars and as such, may be a healthy choice. Ultimately, if energy is all you want, why not reach for your favorite candy bar?

Dessert bars abound. Most grocery stores have shelves of these. The majority have some fruit flavour mixed with oatmeal or granola. While I do not wish to generalize too much about these, I see many of them as the equivalent of a conveniently wrapped piece of pie.

What’s for breakfast?

Finally, the breakfast bars. This probably conjures up memories of hot succulent Pop-Tarts on which, when spread, butter would sizzle and melt. Okay, back to airplanes. An interesting new twist on the breakfast bar menu is Kellogg’s All-Bran bars. They’ve addressed an issue many travelers are only too familiar with: Constipation. As the name implies, this bar contains bran, an excellent source of fibre. While this bar may not deliver on protein and admittedly has a considerable amount of sugar, it represents another interesting alternative.

I hope I have shown there is a substantial array of bars to pick from. When choosing one, I recommend you look closely and attentively study the nutritional content to ensure you’re getting what you need. Don’t forget that whatever you choose, it does not replace a good home-cooked meal. There are no vegetables in these bars and vegetables and fruit are the sine qua non of any healthy meal. Finally, when considering a bar, don’t forget to drink water, milk or real juice. Caffeine and alcohol-free fluids remain the staple for air travel! So, next time you are planning to travel and don’t have time to prepare your own snack, remember that judicious selection of a food bar may represent a healthy alternative. Happy travels.

••• Dr. Pierre Geoffroy, M.D., MSc. is a nutritionist and is currently working in Tokyo, Japan.

18

FEB. ’06

Upcoming trends in 2006

BY THE PLANNER STAFF

W

e have to assume that 2006 will be the year when good customer service becomes the major business discriminator. Everyone now pretty much has good prices. It seems ironic that companies seeking to improve profitability seem to cut customer service first, as though people don’t care about service.

Based on this, we think that hotels in major centres will truly become 24-hour operations. With 24-hour business centres, exercise rooms, spas, room service (many having cut it) and new life style managers (formerly Concierges) bringing service up to a whole new level, and we will have 24-hour check-in/check-out. You’ll check in at 8 a.m. and check out by 8 a.m. the next morning and the rooms would be rented on a 24-hour basis from the time you check in. Some hotel chains such as Delta Hotels now offer this service to their Privilege members. Most hotels are still resisting but those that offer these services on a 24-hour-basis will prosper. We see this time after time in our surveys – planners and those who are travelling on business want to maximize their available time.

Which brings us to our second trend: Saving time. We all have a limited amount of it, and we all have more work than we can do, so any company that is easy to do business with will prosper. We barely have time to do things once, who wants to repeat two or three times? Anything that makes our lives easier and more productive will do well.

For this to happen training is key. Being open to learning new things and adjusting to change not just for the sake of change but because it has been proven faster, cheaper, easier and more reliable will be crucial. Companies will have to spend more on training to continue to increase productivity.

Quality, not quantity, will be the rule. As the baby boomers get older quantity is no longer important: Quality of life is. You will see more and more hotels that offer a healthy natural environment. We will see more rooms with air purifiers, hardwood floors and complimentary “hybrid” car service, both of which are now available at hotels such as the Cosmopolitan in Toronto.

For planners, the trend will be back to basics. Like having a good steak (like at Moishe’s in Montreal) fresh vegetables and a good bottle of wine. Simple is good. No need to look for the extraordinary, as most planners have been there and done that.

The basics are back and they will rule.

investments. Companies are looking for ways to reduce travel and meeting expenses without cancelling or compromising the quality of meetings, so second-tier cities will get a lot of attention. Video conferencing is fine for many things, but there is nothing like meeting in person. So we will probably meet more, but budgets will continue to be slashed making big cities less accessible. Speaking of which, in the end, what we all want as consumers is to be treated in a personalized fashion. Service will be the key to success in the coming years, as price alone will not see repeat business. Loyalty programs are also losing their appeal, which brings us to our last trend.

We will also see a large increase in credit card cash backs.

Most credit cards now give you points towards something.

(According to American Express, Canadians now have an accumulation of 100 billion unused points). The problem is that it’s getting harder and harder to get that something and it takes more time to manage all the various cards and points. So planners are now deciding to go the easy route, and an annual cash back is as easy as it gets. Mastercard, Amex and Visa all have cash back credit cards.

One trend that we DON’T expect to see changing soon is just-in-time booking for everything from hotels to AV. As things change at a moment’s notice nobody is willing to commit. It won’t be the biggest who succeed in 2006, but the quickest. Those that react quickly and give good service will get the business. Good luck and Godspeed!

Meetings in different cities Another trend we think will develop are meetings in second-tier cities. The big cities are expensive, the service comes with attitude, and in this crazy world you never know what can happen. Planners and their employers will be less and less likely to take chances and honestly, who wants to pay some of the rates being charged in cities like New York?

If corporations haven’t realized it yet, they soon will. Profits are harder and harder to make and investors (baby boomers close to retirement) are demanding bigger dividends on their

FEB. ’06

19

Demonstrating the intangibles Focus on the benefits

BY BARRY SISKIND

The next step is to brainstorm ideas that will bring these benefits (feel secure, less anxiety, reduced conversion time, and minimize concerns) to life and that will get the message through to your audience. Exploring the benefits of your intangible will help you develop your demonstration.

Brainstorming will often reveal hidden ideas that can provide spectacular results.

I

n an environment where competition for visitors’ attention is at its highest and yet their attention span is at its lowest, using demonstrations is a great technique to help you get traffic to your booth.

Allowing attendees to experience your products and services with as many of their senses (sight, sound, touch, taste and smell) as possible elevates their level of interest and commitment. Food show exhibitors allow their visitors to sample their products, high technology exhibitors encourage attendees to try out the equipment and automobile companies let the visitor sit in their latest model. But what about exhibitors who do not have a product to experience. Are they doomed to trade show mediocrity? Absolutely not. The topic of demonstrating is applicable to all exhibitors whether your offering is tangible or not.

Here are a few tips to help you develop a demonstration for your intangible.

Tips on running a brainstorming session 1. Be inclusive. Invite everyone involved in your program to a late afternoon session. This can include your sales staff, display people, administration, etc.

2. Share. Explain that you are trying to come up with ideas to bring your benefits to life. Tell them for purposes of the exercise, there are no limitations. All ideas are fair game.

3. Sit back and listen. One of the ways of killing a good brainstorming session is interjecting after each idea saying something like, “We have done that before,” or “Are you kidding?”

4. Edit. After everyone has left sift through the ideas and look for the hidden gems. You will find little bits and pieces that can be strung together to produce a demonstration that will set you apart from the competition.

5. Develop your demonstration. Discuss your idea with your booth builder, technical staff and sales staff and ask for refinements and feedback on the feasibility of the idea.

6. Keep your demonstration short. The attendees are suffering from information overload and adding more information to their already confused state of mind is counterproductive.

Stay focused on the benefit that is most likely applicable to the audience. Remember, sell the sizzle, not the steak.

7. Keep it interactive. When you are preparing your demonstration find places for audience involvement by letting them touch a keyboard, flick a switch or answer a question helps improve their level of commitment.

8. Give them a reason to stay. As interesting as your demonstration may be to you, not everyone will agree. Often you will need to add an incentive to have your audience stay for the whole demonstration. Have a draw for a prize given after the demonstration or a special gift to all of those who complete and hand in a lead form.

9. Leave them wanting more. During your demonstration, let them know that your service has many more benefits and that your booth staff is available to discuss these following the demonstration.

10. Demonstrating an intangible is possible. What is needed is that creative spark to find new and exciting demonstrations.

Decide what you are selling There is an old saying that goes “Customers buy benefits, not features.” This is true for tangible products and especially true for those selling services. The first test is deciding what your service has that is of interest to your customer. If you said, “access to a great network of professionals, 40 years of experience, on-line 24-hour accessibility, customized solutions or governmental or industrial compliance,” you are left with the question, “How can I bring these features to life?” However, when you approach your product and ask what do you really sell from your customers’ point of view you will have important clues to creating a powerful demonstration. Let’s take this same list and look at it from another point of view:

FEATURE

BENEFIT

Access to a network of professionals

We can save you time

Forty years of experience

You can feel secure

On-line 24-hour accessibility

You will experience less anxiety

Customized solutions

You have reduced conversion time

Governmental or industrial compliance

••• Reprinted with kind permission from the author. Barry Siskind is North America’s foremost trade and consumer show expert, president of International Training and Management Company, and the author of several books. Visit his website: www.siskindtraining.com or e-mail him at: barry@siskindtraining.com.

Minimize your concerns

20

FEB. ’06

News briefs Air Canada to face tough mid-year negotiations with its unions: analyst

he wrote that despite the concessions gleaned during its bankruptcy protection, Air Canada continues to pay its employees competitive wages, especially after the pension and the new bonus program get factored in.

Air Canada management may face a tough challenge when wage negotiations with its unions begin in the summer according to Raymond James Ltd. analyst Ben Cherniavsky. He said “rich management payouts” will prompt union leaders to demand more money for their members. In his 40-page report,

With many U.S. carriers struggling, Air Canada management will likely advocate the importance of cost restraints, but Cherniavsky feels that this could become a prickly situation for the company.

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FEB. ’06

21

Naturally inspiring!

Industry News Canadian firm makes a splash in Vegas with its event management software

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Profit Systems Inc. based in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan recently announced the sale of its EventPro event management software to the Bellagio Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The Bellagio Hotel and Casino is the latest in a series of highprofile names to be added to PSI ‘s client list. The 12person firm also counts the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Gillette Stadium (home of the NFL's New England Patriots), Adidas, Anheuser Busch and Lexmark among its customers. PSI has also increased its international presence by appointing distributors in the U.S., the U.K. and in Australia and the South Pacific Territories.

One of 24 properties owned and operated by MGM Mirage, the Bellagio was the setting for “Ocean’s Eleven,” the 2001 movie starring George Clooney, Brad Pitt and Julia Roberts.

According to Richard Thorne, Director of Sales and Marketing for PSI , the initial contact was made by the client through PSI 's website. “We know we can compete for this marquee business,” Thorne said, “so we dedicate a lot of time and human resources to making sure that EventPro software ranks high in the major search engines.”

Thorne says the software will be installed and used primarily in the Bellagio to schedule and organize events throughout the facility, but is also being considered by MGM Mirage company officials for use at MGM Grand University.

Negotiating with big companies is often a complex process, requiring approval from several departments and levels of management. Thorne’s experience with MGM Mirage was no different. Beginning in September 2005, he first demonstrated EventPro’s capabilities to the Bellagio's event planners.

Later, he worked with the facility's IT department to ensure the security of the database, and then went to the Luxor Hotel to do a live demonstration for the project coordinator. The story ended with an interesting twist.

“It turns out the last guy I had to get approval from was born in Saskatoon,” said Thorne.

A free evaluation copy of the software can be requested.

The web address is: www.eventpro.net/demo/evalform.cfm

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22

FEB. ’06

Industry News

Contest winners

Passenger-compensation rules a fair penalty: European court

December English:

The Luxembourg-based European Court of Justice recently upheld a European Union law requiring compensation for air passengers whose flights were delayed or cancelled, or who were denied boarding.

The Court said passenger-compensation rules were a fair, “proportional” penalty and didn’t discriminate against lowcost carriers.

Delays of two to four hours will require airlines to serve snacks or full meals, while delays of more than five hours entitle passengers to a refund and a hotel room, if necessary.

Refunds for round-trip flights must be offered if the journey is no longer necessary, for example if a business meeting is missed.

The court said passengers whose flights are delayed suffer more than train or ferry travelers.

“Because, in particular, of the location of airports, which are generally outside urban centers, and of the particular procedures for checking-in and reclaiming baggage, the inconvenience suffered by passengers when such incidents occur is not comparable,” it said.

Low-cost carriers claimed the penalties were blatantly unfair as they often exceed the price passengers paid for their tickets.

Jacqui Janes Destination St John's St John's, NL Michael K. Tryon Canadian Planning Solutions Edmonton, AB

Simply the Best The world’s best airlines, from Skytrax’s annual survey of 12 million passengers: 1. Cathay Pacific 2. Quantas Airways 3. Emirates 4. Singapore Airline 5. British Airways

FEB. ’06

23

What’s really going on here?

A basic rule of air travel these days? Never disagree – never mind argue – with anyone in uniform while the plane is in motion.

This is perhaps too simple an example to demonstrate the importance of understanding how things work, before trying to fix them when we perceive they’re broken. Consider the following anecdote.

Many, many moons ago there was a University with the following setup: A lecture hall, just across the corridor from a computer room and tutoring room. In the hall there were several vending machines. Undergraduates would take their stacks of punched cards (I told you this was many moons ago), feed them into the hopper and wait in line until the computer printout from their run would stutter out of the printer.

They’d then correct their errors, using the graduate students in the tutoring room if they got really stuck on a problem.

The two graduate students were kept reasonably busy throughout the night, but managed to get some of their own work down in the momentary slowdowns of the queue.

Everyone was reasonable happy with this configuration, until a new professor began to use the lecture hall. He couldn’t handle the noise from the crowd around the vending machines and complained to the Dean. The Dean figured that the solution was easy enough: Get rid of the vending machines.

Two weeks later, she’s visited by the graduate tutors who are complaining about the hugely increased workload and demand that two more tutors are hired for every shift.

What’s going on? Why the increased workload? The computer courses are NOT handing out more difficult assignments, and the student headcount has not increased.

The vending machines created a gathering place, literally a watering hole, which allowed the undergrads to talk about their assignments. Drinking coffee together gave them time to share ideas and solve a certain percentage of their problems. Remove the coffee machine, and they all went straight from the printer to the tutor. The result? A perceived problematic increase, in either the difficulty of assignments or student headcount.

Of course, the effect of reduced caffeine intake on undergraduate problem solving capabilities might have had something to do with their decrease in problem solving ability.

There are far too many examples of how not understanding how a system works results in larger problems when we try to fix or change things. We need only look to the rabbit problem in Australia, or the World Health Organization’s “Operation Cat Drop” (look it up) for almost hilarious case studies.

Before we attempt to fix any problem, it’s imperative to understand not only the perceived problem, but how the system worked before we determined it was broken. To do that we need to take a systems view of the world. Otherwise, every time we touch the web of interconnections, we’ll awaken a sleeping spider, one much worse than the one we tried to fix.

BY PETER DE JAGER

I

f you don’t know what’s really going on, then every attempt to fix a problem will only dig the hole deeper and steeper.

That insight was reinforced as I watched a flight attendant thoughtlessly follow a simple rule while landing recently at Pearson International Airport.

The rule is “Place your seats in an upright position for landing” and the fellow a few seats in front of me was having a bit of a problem complying. His seat wouldn’t latch into the upright position and kept falling back those, oh so comfortable 10 degrees. The flight attendant blindly followed the rules and moved him to the seat directly behind the broken one.

Hmm… interesting solution. He was certainly now in an upright seat, but unfortunately he’d been placed into the path of danger. The rule about upright seats is not to protect the person in the seat, but to protect the person behind the inclined seat from crashing into the headrest now aimed at their head.

By not understanding the reason behind the rule of upright seats, the flight attendant increased the severity of risk to the passenger.

Nor could I do anything about it. Informing anyone blindly following rules, especially people with bureaucratic power, is just asking for trouble. It’s best to keep your mouth shut and avoid becoming another example of so-called Air Rage.

••• © 2003, Peter de Jager – Peter is an inoculated keynote speaker and management consultant. Contact him at: pdejager@technobility.co

24

FEB. ’06

ON

THE MOVE IN

In Montreal: The last Canadian ownership link with Telav has now retired.

Robert Thiel, who was president of AVW Telav after Telav was sold to American interests a few years ago and which is now operated out of Dallas, has decided to call it quits. Corpav is also owned by this group. Another well known AV guy has left the industry, Jean Pierre Pigeon of Duocom. He has moved to Switzerland.

In the hotel industry Jean Gourdon, the General Manager of the Novotel Montreal, has also retired. Jean Gourdon had been with the hotel since its opening in the early 90s. He will be sorely missed as he was one of Montreal’s most innovative and service-oriented hoteliers.

Another longtime hotel person, Manon Garceau, formerly of the W, St-Sulpice, Vogue, Omni/Westin/Four Seasons, has joined the Hyatt Montreal as Sales Manager. Another Vogue – and more recently – Concierge InfoTouche employee Heather Schidlowsky has moved on and joined Maestro DMC services.

In Toronto: Some of the people on the move are Lyne Montpetit who is now with The Sutton Place Hotel. Lyne use to be with the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. Also on the move is dynamic Vicki Zeppa who left the Delta Chelsea Hotel to join the ranks of Atlific Hotel and Resorts. Kathrin Wakefield formerly

FEB. ’06

2005...

of the Carlson Marketing Group has now joined Tourism Toronto and Rachel Coley also from the Carlson Marketing Group has joined the ranks of Bravo Meeting Management. After many years of excellent work, the Rostrum Group has closed.

John Cordina its owner/founder decided to retire. Also in AV, Scott Houston formerly of Frischkorn AV, has joined Stagevision.

In Quebec City: The Germain Hotel “Le Dominion” was named best hotel in Canada by Condé NastTraveler and its president Christiane Germain was chosen as one of Canada’s Top Ten Women

by Châtelaine Magazine. Quebec City’s loss is Montreal’s gain: Alain Crevier,

General Manager of the Delta Quebec, is now GM of the Delta Montreal.

In Vancouver: The stars have come out: There are only two AAA Five Diamond Awards in Canada and both are in Vancouver. One is the Pan Pacific Hotel, the other is The Sutton Place Hotel – congratulations to both hotels. In other hotel news, the Residence Inn by Marriott was completely renovated, from bedding and soft covering to meeting rooms and public areas.

In Ottawa: Many changes, most of them Conservative done in a Liberal fashion.

Health Trends Coffee is healthy?

Coffee might be healthier than you thought; A recent study showed it is a rich source of anti-cancer agents.

Some java drinkers may not find this so surprising, but the study found that coffee contributes more anti-oxidants – which have been linked with fighting heart disease and cancer – to the diet than cranberries, apples and tomatoes.

Fruits and vegetables have long been known to be a good source of antioxidants, but coffee has never been shown to be a rich source of such agents.

The research – which was funded by the American Cocoa Research Institute – indicates that at least where coffee is consumed in high amounts, the beverage could be responsible for relatively high levels of antioxidants in the diet.

The study found that both caffeinated and decaffeinated coffee appeared to provide similar levels of the anti-cancer agents.

Anti-oxidants help rid the body of harmful free radicals, destructive molecules that damage cells and DNA. 25

SUDOKU SOLUTION FROM PUZZLE ON PAGE 15

PEC in Charlotte offers some surprises for meeting professionals A place at the table: Successful meeting professionals elevate their roles

BY JYL ASHTON CUNNINGHAM, CMP

T

he recent Opening Session for the Meeting Professionals International at the Charlotte, North Carolina Convention Centre had a few surprises for those in attendance.

For the first time a talk-show format was used, an interesting digression from the usual motivational speaker angle. The entire two-hour session, which took place on January 22, was recorded live for a DVD to be released after the conference.

Christine Duffy, MPI’s International Chairwoman and President and CEO of Maritz Travel Company, opened the session. She explained the purpose of the panel discussion was to show how meeting professionals need to become more strategic for a place at the table. Several top industry leaders joined Duffy to discuss how meeting planners impact important decisions regarding destination, education and ROI. Dan Toran, President and CEO of Penn Mutual opened the panel discussion by stressing that ROI is critical, with the meeting professional role now being much more important to achieve it.

Toran explained how Penn Mutual uses professional meeting planners in-house, and that they are recruited from the industry rather than being selected internally. The reason for this, Toran said, is that it is sometimes difficult to see the forest through the trees and an outsider is better able to make the distinctions needed for successful meetings.

Joe Adkins, Bank of America’s expert in Meeting and Event Management and Supplier Relationship Management outsources planning, had some interesting additions to Toran’s

The Opening General Session had a new format: A talk show. viewpoint. Adkins explained that the bank’s strategy has become more sophisticated by applying methodologies of procurement to meetings as well as office commodities, bringing the level of reporting and fiscal responsibility from basic requirements to top of the line.

Adkins said that the expertise required to do this comes from professionals who provide solutions that bring value to the table. Bank of America outsources meeting planning, and by doing so they believe their supplier base is optimized.

This in turn gives suppliers an opportunity to best understand how the bank operates, resulting in more successful partnerships all round. Adkins stressed that openness, honesty and – above all – trust are paramount to a successful partnership and are without doubt the bank’s expectations.

Steve Chyung, of Novartis Pharmaceuticals said that meeting professionals and procurement departments need to acknowledge opportunity in order to improve how meetings are conducted.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 27

26

FEB. ’06

Session successfully conveyed message that planners are influential CONTINUED FROM PAGE 26 The planner needs to appreciate the importance of holding meetings both fiscally as well as in terms of employee resources. Employees are being taken away from their normal jobs to attend meetings, thus objectives must be met in order to justify their deployment.

Chyung summarized by commenting that consultative mind-set planners are going to be the most successful.

Regarding suppliers, Chyung stressed that they need to be able ultimately to provide global solutions as future partners in international conferences and meetings.

Angelo Rossi, U.S. Vice President of Sales and Customer Care for Avon was the final panelist. He described how Avon has evolved over the past 20 years in terms of meeting planning. Initially, home-based representatives met their district managers to be introduced to new products. Today, the company provides a much more strategic presentation of multilevel marketing, including training to achieve the new strategic direction that Avon is taking.

Rossi’s ultimate vision of a meeting professional is to have a hybrid model of an in-house expert who understands direct selling. Traditionally, hiring planners has been from within the company, however Rossi sees his vision being accomplished by bringing in an industry professional who joins Avon and learns their business from the outside in.

Judging by the applause and enthusiasm exuding from the

FEB. ’06

audience, the opening session succeeded in demonstrating how meeting professionals can use influence to impact peers and reach key decision makers.

Influential business leaders recognize the importance of the meetings industry and validate the need to have planners be more strategic is a huge step forward and another initiative for which MPI should be proud.

Rendezvous Charlotte Despite the Carolina Panthers playing on Sunday night , the turnout was impressive for the MPI Foundation fundraising event at an uptown nightclub, The Forum. At US$85 per head, it was not for everyone but definitely worth the money for those who did attend. The band, LiveMexx, was fantastic and played everything from 50s classics to current rap and dance music. The female lead was a knockout and had the floor hopping for the entire night. It was a great venue and a great time.

Jyl Ashton Cunningham is an Associate Editor for The Planner.

She can be reached at: jashton@theplanner.ca.

Need to change your address? info@theplanner.ca

27

MUSIC

CAN MAKE MAGICAL MEMORIES Existing music vs customized pieces

Ed. Note: This is the first in a three-part series on the use of music to enhance your special events and meetings.

This first article deals with how music affects your events and how your selection of different music can change the outcome as well the response of your guests or attendees.

As a composer and songwriter, my favorite uses of music are usually atmospheric and environmental, where the guest is almost unaware the background music is there – but would really miss it if it weren’t.

These musical pieces are often difficult to find “off the shelf” unless you want to spend hours at HMV and your local library listening to tracks. More often than not, these pieces need to be custom written in order to meet the needs of your client and perhaps even be designed reflecting certain “cues” in mind, such as musical changes throughout the evening. An example of this may be that there will be changes of the season throughout the event and the lighting and projected images will change at strategic times. Therefore the music background (or “musical palette” as I like to refer to it) will change with it.

Some event producers have been known to design events using specific pieces of music. One such producer is Jocelyn Flanagan, CEO of E=mc2 in Calgary (who recently won the award for Best Theatrical Production at The Special Event Gala awards in Dallas in January). “Music inspires creativity, invokes memories and sparks imagination. An event isn’t complete without music!” Flanagan said.

Music can be a low-cost method of transforming any event space into something it is not. Sometimes, budgets do not allow for the expensive décor, props and furniture to make the event space look the way you imagine it. By adding music background tracks or a live musical component to your event and some carefully placed draping, your event space will take on a completely different shape.

Next time you are planning with your clients and event teams, make music an integral part of the brainstorming meeting. Come armed with a selection of music samples and don’t be afraid to look for a unique piece of music or songs that haven’t been heard yet. You just may be creating new memory “triggers” for your client and their guests.

Next issue: Music and SOCAN: What is SOCAN?

BY DON QUARLES

M

usic appeals to all of our senses. We can actually see, feel and hear music, so it stands to reason that the type of music that is in the background when we are working (or playing) can dramatically affect our mood. All of us have had the experience of recalling specific memories which are tied to a piece of music or a song from our past. These musical “triggers” enable event producers or planners to enhance their events and give guests an “experience” rather than just an event or meeting.

Every few years, musical trends make their way through the event circuit. Whether it is jazz standards, “pump up the volume” R & B or film score music from the latest blockbuster flick, these songs or pieces of music help to enhance a “feeling” that the host client is trying to encourage from the guests. It is rare that music does not play a role in most successful events.

More often than not, I find that event professionals are selecting their music after they have decided on what the “theme” of the event should be, often with their client’s input.

I believe that the music should be integral to the theme and client’s objectives. The music, whether it becomes the background for customer networking at a cocktail reception or the highlight of the evening’s dinner entertainment, plays a key role in enhancing all the other components of the event.

Where should you look for music?

Using existing music that is tried and true is one way of enhancing your event. With one selection of music, you can invoke a variety of responses from each of your guests.

A movement from one of Howard Shore’s “Lord of the Rings” film scores will certainly bring some images to your guest’s minds. Or perhaps that song that we have heard 1,000 times (but often successfully used) “Celebration” by Kool and the Gang. The trick is to pick the musical pieces that will blend with your client’s theme, all while keeping their event objectives as the priority. The music is there to enhance the meeting or event, not overwhelm it.

If you are producing a motivational meeting for your client and they want to have their sales reps pumped for the early morning meeting (or pep rally), make sure you are selecting music that reflects the high energy the client is hoping to achieve. The music selection might be quite different if you are producing an event where guests are coming to a gala dinner that has a medieval theme. These musical pieces can either be played on CD and piped through the event space or live bands or ensembles can be strategically placed throughout the event space to create several different themes. Most music can be accessed via your local music stores and if not, visit your local library.

••• Don Quarles has been producing events for close to 20 years and is also an accomplished composer and songwriter. He is currently an event producer at the Hummingbird Centre for the Performing Arts in Toronto. Don can be reached at: dquarles@istar.ca.

THE 2006 MONTREAL VENUES GUIDE IS NOW AVAILABLE FOR $12.95.

CALL (514) 849-6841 EXT. 331 FOR MORE INFORMATION. 28

FEB. ’06

What could be bed-ter?

BY THE PLANNER STAFF

S

ince one-third of our lives, more or less, is spent sleeping we owe it to ourselves to make sure we have a comfortable bed.

When you’re younger any bed will do, but as we get older we learn to value a good night’s sleep. Hotels know this so for the last few years some chains have been marketing their rooms around the quality of their beds. Probably the best known is the Starwood chain of hotels, with their heavenly beds and ensembles. Check how hotels did in our survey (see below).

If you are among those who prefer the heavenly bed, they are for sale online at (www.westin-hotelsathome.com) About ten years ago, actress Julia Roberts was interviewed on late-night TV. During the course of the interview, she said her favorite beds were those at the Four Seasons Hotels.

Following that interview, I asked a Four Seasons general manager how they selected the beds. He told me that he had once asked Isadore Sharp, Chairman &

Pillows

The Hypnos: The Queen’s favourite.

CEO of the Four Seasons Hotels, that same question. Mr. Sharp told him “I tried different beds and picked the most comfortable.” Talk about hands-on management.

So what makes a comfortable bed?

A few things: Allergy-sensitive natural fibres, a solid frame and individually wrapped coils to name a few. Dr. Scott D. Boden, a professor of orthopedic surgery at the Emory University School of Medicine and the director of the Emory Spine Centre in Atlanta, was quoted in

The New York Times as saying there is no perfect mattress for everyone. What one person may find comfortable another may not, even among the high-end products, Boden said.

A British study last year in The Lancet, a British medical journal, said that contrary to some common advice, mattresses with medium firmness were generally more beneficial to people with chronic back pain than the firmest ones.

Ross Fraser of Fraser Furniture in Montreal – who sells the the Hypnos, the Rolls Royce of beds – had this to say: “Today’s discerning consumer is becoming far more conscious of the importance of a quality mattress and a good night’s sleep.

The Hypnos mattress has gained a world-wide reputation for its quality construction, tailoring and comfort.

So you get what you pay for – and Hypnos has developed a sleep product that is worth the extra investment.”

Queen Elizabeth II, incidentally, refuses to sleep on any other.

Results of a recent Planner survey on the importance of hotel bedding.

THE QUESTION: How important is the quality of bedding in hotels to you?

Mattresses

FEB. ’06

29

Some things to ponder... boy, how true are these?

Sometimes, when I look at my children, I say to myself, “Lillian, you should have stayed a virgin.”

– Lillian Carter (mother of Jimmy Carter)

My wife has a slight impediment in her speech. Every now and then she stops to breathe.

– Jimmy Durante

The male is a domestic animal which, if treated with firmness and kindness, can be trained to do most things.

– Jilly Cooper

I had a rose named after me and I was very flattered. But I was not pleased to read the description in the catalogue: “No good in a bed, but fine against a wall.”

– Eleanor Roosevelt

I have never hated a man enough to give his diamonds back.

– Zsa Zsa Gabor

Money can't buy you happiness... but it does bring you a more pleasant form of misery.

– Spike Milligan

Until I was thirteen, I thought my name was shut up.

– Joe Namath

What's the use of happiness? It can't buy you money.

– Henny Youngman

The secret of a good sermon is to have a good beginning and a good ending; and to have the two as close together as possible.

– George Burns

Only Irish coffee provides in a single glass all four essential food groups: alcohol, caffeine, sugar and fat.

– Alex Levine

What would men be without women?

Scarce, sir ... mighty scarce.

– Mark Twain

Santa Claus has the right idea. Visit people only once a year.

– Victor Borge

By all means, marry. If you get a good wife, you'll become happy; if you get a bad one, you'll become a philosopher.

– Socrates

Don't go around saying the world owes you a living. The world owes you nothing. It was here first.

– Mark Twain

I don't feel old. I don't feel anything until noon. Then it's time for my nap.

– Bob Hope

I was married by a judge. I should have asked for a jury.

– Groucho Marx

My luck is so bad that if I bought a cemetery, people would stop dying.

– Ed Furgol

I never drink water because of the disgusting things that fish do in it.

– W.C. Fields

30

I am opposed to millionaires... but it would be dangerous to offer me the position.

– Mark Twain Youth would be an ideal state if it came a little later in life.

– Herbert Henry Asquith

FEB. ’06

Resiliency makes a significant difference But what can it do for you?

BY MICHAEL H. BALLARD

I

magine a set of skills that could enhance your quality of life.

Interested? Research on resiliency at several leading institutions shows that it can make a significant difference in most of our lives. Resiliency is the ability to bounce back from life’s everyday obstacles and overwhelming challenges. The purpose of this article is to introduce you to the topic, some key components and to show two examples of the paybacks of being resilient.

Researchers are concluding that each person has an innate capacity for resiliency, “a self-righting tendency” that operates best when people of all ages have resiliency-building conditions in their lives.

How do we develop resiliency skills?

Take courses, read books, watch videos, and model the behaviour of those that have gone before us that have shown resiliency. Finally, ask for help. No one, I mean no one is an island. Get a coach, a mentor or talk to a favourite manager or leader. Most people in our lives want us to succeed. Make a plan to support and nurture yourself.

What types of things build resiliency?

1. Making connections and being mentored. For example, resilient adults remember one or two people who made a difference in their lives when they were a teen. These adults acted as role models and mentors. “Werner’s nearly 40-year research journey shows that being emotionally connected with people in our communities is a significant part of what allows nearly 70 percent of people, in even the worst conditions, to thrive despite adversity.” (Brown, D’Emidio-Caston, and Benard 16).

Who are you feeling connected with?

5. Life skills. Through fostering personal awareness, responsibility, and decision-making capabilities and through focusing on each person’s healthy overall development, we know that this helps people to see possibilities and potentials in their lives and to reduce each person’s risk of not being resilient.

6. Hobbies and interests. People who participate in hobbies and activities feel more confident, competent, and positive about themselves. For example, hobbies and activities bring us into contact with more people and can provide solace during times of stress and turmoil.

7. Careers. Resilient people have a sense of direction and goals. What goals have you set recently?

8. Taking care of others and volunteering. People engaged in “required helpfulness” are more resilient. People who believe they have something to contribute feel more empowered and confident about themselves. Mentoring, tutoring, being a peer helper, or volunteering promotes self-esteem and competency.

9. Participation at school, religious group, and in the community. Active participation provides opportunities to make friends and develop skills. People who have faith in a higher power believe their lives have meaning and they control their own fate.

What are the paybacks to gaining more resiliency?

3. Problem-solving, information and innovation skills.

Resilient people know how to find and use information to solve problems. When faced with adversity, they will use a variety of problem-solving models to determine options for dealing with their problems. When was the last time you read a book or took a course on problem solving or innovation?

There are large paybacks at stake for us. Two examples include: • Research from Stanford indicates that in a community population where only 6 percent of adults (18 – 25 years old) had a post-secondary education, those taught and nurtured in a school environment designed to build resiliency had a 90 percent graduation rate with 90 percent of those graduates going on to a full 4-year university program.

• Research from Harvard University over a 36-year period indicates that when patients (six different chronic illnesses were studied) are taught resiliency skills they experience a drop in symptoms of over 21 percent. Imagine how their quality of life went up. Consider the cost savings to the insurer.

Consider how their ability to stay engaged in their lives went up.

These are just a two examples of how powerful resiliency can impact our lives. What are you doing to in your life to build resiliency?

Let me leave you with this quote from Mark Twain: “Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear – not absence of fear.”

4. Social skills. The chief determinant of success for people is their social skills. Resilient people tend to have more friends and are more confident. They tend to be friendly, cheerful, good-natured, humorous and practice their intelligence. What are you doing to build and nurture your social skills?

Michael Ballard specializes in consulting and training individuals and teams to become more resilient. Michael was challenged by cancer over a seven-year period where he quickly learned that resiliency can greatly impact our quality of life.

You can reach him at: mballard@resiliencyforlife.com or at (416) 229-4655. For more info go to: www.resiliencyforlife.com.

2. Reading. Resilient people read. Werner and Smith found that “effective reading skills by grade four were one of the most potent predictors of successful adult adaptation.” This one reminds us to keep reading as adults.

FEB. ’06

31

Hotel News from around the world Hilton+luxury = Waldorf-Astoria

Tremblant reopens after strike

Hilton Hotels Corp. recently announced the launch of The Waldorf-Astoria Collection, a new luxury brand that will build on the reputation of the storied New York hotel.

Launching next month with co-branded properties in Maui, Phoenix and la Quinta, California, Hilton President and COO Matt Hart said the hotels in those cities would maintain their names “while adding the Waldorf-Astoria Collection designation as a mark of their exclusivity.”

Hilton said properties in the Waldorf-Astoria Collection will offer customers the same support and technologies as other brands, including its guest rewards program, reservation systems and worldwide sales and marketing programs.

One of Quebec’s favourite ski resorts is back in the game.

Striking workers voted recently in favour of a proposed contract recently ending an 18-day walkout over the lucrative Christmas and New Year’s period.

The 1,500 unionized employees who work as lift operators and hill groomers as well as restaurant staff and housekeepers in Intrawest properties at the resort are now back at work.

During the lucrative pre-Christmas week, only two lifts were working and only a third of the trails were open. In the resort village, 13 shops temporarily shut their doors and 1,200 rooms in 13 hotels and condominiums were receiving little or no service. About 200 management personnel had been struggling to replace the striking workers.

A number of special offers are now available, including twoto 10-night packages that include accommodations and lift tickets that start at $99 a person.

On the Web: www.tremblant.ca

Four Seasons in Asia x 3 Four Seasons Hotel Inc., the world’s largest operator of luxury hotels, said it will open three new hotels in Asia, including two in China, which the United Nations predicts will be the globe’s most visited country by 2020. The hotels will be built in Shanghai, the former Portuguese colony of Macau, and Taipei, the company said in a statement. A fourth is planned on the Caribbean island of Barbados, Four Seasons said. The UN’s World Tourism Organization says China will surpass France as the world’s top tourist destination by 2020, with an estimated 130 million visitors a year.

Ex-Starwood chief launches rival Barry Sternlicht, the former executive chairman of Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. is launching an ultra-luxury hotel brand that will compete head-to-head with his former employer.

The new hotels, which will be modeled after the Hôtel de Crillon in Paris, will compete against Starwood Hotels’ premium St. Regis hotels as well as other top-tier chains, including Four Seasons Hotels Inc. and the Peninsula Hotel Group.

“We are going to make each hotel obscenely rich and obscenely beautiful and position them at the top of their markets,” Sternlicht said in a recent interview.

He resigned from his post eight months ago and has had a complicated relationship with his former employer since then.

Sternlicht lashed out at Starwood publicly for a sale of some of its hotels at what he believed was below-market price on the one hand, but offered Starwood most of the management contracts to manage 32 London-based Le Meridien hotels & Resort properties he acquired last November.

Yotel-ay-ee-o!

You‘ll almost be able to stretch out and touch the walls, but the Yotel founders think you’ll want to stay there anyway. Plans call for two London hotels, opening in mid-2006 at Gatwick’s South Terminal, to seek “the airline business-class experience at affordable prices,” according to the co-founders, Simon Woodroffe and Gerard Greene. Woodroffe, who started the Yo! Sushi bar, came up with the idea for Yotel after being upgraded on a flight, and he has transformed that concept into a capsulestyle hotel. The sound-proofed cabins are 107 square feet and will contain sofas that convert into double beds, pull-down desks, wireless Internet, iPod connections and flat-screen TVs.

357 guestrooms and suites 18 meeting and function rooms that can accommodate up to 350 people Connected to the Montreal Convention Centre

Inquire about Meeting Options™ reward program... extras that you deserve.

360 St-Antoine Street West Montreal, Quebec H2Y 3X4 514-987-9900 www.montreal.intercontinental.com 32

FEB. ’06

Hotel News Hotel of the Month ust think of it: As a planner, what could be better than organizing an event in an ice hotel? Think of all the great feedback you would get, like “It was the coolest meeting we ever attended,” or “It was a nICE venue!”

So we have decided to help you be cool or hot with your crowd and make our hotel of the month L’Hôtel de Glace (Ice Hotel) which appears every year ( for the sixth year) at this time of the year until April, in St-Catherine-de- la-Jacques-Cartier, near Quebec City. This 32-room hotel comes complete with a bar, a club and a chapel. Over the past six years, 160,000 people have visited the hotel and 7,500 have slept in it.

Their team of cool professionals will make it look like a breeze, so for all those that would say “Been there, done that,” here is something with attitude.

Or as my daughter would say, “Whoa, what a brain freeze!”

On the Web: www.icehotel-canada.com

J

The Ice Hotel is a hot and trendy place to hold an event.

– Mike Auctor

Dollars and scents?

Reams of studies have linked the sense of smell to memory.

Now hotels are exploring how to use this information to increase customer satisfaction and loyalty.

Westin Hotels & Resorts has created a signature White Tea scent to spritz in its lobbies, corridors and other public spaces, and the Marriott Hotels & Resorts is exploring the use of aromatherapy in its lobbies.

FEB. ’06

33

INFLUENCE WITH EASE

®

Are your People Problems really the issue?

Take this Mini Quiz

By Jeff Mowatt

I’ve discovered an interesting phenomenon when organizations bring me in to help ‘motivate their people.’

They may be suffering from customer complaints, staff turnover, or a lack of teamwork. At first glance, these appear to be front line people problems. What we frequently find however is that most problems involving attitudes and teamwork are actually just symptoms of flawed infrastructures. Let’s see if this could be true in your organization.

Check-off any of these people problems occurring in your organization: Employees are not getting along with each other. Individually, each person appears to be hard working and capable enough, but when working together their personalities clash.

Conflicts exist between departments.

One group blames another for foulups. They are unwilling to share information, key people, or resources.

Employee turnover is an ongoing challenge.

Employee theft is an ongoing challenge.

People are complaining about certain employee behaviors.

Your team’s service has been good, but you are having difficulty taking their service to the next level.

If your organization has none of the preceding issues, then either a) you are already your industry’s Service Icon™ or b) you have so few employees that no changes are needed (providing you plan on staying small). If however, you have circled one or more of the preceding scenarios, then you know you have a problem. The question is what’s the real problem? Frequently, managers conclude that they have a personnel problem. What often lies beneath this tip-of-the-iceberg, however, is a flawed infrastructure. These underlying systems not only affect morale but also impact productivity, customer satisfaction, and profits.

To see if your infrastructure may be causing the people problems, score your organization with a 0, 1, or 2 as follows: 0 = That’s exactly what’s happening in our organization.

1 = We are not as bad-off as that, but there is room for improvement.

2 = Statement does not apply to us. We have formal systems and processes that have addressed this issue.

symptoms of deeper problems with your infrastructure. By infrastructure I’m referring to your formal systems for customer service training, service standards, customer feedback & implementation, and employee recognition. You can waste a lot of energy trying to fix the people problems, but unless you fix the underlying infrastructure, you are just painting over rust - the problems keep resurfacing.

The good news Customer service training consists of a job orientation, then learn as you go.

Either no corporate mission statement exists, or there is one but no one refers to it or uses it in a meaningful way.

You either have no written service standards or you do have service standards but they are all focused on speed and fast turnaround times.

Employee and customer feedback goes to managers, but there is no formal system for converting feedback into product & service improvements.

There is no formal employee recognition system.

When it comes to developing employee skills, managers do more correcting and reacting than proactive coaching.

Training events and team-building events appear to improve productivity and morale momentarily, but eventually people revert back to the old ways interacting with each other.

Your Score (Maximum is 14) What your Score Means 12-14 Congratulations! You have the systems in place to become your industry’s Service Icon.™ 8-11 There is room for improvement with your infrastructure.

0-7 Your organization is vulnerable to employees and customers leaving.

Time to focus on your infrastructure.

The bad news If you scored less than 12, chances are that your people issues are actually just 34

Most managers think that fixing their infrastructure takes a huge amount of time and resources. That’s a myth. Working with dozens of organizations over the years, we’ve found the solutions to be surprisingly easy. We developed a process for making slight adjustments to the organization’s existing practices that creates substantial results. One client for example, a government crown corporation, found that within 6 months of making the adjustments … “employee morale improved significantly… employee productivity improved by 34% …and public complaints decreased fourfold” The bonus is the process can be conducted in-house by your own staff in just 90 minutes a month. So much for the idea that this requires an onerous commitment of time and resources!

Bottom line If you are suffering from people problems make sure you’re not expending time, money, and management focus treating the symptoms of instead of addressing the underlying cause.

This article is based on the critically acclaimed book, Becoming a Service Icon in 90 Minutes a Month by business strategist, consultant, and international speaker Jeff Mowatt. To obtain your own copy of his book or to inquire about engaging Jeff for your team, visit www.jeffmowatt.com or call 1-800JMowatt (566-9288).

FEB. ’06

FEB. ’06

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