October 2005

A MONTHLY DIGEST TO INFORM, ENLIGHTEN AND HUMOUR MEETING PLANNERS

Flawed employees can be valuable

BY PETER DE JAGER

L

ook around your organization and depending on how lucky, or unlucky you are, you’ll find them in nearly every department. You’ll have to look carefully, because they don’t always seek the limelight, sometimes with good reason. They’re the fickle, lazy, opinionated, uncertain, pessimistic, simple-minded, clock-watching employees.

Before you go searching for them with the intent of firing them, keep in mind they could be the keystones of your organization. Remove them, and you might be removing the glue which holds your organization together.

These are the useful people upon which every organization knowingly or unknowingly depends: The Fickle: A politician can commit no greater crime today than to change their mind. When they do, we label them as “wishy-washy.” That’s a perverse label for someone with the integrity to contradict a past belief when they find evidence to the contrary. Far from being wishy-washy, those who publicly retract past beliefs are champions of integrity. Their only other option is to hold to past beliefs, even when they have proof they were wrong.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 5

Making your website an effective marketing tool

BY JYL ASHTON CUNNINGHAM, CMP

IN THIS ISSUE Online toolkit

2

Sudoku

8

Professionalism, Pt. 2

12-13

Venue selection

14

New Orleans update

16

Cancun: A paradise

18

Giant change in baby steps

22

How to handle Q & As

24

Hotel News Feel good

28-29 32

VOL. 3 ISSUE 6 October 2005 Edition

H

aving just had the company website totally re-vamped, JAAC decided to research the value of actually having such a commodity. A little back to front in the marketing strategy department, but a useful exercise nonetheless.

As a member of IMPAC (Independent Meeting Planners Association of Canada), I went through the membership directory and discovered that approximately 50 percent of members have a company website, which is an impressive number considering many of the members are home-based solo operators. Randomly picking six sites, I found each of them to be professionally produced, highly informative and easy to navigate.

Next, I entered some search keywords, picking obvious and less obvious words. Keying in the word “event” prompted me to learn that the

Government of Canada National Industry Classification Code of the meetings industry is 1226, but not one event management company appeared on the first page. “Meeting Planner” was next — still no companies appeared first, although hotels and tourist boards were right up there. A few more keywords and still no immediate hits which seems troublesome for our industry.

Interview with a webmaster So, what exactly is the point of having a website? I recently interviewed Andrew Kerr, owner of Westcliffe Marketing and the designer/webmaster of JAAC’s website, to find out what his clients hope to gain by such a substantial investment in their companies, and the advice he offers to give them the best ROI possible.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 10

Tourism Toronto introduces online time- and money–saving tools Innovative toolkit can improve meeting & convention attendance Meeting Planners across North America are turning to their planning partners for a comprehensive way to meet these needs. And Tourism Toronto’s Meetings & Conventions service team is answering the call.

The Toronto Attendance Building Toolkit is a customizable, ready-made marketing campaign for the meeting & convention industry. Designed for and by meeting planners, the online toolkit is a one-stop shop that will save time & money and drive attendance for conferences, conventions and corporate meetings. As an exclusive benefit for choosing Tourism Toronto, event organizers with confirmed Toronto region bookings are provided with an ID and password to take full advantage of the tools and services available 24/7 at www.torontotourism.com/toolkit to market their event, attract potential delegates and inform attendees about the city and all it has to offer.

For many independent planners, these free tools are a marketing windfall — offering thousands and thousands of dollars worth of advertising and communication materials.

For third-party planners, the Toronto Toolkit provides a way to extend the planner’s service offerings beyond their

normal scope, at no extra cost. Corporate planners will find value in being able to keep marketing budgets low by utilizing the Toolkit’s unique customization features. And Association planners can take advantage of the significant savings resulting from pre-designed templates, press-ready artwork and a tailor-made web site for their attendees.

The Toronto Attendance Building Toolkit includes: • Press-ready ads and web-ready banners that meeting planners can use to promote their Toronto event • Customizable Toronto postcards to generate interest and drive attendance • Customizable newsletter and HTML e-mail templates designed to help keep meeting attendees informed • A customizable mapping tool that allows the planner to plot nearby facilities, restaurants and attractions, then download a digital file • www.mytorontomeeting.com – an exclusive web resource for meeting and convention delegates – detailing the myriad of sights, sounds, tastes and experiences that meeting attendees can immerse themselves in while they are in Toronto • A “special deals” section within the website www. mytorontomeeting.com allows delegates to download attraction, dining and retail coupons while they’re in town Toronto’s Toolkit follows on the heels of another leading technology offering: Digital Toronto – a CD-based planning tool for meeting and event organizers.

“The Attendance Building Toolkit is the newest in a comprehensive selection of services Tourism Toronto has been offering meeting planners for years,” says Charmaine Singh, Vice President Meeting & Convention Sales. “A wide variety of time-saving, free services – from stress-free RFPs to booking accommodations for thousands of delegates to arranging site inspections and liaising with Canada Customs – are available to clients considering Toronto for their meeting or event.”

And it doesn’t stop there. Toronto is one of North America’s most popular business destinations for good reason. The CVB takes a sophisticated approach to the meetings industry and meetings business, with state-of-the-art facilities, client-focused, professional services and suppliers and leading edge technology like the Toronto Attendance Building Toolkit and Digital Toronto planner. With so much to offer, Tourism Toronto is a natural choice for meeting and event organizers looking for a creative planning partner and a remarkable destination.

2

OCTOBER 2005

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FROM THE EDITOR

Service is king

Published by:

W

hen people talk about service, they can mean a lot of things. To narrow our focus, let’s consider an interesting response to a recent MPI survey. The question was asked: Which is usually the most important factor when choosing between meeting/event facilities, assuming your choices have adequate space and similar costs?

Interestingly, the number one response, with 35 percent of respondents choosing it, was Responsiveness/customer service. It was way ahead of Desirable location (26 percent), Convenient location (15 percent) and Attractive facility (13 percent).

This response highlights some truisms about customer service which are commonly held: • It costs six times more to attract a new customer than it does to keep an old one.

• Of those customers who quit, 68% do so because of an attitude of indifference by the company of a specific individual.

• Seven of ten complaining customers will do business with you again if you resolve the complaint in their favour.

• If you resolve on the spot 95% will do business again.

• A typical dissatisfied customer will tell 8-10 people about their problem.

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 Editor: Camille Lay Assistant Editor: Nathalie Caron Proofreader: Keith Motton Translator: Marc Levasseur Administration: Patrick Galvin, Julie Boisvert Sales: James Paulson Contributors: Mike Auctor, Anne Biarritz, Allison Boman, Thomas Chalmers, Jyl-Ashton Cunningham, Peter De Jager, Stacey Hanke, Jeff Mowatt, Arlene Kravitz, Don Murray, Stacey Robinson & Denise McDonald, Barry Siskind, Don Quarles, Joe Schwarcz, Harriet Wezena The Planner is a monthly publication distributed to 11, 500 professional meeting planners across Canada and the U.S..

Poste-publication No. 40934013

So, in summary, we can equate customer satisfaction with success. So be sure to treat your customers exactly how you would like to be treated.

Our Mission and Goal Our mission is to inform and enlighten meeting planners.

Each edition will have no more than 30 to 35 per cent advertising (all of which will be informative) with the rest of the publication dedicated to articles to help meeting planners in their dayto-day activities. Our goal is to give out the accumulated profit as educational grants to planners.

Could you give me a moment please?

I need to collect my thoughts. I’ve never had a supplier call me back so quickly...

GIVING BACK EDUCATIONAL GRANTS

Coming soon • Luggage • Spas • Conference centres • Cruise lines

What would you like to read about?

Please e-mail me at: lgervais@theplanner.ca

• Combatting jet lag

4

OCTOBER 2005

There is strength in all personalities CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

Discontent is the disenfranchised mother of invention; necessity is only a pretender to the throne.

The Lazy: Ever since Pope Gregory the Great (6th Century) formalized the list of seven deadly sins, we’ve wrongly judged and reviled laziness. Here’s the truth about sloth; all progress is due to the lazy. Laziness is what compels us to seek out the easiest way to do something. If not for laziness, we wouldn’t have the lever, the plough or the bulldozer. The underlying philosophy of laziness is that there is always an easier way to do something. That to expend more energy than necessary is a criminal waste of resources. Laziness is the cause of progress, and the father/mother of efficiency.

The Simple-Minded: Life isn’t complex. We eat (and we do the opposite of eating – this is after all - a family article), we sleep and do things to make eating, and safe places to sleep, possible.

The rest of the time we seek happiness. We can avoid most people problems by following the Golden Rule. Most of the remaining problems are avoided by paying attention to the task at hand and avoiding shortcuts. And the few problems remaining are solved with creativity, determination and patience.

The Clock Watcher: Time moves faster than we think. Dates on the calendar are closer than they appear. Doing it now, is nearly always better than waiting until tomorrow. Those who pay attention to the swift passage of time are those who keep us on time. Their efforts are seldom appreciated. Everyone hates to be nagged, especially those who need nagging, who would be late if not nagged, who would never complete a task if not nagged. Nags keep the world turning as it should, without them we’d all be still asleep.

The Opinionated: People with opinions are people who choose to think. By then voicing those opinions, they serve as the checks and balances of our organization. In a society structured as hierarchy, opinionated people are necessary if we desire all levels to get involved in the decision making process.

Without opinionated people, all thought, regardless of quality, would trickle down from above, unchallenged by those who work directly with our customers.

I started writing this with tongue firmly implanted in cheek, intending to have some fun by finding value within perceived flaws. It turns out that humour is also an unexpected path to usefulness and insight.

The Uncertain: Certainty is highly overrated; it erects a fortification against prudence. The Captain of the Titanic was certain the ship was unsinkable; the CEO of Enron was certain he’d get away with unethical behaviour; and teenagers are certain they’re invulnerable. True certainty is a rare, almost nonexistent, commodity. More valuable to us is a healthy dose of uncertainty spiked with skepticism. Uncertainty keeps us focused on the task. Certainty breeds complacency.

© 2005 Peter de Jager – Peter really is a fickle, lazy, opinionated, uncertain, pessimistic, simple minded, clock watching speaker, consultant and writer. He’s interested in all things related to Management, but especially Change Management. Read more of his excellent work at: www.technobility.com

The Pessimistic: This outlook is a close cousin to uncertainty, it takes the view that not only might things go wrong, they will go wrong and we must accordingly plan for disaster. If we always see the glass as half-empty then we’re focused on improving the situation, the half-full glass is more likely to elicit nothing more than a burp of contentment. We can make most things better, but only if we’re unsatisfied with our lot.

OCTOBER 2005

Need to change your address? info@theplanner.ca

5

BOOK REVIEWS Be My Guest by Conrad Hilton The Power of We by Jonathan Tisch The Spirit to Serve by J.W. Marriott Jr.

BY HARRIET WEZENA When you hear the names Hilton, Marriott and Loews, you immediately think of hotels, luxury and vacation.

Three hotel tycoons became household names in the hospitality industry.

But how did these three brand names become such a big success? What landmarks have they achieved in the industry since the Hiltons debuted their entry into the hotel business in 1907, when the first Marriott hotel opened in 1957 and the Loews opened later on? How has each entity changed the face of the hospitality industry?

When Gus Hilton — Conrad Hilton’s father — decided to convert their adobe house, the biggest in the San Antonio area facing the railway station on a main line, into a Hilton Hotel it was to provide luxury which in today’s terms would be an overstatement. “It was a case of urgent necessity,” writes Conrad in his book Be My Guest. They provided shelter for tired travelers in New Mexico who previously couldn’t make a stop in San Antonio because no hotels existed there.

The Mobley Hotel in Cisco, Texas, the first hotel Conrad Hilton bought, is another indication of the state of the hotel business in the 1920s. Before it became his property, his first impression

of the hotel when he sought shelter in its premises was “…a convenient place to sleep, nothing more.” If you were unlucky to get a room you dove for the few seats that the lobby boasted while the restaurant tables became rather comfortable beds for others. This picture doesn’t scream luxury and comfort and hotels were simply there to serve the sheer need of a place to lay one’s head.

The mid-20s and ’30s represent the beginning of an era of luxury and class in the hospitality industry. Classic examples are New York’s Plaza Hotel and the Waldorf-Astoria. According to Conrad Hilton, the Waldorf was the world’s first great hotel, “…an unofficial palace for the world’s notables, the last word in luxury, service and hospitality,” despite the acute Depression that left America’s economy and the rest of world scrambling for economic survival.

The Waldorf was the first to introduce room service in the United States, sent gifts with compliments of the management and had orchestras playing for the pleasure of guests including crown princes and princesses of Norway, Indian Maharajahs and Prince Henry of Prussia. It became Hilton property in 1946.

Over the last two decades, luxury has made the hospitality industry increasing-

6

ly competitive and demanding. Jonathan M. Tisch, in his book The Power of We: Succeeding Through Partnerships, wrote that running a hotel business in the 21st century has become a very sophisticated and complicated business. He stated in an era of consolidation, mergers and acquisitions some companies buy and sell hotel chains almost like properties on a monopoly board.

The Hilton, Marriott and Loews brands have all seized the opportunity to expand, make profits and adapt to the times. For instance, the Hilton’s franchisement across its entire brand family, accounts for some 30 percent of Hilton’s total cash flow with income from management or franchise fees, and Marriott owns Ritz-Carlton, Ramada and several variations on its own Marriott brand. Tisch admits that this makes it difficult for small players like Loews Hotels to compete with the other “hospitality Goliaths.”

This is where show business counts as an integral part of the hospitality industry. Today, when people visit a hotel, they are taking a break from “their reality.”

Tisch, chairman and CEO of Loews Hotels, buttresses this point by saying “…when I walk into one of our properties, I evaluate it like a Broadway show.”

CONTINUED ON PAGE 7

OCTOBER 2005

All found a different path to the top of their industry helped transition over 3,000 former welfare recipients into the hospitality business outlined in The Spirit to Serve by J.W. Marriott. Loews is also active in the “welfare to work” community venture funds that specialize in supporting small companies that employ low-income workers.

All three brand names have had rocky moments in their journey to success and the one element that all three share is being entrenched in the tradition of providing hospitality and to bring comfort, security and pleasure to clients.

They also share the relentless spirit of upholding their company’s character and style built over time and space and being very innovative. Paul Tagliabue, commissioner of the National Football League said, “When the organizational structure is right, good decisions get made. When the structure is defective, no amount of leadership can overcome it.” Obviously, these three organizations have good structures and make sound decisions.

What makes these brands appealing is that while they provide the same service they are still different, as Conrad Hilton says in his book, Be My Guest; “We each have two thumbs. But the individual print is uniquely our own.” These three books outline the consistent commitment to excellence three giants made in their industry, and are excellent primers for anyone interested in the business.

•••

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 6 The lobby, the guest rooms, restaurants, personnel and hallways all combine to create the atmosphere that clients need to escape their daily reality.

Competition is now at its peak, and the hospitality industry is still struggling to escape the recession caused by the terrorist attacks of 9/11, but all three hoteliers are constantly coming up with more innovative packages to entice both local travelers and international guests. What we see is the proliferation of things like customer reward programs, high-speed Internet access, health clubs or gyms, discount deals and hotel freebies.

All three chains are socially responsible There are also specialized services for the professional community including travel agents, tour companies, and association of executives in charge of conventions and meeting planners. This is important since the travel and tourism economy contributes over 10 per cent to the world GDP and generates one in every 13.2 jobs worldwide.

All three hoteliers might have different operational and organizational standards but one thing that they do have in common is how they have become socially responsible. There is cooperation between governments and players in the hospitality industry. Notable among such public-private partnerships is Marriott’s “Pathways to Independence” that has

OCTOBER 2005

Harriet Wezena is a Montreal-based freelance writer.

7

Industry Trends Level:Easy

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. Long popular in Japan, sudoku is based on 18th century mathematician Leonard Euler’s Latin Square, and first appeared in U.S. puzzle books as the cleverly-named Number Puzzle. The current Western craze began when a New Zealander used the Japanese name to pitch his puzzle-generating program to the London Times. Sudoku has been picked up by nearly 60 newspapers in North America. And here we thought sudoku was just another kind of sushi or sashimi... :)

More on Sudoku, Page 27.

Did you know...?

Ian Robertson of Trinity College, Ireland, told a recent British science conference that cognitive exercises and brain stimulation — such as crossword puzzles and Sudoku — can keep the brain up to 14 years younger in people over 60.

8

OCTOBER 2005

Industry Trends Vivien wins the EIBTM 2005 WorldWide Technology Watch Award The Global Meetings & Incentive Exhibition (EIBTM) announced on September 16 that Vivien, Cast Software’s Event Design application, is the winner of the EIBTM 2005 WorldWide Technology Watch award.

Vivien was judged by the following criteria: innovation/uniqueness, impact on the meetings industry and completeness of concept. This prestigious award includes a booth at the EIBTM 2005 show in Barcelona, Spain. Go to the show and meet Vivien at stand D258 from November 29 – December 1. Info: www.eibtm.com

A customer-centered shift in marketing priorities is taking place Ninety-six percent of corporate marketing executives utilize events in their marketing mix and 93 percent view the importance of event marketing to be constant or increasing, according to EventView ’05/’06. It is the fourth annual study of face-to-face marketing trends sponsored by The George P. Johnson Company (GPJ) and the MPI Foundation.

Additionally, more than 50 percent of survey respondents report the role of event marketing as a “lead tactic� or a “vital component� of the marketing mix.

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OCTOBER 2005

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Lots to consider when building a website CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

AK: While testimonials are good and do add a certain credibility, they are much like having a visible web counter on your site. If they do not change often, repeat visitors to your site will realize that you are not adding new clients very quickly and/or your web site visit count is low.

Jyl Ashton-Cunningham: When a client asks you to design a website, what is the first question you ask them?

Andrew Kerr: The first question is generally: What do you plan to do with your website? This question is often met with initial silence but it speaks to an important fact of wanting a web site, in that the ensuing answer “to increase business” should not be the first objective. The first objective should be to actively market the new web site so that it eventually does increase your business.

JA: What is the value of having partnered links?

AK: The only value of placing a partner link on your site is when your link is prominent on theirs. Ensure that your link reciprocity also works out to your advantage.

JA: Is it really important to know how many “hits” your site is getting? Why? AK: The number of hits is probably less important than where they are coming from. When the site is first launched, the largest number of hits is usually from the client themselves followed by the search engines; if the web design company did their job of registering the new site with the engines. Web visit stats, in general terms, is an inexact science but many web hosting companies now provide a decent stats measurement program so you can see from what domain your visits come from, what pages are getting more attention, and what pages are generally the exit page for the visit.

JAC: What are the most popular reasons your clients give for wanting to have a website?

AK: The most popular reason is “because my competitors have one.” Following close behind is, “we want to be able to send emails to prospects and customers alike.”

JA: What are their expectations generally?

AK: The number one expectation is that business will start to roll in as soon as the web site is launched. In fact, the number one visitor to the new web site is the client themselves. A new web site should be considered like a new product, regardless of what you are promoting on the site. A new product needs to be marketed by all of the traditional methods as well as by the new electronic methods. They go hand in hand. If your “new product promotion” is done properly, then and only then will the web site take on a life of its own and BECOME the marketer for your product line or message.

JA: How often do you recommend updating the information published?

AK: We cannot prescribe a particular schedule, except that content should change on a pace you are comfortable with. What is more important is that when you establish a pace, keep to it.

If your changes are interesting, pertinent, timely, you will start to have repeat visitors if they know they can come back to see new material.

JA: What advice would you give on website content?

AK: Make sure that it is well written and will appeal to all visitors. Make the initial content that people view, succinct and to the point but offer “…more information” for those who want to read more extensively. Don’t force large volumes of text on web visitors. Let them ask for more or click for more if they are interested by the teasers.

JA: What are the costs involved with having a website?

AK: The cost of setting up a web site includes Domain name registration: between $10 to $50 depending on whom you use as a registrar. Always best to ask your web company to do it for you.

Remember that your domain must be renewed at least annually.

JA: I notice that some companies publish testimonials from their (named) clients – is this a good idea?

CONTINUED ON PAGE 11

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Costs depend on the level of complexity You also need to host your site somewhere. Again, your web company can help here. Costs can range from $10 per month for a one pager to $60 per month plus depending on the extent of your package, databases used, and so on. The cost of the site itself depends largely on the site, whether it is static HTML, whether it will include FLASH technology, whether it will include data collection and use the data for analysis and marketing purposes. Steer away though from those companies who charge you by the page. Sites should be designed to be the most effective AND the most efficient and the web designer/marketer should be able to quote you based on these factors. The web company should also be able to advise you on how to portray your content to the site’s visitors.

JA: How can you draw people to your site without annoying them by blast email?

AK: Broadcast mail is often annoying when not requested. But at the same time, your site should be collecting the

names and addresses of those visitors who WANT to receive information from you. Nothing is more valuable than a growing list of e-mail subscribers that have opted to hear from you. To answer the question directly however is to repeat that the traditional marketing methods are still the best way of getting the message out, joined these days by electronic methods.

••• This interview is an interesting read indeed, and there’s lots of good advice for those companies still planning to start a website.

From my experience with JAAC, I have found that the site is visited more by potential clients that the company has networked with at industry events, or through word of mouth recommendations. Until the revamping, JAAC’s site had been used mainly as an “add on” marketing tool, giving credence to the company’s reputation and experience. I am now following Westcliffe Marketing’s advice and strategy plan to

www.mpiweb.org is a well-designed website.

increase business directly via web marketing. Watch this space for future developments! For more information, contact: JAAC Corporate Enterprises Inc www.jaacevents.com Andrew Kerr, Westcliffe Marketing www.westcliffemarketing.com Jyl Ashton-Cunningham is a successful Toronto-based event planner.

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1 877 8 2 2 - 2 6 2 3 OCTOBER 2005

11

SAN S F R AI S (TOLL F R EE)

Professionals need to adapt to change Ed. Note: This is the second in a two-part series about professionalism.

Professionals have confidence, but not over-confidence, in their abilities The first thing a novice notices about an old pro in any field is that he or she makes difficult tasks look easy. Along with their other acquired expertise, professionals become expert at never showing the intensity of their efforts. They are more aware than anyone of the meaning of the classical aphorism, "The perfection of art is to conceal the art."

The English language has never known a more readable stylist than Charles Lamb, whose prose flowed with the clarity and brilliance of spring water. But his author-sister Mary, in a letter to friend, has left us with an endearing picture of how painfully he achieved his mastery: "You would like to see us, as we often sit writing at the same table .... I taking snuff, and he groaning all the while, and saying he can make nothing of it, which he always says till he is finished, and then he finds out he has made something of it."

Lamb's uncertainty over his work clashes with the image of cool professionalism held by the public. Seasoned professionals are supposed to "know their stuff," meaning that they know exactly what they are doing at any given time, and that they know their subjects inside-out.

Professional persons tend to present an air of calm capability to the world for the very good reason that what they essentially have to sell is trustworthiness. None of us would want a dentist who is evidently unsure of which tooth to drill or an accountant who confesses his confusion over a newly-passed tax law.

And indeed thorough professionals must have confidence in their own abilities. It is self-confidence that allows them to break with tried and true techniques in the search of fresh approaches to problems.

Professional self-confidence comes from having a sure grasp of the fundamentals of one's subject. Where selfconfidence goes wrong is when senior practitioners in a field become too sure of what they know, and come to believe that they have completely mastered their subject. When they conclude that they know all there is to know, they are no longer professionals, but hacks.

Almost every occupation is a profession where something is always developing Complacency is a distinctly unprofessional trait. The reason there are scholarly journals is to make it possible for professional men and women to maintain a knowledge of the ceaseless developments in their chosen subjects. The journals also carry debates over new ideas in the field, which stimulate lively and creative thought about professional concerns.

If there is one characteristic of the established professions which sets them apart from other employment, it is the continual renewal of knowledge and expertise through publications, conferences, seminars and so forth. That distinction, however, is becoming less and less relevant with the passage of time.

It was once possible for a man or woman to get a job in business or public service and retire from it 50 years later with pretty much the same body of knowledge he or she acquired in the first few months of working. Now, almost every occupation in the western economy has become like the professions, in which something new is always happening to enhance knowledge and alter techniques.

Technicians and craftspersons nowadays are constantly having to learn about new equipment, processes and methods.

People in sales are just as constantly being called upon to learn the intricacies of ever more complex product lines.

Complacency is a distinctly unprofessional trait

CONTINUED ON PAGE 13

12

OCTOBER 2005

Actions speak louder than words in business CONTINUED FROM PAGE 12 In no industry are products and conditions the same today as they were two or three years ago. Keeping abreast of developments has become a way of life for anyone involved in administration, production, servicing, or sales.

The renewal of knowledge is only one of the characteristics of the established professions which are becoming common in other occupations. As summarized by the American newspaper executive Charles E. Scripps, some others are "high academic standards, rigorous training, peer review, and permit by way of government license or some other empowered body."

Mr. Scripps made his observations in a letter to the editor of a journalistic trade magazine. In it, he concentrated on professionalism in the context of public responsibility. He pointed out that anyone responsible for the physical or psychological wellbeing of other people is capable of causing great harm which cannot be completely dealt with by the legal system.

Journalists clearly are in a position to cause such harm.

For many years there has been talk about having journalism designated as a profession, if only to encourage journalists to exercise greater responsibility. Mr. Scripps argued against such a move because of the threat it raises of government control.

Going down a list of "professions," he wrote: "The practices of medicine, or tennis, or prostitution are not civil rights or human rights. The right to speak and write, to hear and read, are human rights everywhere and civil rights in civilized nations. Journalism is a noble calling, a skilled craft, a respectable trade, or ignoble , sloppy, or disreputable depending on the character and skill of the practitioner."

In this he echoed the widely-held opinion among journalists that professionalism is where you find it. Professional and unprofessional journalists may work side by side on the same story or even in the same news room.

It is impossible to curtail cheating among business people who are inclined to cheat Whether a particular person deserves to be called professional or not depends entirely on how conscientiously he or she collects and handles information. It can be argued that the same applies to lawyers or accountants or architects; that calling them professionals does not necessarily make them act like professionals. Some do and some do not.

Because dereliction inevitably occurs in the best regulated of professional families, some have formed their own governing councils with powers to punish offenders by expulsion if necessary. One reason journalism has never formally become a profession is that is too amorphous to allow for the kind of selfregulation practiced in the law, medicine and the like.

Journalism ranges in quality from newspapers and magazines in which every word is checked for accuracy to tabloids

OCTOBER 2005

full of "reports" about the ghosts of movie stars, grotesque multiple births and visitors from other planets. Add to these the electronic media in all their diversity, and it is just too unwieldy for any professional body to grapple with.

If journalism is too big to lend itself to the formal imposition of professional discipline, how much more so is the whole broad field of business. True, individual industries - notably those having to do with personal finance - have set strict standards of ethics and training for people in sales. Still, there is no controlling behaviour in business in general. Any product can be made a little cheaper, a little less reliable, a little less safe; anything can be sold under false pretenses to those who have no need for it. Short of the law, which by no means covers all cases, it is impossible to curtail cheating among business people inclined to cheat.

So, despite all the talk about "sales professionals," "management professionals" and the like, business people are unlikely ever to gain public recognition as professionals in the traditional sense of the word. Instead, professionalism in business necessarily will remain a matter of actions speaking louder than words.

A professional man or woman is one who behaves in a professional way Like all professionals worthy of the name, business professionals will put their customers' welfare before any personal consideration . They will never stop renewing and improving their knowledge and skills. They will conduct themselves with due professional pride and integrity. They will not cut corners, whether in terms of ethics, performance or quality.

Never has there been more need than there is today for professional attitudes in business. The large-scale financial failures in North America in recent years were brought about by a lack of the qualities which professionalism implies.

These include not only the ethical qualities implied in the first meaning of the term, but the workmanlike qualities implied in the second. The two meanings converge when they come to professionalism in business, because the business professional must be both a scrupulous dealer and outstanding at his or her work.

"A great society is one in which men of business think greatly of their functions," the philosopher Alfred North Whitehead wrote. To think greatly of those functions is to regard doing business as a profession whether or not it is so called.

In essence, the professional man or woman is one who behaves professionally, not necessarily one who has been certified by a licensing body. Professionalism cannot be conferred on you by other people. It consists of what you expect from yourself. ••• Reprinted with permission from the Royal Bank of Canada.

Visit their website: www.royalbank.com

13

Venue selection with a HOOK

BY DON QUARLES

Everyone has a different notion of what a "hook" is. Hit songwriters use this term to describe what makes a song memorable. It is the memory of the hook that makes the song a hit because people usually remember the hook first - then where the hook came from (ie: the song title).

Sometimes the hook is the instrumental intro in the song, or it could be the catchy lyrics in the chorus. More often than not, there are several different hooks in the same hit song!

As one who looks for different locations for your client's events and meetings, you are responsible for finding venues with unique HOOKS. It is those hooks that will help to not only attract prospective clients, but ensure that those who come to your events and meetings will talk about them for years to come.

What they usually remember from these events is the host company (YOU) and of course...the hook!

A venue's hook can come in all shapes and sizes. They may include a historical significance or a particular event that the venue is known for.

Perhaps it is their location itself that is the hook. If the venue location is known for, and used, for other purposes other than special events, no doubt that will be what the venue's hook revolves around.

As meeting & event planners, you may sometimes need to help determine the venue's unique qualities that make up the HOOK that your client will be attracted to. Just like a reporter needs to find the angle to help make a good news story in the media, you need to highlight or showcase the locations uniqueness to both attract prospective clients and then help them remember the fabulous event you just did for them.

Look beyond the usual and search high and wide for the unusuals Below are my top 10 ideas for venues / locations with a hook: 10. Outdoor locations (parks, fields, parking lots, etc) 9. Office Buildings (downtown, uptown, lobbies, concourse areas, food courts, etc) 8. Public spaces (streets, pedestrian malls, airports, bus terminals, etc) 7. Museums (art galleries, etc)

Courtesy Charm Character Calm Cuisine - Canadian

6. Schools (historic or modern) 5. Production Studios (television, photographic, film, etc) 4. Retail spaces (malls, big box stores, garden centres etc) 3. Night clubs and restaurants (have it all to your self!)

2. Movie Theatres (perfect for breakfast meetings) and the Number 1 idea for venues with a hook: Performing Arts Centres (now it’s YOUR turn to be the star!)

Events and meetings that take place in venues like the ones above are sure to exceed your clients expectations and ensure that they all walk away with a memorable experience.

So next time you are searching for a venue for one of your clients, look beyond the usual and search high and wide for the unusual as that will be what your clients’ guests remember most.

••• Don Quarles produces events and manages the Food and Beverage Department at Toronto’s prestigious Hummingbird Centre for the Performing Arts. For more information on the Centre, check out their web-site at www.hummingbirdcentre.com

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OCTOBER 2005

Gifts and gift bag ideas

BY ALLISON BOMAN, MBA

Holiday gifts: To whom to give, that is the question The holiday season – a time filled with family, friends, excessive food, annoyance, and I don’t just mean the music.

The holiday rush, with its tight deadlines and budget issues affect both our personal and work lives. The culprit: gift giving, from selecting the perfect item to completing your list without going broke. However, it need not be that stressful, use this as a marketing opportunity. Trim your list and maximize your return on gift investment! Make a new year’s resolution you can honor even before ringing in 2006.

While some companies have seemingly endless budgets, that is not the case for the majority. Most businesses cannot send gifts to all of its clients. Therefore, the decision lies in determining which clients receive and which ones don’t. First determine your goals, then review and segment your client base. Once you’re done, combine the two to find the lucky recipients.

Your goals can be simply to thank top clients based on volume of purchasing. However, you may be the #2 supplier for some of your clients and you want to move up to the #1 position. There could be an industry you’re trying to break into.

There may even be a line of business you’re trying to expand in the coming year. You may not have formalized these thoughts in the past but you have certainly had them. Get a pen and paper and start writing because there’s no better way to achieve your goals then to see them listed in front of you. Now don’t write just one…write them all and prioritize.

Once you’re done listing your goals, you will segment your customer base. Essentially, you will be classifying your clients according to some chosen criteria. It can be by industry, volume, company size or many other aspects.

However, remember that there is no generic formula for segmenting your customer base as it really depends on how you run your business and what your goals are.

Once you’re done segmenting, you will be able to identify the gaps between where your business stands and where your goals lie. And that is where the opportunities lie.

This holiday season; embrace the opportunity to build those relationships that are essential for growing your business and meeting your goals. Not only will you streamline your gifting process, but you’ll start the New Year with a new plan and a clear vision of the year ahead. Happy gifting!

Swag: Celebrity gift bags You’ve read about them in all the popular magazines.

Celebrities strut their stuff down the red carpet, pose for the cameras, and attend high profile events. Then at the end of the night, they walk away with goodie bags. Ladies and gentlemen, these aren’t the loot bags you get at just any party. These are designer bags filled with hot new technology, beautiful clothing, jewelry – basically anything you can imagine, and even some things your can’t! There’s no doubt that these trend-setting A-listers can afford to turn any of their shopping dreams into a reality. Yet these stars still walk away with thousands, even tens of thousands worth of swag….otherwise known as free stuff.

There’s no mystery here, this is good old product placement. Anyone who has watched an episode of the Oprah Winfrey show knows what celebrity status can do to drive business. Because, if the A-listers wear it or use it, it must be good – or so we seem to believe.

Many wonder what the mystery is behind all this. Who puts these highly coveted gift bags together? Well, there are many companies specializing in celebrity gift bags. These companies are responsible for working with the event planner to determine the theme of the gift bags and then fill them to the rim with free goodies. They seek out suppliers who are willing to not only give free product, but also pay a fee for the placement. In return, the gift bag companies are responsible for working with the media to get top placement. Then, as they say, the rest is history. The magazines hit the newsstands and the rest of us read up on what’s hot and who’s got what.

Allison Boman is the owner of Ali B. Creations, a gift services business that creates custom gifts for events, marketing and PR initiatives and corporate gifting occasions. She can be reached at: (514) 483-4278.

July French contest winner : Mme Annie Langevin, Bravo Meeting Management Solutions

July English contest winners: Mr. Peter Humphries, RBC Life Insurance Co. Ms. Sarah Jones, Boma BC Ms. Monica F. Simmie, Meeting & Travel Group

OCTOBER 2005

15

New Orleans: New hope rises in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina

H

urricane Katrina pulled in, and now meeting planners are pulling out. Associations that had planned meetings in New Orleans, Louisiana in September and October — the convention market’s busiest season — are scrambling to reschedule or cancel.

For example, the American Society for Microbiology’s annual infectious diseases meeting, which attracts about 12,000 people, has been moved to Washington, D.C. It was slated for late September. And the American Association of Retired Persons’ Life at 50+ Expo, scheduled to start Sept. 29 with an expected attendance of more than 20,000, is also in limbo.

Fifth-biggest American convention city Tourism is vital for New Orleans, the city of jazz, gumbo and smoldering nightlife, and the rupture in the industry will likely prove difficult in the short term. In 2004, visitor spending reached US$4.9 billion, with some experts pegging the convention business at around US$1 billion. The city had become the fifth-biggest convention city in 2004, compared with a ninth-place standing in 2003. Business was so good that the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center recently committed to an expansion project that would boost its area to 1.6 million square feet by 2009, from the current 1.1 million square feet. That kind of expansion would put the city in league with convention industry powerhouses like Chicago, Atlanta, Las Vegas, and Orlando. The Convention Center will not reopen before March, 2006.

Every month that visitors don’t come to New Orleans means a loss of about half a billion dollars, according to Donna Karl, vice president of client

relations at the New Orleans Metropolitan Convention and Visitors Bureau. A convention of 10,000 people earns between US$12 million and US$16 million for the city in hotel rooms, food, taxi fares, convention center fees and other incidentals, adds Ms. Karl.

The North American meeting-andconvention business is now a US $119 billion-per-year industry, said Colin Rorrie, president and chief executive of Meeting Professionals International.

Rorrie also noted the average delegate coming to a meeting spends about US$1,500.

Credit:www.neworleansonline.com

BY LEO GERVAIS

How hotels are coping Amidst the devastation and watersoaked streets, hope is surfacing for the ravaged city. Some of the tourist hotels are reopening in areas that escaped serious storm damage and devastating floods. Others won’t be repaired for many months, or longer. According to Lodging Econometrics, a Portsmouth, N.H. lodging-analysis firm, about 127 of 203 (about 62 percent) hotels in the New Orleans area remain closed.

Hotel companies anticipate filling their rooms in the months to come with relief workers, which should help offset any losses of convention business.

Here’s a rundown on some of the hotels in the area and their status: • The W New Orleans, a 423-room hotel located downtown, reopened Sept.

16 using drinking water stored in temporary tanks parked outside the building. Its Whiskey Blue bar is serving up a new drink —the New Orleans Hope Martini — described as “tart and spunky, just like the spirit of New Orleans.”

• The small W hotel in the historic French Quarter and the Sheraton New Orleans (with 1,100 rooms), both owned by Starwood, both made it through Katrina largely unscathed.

16

Restaurants in the historic French Quarter district in New Orleans.

• Marriott International Inc.’s upscale JW Marriott on Canal Street is set to reopen today, while most of its other 14 properties in the region are expected to come back within the next 30-60 days.

• The airport Hilton opened recently for relief workers, but Beverly Hills, Calif.-based Hilton Hotels Corp. doesn’t anticipate reopening many other of its properties in the area before the end of the year. A Hilton spokesperson noted that many groups are trying to swap their conventions and meetings out of New Orleans for 2006 and trying to return in the next few years.

• The Ritz-Carlton on Canal Street suffered extensive flood damage and will not reopen before next March.

In all, Hurricane Katrina shut down at least 286 hotels with nearly 46,000 rooms along the Gulf Coast and CONTINUED ON PAGE 25

OCTOBER 2005

CUL8R: See You Later DIY: Do It Yourself TTYS: Talk To You Soon LOL: Laughing Out Loud ONNA: Oh No, Not Again!

RUOK: Are You OK? TMI: To Much Information TY: Thank You YW: Your Welcome EZ: Easy F2F: Face To Face FBOW: For Better Or Worse GAL: Get A Life GBTW: Get Back To Work GFC: Going For Coffee G2G: Got To Go HAND: Have A Nice Day HTH: Hope This Helps JIC: Just In Case IDGI: I Don't Get It IMO: In My Opinion IOW: In Other Words IYKWIM: If You Know What I Mean

T

his column provides a few explanations of acronyms that are common in the workplace. We’re sure you have some too. E-mail us with any acronyms you know of, and any other topics you would like to comment about. We look forward to your questions too!

Some acronyms for you TTYS … LOL …What do these acronyms mean?

Are you one of those people who read your email, come to the end and wonders what the heck does TTYS mean. I was!

Acronyms have become so common because we are all looking for shortcuts to communicate. Who wants to type out “talk to you soon”, when you can just type TTYS? The increased use of cell phones with text messaging, PDA’s, newsgroups and blogs, make the understanding of these abbreviations a must.

For example, when someone tells you a hilarious joke, you're likely to respond physically by throwing your head back and laughing. Should you discover that same joke in your email inbox, you're likely to respond with LOL “laugh out loud”. Since “chatting” is so text intensive, it’s understandable that chatters would find shortcuts (commonly referred to as “internet acronyms”) for the most commonly used phrases.

This is by no means a definitive list, there are many more out there and people make up new ones all the time. Do you have any you would like to share with us?

We gathered a list that I keep handy for those situations where we are introduced to yet another internet acronym.

Maybe it will help you too!

AAMOF: As A Matter Of Fact AFAIK: As Far As I Know BBL: Be Back Later BITMT: But In The Meantime BRB: Be Right Back BTW: By the way CYA: See Ya

OCTOBER 2005

Great minds discuss ideas.

Average minds discuss events.

Small minds discuss people.

Eleanor Roosevelt

17

Cancun is a paradise for travellers

BY DON MURRAY, CMP

C

ancun, where the ancient world meets a new horizon, is an awe-inspiring, breathtaking, quiet and lively adventure, from sunrise to sunset and back again. It’s where a never-ending adventure awaits. How do you put it all into words, that feeling of touching the white sands or having the Caribbean Sea wash across you as a cool breeze refreshes you beneath the Mexican sun?

It may not be perfect, but it sure does give perfect a run for its money.

Great beach weather is one of Cancun’s greatest attractions.

I was privileged to have the opportunity to attend the 4th Annual Mexico Showcase and Travel Expo this past May. It was an outstanding experience, although somewhat of a culture shock. Upon arriving, customs was not what I was used to: everything will be all right as long as you get the green light, at least that is what I was told. I am happy to say I did get the green light, although a red light would have simply meant having my bags checked. Other then that — and getting to my ground transportation, which was a bit hectic — my arrival was smooth. With over a 120 flights arriving in a given weekend during high season, the airport does not fall into the category of “quiet calm,” but it was a lively adventure.

The hotel I stayed at was the Gran Melia, and I believe the bellman summed it up best when he greeted me with the phrase “welcome home.” That is how it felt; not exactly like home but there was a warmness that you get when being welcomed into someone’s home. Mexico is not North America, and what it may lack in what some would call refinement, it more then makes up for with its greatest resource, its people.

Cancun has only existed as we know it for 35 years, and for those who haven’t seen the city in a few years it will be unrecognizable. With more than 27,000 hotel rooms, a

fully-equipped modern convention center, a vast array of restaurants, a nightlife that would rival many North American cities, beautiful beaches, shopping and so much more, Cancun has something for everyone and then some.

They have managed to maintain the beauty of the Caribbean and incorporate many modern amenities.

There was so much to see and experience in such a short time, I can only begin to sing the praises of Cancun and its surrounding areas. I twas all great, from Dreams Hotel and Resort to the spectacular property and golf course at Moon Palace, from the Gastronomic Feast at the Fiesta Americana Grand Aqua to the amazing Spa at the Meridien Cancun, not to mention the breathtaking view from the Hyatt Cancun.

On one evening we were treated to an outstanding show at the Occidental Grand Flamenco Excaret in the Riviera Maya called, “Excaret Spectacular Nights,” with 300 artists in an open-air theatre that seats 6,000. This show will inspire you to learn more about Mexican Folklore while both exciting and exhilarating your senses. It is a must-see journey back in time that would shine in comparison to many major productions back home.

A relatively short distance away, just off Cozumel Island, is the world’s second largest reef. For those who love to snorkel, it is a must-see. Another worthwhile excursion is Chichen Itza and the Maya Indian pyramids known as the Temple of Kukulkan or “El-Castillo” pyramid.

If you have already been to Cancun, then you must return to see how it has evolved. If you have never been, then go with high expectations. There is beauty beyond compare, adventure brought to new heights, a calm that is like a soothing breeze and technology that makes life and business function as it should. I believe the whole Cancun experience can be summed up in one phrase: Mi Casa est Su Casa or “My Home is Your Home.”

Don Murray is the operations manager of Avtec Professional Audiovisual Services. He can be reached at: dmurray@avtec.ca

The Gran Melia Cancun is a popular hotel with tourists.

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OCTOBER 2005

FOOD TRENDS Curry may be linked to cancer prevention New evidence suggests a common Indian spice is a potent antioxidant that can prevent many diseases. The spice, turmeric, a key ingredient of curry, has been used medicinally for hundreds of years. But scientists are starting to systematically explore the sweeping qualities of the bright yellow powder.

An increasing body of scholarly research indicates that curcumin, the active ingredient in turmeric, could be used to prevent a range of illnesses, from cancer to skin disorders. Faced with a number of promising laboratory studies and animal trials, scientists are rushing to test curcumin’s effectiveness in humans.

Now listen up! Even if science bears out curcumin’s effectiveness, this doesn’t mean eating more curry necessarily will improve your health, because a lot of curcumin is needed to reap anticancer benefits, doctors say.

Still some U.S. entrepreneurs are already trying to cash in on curcumin’s promise. Last month, Pure Prescriptions, a California-based retailer specializing in natural substances, launched a curcumin-based supplement marketing it as an allpurpose antioxidant.

of cool and instead of being drunk in pint pots it’s now sipped in elegant glasses and poured over ice.

The British cider industry is worth over 1.2 billion pounds a year.

Cider sales soar on trendy image Cider sales have soared in Britain the last year, according to a retailer, which puts the rise down to the drink’s “trendy” image.

It had 20 per cent sales increase after its re-invention as an upmarket beverage after 10 years in decline.

Cider drinkers are more likely to sip the drink from elegant bottles than plastic containers as a result of the companies improving their packaging. It has suddenly become the height

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19

DATEBOOK Upcoming Events OCTOBER 11 Professional Convention Management Association, LegalAdvantage: A Closer Look at Vendor Contracts Intellectual Property, Westin Peachtree Plaza, Atlanta. www.pcma.org, (312) 423-7264.

OCTOBER 20-21 M&C and BiZBash, Meeting and Event Style Show, Pier 94, New York City. www.bizbash.com/eventstyleshow, (201) 902-1829.

W eb si te s of in te re st Area Code Listings http://www.cs.ucsd.edu/users/bsy /area.html

OCTOBER 20 MPI BC Chapter October Meeting: Trends in the Meetings Industry, Vancouver Hyatt Regency, Vancouver, B.C., www.ncbmp.com, (604) 822-1064.

Ever receive a call, not recognize the number and wonder where the area code is? This useful site will locate any North American area code.

October 28 Hidden Gems: Wellness and Nutrition Within Your Meeting, The Yoga Sanctuary, 2 College St., 3rd floor. www.mpitoronto.org, (905) 567-9591.

Great corporate site www.mediavation.com

November 24 Platinum Series: Creating Engaging Experiences, MPI Greater Calgary Capter, TBD. www.mpi-gcc.org, (403) 730-0136.

Holiday

Applies to

Date

Thanksgiving Day

October 10

Remembrance Day All except Quebec

November 11

Christmas Day

December 25

!

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

We see a lot of websites at the Planner, but this one really caught our eye: Mediavation is a Montreal-based communications company, and like their website they’re professional and extremely creative.

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

Email us at: info @theplanner.ca

What is a green laser?

Green lasers: Green laser pointers have only been around for a few years. The green laser has a wavelength of 532nm to which the eye is much more sensitive than the red 630 – 670 nm lasers. That’s why the output from a green laser seems brighter than a standard red laser. In fact, the green beam can be seen as well as the projected dot. The green laser pointers have a very long life; typically you will find that you will never experience the end of their life as they last over 3,000 hours of continuous use which would be over an hour a day (continually emitting light) for almost 10 years. The projection range is dependent on the output power, again, much higher than any available red laser pointer, so the green laser pointers project much farther than red ones. First generation green pointers (as well as most others on the market) have a range of about 25,000 feet which is still very bright compared to red laser pointers, which have been tested to between 6,000 to 10,000 feet .

20

OCTOBER 2005

Exhibiting is a collaboration

BY BARRY SISKIND

I

have always said that Murphy is always at the side of all show and event organizers.

You remember Murphy and his famous law “whatever can go wrong will,” Murphy is that one person you can count on to do his job well.

My advice is always to allow for the unforeseen and plan ahead. In my simple and yet practical advice I never imagined something as catastrophic as the loss of the city of New Orleans and its surrounding areas.

The effect on every human being is unthinkable. The effect on our industry will be felt for years to come. Every year over 500 conventions and conferences were held in the “Big Easy” and now event organizers are scrambling to make alternate plans or cancel their event altogether.

While Acts of God, and Acts of Man cannot be completely anticipated what the New Orleans situation says to the exhibition industry is that if we are to succeed there needs to be closer ties between exhibitors, show management, suppliers and facilities. All too often these four groups, wrapped up in their own plans, do not see the whole picture.

Exhibitors are often thinking about

OCTOBER 2005

these three groups and conclude that, show management is only interested in renting space, suppliers are only there to gouge the last minute exhibitor and the facilities — who knows who these people are anyway.

Your relationship with these groups, especially shows management and contractors, are crucial.

While you may never have to deal with a situation where your entire show is cancelled, there is often a last minute scrambling for materials and information that you need to make your job easier.

Here are a few tips from exhibitors who have learned the hard way: 1. Meet with show management well in advance. You can do this either on the phone or in person. This is your opportunity to discover what’s new at the show. If you are first time exhibitor share information about your exhibiting objectives and ask for feedback.

2. Read the materials you receive from the show manager. My survey found that less than four percent of all the information show management sends is actually read. If you don’t have time then assign the responsibility to someone on your staff or to your display company.

3. Complete all the order forms before the due date. Not only will you

21

avoid last minute charges but it gives you time to think, plan and get additional information from suppliers.

4. Be an active member of your show community. Often show management will ask exhibitors to sit on a show advisory board. This is a great opportunity for you to have some say in the future of your exhibition and its direction.

5. When things go wrong don’t be the first to blame. Solving problems is better when it’s done collaboratively.

This way you both win.

6. When the show is over give show management and your suppliers some constructive feedback. This does not only mean telling them what they can do better but also reinforcing what they have done well.

7. Exhibiting is a collaborative marketing tool that works better when all parties take the time to see eye-to-eye.

••• 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.

Giant change in baby steps

BY PETER DE JAGER

L

et’s start with some blasphemy, sacrilege and a dose of deliberate heres: “People don’t resist change,” “the ‘resistance’ we do encounter is good, not bad,” “Most difficulties encountered in implementing change are self inflicted,” and for good measure, “the person who moved your cheese, without your involvement, should be fired.”

Every one of those statements is 100 percent true and ironically, even if your immediate response is to disagree strongly with each of them, by the end of this article you’ll accept them as accurate.

In a world where the notion of ‘status quo’ is a fleeting figment of our imagination, “change management” is developing into one of our most critical management skills.

Without it, an organization will either remain stuck in the backwaters of the past, or spin out of control in a maelstrom of possible changes.

Yet by all accounts (just look at the headlines), we’re abysmally incompetent at implementing change. Even worse, the prevailing opinion is that change management is inherently difficult, and that the perpetual change induced chaos is our only option.

In reality, change isn’t as difficult as we make it out to be, it isn’t a cakewalk by any stretch of the imagination, but it is possible to change any organization with less wailing and gnashing of teeth. Let’s start by clearing away some ‘change management myths’ and replacing them with truths readily observable in our own actions. Here are the offending myths:

People resist change Of all change myths, this is the most destructive, and the one most easily disproved. Here are some simple questions: Have you ever sought after a new position? [ ] Yes [ ] No Are you married? (Voluntarily?) [ ] Yes [ ] No Have you ever left one organization to join another? [ ] Yes [ ] No If you answered ‘yes’ to any of these, then you’ve demonstrated you do not resist all change… You readily embrace change you consider necessary or desirable.

The truth of the matter is, we don’t resist change, we do however resist “being changed.”

Resistance is bad There’s a reason this myth has such a large following, but no matter how many people claim it’s true, anyone can prove it false with a minimal amount of thought. ‘resistance to change’ is a protection against unnecessary and unwanted change. Without it, we’d be at the mercy of everyone who wanted to sell us something. If we’ve performed a task competently and with great success for a number of years , we’d be foolish to change how we do things just because someone suggests a different way.

The reason this particular myth is so popular is that life would be so much easier for managers and politicians if we just did what they told us, without thinking.

Change problems are unavoidable The path to change isn’t always filled with trouble and strife. It is possible to implement significant change without ever encountering resistance. The secret is to get people to first agree there is a problem to solve. Once that agreement is reached, then the only thing remaining is to decide how to solve it.

While gaining consensus isn’t always easy, it is significantly easier than getting people to change when they don’t agree the change is necessary.

Every proposed change will generate simple, honest questions: “Why should we change?”, “Why is this necessary?”, “Why now?”, “What’s in it for me?” These aren’t rebellious acts of insubordination; they are merely the questions we all ask in order to understand the reasons for a Change. If these questions are not answered to our satisfaction, then we do not willingly change… why should we?

Involvement is too time consuming Getting people involved with change right from the start is time consuming. It is so much easier to just command people to change. (i.e. to move their cheese without telling them why) Except… one strategy works and the other doesn’t. One strategy creates obstacles between employees and the implementation of necessary and important change, the other ensures that change is a team effort from top to bottom and right from the beginning.

Implementing change need not be as difficult as we seem to delight it making it. The desire to “change” is a response to a future or present problem, or a desire to reach higher than we have in the past. If we can get agreement that a problem exists and needs solving, then getting a solution implemented is relatively easy.

••• © 2005, Peter de Jager. Peter is passionate about how people (and organizations) assimilate change. To read more of his work, or to contact him, visit www.technobility.com.

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OCTOBER 2005

FIVE-MINUTE LIFE COACH

Searching for a super-hero We can all be an inspiration by being our authentic selves

BY THOMAS CHALMERS

O

ne of my most cherished gifts is a Superman T-shirt that my sons gave me for Christmas a few years ago.

I wear it with great pride as I stand tall and stick out my chest. Not because I think I’m Superman but because when the boys gave it to me they said that I was their Superdad — enough, perhaps, to bring a tear to the glass eye of even the most hardened superhero.

On occasion, I pull on the T-shirt and then put on my black-rimmed glasses and ask the boys if they still know who I am. As a youngster, it always intrigued me how Superman became unrecognizable to even his closest friends after tucking up his kiss-curl and putting on his black specs! I’m pleased to say that my sons still know who I am whether or not I wear the T-shirt and whether or not I wear the glasses.

Of course what I’m talking about here is authenticity: being yourself — your authentic self. it’s being honest about who you really are both to yourself and those around you, and discarding the outfit of impersonation and pretense.

Acknowledging who you are and feeling comfortable with your persona provides for a strong foundation upon which you can build a skyscraper. No imitations — no limitations.

You don’t need to have any regrets about being yourself. When you are authentic, those whom you come in contact with will intuitively sense your honesty and your realness will be regarded as touch tangible.

Perhaps one of the most poignant of all Hollywood ironies was Christopher Reeves — who once played Superman — being confined to a wheelchair and paralyzed from the neck down before he died. And yet Christopher Reeves accepted condition and upon this

acknowledgement continued to make films and documentaries. Indeed his resolve to recover was such that, contrary to his physician’s prognosis, Christopher Reeves always believed he would walk again. Maybe he wasn’t Superman after all but one thing is for sure : He was an inspiration.

And you can be too, by being yourself — your authentic self. As the pop group M People sang a few years ago, “search for the hero inside yourself,” and then decide what it is going to take to become a Super-dad or a Super-mum, a Super-gran or a Super-son, a Superfriend or a Super-partner.

When you have a problem recognizing yourself, discard the disguise of the superficial. And remember — as my sons have often reminded me — you don’t need to be a high-flyer to be a superhero.

Look after yourself.

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23

How to handle Q & As gracefully

BY STACEY HANKE

Y

ou can either enhance your credibility or lose it completely, depending on how you handle Q & As.

You’ve just delivered an outstanding talk, sales call or meeting facilitation and now dread the inevitable: questions and answers. For many, the most frightening part of any conversation is the unscripted part. Suddenly your mind goes blank and the nightmare begins. What if someone asks you a question you can’t answer? What if a listener turns hostile?

What if someone monopolizes your thinking and wipes your mind clear of all the knowledge stored in your brain?

What if you look stupid?

How you handle questions and answers can either make or break the credibility you’ve worked so hard to establish, and the positive impact of your message. Your content and behavior each play a critical role in how you handle questions and answers.

The value behind questions is endless.

• Creates participation and enhances relationships.

• Adds value to your message.

• Prevents and clarifies miscommunication.

• Increases your knowledge based on the information you receive through others.

• Makes a message personable!

To help you strengthen your credibility by providing answers that are brief and clear and that overcome any hostility or negativity behind a question; follow these simple “Do’s & Don’ts.”

Do: • Communicate to listeners that you’re open and willing to take their questions. Avoid fidgeting, crossing your arms or slouching. Avoid taking steps or leaning backwards, away from your listeners.

• Connect with the questioner’s eyes to show them that you’re listening to them. Be careful not to interrupt the questioner. You run the risk of creating a hostile questioner or providing an inadequate answer.

• Check for understanding by paraphrasing the question back to the questioner. This technique will confirm the listener’s needs and avoid miscommunication.

• Communicate to the questioner that you’re open and willing to take their questions by pausing and giving yourself “thinking time.”

• When presenting to two or more people, begin by directing your first two sentences to the questioner. Then continue presenting your answer to everyone.

This will keep everyone involved.

• When speaking to more than five individuals, provide closure to your questioner if they’re not hostile or challenging your message. Simply connect with the eyes and ask; “Did I answer your question,” or simply nod for confirmation.

• Keep your answers brief. Answer only what’s been asked. If you elaborate on your answer, you run the risk of getting off track, not answering the question and losing the attention of your listener(s).

• Use acknowledgement when appropriate to let the questioner know they’ve been heard.

• When answering a question that carries some hostility or negativity, link your answer to the benefits. This is referred to as bridging. For example, let’s say the question is, “How can we possibly afford the time and money it will take to train our management staff on this new product?” Your answer might be: “I understand your concern with cost, especially since the company has been cutting costs for the past quarter. First, we’ll save you time and money by training your man24

agement staff for you. We’ve worked with a variety of industries similar to yours with proven immediate results.

With our experience your management staff will learn practical methods to work efficiently with this product. Past clients have earned a return on their investment in as little as three months after the product training date.”

Don’t: • Raise your voice or invade the questioner’s space as you’re answering the question. Instead, maintain your composure, remain calm and answer the question with dignity.

• Avoid interrupting a listener while they’re asking you a question to prevent the risk of creating hostility, or providing an inadequate answer and misinterpreting the question.

• Say, “good question.” We use this phrase as filler to buy ourselves time to come up with an answer. When addressing more than one person, you’ll run the risk offending the individual you don’t recognize with the phrase “good question.”

• Repeat the listener’s questions unnecessarily. We often repeat a question so that we can buy ourselves time to think of an answer. In a group setting, repeating a question can be helpful if you’re concerned that other listeners didn’t hear the question. Another reason to ask the questioner to repeat the question might be to clarify any miscommunication.

The key during questions-and-answers is to pause, breathe and take your time so that you can effectively “think on your feet.” You’ll be perceived as a sincere listener who invites interaction and acknowledges others concerns. When you follow the above “tip list,” you’ll maintain and increase the credibility and confidence you’ve worked so hard to achieve.

••• Stacey Hanke is an Executive Consultant, Author, Coach and Speaker with 1st Impression Consulting, Inc. Contact her at (773) 209-5970 or via e-mail at: staceyhanke@ameritech.net

OCTOBER 2005

New Orleans is on the mend: Updated info is available on the Web

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three-quarters of those sustained major damage from wind and flooding and won’t reopen for months. Roughly 20 percent of the damaged hotels are considered total losses, according to the survey by Lodging Econometrics. Some insurance experts are pegging the total losses for the hurricane-ravaged area at US $100 billion.

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• The US National Business Travel Association has set up a web page carrying updates on the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. It comprises news and information relevant to business travel and provides links to other sites, including those of hotel chains, airlines and car rental companies.The page is at: www.nbta.org/research/ industrynews/hurricane.htm.

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• The Travel Industry Association of America, Travel & Tourism Coalition and the Travel Business Roundtable plan a free job bank for those displaced by the storm at www.katrinajobs.org. Statistics show the travel business in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama accounts for well over $18 billion annually, and about 260,000 jobs.

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The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and the lightning bug.

☛ Air carriers United Airlines is pledging a onetime bonus of 500 frequent-flier miles to reward members who donate at least $50 to certain nonprofit organizations aiding the Hurricane Katrina relief effort. The airline will recognize ]donations to the American Red Cross, which is coordinating relief efforts in the region.

United also will honour gifts to AmeriCares and Operation USA. Donors who give to multiple charities will receive only one bonus. Details are available at: www.united.com.

OCTOBER 2005

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25

Industry Trends Workaholics: Reduce your hours Workaholics are risking their health by toiling for too long, a study has found. Overtime increased the risk of injury by 61 percent, working at least 12 hours a day produced a 37 percent increase, and a 60-hour week, a 23 percent increase. The researchers, from the University of Massachusetts who studied 110,000 job records, said that long working hours precipitate workplace accidents by inducing fatigue.

Radisson SAS free wireless service Radisson SAS is to offer free-wired and wireless broadband internet access at all its hotels in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Guests will be able to use it anywhere in the property by entering their names and room numbers.

The service has been introduced in most hotels since September 1. Also, the chain is planning a 329-room hotel at Zurich Airport. The property, intended mainly for business travellers, will be opposite Terminal 1 and is scheduled to open in Fall, 2008.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 27

26

OCTOBER 2005

Trends SkyTeam launches discount service SkyTeam airline alliance has a new scheme for multinational companies. An agreement secures discounts from its nine member carriers in return for bulk business. Corporate travel buyers can deal with all alliance airlines through one contact.

They will receive a report showing whether they provide enough business to qualify for reduced fares. Business travelers will be able to earn frequent flyer miles. The group’s members are Aeromexico, Air France, KLM, Alitalia, Continental, Northwest, CSA Czech Airlines, Delta and Korean Air.

iTunes mobile phone is launched Apple has introduced a Motorola iTunes handset into the mobile world.

The US$250 music-enabled mobile phone holds hundreds of songs and is being sold exclusively in the US by Cingular Wireless, the biggest mobile operator.

“Launching this phone will enable Apple to target a much larger market,” explained Jerome Buvat, a Capgemini telecoms, media & entertainment consultant.

It is predicted that music-enabled handset sales would rise sharply worldwide over the next five years, from 76 million units in 2005 to 478 million in 2010.

SUDOKU ANSWER FROM PUZZLE ON PAGE 8 The first five people who fax us the correct Sudoku solution will win the jazz CD “Live at the Q.” Fax your answers to: (514) 284-2282.Good luck!

P.S. If you want the answer before next month, just email us at our E-dress: info@theplanner.ca • CDs compliments of La Queue de Cheval OCTOBER 2005

Canada’s windiest city, Winnipeg.

Winnipeg is great!

BY CAROLYN RICKEY So, you’ve been asked to find a suitable gift for the speakers and/or the delegates and you really don’t want to give them another picture book about your province. What do you do and where do you go?

If you’re a Manitoba event planner, you are in luck. Showcase Manitoba, based in the Winnipeg International Airport, features over 160 local artists from the keystone province. Over the past 6 years, it has made itself known as the ‘one stop shop’ where you can find merchandise from the Royal Winnipeg Ballet, the Winnipeg Art Gallery, the Manitoba Opera, the Manitoba Theatre for Young People, and the Manitoba Theatre Centre, as well as many nationally acclaimed artisans from across the country.

New in the shop is a line of solid mahogany model airplanes designed by an Air Canada pilot. These models range from bush planes to the old DC-3s to the newer jet planes. They are of the highest quality and for a collector, a ‘must have.’

For the delegate packages, why not consider a four-ounce package of wild rice, or a small jar of Saskatoon jam?

You don’t have to strain your budget to be seen as an innovative and creative event planner! Check out Showcase Manitoba next time you are at the airport.

Carolyn Rickey is a Winnipeg-based event planner. She can be reached at: rickey@cedars.mb.ca.

27

I doubt, because I believe that the future will know better.

Elsa Triolet

Hotel News from around the world Global Hyatt joins the high-style fray

Starwood acquires Le Meridien

Global Hyatt Corp. has jumped into the style-conscious business and leisure game for travellers with its new “Hyatt Place” brand.

The move follows rival chain Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide Inc.’s June unveiling of its prototype “XYZ” brand as well as the InterContinental Hotels Group PLC’s Holiday Inn announcement yesterday on Sept. 20 that it plans to modernize its mid-scale Holiday Inn Select Brand.

It is part of a shift focusing on what is known as “select service” category, which means lower nightly rates with fewer amenities like room service or valet parking.

Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. has signed definitive agreements to acquire the Le Meridien brand and all related management and franchise business for the brand’s more than 130 hotels and resorts. Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. features approximately 750 properties in more than 80 countries.

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The Four Seasons in Chicago took top honours as the best U.S. hotel in the annual survey of readers of Andrew Harper’s Hideaway Report, a subscription newsletter for upscale travellers.

It was the sixth time in the past decade that the hotel has taken the top spot in the newsletter’s survey. The Peninsula in Beverly Hills, Calif., came in second, followed by New York’s St. Regis.

Among hotels overseas, the Four Seasons George V in Paris topped the list, and three hotels made their debut among the top 20 in international hotels — the Four Seasons in Istanbul (No. 11) and in Prague (No.12), and Buenos Aires’s Alvear Palace (No.16).

Admiral lofts are at Le Nouvel Hotel

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1250 Eglinton Avenue East, Toronto, Ontario M3C 1J3 (416) 449-4111 E-mail: sales@cptdv.com 1-877-474-6835 www.cptdv.com

Montreal’s Le Nouvel Hotel & Spa’s newest additions are five luxurious Admiral lofts. The Admiral lofts offer a secure private entrance displaying the beauty of luxurious wood, granite and copper. The private entrance leads into five individual contemporary lofts.

The Admiral lofts were designed for the worldly traveler.

Boasting 660 square feet of space, 12-foot high ceilings and windows and brick columns, each loft boasts European bedding on a king size bed with Egyptian cotton spa robes and slippers.

You can enjoy a Jacuzzi bathtub for two, or a separate glass shower. A stainless steel kitchen equipped with cooking utensils, stove, mini fridge, and coffee/espresso maker are set on a large granite countertop. Le Nouvel Hotel is a four star, four diamond hotel. For more info: www.lenouvelhotel.com or (514) 931-8841.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 29

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OCTOBER 2005

Hotel News CONTINUED FROM PAGE 28

Women-only floors are trendy In response to the growing number of solo women who travel, several hotels have designated floors or wings designed for women who are guests. Some of the special services include: enhanced security, surveillance cameras in the hallways, usually waitresses provide room service for these rooms and often the members of the engineering and housekeeping staff are women. There is also lots of pampering, and in some

places the rooms have been redecorated in pastel or soft colours. Larger closets, makeup mirrors and women’s magazines are some of the common amenities.

Here are a few examples: The Grange City Hotel in London (www.grange-city-hotel.co.uk) opened a wing last month with 68 rooms designed for female guests; The Jumeirah Emirates Tower Hotel in Dubai (www.emiratestowerhotel.com) has designated its 40th floor for women. In Mexico City, women travelling on their own can stay in one of the 26 rooms on the “ladies-only floor” of the Presidente InterContinental (www.intercontinental.com/mexicocity).

Hotel of the Month

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ocated in the heart of Toronto, one of the oldest luxury hotels, Le Royal Meridien King Edward, has revamped its ground floor Café Victoria into a majestic ballroom. The grand opening lunch on September 7 was a perfect sunny day to brighten up the new Sovereign Ballroom with sunshine.

In contrast with the pure white Edwardian walls and ceiling, the brand new dark wood floors give a splendid modern touch to the 100-year-old historic hotel.

The Sovereign offers a total of 3,000 sq. feet of area covered with a very contemporary green gradation carpet which makes one remember the unique style of this classic venue.

With 24-foot high ceilings, Edwardian moulding, floor-to-ceiling windows and up to 300 guest seating capacity, Le Royal Meridien King Edward is pleased to accommodate groups for gala banquets, sit-down weddings or working lunches. London-based Le Meridien is a global hotel group with a portfolio of 130 luxury hotels in 56 countries worldwide. For more information visit: www.lemeridien-kingedward.com.

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OCTOBER 2005

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29

18 advisements to speakers (we mean meeting planners!)

BY PETER DE JAGER

1. Your presentation should bear at least a passing resemblance to the announced topic.

2. If at all possible, you should stop talking before your audience stops listening.

3. If you insist on speaking past your allotted time, you must start giving the next speaker's presentation.

4. All humour must be either “politically correct” or funny. If you manage to achieve both of these goals at the same time, you are eligible for a bonus and possibly a standing ovation.

5. Keep your ego in check. It was our intent to book the best speaker possible, they weren’t available, we booked you.

6. If you walk around the stage or through the audience, it should be for effect and not because you’ve forgotten where you are.

7. The slickness of your presentation should not outweigh its content. There is content… right?

8. If you intend to use sophisticated technological equipment you must provide to the meeting planner (in advance) documented DNA evidence proving beyond all reasonable doubt you are related to Bill Gates.

9. If you are intending to fly in on the morning of the talk, you must first present to the meeting planner your pilot's license and registration number of your private jet.

10. Unless you are intending to give it away for free, all mention of "product" on stage is expressly forbidden.

11. If you intend to mumble throughout your presentation, written transcripts must be distributed to the audience in advance.

12. If you are a truly boring speaker, let us know in advance so that we can schedule you just before our conference attendees are due to take a nap.

meeting planner in advance so that we can provide pillows to the audience.

16. If you’re one of those speakers possessing that unique ability to stop all the watches and clocks in the room from marking the passage of time, you are required to warn the audience in advance. Nobody appreciates being stuck in a potential temporal time warp.

17. If your speech is going to be a book report, send us the book instead.

18. If you insist on using PowerPoint, here are the ground rules:

All humour must be politically correct or funny.

13. Minimum content requirements of all presentations include: • At least one new idea not found in the latest best-seller.

• At least one original idea or way of looking at the world.

• At least one audience laugh, … a grin or a smirk will suffice.

• At least one take-away idea, this does not include a motivation to cure boredom.

•At least one reason to provide a round of applause at the end.

14. If you intend to read your presentation, it is forbidden to hand out transcripts to the audience. Since they can read faster than you can read and talk, we want to keep the ending of your presentation a surprise.

15. If you speak in a monotone, inform the 30

• The folks at the very back of the room must be able to read every slide.

• No text less than 30pt in size.

• When selecting font and background colors; no yellow on white or black on blue.

• Read out all the text on a slide on pain of death… consider yourself duly warned.

• Keep the number of slides below the number of minutes in your presentation.

• If there are technical problems, you are still expected to give a good presentation.

All kidding aside… Speak from your heart, and we’ll use ours to listen Signed...

Global and Regional Union of Meeting Planners (G.RU.M.P.) P.S. If you’d like a complete detailed speaker evaluation form intended for improving a business speaker, you can retrieve one at the following website: w w w. t e c h n o b i l i t y. c o m / d o c s / speakerevalform.doc OCTOBER 2005

INFLUENCE WITH EASE

®

The Humility Advantage How Less Ego Creates More Sales

By Jeff Mowatt

S

ee if this applies to you or your team members in your organization: You’ve been working in your industry for several years. Your responses to requests from customers, prospects and co-workers are fast and accurate. You know your stuff and your product knowledge is one of your greatest strengths. If this is the case, then the bad news is that your extensive knowledge may also be one of your greatest weaknesses. The reason you may be inadvertently coming across as being arrogant and insensitive.

I’m not suggesting that you have a holier-than-thou attitude or that you are unfriendly. It’s just that you are so quick with your answers and recommendations that others feel like you haven’t really been listening to their needs (even though you have). In other words, the greater your expertise, the more likely it is that you are unintentionally rubbing people the wrong way. The good news is that there’s an easy way to prevent this misconception that I call The Humility Advantage©.

Working with over a hundred sales and service teams over the years, I’ve found there are at least seven key opportunities where a little employee humility pays-off substantially. Here are three that I often share in my Influence with Ease® speeches and seminars.

1. Mention your Homework Several years ago, a couple of branding consultants approached me about enlisting their services. My first thought was that these folks knew nothing about my company or my industry, so why on earth should I pay their sizable fees. I only agreed to meet with them because a colleague said they’d done good work for his firm.

When I sat down with the consultants, they did not start asking me lots of questions about me and my industry. (That would have confirmed to me that they really didn’t know my business world and would have ended their chances of selling me their services).

OCTOBER 2005

Instead, they began the meeting explaining that, by way of preparation, they’d been chatting with some of my colleagues and customers to find out their impressions of my company’s services.

Then, they asked if I would like to hear the word-on-the-street. As you can imagine, that got my attention. And the ensuing conversation led me to engage their services.

When you talk with potential customers, do you begin the conversation by mentioning the homework you’ve done on their company? If not, you’re missing an opportunity to let them know that you are truly interested in them.

Rather than starting a sales conversation by asking about their needs, try commenting on something you saw on their website or read about them in an industry journal. It’s a powerful way to confirm to others that you’re knowledgeable without coming across as one who brags. It’s one of the first steps in applying the humility advantage.

2. Confirm your Understanding If you’ve participated as an audience member in one of my live presentations, you might have seen me step off the stage pretending to be a waiter taking food orders from several audience members as if they’re at a restaurant.

During this skit, rather than order directly from a menu, each patron has a special request such as, “I’ll have the salad with the meal.” or “I’d like to have fruit instead of fries,” etc. As the waiter, I don’t write any of this down, and as you’ve likely guessed, when I walk away, the patrons assume that there is no way I’m going to get all the orders straight.

There’s the problem. I may have listened accurately to each request, but the emotions I left with my customers are worry and lack of confidence in my service.

As an experienced professional in your industry, you may be a great listener, but are you perceived as such?

Being regarded as a poor listener is a surefire way to kill a sale or curtail your

31

career. Fortunately, by using a little humility, this is easy to correct. In the waiter demonstration, I redo the same order-taking scenario, except the second time after taking the orders, I say, “Let me make sure I’ve got this straight. You would like yours with fruit instead of fries...” (I then confirm everyone’s special request accurately).

Suddenly, the restaurant patrons feel good about the quality of my service.

Here’s the key; I repeated my understanding of their needs with the phrase, “Let me make sure I’ve got this straight.” Fact is, I knew I had it straight, but the customer didn’t. The catch is, if my ego were running my life I’d never say, “Let me make sure I’ve got this straight.” Hence the Humility Advantage.

Here’s one more application:

3. Ask Permission to Present You’ve probably heard the expression that people don’t like to be sold-to, but they love to buy. That means that before you present the benefits of your products or services, remember to ask for permission. When you thread all these techniques together, a sales conversation might start by pointing out the homework you’ve done on the other person. Then ask about their needs, confirming your understanding with, “Let me make sure I’ve got this straight…”

Later, ask permission to present with, “Based on what you’ve told me, I do have some thoughts. Would you like to hear a couple of options that I think would fit for you?” Once the other person agrees, they’ll feel less like they are being forced, and more like they are being helped.

This article is based on the critically acclaimed book, Becoming a Service Icon in 90 Minutes a Month, by business strategist 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 1-800-JMowatt (566-9288).

Waste not, want not and feel good Food Runners is helping feed the hungry with leftovers

How meeting planners can help fight hunger in their communities

BY ARLENE KRAVITZ, CMP

Did you every wonder what happens to all the leftover food at your events and conferences? Well, some of it goes to the hotel staff cafeteria, but a large amount is thrown out.

With over 800,000 people in Canada visiting food banks each month (40 per cent are children), wouldn’t you like to know that this food is used to help feed the hungry in your community?

The Greater Vancouver Food Bank Society helps feed up to 25,000 people each week in Vancouver, New Westminster, Burnaby and the North Shore. It has a program that addresses this issue called Food Runners.

Food Runners is a prepared and perishable food recovery program. Using a refrigerated van, perishable food is picked up from hotels, caterers, cafeterias, 7-11s and bakeries. The food is then taken directly to food providing agencies such as women’s shelters, AIDS hospices and youth and adult recovery programs. Food Runners recovers more than 500,000 lbs. of food annually. Last year, the program provided 1.5 million meals and snacks to almost 30 agencies.

In April 1997, the BC Provincial Government unanimously passed the Food Donor Encouragement Act. The act is intended to protect donors from liability as they act in good faith to donate surplus perishable food, while ensuring recipients’ rights are protected. The act encourages organizations to make donations of perishable food and provides a valuable source of nutrition to the recipients.

Food Runners and the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority have worked together to develop food selection, storage and transportation guidelines for all donors and recipient agencies. All staff directly involved in routing or handling food have completed a “Food Safe” course, and donor and recipient agencies have an appointed staff contact with “Food Safe” certification.

The Greater Vancouver Food Bank Society is not the only community with this type of program. Toronto, Calgary, Kamloops, Kelowna and Halifax have similar programs. To find out the name of the food bank in your area, visit www.cafb-acba.ca.

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• When signing a contract with a facility or caterer, state that you want all leftover food be given to an agency in your area.

• If there is not a “Food Runner” type program in the area of your event, contact the food bank in the area and they will give you a food-providing agency that will pick up the food.

• Food that has been put out in a buffet is not acceptable to be picked up. However, there is a solution to this: Have the hotel use smaller bins and only put out half of the food and refill when needed.

This way some of the food will be left over in the kitchen and then it can be donated.

Most chefs in hotels order just enough, but what they don’t realize is that what seems like small amount of leftovers can be stretched by agencies to help feed 200 people. The people who man the kitchens of these agencies are extremely creative and small amounts of soup can be made into healthy, Foodrunners and event planners filling stews. work together to help people.

Here are some facts from Hunger Count 2004 issued by the Canadian Association of Food Banks: • Number of people using food banks in one month of 2004 was 841,640 (population of Nova Scotia is 936,000) • Increase in use since 2003: 8.5%; since 1997: 26.6%; since 1989: 122.7% • Highest provincial per capita food bank use: Newfoundland at 5.67% CONTINUED ON PAGE 33

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Make a difference CONTINUED FROM PAGE 32 • Highest provincial food bank use: Ontario at 38% • Number of meals served in one month: 2.72 million • Full-time equivalent jobs provided by volunteers in one month: 1,685 • Percentage of food bank users with jobs: 13.3 % • Percentage of food bank users who are children: 39.75 % (317,242) This is just a few of the alarming statistics from this report. To read the entire report, you can visit www.cafb-acba.ca.

Thousands of pounds of food are going to landfill each year. Ensuring that leftover food from your events help feed the hungry in your community is not the only benefit, it is also a large environmental plus.

You can make a difference in the fight against hunger in your community. If you would like more information about our program in British Colombia, please feel free to contact me at: development@foodbank.bc.ca.

Arlene Kravitz is the Director of Communications for The Greater Vancouver Food Bank Association and the Vice-President of Communications for the BC Chapter of Meeting Professionals International.

OCTOBER 2005

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Vitamin C, sadly, is not a cold cure. But it helps!

BY JOE SCHWARCZ

V

itamin C and the common cold. You would think that by now we would have figured out the exact link. After all, it’s been more than three decades since Linus Pauling’s suggestion that vitamin C was the answer to this viral misery spurred a host of investigations.

Had this claim been made by anyone else, the scientific community would have yawned and ignored it. But this was Linus Pauling! He was perhaps the greatest chemist of the 20th century and a Nobel Prize winner. A man who had contributed so much to our understanding of the chemical bond, the structure of proteins and the mystery of sickle-cell anemia, that many scientists thought his “gut feeling” about vitamin C merited checking out.

Humans are one of just a few species incapable of synthesizing vitamin C, a distinction we share with other primates, guinea pigs, fruit-eating bats and the red-vented bulbul, a curious bird.

Pauling believed that somewhere along the evolutionary line we lost the ability to manufacture the vitamin from components in food, and now we were paying the penalty. The amounts ingested in the diet might be enough to protect us from scurvy, the classic vitamin C deficiency disease, Pauling maintained, but not enough for optimal health.

Linus Pauling was one of my chemical heroes when I was growing up and I remember the excitement I felt the first time I heard him speak at a conference. It was in the early 1970s and I can still vividly recall the great man strutting around the stage, brandishing a vial holding the amount of vitamin C a goat produces in a day, and telling the raptured audience: “I would trust the bio-chemistry of a goat over the advice of a doctor.”

“Hmmmm, “ I thought, that didn’t sound very scientific.

But this was Linus Pauling. He had to know what he was talking about!

Well, far more distinguished members of the scientific community it seems weren’t quite so sure and were ready to put the vitamin C hypothesis to a test. Let’s mount some clinical trials, they said, and check this out. And how appropriate that was! After all, the first ever real clinical trial in history involved vitamin C. That goes back all the way to 1747 and the pioneering work of a Scottish ship’s surgeon, James Lind, who is usually credited with discovering that scurvy, a disease that rotted gums, swelled joints, robbed the body of energy and often killed its victims could be cured with citrus fruit juice.

Actually, others before had made similar observations.

When Jacques Cartier’s ships became icebound in Quebec in 1536, only three of his 100 men escaped the ravage of the diseases. It was then that the native Stadacona people came to his rescue and advised the men to make a tea by boiling the leaves of a tree, probably the white cedar.

There was rapid recovery after only a couple of doses,

but information transmission in those days was not very good and the remedy seems to have been lost. There were other instances of effective scurvy treatment. In the 17th century, some ships of East India Company carried supplies of lemon juice to ward off the disease. Still, these were isolated cases, and thousands of sailors perished from scurvy.

That’s when Lind entered the picture. Undoubtedly he had heard accounts of treating scurvy with various foods or beverages and decided to get to the bottom of the matter. Aboard HMS Salisbury, he selected six pairs of men to whom he gave either a daily dose of cider, dilute sulphuric acid, vinegar, sea water, a mish-mash of garlic, mustard seed and radish root, or two oranges and a lemon. There was also a control group of men with scurvy who got the regular ship’s rations. Within days, the two men who were lucky enough to have been put on the citrus diet began to recover. So although Lind was not the first to discover a treatment for scurvy, he certainly was the first to document a “clinical trial” showing the effectiveness of the citrus remedy, which he did in his Treatise on Scurvy in 1753.

Still, it wasn’t until 1795 that the Royal Navy began to provide a daily supply of lime or lemon juice to all its men.

Lind undoubtedly would have approved of the clinical trial that various researchers organized to check out Pauling’s vitamin C common cold hypothesis. Over 60 controlled studies have examined the effects of vitamin C supplements on the common cold, using in some cases up to several grams a day.

You can pick and choose among these studies to “prove” whatever point you want to make. If you want to show no effect whatsoever, an Australian study of 400 volunteers taking various doses of vitamin C over 18 months is the one you want.

If you want the opposite result, check out a U.S. study of 463 students over two years.

And if you want the true bottom line here it is: The evidence that vitamin C supplements can prevent the common cold is very sketchy. There might be an effect in people who have an extremely low dietary intake of the vitamin.

Evidence for reducing the severity of the symptoms and number of days of suffering is on firmer footing. Taking a gram of vitamin C a day at the first sign of a cold has a good chance of reducing the symptoms.

And now, there’s even theoretical justification for this. A recent study has shown that the synthesis of cytokines, chemicals the body generates to fight viruses, is increased within hours of taking a gram of vitamin C. In any case, the impact of vitamin C supplements on the common cold is not a major one. If it were, we would have seen it conclusively in the studies and we would not be debating the issue.

Joe Schwarcz is the Director of the McGill University Office for Science and Society, a newspaper columnist for the Montreal Gazette as well as an experienced conference speaker. To learn more about his entertaining and informative presentations, contact him at: joe.schwarcz@McGill.ca or (514) 398-6238 or visit www.oss.mcgill.ca. This article originally appeared in The Gazette.

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