Discriminating tastes

A large part of planning meetings and events is tasting the food -- definitely my favorite part. What I always find interesting, though, is when the food tastes different at the actual event than in the private tasting. Now granted, the tasting is usually only for a small number of people comprising the event organizers. So when the actual meal takes place, the chef is preparing a considerable amount more.

But it's always interesting to run into those situations when it is noticeably different. I remember at one tasting, a rice dish had a spicy 'kick' to it. When I ate it at the actual event, it didn't kick me back! Very disappointing.

I recently had an experience where one of the dishes ended up not being the same dish we privately tasted! That was a real disappointment as the dish was incredibly good. It seems the event manager forgot to alert the chef to what we had chosen....

All in all, tastings can be quite enjoyable...and even better when the good taste actually makes it to the main event.

Fade to black...

I was recently attending a meeting participating in one of the breakout sessions. The presenter began speaking and introduced the panel. After about 30-45 minutes into the presentation, the lights in the room began to dim and then faded to black. When this happened, you heard a few jokes about our bad economy and how the hotels can't even afford to keep the lights on.

Well, there really wasn't a meeting organizer around so some of us began to fiddle with the light panels in the back. We were able to get them back on and the presentations resumed. Not five minutes later the same thing happened again. So we turned them back on and someone went to get a hotel representative. The presentations resumed....and then fade to black again.

It was comical the first few times, but the presenter then began to get upset. So the presentations continued even in the darkness. The panel was only a speaking panel so there were no accompanying PowerPoint or other media used.

Finally, we had someone from the hotel that was able to inform the moderator of the issue. Apparently, in one of the adjoining rooms (separated by air walls) there was a crew working and turning on their lights which automatically tripped ours to go off. So every time ours would fade to black, the lights in the room next door would be turned on. When we turned ours back on, their lights would go off.

There are so many little aspects when working with different hotels and venues. And having rooms separated by air walls propose their own sets of challenges such as this. In hotel venues, many times rooms are connected by the same types of engineering systems, which results in having to share thermostats, sounds, lighting among other aspects. So even in the midst of all the other details, these too are aspects that the meeting planner can inquire about to help avoid guests sitting in the dark.

Top 10 Ways to Downgrade Your Next Meeting

I was just talking with someone recently about how people are modifying their behavior in light of our economic woes. There was a funny analogy mentioned of the Nordstrom shopper now heads to Macy's and the Target shopper goes to Wal*Mart.

So that made me think of how meetings and events might fit into these categories? Well, there has been considerable media criticism of corporate meetings being seen as "the problem." But what's interesting is that meetings and events are actually a pretty significant solution, after all, they create jobs and other revenue. There are now even campaigns that emerged to support the industry -- check out Keep America Meeting or Meetings Mean Business.

So, for all of those who think that meetings are still a problem, perhaps you might consider the Top 10 Ways to Downgrade Your Next Meeting:

1. Instead of using hotels or other venues, just meet in your home.
2. Bring your own food to the meeting. School children bring their own lunch so why can't we? You will probably like it better anyway.
3. Instead of slick marketing materials, simply put the information on Facebook and watch it spread like wildfire.
4. For a stage backdrop, just hang some old curtains...it's also a creative way to recycle.
5. Stuck on entertainment? No worries, you can most likely find plenty of free 'talent' among those who attempted to win on American Idol.
6. Capturing the event has never been easier...just ask everyone in the audience to pull out their camera phones and get busy taking pictures. Most likely they're already doing it anyway.
7. No need for that high tech audio visual support, just have your speakers use bullhorns for optimum broadcast.
8. How about transportation? Remember the days of Fred Flintstone? Given increased fuel costs, perhaps we just start our feet moving to help get the plane down the runway.
9. Eliminate the directional signage. Even when including it, attendees still seem to walk around with bewildered stares trying to find their next meeting location.
10. Handouts? Perhaps you just have staff in each session with their hand extended out. That definitely won't cost you anything!
    

Just a little humor to lighten the day. And if anyone actually resorts to any of these it'll truly speak to hard times. But I do believe the best course of action is to continue to meet. It can be done creatively and cost effectively without having to use a bullhorn or by bringing your own curtains. In fact, visit our latest podcasts of meeting and event planning tips that share some of these ways to save.

Vegan...vegetarian...allergies...and simply no mushrooms, please

It's interesting to me to see the 'proliferation' of special dietary requirements when planning meetings and events. If you dare to ask, you will get back so many different variations as to what people can eat. Now granted, some people have life-threatening allergies to select foods, and those should definitely be dealt with very carefully. Some people also restrict their diet for religious reasons and that is understandable.

However, now more than ever you are seeing people who are gluten-free or are not able to have wheat. And then, of course, you still have the usual vegans or vegetarians.

Sidebar on vegetarians: When I think about them, it brings to mind that old Michael Jackson song of "Do You Remember the Time." This due to vegetarian seemed to be the only 'special requirement' for so long....do you remember the time?!!

What also brings me a chuckle is that sometimes "preferences" are becoming more so the rule rather than exception. I have found that people are listing such items as "no mushrooms" as a special requirement -- and when we follow up to gauge if there's an allergy, most often there isn't one. It's just a preference. I also find that people are enforcing certain preferences simply because they can.

So while we in the hospitality business try to be as serviceable as possible, altering a 500 person dinner menu for one 'no mushroom' preference is highly over the top.

Burning cash II

So, if you read the last post, I was sort of chuckling about being charged additional fees by a hotel for making changes on the day of your event. This due to reviewing some banquet event orders (BEOs) for a client's upcoming four-day event. There was even a comment posted by a fellow hospitality blogger, who also happens to be a banquet manager, who gave some history as to the charges.

I must admit, not every customer is as wonderful as The Event Planning Group's team (smile). I do realize there can be very difficult clients who make significant changes and totally disregard how difficult it can be for hotel staff to accommodate. And I was assured by my event manager that the $500 fee would only be for major changes, not little things like adding a table here or there.

But as I continued reviewing the BEOs, I noticed another small clause: There is a $35 service charge for groups 35 people and under.

Now, this is not entirely out of the ordinary. Many restaurants and hotel banquets have such policies. What peaked my interest is in having held programs at this hotel before and these clauses were not apart of the policies. So it is indeed new...as that of the $500 fee for changes AND being charged $35 for the use of podiums which was another pop up.

However, everything is negotiable. Just make sure to check the hotels policies before signing the hotel agreement. Oftentimes, and as in our case, these policies can emerge well after the agreement is signed depending on how far in advance the contract is negotiated. But just something to remain mindful of in making sure to request them for review.