Muffingate...

You might have heard about the recent "Muffingate" controversy due to a Justice Department audit on government spending on conferences. Essentially, the Justice Department identified what was considered extravagant or wasteful spending at conferences spanning the George W. Bush and Obama administrations. The widely reported example was of the $16 muffins.

However, there are so many unknowns with this story. For instance, did the $16 muffins include anything else? There was a report that later emerged citing this fee also included coffee, tea, sliced fruit etc. It's also unclear whether the menu was initially negotiated with the hotel venue. For instance, at The Event Planning Group, LLC, we manage meetings on behalf of federal agencies and we're often in a position of not being able to serve food at all. However, when we do, we often work with the hotel to devise a menu that is health and cost-conscious. Just because there's a certain offering on the menu at a designated price doesn't mean that you are obligated to only that offering at that price. We've had many instances where we reworked menu offerings to better suit our attendees, and our budget price. And the majority of hotels we work with are more than willing to do so. Basically, you don't ask, you don't get.

For instance, the wasteful spending article noted theme breaks. At TEPG, we've certainly seen those type of breaks before. But what we've done is ask the hotel to eliminate some of the offerings in the break to perhaps just one or two items. We also most likely will not purchase the break items for every single person. Remember, not everyone will eat during a break. The same can be said for the mention of brownies and hors d’oeuvres in the reported article...there's no need to order a piece for everyone, and if the price was indeed nearly $10 for a brownie, then discuss with the hotel how to make it more reasonable. Again, you don't ask, you don't get.

There are so many different cost controls to consider in the food and beverage planning process that it's unclear whether such discussions took place for those particular meetings. But taking the time to pour over menus to arrive at the most appropriate offerings and price is always worth the effort. The hotel or other venue will let you know what can or cannot be done. The key is to always make the ask.

Hotel security in the wake of 9/11

We all know that September 11th changed the way that Americans think and live. It's now even hard to remember how things were just the day before. However, one aspect that is quite memorable is how many additional restrictions emerged from airport security to hotel safety. There was such a raw vigilance that lasted for quite some time.

However, something fascinating happened just this past week. Some of us from The Event Planning Group were in a New York City hotel -- let me repeat -- we were in a New York City hotel just prior to the 10th anniversary of 9/11. We were there conducting a site visit of a hotel that would be used later in the month for a client's event. While there, we heard what sounded like an alarm going off, and we asked the hotel's event manager about it. The hotel representative mentioned that the fire alarms were being tested, which is quite normal. We then asked what the hotel's procedures were in case of an emergency. The hotel contact looked at us and said in a dismissive tone, "I have no idea." Wait...that wasn't a trick question. When we probed further, the question was further dismissed and we were told to get in touch with their director of security for those details. Apparently, she wanted no part of it. Wow....

In our Post 9/11 world, and when managing events where you are responsible for large groups of people, those involved in the planning (especially the host location), should be intimately familiar with what to do in an emergency. And you would think that would definitely be the case in a location such as New York City having experienced the trauma of such a devastating attack. While many venues may not share certain details of their procedures for security reasons, they should at least give you guidance on what to expect (e.g. overhead public announcement system, who to try and call etc.) We know from the experiences at the World Trade Center that many of these systems failed due to the catastrophic nature of the attack. But there were indeed procedures in place. So keep asking for them and demand that your venue representative do the same.