A Season for Thanks and Giving

As the holidays approach, I would like to pass along my special thanks to my staff at RTP, clients, colleagues, friends, and family. At RealTime Productions we believe in giving back to our community through service and charitable contributions. We know this year has been difficult for many and that is why RealTime Productions’ staff has chosen 3 charities in which to contribute to this season in lieu of client gifts. Our contributions will help put smiles on the faces of young cancer patients, food on the table for a family who might otherwise do without, and nurse sick animals back to health so they have a chance of adoption. Help us help our neighbors and those in need during this season of giving. You can learn more and help contribute to these worthy causes along with us.

American Cancer Society / Camp Good Times - http://www.campgoodtimeswest.org

Northwest Harvest Food Bank - www.northwestharvest.org

Seattle Animal Shelter’s Help The Animals Fund - www.cityofseattle.net/animalshelter

Happy Holidays and thanks for giving!

Jeanne Berry

Be True to Your T&E Budget – Factor in the Fees!!

As we all travel for events and site inspections on a regular basis, the old ways of calculating T&E don’t work anymore. Fees can account for up to 50% or more of your actual ticket costs and those need to be figured into bids or quotes to clients or into your own T&E budgets.

Here are the steps to take to avoid fees:

• Book direct with the airline and book online (savings: $6-$25)
• Don’t choose a seat at booking, but check in online as early as possible to pick your seat for free (savings: $5-$20)
• Don’t change your flight plans (savings: $75-$100)
• Walk your bags into the airport terminal yourself (savings: $2-4 per bag)
• Take carry-on luggage only and check-in early – also picking a seat in the back or middle of the plane will give you best chance of finding space in the overhead bins (savings: $15-$25)
• If you check luggage, check only one piece per person and make sure that it doesn’t go over 50 lbs!! Only pack what you need and figure on wearing some things twice (savings: $50-$125)
• Pack a snack and a pillow/blanket and buy water or beverage in the terminal (savings: $3-25)
  
  
  Airfare represents a mere fraction of the total cost to fly these days. From the time you walk into the terminal until the plane lands, your total fare will surpass the quote you received from your favorite travel site when you booked the flight. "Every week, it's a different airline and a different fee," says Anne Banas, executive editor for travel advice site SmarterTravel.com. Blame it on sky-high fuel costs, which have sparked billion-dollar losses industrywide. (Only Southwest Airlines, which locked in fuel prices eight years ago, remains comparatively fee-free.)
  Looking for ways to make up for those losses -- without scaring off customers by raising fares -- airlines now charge for the most basic amenities. "We are truly going to an a-la-carte system," says Tom Parsons, CEO of discount airfares site BestFares.com. "It's down to the nickel and dime from here on out."

For consumers, the best defense is to factor in the fees each airline charges when comparing fares, Banas says. Here are seven instances in which fees are assessed:

Booking
Except for Southwest, every major airline charges a fee to book a flight over the phone. The worst offenders are Delta Air Lines, Frontier and United Airlines, which charge $25 per ticket. Third-party travel sites like Expedia and Orbitz charge between $6 and $12 per ticket for online booking. To avoid these fees, book directly on an airline's Web site, says George Hobica, publisher of fare-tracking site AirfareWatchdog.com.

Redeeming frequent-flier miles
"Some people have been collecting miles for years, and now they have to pay extra to use them," Parsons says. US Airways charges $25 to $40 for you to book a flight using frequent-flier miles. American Airlines charges $5. As of Oct. 1, the airline is charging new fees for rewards upgrades ($50 to upgrade from coach to first class on a domestic flight, for instance) and higher mile requirements (a round-trip ticket to Europe costs 20,000 more miles). Worse, it's extremely tough for frequent fliers to redeem their miles now that airlines are cutting back on flights, Parsons says.

Choosing a seat
Opt to stretch out in an exit row, and it'll cost you. AirTran charges a flat $20 for those seats, while United charges anywhere from $14 to $109 per flight. Even if you aren't angling for extra legroom, you can get charged just for choosing a seat. Spirit now assesses a $15 fee to passengers who choose a window seat, $10 for an aisle and $5 for one in the middle.

Changing a ticket
Southwest is the only airline that doesn't charge domestic ticket holders for altering an itinerary. Change a flight on any other airline, and you can expect to pay a fee ranging from $75 (Alaska Airlines, for online changes) to $150 (American, Continental, United and US Airways).

Curbside baggage check
Don't feel like rolling your suitcases inside the terminal? It'll cost you. Northwest and US Airways charge $2 per bag for curbside check-in. Delta charges $3.

Checking bags
When it comes to checking luggage, it's now a virtual fee-for-all, Banas warns. American, Northwest, United and US Airways all charge $15 for the first checked bag. And while Delta announced it would stand firm against invoking such a fee, it has doubled charges for a second checked bag to $50. Think you can avoid the second-bag fee by stuffing everything into one case? That may end up costing even more. Going just 1 pound over the 50-pound limit triggers an overweight fee of $29 (AirTran) to $125 (United).

In-flight amenities
Forget about relaxing with a soft pillow and a cold drink. Only a few holdouts, including Continental and JetBlue, offer free drinks and snacks anymore. US Airways, for example, now charges $2 for nonalcoholic drinks. And be prepared to get hit in other ways. Want a pillow and blanket on your JetBlue flight? That'll be $7.

Relationships

“Business would be easy if not for people.” Robert Kiyosaki’s (richdad.com) father is quoted saying this and for business entrepreneurs or team managers, it is sometimes a truth. So if you choose to have people in your organization, you must be able to lead and manage those people.

As the number of people grows, the number of relationships grows. For example a one-person company has zero internal relationships; add a second and the relationship dynamics kick in. By adding a 4th person, you now have 6 relationships, 7 people = 21 and 100 people means 4,950 relationships!!

With this much going on, you must also grow your internal communication systems and procedures or you’ll end up with internal chaos. Many entrepreneurs make the mistake of hiring team members that have great technical skills but lack equally great people, leadership and communication skills. So before adding employees, you must honestly answer the following questions:
1. How are my/their leadership skills?
2. How are my/their organizational skills?
3. How are my/their people skills?

To put the right people in place, you “set the example and you will be a magnet for the right people” to find you. Do what you say, hold yourself to the highest standards, work to exceed expectations, learn from your mistakes and then share those lessons with others.

Thanks Robert for reminding me how to be a good leader here at RTP!

Rebecca Partman, Director of Event Operations (and person in charge of finding an hiring really great people to work with our fantastic team!)

PS If you are looking for a great company to work for, please send your resume to me at rebeccap@rtpevents.com. I'd love to hear from you!

What Makes A Great Team?

Many books, articles, studies and experts will tell you that good teams and teamwork is the ultimate competitive advantage any company has. Yet it is still one of the hardest things for company management to acheive. Particularly because it is not a management achievement - it is the achievement of the individuals themselves. Management can only provide an environment where good team work and great teams are able to emerge and blossom.

In an article published for CNNMoney.com a couple of years ago, Jerry Useem has a particularly humorous take on what consistutes a great team, and I agree with his bottom line: the best teams have established norms (roles & goals) and all members of the group or team hold each other accountable.

The Microsoft Office team offers a few tools to help create an environment conducive to building great teams.

Keith MacFarland offers these four tips to add to your arsenal:

"Great teams -- whether composed of athletes, businesspeople, fire fighters, military commandos, or what have you -- have four essential characteristics:

1. A shared passion to achieve a specific goal. Far too often, a company thinks it has a teambuilding problem when what it really has is a goal problem. If you want to build a great team, make sure its members share a determined passion to accomplish something. How do you get that kind of commitment? By involving everyone in the development of the goal. Without it, all the Outward Bound trips and Kumbaya singing sessions in the world aren't going to make a bit of difference to team performance.

2. A shared strategy to achieving the goal. It's not enough to get a bunch of people together who care deeply about reaching a goal. They need to have a strategy that everyone buys into for attaining it. If your team isn't functioning as well as you would like, you may actually have a strategy problem. I find that when a company clarifies its goals and involves a broad cross-section of members in crafting a strategy, often its team begins to function better together. What I have learned is that if you want to increase teamwork, don't focus on the team, focus the team on the task.

3. An unwavering belief in the intentions and abilities of fellow teammates. Yes, trust and respect are key. But, ironically, often the best way to increase levels of trust and respect on a team is to get them focused on the goal and the strategy. That's because, if done correctly, the process of developing a strategy gets people saying what they really think. When people say what they really think and are held accountable, trust and respect usually follow. Don't impose an atmosphere of false politeness.

4. A great coach. There's no getting around it, great teams usually have great coaches -- though some of the best coaches I have met in the business world operate without hierarchical authority. The advice I would give to anyone seeking to build a great team: Learn how to be a great coach. "

And here are some interesting facts from the Animal Kingdom on great teamwork:

Lessons in Teamwork from Wild Geese

As each goose flaps its wings, it creates uplift for the birds that follow. By flying in a "V" formation, the entire flock adds 71% greater flying range than if each bird flew alone.
People who share a common direction and sense of synergy can get where they are going quicker and easier, because they are travelling on the trust of one another.

When a goose falls out of formation, it feels the drag and resistance of flying alone. It quickly moves back into formation to take advantage of the lifting power of the bird in front of it.
If we had as much sense as a goose, we would stay in formation with those headed where we want to go. We would be willing to accept their help and to give help to others.

When the lead goose tires, it rotates back into the formation and another goose flies to the point position. Great teamwork involves sharing the hard tasks and sharing leadership. As with geese, people are interdependent on each other's skills and capabilities, and unique talents or resources.

The geese, flying in formation, honk to encourage those in front to keep up their speed.
In groups where there is encouragement, productivity and effectiveness is greater. The power of encouragement (to stand by one's core values and encourage the spirit of others) is the quality of honking we seek.

When a goose gets sick or wounded, two geese drop out of formation and follow it down to help protect it. They stay with it until it is able to fly again. Then they launch out together with another formation or catch up with the flock. Great teams have people that stand by each other in difficult times.


At RealTime, we have a great team, and we are constantly working to improve the environment that allows our team members room to grow and feel the power of really great teamwork. We hire people who exhibit the passion for their work and the willingness to align with others to reach all goals. On any given day, our clients get the very best of each person, working in tandem, with respect and genuine caring for their fellow team members and their client and that's what makes this a truly great company!

How I went Paperless (sort of)

After planning events for years and creating a monster binder for each with thousands of pieces of paper I decided it was time for me to stop killing trees. Much of the papers in the binders were printed emails that I wrote notes on. My handwriting was so terrible that when I went back to read the notes, I couldn’t. The emails were also filed in Outlook folders so printing them was really just to have a place to write notes as well as to increase my comfort level that the information was handy. Many of the printouts were budgets or logistics documents, items that change constantly. Printing these was, again, just to satisfy my comfort level.

So, I had at least two problems to solve – 1) increase my comfort level with not having printed pages and 2) identify an electronic place to keep notes and other random information.

A lot of this has to do with being organized. I’ve had people tell me that I’m organized, but I just never feel that way. I’ve taken several seminars and classes on how to be organized – McGhee Productivity, Franklin Covey and the like. I pull bits from each and have used them in my daily life. I find it very difficult to follow any one system completely as they don’t fit my personal style.

With the advent of Microsoft Office 2007, I discovered OneNote.

I didn’t know what it was until I started exploring…where was this magical program earlier? It definitely hadn’t been previously included with my version of Office. It’s a program somewhat like Microsoft Word but much more flexible with the filing system. I took the tutorial and created binders for each project easily in OneNote. Need a new tab? Push a button. Need a new page under that tab? Push another button. Taking and filing notes became effortless. Need to mark something in the notes as a to-do? Add a little box. When you are done with it check it off – yes there is an actual check mark!

But, how was I to deal with my issue of notes on specific emails……well OneNote is amazing. Open the email, push another button “Send to OneNote” and a new unfiled page with the email content will be created for you. File it easily where you wish by dragging and dropping.

Other fun things I’ve found in OneNote to keep organized and paperless: create links in your OneNote pages to documents and/or files on your server or web pages, embed documents for later reference right in your notes.

I’ve also discovered that I look at my notes more often now. They are in date order. They are legible. I add a star or to-do box to anything that is an action item for me as I’m taking the notes. I’m not sure how I ever went back through my illegible handwritten notes and discovered any meaningful action items in the past.

I had finally found place to keep my notes and easily organize them – my comfort level definitely increased and trees all around the world breathed a sigh of relief!

Another thing that I needed to rid my desk of was Post-It Notes.

I had them sticking all over my computer screen and desk with notes about random items that didn’t really warrant a whole OneNote section or even page – my conference call in numbers, to-do lists for chores at home, event shopping list, grocery shopping list, etc. I started transferring these bits of info to the Notes in Microsoft Outlook and happily discovered they synched to my Blackberry. Having shopping lists on Blackberry rather than Post-It is so much greener and easily accessible when on the go.

Here’s where I have failed to be paperless so far….

I still keep a paper calendar, a book that I write down my schedule for the day along with voice mail messages. Outlook and OneNote hold all the complete info but sometimes, yes, sometimes I like to be without computer. I like to pretend that technology does not run my life. Not for any heavy content meetings – then always computer. But for more light content meetings I do take a few illegible notes now and then. I am pretty good about transferring these tidbits into OneNote and Outlook as needed. Until laptops are smaller and lighter I expect I’ll still do this. And….there’s something about pencils and erasers that I just can’t kick. Call me old-fashioned.

Documents that are received from others. Yes, sometimes people still do hand out, fax and/or US Mail paper. I still file this. The next step, though, would be to scan it and file it electronically. I haven’t taken this step. I should though; maybe I’ll try that next. To do this you’ll need a fast scanner.

Business Cards. I use Microsoft Outlook for all my contacts. I have about 400. But, one thing I don’t do is add in business cards of random people that I meet at networking events, etc. I don’t really want to junk up my Outlook with information that I don’t use regularly. I need to investigate an electronic filing system for this info rather than the pile of business cards on my desk!

Tips:
· A telephone headset is a must for conference calls. You have to be able to type in OneNote as you talk.
· With this increased use of electronic storage, it’s important that you have a portable storage device. A laptop is a must if you leave the office for meetings.
· Back up your OneNote and Outlook regularly to disk or server. It would be terrible to lose all your notes if your laptop hard drive suddenly dies. (This has happened to me!)
· When you receive a sales brochure in the mail from a vendor that you may use in the future, bookmark the web site in your browser favorites and recycle the paper.

Other resources on going paperless:

Paperless Home article: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/10/business/10metrics.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

Another paperless blog: http://sunriseremudaservices.com/Blog/?p=37

~ Erika Snyder, Event Manager

Good times at Camp GoodTimes!

I just enjoyed a week of vacation on Vashon Island recently. Why Vashon, you ask? For the past 5 years, I've spent a week of my summer at camp! Not just any camp, but Camp GoodTimes where I join a stellar group of volunteers who staff this week-long camp for children with Cancer and their siblings. Put on by the American Cancer Society, camp is fully funded by donations and free to campers age 7 - 17. This camp definitely lives up to its name, giving kids a week of crazy, goofy, all-out fun to help them forget for a week the normal day-to-day hardships of their (or their sibling's) sickness. For one week, I have an alter-ego… the kids know me as "Pigtails."

What can be expected at Camp GoodTimes:
A packed week of fun activities
Arts and Crafts
Whip cream fight followed by a "rinse" from the local Fire Department
Carnival including games, prizes, music, and hair paint/design by Gene Juarez
Argosy cruise (including a stop in Seattle so Red Robin patrons can throw french fries to the kids)
Camp fires, smores, songs
Skits - from cute and funny, to just plain nonsensical
Theater Sports performance
Music and dancing
Singing before every meal
All camp water balloon fight
Friday dance
Goofy spontaneity
Pajama breakfast
Cheering another cabin during meal time, making each other dance or "shake their booty"
Italian themed dinner, including accordian players and opera singers!
Cabin "raids" (nice ones)
The "Beatle Bandits" waking you up at the crack of dawn
Polar bear swim in the frigid Puget Sound
Staff volunteers with names like Piglet, Spoon, Bow-Wow, Cheeseburger & Mooselips
Tasty camp food (mmmm chicken nuggets and mac'n'cheese)
Swimming at the local pool
The Tootie-Tah dance
Fishing (picture a 7 year-old catching a shark)
Lasting friendships
LIT (Leaders In Training) program for older teens
Did I mention singing and dancing?
A full nursing staff and onsite doctors to give meds, shots, tend to sick campers, and offer 24 hour medical assistance
And the list goes on and on….

Not only is camp a place for fun, but it really does offer these kids something they cannot get at home. It gives a sense of independence to those that are constantly guarded in real life. It gives the bald, scarred, blind, and sickly kids a sense of belonging, away from the usual stares from those who don't understand. It gives kids a place to feel "normal" and accepted. It gives siblings a chance to let loose, get the attention they might be missing at home, and hang out with other siblings who know what they're going through. It gives parents a nice break and a peace of mind, knowing their children are in good hands. And it gives staff like me a renewed perspective on life. All of us at Camp GoodTimes truly are a family!

We are always looking for energetic volunteers. If you're interested in spending a week of your summer at the happiest place on earth (forget Disneyland!), or to learn more, please contact me at annied@rtpevents.com.

Camp GoodTimes is celebrating their 25th anniversary!

http://www.campgoodtimeswest.org/index.php

~Annie

Our newest addition!

We're welcoming Max Draves to the RTP family!

Congratulations Dawn and Wayne!

The Flavor of Seattle Culinary Arts Tour

Eight new culinary tours are being offered this summer by Gray Line of Seattle tour company. Each four-hour tour features a visit with a chef from a popular Seattle restaurant, shopping for ingredients at the local market (such as Pike Place Market), and a cooking demonstration at the chef’s restaurant. The restaurants participating are Crush, Troiani Ristorante Italiano, El Gaucho, Sky City at the Space Needle, Chandler’s Crabhouse on Lake Union, Daniel’s Broiler at Lake Union, Waterfront Grill and Palisade. The tours have already started operations and cost about $100 per person. More information is available by calling 800.426.7532 or www.graylineofseattle.com.

Enjoy!

Jeanne Berry, Principal

Social Networking Site for all you Road Warriors

If you are a MySpace-er or a Facebook-ie your next social networking frontier may just be Placely.com.

Placely is a web service providing travelers the ability to stay better connected to everything travel. The Company was started by social, leisure and business travelers, living all over the world. They knew a better tool existed to share their travel plans and experiences.

With Placely, you share your past, present, and future itineraries, along with your experiences. Traditionally, you would call your friends on the phone to tell them about an upcoming trip, get advice about a destination, or rave about an awesome trip you just came back from. Placely handles all that for you, but in a much more fun and efficient way!

Placely.com's TripKit lets you aggregate all the information you'll need for your trip in one convenient spot. Just enter your travel itinerary and from there you'll have a page with maps from Google, a five-day weather forecast courtesy of the Weather Channel and user generated content from Yelp.com.

This is first and foremost a social networking site for business travelers. You can see who in your network of friends and colleagues will be in the city you're traveling to when you are there, and whether they live there or are just visiting (although if they are your real friends, you'd probably know that part - I hope).

This is still in the Beta phase, but functionality additions coming are concerts, sporting events and shows that will be displayed. But right now you can post an upcoming trip and anyone in your network can synch their schedule to yours. Meet you in ............

My Vacation Has A Spreadsheet – in E-X-C-E-L!

There are laid-back vacations where preparation takes little more than making the reservation and packing your bathing suit. Then there are distant land vacations where you probably should brush up on your language skills, research the country and customs a bit, and do a little bit more prep before departing.



Then there’s the Disney vacation.



Planning an enjoyable (keyword: enjoyable) trip to Walt DisneyWorld (WDW) in Orlando, FL can be a bit labor intensive for a variety of reasons. First of all, the square footage is twice the size of Manhattan so transportation is an issue. WDW is comprised of four different parks: Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Animal Kingdom, and Disney Studios (formerly Disney-MGM Studios). Fortunately, many of the Disney parks and resorts have at least two free modes of transportation as alternatives to driving yourself (and paying for parking): the internal bus system and either a monorail or boat option.


Neurotic Disney Planner (NDP) note: Animal Kingdom is the only park that only has the bus option, and no busses run from resort to resort. You'll need to transfer at a park or Downtown Disney.


Besides transportation, there’s the question of where and when you’re going to eat. Certain on-site restaurants book up quickly, especially those that include character interaction. One of the most difficult reservations to book is breakfast in Cinderella’s castle in the Magic Kingdom. Seasoned Disney travelers book all their ADR’s (Advanced Dining Reservations in Disney speak) as soon as they can (6 months out) and then tweak them here and there as their plans change. The thought is that it’s better to have the reservation and cancel it than to not have one and get stuck eating hot dogs and popcorn for dinner.


Additionally, good time slots for dining have become harder to secure during Disney's “free dining" promotions. Disney has had a dining plan for quite some time, where you pay a flat fee per day and get x-amount of meal credits to be used throughout your trip. “Free dining” is a concept that Disney has introduced to drive park attendance during slower times (read HOT – August and September) by offering guests the same food credits for no additional charge. When free dining is offered, many visitors take advantage and book restaurants they would never visit if they were paying out of pocket.


NDP note: Dining plan options (free or paid for) can be used at most restaurants but not all and do have certain restrictions so you’ll need to familiarize yourself with the dining plan before you book your ADR’s.


A little planning can make a big difference in your vacation experience at WDW. Fortunately, it is not difficult to find publications that give terrific planning advice. One essential piece of information is historic park attendance so that you can zig while the masses zag. On any given day, one park is historically more crowded than the others. That’s the park you want to avoid. Big crowds mean long wait times for rides, crowded parade viewing, and general difficulty and frustration moving around and seeing everything there is to see. Once you’ve planned which days you’ll be where, it’s a good idea to make a note of park opening and closing times, as well as parade and fireworks schedules.


NDP note: Disney offers “Extra Magic Hours” (EMH) in the mornings and evenings that are additional hours only for Disney resort guests. You’ll want to take note of which days of your vacation have EMH because those parks are generally more crowded on those days. However, if you are a resort guest and can make a morning EMH right at opening, there’s a good chance that you’ll be able to hit the most popular rides with little crowds. It’s the folks behind that first wave who find the waits a little longer than normal.


Regardless of how much planning you’re willing to do, the best time to experience WDW is during off-peak times of the year: October, early November, January – March. The weather is mild and the crowds are lower. You can generally walk right on to rides and enjoy the parks without a throng of people at your back. Of course, the most crowded times are school holidays, Thanksgiving and Christmas, and the summer months (when the temps and humidity are at their worst).


No matter when you choose to visit WDW, here are some planning sites worth checking out:
http://www.wdwinfo.com/
http://www.disboards.com/
http://www.tourguidemike.com/
http://www.passporter.com/wdw/


Enjoy your Disney trip!
~ Tiffany

Affordable Meetings West (Part Two)

Tales from the Ship…

Do you believe in Ghosts? I do. Well ok… so I have no proof, but I'm pretty sure they exist.

One of the highlights of the Affordable Meetings West Conference in Long Beach was getting to stay in the Queen Mary, historic ship-turned-hotel that's notoriously haunted. As you can imagine, the hotel was by no means fancy. My room had one round port-hole window and a tiny little shower, but the history and charm was the true appeal of staying here. You could visit the tourist shops inside the boat, have a drink and enjoy the view of Long Beach from the bar, eat at one of the three restaurants offered, or wander the multiple decks filled with historic exhibits. I myself was itching for a ghost sighting.

I didn't have time to take their Ghosts and Legends tour, which gives a guided tour of some of the most haunting places in the ship, but I did do my own exploring. A friend and I set out one night to explore the ship on our own, luckily running into and chatting with a friendly hotel staffer. He was happy to take us to the "Murder Suite" located on the “B” deck. We couldn't go inside, but we were able to peek through the peephole in hopes of seeing some paranormal movement while the staffer told us the tale of the murder that occurred inside. Apparently a man kept his daughter locked up in this room, then eventually killed her and took his own life. Periodically, witnesses have reported hearing the girl playing in the hallway, and strange noises coming from inside the room. There are multiple "murder rooms" the hotel is not allowed to sell to guests because of their gruesome history. He also told us about the swimming pool, which has been dry and unused for over 30 years. Witnesses have seen women in retro bathing suits frequenting the area, as well as wet footprints on the ground near the empty pool. A light "orb" has been seen dipping and "splashing" around in the again EMPTY pool! Sadly, I saw nothing supernatural, but the stories and dark hallways were enough to give me the heeby-jeebies later while I was left alone in my room.

A timeline of the Queen Mary:
War Service: March 1940 - September 1946
War History: Carried a total of 765,429 military personnel; sailed a total of 569,429 miles (916,407 km); carried up to 15,000 troops at one time; carried wounded returning to the United States; transported Winston Churchill three times to conferences; carried 12,886 G.I. brides and children.
Resumed Peacetime Passenger Service: July 31, 1947
Retired from Regular Passenger Service: September 19, 1967 (after completing 1,001 crossings of the Atlantic)
Departed on "Last Great Cruise": 9:30 a.m. Tuesday, October 31, 1967
Arrived in Long Beach, California: 10:00 a.m. Saturday, December 9, 1967
Change of Ownership: Removed from British registry and officially turned over ownership to the City of Long Beach at 10:00 a.m., Monday, December 11, 1967
*Information taken from http://www.queenmary.com/index.php?page=queenmarystats>

Read more fun facts about the Queen Mary on their website:
http://www.queenmary.com/index.php?page=factsandhistory

If you're looking for a fun, budget-friendly hotel in Long Beach, I would recommend visiting the Queen Mary for an interesting hotel experience. And guess what, they also have event space! What a great place to hold a Halloween party.

Happy haunting!

~Annie

Affordable Meetings West (Part One)

Two weeks ago I had the opportunity to attend the HSMAI's Affordable Meetings West Conference in Long Beach, CA. AMW was a two-day, session-filled conference focused on overall meeting and event planning, including a 200 booth trade show. Being that it was "affordable" (free, actually), it was definitely bare bones and frill-free. But the content was great, and the speakers were excellent. Below are some nuggets from my favorite sessions.

Mastering Memory:

A good memory is something essential to us event planners, always running around juggling a million things at once. Did you know that you can actually improve your brain and memory function with simple training? We learned a few tricks from Scott Hagwood, author and four-time National Memory Champion. He proved himself by asking our names as we entered the room, and was able to recall all 40 or so names throughout the hour and a half session! Using his tips I can now count to 10 in Mandarin Chinese by memory, using the Roman Room technique. It's been almost two weeks, and I still remember 1 through 10! Check out the technique here:
http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTIM_06.htm

I am not a master of memory, and tend to write everything down so I don't forget. Scott says if we continue to do this, it basically gives our brain permission to forget the information. In order to train your brain to retain more info, start relying on your memory more and write less down. Start small by memorizing you grocery list rather than jotting it on your usual post-it.

I'm sure this has happened to us all at some point: You meet someone, and five seconds later you forget their name. Consciously take a moment after they say their name to process it. Usually we're too busy thinking about what we're going to say next and the name just flies out of our brain. Take the time to process the name, and repeat it back to him/her. "It’s a pleasure to meet you, Sarah." Repeat her name two more times in the conversation, and you'll increase your chance of remembering it. Then, try to associate this person with someone you already know with the same name. Example: "Sarah has blonde hair, and so does my cousin Sarah." Picture both Sarah's together, and now every time you see this Sarah with her blonde hair, you'll remember she reminds you of cousin Sarah.

http://www.scotthagwood.com/

Green Meetings:

We've written about this before, but AMW held a great green meeting session, offering even more helpful green suggestions. One of their main points was communicating your intentions to your attendees! If they know they're not getting the usual paper hand-outs and bottled water because of environmental reasons, they're more likely to get on board. If you're using recycled materials in your notebooks and are reducing the number of pages, use symbols in your materials to show this.

AMW reduced their conference journal enough to result in 80% less fiber paper usage with over 900 lbs less paper used! Not only that, but they included a page in the front of the notebook showing their green efforts compared to last year, using actual quantifiers showing this change. They also used live reusable décor on the banquet tables rather than cut flowers. Sticks, moss, and potted plants can all be reused over and over. We weren't given any handouts other than the conference journal, and all PowerPoint slides and handouts were put on a CD in the back of the book. All great green efforts!

http://www.thinkoutsidethebottle.com/

Come back next week for more on the Affordable Meetings Conference.
~Annie

Audience Response Becomes Personal

All those great audience response systems we’ve told you about have one drawback: cost. At $80-100 per person, the cost scares off many would-be users. But zuku brings the cost down to just $2 per person (plus $300 set-up) by requiring each attendee to use their own cell phone for texting in their response. Normal carrier charges apply to the individual, so if an attendee does not have unlimited texting in their plan, or is from out of the country, they may chose not to participate. In that case, your event could offer them a reimbursement. But no special hardware or software is required. Just the mobile phones and the internet.

The company is still growing, and most of their event clients seem to be government and education meetings, but I walked thru a little demonstration the other day and it works pretty well. I’m not a texter, so it was a little unwieldy for me, having to type in a special code before each response. But there must be a way to keep that code on your screen and then type a response. A yes or no answer meant typing a 3 or 4 letter code, rather than hitting one button. For regular texters, this is probably cake, and for us tech dinosaurs, at least we leave the conference learning something!

The administrator can send any messages they want back to the responders individually or as a group. So conference planners could sell space on the responses to sponsors. The polling results interface that the audience sees is utilitarian, but zuku is working on a way to drop it into Powerpoint templates for a prettier presentation. Also if you wanted to display responses to the entire group, the only way to screen out responses is to read them one by one and delete the ones you don’t want seen. But I believe this is the way of the future for audience response. Check out www.zukuweb.com.

Thank you to Corbin Ball, meetings tech expert, for introducing me to zuku!

Affordable Meetings Conference Ahead

Sr. Event Coordinator, Annie Scurlock, will attend HSMAI's Affordable Meetings West conference June 11-12, 2008 in Long Beach, CA. Stay tuned later this month for a summary of her experience there! Contact Annie at annied@rtpevents.com.

http://www.groupdyne.com/
You can search by neighborhood, cuisine etc. Just type in no. of guests and $ amount per person and it will come up with possible venues.

Plane Learning

On a recent trip to Florida (from Seattle) I had a chance to peruse the inflight magazine on my Delta flight and while not generally on my list of favorite reading materials I did find some interesting tidbits I can share with all of you (and now you can feel guilt-free reading People or In Touch instead on your next trip).

Someone stole my idea! For many years I have been putting together weekly menus and shopping lists for all of our family meals. I hate shopping, including grocery shopping, so this saved me time and money because I only got what was on my list (90% of the time, anyway). So many of my friends said I should market the idea somehow. I didn't. But someone else did! For busy people who need to fix dinners for family or others when at home, there’s a new web site that will let you choose menus and make the grocery list for you. For $7.00 per month www.relishrelish.com will plan healthy meals and make those dreaded grocery lists. Those who don’t do, pay.

Seattle’s ultrachic BOKA Kitchen + Bar is highlighted as original and hip, noted for its “creative martinis and décor of bamboo glass sculptures, color-changing wall panels and an extra shot of eclectic swank. “ For info http://www.bokaseattle.com/

I was a bit busy while in Florida, and I did miss stopping in Galler. If I’d had a chance, I definitely would have prioritized going to “The Belgian Chocolate” store- the only location in the USA. Praline sticks to dip into saffron, cardamom, yuzu and ginger sounds unique and worth a courageous try.

My husband would LOVE this one … Tune Studio for iPod is the first 4-channel audio mixer that lets you create high-quality digital recordings directly onto your iPod. This mixer allows the input of up to four different instruments or audio sources, and records the audio onto your iPod for instant playback. It’s small enough to carry on a flight and mix music in your hotel room. How cool is that?!?

Just a fact, Maam … 1,700,000,000 is the estimated number of legal online music downloads in 2007. 3 – that’s how many I was able to download in 2007. I was just a little busy last year to be figuring out how to download music!

And finally … You can now track how many invitations are being sent out and how many users responded to social networking sites like FaceBook and MySpace, making it easier to quantify the previously unquantifiable – word-of-mouth endorsements! A recent study found that Internet social networking was 20 times more effective than more traditional marketing efforts such as print and television advertising. This makes online “friendships” even more lucrative than ever imagined. So go ahead, forward this blog address to all your friends, and let’s see how much word of mouth we can both get!

Rebecca

New Zealand is the greatest place on Earth!

Okay, well I can’t really say that because I haven’t been to nearly enough places to warrant such a bold statement. It is however a fantastic place to visit, unlike any other. This is a place where you can push the limits and tempt fate by participating in one of the many adrenaline pumping activities the country has to offer. Some favorites are bungee jumping, luging, zorbing (much like a hamster wheel), sky diving, paragliding or jet-boating. For those of you who view vacation as a relaxing peaceful time New Zealand can offer you that as well. There are a number of wineries to tour, Polynesian and Maori culture to experience, lush gardens, art galleries, museums and beaches.

New Zealand is located at the bottom of the Southern Hemisphere boasting a population of four million people. As you may know the country is full of sheep, something around 44 million to be exact therefore New Zealanders are definitely outnumbered. What is more amazing though is the breathtaking expanse of water and mountains that surround you while visiting the country.

Here’s a taste of what my family and I did on our trip: During our fifteen day visit to New Zealand we had a chance to travel to both the North and South Islands. We began our adventure in Auckland located on the North Island and drove to Rotorua, a rural town full of Maori culture. After that we made our way out to the Waitomo Caves for an incredible cave-tubing adventure which included wet-suits, abseiling into a cave, zip-lining down further into the cave and finally jumping off a 10 meter high rock into freezing cold water with an inner tube! It was by far the coolest thing I have ever done.

Next on the trip was a flight down to the South Island landing in Queenstown. This was my favorite town to visit while on the trip. It is similar to Boulder, Colorado in that the small city center is bustling with people of all ages talking, laughing, shopping, eating and just generally enjoying the active life of the outdoors. Queenstown is surrounded by mountains and bodies of water and the weather is perfect even in the winter because it only snows at the top of the mountains. Queenstown is also very famous for its appearances in American films. Vertical Limit, the Lord of the Rings series and Wolverine are just a few that were filmed there. After that we made our way to Franz Josef to hike on the Franz Josef Glacier. This had to be the second most amazing adventure I have ever experienced. We took a helicopter up to the top of the glacier, geared up with cramps (spikes for our shoes) and began our journey. We had to carve our own path through the glacier because it moves so fast each day that the path from the previous day had already been shifted by nature. From there we drove up and over to Christchurch stopping along the way to take in the scenery. Christchurch is as you would imagine any big city to be, which is why it was my least favorite stop on our journey. Once again we flew back to Auckland and rounded out the trip on the tiny island of Waiheke. This is a quaint beach town with very little to do or see but it was excellent to relax for a few days after all of that adventure and those long road trips.

I would definitely recommend visiting this beautiful adventurous country. If you do plan a trip I would suggest a long one, at least two weeks. The islands are small but there is a lot of ground to cover. Make sure you try anything and everything you can while you’re there in terms of food and activities. Better yet if you can swing it get a four month work VISA and live over there for awhile. You only live once and imagine all of the interesting people you could meet!

--Kristen Hatchman, Event Coordinator

Marketing Ideas for Small Business

As a small business, we are constantly looking for ways to reach new customers. I found this to be interesting and many of the suggestions doable, even in our time-starved environment. Hope this helps you. too!

(Article found on Business Breakthrough presented by VISA)
"Too many small-business owners think marketing is like a trip to the dentist — something you just gotta do every six months or so. But when marketing is continuous and targeted rather than occasional and shotgun, business gets easier. If prospects have a positive view of your wares and reputation before you call or before they start shopping, you're that much closer to nailing a sale.

The next news flash is that ongoing marketing isn't tied to a price tag. It's defined only by putting the right message in front of the right person at the right time.

Here are 10 ideas for doing that — on the cheap.

1. Take steps to make customers feel special. Customers respond to being recognized, especially in these rush-rush, get-the-lowest-price times. "Even with a Web-based business, good customer service is possible," says Denise McMillan, co-owner of Plush Creations (www.plushcreations.com), an online retailer of handcrafted travel bags. McMillan encloses a small, rose-scented sachet in every jewelry and lingerie bag she sells and also sends a handwritten thank-you note. "The sachet and note cost pennies but add something special to the purchase," she says.
2. Create business cards that prospects keep. Most business cards are tossed within hours of a meeting. Instead of having your card tossed, create one that recipients actually will use — say, a good-looking notepad with your contact info and tagline on every page. "The business card notepad is referred to almost daily, kept for 30 days or so and carries a high remembrance factor," says Elliott Black, a Northbrook, Ill., marketing consultant who specializes in small businesses.
3. Stop servicing break-even customers. If this idea makes you gasp, think harder. You're falling for the fallacy of increasing sales instead of boosting profits. If you stop marketing to unprofitable customers, you have more time and resources for customers who actually grow your business. "More than likely, 20% of your customer base is contributing 150% to 200% of total annualized profit (TAP); 70% is breaking even; and 10% is costing you 50% to 100% of TAP," says Atlanta marketing consultant Michael King. Take a detailed look at your customer profitability data and then direct premium services and marketing to customers who count. (Microsoft Outlook 2003 with Business Contact Manager can help you analyze customer histories.)
4. Develop an electronic mailing list and send old-fashioned letters. Most businesses have harnessed the power of e-newsletters — and you definitely should be sending out one, too. It's very cost-effective. (See Microsoft List Builder for more). But exactly because e-mail marketing is now nearly ubiquitous, you can quickly stand out by occasionally sending personal, surface mail letters to customers and prospects. Just make sure the letter delivers something customers want to read, whether an analysis of recent events in your field, premium offers or a sweetener personalized for the recipient (a discount on his next purchase of whatever he last purchased, for instance). "This mailing has to have value to those that read it, so it reflects the value of what you offer," says Leslie Ungar, an executive coach in Akron, Ohio. "Remember, the best way to sell is to tell." The process is simplified by creating a letter template and envelope or customer label mailing list in Microsoft Office Word, which you can print out. The mailing list is easily created in Excel and then imported into Word (learn more by reading this article).
5. Boost your profile at trade shows and conferences. You can quickly create signage, glossy postcards with your contact information, product news inserts or an event mini Web site — all with Microsoft Office Publisher. Check out its versatile features.
6. Combine business with pleasure — and charity. Spearhead an event, party or conference for a cause you care about. That puts you in the position of getting to know lots of people, and shows off your leadership skills. "I host an annual baseball game where I take hundreds of clients to a Cubs game at Wrigley Field," says Kate Koziol, who owns a public relations agency in Chicago. "Last year, I took 300 people and we raised $10,000 for a local children's hospital. Few people turn down a game and it's a great networking opportunity for guests. It lets me reconnect with current clients and impress potential clients."
7. Create a destination. Bookstore chain Barnes & Noble has its coffee bars. Furnishings giant Ikea offers child-care centers and cafeterias. Why? So customers gravitate to the stores to enjoy an experience, to hang out for a while. Sunday morning at Barnes & Noble becomes a pleasant weekend routine, rather than a shopping errand. Steal this idea.This tip isn't limited to offline destinations, either. Using pay-per-click advertising, you can cheaply drive traffic to a one-time news event or specialty offerings, points out Jay Lipe, a small-business marketing consultant based in Minneapolis. Lipe recently set up a Web site for Games by James (www.gamesbyjames.biz), a retailer of board games, and quickly attracted customers via pay-per-click ads. "The effect was overnight," says Lipe. "Traditionally in the marketing world, it takes weeks or even months to generate acceptable awareness and traffic. Here we saw traffic spike overnight." (For more about pay-per-click marketing, see this article.) Other tips to become a destination: • Add a free advisory service, whether party planning ideas or investment seminars. • Add customer loyalty services, such as free shipping for second-time buyers or rewards when customers spend a certain amount.
8. Become an online expert. This is the "free sample" approach to bringing in business. Research active e-mail discussion lists and online bulletin boards that are relevant to your business and audience. Join several and start posting expert advice to solve problems or answer questions. You may need to keep this up for a bit. But the rewards come back in paying clients and referrals. "E-mail discussion lists have been my single largest source of clients over the last eight years," says Shel Horowitz, a small-business marketing consultant based in Northampton, Mass.
9. Court local media. Editorial features convey more credibility with prospective clients than paid advertising does. To get coverage from the local media, whether from the town newspaper, from TV or radio stations, or from trade journals, you need a fresh, timely story. It's usually worthwhile to hire an experienced publicist to position the stories, target appropriate media representative and write and send press releases. Usually, you can work on a short-term or contingency basis.
10. Finally, don't let customers simply slip away. Make an effort to reel them back in. It costs a lot less to retain a disgruntled or inactive customer than to acquire a new one. If you haven't heard from a customer in awhile, send a personalized e-mail (you can automate this process), inquiring whether all is well. For a customer who suffered a bad experience, pick up the phone, acknowledging the unpleasantness and ask if there's anything you can do. A discount can't hurt either. Being kind to customers is the smartest low-cost marketing you can do. "

Joanna L. Krotz writes about small-business marketing and management issues. She is the co-author of the "Microsoft Small Business Kit" and runs Muse2Muse Productions, a New York City-based custom publisher

Confessions of a Point Hoarder

If we’re always working 9 to 5, when do we find the time or the resources to have fun? I’ve always been one to do my best to work the system and take advantage of both my work and personal travel and expenditures so that they allow me some personal perks along the way (without conflicts, of course!). In order to do this you need to learn to work the system: fly one airline or their partners, bank all of your miles to just one airline, use mileage or point earning credit cards like American Express (Membership Rewards program) and airline branded credit cards, and join hotel and rental car loyalty programs. Once you know how to maximize accumulating your points - and it does take a little work and some time - you will reap the rewards of free airline trips, car rentals, hotel stays, shopping rewards, dining rewards, and more!

Here are my top ten tips on how to become a point hoarder:

1. Pick one airline and stick with them or their partners, when possible. Apply all of your mileage to the one main airline you fly most frequently. The more you fly the quicker you’ll gain higher priority status on the airline – easier to apply for upgrades, bypass the long “Disneyland” lines at security check points, and other perks.

2. Use an airline branded credit card to rack up the miles! Many airlines will also give you a mileage incentive when you sign up that count toward your “elite” status with the airline. If they don’t offer it – ask for it!

3. Many airlines also offer you miles for dining at area restaurants. Make sure you sign up for these programs as well. The more you’re enrolled in, the quicker your points will add up!

4. Get an American Express card if you don’t already have one. Sign up for the Membership Rewards Program ($40 year), and you’ll earn 1 mile for every dollar you spend. Your points can be used for anything from hotels nights, airline tickets, dining gift certificates, concert tickets, gifts, or car rentals. You can use your miles for small things or big things. Don’t tell but… for the holidays I trade in my miles for gift cards for friends and family. I feel like I’m able to give a little more this way.

5. Sign up for Points.com to manage your miles. You can swap and exchange your miles between partner airlines, American Express Membership Rewards, or use your points to purchase things like hotel nights, Starbucks and Amazon giftcards, and more!

6. When shopping on-line, use sites that will earn you more miles on your favorite airline. I like Mileage Plus Mall and Points.com. Shop your favorite sights like Nordstrom, Old Navy, FTD.com, and others without leaving your living room, and you’ll bank some miles to boot.

7. Work the system! Sign up for every promotion on your favorite airline – in fact right now Alaska Airlines is offering double miles for all flights in 2008 from Seattle to SFO or LAX (must fly 2 RT’s between 3/15 and 5/15 to qualify for double miles for the rest of the year)! United Airlines is doing something similar but during a more limited time frame.

8. Before you rent from a car company make sure you sign up for their loyalty program. Go to their website and sign up before you book your car. Most times the car websites offer the lowest prices around but look on other sites as well to make sure you’re getting the best deal. The biggest benefit of the loyalty programs is that many of the rental agencies allow you to bypass the regular rental lines when you pick up your car (a huge plus if you are in a hurry or traveling during a busy season). Some rental car companies, such as Hertz, allow you to just review a reader board, find your name and stall number of the car, and away you go! How easy is that? You can either earn points in your car rental loyalty program, building credit toward free car rentals, or your favorite airline for more airline points!

9. Hotel loyalty programs are great. I suggest you pick just a couple and stick with them. A couple of good ones that offer great hotel options are Starwood Hotels and Marriott. Once you reach a certain level of status you’ll begin to receive special discounted offers, room upgrades, late check out, and room amenities such as morning newspapers, free bottled water, fresh fruit, and turn down service.

10. Use services like Open Table to make restaurant reservations (all over the US) and build points for future dining certificates or join restaurant loyalty programs like Schwartz Brothers Restaurants (Daniels, Chandler’s Crabhouse, Spazzo Italian Grill, Revolution Bar and Grill). Enjoy gift certificates on your birthday and build your points up for a nice night out on the town for friends.

Happy hoarding!

Heart of Glass

Looking for a quintessential Seattle experience for your clients? Amongst its other attractions, Seattle is the mecca of glass art (surpassing Murano, the center for Italian glass), and we are attracting the best suppliers, shops, materials and, of course, artists from all around the world.

One of our native sons, Jean-Pierre Canlis, and his gracious wife, Leigh, own and operate a studio on the edge of Belltown that does triple duty as work studio/gallery/event space in the refurbished worklofts at 3131 Western Ave. Beauty, talent, passion for the arts, and all things delicious run in the family as Jean-Pierre descends from the founder of the eponymous 5-star restaurant in Queen Anne.

The space is 1800 sft, dotted with beautiful glass pieces and can accommodate 10-125 easily. There are no exclusive catering contracts, so have your favorite chef set up in the workspace. The price is right at $200-$220 per hour (plus $100 cleaning fee per event), and we're told parking is a breeze after 5pm. A parking lot is available for full buyout across the street, opt for valet parking, or provide group transportation as alternatives.

For more info about Canlis or the gallery, visit their website at http://www.canlisglass.com/ or call Kristen or Leigh at 206.282.4428.

Let’s Meet in the Desert!

While Palm Springs, California enjoys its mid-century modernism and cultural revival, the adjacent communities of Palm Desert, Indian Wells, and La Quinta continue to offer high-end meeting and resort space. According to Meetings Magazine, more than $1 billion has been invested in the valley within the last few years on upscale luxury properties reinforcing the area’s reputation as an upscale playground for the rich and famous.

The prime properties for meetings in this area are:

Hyatt Grand Champions, Indian Wells (http://grandchampions.hyatt.com/)

Desert Springs, A JW Marriott Resort and Spa in Palm Desert (http://www.desertspringsresort.com/)

Miramonte Resort and Spa (http://www.miramonteresort.com/)

Renaissance Esmeralda Resort & Spa (http://www.renaissanceesmeralda.com/)

Meeting space varies from the Marriott’s 24,816-square-foot Desert Ballroom that accommodates 2,000 for receptions or 1,800 for banquets to the Miramonte’s Event Lawn and Olive Grove that take advantage of the near-perfect weather year-round. Against the backdrop of the Santa Rosa Mountains, each of these resorts makes an impressive destination.

If you only had one chance to explore the unique offerings of the area, we recommend the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway (http://www.pstramway.com/), The Living Desert (http://www.livingdesert.org/), and Joshua Tree National Park (www.nps.gov/jotr).

Not for the faint of heart, the Aerial Tramway offers a 5,873 ft vertical ride up Chino Canyon, often providing a snow-covered landing at the summit in cooler months. This was the first place that our Office Coordinator, Tiffany, ever saw snow! Both the Living Desert and Joshua Tree National celebrate the local wildlife and native plants of the desert, as well as the geological diversity of the dry and rocky terrain.

Visitors with a tighter timeline can stroll the El Paseo Shopping District (http://www.elpaseo.com/), known as the Rodeo Drive of the Desert, and enjoy numerous art galleries, jewelry and apparel stores, and luxury boutiques. Restaurants along El Paseo range from the popular Café Des Beaux Arts (http://www.cafedesbeauxarts.com/) to the more casual California Pizza Kitchen.

Returning visitors can live like a local and hit the flea market at the College of the Desert on Saturdays and Sundays. It's a great place to pick up inexpensive clothing and jewelry and sip a frozen lemonade. In need of affordable relaxation? The Desert Resorts School of Somatherapy offers $30 massages to help their students fulfill their training hours (http://www.somatherapy.com/clinic.html). Touring the many model homes in LaQuinta makes for a fun afternoon, though it may leave you longing for a second home.

For lunch or dinner, locals flock to the Fisherman’s Market & Grill in LaQuinta (www.fishermansmarketandgrill.com), where the fish tacos are the best around. Since the Coachella Valley, which incorporates Palm Springs and vicinity, boasts 350 days of sunshine a year and only 5.5 inches of rain, both first-time guests and repeat visitors alike can be sure to enjoy the weather along with good food and a picture-perfect place to relax.

My so-called glamorous life…

It all started back in grade school… Since my birthday lands in the summer I never got to have a birthday party at school with cupcakes and the likes that most kids got. So, because I never had a party I always wanted to help plan the parties. In fact, my 6th grade my teacher once said to me “If there’s ever a party on the moon, I know who will be organizing it!” Of course I laughed it off because I had bigger aspirations at that time – I wanted to be the first woman President of the United States. Well, as you can see that certainly didn’t become reality so I think it’s a good thing I went in the direction of event planning!

I think I haphazardly fell into the world of events. While I went to college for fashion merchandising and business I was an event planner at heart and knew that one day I would have my own company. Back in the 80’s and 90’s I worked tirelessly in the events field and paid my dues – sometimes at the expense of my health. I remember 2 events in particular – Networld+Interop, a trade show, I had strep throat but I pushed through before, during, and after the event. The second was a multi-city road show for Intel Corporation and I came down with walking pneumonia several days before I was to leave. I actually convinced my manager that I was fine and I ended up traveling for the show. I’d like to think I’m older and wiser now and wouldn’t push myself that hard!

Over the years I have worked with some incredible individuals who have helped me hone my planning skills and have given me the tools I needed to succeed in business. For the first 5 years of owning RealTime Productions, I had a wonderful business partner, Kim Pratt. Kim and I fit well together as we both brought such different talents to the table. During the first several years after forming RealTime Productions we both put in 80+ hour work weeks and did every job imaginable from creating an unforgettable 7-day Millennium cruise for 2 CEO’s and 120 of their closest family and friends, to organizing charity auctions, to cleaning toilets at a local celebrity’s house (definitely not my proudest moment!).

The one piece of advice I always give people is to make sure that you not only have the passion and drive for this business but that you surround yourself with great people. I am eternally grateful for all of the staff that has been a part of the RealTime Productions team over the years. I have learned so much from my staff – past and present. Not only do I get to work with a past boss and a close colleague, I continue to love my job, the people that work for me, and our wonderful clients. While it’s not all ‘champagne wishes and caviar dreams,’ I wouldn’t trade any of my experiences for the world!

Jeanne Berry, Founder and Principal

Something Bigger Than Ourselves

As a hiring manager, I’ve had my fair share of interviews with starry-eyed folks who really want to work in our industry. And as someone who has been in the trenches and managed logistics for many years, I sometimes forget that I, too, once had that passion to be a meeting professional. I now have a much dimmed perspective, and I try not to dampen the enthusiasm of the folks who come to talk with me, but when faced with someone whose interviews answers include “I want to travel”, “I love people”, “It looks like so much fun”, then I find myself prone to de-glamorizing the picture substantially.

If by what you mean when you say “I love to travel” is that you love to rush to the airport after working 80+ hours per week in the weeks leading up to your flight, that you love the last minute fire drills you have to deal with from one airport or another, that you love to see the inside of the same hotel/convention center for days on end, not seeing daylight and then find yourself back at the airport (there’s no sightseeing in logistics management!), then you are probably cut out for this job.

If by “I love people” you mean that you love having to call, email, negotiate, cajole, threaten, give in, do what you are told even if you know it’s the wrong thing only to have to do what you knew was right all along to fix the problem that would never had been a problem if only someone took you seriously, then you are probably a great candidate for this job.
And if you mean by “it looks like so much fun” you really are salivating at the chance to spend 8-10 hours every day and much of your weekend in front of your laptop going through the slogs of email generated by people who have no business sending mails that just clog up your inbox, then be my guest and come on down.

And just in case you are one of the lucky ones to be in our industry, then you will have the incredible opportunity to be a part of some magical things. Just this year alone, our team has already been a part of CES (The Consumer Electronics Show), the world’s largest consumer electronics tradeshow, and the Sundance Film Festival - dedicated year-round to the development of artists of independent vision and to the exhibition of their new work. This month we’ll be assisting a client in their participation in TED (THE exclusive Technology, Entertainment and Design conference) where some of the most talented, inventive and connected people on the planet grant world-changing wishes (for more go to ted.com).

And that is why, after over 20 years in this industry, I am at times simultaneously jaded and in awe of what we do every day. We get to be a part of things that are bigger than ourselves. While we don‘t actually walk on the moon, out there somewhere is a meeting planner who helped get the right people together, in an environment conducive to dreaming that dream and made sure that someone else got the credit.If you are experienced in corporate meeting logistics management and would like to be a part of our incredible team, please email your resume to jobs@rtpevents.com.

PCMA Seattle Tips for Greening Your Meeting

Last week, the Professional Convention Management Association (PCMA) met in Seattle for their annual educational conference. One of the goals for the 3,400 person, 4-day event was to have a “negative carbon footprint,” or be as environmentally conscious as possible. While the Seattle convention didn’t match PCMA’s 2007 Annual Meeting in Toronto as being a “zero-waste” event, the association and the Washington State Convention and Trade Center (WSCTC) undertook a wide variety of green initiatives for the show.

· To reduce plastic waste, individual bottled water was not served--all attendees were provided with a reusable water bottle to fill at several water stations located throughout the WSCTC.
· The 2008 registration bags, produced by BrandAdvantage, were made from organic jute and recycled nylon. Extra/unwanted bags will be donated to a local charitable organization.
· All trash cans in the PCMA meeting space were removed and replaced with recycle bins.
· Most pre-event marketing was done online or piggy-backed on partner mailings.
· All PCMA Annual Meeting printed material was printed/copied on post-consumer recycled paper.
· Print-on-Demand stations for handouts reduced the paper waste in the concurrent sessions.
· Programs were only distributed to those who requested one.
· Plastic name badges and Expocards were being collected and recycled.
· All excess food were donated to a local food rescue program.
· Menu selection focused on locally grown produce and featured some organic food items free of environment-harming pesticides.
· Live trees were used for décor, centerpieces and as giveaways, to be planted later.
· PCMA’s partners were encouraged to print on recycled paper and to print and ship a reduced quantity of marketing collateral and amenities to reduce waste.
· PCMA collected and stored any unused/excess partner collateral as inventory for future events, thus reducing future print requirements. If partner collateral was not reusable, PCMA said it would recycle it.
· Evaluations for each session were still paper, to better ensure attendee completion.

· According to PCMA, green tactics that have been implemented by the WSCTC include:

· An overhaul of the Center’s lighting system was conducted to replace outdated equipment with new and more-efficient fixtures.
· New touchless faucets and self-flushing toilets were installed to reduce water consumption.
· The WSCTC recycling program recycles paper, wood, metal and plastic products. As a result of the recycling initiative, the WSCTC has recycled: 174 tons of cardboard; 2,460 lbs of aluminum cans or 79,200 individual pop cans; 186 tons of mixed paper, plastic and glass recycled; 12 tons of scrap metal were recycled; an estimated 8,000 wood pallets were shipped to the WSCTC and sent back with the shipper to be reused; all computers and office machines that are updated are recycled; all spent fluorescent bulbs and ballasts are recycled; all spent AA, AAA and 9V batteries are recycled; 3,328 gallons of kitchen grease was recycled and reused by a rendering plant; and 23,968 meals were sent to local charities this past year.
· The WSCTC also partnered with a local company to recycle PCMA meeting banners.
· Buses ran on bio-diesel fuel.

While Seattle, and the Pacific Northwest in general, is considered a leader in the green meetings movement, PCMA said planners should expect a similar level of “greening” at the two upcoming Annual Meetings, held next year in New Orleans and in Dallas in 2010.
Interestingly, PCMA will explore a variety of community-building programs for the New Orleans convention. Attendees are asking if they can come early to the annual meeting on Friday and Saturday to work in community programs to help the people of New Orleans.

Information obtained primarily from Meetings West Magazine online

Coming soon: 2008 Trends from the ISES “The Special Event” international conference in Atlanta, and Entertainer Hiring and Contract Tips.

We’re Not Laughing

What do you do when the hired entertainer is such a bomb or so inappropriate that you have to pull him from the stage? How can you avoid this happening to you?

At a recent sales meeting in Las Vegas this week, the comedian MC was pulled from the stage during the awards program for inappropriate speech and behavior. Not to mention that he was not prepared nor professionally fulfilling his duties. He couldn’t pronounce the company name correctly; he didn’t know anything about the company, its products or personnel and kept telling the audience that; he used swear words even though the client made that taboo, and despite repeated reminders on the teleprompter; the final straw was when he verbally abused an executive on stage, to the point that the executive returned verbal fire.

The microphones went dead, the stage lights went dark and a stage hand escorted the comedian from the stage. Music began to play and the overhead voice indicated that the awards show would resume shortly. What would you do at this point?

Check back next week to see what happened and who the comedian was, plus tips for hiring and prepping entertainers…….

Lucky Strike Lanes Opens in Bellevue, WA

Catherine Springman, our Sales Manager reports on the hot, new venue in Bellevue:

Last night, I attended the grand opening of Lucky Strike Lanes in downtown Bellevue, WA. The lines were long when they first opened at 7 pm, but the people watching was great. This posh bowling alley in Lincoln Square (across from high end shopping mall, Bellevue Square) will surely be popular with the Microsoft and Eddie Bauer crowds working just upstairs in the office tower. It feels like a night club with a forty-foot bar and plush contemporary lounge area, state-of-the-art bowling lanes in a separate area, two billiards tables in yet another small area, as well as a huge VIP Lounge for private parties, with its own bar and four bowling lanes. Huge video screens run films at the end of the bowling lanes, over the pins, which my party of bowlers found distracting. This night, they were showing a nature film with lots of wild animals eating other wild animals. Hmmm, foreshadowing of what was to come for all the 20 and 30-somethings cruising the crowd? P.S. The video system is customizable.

Much nicer than the Denver, CO venue, Lucky Strike Bellevue actually opened to the public last weekend. But they pulled out all the stops for this grand opening with media, City VIP’s (the Mayor and the President of the Bellevue Downtown Association, among others), event and hospitality industry guests and assorted beautiful people. They flew in experienced staff from their Hollywood location, including a dj who spun tunes from the permanent booth (but no dance floor), and hired models in tiny black dresses. The service and the food were great. The appetizers were a hearty size, and they had some imaginative nods at the stereotypical bowling fare, like fried macaroni and cheese balls. Our favorite were the bowls of self-serve molten brownies with whip cream! We hung out in the VIP room, where they served us giant drinks, brought us brand-new bowling shoes and taught us the high-tech automatic score machine. This baby even measures the speed at which you throw your ball! The balls – they were the wildest bowling balls I’ve ever seen – were psychedelic, transparent, and crazy colors. This is not your papa’s bowling alley!

The drawbacks I saw were that the areas are very separate, so non-bowlers cannot sit at the bar or in the lounge area and watch the bowlers or the billiards. There isn’t much room for spectators in either of those areas. Again, the videos above the bowling lanes are distracting, all guests must be 21 years of age or older after 8:00 pm, and it is pricey. On weekends, bowling costs $65-75 per person per hour between 5 pm and 2:00 am. Shoe rental is $4.50 and billiards are $14 per hour after 5:00 pm. On the plus side, the pricing and the dress code should keep out the “riff raff” and keep the venue upscale and nicely maintained. Parties of 8-24 guests run $55-70 per person, including drinks, food, bowling and shoes, depending on the package. Private parties are available for groups of 25+. For more details and contact information, visit http://www.bowlluckystrike.com/

New Seattle Venues for 2008

Arctic Hotel – Opening June 2008.

Boutique hotel in a former exclusive men’s club in a landmark building in Pioneer Square. Northern Lights Dome ballroom (4,800 sq ft) is renowned for architectural details including a stained glass ceiling dome (reminiscent of Spanish Ballroom at Fairmont Olympic Hotel here in Seattle). Seats 350-375 for sit-down dinner. Most of July & August already booked with weddings.

Four Seasons Hotel – Opening summer 2008.

The 21-story structure will house 36 private residences, 149 guest rooms and several spaces for group gatherings, including a ballroom with floor to ceiling views of Puget Sound. No general manager yet, so no staff yet, so we don’t have further details about the hotel.

Want to see something kind of wacky? Check out “Molly’s birds” (no quotes) on YouTube. This is the current sales contact for the 4 Seasons Private Residences, Molly Gleason. She moved to Seattle from CA, but the house you see in the video was her California home. She now has 16 of the little critters!

Seattle Aquarium – Remodeled, expanded and New Window on Washington Waters exhibit. Opened late June 2007.

The Great Hall is a dramatic, light-filled space distinguished by its grand staircase, beautiful wooden beams and trusses that arch overhead, and striking art elements that grace the walls. More details can be obtained directly, but I know they’ve had a sit-down dinner for 150, stand-up reception for 450 and auction for 600. Check out photos of the new space at seattleaquarium.org.

Seattle Art Museum – the remodeled and expanded SAM reopened late last spring. Receptions for 1,500 and banquets for 300, but many spaces available only after public hours.

FYI – Science Fiction Museum loses their event space in April. They are adding 2 more floors of exhibits to open in early 2009.

More hotels are scheduled for 2009, so keep your eye on our blog!