Have You Ever Thought About Taking a Sabbatical?

In July of 1995 IBM acquired Lotus Development Corporation. This was big news in the technology industry at the time. You know what was big news with the IBM employees when we started talking to our new Lotus colleagues??? That they were eligible to take a sabbatical year. WHAT??

A sabbatical, just in case you are interested in the official definition, is a prolonged hiatus, typically one year, in the career of an otherwise (love that “otherwise”) successful individual taken in order to fulfill some dream, e.g. writing a book or travelling extensively.

Based on research by the University of Illinois Office of the Vice President of Academic Affairs, it is estimated that 14 – 24% of corporations in America has established sabbatical programs…usually in companies that by virtue of their product are particularly sensitive to the costs of employee burn-out; many corporations consider the benefits of sabbaticals so self-evident that they forego the expense of documenting them.

Lucky you if you are working for a company who offers sabbaticals.

“Some dream”. I have one of those. It involves traveling extensively. And, maybe, writing a book afterwards.

Yes! I’m taking a sabbatical.

This will be my last blog for this year as an employee of Meeting Consultants. My last work day will be 15 March.

On 14 April I will be taking that first step in the ‘journey of a thousand miles’. Ok, it’s actually 2172 miles but who is counting? And, it’s estimated that the average hiker takes 5 million steps in the journey from Spring Mountain, GA to Mount Katahdin, ME.

It’s the Appalachian Trail.

I am thrilled beyond words. This has been my dream for years, at the top of my bucket list.

I want to thank my bosses Casey and Chris Cote. They have been very enthusiastic supporters. Casey didn’t hesitate to give me his blessing when I told him my plan. Chris is planning to come meet me in North Georgia for a day – providing some trail magic.

I also must thank my wonderful husband, Garry. He has been my Rock and will be my logistics team – sending me supply boxes, encouragement and prayers along the way.

Also, my Reunion Sisters, Diane, Carol and Cheryl who will cover me in prayers.

My CHS friends, Priscilla, Nancy, Jan, Libbet, Michele and Connie who will also be praying and enjoying themselves at the beach – go Girls!

And, my sweet daughter, Danielle, whom I wish with all my heart were making the journey with me.

If you are interested in reading my Trail Journal here is the link http://www.trailjournals.com/skerry/

I am planning to keep it updated as I take my journey from Georgia to Maine. Trail Journals has a guest book, please write me, I’d love to hear from everyone!

Last, but certainly not least, please visit the Clean the World website, http://www.cleantheworld.org . Shawn, Paul, Calum, and all the folks at CTW are doing amazing work supplying soap to people all over the world to literally save their lives. 95+% of all money donated goes toward the mission. When I first heard about Clean the World I was blown away by the grassroots efforts these 3 guys had started by gathering used amenities from hotels. Now they have partnerships with major hotels across the US and Canada. Every dollar makes a difference and every volunteer makes a difference!

Thank you and God Bless!

Do You Know if Your Meetings are Positively Impacting the Economy?

Unless you live in a cave, and these days even then I would have a hard time believing you haven’t heard, you’ve heard about the Convention Industry Council’s release of The Economic Significance of Meetings to the U.S. Economy study.

No doubt the results of this study, conducted by PWC, are significant with numbers that are almost mind boggling …unless you are in the industry.

1.8 M corporate and business meetings, trade shows, conventions, congresses, incentive events and other meetings take place in the U.S., resulting in:
• $263B in spending
• 1.7M U.S. jobs
• $106B contribution to GDP
• $14.3B in tax revenue
• $11.3B in state and local tax revenue
• $60B in U.S. labor income

We know the study looked at direct economic contribution ($263B) as well as total economic contribution which included direct and indirect ($907B).

It’s that indirect economic contribution, $644B, that is so interesting to me. When the meetings industry was battered and large corporations were leading the charge for not holding meetings that might be misconstrued as ‘parties’ did they really think about the impact not having meetings would have on the U.S. economy? I think not.

Just stick with me for a minute and think about the downstream jobs.

A U.S. corporation decides to hold a 5 day education conference in …let’s pick Las Vegas. One of the components of the conference will be food and beverage. Aside from the obvious work of the employees of the hotel in the convention food and beverage department (chefs, servers, cleaners, laundry workers, banquet captains, table bus people, convention services manager, food and beverage manager, etc., etc.) the food must get to the hotel. It is transported probably by truck from the distributor. So you have the trucker, the truck manufacturer, the provider of the diesel, the people who loaded the truck. At the distributor you have a warehouse, which had to be built by laborers, planned by an architect, required materials such as: lumber, bricks, cement blocks, windows, paint, etc. We could obviously get much more granular on each item here but we haven’t even gotten to the actual food! A farmer had to decide to grow the crops, more than likely employ workers to plant and maintain the crops; harvest the crops and transport them to the distributor. There are so many levels it would take hours to get down to the bottom.

The point has been made. Meetings create a plethora of jobs and contribute an enormous amount of tax revenue and income for real people to spend.

So, how do you know if your meetings are positively impacting the U.S. Economy? Are they positively impacting your company’s bottom line?

Do you know?

Do you have a strategic plan, including spend and revenue tracking?

Here are 6 questions to help you decide if you need a strategic plan:
1. Do you know many meetings you conduct or participate in each year? By spend? By type? By venue?
2. Are policies/guidelines in place along with compliance tracking to give you built in risk management?
3. Have you reduced your costs with suppliers by using standard contracts and formal negotiations?
4. Would you like to reduce the number of suppliers by creating a preferred supplier program?
5. Is your staff duplicating efforts? Would aligning teams and/or formalizing an outsource relationship help?
6. What’s happening to the leads you gather are events? Do they get fed into your CRM tool?

If you have questions or would like more information on putting together a strategic meetings program please enter your comments/questions below.

To read all the results of the CIC study, The Economic Significance of Meetings on the U.S. Economy, please visit this link http://meetingsmeanbusiness.com/

And, Congratulations on being in the event industry and positively impacting job and revenue growth in the U.S. There are a lot of happy people because of you!

Does Your Company do Volunteer Work?

I talked about Corporate Social Responsibility a while back and today I’d like to talk about Volunteering.

Personally, I think most everyone has good intentions. If we see a need, and can fulfill it easily, we are more than happy to do so. It’s the ‘fulfill it easily’ part that is a stumbling block.

We are all busy. For those of us fortunate enough to have a job we are probably working longer hours than we previously did and, in addition, we still try to maintain some semblance of a personal life with family, friends, children and find some down time just for ourselves. So when these opportunities to ‘fulfill a need’ arise we too often find we don’t have the time.

That’s where volunteering through work can come into play.

As a business owner or a manager it is important for you to remember that your employees are looking to you for leadership. If you are taking time to give back to your community your employees will be inspired to give back as well. And, if you have a ‘cause’ that is important to you – share it with your employees and find ways that you can all give to the cause together.

Encouraging your employees to slow down and take the time to give of their time, energy and resources will give a huge morale boost to them and to yourself.

Volunteering makes people feel good about themselves. Most volunteer projects have immediate results, too, which is encouraging and motivating.

In the meetings/event industry doing volunteer community service projects as part of a conference or event has become very popular. Clean The World and Habitat for Humanity have opportunities for volunteers in almost every city. Meeting planners should also check with the local CVB for area specific ideas. Many CVBs, cities, convention centers and even some large hotels have service projects they can recommend to you depending on the size of your group and the amount of time you have to volunteer.

Additionally, employers can contact their local communities, parks, churches or civic organizations to find opportunities to volunteer.

Remember to solicit your employees for ideas. Involving them gives them ownership and pride in completing the project.

Employees, make suggestions to your manager for places a group can volunteer. Rally your co-workers and get out there together to fulfill a need…you’ll all feel good!

Do you have a volunteer opportunity to tell us about? Or a story about volunteering? Please enter your comments below and Thanks!

Are You Spreading that Cold??

I realize this may not appear to be a business blog. However, I have strep throat and it is most definitely affecting my business. It came on fast and furious and has laid me low for almost 3 days now.

So, a few reminders to everyone regarding how to stop the spread of infection and help keep everyone healthier.

I hope it goes without saying if you are sick – STAY HOME!

When you are in the office, or any public place, be mindful of those around you by sneezing or coughing into the bend of your elbow or a tissue. If you use a tissue, dispose of it properly and wash you hands.

Speaking of washing hands, according to the Mayo Clinic, hand washing is one of the best ways to avoid getting sick and spreading infection.

As you touch people, surfaces and objects throughout the day, you accumulate germs on your hands. In turn, you can infect yourself with these germs by touching your eyes, nose or mouth. Although it’s impossible to keep your hands germ-free, washing your hands frequently can help limit the transfer of bacteria, viruses and other microbes.

Always wash your hands before:
• Preparing food
• Eating
• Treating wounds or giving medicine
• Touching a sick or injured person
• Inserting or removing contact lenses

Always wash your hands after:
• Preparing food, especially raw meat or poultry
• Using the toilet
• Changing a diaper
• Touching an animal or animal toys, leashes or waste
• Blowing your nose, coughing or sneezing into your hands
• Treating wounds
• Touching a sick or injured person
• Handling garbage or something that could be contaminated, such as a cleaning cloth or soiled shoes

Of course, it’s also important to wash your hands whenever they look dirty.

Normally I would say I’m climbing off of my soapbox now but since I’ve been reclining on the sofa hardly able to move it would be a stretch to be climbing anywhere.

Have a good weekend and be healthy!

How do You Negotiate?

Negotiating is one of those things I’ve found people either are comfortable doing or they hate it and avoid it at all costs.

I think the main reason we feel uncomfortable with negotiating is because we enter in to the process linking there must be a winner which by default means there must also be a loser and we don’t want to be that loser.

Negotiations are really about conferring with someone else to make a decision that you can’t come to by yourself. You require the cooperation of someone else.

Here are a few tips to guide you through your next negotiation meeting:
• Prepare yourself prior to attending the meeting by doing research on the product, person and/or company
• Always do negotiations face-to-face; being able to see facial expressions, body language and other physical indicators from your partner are important and enable you to adjust your style and approach to be more effective
• Spend some time talking about the similarities in your needs and goals, this sets a good base for understanding why requests are being made
• Ask questions to understand why a requested item is important
• Really listen to the answer; hear everything before suggesting a solution
• Restate what you heard and ask if you are understanding correctly; this helps the requestor feel you are truly interested and gives them the opportunity to explain more if necessary
• Listen 80% of the time and talk 20% of the time
• Be certain to explain your own needs and goals and why these are important to you; often the person with whom you are negotiating will be able to offer an acceptable alternative once they understand your needs and why those are important
• Prior to meeting, do an outline of a clear set of options for yourself: what is the your ultimate goal; what is the best alternative option; and when do you need to walk away from the deal
• Create a safe environment for discussion, help your partner feel safe and smart
• Give people the benefit of the doubt
• Create closure and get to yes; focus on the issues and work out the details in a follow-up meeting
• Always be courteous, smile and be civil; give credit to others and thank your partner

Do you have any success stories to share? Or, would you like to share a learning experience on how not to negotiate? Please click below to comment.

Sustainability – How are You Doing It?

Webster defines sustainable as of, relating to, or being a method of harvesting or using a resource so that the resource is not depleted or permanently damaged. The words in the thesaurus really caught my attention: nourish/nurture, keep/maintain, hold up, support, affirm, confirm, corroborate and substantiate.

Isn’t that what we want to do? Nourish and nurture, support and affirm.

Sustainability and Going Green have been the buzz words for the past few years. When the economy took a downturn it appeared the Green Initiatives may have been put on the back burner. The reality is just the opposite which is exciting news.

A Forbes Corporate Responsibility Blog, on 27 January, shows the results of a recent survey where CEOs see sustainability shifting from choice to corporate priority. According to the survey 80% of top management says the economic downturn raised the important of sustainability as an issue; and, 74% says the downturn lead the company to align sustainability more closely with core business. Read the complete Forbes Blog through this link:
http://blogs.forbes.com/csr/2010/06/23/ungc-survey-ceos-see-sustainability-shifting-from-discretionary-choice-to-corporate-priority/

There are many things we each can do in our work environments to be more eco-friendly. Start with your work commute, could you carpool? Could you adopt a flex-schedule to allow employees to not be forced to drive during the worst traffic there by saving not only gas but valuable time? Other ideas include changing out those old light bulbs for the new compact fluorescent bulbs – they save money and last longer. If you are not already recycling your trash what are you waiting for? It’s easy to recycle your paper, cans and glass at work. If you don’t want to actually replace the trash containers simply write on the bin which type of trash should be placed inside. Most large cities have recycling programs, check with your county if you aren’t sure about the process or pick up times.

Here are some ideas for making improvements in your home. Replacing your light bulbs should be top of your list. Check your windows and doors for drafts. For doors you can use inexpensive items like ‘door snakes’ to block drafts along the bottom. Or, if you are handy, replace (or add) weather stripping along the doors and windows. You can also check your insulation to ensure it is adequate. Many improvements have been made in this area including the ability to add insulation to walls without major renovation. Check out the US Department of Energy for additional information on products and tax credits http://www.energysavers.gov/your_home/insulation_airsealing/index.cfm/mytopic=11440

The Global Footprint Network is an international think tank working to advance sustainability using a resource accounting tool that measures how much nature we have, how much we use and who uses what. Their web site is http://www.footprintnetwork.org/en/index.php/GFN , very interesting what they are doing.

Pink Magazine did a great series on sustainability this week which is where some of the information in this blog originated. Take a few minutes to read their articles and get more ideas on what you can do. http://www.littlepinkbook.com/little-pink-book

So, how are you doing the sustainability thing? These are the three questions Forbes asked the CEOs, what would your answers be?

– Sustainability is changing, how is your company addressing it
– Next Steps: going from strategy to execution
– What’s ahead: competing in an era of sustainability

Business Blogging Done Right

I attended the most amazing webinar this week presented by Michael Stelzner, Rick Calvert and Dave Cynkin called 9 Businesses Doing Blogging Right and What You Need to Know. I’m going to share a few of the dozens of creative ideas and tips presented in this webinar and I strongly recommend that you check it out http://www.whitepapersource.com/webinar/

Let’s start with a couple of statistics that will make you say, hum…guess I might ought to be looking into this business blogging

– 51% of internet users will read at least one blog monthly
– 55% more visitors to a business website that has a blog than a business without a blog

Just a note here to say some of these tips apply to building your website and your blog. So, if you’re just getting started or trying to get restarted (as I am) or have been blogging regularly and would like some new ideas, take a look

– Focus on adding value
– Collaborate with experts who are not in your field
– Offer free value like downloadable whitepapers (Hint – you can capture contact info)
– Keep your sales messages very low key or non-existent
– Use pictures, video and interesting graphics to attract readers attention (website & blog)
– Organize your information so readers can easy find what they want (website)
– Make subscribing and sharing easy
– Be personable
– Invite guest bloggers
– Stay true to your Brand (website and blog)
– Know the needs and interest of your readers and address those areas
– Use a clean design; white space can be powerful
– Keep your bio simple

If you like these ideas and want to learn more please do check out the website for the webinar. You may also be interested in the upcoming Blogging Success Summit 2011. It is a totally online conference that will run from February 1 through 22. There is a 50% off special that ends today so hurry to this website http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/bloggingsummit11/

Have a great weekend!

Going Mobile at Events

With snow hitting the Southeast this week I’ve been receiving lots of emails, Tweets and text messages from friends and colleagues who didn’t believe our trusty weathermen and left their laptops at the office over the weekend only to find out on Monday morning they weren’t going to make it to the office….or anywhere else.

Mobile devices and apps have saved most of us at one time or another.

But what about at our events?

Are we taking advantage of the technology to incorporate social media into our events? what about the green aspect? and convenience for our attendees?

Think about how great it would be for your attendees to begin networking as soon as they register for your event. They can email, Tweet and text other attendees, set up appointments and trade information before they get to the conference or meeting.

How’s about viewing the conference agenda along with session abstracts and being able to create a personal agenda listing the sessions they will attend, the exhibitors they want to visit and the appointments they have made with other attendees.

Speaking of the exhibit hall…would your attendees like to see who is exhibiting and an abstract about the exhibitor and what they will be showing along with where that exhibitor is located in the exhibit hall? Does the ability to set up an appointment with that exhibitor sound like an option that your attendees might like?

Venue maps with breakout sessions, meal locations, general sessions, networking locations, registration, kiosks, bathrooms, information desks, whatever you need to show your attendees are also possible.

And, the ability to complete session surveys and conference evaluations are available through a mobile device.

Mobile apps allow meeting planners to deliver solutions to our attendees that are convenient: no more carrying around an outdated conference guide; and Green, green, green! No printing of those conference guides and venue maps and session handouts and surveys and evaluations.

Meeting Consultants’ partner Alliance Tech, http://www.alliancetech.com , has developed this amazing mobile app which integrates seemlessly with our event planning tools to bring the latest and greatest mobile app to conference/event attendees. The app is available on a laptop or multiple mobile devices. How’s about putting it on kiosks at your event? Cause we know that not everyone has a mobile device.

Want do you think? Do you want to know more? Give us your feedback and comments by clicking below on ‘leave a comment’.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year Everyone! I feel safe still saying HNY since it is technically still the first week of the new year.

I’m going to start off this year by giving credit to Denise Wakeman,
http://www.buildabetterblog.com/ , for being persistent in encouraging me to ‘blog on’ and, after reading Mari Smith’s blog yesterday, http://www.marismith.com/, I feel I’m in good company albeit starting a little late.

Let’s jump right in…

I want to tell you a little bit about Meeting Consultants and the people who make up the company.

Meeting Consultants was founded in 1979 by Carol Cote. Carol was one of the first event planners in Atlanta.

As the company grew Carol was joined by her husband, Jerry Demery, and all three of her children, Beth, Chris and Casey. Casey is now our President and Chris is our Director of Operations.

Here we are 30 years later and still growing!

We have 8 Senior Project Managers with an average of 14+ years in the business who are supported by an amazing customer call center, IT manager and marketing team.

One of Meeting Consultants’ strengths, and how we bring added value to our clients, is through our software development team. The developers, lead by Michael Kennedy, have over 15 years experience developing software tools specifically for the meetings and events industry. Their expertise has enabled us to bring a suite of products including a SAS tool and enterprise solutions to meet our clients’ needs.

Obviously I’m very excited about our team and our company.

I want you to be excited about us, too!

I invite you to visit our website, http://www.meetingconsultants.com/index.html , post your comments or send me a direct email, ksmithwick@meetingconsultants.com .

Thanks @denisewakeman for another great webinar – I’m working on my visibility schedule.