Great Tips for Communication & Inspiration

December 15, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Rejuvenate Magazine is another great resource for Christian meeting planners and in a recent issue, they published “The all out no holds barred straight forward fundamental carefully chosen feverishly compiled complete list of useful meeting planning advice”, I know it’s a mouth full but great advice none the less. I thought I would break it down by area and we’ll take a few months to get thru all of it and maybe even add some of our own. For those of you who can’t wait, click here.

Communication

  • Don’t be afraid to stay in communication. Be willing to ask basic questions like ‘How do you like to keep in touch?’ Some people are phone people and others prefer e-mails. - Pat Davis, The Protestant Women of the Chapel
  • Remember the old real estate axiom – location, location, location? Well, think instead: communication, communication, communication. - Rachel Swartzendruber Miller, Mennonite Church USA
  • It seems obvious to do a site visit for an event, but sometimes there isn’t adequate funding – especially for new events – to travel and see the facility beforehand. This can cause major issues. To lessen those problems, communicate all your needs to the host location and facility beforehand, especially if you don’t see the site in advance. - Will Engle, American Volleyball Coaches Association

Inspiration

  • Enjoy the journey, and know where you are going and leading. You can’t do it alone; travel in the direction that God leads you. - Larry D. Collins, North American Christian Convention
  • If you believe in what you’re doing, just keep on pushing forward toward it. Look at your marketing and pray for ideas that don’t cost a dime. - Amy Cato, Lifeway
  • We need to shift our thinking from building programs to building relationships with kids. - Hank Hilliard, Young People’s Ministries
  • We all wish to be good stewards. If we really take seriously what we understand as our role as humans responsible for God’s creation, then there is a moral and theological obligation for people of faith to take care of what we have been given. - David Melton, North Georgia Conference of the United Methodist Church

What do you think? Do you have any additional advice on Communication & Inspiration you’d like to share? We would love to hear from you.

Advice reprinted with permission from Collinson Media and Events – http://www.rejuvenatemeetings.com/.

Filed Under: Budget and Pricing, Post-Event Follow-up Tagged With: , , , ,

A Refresher on Meeting Room Set Up Styles

December 12, 2011 By Leave a Comment

When considering options for function room setups, the most important factor is to understand the meeting’s objectives. The design is crucial to making sure goals are met.   With goals and objectives at the forefront, next look at audiovisual requirements, speaker needs and traffic flow, taking into consideration participant safety, comfort and accommodation for people with disabilities.

Here are the standard meeting room set-ups to consider for your next function:

Theater Style
This is the best setup for a large group where writing is not necessary and food is not served. Chairs are set in rows facing the speaker, stage or focal point of the room.

Classroom Style
This setup is best for meetings where attendees need to write or use a computer. It allows for minimal interaction between attendees and is best used for lectures and training meetings. Chairs are set at 6-foot or 8-foot tables facing the presenter.

Conference Style
This format is ideal for smaller groups where attendee interaction is a main objective. Seated around tables, participants have a direct view of their colleagues to facilitate discussions. Specify what type of table arrangements you need based on the objectives of your meeting:

Boardroom: One solid, rectangular table that can be an existing table in a hotel meeting room or created by putting together 30-inch-wide tables. This setup is best for a board of directors meeting with heavy discussions as participants are in closest reach to each other.

U-Shape: Tables are arranged in a horseshoe, which is ideal for meetings that need to facilitate discussion between attendees but also include an audiovisual presentation set at the opening of the “U.”

T-Shape: Best for a panel, presenters or lead management that needs to sit at the top of the “T” and direct the discussion down the length of the tables.

Hollow Square: Best for meetings that do not require an audiovisual presentation. If the hotel has serpentine tables, request a rounded hollow square setup to maximize seating on the ends. If these are not available, straight tables can be placed at an angle creating an angled hollow square setup.

Multi-Sided Shapes: Multi-sided shapes such as a diamond or octagonal are best for larger groups of 20 or more. They comfortably seat nearly every attendee at the end of a table and provide direct sight and voice communication to
participants.

Banquet Style
This setup works best for meetings that require food and beverage service and where participants are asked to break out into small groups. Setup includes 60-, 66- or 72-inch round tables with chairs around the entire table or only on one side.

Have you used another type of set-up, how did it work for you?  Please share your ideas in the comments.

Filed Under: Cost Saving Ideas, Post-Event Follow-up, Pre-Event Planning Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Becoming A Better Leader

December 5, 2011 By Leave a Comment

I read a great article today in the Connect Magazine for meeting planners.  I thought I would share it with you here.

Becoming A Better Leader

Companies today often operate with skeleton staffs where employees are asked to juggle multiple jobs with less pay—a recipe for burnout. Whether you manage a staff around you while planning meetings or you started your own events business decades ago, it’s your job to keep the people around you—and yourself—happy. If there is discontent on your team, maybe you need to become a better boss.

Be the Leader You Would Follow

Begin by knowing and understanding yourself. “Know your strengths and weaknesses, your vulnerabilities and your blind spots,” says Jennifer B. Kahnweiler, Ph.D., executive coach and author of “The Introverted Leader.” “Self-awareness helps you to be more effective because you’re able to supplement your team with the people that complement your strengths and weaknesses.”

John Brubaker, performance consultant, speaker and author of “Overtime Victory: Success Strategies from the Locker Room to the Board Room,” says higher-ups should ask themselves one question: What characteristics would I like to see in my people, and how would I like to see them change? Maybe the answer is a positive attitude, greater resilience or servant leadership. Perhaps it’s communication or relationship-building skills. Then cultivate those traits in yourself. “Great companies [have a] person at the top [who] is modeling what he wants from his sales managers, his VP and his customer service representatives,” says Brubaker. “No one is going to buy anything you’re selling unless you own it yourself first.”

Get Personal

Regularly connect with each team member on an individual level. “Get to know the people behind the jobs: what their personalities are like, what their interests are, what makes them tick,” says Kahnweiler. “Know what drives [them] and makes them want to stay and work harder. All effective leaders are great listeners. When they listen they not only build trust and credibility with their teams, but they also, usually, elicit terrific ideas.”

Brubaker points to a real-life example of servant leadership at CleanBrands, where CEO Gary Goldberg does something similar to a physician’s rounds in a hospital. Goldberg goes through the sales department asking, “What’s the one thing I can do right now to help you with what you’re working on?” Every day, he checks in on his employees. “You’re making an investment of your personal time and your willingness to put down what you’re doing, to make sure you help other people,” says Brubaker.

Maximize Your Human Resources

Brubaker and Kahnweiler agree: Great bosses make their people look good. They tune in to their employees’ talents, play up those strengths and maximize each individual’s ability to succeed.

By getting to know, and listening to, your team, you’ll know what motivates them, says Kahnweiler. “For one person, it may be getting to go to a new training course that’s going to ramp up his skills, where [for another person] it might be getting to have some time off so she can be with her kids more. You can then recognize and reward people with what matters to them.”

Kahnweiler encourages deliberate job-design to play up individual strengths. A planner should know, for example, that more introverted team members shouldn’t be placed on a trade-show floor to interact with sponsors and attendees. Rather, that person may be better suited to go behind the scenes and help with logistical planning, office duties and housing issues. “People are motivated when they can use what they already do well.”

Brubaker calls this strategy “the power of one”: the ability to identify and maximize the one thing that a particular employee does better than anybody else. “If you can put each of your people in a role that maximizes [his or her] ability to succeed, you’ll have the right people in the right roles, with the right goals…the basis for a successful team or department,” says Brubaker. “A leader who can help their people discover their unique talents, and channel those into their work, can have unparalleled results.”

By Maria Carter

I hope you found this as helpful as I did.

Filed Under: Budget and Pricing, Leadership Helps Tagged With: ,