Paradise is Calling

It’s small, beautiful and award winning. It is a supreme destination for conferences and incentive programs. Located less than two-hours flying from most East Coast cities, Bermuda is a convenient dream destination. 

The island is known for its unrivaled weather, pink sand beaches, historic sites and warm, friendly people. It's no wonder Condé Nast Traveler readers have voted Bermuda "Best Island in the Caribbean/Atlantic" 17 times since 1994. Meeting planners will appreciate the fact that Bermuda is a 17-time winner of the Pinnacle Award from Successful Meetings and the recipient of the Platinum award from Incentive Magazine. If you haven’t yet considered Bermuda for a meeting, its time you took a closer look.


Read all about it in our newest blog post on our website by clicking here. 

Helping Hands!

In many workshops and conferences, planners so desperately want to teach attendees about collaboration. Most exercises used to teach these important team sensibilities may help the participants, but few have a lasting impact on the attendees, let alone other people and communities.  

In last week’s blog we wrote about U Build it Bikes for Kids, a program where participants construct bikes to be given to children at local charities. This week we’re highlighting the Helping Hands program. These programs extend the reach of your conference’s team building experience far beyond your event, and positively impact communities and people long after your meeting has ended, locally and even on a global scale.

Helping Hands is a program of Odyssey Teams, Inc. The Chico-based company came up with the idea of combining philanthropy and team building workshops in 2000 and since then hasn't looked back. They offer a variety of programs but one program really drew our attention for both its ease of implementation during a meeting or conference, and for the incredibly positive impact it has on the individuals benefiting.

Helping Hands is about changing lives. It's about accessing the potential of our hands, heads and hearts to build a better team, a better organization and a better world. Attendees will be building hands needed by tens of thousands of people around the world who cannot afford prosthetic devices. The Helping Hands process teaches groups to model true collaboration, commitment and quality - borne from a deeper sense of connection to products, colleagues and customers.

  
Recipients of the Helping Hands program around the world.

As a result of this program, thousands of amputees around the world can now dress themselves, eat on their own, and care for their families with the help of an Odyssey Teams-crafted prosthetic.  And innumerable corporate employees have been re-connected with the power of caring and collaboration in the workplace.

The Helping Hands program is fully scalable. It can be for small meetings or for conferences with thousands. Abbott, Wal-Mart, Novartis and Cisco are among the many companies who have used this program at their meetings with their resulted hands being sent to help people in Columbia, Vietnam, and other places. 

Learn more about Odyssey Teams,Inc. by visiting their website.

Reach out to them via phone at             1-800-342-1650      .

Photographs courtesy of Odyssey Teams, Inc.

-Al Wynant

Visit EventInterface.

Here to help you!

We’re making it even easier for attendees, planners and prospect clients to reach out to us.

We understand that from time to time attendees and planners need a little extra help. Starting February 8, asking for help will be even easier. We are launching the EventInterface Help Chat feature. Attendees and planners can reach out to us from the chat icon with any questions and problems, and a helpful Member Services team member will jump in to help out. We’re also launching a chat option for prospect clients to ask questions before they buy. A new chat function will float near the bottom of the EventInterface home page.

The feature will be launched initially at system peak times and availability will increase in the coming months. Just look for the chat icons pictured below on our website. They will show up when Help Chat is live.

At EventInterface we continue to add new features to make managing or attending an event or meeting an absolute success. Visit us at EventInterface.com

Puppy Love

It has been a few weeks since I posted anything in this section. Sadly I haven’t come across any fun or cool new items to be featured. I did however discover a recipe for homemade dog biscuits my K-9 companions actually love. A bit off topic but fun to share, so instead of a great gift for speakers and attendees, here’s a gift you can make for your own four-legged friends. We’ll be back with ideas for people schwag soon.

With Uma, Skye and Max

Family and friends know I’m a huge dog lover.  Our house is shared with Skye, our six year old Lhasa Apso and Uma, our twelve year old Queensland Heeler. We still miss our Max, a terrier mix full of personality. Our dogs are incredibly spoiled. Skye has more toys than I ever had as a child (don’t worry mom and dad, I’m OK). Uma is a connoisseur of all things poultry. Freshly baked turkey may be her all-time favorite. Finding healthy treats for our finicky friends has always been a bit of a challenge. Last week however I discovered a super easy recipe for homemade dog biscuits they can’t seem to get enough of.

The treats are super easy to make and only take five ingredients. I call them “Peanut Butter Delight”. It takes about 45 minutes to make, and that includes baking time. The recipe makes about 20 biscuits, but you may get more or less depending on the type of cookie cutter you are using. I used a 2 ½ inch doggie bone shaped cookie cutter.

The ingredients:

1 ½ cup of organic whole-wheat flour
½ cup of organic rolled oats
1 tsp of baking powder
1 cup of skim milk
1 cup of organic peanut butter (I used creamy)

Start by preheating your oven to 385 degrees.

Combine the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Then soften the peanut butter in the microwave for 15 to 30 seconds. Trust me, you want to do this. My first attempt to mix peanut butter, flour and milk turned my counter in a sticky and powdery mess. Once softened, add the peanut butter and milk to the dry mixture. Mix the ingredients together well. I found it much easier to use my hands. When mixed well, place on a clean, dry and floured surface. With a rolling pin, roll out the dough to about ¼ inch thickness.

Use a cookie cutter to cutout the desired shapes and place on lightly greased baking sheet.

Bake in a 385 degree oven for 28 to 30 minutes. When done remove and cool on a rack.

Skye and Uma sat in the kitchen, looking at the cooling cookies the entire time. This was the first time ever I saw them taking a cookie (cooled) out of my hand without the need to sniff and approve it. Within seconds they were back for more, and yes….I gave them a second helping.

-  Al Wynant with thanks to Skye and Uma for their willingness to trust my baking experiment.  

Modern Stylish New York

If you have stayed at any of the 50 Kimpton properties in the United States, you understand their thoughtful service, have experienced exceptional design and a level of personal attention not commonly found in the hospitality industry. I have to admit, I’m a fan, but I yet have to meet a person who hasn't enjoyed their stay at a Kimpton property.

Read about this fabulous property in our newest blog “Modern Stylish New York”, available at http://www.eventinterface.com/blog-article?id=27. 

Forget 5 diamonds, this resort wows with a 5 Crystal Experience

With over 10,000 square feet of meeting space; room for groups of up to 250, 149 sleeping rooms, three spectacular penthouse suites, and unparalleled service, this resort should be on everyone’s list looking at hosting a meeting in British Columbia, Canada. Read all about this fabulous property in the EventInterface Resource Blog at  http://www.eventinterface.com/blog-article?id=25

Not down and certainly not out in Paris: tales from a January site inspection.

Behind me a guitar was being tuned. The tuner then addressed the crowd and launched into the Rod Stewart version of “Sailing”. He was truly terrible and gave the lie to Tanenbaum’s thesis that music on the underground leads to a decrease in crime. I, for one, harboured dark violent thoughts and stared fixedly at my iphone screen as he sought compensation, sticking a to-go cup in my face. I was back in Paris, looking forward to immersing myself in one of the great cities of the world. This musical loser on the rather damp and dirty RER B from CDG to Gare du Nord was raining heavily on my parade.

The SMS message from my colleague told me they were already at O Chateau so after a quick shower to blitz the negative residue of bad singing on the metro I found myself in the basement of a rather cool building set out for a lesson in wine tasting.  A large map of France with the wine regions clearly marked on it was slightly right of centre stage. Slightly left of centre stage was the youngest, prettiest teacher I’ve ever seen. In the palm of her hand she had a half filled Champagne flute and just about everybody else in the room. For 2 hours Charlotte challenged, charmed and cajoled, energized, educated and entertained.  A thoroughly convivial part-Anglophone, part-Francophone table of 10 learned, laughed and lapped it all up like eager, hungry kittens. The food was fantastic – carpaccio of scallop, breast of duck and traditional galette – simple, no fuss, fresh presentations – with perfect pairings from the Loire, Bordeaux and Languedoc.

The early morning walk to our meeting point on Rue de Castiglione where the rather tasty Westin Paris Vendome is located allowed us to synchronize with the energetic rhythm of the Parisian walkways in this post-Christmas period. Stunning festive decorations were still in place – Parisians don’t do tacky – and the January sales gave an extra air of excited anticipation to the streets. You soon notice the differences, the things that make this city uniquely Paris, exclusively French. Like the small, local, specialist stores that still abound and prosper around the city. The proprietors who diligently sweep the pavements in front of their shops and greet regular customers with handshakes. The studied informality of the young men in 3/4 jackets, collars up, scarves tied loosely, wearing narrow tapered jeans and hard leather pointed shoes. The women that never try to look like teenagers with that femme fatale look, pouting lips and immaculate couture.

A day on the outskirts of Paris in search of the best golf challenges yielded 2 satisfactory results. The relatively new, private, Jack Nicklaus designed Paris International – a typical Nicklaus parkland the flows very naturally through the rolling terrain – and the older Golf National, near Versailles, which offers 3 distinct golf challenges and is a Ryder Cup candidate for 2018.  But, unlike Ireland or Scotland, Paris is not really about the golf and the afternoon drew to a lovely conclusion at the recently opened Mandarin Oriental Paris over very expensive drinks at the bar which overlooks a magnificent secluded courtyard

My colleague, the inimitable, ubiquitous Philippe Fournier, Managing Director of MCI’s extensive organisation in France, invited me to attend the MCI Annual Celebration at the Museum of Fairground Arts, also a candidate venue for the US incentive programme we were planning. When I arrived at nightfall the venue looked spectacular with accent lighting picking out the carnival masks displayed on either side of the entrance. You enter this magical universe of light and shade, of rich red velvets and dark mahogany woods and are transported back to childhood wonder where the only limit is your own imagination.

Charcoal brassieres threw hungry flames into the night in preparation for the Cote du Boeuf, the signature serving for the evening’s repast. The MCI and Ovation crews, following an afternoon of seminars and presentations, including a talk for the troops from CEO Sebastien Tondeur, were in fine fettle enjoying the excellent buffet planned by HR director Laure Vitte, the wonderful funfair rides and games and the mesmeric beat of the coolest French club anthems.

Created by antiquarian Jean Paul Favand and opened as a private museum and venue space in 1996, the facility contains funfair objects from 1850-1950 including amusement rides, fair stalls and well over 1000 carnival games organised around 3 thematic areas – The Venetian Lounge, The Marvellous Theatre and the Fairground Art Museum. Each area is stand alone or, as explained to me by MCI Deputy MD, Michael Cleva, can interconnect with the other areas to generate a total event capacity of over 3000.

I was particularly looking forward to our visit to the Palace at Versailles. Holding your Gala at Versailles has, for many years, been the ultimate achievement for meeting planners as, allegedly, you deal with an extraordinary number of variables from jaw dropping budgets to mind numbing bureaucracy. As it happens the budgets are manageable if you have sufficient headcount to amortise your costs and the behind the bureaucracy are real beating hearts seeking love and recognition – if you invest in the relationships, as my colleagues at MCI have done, most doors can be opened!

We looked at two options for our Gala celebration both preceded by private visits of the Palace – the Orangerie and the Salle de Bataille. Built over a 47 year period during the long Reign of Louis XVI the Palace is a series of stunning, interconnecting salons. These rooms are sumptuously decorated in high style with wall and ceiling murals by Baroque luminaries such as Paolo Veronese and culminate with the astonishing, historically resonant, Hall of Mirrors which presents commanding views of the formal gardens and canals. For private events MCI customarily arranges for musicians in period costume to play Bach and Mozart as guests meander through the rooms. An evening at Versailles is a motivational experience par excellence offering guests a unique privatised immersion in the frivolous decadence of the era of the Sun King.

My mind, still harbouring nostalgic images of 17th century France, was propelled quickly into the frenzy of the 21st century as I alighted the luxury mini-coach and started to negotiate the labyrinth that is Gare du Nord. RER B was relatively quiet as it trundled back to CDG until between stations a figure suddenly pushed through the door from the adjacent carriage. This time there was no guitar. Instead, emanating from a ghastly portable device, surrounded by an equally ghastly reverb, were the opening bars of a song we have all come to associate with late night hotel bars that serve outrageously priced drink: “Feelings …”

- Padraic Gilligan, VP Ovation Global DMC and VP Industry Relations, MCI

To see the photographs associated with this story, see http://www.eventinterface.com/blog-article?id=24