There are many decisions for a planner to make when hosting a team program for a company meeting or retreat. These decisions include selecting the right teambuilding company or facilitator, finding the right venue, deciding on the best program activity and understanding what participants should
Topic:
Making My Way – WayfindingSubtle but effective use of wayfinding cues will create an innovative meeting experience for participants. Use this issue of Tips for Innovative Meetings and Events to find your way around the topic of wayfinding.
And speaking of wayfinding, there were some challenges with the delivery of my great January issue. If you did not receive it, please click here to go to my website for a copy. Or please send me an email and I will be happy to resend to you.
(January T.I.M.E. Issue)Sue Sue Tinnish
Table of Contents
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| Wayfinding Defined and Designed
After Lynch coined the term, How to Plan Your Summer Outing in Chicago: Chicago Picnic Venues, Tips, PermitsTips on how to Plan Your Best Summer Outing
Podcast Audio Interview with Murrel Karsh, President of What to focus on when planning a summer outing or corporate picnic
What are the best days to plan a summer outing or corporate picnic
New Trends in planning summer outings in Chicago
Best Picnic Venues in Chicago and the suburbs
What you should be looking out for when planning your summer picnic
Why book your picnic venue and services early
What is the real reason a company holds a corporate picnic
Windy City Fieldhouse is a Planner Preferred activities and sports vendor of providing teambuilding
in the Midwest, Scavenger hunts in Chicago and Picnics in Chicago.  WD-40 Tips…..Unusual but TrueI thought that you might like to know more about this well-known WD-40 product. When you read the “shower door” part, try it. It's the first thing that has cleaned that spotty shower door. If yours is plastic, it works just as well as glass. It's a miracle! Then try it on your stovetop… Viola! It's now shinier than it's ever been. You'll be amazed. The product began from a search for a rust preventative solvent and degreaser to protect missile parts. WD-40 was created in 1953 by three technicians at the San Diego Rocket Chemical Company. Its name comes from the project that was to find a “Water Displacement” compound. They were successful with the 40th formulation, thus WD-40. The Corvair Company bought it in bulk to protect their Atlas missile parts. The workers were so pleased with the product they began smuggling (also known as “shrinkage” or “stealing”) it out to use at home. The executives decided there might be a consumer market for it and put it in aerosol cans. It is a carefully guarded recipe known only to four people. One of them is the “brew master.” There are about 2.5 million gallons of the stuff manufactured each year. It gets its distinctive smell from a fragrance that is added to the brew. Ken East (one of the original founders) says there is nothing in WD-40 that would hurt you. The rest is history. Here are a few of the 1000s of uses:
Planning A Corporate Picnic In Chicago1. Determine who will attend your company picnic and attempt to put together an approximate head count of those that will be involved. Answer questions like whether this function will be for all company employees or just a single department or section and whether spouses, children and guests will be invited. 2. Find out what kind of budget you have to work under. This will largely determine what your picnic options are going to be and whether you may need to collect an employee contribution to pull it all off. 3. Locate the perfect spot for your picnic. This means finding a location that will have something for everyone, like a nearby park, fairgrounds or amusement park.
4. Address the food issue. If you have the money, professionally catering the event is the way to go. If not, maybe the company can foot the bill for the main course while employees bring side dishes and desserts to share with the group. 5. Plan activities, like games, sports, raffles and contests. Taking a chance that everyone will talk and entertain themselves is way too risky a proposition. 6. Consider hiring some entertainment. A band may appeal to an all-adult crowd, while clowns, face painting and a bounce house may turn on a family audience. 7. Start an information campaign well in advance of the date to make certain everyone knows about the event and plans to attend. Talk it up in meetings, put an article in the company newsletter, post a flyer on the bulletin board, and attach a note to paychecks if possible. 8. Double check arrangements one week before the event, and take a final count of people you are expecting a couple of days before to make sure there are no surprises. This will allow you to make modifications to your reservations, hopefully, without additional cost to your company.
Tips: ry a theme picnic. Center your event around a holiday like the Fourth of July or plan a trip to a farm with hayrides and a pumpkin patch in early October. You may also consider hiring a professional corporate picnics planner to handle all of the details. Visit Hereschicago.com for a professional corporate picnic planner . Conducting Successful MeetingsDo you announce a meeting and find either no one shows up on time, they come with their own agenda, or the meeting goes on and on? If this is true in your case, then worry no more. Here are six steps to help you develop successful meetings:
1. Establish a realistic and specific objective. Ask yourself, 'What do I want to accomplish?' or 'Why am I calling people together at this time?' Do I want: * to solve problem(s). * to inform. * to gain feedback. * to orient. * a conference with a panel(s) of speakers? 2. Create a well-developed agenda. Review your agenda before announcing your meeting. Make sure it avoids:
* spending too much time on details technical subjects. (It puts people to sleep and does not communicate with them.) * failing to specify the starting and ending times. (Employees need to know when to be there, when it is expected to start, and when it is expected to be finished so that they can reschedule their other duties and responsibilities.) * adding irrelevant topics. (Doing so only lengthens the meeting time and serves to anger people or put them to sleep.) * having speakers or presenters who are known to ramble. (One of the surest ways to put your audience to sleep is to have a boring meeting with speakers or presenters who talk on and on. This is especially true in cases where the agenda covers technical or scientific material.) * crowding the agenda with too many subjects. (It is better to have a question and answer period during the meeting than to try to cover everything. Now review your agenda and make sure you have included: * a chairperson or Master of Ceremonies to move topics along without rushing the presenters, or allowing them to ramble. * general logistics before hand, such as restroom locations, break times, and telephone or walk-in interruptions. * a priority system so that the most important topics or pressing matters are covered first. 3. Assign particular responsibilities. Be sure to select responsible people to carry out the responsibilities of your meeting. Also be sure: * to match the topics and tasks with competent presenters. * to give them clear, complete, and specific instructions including assigned time to complete their presentation. * to gain the concurrence of your key participants. * to have a clock in clear view of the presenters. * to start on time, regardless. (This is perhaps the most important aspect of running a successful meeting.) 4. Establish a positive meeting environment. Take the time to plan your meeting. Perhaps the most important aspect to consider is the environment where you will hold your meeting. To insure its success, be sure you: * create an environment that is conducive to effective communication. * set start and ending times that are conducive to all. * develop the environment around a theme. * consider the objective of the meeting when selecting the room. * consider decorating the room, if this is warranted. * arrange and test the audio-visual support before hand. * arrange the seating of participants and attendees, depending on the estimated number of attendees. * arrange the seating plan for optimal effect. 5. Plan all the activities. Take the time to plan and plan again all the events, people, places, and things related to the objective and theme of the meeting. Be sure to: * gather input where relevant. * take notes where necessary. * prepare adequate quantities of handouts. * prepare to post adequately the announcement of the meeting along with its agenda, times, participants, and any other relevant information. * prepare backup materials. * prepare post-meeting evaluations, where necessary, and summary handouts.
Remember: When you maximize your potential, every one wins. When you don't, we all lose.
How to Use Your "Body" of IntuitionGeorge Soros, one of the most successful investors of all time, earned more money through his investments in one year ($650 million) than almost anyone else in history. Hey, no room for jealousy here! Let's find our what he did. Most experts in finance will tell you that it is mathematically impossible to consistently beat the market averages, but Soros, in a revealing comment, suggests that he uses more than just mathematics, more than science, more than his considerable intellect. Here's what impelled me to write on this topic. In his book SOROS ON SOROS (Wiley & Sons Publishers, paperback, 336 pages, 1995), Soros wrote: “I feel the pain. I rely a great deal on instincts. When I was actively running the Fund, I suffered from a backache. I used the onset of acute pain as a signal that there was something wrong in my portfolio. The back didn't tell me what was wrong Chicago Speakers for Meetings and Conferences
Are you seeking a speaker for your next sales meeting, conference or corporate meeting? National Speakers Bureau offers speakers for motivational and educational meetings in Learning Curve: Develop Your Speaker Game Plan Continuing Education for Meeting Professionals By Brian D. Palmer The complexity of our days causes most of us to covet our time, which means meetings are scrutinized more closely than ever. Before a meeting, people are asking, The Importance of Booking Your Summer Outing Early
Scheduling your Summer Picnic is often one of the greatest challenges a planner faces when organizing their company Free Complete Toolkit for Boards Pt. 1Corporations, whether for-profit or nonprofit, require a governing Board of Directors. Governing Boards have certain legally required duties, including duties of care, loyalty and obedience (some states use different terms). (In Boards can have a broad range of “personalities.” For example, Boards of large for-profit and nonprofit corporations might be very formal in nature with strong attention to Parliamentary procedures, highly proceduralized operations, etc. In contrast, Boards of small for-profit, family-owned corporations might be very informal in nature and comprised mostly of members of the family, rather than of independent members (members from outside of the family and/or corporation). Members of Boards of for-profit corporations are usually compensated monetarily. Members of nonprofit Boards are usually volunteers. Recent illegal activities, particularly in large, for-profit corporations, have brought much attention to the roles and responsibilities of Boards, especially to their degree of effective oversight (“oversight” as in ensuring strong, effective organizations), ethical operations and approach to compensating senior executives. One of the more recent pieces of legislation regarding governance is the Sarbanes-Oxely Act. If you are new to the topic of Boards, you might read through the information about Board roles and responsibilities, staffing, committees and meetings, and then read about the Act that is included near the end of the Table of Contents for this topic. Materials in this topic apply to both nonprofit and for-profit Boards in the Be sure to see the many general and specific resources for Boards in the Many of the following materials in this Library topic are adapted from the guidebooks:
(NOTE: To understand how to work with Boards of Directors during consulting and organizational change, see the “Field Guide to Consulting and Organizational Development” for nonprofits or for businesses and government. This is a step-by-step, all-in-one resource for consultants and leaders. The resource comes with a 30-day, money-back guarantee.) Table of Contents of This Library Topic Documents — Charter/Constitution/Articles, Operating Rules, Policies, etc. Articles of Incorporation (or charters, articles of association, etc; — is governing doc. of org.) Staffing the BoardJoining as, Recruiting, Orienting, Informing, Removing Board Members Ensuring Successful CommitteesBuilding Successful Board Committees Ensuring Successful MeetingsBoard Meetings (agendas, on-line, executive sessions, retreats, etc.) Evaluating the BoardEvaluating the Board of Directors Board and Staff RelationsBoard and Staff Relations Evaluating Executive DirectorsBoard of Director's Evaluation of Chief Executive Board Orientation/TrainingBoard Orientation/Training Board OperationsBoard Operations Accountability of BoardsThere has been a huge amount of information over the past five years or so in regard to accountability of Boards of Directors, including nonprofit and for-profit. The following links will get you started in reviewing the information.(Nonprofit)Sarbanes-Oxely Act (USA legislation) and Implications for Nonprofits Founder's SyndromeThis syndrome occurs when the organization operates according to the personality of someone in the organization (usually the founder), rather than according to the mission of the organization. The Board can make a big difference in helping an organization to detect Founder's Syndrome and recover from the Syndrome.Founder's Syndrome: Getting Stuck in the First Life Cycle of An Organization or Program General ResourcesFree, On-Line, Self-Paced Program to Completely Build/Strengthen Your Nonprofit Basic Guide to Nonprofit Program Design and Marketing Free, On-line, Complete Training Programs That Include This Topic!For Nonprofit Organizations:This topic is also included in the Free Nonprofit Micro-eMBA learning module Building and Maintaining an Effective Board of Directors. This complete, “nuts and bolts”, free training program is geared to leaders, managers, consultants and volunteers who serve nonprofit organizations. For For-profit Organizations:This topic is also included in the Free Micro-eMBA learning module Building and Maintaining an Effective Board of Directors. This complete, “nuts and bolts”, free training program is geared to leaders, managers and consultants who work with for-profit organizations. Tell Your Friends! Local Professional Organizations!Tell friends and professional organizations about these free programs! Advertise them in your newsletters and web sites so that others can save training dollars, too! Overview of Board Roles and ResponsibilitiesThe following information applies to for-profit and nonprofit Boards unless otherwise noted. Simply put, a Board of Directors is a group of people legally charged with the responsibility to govern a corporation. In a for-profit corporation, the Board of Directors is responsible to the stockholders — a more progressive perspective is that the Board is responsible to the stakeholders, that is, to everyone who is interested and/or can be effected by the corporation. In a nonprofit corporation, the Board reports to stakeholders, particularly the local communities which the nonprofit serves. Board Roles and Responsibilities Sample Job Descriptions Board and Staff Roles Advisory GroupsVery simply put, an advisory group,or advisory committee, is a collection of individuals who bring unique knowledge and skills to complement the knowledge and skills of a more official, governing Board. Developing Advisory Boards / Groups Also see Carver Governance Model Also see Committees, Conflict Management, Meeting Management, Problem Solving and Decision Making, Strategic Planningand Team Building General Information Focused on Boards of NonprofitsTen Basic Responsibilities of Nonprofit Boards Guidelines of Board and Staff Relations and Responsibilities General Information Focused on Boards of For-ProfitsCorporate Survival Guide Legal and Insurance Considerations for Board MembersThe following information applies to for-profit and nonprofit Boards unless otherwise noted.Overview of legal considerations The following information applies to nonprofit Boards.Risk Management Resources Also see Insurance (Business) |
Coach Mike Ditka, Speaker