Plan Your Meetings

Looking for a bit of inspiration? Or want to know what it’s like to have a lavish budget, and have to provide menus for celebrity chefs? Read about master planner Lee Schrager.

Last month, I was in Houston for a speaking engagement and there was a problem with my room. The front desk was very courteous, and said they would move me and send someone down with a key. The hotel had an outdoor courtyard layout and was very close to the highway. My room was near a giant hole in the security fence, so when there was a knock at the door, I asked, “Who is it?” to make sure it was the front desk and not someone who had wandered on-property.

Unfortunately, the person the front desk sent didn’t speak English. They didn’t understand enough of what I said to respond, “Housekeeping.” When I finally answered the door, they mutely handed me a key, but couldn’t give me directions to where to find my new room. It was incredibly frustrating, and we were both left embarrassed by our inability to communicate.

Later that day, I arrived at the keynote luncheon at the convention center a little late, and, looking for a seat that was still being served lunch, I had to talk to five banquet staffers before I found one who could speak English. Even then, the interchange required pantomimed gestures and Spanglish for us to understand each other.

The hospitality industry has struggled to fill its lower paying jobs for many years, and it’s a problem that’s only projected to grow, not fade away. But I don’t think hiring people who can’t communicate with your guests is the best solution. Especially in Houston, where there are still so many displaced Katrina victims.

Why is there the perception that Americans are unwilling to work for minimum wage? Why don’t employers insist on basic proficiency in English, or provide ESL classes to employees? Do you know of any hotels or restaurants that have come up with a creative solution to this problem?

I’ve heard of flea-bag motels — the kind where there’s a coin-operated bed or boot marks on the door — but I always thought bedbugs were the work of someone’s hyperactive imagination. Kind of like the bogeyman, but for cheap travelers. C’mon, a scourge of insects that nest in mattresses and live off of human blood?

Imagine my surprise when I read this article about a bedbug problem plaguing New York City’s residences and hotels. In five years, reported cases of bedbug infestations in hotels went from two to 6,889. And those are 2007 numbers. If you’re not afraid of losing your lunch, check out these images of the damage the little suckers can cause.

The nasty creatures evidently are brilliant hitchhikers, traveling from place to place on clothes, linens, pillows and bags, and they can nest anywhere; one Advanced K9 Detective at a Five-Star resort found bedbugs in a $400 Bose radio. Gross!

So what’s a traveler to do? Heed this advice from Harvard University:

• Check bed linens, nightstands, bedposts and mattresses for evidence of bedbugs.
• Don’t bring your favorite pillow to a hotel unless it’s in a bedbug-proof, sealed pillowcase.
• Don’t store luggage or portable items near hotel beds.
• If you think you’ve been bitten, report it to the hotel management ASAP. Collect a sample if you can for analysis to be sure you weren’t bitten by lice, mites, mosquitoes or fleas.
• If you’re stuck in an infested room, pull the bed away from the wall or shelving and create a 2-inch band of Vaseline or mineral oil around the legs of the bed.

After six years, I am leaving Plan Your Meetings. As editor-in-chief, I have attended many meetings and events. I have visited hotels, special event facilities and convention centers, and talked with countless planners and industry suppliers. I continue to be amazed at the creativity, demands, and spread of the meetings and events business. It is a business of details that want constant attention; it is a business of change — changing fashion, changing tastes, changing tools, and changing measurements.

It’s an exciting industry, and I have enjoyed being part of the change. It is also a very personable business, and I hope to continue many of the wonderful relationships I have developed in my position.

You’ll still be hearing from me on these pages from time to time, and I’ll see some of you at future events. Meanwhile, I hope you’ll continue to participate in all the programs and publications Plan Your Meetings produces. They’re designed to deliver information you can use in ways that entertain, inform and inspire you — whether experiencing new destinations, new technology, the latest in table décor or making new contacts at a PYM Live event, or reading about someone else’s successful negotiation tips in the magazine, or picking up some F & B ideas from our online guru, Claire Gould.

Enjoy the business you’re doing, remember to breath deeply every once in a while, and be generous (in spirit, at least) to all your suppliers. Heed the words of one of my favorite writers:

“It is not from ourselves that we learn to be better than we are.” - Wendell Berry

Thank you for helping me learn and grow, and be better than I am.

— Christine Born

Everything we do at Plan Your Meetings is designed to help you plan better meetings and events, and to help you connect with products, services and properties that best meet your needs. In order to develop the best editorial, LIVE Events, online resources, programs and content available, we regularly seek the help of experts. These meeting professionals make up our PYM Advisory Board.

During the course of the year, you may meet them at our events, read their stories online or in-book, or even take an educational seminar with them. And the work they do behind the scenes affects everything we do.

Please join us in welcoming the members of our 2008 PYM Advisory Board:

• Amy Bonner, community outreach coordinator, Piedmont Hospital
• Monica Compton, CMP, event specialist, Pinnacle Productions Inc.
• James Hogg, adjunct faculty, Ph.D. Candidate, Rosen College of Hospitality Management University of Central Florida
• Tricia Jenkins, owner, Orlando Special Event Planners
• Jennifer Kern, CMP, event marketing manager, Dynami Group
• Qualena Odom-Royes, CSEP, principal event planner, Event Essentials
• Daphne J. Meyers, CMM, owner, Red Barn Group
• Laura Miller, conference center special events manager, McKenna, Long & Aldridge
• Jackie Thornton, M.S., CMP, owner, Global Marketing
• Debra M. VanEvery, CMP, president, Resort Destinations
• Keisha Wilson, CSEP, president, Keisha Wilson Events LLC

In case you haven’t noticed, the presidential election season is in full swing. We thought you might be ready for a lighter, slightly more relevant look at the candidates, as well as a break from the daily back and forth rhetoric of the political pundits. So we asked ME Productions, an award-winning special event and production company, to tell us how they would plan the Inaugural Ball to suit each candidate.

Many of you may remember the Camelot days of President John F. Kennedy, whose Inaugural Ball and state dinners were cultural and fashionable affairs. Since then, it’s been up and down. Jimmy Carter toned it down; the Reagans upped the opulence and partied often. The current Bush White House is less formal, has had fewer state dinners, and the guest list is weighted towards party contributors.

What will events under a new administration look like? Take a peek and get ready to vote.

It Takes A Village

Hillary Clinton dedicates her Inaugural Ball to the children of the United States, the world and the promise of the future. The Boys Choir of Harlem will perform. Centerpieces will be created by children — materials, including a globe, will be sent to select school classrooms all over the U.S. The color scheme will be the rainbow hues of purple, blue, red, orange, yellow and green

A World of Change

Barack Obama’s Inaugural Ball is a green party, in which “nature’s bounty” is the emphasis and the décor elements include tiki bars, bamboo mats, LED lighting, water fountains, lush indigenous plants, natural fabrics, aromatherapy diffusion with essential oils and beeswax candles. The color scheme will be in earth tones. Entertainment will be by a steel pan band (no electricity is used). Evites will be sent to save paper.

I Dream of America

John McCain’s inaugural ball will celebrate the iconic moments, places and people of America. Some of the most important historic moments in America’s past will be projected on a video screen using sophisticated lighting throughout the night. Maps of the U.S. will be design elements on the walls. Enlarged sepia-toned photos of some of the country’s greatest figures, places and events will be hung throughout the space. Centerpieces will be replicas of America’s greatest places/icons (Statue of Liberty, Mt. Rushmore, Empire State Building). U.S. Navy Band will provide entertainment.

We’d like to hear your Inaugural Party ideas (no endorsements or political statements, please). Leave your comments below.