By: Rosita Carobelli-Zukowski of All in Place Communications and Event Planning

www.allinplace.ca

I recently made a group presentation on personal branding and the influence of social media.

As a co-chair, I was responsible in leading the other committee members on deadlines and expectations. My co-chair and I were in constant communication with each other and with the others, making sure no information was left out.

The objective of the presentation was to educate the audience a little more on the importance of using social media tactics to effectively enhance one’s personal brand and reputation. We divided the presentation into various sections including a personal brand tool kit. We delegated sections of the presentation providing an outline of what each slide’s topic was to be highlighted. Each member had their own approach to researching their individual topic. Hours of preparation and dedication were evident from the start to the finished product.

When presentation day came, we all presented our individual parts, each one of us contributing to the overall flow of the presentation. Different speaking voices, stances and addresses all contributed to executing a well-put together presentation. This captured the audience’s attention as well as impressed them with some newfound knowledge they weren’t familiar with before they walked through the door.

Teambuilding is a synergy of minds and personalities that come together to collaborate on something whether it’s an event, presentation or project.

That’s what this group did!

Everyone knew the importance of this presentation and how their individual participation reflected back to each of their own personal brands. Everyone likes working with team players (makes life a lot easier!), and everyone would like to be considered as one in respect to their own individual personal brand.

It’s about attitude, commitment and collaboration.  Some people have it, some people strive for it, but no matter what, we all have control over our personal brand and reputation.  Your personal brand speaks in the actions you convey and the results that follow.

By Nate Baumgart: Production Coordinator At Corporate Event Interactive

Most people  here in Chicago probably vote January as their least favorite month. The days are at their shortest, it’s bitterly cold and the only holiday to look forward to is Groundhog Day.  But March is much worse. Not warm enough to be comfortable, not cold enough to bundle up, you feel like you should be outside, but everything is grey and dead.  The only thing March has going for it is that the summer’s adventure hunt calendar begins to take shape and I can spend my time imagining all the running, biking, mud crawling, wall climbing, puzzle solving and costuming I will be doing this summer.

A quick roundup of some of the region’s best races should help you (and me) decide what to take on as we inch into warmer weather.

The 24 Hour Film Race

If you have worked on a film set before you are well aware that it involves just as much problem solving frustration and exhausting exertion as an adventure race. Though the race is technically an international competition, Chicago is on the cities holding premiere screenings and its own local competition. Filmmakers and their teams will have 24 hours to write, film and edit a 4 minute (max) movie. Top 24 films based on regional competition go to New York in July to compete for prizes! Check out winners from 2010,2009, 2008 and 2007.

Who: Fledgling Fellinis, Junior Jarmuschs, Kiddy Kubricks

When: 10p Friday April 29th to 9:59p Saturday April 30th

Where: Anywhere!

How Much: $89 until March 31, 2011, then $99. To participate in the separate city of Chicago competition: $40 until March 31, 2011 then $50. Register here.

What you get: First Prize in NYC is $4,000 other prizes will be detailed at a later date.

Urban Assault Ride

As a year-round urban bicyclist, I must admit that there is no summer challenge race I look forward to more than the Urban Assault Ride. Hosted byNew Belgium Beer these events always sponsor a local charity. This year it’s “Break the Gridlock” a Chicago charity devoted to reducing car dependence. Teams of two receive packets of clues leading to various locations throughout the city. Each location has a separate challenge and the team to complete them all the fastest wins. Racers must bike and they must wear helmets the entire time. Previous years challenges have included: adult big wheels, bike jousting, mini bikes, BMX peg rides and inflatable slip-N-slides among others. Better yet, every part of the event is sustainably managed and New Belgium provides the after party.

Who: Earth Lovers, Beer Lovers, People Who Can’t Afford Gas

When: May 22, 2011

Where: Murphy’s Bleachers 3655 North Sheffield Chicago IL 60613

How Much: $45 a person until May 8, 2011, then $60 a person. Registerhere.

What You Get: a T-Shirt, a zip bag, snacks and refreshments, a beer, an Urban Assault sticker and raffel tickets for over $5000 in prizes.

Warrior Dash

The same folks behind The Great Urban Race put up this decidedly non-urban mud race complete with military-style obstacle challenges. This race is everyman (or woman) for themselves, but you are invited to compete with friends and costumes are encouraged. There are two in the Midwest this year but only one in Illinois. The race is 3.28 “Hellish” miles of trail running. Obstacles include: climbing hay bales, crawling through pitch black mud trenches, climbing cargo nets and leaping over flames among others. If you want more info about the obstacles, too bad. The info here is all you get till race day. (You can skip obstacles, but it makes you ineligible for prizes).

Who: Warriors (obviously)

When: June 18th 0r 19th

Where: Dollinger Farms 7502 East Hansel Road IL, 60410

How Much: $65 for Saturday $55 for Sunday until May 22, 2011 then $75 and $65. Final registration June 6, 2011. Register here.

What You Get: All competitors get: a beer, a fuzzy warrior helmet, a Warrior Dash T-shirt, a medal, a race bib, post race snacks and water. Top three finishers overall receive an engraved steel warrior helmet. Top three in each division receive steel warrior helmet trophy.

Great Urban Race

Great Urban Race is a half day race (a quarter day if you’re good) that promises to challenge you mentally, physically and mass transit-ically. The race typically takes about 3 hours (top finishers do it in half that time). Teams of two (or more in the Family Division) are given an envelope of 12 clues that lead to locations. Travel is by foot or transit only. Each location has a challenge; a maze, a game, a brain-teaser or a public challenge. Time penalties are given at the end for incorrect clues or incomplete challenges. Team theming and costuming is probably the most notable aspect of this hunt. Teams of pirates, Muppets, sci-fi characters and more are out in full force every year! Great Urban Race is put up by Red Frog Events the folks behind the Warrior Dash (detailed below).

Who: People who have always wanted to dress like Bert and Ernie/Abbot and Costello and ride the el.

When: July 23, 2011 12p-5p

Where: Joe’s on Weed: 1840 N. Clybourn Ave. Chicago IL 60614

How Much: $50 per person until June 27, 2011, then $60. Register here.

What You Get: All racers receive t-shirts and snacks, winners receive cash and free entry to the championship round in New Orleans in November.

Berryman Adventure Race

Details for this year’s race haven’t been set, but with 12 or 36 hour courses you can be sure that this is one serious challenge. This year’s course will be in the Mark Twain National Forest in the Ozarks. Last year the 12 hour course required 20-35 miles of mountain biking, 7-15 miles of running/bushwacking and 5-15 miles of paddling and close to three times that much for the 36. Teams are two to four people. Routes are not provided and teams are required to navigate on their own with map and compass. The race is part of the Checkpoint Tracker National Point Series and does attract professional competitors. Typically there’s a carb loading meal the night before, it’s highly recommended. The event is promoted by Bonk Hard Racing. Check their website for details later in the spring.

Who: Masochist Outdoorsmen, Eco-Challenge Amateurs,  People on First Dates (KIDDING!)

When: September 24-25, 2011

Where: TBD Missouri

How Much: Last year it was $100-120 for the 12 hour $160-200 for the 36 hour. Registration details for this year have not yet been posted.

What You Get: BRAGGING RIGHTS! Trophy, outdoor gear, points for the Checkpoint Tracker National Series.

Hope you enjoyed the round-up and hope to see you out there this summer!

by Rosita Carobelli-Zukowski, All in Place Communications and Event Planning

A new year brings new challenges. Now more than ever, it’s important to challenge oneself. Whether it’s on your own or in a team setting, pushing oneself is critical to self-development. The dictionary definition of motivation is ‘the desire to do; an interest or drive’. I don’t know why, but people tend to push themselves more within a team-setting and tend to have more fun as a result.

In one of my previous marketing and event planning work experiences, I was responsible for organizing an annual sales meeting for a sales force of 35+ salesmen, senior and middle management and corporate guests. Each year, as a team of 3-4, we would collaborate together in planning the logistics of the sales meeting, especially the fun part, evening activities. After full days of discussing important matters, it was just as important for all the attendees to unwind and socialize together. From bowling to go-karting, each team pulled together, with each team member contributing their own individual strengths. All done in fun, the element of friendly-competition brings out the best in everyone (most of the time!)

Other team-building activities that come to mind include paintball, dodge ball or basketball tournaments, chili or hot soup cook-offs, or even cooking classes – how does learning to marinate the best steak in town sound to you? Any one of these can bring team players together when working towards a final goal. It is just as important to stimulate any team out of the office as well as within the corporate boardroom.

by Rosita Carobelli-Zukowski, All in Place Communications and Event Planning

Happy New Year! Did you make New Year resolutions? Have you broken yours already? How many times have you promised yourself that you’ll get into shape? You tell yourself, “This year will be different!”

Researchers have proven that the more fit someone is, the more they achieve mental clarity and perform better at what they love to do. However, everyone knows New Year resolutions aren’t typically met. After a few weeks, people tend to go back to their ‘old ways’. It is hard establishing a new routine; it takes approximately 21 days to build a habit and incorporate it into a new routine.

Wouldn’t it be nice to stick to a work out routine by working out with your co-workers? All of us need to have a motivator to push ourselves more. Some companies have started just this. Boot camp exercise classes for yoga, pilates and cardio are popping up everywhere. Whether one does it with a partner or with a group, the chances of sticking through are better as everyone in the same room is motivated in working towards meeting the same or similar goals. Once everyone is focused on achieving their individual end results, they’ll begin pushing themselves more. As well as working together better. They won’t let each other ‘fall off the wagon’ or accept excuses for skipping classes (even 6am starts!). Instead, a camaraderie will form resulting in healthier working relationships and even friendships. Teambuilding can be found in everyday routines; motivating one another to be the best they can be.

by Jeff Hurt, Velvet Chainsaw

What do the next ten years have in store for conference and event organizers? Plenty.

As 2010 comes to a close, many conference and event professionals have been looking ahead to the 2011. Here’s a look into 2011 and the next decade.

1. Increased complexity and volatility as change is the constant and uncertainty its response.

The successful will be able to navigate rapidly changing times with increased flexibility. The ability to be nimble and make quick midcourse corrections will be highly prized and valued.

by Rosita Carobelli-Zukowski, All in Place Communications and Event Planning

Planning the same old Holiday Party? Attending the same old Holiday Party? Are you looking to host a party that captures attendees’ attention? No matter how small or large the budget allows for, there are many ways to be creative and inventive. Film festivals are the events to attend these days.  As guests arrive, have a montage of classic Christmas movie moments playing to instrumental ‘winter wonderland’ music in the background. Not only will this instil memories of Christmas’ from long ago, it can be a great conversation starter. Whether it will make guests reminisce about previous Holiday parties (corporate or social) or their own family traditions (Aunt Mary’s shortbread snowmen cookies are a must on Christmas Eve!), it helps set the mood for the event. It will get everyone talking and comparing notes and ideas. And you never know, this may lead to them learning something new about their co-worker or friend that they may have not known before.

by Ed Graziano, Corporate Event Interactive

If you are a business professional you more than likely have attended a wide variety of business related meetings and events and I expect you will have many of the same observances that I have listed below, so please feel free to share.

If you want to bore your audiences and ensure a minimum retention of program content at your next meeting please consider the following…

1.) Cram as much content into the meeting as possible. Limit breaks and social opportunities and be sure to cover everything in the limited amount of time a meeting lasts.

2.) Never change your presenters, trainers or facilitators from meeting to meeting. Once you have people who your audience likes, never offer professionals with different perspectives or presentation styles as they might not be received well by your group.

3.) Don’t take risks. If your venue contact, meeting planner or meeting content professional offers some unique but different ideas it is always best to state “our group won’t go for that.”

4.) Consider meeting rooms with no windows or access to outside as the outdoors is just a potential big distraction to the learning process.

5.) Never consider adding an interactive experience or networking opportunity that might reinforce the learning from the meeting itself. Nobody likes to have a little fun when they get together at a meeting and certainly if people are having fun they cannot be learning as well.

6.) Always try to top the last meeting. Don’t worry about cost or that the last meeting was very productive, just focus on making this one bigger and showier.

7.) Never involve participants in the learning process at a meeting. Stay with the traditional “data dump” from speaker to audience as who knows what the audience might say, contribute or do during a presentation or workshop.

8.) Stay away from technology. Technology is scary and not everyone is familiar with the newest trends, applications and gadgets. And certainly there is not enough time or budget to offer “tech” training or rentals as needed.

9.) Don’t mix up your meeting guests so they have opportunities to meet others at the meeting. Let people stay in cliques as they will be more comfortable and enjoy the meeting more.

10.) When planning a meeting only consider the ideas of top management. Don’t bother to survey your audience as top management certainly knows best what the meeting content and design should be.

I am sure you have many other ideas on how to make a meeting as boring/unproductive as possible. Please take a moment and share your ideas below!

by Anne Thornley-Brown, Executive Oasis International

Building a Better Business Meeting

Summary: A volume of research is available about the best strategies to engage adult learners. In spite of this, at corporate meetings and during sales rallies, companies continue to subject employees to a series of long, boring presentations delivered by “talking heads”. It’s a dreary and tedious pattern of passive disengagement. There is a better way.

A Broken Business Meeting Model

Our team building firm regularly gets requests from companies that initially request a full day of interactive team building. This is doable with a very short simulation and very specific outcomes but it’s a very tight timeframe. Typically, this time slot is then reduced to 1/2 a day and, ultimately, watered down to a request for a 1 or 2 hour strictly recreational activity after dinner that is, ultimately, awarded to the lowest cost provider. The meeting actually ends up being a series of dry presentations (back to back information dumps). By the time the participants get to dinner, they are exhausted and in bad humour. This pattern has been emerging in Toronto for some time now. We notice that it is also starting to happen with prospective clients in Asia and Dubai. Colleauges in the USA have confirmed that they are seeing a similar pattern. Why is this happening? Companies have indicated that there ends up being way too much content to cover.

by Jeff Hurt, Velvet Chainsaw

Adapted from original image by London Permaculture.

Event Organizers Investigated For Not Following FTC Guidelines

Did you know that at a January 2010 event held by Ann Taylor Loft was investigated by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) for possible violation of new marketing guidelines which apply to WOM, Social Media, TV, radio and print?
That’s right, the event organizers were investigated.

Why the investigation?

Ann Taylor Loft event organizers invited bloggers to preview their summer collection. They asked them to write about the collection and their experience. In exchange for their blogging they received a free gift and a gift card worth up to $500. 31 bloggers attended the event and received gift cards.

The FTC was concerned the new media writers did not disclose that they received gifts for posting about the event. Some did disclose the relationship. Some didn’t. The new rules require disclosure.

As reported in Ad Age:
The event and the unusual request for posts to be submitted for a prize received media scrutiny and caught the eye of the FTC. “We were concerned that bloggers who attended a preview on January 26, 2010 failed to disclose that they received gifts for posting blog content about that event,” Mary Engle, the FTC’s associate director-advertising practices, wrote in a letter dated April 20 to Ann Taylor’s legal representation.

Event Organizers Investigated Not The Bloggers

What’s interesting to me is that in this case, the FTC did not investigate the bloggers that did not disclose. They investigated the event organizers for securing social media sharers in exchange for gifts and not telling the bloggers they needed to disclose the relationship.

If you plan events, conferences or meetings, that should send up a host of red flags!

by Steven Sulkin, MBM Productions International

Up until recently, one could argue that for millennia meetings haven’t changed very much. When I see most in-person meetings, what strikes me is that just like in ancient Greece, we walk onto a stage, head for dead center and orate from a lectern. For a long time now, I’ve wondered why we keep doing this.

Early in my career, in the 1980’s, because of the needs of some high tech clients, I was challenged with breaking out of that mold and broadcasting my meetings rather than presenting them in person. And in those days, well before the Internet was invented, broadcast meant via satellite. The now quaint sounding term for that type of transmission was “closed circuit television.”

For me, because of my production background, broadcast was natural. Imagining the “scene” as it would ultimately appear on a screen was my normal way of looking at communication. Live meeting production was where I had to think differently and put on my theater hat. Live meetings are the business version of theater and virtual meetings are the business version of television.

These days, of course, “television” (meaning all types of professional video) isn’t limited to the big three broadcasters or even to TV at all. Video streaming is ubiquitous, on the Internet, on smart phones and even on gaming consoles. So one would think we’d be, as a society, way ahead of the curve in creating sophisticated TV like business productions and virtual events. But when I observe the vast majority of virtual meetings what I see is the same mistakes made as were made in early 1950’s in TV. In the 50’s, TV producers modeled what they produced after theater, just as virtual events today are often modeled after live meetings. They surmised back then, they could simply stage a theater production and point a camera at it. Watch old black and white footage of the Honeymooners and you’ll see what I mean. It was “deadly” to watch because it was static and didn’t take advantage of multi-camera angles and editing that we now understand is imperative to create a proper broadcast. Eventually, TV evolved into more sophisticated productions.

Today, in the world of virtual events the same 1950’s mistakes seem to be happening all over again. There is the thought that one can simply transmit a slide over the Internet with a synced voice and it’s a meeting. Add a tiny talking head via video or clip art embedded into a drawing of a virtual trade show and the thinking is that creates an engaging virtual event experience. Putting aside the sync problems, which are commonplace as platforms struggle to combine all of these disparate elements, most importantly, this type of virtual event is exceedingly un-engaging to watch, compromising the effect of the virtual experience and ultimately driving people back to rely heavily on travel and live meetings. And most ironically, it’s completely unnecessary as all of the tools to produce engaging video production are at our disposal if we would just take advantage of them. Combine that engaging transmitted video with an in-person meeting and we create ‘the hybrid meeting” – the best of both worlds.

So what should we do in the world of virtual events, Web streaming and online meetings these days? We should learn from and take advantage of the technology that TV and the movies has given us and used for decades. For one, we should abandon the notion of syncing a static slide to voice and a video talking head. There’s no reason to do that. With sophisticated video Web streaming technologies and production “capture” technology (HD cameras, portable lighting systems, etc.) we can create engaging video for the business world, and stream it full screen over relatively modest bandwidth. But this new era of virtual communication demands that anyone involved in the creation of a virtual event must be a video production expert, a meeting planning pro and an IT guru well honed in the science of streaming video over the Web.

There is another lesson of what not to do that we can learn from the early days of television, and it’s about live verses on demand. In the world of TV, even TV news, live is a choice of last resort. No one in TV chooses live unless they have to, as it increases risk, both technical and human. And on the Internet, well over 90% of all video is consumed on demand. Especially in the world of business, minimally for legal reasons to limit risk, we should review every word and every single piece of data before releasing it to the masses. Therefore, except in rare cases and for good purpose, we should pre-record everything we can, every presentation, every word uttered. In the world of pharmaceutical virtual events, this couldn’t be more imperative. The only element, which should be live, is Q and A. With sophisticated platforms that can be achieved with a technique referred to as “SimLive” – the combination of pre-recorded presentations blended with live Q and A.

The viewer need not even know the presentation is live or recorded unless one wants to express that. Every day on TV news the limiting of live reporting is a practiced technique. Live news stories include taped sections with the actual live portion being a small element of the segment. Pre-recorded means less risk, more control and lower cost. TV learned that lesson years ago.

I remember when The Tonight Show was live and all the problems that ensued, then soon afterward it went “live to tape” to reduce risk and increase the effectiveness as they could edit and re-do sections they weren’t happy with. One can learn a lot from early TV as we create new axioms in the business of Virtual Meetings and Events –Think Like a Broadcaster and You’ll Find Success.