One + February 2011 - (Page 69)

help people take advantage of all those possibilities is exactly what you Fun Coach Bernie DeKoven: should be doing. InforWhat’s the fun of being in a mality is better than forroom with a bunch of peo- mality. A buffet is more fun than a banquet. A ple who don’t know each bunch of learning centers other? There’s a kind of is more fun than a lecture. freedom there. It’s not work. It’s not like you have Give them things to do together. Lots of things. to perform. And, when Different things. Think given the freedom, there kindergarten. are opportunities to learn from each other, to ﬁnd like minds, to connect, to create relationships, to play even. So, whatever you can do to their time. It wasn’t an indulgence. bring customers inside the company’s brand of fun. “The idea is that we are interacting with our [associates] in a way that helps them see who we are as people. Frankly, it’s fun,” Goldstar’s McCarthy said. “What we’re trying to convey is not so much ‘buy from us because we’re so crazy or funny’ but that we’re real people who are doing something that we actually care about. We’re not drones.” DeKoven said. At Search Mojo, Miller has seen that play out. The scavenger hunt was a natural extension of the company culture. The small organization has a high level of employee retention. Staffers are dedicated and loyal because they love working there. “It really exhibits to potential employees what a great place this is to work,” Miller said. “It makes people bypass big cities and say, ‘I want to come to your small town and work in this atmosphere because it’s so much fun.’ It’s not just a cubical job.” Econsultancy puts the fun of social interaction to work to connect with clients at live events. “It is very hard to build a deep relationship with someone purely via digital means, so our community and social events are very effective for hearing from our clients what they really think, want or need and for gaining their goodwill and attention,” Friedlein said. “We don’t make any money [from the events] but we do spend quality face time together.” Part of that face time includes Econsultancy’s push for “unusual presentation formats.” Event sponsors who want to ﬁll attendees in on their products or services get one minute to do their live spiel. “There is a big clock counting down behind them,” Friedlein said. “That’s quite fun. Also, we show streams of Twitter comments to delegates to engage them in a live debate [and use] live polling and voting in the audience.” Goldstar uses its Facebook page to Everyone has witnessed the horror of the boss who thinks he can turn employee morale back from upside down “with one really fun event!” “If you set out to create fun because otherwise life is miserable in your company, you’ve already gone wrong somewhere,” he said. “I think a lot of people really hate when companies do this sort of mandatory fun. [When managers say] ‘Everyone will be more productive if they’re having more fun, so let’s force them to do fun things,’ that just doesn’t work.” And there’s also the issue of a rose not being a rose not being a rose. “What we’ve seen is that fun is different to different people,” Storm said. With the improv program, there were people that deﬁnitely wouldn’t be volunteering—but they did participate by sitting in the audience and laughing. Adds Storm: “When I pull into the parking lot [in the morning], I recognize that all those cars are there because the employees are good people and they have good jobs, and jobs that they like to come to every day. That, to me, is more rewarding than any of the other stuff. It’s one of the reasons I don’t sell out. If I take a big check, I miss out on that piece.” JENNA SCHNUER is a regular contributor to One+, American Way and other business and travel publications. Read more of her work online at jennaschnuer.com. mpiweb.org 69 http://www.meetings.oceanreef.com http://www.jennaschnuer.com http://www.mpiweb.org

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of One + February 2011

One + February 2011
Contents
Energy of Many
Impressions
The Productivity Cloud
Overheard
Agenda
MPIWeb Connect
Thoughts+Leaders
Events for Life
Gateway to the Future
Top Spots
It Was Not Interesting
Irrelevant
The Wrong Words
Up to Snuff
That’s Enough Facebook
Super Foods to the Rescue
Shoring Resources
Jack and Smoke
Accidentally on Purpose
Staying on Top of Tech
The Joy of Work
Plan to Run
Productivity on the Go
Angel of the Favelas
Your Community
Making a Difference
Until We Meet Again
MPI’s 2011 Meeting Guide to Canada
Contents
Banff Centre
Ottawa Tourism
Tourisme Montréal
The Buzz
InterContinental Canada
Caesars Windsor
Vintage Hotels
The Great Green North
Whistler, British Columbia
Meetings and Conventions Calgary
Scotiabank Convention Centre

One + February 2011