One + February 2011 - (Page 74)

PRODUCTIVITY ON THE GO BY GREGORY TAGGART N een James is a motivational speaker at conferences and business events from Anaheim to Antwerp to Adelaide. “My job is to open a conference with a high level of energy,” she said. “[I’m paid] to have an incredibly high level of energy, to motivate a room full of people, so I’m personally responsible for that energy. My energy—or lack of energy— is contagious.” For James, that’s reason enough to ﬂy in a little earlier, to pay a little more for a hotel, to take a little time to work out. In short, it’s reason to make sure she’s rested, ready and packed with contagious energy. Only then will she be conﬁdent that on stage and in person, she’ll be 02.11 changing everyone involved. That shouldn’t be, according to James. “When we travel, we can’t expect our clients to have the leftovers.” SYSTEMATIZE at her best. “Productivity for road warriors is really about consciousness,” she said. “It’s all about what you do before, during and after you travel.” If you or your employees travel much you know that it’s easier to talk productivity than to be productive on the road. The distractions can wear you down if you’re not careful. Attending to lastminute details before you leave, negotiating the everchanging security landscape at the airport and sleeping on a lumpy bed in an unfamiliar hotel often combine to sap your energy before you conduct the ﬁrst meeting or visit an important client, short To make sure you serve the dish fresh, productivity experts offer up a smorgasbord of ideas that promise to make you or your employees more effective on the road. For James, president and CEO of Neen James Communications and an international productivity expert, that means being very systematized. “From showering in the morning to taking the same route to work to paying the bills, everybody creates systems in their lives,” she said. “But when we travel, the unfamiliar becomes a distraction because there’s not a system for it. So to become productive when you travel, you must create a travel system.” She’s serious. Her systems include even the smallest details. For example, she always parks on the third level of the garage at her departure airport—“the ﬁrst level is always full, and the roof is unsafe for a woman at night”—and always places her travel gear on the security scanner conveyor belt in the same order—“shoes on ﬁrst, so I can put them on when I get through; laptop last, so I can see it go through security.” She even packs her bag the same way every 74 one+

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