Successful Meetings - July 2008 - (Page 29)

> On Site They Snooze, You Lose By Dr. Marc Kayem, M.D. What’s the biggest obstacle to keeping attendees fully engaged at meetings? Is it an overloaded agenda? Think again. Socially disruptive snoring may be what’s really preventing many meeting attendees from giving their full attention. The numbers don’t lie. Some 120 million Americans snore—upwards of 40 percent of the population—and approximately 80 percent of married couples sleep apart occasionally because of the problem. What has yet to be documented, however, is the number of people who attend meetings, conferences, or corporate retreats and are forced to share a room with a snorer—then have their productivity levels plummet due to lack of sleep. Even the most well-planned meeting or staff getaway can ultimately fail if there are snorers in the crowd who are robbing their roommates of much needed rest. You can probably identify a few snorers by the way they doze off during a conference. More than likely they got a poor night’s sleep themselves. “I suffered greatly from having to room with a snorer at a conference, and that led directly to poor daytime concentration and fatigue,” says Robert Salti, an account representative for the Straumann Company, an Andover, MD-based medical equipment supplier. “I’ve been through both room changes and roommate changes at various events, due to snoring. Once, after two days with a snorer, I told my manager, Paul Philo, that I was going to get a private room and charge my corporate account. He agreed with me, thankfully, and allowed the change.” When asked about this incident and others like it, Philo concludes “it makes no sense to gather a group of people from across the country at great expense to discuss important company business, only to have someone nod off because they are not getting sufficient sleep due to snoring.” Here are several strategies that can help minimize the effect snorers have on your meeting: PROMOTE USING EVENTS. Etkin suggests that the ad budget, while necessary, could be replaced by other media approaches that include direct messaging and public relations. “Go green” when it make sense. “Going green can be affordable when done right,” says Etkin. “For example, when our team went to Jamaica for one client, they made certain to ship less material and use local products. Even the centerpieces were made from local vegetation and by island artists. This saved having to ship enormous amounts of material and ornaments, and resulted in a considerable cost savings.” PROVIDE A “GAS ALLOWANCE” FOR POTENTIAL CLIENTS. Why not consider an incentive of a tank of gas to clients who come on site for a visit? Auto dealerships have been doing this for years, along with other promotions. Those ad dollars might be better used as an incentive for face-to-face client meetings than for blind pitches to a mass audience. Linda Hamburger manages public relations for ME Productions (www.meproductions.com), an award-winning meetings, event production, and destination management company based in Pembroke Park, FL. She is also the founder and moderator of the South Florida Public Relations Network (SFPRN) and the PR Daily Digest. She can be reached at oncallpr@aol.com. SUCCESSFUL MEETINGS JULY 2008 mimegasite.com 29 http://www.meproductions.com http://mimegasite.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Successful Meetings - July 2008

Successful Meetings - July 2008
Contents
Editor's Note
Industry Trends
Suppliers
Newsmakers
On the Record
Technology
Newsmakers
Calendar
Planner Spotlight
Management Matters
Meetings Law
Websites of the Month
Mouth for Sale
Pre-Event
On Site
Tools of the Trade
Pre-Event
Initial Success
Strong Medicine
Risky Business
Places & Spaces
Birmingham
Kentucky
Georgia & the Carolinas
Hong Kong
Melbourne
Gurus

Successful Meetings - July 2008