Successful Meetings - July 2008 - (Page 30)

Planner’s Workshop > On Site Avoid being sedentary for long periods of time. Regular breaks and intervals for fresh air keep participants rested. Avoid smoking and allergens known to produce allergic congestion. Be mindful of the problem and anticipate it will be an issue. An estimated 59 million people in the U.S. have sleep apnea (an obstructed airway that causes periodic lapses in breathing during sleep); most of them have not been diagnosed. Untreated sleep apnics often snore loudly and exhibit daytime sleepiness. Manage accommodations with sleep breathing disorders in mind. Pair those with disorders in the same or adjoining/adjacent rooms. Offer private rooms for participants with a diagnosed sleep breathing disorder, even if it means increasing the cost. What you gain in productivity will more than make up for the additional expenditure. Create the right environment. Allow participants to openly report a problem. Ask how participants have been sleeping during the meeting. Be sensitive to complaints and don’t brush them off as being a minor nuisance. Educate on avoidance. If appropriate accommodations can’t be made, provide tips on preventing snoring in the attendee’s meeting packet, such as: Avoid alcohol four hours before going to bed. Avoid heavy foods three hours before bed. Avoid sedating antihistamines and tranquilizers. Avoid long, exhausting meetings that adjourn near bedtime. Avoid sleeping on your back if possible, and sleep on your side if sharing a room. This can be done with pillows, and special shirts that have a tennis ball sewn on the backside. NO PAIN, BUT MUCH GAINED What also can be expressed to snorers is that there are new, minimally invasive techniques to reduce or perhaps terminate snoring. For instance, the Pillar Procedure uses small inserts in the soft palate. The procedure takes just a few minutes in the doctor’s office, and there’s no downtime. Radiofrequency of the tongue is similar in that there’s no downtime and minimal discomfort. Both of these are great options for those that have tried CPAP, the pressurized air masks that are just plain uncomfortable and inconvenient to travel with. Meeting planners and attendees should begin talking about snoring issues and treatment options. It may be a little odd at first, but in the end this will bring relief to almost every individual who attends and encourage many to get the help they need. Additionally, it gives the meeting or event you have planned that much more chance to succeed. Dr. Kayem graduated from the University of Ottawa School of Medicine in Canada in 1987; he is a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of Canada (F.R.C.S.C.). In 2007, he and his associate, Michelle Putnam, M.D., launched The Snoring and Apnea Center of California, in Los Angeles. Dr. Kayem has published articles in major peer-reviewed journals and is a team physician for the Los Angeles Kings of the NHL. You can learn more about snoring and sleep apnea at www.snoring911.com. Tools of the Trade WEB WALLET BY VINCENT ALONZO Ilium Software’s eWallet lets you secure confidential meetings-related information as well as your personal information in a single file that can be accessed on your mobile device. Whether it’s shipping and tracking numbers for meetings materials, registration PIN numbers, bank account information, passwords, or master account and corporate purchasing card numbers, eWallet 6.0 allows you to password-protect this information and store it in a safe and secure electronic wallet. For more information, visit www.iliumsoft.com. GREEN TEE Looking for golf tees that are 100 percent biodegradable? BioGolfTee products are made mainly from wheat starch mixed with other natural polymers. They degrade after six to 12 weeks on the golf course, and do not affect the environment or interfere with moving machines. Even the pigments used to create the six different colors as well as the ink used for personalization are environmentally friendly. For more information, visit www.biogolftee.com. 30 mimegasite.com JULY 2008 SUCCESSFUL MEETINGS http://www.snoring911.com http://www.iliumsoft.com http://www.biogolftee.com http://www.biogolftee.com http://mimegasite.com

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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

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