Successful Meetings - July 2008 - (Page 46)

Safety & Security > Risky Business of public relations for the Columbia Bartending Agency and School of Mixology at New York’s Columbia University: “A great low-alcohol cocktail is a modified version of a Soju Cocktail (which is typically made with sake, plum wine, triple sec, and Sprite). Take plum wine and mix it with Sprite or Sierra Mist, which essentially becomes a wine spritzer. You can modify it to make it even weaker, because plum ner to diffuse the situation. Avoid an audience. Ask a friend of theirs to help encourage the person to hand over the keys.” are unappetizing, but undercooked items are downright scary. “This has to do with proper training and supplying staff with proper thermometers,” explains Bencivenga. “We like to use the instant-read thermometers. You simply check each piece with a thermometer to make sure that you have reached the proper internal temperature for that item. Chicken is to be cooked to 170 degrees internally and held above 145 degrees. Legs and thighs can be tricky. When roasting a whole chicken, those parts tend to take a bit longer, so check them separately. Beef, veal, and lamb are to be cooked until internal temperature reaches 145 degrees. Pork should read 160 degrees for an internal temperature.” 10 GCWI: GOLFCARTING WHILE INTOXICATED 7 THE POISONED APPLE 8 46 Even with all the planning —Matt Bencivenga in the world, it’s possible that attendees will fall ill from banquet cuisine. If that should happen, the most important thing to do is be proactive, instead of hoping the situation will resolve itself, or assuming the attendee got sick from a latewine has a very distinct taste, making peonight run-in with the minibar. “A meeting ple think there’s more alcohol than there is. planner should contact the food service If you use soda water instead of Sprite, it’s company immediately after finding out that a great low-calorie beverage as well.” a food-borne illness could be present, after directing the person with the illness to go OUT OF THE see a doctor,” says Bencivenga. “From DRIVER’S SEAT there the food service company should “Taking the keys away from somecontact the health department immediately one can be tricky, especially if the person is after they have received a call. The quicker your superior or a co-worker with whom you the better, so that if there is a food-borne illdon’t have a personal relationship,” admits ness, it will be much easier to trace it back Liebowitz. “A simple, ‘I’m going your way to the source. The health department will too and could use the company. Can I give then conduct an investigation, which you a lift?’ [often works].” includes checking hygiene of staff, cleanliJulia Rutherford Silvers, author of Risk ness of kitchen, and storage of food.” Management for Meetings and Events, recTHINK OUTSIDE THE ommends “discuss[ing] this situation and other alcohol liability issues with the host HIGHBALL GLASS before the event, and (in conjunction with the One way to keep attendees from alcohol provider) agree on one person from overindulging is to offer specialty drinks the host’s organization to monitor and interthat have a low alcohol content. Here is a vene with event guests. Use a friendly manfavorite from Brigitte Liebowitz, the director “We like to type [recipes] and highlight items that contain common allergy ingredients such as peanuts, dairy, and gluten.” Although many golfers are cavalier about drinking and operating a golf cart, it can be a dangerous mix. “Donated product and open bar tabs provide more of a probability of unlimited drinking, so [planners] might want to limit consumption and provide each golfer a limited number of drink tickets,” suggests Dave Scott, director of golf at Orlando’s Rosen Shingle Creek. Planners should also ask about the instruction staff receives. “All of the snack bar people and cart girls attend bartender training and are therefore trained to identify people that need to be cut off—and are obligated to do so,” says Scott about the training that employees receive at his facility. 9 Golf events often include inexperienced players who are more likely to cause an accident (hitting an errant ball that beans a fellow player) or get injured (walking in the path of an angrily thrown club). What’s a planner to do? “Advise them to play ready golf, but do not walk too far in front of anyone else who is hitting,” says Scott. Ready golf is a style of play that generally speeds up the game by allowing players to hit as they are prepared to do so, instead of in a particular order. He also recommends that planners “advise your golfers to keep their angles very wide and be aware of their surroundings. Never go in front of someone hitting the ball—stay parallel.” Planners can also ask the golf course to add such reminders to a rule sheet in every cart. 11 FORE! 12 SHOW ME A SIGN When conducting a site inspection, keep an eye out for proper use of signage throughout a JULY 2008 SUCCESSFUL MEETINGS mimegasite.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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