Smart Meetings

Smart Meetings’ readers know we have a very witty cartoonist—Cathy Bowman, who has been “drawing” on the funny aspects of our business for several years. But, this past week, syndicated newspaper cartoonists have focused their inspiration on meetings as well:

There’s a great story about the creation of The Beatles’ “Abbey Road” that details how the album ends. It was meant to close with the famous last lines of “The End,” (and in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make) but the recording engineer spliced “Her Majesty” on the end of the final mix reel, giving a bit of  a surprise to first-time listeners, which included the members of the band after the record was pressed.

Like the Beattles before us, Smart Meetings has a lot more information than can ever go into our print edition. Some of this flows over onto the website, but some of it – for example five versions of the same photo – get left on the digital equivalent of the cutting room floor.

When you get the first issue of 2009, you’ll see on page 6 the publisher’s note along with a staff photo. In the spirit of Director’s Cuts and “Abbey Road,” I’d like to share with you the photos that didn’t make the final version, as a sort of online holiday card.


This is Ben’s back as I was trying to figure out the timer on the camera. Ben, as you can see in our Masthead, is the Office Jedi. He does everything, and does it well.


I actually don’t recall taking this picture but I must have because I was declared cameraman for the day.


I call this “Group Shot With Flash – Version One. When I walked back to the tripod I reviewed it and told the group, “Yeah, I’m definitely the star of that shot.” Later, in the office, Marin Bright, our intrepid publisher, commented that it looked like I was Dave Matthews and behind me was my band.

This one would have been great except for the halo covering Ginny’s face, right by Macie’s head. It’s not good to partially obscure the face of the Associate Publisher or the Associate Editor, so we moved on to no flash.


The next shot taken is the one you can find in our January issue. I knew it was perfect, but took another one just in case. This last one would have been better actually, but Scarlett, the office puppy, gave a bit of a squirm as the shutter clicked. No one likes a blurry picture of a puppy. It’s why Monet never painted dogs.

Happy Holidays, and good luck in 2009.

Dec. 10, 2008
7:03 p.m. Sitting in SFO’s domestic terminal is weird. I thought my flight was international. I was corrected of that by two men in uniform as I hurriedly ran around the International terminal just minutes ago…whew. Good thing I am one of what looks like 14 passengers on this Wednesday night flight to Richmond, B.C., Canada. Exact time from curbside drop-off to the seat I am sitting in now: 4 minutes. So, I may have put using my passport up to some high expectations—turns out it’s just like using an ID…sigh. So, the trip begins. I’m out of the office loaded with business cards, magazines and my itinerary for the next two days. Here I come, Richmond! And we’re off…

Dec. 11, 2008
10:35 p.m. Richmond, B.C. is gorgeous! We began the day at 7:30 a.m. and having recently returned to my room at the River Rock Casino Resort (amazing!) I feel both tired and excited. This morning began cold and a little weary due to a late arrival, but my mood quickly changed when I was greeted in my lobby and shuttled to the Radisson Hotel Vancouver Airport, which served us hot coffee and a great buffet breakfast. Afterward we took a look around the property, viewing meeting space, guest rooms and a business and fitness “centre.”



At 7 degrees Celsius (which I learned was actually 44 degrees Fahrenheit), my fellow members of the press and I returned to the car and went to check out the UBC Boathouse located on the dyke. It was a great venue for an event. Floor-to-ceiling windows looked out over the water and newly snow-capped mountains in the distance…it was stunning. We took part in the Drum Cafe (my favorite part of the day) where we all followed along to traditional African drum beats given to us by the master drummer. A local restaurant owner, members of Tourism Richmond, and the marketing director at River Rock Casino met us here and took part as we all learned (in the least cheesy way possible) that working together as a drum circle team, we could create wonderful music. It was a team-building experience that any size group would love.

The day included some local dining and another highlight was a tour of the Richmond Olympic Oval, the soon-to-be home of Speed Skating in the 2010 Winter Olympic Games. The building is incredible to say the least, showcasing intricate artwork and a ceiling that is pretty hard to believe. (It’s made of salvaged wood from B.C.’s local forests that had been “destroyed” by their relentless pine beetles.)

The evening was hosted by The Fairmont Vancouver Airport hotel that was a breakaway from any ordinary airport property. We ate off of their catering menu to sample what future attendees could have a choice of and there were rave reviews across the table. Meeting space was geared for smaller to mid-size groups and plenty of amenities were offered for tired travelers, including completely sound-proof windows and high-tech guest rooms.

Dec. 12, 2008
8:05 a.m.  It’s snowing! As a Californian, this excites me to no end…

11:32 a.m. Turns out, no one here is as excited as I am about the snow. Seems that it’s not cold enough to “stick,” so it has now turned everything outside to mush. It still looks pretty to me. I think I’m alone on this one, however.

9:15 p.m. We just finished a delicious meal at a local Chinese restaurant, Gingeri, which was a wonderful group dining option. The day was great… a little wet and cold… but great. Among the highlights was a team-building activity, Flight Adventures. I took part in the experience by flying out of the Austria airport in a light snow. (Okay, fine. It was a simulation but it was very real!) With graphics of the actual flight path that pilots take, my take-off was okay aside from nearly hitting a mountain or two, but I didn’t and that’s the important part. The landing was a little more disastrous, however when I missed the runway and instead landed us on the grass near the terminal. No one was hurt. Still – a unique option for team building.

Another memorable experience this evening was taking part in the official opening ceremonies of the Richmond Olympic Oval. We entered “backstage” and were escorted to media seats to look out at speeches made by major leaders in the community. We also heard from six-time Olympic medalist, Cindy Klassen and Olympic rower Kyle Hamilton. The ceremony included dancers, singers (I got to partake in a singing of “O Canada”!) and the Canadian national speed skating team leading other community members around the first lap on the Olympic ice. The facility will serve as a public resource pre- and post-Olympics, complete with a fitness center, public skating, exercise courses and the like. It is truly an exceptional piece of architecture and may also have some meeting space available in the future.

Dec. 13, 2008
1:45 p.m. After checking out of the River Rock, I find myself back at the airport. I have been pleasantly surprised at what Richmond has to offer meeting planners and visitors alike. Aside from the flexible meeting space and upgraded guest rooms, the city has a sense of community that is hard to miss. People from each venue we saw knew our hosts and each one also mentioned their ability to work with other properties, catering companies, etc. in the hosting of a large group or group that needed something out of the ordinary. I am leaving with a successful trip under my belt.

The Meeting Education Event & Tradeshow 2008 held this past Dec. 3-4, at the Hilton San Francisco Financial District was a success by many standards, especially for myself and the rest of the Smart Meetings editorial staff. Not only did I participate in several informative and interactive workshops, I was able to meet planners from around California and beyond.

And not just meet, but thanks to the handy gadgets from nTag all of us had hanging around our necks, our connections were permanently recorded. One of the sponsors of the event, nTAg issued a device to everyone at registration, with each individual's work and contact information programmed in. So when I met Heather Williams, senior conference planner for Cal State, Sacramento, we merely pointed our devices at each other for a few moments until the display screen acknowledged that our cards had been passed.

Back in the office, an email appeared later that day with the information of all the people I had met and exchanged “cards” with through nTag. No mess, no spills, and so easy a fifth grader could use it. And while the device helped break the ice, I admit that my fascination with the gadget may have distracted me (and others) from more quality interaction. But hey, that's my fault. Regardless, I liked it so much I, too wanted to bring one home.

As a new addition to the Smart Meetings team, I was excited and eager to attend the recent MEET USA-West event hosted by EMCVenues at the Hilton San Francisco Financial District. In its fourth year, this was the event’s first time in California. Registering was a treat, as we editors received our "interactive nametags" (courtesy of nTAG), which eliminated the passing around of business cards and instead used some foreign-to-me technology with really cool flashing lights to exchange information with other attendees.

As the first call to attend my chosen breakout session was announced, I was unsure of what to expect. We entered "Meeting Planning 101: An Executive Overview" and interacted with meeting planners who spread across the board from government and state planners to disaster relief planners and everyone in between. The instructor was compelling, and for an hour we discussed the topic of negotiation (something that has become even more prevalent in the meeting planning process with the recent economy).

The middle of the day included a "wow" break and trade show with event sponsors that provided interactive games such as Operation, Perfection and Ring Toss to get us talking. The venue was filled with what I refer to as a Smart Meetings' editorial team’s dream: meeting planners and new information. The event was well-attended (128 planners) and turned out to be quite a lot of fun. Though the keynote speaker was a no-show due to a case of laryngitis (meeting planner nightmare!), we saw a video of his previous work and it mustered up some laughs amid useful information on the positive effects of a good attitude.

After a fabulous catered lunch at the property’s restaurant, Seven Fifty, the afternoon breakouts began and I again entered “Meeting Planning 101” Part 2. We ended the day with conversations on the best way to go about site inspections, and the planners shared stories of clients needs. We also talked about green initiatives and a hotelier from the San Francisco area shared her point of view. The moral of the session seemed to be that both the planner and the sales person/hotel staff can do things on both sides to set each other up for a successful event.  

Though I believe that the event was a true success for planners and sponsors, I personally enjoyed spending the day with our magazine’s audience. In the end, I found it hard to say goodbye to my interactive nametag and move on, but back to the world of tangible business cards I went.