It's Not You...It's Me

Breaking up is hard to do, especially if you still have to live in the same house, see each other every day……

No…I didn’t break up with anyone, I am still happily married. But! I am using another damn metaphor though, so if you are sick of my use of the #damnmetaphor, STOP NOW!

I was speaking with a colleague the other day who mentioned that her company was no longer supporting her sustainability initiatives. I can imagine it was a little like, “It’s not you, it’s me”. Basically, they broke up with her.

I visualize wind leaking from a sail. How could you still go to work and do your job everyday, knowing that the organization that you worked for, didn’t value sustainability?

How could you do your job to the “best of your ability”, if they have discounted or dismissed one of your “best” abilities.

Wowzers…..I wondered what I would do if that happened to me.

As an independent Green Meeting Planner, I have the luxury of working with clients who are keen on green meetings. I have a sense of autonomy and for that, I am grateful.

Sustainability shouldn’t be something we hide in the locked top drawer of our desk.

In our world where we face a diminishing water supply and natural resources, I cannot fathom why an organization could not, would not see that it is critically important to think and act sustainably.

Judy

Meet the Fakers :)

Reunions are defined as: a meeting or social gathering of persons acquainted with each other through some former event or connection.

The Family Reunion: A planned opportunity for you to connect with, and be compared to, those who share strands of DNA. It is like the Christmas Letter on ‘roids (Steroids).

What do I mean “Christmas Letter on ‘roids?” Well….you are going to see each other face to face, so you can’t continue to lie about first born Frederick and his so-called career with Doctors Without Borders if Frederick is a complete mess and now wears an electronic bracelet on his ankle. And your little ballerina? You know…the one you bragged to everyone that she “was destined for the Royal Winnipeg Ballet”…well, let’s just say that it didn’t work out, but that the Commune where she now lives does allow dancing on special occasions.

The family will see you pull up in your 1975 Winnebago (a classic) and hear you and your hubby bicker as you put up the awning that you have patched with blue tarpaulin. While others enjoy a bottle of VQA Chardonnay at their campsite, you will be offering a Styrofoam cup of a 2012 home brewed Merlot (hubby will pronounce it mur-lot just to embarrass you..and it does).

Are these the reasons why you break into a cold sweat when you receive the invitation? You know…the form letter invitation addressed to “Howdy Family!” that is faded because it has changed hands multiple times, been photocopied and passed along again. Are you immediately self-conscious? Embarrassed? Feel like you won’t measure up? You want to remain hidden behind the façade you have so carefully manufactured in your annual Christmas letter?

Don’t get me wrong. I am also self-conscious about meeting long-lost family. For goodness sake, I still haven’t lost my baby weight yet and my “baby” will be 24 this summer! I don’t want to be the one…you know…..the one they talk about on the drive home.

I shouldn’t worry.

Your family appreciates you…..warts ‘n all (even if warts are not genetic and WARNING to anyone who Google searches the question, “Are warts genetic”). Having said that, there is a good reason why folks plan reunions so far ahead: It is so that you can get your poop in a group, get organized.

Here are some tips to help you enjoy your family reunion:

1. Connect in advance: Start a facebook group and begin sharing pictures and information. Meeting on Social Media helps to break the ice and begin the conversation. You may find you have more in common than strands of DNA.
2. Safety in numbers: Encourage your entire immediate family to attend. Doing so creates and reinforces that family bond.
3. Leave a grudge at home: Reunions are not the place to bring a family grudge. No one cares about what someone did to someone else in 1964….they just don’t.
4. Drink with care and grace: Don’t let the alcohol consumption get out of control.
5. Be honest (kind of): Frederick’s parole officer won’t allow him to attend? Parse your words carefully. “I am sorry, Frederick couldn’t attend as he had a very important appointment that he simply couldn’t afford to miss”.
6. Make accommodation for accommodation: If the 500 mile trip is asking a bit too much of the 1975 Winnebago, then look into booking a rental. Booking early will give you the best rate.
7. Offer to help: Take on meal planning/preparation, organizing an activity or become the official photographer for the event.
8. Leave regrets at home: Don’t wax poetic to family about what you were going to do with your life and didn’t….instead, share your successes, focus on the positive.

I am guilty of avoiding reunions. I don’t make them a priority in my life. Recent events have made me much more amiable to a family reunion…to the extent that I have tossed the idea about (much like a cat tosses a toy) of perhaps planning a reunion.

I am not sure if it will happen, but I do know that I will look much more favourably upon the next invitation I receive. That is…..unless I have a pimple.

Judy

Got Bl!nk?

It is amazing what happens in airports….

Last November, two gals….let’s call them Elizabeth and Judy, were sitting in the Vancouver Airport having a wee bite to eat before catching their respective flights home. They had each attended EventCamp Vancouver ECV11 and were both still glittering (a la Edward Cullen of Twilight) from the experience.

EventCamp is about experiencing new things; having the freedom to try new things in a safe environment, and as a result it had created an exciting thought pattern. Let’s just say that the synapses were firing on all cylinders.

Ideas were flying fast and furious in amongst bites of food (and yes…there may or may not have been wine….) and as they parted to walk to their departure gates, it was agreed, “Let’s talk about this some more…”.

Fast forward to the new year and Judy gets an email from Elizabeth, “So….let’s talk more about that great idea”.

And so we did and…..

Bl!nk was born.

Blink – To close and open one or both of the eyes rapidly.

A blink of an eye takes 300-400 milliseconds…or about 1/3 of a second. Think about it….33 percent of that second is given over to complete blindness (eek!)

We….as humans…blink an average of 15,000 times per day, which means that we have our eyes closed for approximately 5,250,000 milliseconds per day (seriously? Wow!)…which calculates to 5,250 seconds per day.

Blah, blah, blah…I know…I am getting to my point

Based on my mathematical calculations using an extremely sharp pencil and the Google search engine, this means that, on average, we (humans) spend over an hour each day blinking.

Really?

Honestly?

That’s wild isn’t it!

So……my question to each and every one of you is…

“Do you ever wonder what you miss?”

New for the 2012 GMIC Sustainable Meetings Conference! Bl!nk Presentations have been introduced. These rapid fire presentations lasting between 2 minutes and 5 minutes will be threaded together through the use of Weavers (no yarn will be harmed by using Weavers).

The Bl!nk Presentations have been introduced so that we can get to know one another in different, meaningful ways and as a result, find connections that we didn’t know existed. These presentations are about what we miss…what we don’t see!

Are you attending the GMIC Sustainable Meetings Conference? If so…perhaps I can interest you in a Bl!nk Presentation.

We are looking for those who are willing to share some “magic”. Share something about yourself: what inspires you, what you are passionate about. Excite us with stories of your success; empower us with stories of overcoming adversity; all in the realm of sustainable meetings and events of course!

The format is as follows:

Single presentations lasting between 2 minutes and 5 minutes; the use of power-point and video may be used to support the presentations.

The session(s) will be high energy and fast moving!

So…..are you interested? Click here to link to the GMIC Sustainable Meetings Conference website to read more about how you can participate in Bl!nk.

Hurry! Deadline is approaching.

Judy

"Sociopathically" Seeking Service?

We hear a lot these days about customer service or the lack thereof. We complain about rude wait-staff, long lines, screwed up drive thru orders (end of the world problems like, OMG! I ordered a double-double not a french vanilla!) and high prices. We use our “communicators”, i.e. smart phones and ipads to link into social networking sites to spread the message about that “horrible store” we just visited.

Have you ever considered that it might be us…..not them? That perhaps we placed emotional, physical and psychological stumbling blocks to receiving great customer service?

In our lust for great customer service (yes lust), we have placed all responsibility on the service provider to create our experience. That doesn’t seem fair does it?

Whether it be the unsmiling first encounter, the obvious lack of respect for someone behind the counter or talking on a cell phone while at the counter (yes…..I DID just progressively raise my voice), we have placed stumbling blocks to receiving great customer service.

This past Christmas, I was proceeding through a fast food drive through (don’t judge me, I am not a machine) and overheard the gal in the vehicle immediately in front of me, scream at the employee through the exterior mic. I mean the gal SCREAMED like she had been done wrong in a big way; like there were gators’ nipping at her extremities. She went on to scream that they had better, “put regular coke in her order this time…and not that diet crap!”.

Yep…..I would call that a stumbling block – loud and clear.

That clerk/employee had done nothing wrong except be wearing the same uniform as an incompetent co-worker. She deserved no disrespect by the customer. The clerk was clearly shaken, but did not take the bait and respond negatively to the customer. If it were me, I probably would have gone all “Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die” (random Princess Bride reference)….but obviously she was better than that.

When I got to the window, I asked her, “are you okay?”. She looked like she was going to cry and responded that, “it happens all the time” but “wishes that more people were in the Christmas spirit”. You see…..it was the day before Christmas Eve.

I am sorry folks, but the customer is not always right.

I threw the following question out to my facebook friends and they responded en masse. I asked, “send me some examples of customers not living up to their end of the bargain”.

The responses were varied, but a common thread ran throughout.

‘Everyone deserves to be treated with respect’ and ‘Be not inhospitable to strangers lest they be angels in disguise’ (Yeats - a variation from a bible verse and yes…I have smart friends).

Many of us are guilty (myself included) of eye rolling and expelling heavy sighs, which is probably gateway behaviour to something more offensive. We can turn this ship around, but it will take a commitment. Are you with me? Okay then….

Customers (You and I) have but few responsibilities. Here are some suggestions from my facebook posse:

Not talking on the phone: While you are transmitting and receiving information with someone on your phone, you are unable to transmit and receive information with the waiter, the sales clerk, etc. Get off the phone and give them your full attention. Doing so is a sign of respect.

Not texting, tweeting, facebooking or game playing: Look up….way up from your phone and make some eye contact. If you don’t pay attention you might get a rare steak when you asked for well done and ya….it kinda will be your fault.

Being on time for a reservation, hair appointment, massage appointment….etc: If you are late, then it makes for a delay for the next person/group and so on, and so on, and so on. As a consequence, the hair-dresser, massage therapist, nail technician, etc. will probably not get lunch/coffee break/have to stay late.

Place blame appropriately: For example, don’t blame (and not tip) the server because the food wasn’t up to par. Ask to speak with the Chef or Manager.

Let’s remember….the service industry is not only comprised of servers, sales clerks and coffee barista’s. Even when we don’t maintain a storefront, we provide customer service to our coworkers.

Now…if I can get off this darn soapbox without falling….

Stop the bus!

Stop the bus! I metaphorically need to get off the bus called, “GAMIFICATION”…..I am getting nauseous and frankly…..a little bored.

Now….before you go all “Oh no she didn’t” on me….let me clarify.

I love integrating games and play into our events and I also love that we are engaging our attendees through the use of gaming but…….. it’s the damn word I object to….I am beginning to despise the word, “Gamification”.

When we, as event professionals, use the word gamification it conjures up something in my mind which does not remotely connect to what I believe to be true about playing games. It becomes so…..clinical and isn’t that the antithesis to gaming?

I can imagine using the word during a visit to the Doctor, “Miss, we are going to attempt an exterior gamification of the interior globules….this may hurt”.

This is where I put my foot down! Event professionals are creative and innovative individuals!!!! Why can’t we come up with a better word than “gamification”? How the hell did that word get sticky enough to stick? It has 5 syllables…..FIVE! (my voice raised progressively during this paragraph).

The bus labeled “GAMIFICATION” is not cool. It is a drab orange, and smells funky. The seats are hard plastic and the bus driver never smiles. Elevator music plays in the background and everyone riding sits quietly, staring directly ahead. Any conversation is conducted in whispers and no one ever laughs. I want to get on the bright red bus with shiney chrome rims and loudspeakers that play U2 music and perhaps the song, “Rainbow Connection”. The seats inside are bean bag chairs and there is non stop popcorn. The air is scented with jelly beans and you can barely hear yourself over the noisy conversation. This is the bus I want to be on!

I have a theory. If we (collective we…..I am speaking to all event professionals), don’t come up with a better way to describe whatever it is that we are creating through the use of game play, it will begin to lose its luster. “Gamification” is just not cutting it.

So….let’s stop the bus. Let’s put on our thinking caps and come up with a better word to embody what this game/play/interaction/educate/social media/event app integration thing is that we are doing and doing so well. We are smart, savvy, event professionals with boundless imaginations and a love of acronyms…….let’s come up with something amazing….something that belongs on the side of the bright red bus with shiney chrome rims and loudspeakers that play U2 music…where we sit on bean bag chairs and eat non stop popcorn. Where the air is scented with jelly beans and it is so noisy with conversation that you can barely hear yourself.

I challenge you.

So....let's brainstorm - do you have a better word that you have come up with?