Meetings: Minnesota's Hospitality Journal

Popular Science: Best Innovations of 2008, or What I Want for Christmas

In all honesty, I'm not a huge science person. That's why I'm a writer and why I love my engineer husband for all the things he knows and I don't. However, as the gatherer of Tech Tools for our magazine, there is one issue of Popular Science that I just love: the December issue when they highlight the top innovations of the year. This year's issue is no different. Here are some of my favorites:

+ 3M MPro110 While we've made mention of handheld projectors before, 3M has released PopSci's Grand Award Winner in the Gadgets category (pictured) by refining its already amazing technology and developing the first micro-projector. I won't go into all the technological details, but the MPro110 can take data from your laptop, camera or phone and display it at standard-definition-TV quality and size. Plus, it's made by a local company, so it doesn't get much better than that.

+ Livescribe Pulse Are you kidding me? Here's a pen that not only captures your notetaking as an image file, but also records what is going on and being said in the meeting. Enough said.

+ Samsung Airwave If you work from home, but have to stay to one side of your house to get optimal cell reception, then this product is your solution. As the article says, it acts as a mini cell tower that keeps you from dropping your calls as you walk around the house.

+ Microsoft Explorer I love the name of this computer mouse, because I can imagine it "exploring" all the surfaces you try it on, whether a smooth tabletop or your grandmother's shaggy rugs, and still working.

Nearly 100 more items are featured in the issue, from a self-cleaning drain trap (gross to think about, but I found myself enthralled) and the Olympic Gold-bringing Speedo LZR to a guitar and the Wii Fit, so check it out.

What are you wishing for this holiday season?

--Amanda Fretheim Gates
Managing Editor

Update: Green association misses its mark

In the Openers section of our fall issue, I wrote a short blurb about the new Association of Green Meetings & Events (AGME). The association planned to provide planners with information about executing green events, as well as provide a Certification in Green Meetings & Events (CGME).

Unfortunately, the AGME and its CGME turned out to be too good to be true. According to this article from Corporate Meetings & Incentives, AGME hasn't provided its 200 some members with their promised benefits and has yet to incorporate under Georgia law. Co-founder Loriann White also lost several of her top executives, including her chief knowledge officer and VP of membership, and ended up canceling the August annual meeting. In the article, White says the organization grew too fast and she's hoping to rebuild in the new year. She may have some competition though, as the article makes mention of first-ever chapters of the Green Meeting Industry Council that may soon spring up around the country.

Please read the article for the latest information.

--Amanda Fretheim Gates
Managing Editor

Seeing Green

Are you bombarded with news promoting feel-good green initiatives from every vendor on your list? Are you trying to green your meetings in a way that will really make a difference, but don’t know where to start? Pretty much every industry has been swept up in this “green” tide and for the most part it’s a good thing. But it also breeds lots of confusion and “greenwashing” (basically when companies exaggerate how good their products and services really are for the environment). In our upcoming State of the Industry issue, part of what I tried to do was to wrap my head around green meetings—what’s legit, what’s not, what’s happening now and what’s next.

You’ll have to wait for the issue to get the full story, but I wanted to share a resource that’s been great. The Green Meeting is simple and refreshing in an era when it seems everyone is trying to tell you about “Five Easy Steps To Green Your Meeting.” Instead of telling you how to green your meeting, The Green Meeting folks simply bring you daily news updates of happenings in the sustainable meetings arena. Vancouver’s convention complex just finished a green roof. The Hawaii Big Island Visitors Bureau launched a Web site instructing tourists on how to visit the island responsibly. A hotel and meeting center in Rockville, Md., is switching to 100-percent wind power electricity.

Reading these little tidbits every day gave me a fuller picture of which hospitality industry players are leading the way, how often and how many green initiatives are underway (more than I realized), and after a while I felt I had a better overall understanding of the lay of the land in terms of green meetings.

While there are tons of reliable resources out there that show planners how to organize more sustainable meetings, (which you can read about in the winter issue) it can be overwhelming. The reality is, there is no checklist of steps toward perfectly “green meetings.” It’s a process. And the beginning of that process is learning about what’s out there and being a savvy consumer of information. At least in my humble opinion, The Green Meeting makes it easy to take that first step.

--Marni Ginther
Assistant Editor

Glitter Ball 2.0, Friday Nov. 14

For our upcoming winter issue (Jan. 2009), I interviewed Scott Herold, CEO and founder of Rock the Cause, a non-profit organization that plans fund-raising concert events for other non-profits around the state. While I won't go into much detail here - I want you to read the story - I found Rock the Cause to be a wonderful organization and encourage music fans out there to come out and show their support.

That being said, if you're looking for something to do on Friday night, head to the Varsity Theater for Glitter Ball 2.0. A benefit for Clare Housing and the Minnesota AIDS Project, Glitter Ball is a Glam Rock event, with local bands such as White Light Riot and All the Pretty Horses singing songs by '70s artists such as David Bowie, KISS and Queen. The great part? While you're dancing in your '70s glamour attire, you'll learn about AIDS prevention and how to show compassion for those living with the disease.

Tickets: $12 at the door, and 80 percent of the net profits go directly to the causes.

--Amanda Fretheim Gates
Managing Editor

The “Reality” of Event Planning

Yes, there is officially a reality show for everything. On Dec. 2 (or 12, depending on what article you’re reading) E! Entertainment Television will launch “Party Monsters: Cabo,” in which nine contestants will compete for the enviable title of “Celebrity Event Planner” at the LG Villa Cabo resort in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. Each episode will charge contestants with throwing “the ultimate party” for celebrities including P. Diddy, Carmen Electra and various other B-list reality show regulars. What do you think about this, planners? Does a show like this elevate the visibility of your profession or paint an inaccurate caricature of an extravagant party planner?

--Marni Ginther
Assistant Editor

Yeah for Us! Mag Earns Five Awards

Each year the Minnesota Magazine & Publications Association (MMPA) holds its awards gala and recognizes the outstanding publishing achievements of local magazines. This competition includes 88 categories in the areas of editorial, design, general and overall excellence.

Last night the MMPA held its 12th annual awards gala, hosted by WCCO's Jason DeRusha, in the Metropolitan Ballroom in Golden Valley. Meetings: Minnesota's Hospitality Journal earned five awards. 

State of the Industry (Winter '08)

GOLD Best Technical Article
GOLD Best Use of Visuals--Illustration
BRONZE Best Single Cover
BRONZE Best Single-Topic Issue

Industry Innovators (Fall '07)

SILVER Best Use of Visuals--Photography

In total, our custom publishing department earned seven awards and our company, Greenspring Media Group, pulled in 35.

Excuse us while we pat ourselves on the back! Hats off to the whole team!

Politics and the Events Business

Obviously it's been a big week in the world of politics. But one political development in particular--the passing of California's Proposition 8--has a direct effect on the events industry, and not only in that state. Over the past few days, I've read articles about this in various meeting- and event-related media, but when the New York Times does a story on it, you know it's having a pretty broad effect.
The story talks not only about how the events and tourism industry in California--typically seen as one of the most gay-friendly destinations in the country--will be affected by the renewed ban on gay marriage, but how the ban will affect business in Massachusetts and Connecticut too, the two remaining states that allow same-sex unions.
It's interesting to see how people's ideology on social issues can affect industry this way. Any thoughts out there?

--Marni Ginther
Assistant Editor

Making Personal Connections

I read the latest post on The Gig, Nadira Hira's blog on Fortune. (I quoted Hira in my column on Generation Y in our spring 2008 issue of the magazine and have been following her ever since.) Hira blogs about and researches (and is part of) Generation Y. Her latest post is called "Making True Connections in a Facebook World." She writes about how Generation Y, and subsequent generations, might actually be held back by technology. Teenagers and young adults are all over Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and texting, oftentimes in effort to "friend" the most people they can. Your brother's boss' sister wants to make a connection? Sure! A high school acquaintance you haven't seen since 1999 reaches out? Sign her up! (For a hilarious look at this phenonmenon, check out Scott Brown's column in Wired: "Facebook Friendonomics.")

However, what is this doing to our actual relationships? If we spend all our time at our computers or tweeting 140-character phrases, do we really get to know people? Are your connections on Facebook really your friends? Would they really recommend you for a job or support you in a new busniess relationship? Probably not - no matter what generation you're in.

While I'm not saying that these technologies aren't useful in business settings (stay tuned for my next column on Twitter in our winter issue), maybe they shouldn't be the only method of communication? This is where I think association memberships come in and become invaluable. If you're a member of an industry assocation, you're out interacting with people, face-to-face, at monthly meetings and events. You're making personal connections with people and forming good business relationships. Perhaps you stay in touch in between meetings through LinkedIn or via e-mail even, but chatting while sitting next to each other at an event is when you build a professional reputation for yourself. It's this person your new contact will remember when they need a florist, a planner or a venue for their next event. They'll choose you over any random "friend" on MySpace.

What do you think? Face-to-face vs. Cyber relationships or a little bit of both? What works for you?

--Amanda Fretheim Gates
Managing Editor