Meetings: Minnesota's Hospitality Journal

In this Issue: Garth Peterson Gathers Hotel Soap for the Global Soap Project

The best part of my job is meeting and interviewing awesome people who lead inspiring lives. And because I write for Meetings: Minnesota's Hospitality Journal, that means those people are local folks just like you and me.

This once again became the case when I sat down with Garth Peterson at the Hilton Minneapolis back in January to learn more about his work with the Global Soap Project (GSP). I learned how Peterson discovered GSP. I learned why he decided to use his own time and his own money to collect, store and deliver hotel soap to GSP. I learned how he's working toward streamlining his process and making it so much better.

I also learned via GSP that 1.4 million deaths can be prevented each year by handwashing with soap; that 7 million children have died due to disease that could have been prevented with proper hygiene since 2009; and that 2.6 million bars of soap are discarded daily by the hotel industry in the U.S. alone.

And here we have someone in our own local hospitality industry driving thousands of miles a year, collecting thousands of pounds of soap (16,000 pounds in 2011!) from many local hotels, all while spreading the word about this awesome program.

Inspiring doesn't even seem like the right word anymore, does it? Read Soap for Hope to find out more.

-- Amanda Fretheim Gates
Managing Editor

Weekly Roundup: Discover America commercial, GrillFest, Hotel news & more!

It's the last weekend of April already, which is pretty hard to believe. Enjoy it! Here's your news:

+ Have you bought your GrillFest tickets yet? This will be a fun event in downtown Minneapolis with food, drink and music. If you come, stop by and say hi - we'll be there! (May 19 & 20)

+ Metro Transit is adding 12 more trains to its fleet. This will help the light rail keep up with demand and prepare for the Central Corridor opening in 2014. (For more on the Central Corridor, see our cover story, The Future of the Twin Cities.)

+ The Hilton Minneapolis made Cvent's list of top 100 meeting hotels in the country.

+ I love the promotion Howard Johnson is doing in honor of last Sunday's Mad Men. Know anyone in real life named Don Draper? He gets a free stay!

+ Mystic Lake will once again provide summer concerts at its amphitheater, just at a smaller scale than last year's inagural season.

+ Is downtown Minneapolis getting its own Food Truck Court like St. Paul? I'm in!

+ I thought this was a great article on why Instagramers (can anything be a noun now?) are your best friend when it comes to events. Find 'em, tell 'em your hashtag and encourage 'em to snap away!

+ When we talked to Doug Killian of Mall of America in our winter issue, he mentioned the possible construction of Lindau Lane. Looks like it's coming up soon.

+ The GREAT Shakespeare Festival is going on in Central Minnesota for the next few weeks. Check it out!

+ Finally, here's the new commercial by Discover America. It'll be played in three core markets - Japan, Canada & the UK - in a three-month campaign to encourage travel to the U.S. The song is written by Rosanne Cash. At first I thought the imagery was excellent but the song was a bit boring... However, it was stuck in my head all night last night, so that means something! Take a look:

-- Amanda Fretheim Gates
Managing Editor

In This Issue: Engaging Exhibitions

For our spring issue, I talked with several event professionals who work on exhibitions and trade shows in "Engaging Exhibitions." I started with Nancy Drapeau, director of research for the Center for Exhibition Industry Research (CEIR). CEIR has done a lot of research into exhibitions and Drapeau was happy to report, "We started to see a rebound and there's been quarters where we outperform gross domestic product. Face-to-face continues to hold value and use within the business-to-business world." You can see some of CEIR's data and info on trends on the CEIR website and blog. A post from last week talks about trends in exhibition booth size.

Read the How-To story to hear from Mike Thimmesch, director of lead generation and industry relations at Skyline Exhibits and Renae Strom, senior congress specialist at Covidien Vascular Therapies. Thimmesch and Strom share their tips on good relationships between exhibitors and planners, creating eye-catching booths on a budget, training staff, using today's technology, collecting and following through on leads and drawing in attendees.

For more tips, take a look at Skyline's Trade Show Tips blog. Thimmesch has posted a number of articles you should read, like "10 Top Tips for Trade Show Lead Management," "10 Top Tips for Trade Show Booth Staffing" and "12 Tips About Social Media for Trade Shows."

What would you add to these tips and thoughts about trade shows and exhibitions? Tell us in the comments.

--Ellie M. Bayrd
Associate Editor

[Photo courtesy of Skyline Exhibits]

Venue Highlight: Team-Building Venues & Resorts

Just in time for spring and summer meetings and events, we bring you several resorts and venues that offer team-building activities. Here are just a few of the sites around Minnesota that offer up these experiences. See Location Location: Cultivating Camaraderie for more.

 

Minnesuing Acres, Lake Nebagamon, Wis.
The staff at Minnesuing knows that planners may want to add some bonding activities to the agenda, so they offer a large menu of nearly 20 team-building activities. The most popular is the executive challenge course which offers 20 low-risk activities like a climbing wall, a “Tarzan” swing, balancing platforms and more. Groups can also explore leadership and teamwork through Olympic relay races (year round), scavenger hunts, raft building, blind mazes, canoe competitions and kitchen challenges.

Oak Ridge Hotel & Conference Center, Chaska
Oak Ridge has one of the few outdoor ropes challenge courses in the state, plus the staff can create an “Amazing Race” or “Search and Rescue” challenge or other experiential activities to boost team morale. Culinary competitions are also very popular, including an Iron Chef competition (teams get a basket of food and must create a meal for a panel of judges), a chili cookoff, chicken wing challenge, cake decorating contest, pizza challenge and more. Many groups come to Oak Ridge to meet and then incorporate a team-building activity into the agenda, whether to blend in with the message of the meeting or to just have fun and blow off steam.

YMCA Camp Ihduhapi, Loretto
The camp is equipped for overnight retreats, with 16 cabins and the newer Bunkhouse. The Bunkhouse offers cabins as well as a central meeting space. Meeting space is flexible, too, with rooms available for smaller groups or breakouts. Sitting on 165 acres of land, Camp Ihduhapi welcomes guests all year round for hiking, sledding, broomball, canoeing, swimming and more. The activities are boundless and often up high amongst the trees. The popular ropes course can be used for a plethora of challenges, like the Leap of Faith (climb a 30-foot pole and leap off safely), a climbing wall and tower, a giant zip line (fly down a 250-foot zip line) and more.

Arrowwood Resort & Conference Center, Alexandria
Activities include hiking, biking, waterskiing, jet skis, fishing, sledding, ice-skating and more; plus the on-site meeting professionals can help planners create a team-building event specific to their group.

Dakota County Parks
Participate in archery, cross-country skiing, geocaching, horseback riding and more. Camp Sacajawea offers a ropes and challenge course and it and Camp Spring Lake provide overnight accommodations.

Grand View Lodge, Nisswa
An on-site amenities director can assist in planning a team-building activity such as raft building, grill challenges and scavenger hunts.

Cragun’s Resort, Brainerd
Besides group activities like golf tournaments, fishing contests and bonfires, the resort offers team-building events featuring paddle boat races, Fear Factor-inspired stunts and scavenger hunts.

Where are your favorite Minnesota spots for building camaraderie?

-- Amanda Fretheim Gates
Managing Editor

[Photo courtesy of YMCA Twin Cities]

In this Issue: 8 Food & Beverage Trends for 2012

In the Spring issue we talked to planners and caterers about what trends they see on the horizon this year. Some weren't surprises, but some others were interesting. Here's a peek, then read the story, What's New in Catering?, for yourself.

Trend 1: Healthy & Local
“You have the balancing act of how you get that integrated at little or no cost to your client. We’re striving to be a leader there. A lot of the business attributes of [our clients], especially the larger Fortune 500 ones, have adopted practices in their own organizations for sustainability,” says Keith Reardon, vice president of sports, entertainment and restaurants at Morrissey Hospitality Companies.

Trend 2: Dietary Choice
“I used to hear “gluten-free” once or twice a year,” says Geri Wolf of The Style Laboratory. “Now I hear it all the time.”

Trend 3: Creative Customization
“It gets all the way to carrying colors through to sauces and desserts and signature drinks, and really supporting theming throughout the event at every level,” Reardon says. “They want the caterer to come through with portions of that.”

Trend 4: Twists on Beverages
At Edinburgh, a Jack Daniel’s whiskey dinner is favorite event. “What is fun and unique is Chef Jim Malinowski prepares a menu pairing Jack Daniel’s whiskey with various courses as well as infuses the whiskey into the entrees, sauces and dessert,” says Jackie Northard of Lancer Catering.

Trend 5: Small Plates & Interactive Stations
“It serves so many different purposes,” says Michael Jensen of Bayview Event Center. “I think meeting planners get overwhelmed when thinking about a plated dinner and how they’re going to satisfy everyone’s taste. Appetizers and small bites can satisfy that."

Trend 6: Food Trucks
“We’re seeing a lot of those being integrated into events, either as the main dinner service or late-night snacks,” Wolf says. “The beauty of that is the variety that is able to be offered cuisine wise."

Trend 7: Nostalgic Menus
“We take good, trusted, historically relevant food and put a twist on them,” says Reardon. “The most popular are short ribs, sliders, tater tots, mashed potato stations and mac and cheese stations.”

Trend 8: F&B of the Future?
On the West coast, there’s a new concept developing called “food furniture,” says Wolf. No, that’s not furniture made out of food, but caterers actually taking the time to design and build furniture for a specific food presentation.

So, what trends are you seeing? Let us know!

-- Amanda Fretheim Gates
Managing Editor

[Taco photo courtesy of Lancer Catering. Food truck photo by Todd Buchanan.]

Weekly Roundup: SPINCon 2012, Restaurant news, Best Airport & more!

Our Spring issue is out! We've been getting some great feedback -- take a read and let us know what you think! Here's your news.

+ Please save the date for Alive at the Market, the second annual event for men's depression awareness, taking place July 21.

+ Here's a closer look at St. Paul's green efforts.

+ Also save the date for SPINCon 2012, held in Telluride (sounds gorgeous!) July 11-13. Shawna and her team won our Vision Award last year for Event of the Year for SPINCon 2011.

+ Chef Shack made the list of America's most creative food trucks.

+ A couple local companies, Minnesota Opera and Graywolf Press, won Pulitzers!

+ Check out the list for Solera's rooftop movies.

+ The delicious Cupcake won Cupcake Wars, which aired last weekend. Congrats!

+ Uptown restaurants promise to keep it down.

+ Did you know the World's Quietest Place is right here in Minneapolis?

+ Some cool news stores are opening up at Mall of America.

+ Travel + Leisure named America's Best  & Worst Airports. Guess who came in at No. 1?!

+ Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide named Le Méridien Chambers North American “Hotel of the Year," based on revenue management, year-over-year profitability, revenue growth and guest satisfaction.

-- Amanda Fretheim Gates
Managing Editor

The Future of the Twin Cities: The Story Continues

In our spring issue, the cover story "The Future of the Twin Cities" takes a look at a bunch of planned and proposed developments and the effect those changes may have on hospitality and tourism. I begin the story, "Open the Star Tribune or Pioneer Press these days and there's likely to be a story about a proposed renovation to one of our cultural destinations, efforts to revitalize a stretch of downtown or a status update on a stadium project." Well, that's still true, and I'll continue to update this blog post with the latest news.

Since I wrote the article, for instance, the future of the Vikings stadium (see rendering above) has taken several turns. UPDATES: On Monday, April 17, the House voted down the stadium proposal, a move that the Star Tribune says, "leaves the Vikings stadium plan in peril." On May 10, the Star Tribune reports that stadium proposal, approved by the House and Senate, will go to the governor. In late May, a preliminary vote from the Minneapolis City Council approved the plan.

Here are a few other projects mentioned in the feature:

• Downtown 2025: The Minneapolis Downtown Council has great plans for transforming downtown Minneapolis. Highlights include upgrades to Nicollet Mall, transforming Hennepin Avenue into a cultural corridor and creating Gateway Park (see rendering on right). UPDATE: In April City Pages reported that renovations plans for Peavey Plaza were voted down by the Minnesota Heritage Preservation Commission. In May, the Minneapolis City Coucil voted to go ahead with demolition (Star Tribune).
• Phase II for Mall of America: What's next for the mall? First, completion of the Radission Blu hotel. Next? More hotels, shopping and attractions. The Star Tribune shared some updates on these plans recently.
• Rebuild Saint Paul and Great River Passage: Saint Paul's future plans include the Penfield development, creating a strong river corridor destination (rendering of Harriet Island on right) and upgrades to the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts. UPDATE: Since this issue went to press, Ordway plans have been delayed a year, according to the Pioneer Press.
• Stadiums: The Vikings stadium is just one proposed sports project. Target Center is due for renovations and the Saints want a new home. The Saint Paul Saints stadium, however, didn't make the Senate's bonding bill, the Pioneer Press reports. UPDATES: Target Center also came out a winner in the Vikings deal, promising at least $60 million for renovations. A recent land deal in Lowertown has set up space for a future Saints stadium in that neighborhood.
• Central Corridor: The Central Corridor light rail project continues to grow and anticipates completion in 2014.

Those are just some of the projects in the works and in the dreams of local officials. Read the full story to learn more. You'll hear from both Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak and St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman, plus members of the Metropolitan Council, Minneapolis Downtown Council and more. Share your thoughts on these and other tourism related developments in the comments here. UPDATE: For more from Mayor Rybak on the future of Minneapolis, watch this video from the Star Tribune.

--Ellie M. Bayrd
Associate Editor

[Vikings rendering courtesy of Minnesota Vikings; Gateway Park rendering by Damon Faber Associates, courtesy of Minneapolis Downtown Council; Harriet Island rendering by Wenk Associates, courtesy of Great River Passage]

Hospitality Around the World

Each month, Hospitality Around the World will look outside of Minnesota and share hospitality news from the rest of the United States and beyond.

+ Keith over at PlannerWire talks about the 10 plugins you should have for your event or conference website.

+ Foursquare has 20 million users.

+ Hotels are offering guests lessons in chess, mixology, surfing and more.

+ Apparently those who hold rewards credit cards are three times more likely to use those rewards this summer (compared to winter).

+ Meetings EIO? Ethics, Influence, Outcomes. What do you think?

+ For all girls my age, it's sad to hear the resort that inspired Kellerman's on Dirty Dancing went up in flames.

+ A list of the U.S. properties that made the Conde Nast Traveler Hot List.

+ An interesting case study on why a large convention left Chicago for Orlando.

+ The 737, which debuted in 1968, is getting a makeover to be more fuel efficient.

+ It's going to be a big summer for London.

-- Amanda Fretheim Gates
Managing Editor

 

Weekly Roundup: Wine Week, Hell's new bakery, Explore Minnesota & more.

We've been busy around these parts working on various spring projects, so I haven't been too on top of the news this week. However, here are just a few tidbits that crossed my radar.

+ Google-inspired? Target is creating a brand-new employee meeting space, a place to brainstorm and come together - complete with a basketball court, locker room and workout facilities. Nice!

+ If you own an electric car, St. Paul just added two new places for you to plug in.

+ Did you hear about the cleverly titled new bakery, Angel Food? Located above (and owned by) Hell's Kitchen, it's a place to get delicious donuts and Peace Coffee. Opens later this month.

+ Don't miss what's going on over at Minnesota Journeys. It's never too late to explore our fine state: Drive a tank or take a Capitol tour.

+ If you're in your 20s and 30s and love wine, join the New Vintage wine club and sip and learn and meet others who enjoy wine. And ALL wine lovers need to participate in Wine Week - your second glass is just a dime! Starts today!

+ Finally, I loved this video of Explore Minnesota's new radio ad, featuring local talents like Haley Bonar and Lucy Michelle.

--Amanda Fretheim Gates
Managing Editor

Multimedia of the Month: Boring Meetings Suck, Podcast

Meetings "can be vehicles for innovation, motivation and decision-making," writes Jon Petz. "They can spark revolutions. They can save the world! All you have to do is not let them suck." Editor Joel Schettler interviews the author about his book, Boring Meetings Suck: Get More Out of Your Meetings or Get Out of More Meetings, which offers readers tips on how not to let good meetings go bad.

Check out our spring issue for a book excerpt.