Even MORE Outrageous Hospitality

I wrote a blog called “Outrageous Hospitality“ where I couldn’t say enough about the book I read on a group of people who always pushed the boundaries of what it meant to provide the most out-of-this-world, never-experienced-before hospitality to their restaurant guests. There was no off switch on this team. They would scrutinize what they were doing, watch what was happening, observe the guest experience, then evaluate how they could improve, yet again, on the hospitality they provided. I’m someone who doesn’t require a lot of sleep, and my mind rarely shuts down, but I can’t imagine the minds of the people on this team. Wow!

As I said in the previous blog, I’m not much of a book reader. I find it takes too much time. I’m a fast mover and like to digest my information as quickly as someone can tell it to me. I imagine most event planners feel the same. If I were a car, I think I’d be running at warp speed, taking corners on two wheels, stopping only when I needed gas, food, or a bathroom break. However, when a book captivates me, I tend to ravage it, underlining statements of interest, making notes in the margins, and dog-earring pages. Well, it happened again!

Funny enough, this book was written years before the other one. It’s from 2017. You might think that these days it would be irrelevant, but you’d be wrong. It’s called The Power of Moments by Chip and Dan Heath. It amazed me how closely these two books went hand in hand. I probably should have read them in the reverse order. Again, just reading the title as a CMP (Certified Meeting Professional) got me excited. When planning meetings and events, isn’t that what we do? We build agendas that allow attendees to engage with content or with one another. We help attendees identify moments when they feel as if the event was tailor-made just for them.

Most of the time, moments happen to us. It’s our birthday or our anniversary, and there is a moment when someone celebrates us. Or we have an annual review at work where our supervisor sets aside a moment to give us feedback on what we’ve done well over the past year and areas for improvement in the coming one. Sadly, we may lose a loved one, which can be an incredibly sad and life-changing moment in our lives. And just as life-changing is getting married or having our first baby or grandbaby.

The book, however, talks about ways to create moments, not just let them happen to you. It takes intentionality just like providing over-the-top hospitality. Seeing some similarity here? Of all of the times you’ve eaten dinner at a restaurant, which ones stand out to you? The ones where you experienced a moment, for better or for worse, right? If someone asks you for a restaurant recommendation, you may talk about the food, but you will definitely talk about something you experienced. Case in point: You loved the surprise of the solo violinist who strolled through the restaurant on your honeymoon. Can’t remember if the food was good or not, you but would recommend this restaurant to anyone. Couldn’t stand the mariachi trio at the restaurant on your vacation as they hovered over your table relentlessly while you screamed at each other over the noise to carry on a conversation. Do you think you’d ever recommend this place?

Both of these restaurants intentionally created moments. Both, I’m sure, appealed to different audiences. The restaurants intentionally created the interruption you paid attention to during dinner so that even if you forgot the how the potatoes were prepared or if the steak was done to perfection or not, you’d remember how the musical experience made you feel. That’s the moment you will tell others about.

I truly can’t explain the more in more outrageous hospitality any better than the opening story of the book. It totally encapsulates the fundamentals of creating a moment. If you were looking to book a hotel in LA, California (at the time this book was written), you probably wouldn’t have selected the one which looked like a small two-story 1950s, canary yellow apartment complex with bare furnishings and a small pool, except that it’s online reviews outranked the Four Seasons at Beverly Hills and the Ritz-Carlton Los Angeles. Why? The popsicle hotline.1

This was a Disney hotel. They knew then and still know how to create moments you will never forget. People overlooked the small rooms, little pool, and stark decor because they could pick up the cherry red phone next to the pool to hear “Popsicle Hotline.” You could order not only popsicles but anything off the hefty Snack Menu and it arrived in mere seconds. There was also a Board Game Menu and a DVD Menu (this was 2017). There were many other moment-makers, but you’ll need to read the book to see what those were.

This book goes into the many types of moments you can create. These are not phony, superficial, fabricated moments we’re talking about. Some of these are deep, life-altering, community-changing, country-improving moments. It’s weird to find myself recommending a second book in the same year, but here we are. I think as events continue to evolve and people expect a more customized experience, flexing our thinking muscles to focus on moments will certainly move us in the right direction.

Do you have an experience creating a moment? Share something you learned
with us here or send me an email!

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1.The Power of Moments. Chip & Dan Heath. Simon & Shuster. New York, NY. 2017.

Sit in the Attendee’s Chair

My friend Joanne Dennison, CMP, helps others work towards the goal of sitting for, and earning their, CMP (Certified Meeting Professional) certification. One of the things she is passionate about is having the planner sit in the attendee’s chair. So much so that it’s the name of her podcast (which is great and you can listen to episodes on your current podcast platforms). It is a fundamental practice that many event planners overlook during the planning process because they’re often too busy running ahead, looking at the task lists in front of them, and concerning themselves with details. However, as Joanne emphasizes, you literally need to sit in the attendee’s chair. Like….get a chair, put it in the room, and sit down. Look around. Are you comfortable? Can you see the stage? Do your feet dangle? Is your back starting to cramp? Would you need a table to take notes? Is there a column blocking your view? What is the attendee actually experiencing in this room from their seat? This blew my mind.

I’m not going to give away all of Joanne’s tips here, but I do want to draw your attention to one of the resources she mentions in her class. It is Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.1 If you haven’t thought about this in reference to event planning, you’re missing out. This will take your planning to the next level. Maslow proposes that people function at maximum efficiency when their basic needs are met, but those needs must be met in a certain order. 

At the most basal level, our basic physiological needs must be met for us to function: water, food, shelter, clothing, etc. Moving up the pyramid is knowing that we’re safe. This includes predictability, order, and control in our lives. After this level is love and belonging. Do we have friends and family or community? Are there people we are doing life with? Next are esteem needs, which include self-esteem, confidence, achievement, and recognition, etc. And at the top of the triangle are self-actualization needs. This level is about personal growth and meeting one’s full potential. You have figured out your gifts and talents, are using them, and feel contentment in life.

Joanne took these concepts a step further and applied them to event planning. Genius. You can visit her website, The Meet Guide, for the full details, but she gave me permission to share the highlights here. If you are actually sitting in the attendee’s chair, let’s say in a breakout room, two of the basic physiological needs you want to consider might be room temperature and chair comfort. An attendee will be much more apt to focus on what’s being said if they’re not shivering or sweating, or thinking about the cramp in their back from an uncomfortable chair. At the safety level, one thing to consider is how crowded the room is. Did you exceed the capacity for the allowable number of chairs in the room? Are the aisles wide enough for someone to walk through them with their bag?

The next level up the pyramid is belonging. Here you might want to review how new attendees are welcomed into an annual event where other guests are returning, know one another, and could potentially make a newcomer feel like an outsider. If you treat a new attendee well, you will have covered the next level, which is esteem needs. People want to know they belong; that they fit in. If a new attendee is invited to a “New Here” reception the night before the event starts, by the time they sit in the first session, they will have had the opportunity to meet others, hear from the host organization’s leaders, and set proper expectations for the event.

And finally, if the event did what we all hope an event will do, you will have set an attendee up for success at the top level, self-actualization. They should have gleaned something from a session or speaker that either affirms something they are already doing or brings to light a talent they could use to a higher degree.

Seasoned planners are most likely to put themselves in attendees’ shoes. They can visualize what it might look like for a new attendee to drive onto the property, walk in, need to find where they’re going, and determine where directional signage should be placed. They can think through registration or check-in to determine how many lines, what types of signage is needed, and where to set up so attendees can move quickly through this process and begin their event experience. And they can brainstorm with their teams about the content arc that takes attendees on an intentional journey, so they leave with something practical, whether it’s a motivational event, a new product training, or an educational session. 

But, I’ll bet very few planner think about putting themselves in the attendees’ chair.

Does this thought blow your mind too? Share something that came to mind here or
send me an email.

Joanne Dennison, CMP, has a wealth of information to share! Visit her website The Meet Guide or subscribe to her EGuide Newsletter.

1.Abraham Maslow. A Theory of Human Motivation. 1943.

Dancing on the Edge

I got stuck watching a 1980s “oldie but goodie” movie where teenagers were getting thrown in jail for dancing. It’s really not one of my favorites because I have trouble believing that one could be arrested for dancing in public. So naturally, I did a little research. Apparently it has been going on for decades. Dancing the Zweifacher in Bavaria, face-to-face with your partner, would do the trick back in the 1700s and 1800s. This wild folk dance is fast and lively, and actually quite complicated. Even as a musician, I find it hard to follow. It was popular among the working class in Germany and Switzerland as a way to unwind after a grueling day on the job.1 Zweifacher actually means “two-fold,” which describes the complex rhythm of the dance.

It is a combination of a Waltz in 3/4 time (ONE, two, three, ONE, two, three) and a Polka in 2/4 time (Ompah, Ompah), with a pivot step in between the two. It’s described as including “trickery” by the band as they switch back and forth between the two rhythms without warning, keeping dancers on their toes, literally. Oddly enough, early documentation of the Zweifacher can only be found in arrest records, not history books.2 It seems this was the original “Dirty Dancing.”

Der Deutsche and The Landler were dances that gave rise to the Viennese Waltz in the 18th Century.3 All of them use that flowy 3/4 time (ONE, two, three, ONE, two, three) that feels natural for a dance, and is the dance d’jour for movie ballroom dances set back in the days when men wore white poofy wigs and women wore ornate dresses with the largest skirts I’ve ever seen. They would all twirl around the room in mesmerizing synchronicity, stopping only to trade partners or take a breath.

Some considered the Waltz a crime as well as it required partners to dance so closely together; to the point that religious leaders in the day called it “vulgar and sinful.” The Waltz was so scandalous that it earned an article in The Times of London, on July 16, 1816, warning parents to keep their daughters from “so fatal a contagion.”3 My guess is there are parents out there that wish their kids would dance the Waltz instead of the writhing, gyrating, moves found at some homecoming dances today.

Once banned by Parliament during the English Civil War and being called a “thinly veiled form of idolatry” in New England’s history, the Maepole Dance or Maypole Dance, of all things, was also once considered scandalous.4 The preparations for this frolic included setting up a tall pole which had either garland or ribbons affixed to the top. Then, dancers bobbed and weaved in a circle around the pole to lively music creating a pattern with their ribbons. Historically, locals wore their traditional garments when performing this dance, meaning Germans wore their Lederhosen and Dirndls at this festive celebration. This dance is still performed today in many countries, typically on May 1st, or “May Day.” It has been used throughout the years to signify new beginnings and celebrate springtime.

Over the years I have watched a popular television dance show where celebrity stars are partnered with professional dancers and they learn basic ballroom dances. They ultimately compete against each other, are eliminated weekly, gain a ton of muscle mass, lose a bunch of weight, and dance in some of the most ridiculous costumes. However, if we’re talking about dances that could get one thrown in jail for promiscuity, current ballroom dances are no exception.

Have you watched couples dance an Argentine Tango? This is a precision dance with kicks and flicks where partners are literally interwoven to the point it’s hard to tell where one person starts and the other ends. The music is sensual, the costumes barely cover anything (for the ladies anyway), and it is one of my favorites because of my type-A, perfectionist personality. To do it right, couples have to be so in tune with each other and the timing so exact, otherwise, the gentleman goes home with ice on his nether-regions and the lady most likely to the ER as she has been dropped on the floor more times than a toddler drops its toys. When done well, it’s a sight to behold for sure. However, couples are literally stuck together from head to toe throughout the entire dance. Shocking! Not really.

The other modern-day ballroom dance that might qualify as scandalous is the Quickstep. In this dance, couples are moving “quickly” around the ballroom, their heads turning from one side to the other, and their elbows (in fixed position), moving up and down in a coordinated fashion. The lady is dressed in a gown adorned with many feathers and sequins. I’ve seen some dancers catch their heels in the miles and miles of fabric. In this particular dance, the couple literally appears to be running around the dance floor in circles for no apparent reason. The problem? They are connected to each other from their ribcage down to their thighs the entire time. I realize there’s too much activity happening on the ballroom floor for this to be mistaken for intimacy, it’s more like a sprint, however, what happens in rehearsals? Hmmmmm.

I’m not a prude, and having worked in surgery for as many years as I did before becoming an event planner, I’ve been entangled with the surgeon on a regular basis. Sometimes the body part of our patient needed to be retracted (pulled) at a particular angle with one hand, while I remained in proximity to the sterile instrument table with the other (to hand the doctor what he needed), all the while playing a game of twister with one another. It’s funny what different eras throughout history consider appropriate body contact.

These days, I would love to learn ballroom dance. It would be something out of the norm; it looks like a lot of work but a lot of fun once mastered. In the last 300 years (which truly is not that long in the timeline of life) we’ve gone from arresting people for dancing too close to each other, to accepting, not only full-body contact dancing, but depending on the dance, the putting of ones hands in places that shall not be named to be in the right position to perform moves that win the competition.

Do you plan dance events? Leave your opinion about dance history here or
send me an email!

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1.PDF. Alpine Zweifacher. Patrick McMonagle. 2009. Folkdancing.com. chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://www.folkdancing.com/Pages/seattle/Zwiefacher.pdf
2.PDF. Zweifacher Online: Tricky Rhythms and Movements. The Paper Partner Companion. Patrick McMonagle. 2022. Folkdancing.com. chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://www.folkdancing.com/zwie2/
3.Traditional German Folk Dances You Should Know About. Culture Trip. Dayna Gross. 2024. https://theculturetrip.com/europe/germany/articles/traditional-german-folk-dances-you-should-know-about
4.May Day: America’s Traditional, Radical, Complicated Holiday, Part 1. National Museum of American History. Joran Grant. 2016. https://americanhistory.si.edu/explore/stories/may-day-americas-traditional-radical-complicated-holiday-part-1

Skewers at the Ready

It’s been a while since I’ve been asked to coordinate a chocolate fountain for an event. I’m not a huge chocolate fan, but there’s just something about letting the chocolate cascade over a fresh strawberry or cold mini cream puff that is very inviting. I have to warn you, however, there is more to a chocolate fountain than just putting some type of fountain on a table, dropping chocolate bars into it, and dipping to your heart’s content. There’s a whole lot that goes on behind the scenes to make a good chocolate fountain spectacular.

First of all, you need the appropriate-sized fountain for the number of guests at the event; they’re not one-size-fits-all. The best fountains are stainless steel with a quiet, non-pump motor. Because they are stainless steel, they can be pretty heavy, which means they can’t just sit on the end of a folding table. Some thought and care needs to be put into the placement of a 90-pound fountain (and that’s when it’s empty). And because of the weight, after determining where the fountain will go, ensuring that it can be safely accessed without a guest leaning on the table or reaching in an awkward way, will be just as important.

Selecting treats for dipping can be as complex or as simple as an event host wants to make it. Just about anything can have chocolate dripped over it, but that doesn’t mean everything should. There are sweet and savory, fresh and frozen, and hot and cold options to name a few. Some of the most common treats include marshmallows, strawberries, graham crackers, pretzels, pineapple squares, and angel food or pound cake. I have also seen things like mini cream puffs, dried apricots, small rice Krispie squares, and caramels on the end of a stick. Whatever is chosen, keeping cold things cold throughout the event is necessary for food safety.

The chocolate options are a bit less varied. Chicago Chocolate Fountain recommends a semi-sweet dark chocolate. It’s not bitter like dark chocolate despite what most people think, and milk chocolate tends to taste too sweet. White chocolate is not actually white, it’s more yellow because of the cocoa butter, so if white is what you’re after, you might want to rethink your selection. And, for those who like to walk on the wild side, the chocolate can be colored to add some pop to the party.

To get chocolate onto the treat when using a chocolate fountain, a guest is not technically “dipping” anything. The item they’ve selected is skewered onto a little stick and gently held under the cascade of chocolate. It is best to hold the stick either level or slightly upwards, otherwise the treat could fall off the end and into the basin. That would be a problem as it could block the system keeping the chocolate flowing. To help guests be successful while eating their chocolate-covered treasure, consider having a little diagram near the fountain. It can be designed in such a way to fit the decor of the table and still communicate useful information.

Staffing the table either by hiring a company to supply the fountain, chocolate, treats, and to replenish the table, or by asking a friend or a volunteer to refill the items throughout the party can serve multiple functions. Not only will the fountain stay flowing and the treats remain plentiful, but this person can also keep an eye on how people are selecting their goodies. Ensuring they are using the stick or a pair of tongs to pick up their treat will be important to keep guests from sharing more than just pleasant conversation.

Enjoy a sweet chocolaty tower at your next event now that you are prepared to do so with excellence. Make sure the table is sturdy, the treats are kept at temperature, and guests keep their skewer tips up as if they’re ready for anything.

Have you had a chocolate fountain at an event recently? What is one treat you served? Share it here or send me an email.

Comment, like, and share this blog with everyone you know who likes chocolate!

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3 Tips to Survive Event Day Chaos

Someone asked me recently how I am able to stay so calm under pressure on event day. After working in the meetings and events industry for as long as I have, it’s not something I consciously think about anymore. No two events are alike, and there is always some sort of issue that needs to be addressed, so there’s no one-size-fits-all solution. Once I sat down and thought about the different experiences I’ve had over my 20 years, a few things came to mind that truly do help me survive event-day chaos. Here are my top three:

  • Be Prepared. I do my best to be fully prepared for an event. By event day, I have reviewed the event planning checklist multiple times to ensure everything is complete. I will have sat in on a pre-con meeting to go over the full event schedule, by room and by day, with the venue’s representatives, which usually include a CSM (Convention Services Manager), a Catering Manager, a Head of Security, and an Operations Manager. I’ll check in with everyone on the event execution team to ensure they’re all present and have what they need to do their jobs. And, every document related to the event will be printed and organized in my binder so I can find what I need when I need it. Plus, I am on-site early before anyone else, so I can settle into the on-site office and be mentally and physically ready to welcome the team.
  • Dress Appropriately. As the Certified Meeting Professional and usually the decision-maker (also known as the authorized signatory), I like to dress a little bit nicer than others. It tells people I’m in charge without having to tell people I’m in charge. Still, I run hot and am on my feet all day, so comfort is the name of the game. I dress in layers and wear comfortable shoes. I have a sparkly pair of tennis shoes that go with every look; dress or pants alike. I also wear a sleeveless shirt as my base layer, so at a minimum, I can slip into the onsite office and strip down in front of my fan for a few minutes.
  • Be A Swan. I would have never used this term, but I heard it recently, and it describes things perfectly. A swan looks graceful, effortlessly gliding across a pond; however, below the water, their feet are kicking, sometimes frantically, to get to the other side. I have to keep a level head and calm demeanor on the outside, no matter what I am feeling on the inside. Just as children take their emotional cues from their parents, so do junior team members or volunteers or attendees, for that matter, from those who are, or even appear to be, in charge.

If you focus on getting these three right, the other things will fall into place. Because you’ve prepared, you won’t be scrambling to find a copy of the BEO (Banquet Event Order) for the next meal to see if you remembered to order the special pescatarian dinner; it will be color-coded and in the F&B section of your binder. Because you are not feeling blisters develop on your heels, you can focus your attention on welcoming guests as they arrive and escorting a lost attendee to their next session. Because you have mastered the art of looking calm on the outside, no matter how you feel on the inside, when the CSM comes to you and says there is a conflict with a breakout room, you can turn to her with a smile and say, “Let’s go take a look.”

What is one of your top ways to survive the event day chaos? Share with us here or
send me an email!

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Bonus Tip! One thing that helps me survive event day chaos is knowing that very few people actually know what is going on behind the scenes. It may feel like the entire event is ruined by whatever “surprise” comes up requiring a change in the plan, however, in all honesty, it is usually only the person who brought the issue to your attention, someone you may need to consult to make any changes, those whose help you need to implement any changes, and the handful of people who might have been initially impacted by the issue. 99% of the rest of the attendees, staff, volunteers, vendors, exhibitors, or venue employees have no idea that anything even happened in the first place. This takes the pressure off of feeling like you’re letting people down, or that in any way this issue has “ruined” the event.

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