Let Them Eat Cake

I came across this quote from Julie Child, “A party without cake is just a meeting.” I love cake. Birthday cake to be specific. Ask anyone who knows me and they will tell you my favorite breakfast is white birthday cake. But not just any piece; a corner piece with all of the sugary-sweet frosting with as many flowers as possible. As a Certified Meeting Professional (CMP) I love parties and meetings. Both can be equally as fun. The difference? You guessed it, the goals and objectives.

This is not another blog about setting goals and objectives, but as I thought about the quote and why I liked it so much is because, to me, the differentiator is not that one is fun and the other is not fun. They serve a different purpose. Julia could just have easily said, “A party without balloons is just a meeting.” I hate balloons. I have a severe latex allergy and balloons can be a baby choking hazard scenario nightmare. Regardless, the difference is not the balloons, it’s the reason for the gathering.

I felt it was a perfect example of why goals and objectives are so important to set at the onset of planning to not only drive planning, but also gauge the success or failure of the outcome. The planning process for a birthday party will be very different from planning a board meeting for 30 people. The task lists and time management would look very different for the two. 

The outcome of the party should be that the person whose birthday it is feels honored and celebrated. The outcome of the board meeting may be to approve the next year’s budget or vote on adding new board members. Voting to add friends to the circle at someone’s birthday party would make that gathering a failure. Eating, drinking, and being merry, while fun, would not ensure the organization’s budget is approved by the end of the board meeting. Both would prove to be failures by reviewing the goals and objectives set at the beginning.

Hopefully this silly little example clarified some questions around the value of goal-setting. Now, I feel a trip to Target’s bakery coming on…

Do you have a simple, easy way to remember goals and objectives? Share them with others here or you can email me.

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