Issue One, Fifth of November.

After ten short years, we're launching the newsletter to which we've long aspired. Each issue will mark an event.

IN THIS ISSUE:

  • 2006 has been a big year for Absolute. Read all about it in Absolute News, below.
  • Ideas on site inspection - critical to any event!
  • Insider tips - profit from our experience...
  • This issue's event is Guy Fawkes Day; did you know Guy was the guy from whose name came the word 'guy' ?
Enjoy.

Ideas on Inspecting a Site

Take nothing for granted when you select a site! The site that you toured only 24 months ago can have changed beyond recognition.

Set-up

Contact the property's sales rep to arrange a date and time. If you are required to stay at the venue, many hotels will credit the cost of your room once the contract is signed.

The Tour

The convention services manager will usually conduct the tour. Make sure the tour is conducted at your pace, rather than his/hers - you're the evaluator here, not a tourist.

Tour Tips

Do the math. Is there enough space? Does the space work?

A sound idea. If light 'bleeds' from one meeting room to the next, chances are sound will too. Take off your shoe and see if you can push your toes under the dividing wall between two meeting rooms. If you can, you may have a serious auditory issue.

Guest rooms  Are the guest rooms appropriate for the group? Are they consistent? Significant variations in room quality will almost certainly show up as a negative in post-meeting evaluation. (Tip: check the air conditioning vents - a tell-tale of good housekeeping)

Checklist

It is a good idea to develop your own site inspection checklist before setting out. This allows you to compare all inspected properties on a level playing field.

Use a standard scale rating system to rate qualities such as cleanliness, décor, washrooms, outlets etc.

Be thorough with your check list — include all items which are important to your group. Are these things important to you?

  • Proximity to airport, train station?
  • Do you have unique set up requirements for some of your meetings?
  • Proximity of bedrooms to meeting rooms?
  • Access for wheelchairs, hearing or visually impaired guests?
  • Business services – business centre, wireless internet, working space in rooms?
  • Food & Beverage: appropriate menu selections, creativity, willingness to divert from the menu?
  • Suitable public safety plan, security…fire safety
  • Mix of bedroom types

Final Thoughts

  • Are the halls, elevators, and public washrooms in good shape?
  • Are hotel staff friendly and professional?
  • Ask your tour guide: What is the ratio of employees to guests? When were the last upgrades made to furnishings and such?

Insider Tips

Claims of wheelchair or special needs accessibility? Upcoming labour contract negotiations? Trust us - they all need to be considered when you're inspecting a site.

  • Check out all claims. One set of "accessible" rooms we were shown on a site inspection did have wide doors for wheelchairs - but they opened into a tiny foyer that was too small for a wheelchair to make the turn into the room.
  • Ask when labour contract negotiations are to be conducted at the proposed site - avoid that time! (Hotels are horrid when bellhops are doing the cooking.)
  • You can be pleasantly surprised - we recently toured the newly renovated Sheraton Centre Toronto (see picture), and were very impressed - so much so that we were one of the first users of their very elegant Osgoode Ballroom.

Guy Fawkes Day - Fifth of November

Guy Fawkes, an Elizabethan nobleman, is the best-known of the group of conspirators who were caught trying to blow up Parliament in 1605, in the infamous Gunpowder Plot. Their treasonous plans are still celebrated in the UK every Fifth of November, with bonfires, fireworks, and the symbolic burning of a ‘Guy’ on the bonfire.

Did you know?

  • Since then, in every annual opening of the British Parliament, the Yeomen of the Guard, or Beefeaters, search the cellars of the Houses of Parliament for conspirators – a tradition that now dates back over 400 years.
  • Mr. Fawkes is the source of the North Americanism 'guy,' the parallel to the English 'fellow' or 'bloke.'

Please to remember, the fifth of November
Gunpowder, treason and plot
I see no reason why gunpowder treason
Should ever be forgot.

Absolute News

This year has been an exciting one for Absolute - we celebrated our 10th anniversary in great style with a convivial crowd of clients, suppliers, and associates. The event included a magician, a mime, a hand-writing analyst, and of course Absolut martinis. Check out the photos – see if you can find your face, or one of your colleagues!

We gained new clients, and furthered our relationships with long-standing ones – you'll be able to read all about it in our end-of-year newsletter.

We welcome Jacqui Sullivan back to the team, and Don Ham, a new member, who is focusing on obtaining sponsorships and exhibitors for our clients.

And so in the theme of Guy Fawkes Day, this first newsletter is to remember our friends in the industry on the Fifth of November.

 


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Event planning, event management, event marketing, conference planning, and corporate event planning require: attention to detail, discipline, imagination, and an excellent network of contacts in the hospitality conference, and event planning industry. In Toronto, Ontario and across Canada, Absolute boasts an unparalleled network of event and conference planning resources, from conference rooms and venues to hotel managers to booking agents to media experts to online registration systems to speakers and entertainers. Event marketing, in addition, requires a lively imagination coupled with the ability to reach out and access attendees where they work and where they are. We've been reaching out to conference attendees in Toronto and across Canada for over a decade and we know what works. We've been selected to run the World Conference for Disaster Management for many years running - 2007 will be Absolute Conferences and Events sixth year of managing this highly regarded and exceptionally well-received conference. Attendance at the World Conference for Disaster Management (WCDM) has risen steadily each year since we were selected as conference managers. We are also affiliated with ecospeakers.com, as event planners with expertise in events and conferences that focus on the transition to a more sustainable future. Corporate meeting planning in Toronto offers many choices and many opportunities. The city - spring, summer, winter and fall - provides many places to meet and ways to accommodate. Toronto is also an excellent venue for your special event - the city is rich in meeting places, conference venues, entertainers, decorators, and media professionals. Absolute Conferences and Events provides excellence in conference planning and event management, marketing, online (on-line) registration, product launches, trade shows, and association meetings. Give us your event-planning checklist - we'll make sure every item is executed on time and within budget. Alysone Will (Alison Will, Allison Will, Allysone Will) CMP, founder of Absolute Conferences and Events, has been a professional event planner all her working career and is rich in contacts and experience across the Toronto, Ontario and Canadian event management scene.