Conference Planning - Why Businesses Arrange Conferences

Conferences play a major role in the success of any business. Businesses arrange conferences for different reasons. Conference planning is necessary for business conferences. Conference planning is a very technical job and a professional is necessary for it. To become a conference planner you should acquire training; training provides you with the knowledge of managing conferences. Business conferences are arranged for the company's promotion, promotion of the company's product, employee appreciation, achievements of the organization and to get new projects.

The face of conference planning has changed and now businesses are looking to hire experts for the arrangement of their conferences. Businesses want to make sure that their visitors are comfortable and the right venue is selected for the conference. To select the right venue, comfortable seating arrangements and appropriate technology you have to be a professional.

Company's goodwill is dependent on the conferences; as stated earlier the companies arrange meetings for the promotion of their company. For this purpose appropriate venues such as big conference rooms are selected and these conference rooms have up to date technology. With the help of technology; businesses informs the public about themselves. This way these businesses gain promotion and the target market comes to know about the company.

Conferences are even held for a product launch. When a company makes a new product; it arranges conferences to inform the target market about the new product. It uses technology to provide knowledge about the product's advantages and offerings.

Meetings are held for employee appreciating. In these meetings the businesses use technology to appreciate their employees for reaching certain production or sales targets and workers are rewarded with monetary and non-monetary benefits. This helps in motivating the workforce and the workforce repays by working hard to achieve the company's goals and objectives.

Conferences are even held to appreciate the achievements of the organization. When businesses achieve their production and sales targets these conferences are arranged to appreciate the people involved in it. In these conferences; future targets of the organization are explained to the work force. A copy of the future targets is provided to the workforce so the workforce can work to attain those targets.

Many business meetings are arranged to get business from another business. In these conferences the businesses use technology in which they employ technology to provide information to other business and they try to get contracts with them. These are the reason why businesses arrange conferences and for these conferences proper conference planning needs to be done.

Healthy Business: When Making Time For Employee Wellness Is No Longer Optional

In America, we have some serious time struggles. Everyone we know is busy. Everyone we know is running just to keep up with the day to day routine. No matter who you are or what you are doing in life, you are very busy.

Business is no different. Being busy is the key to a successful business. You've heard the phrase; "busy is good." You've heard the boss say to "get busy". It's all part of our culture and we have perfected the art of being busy. We are busy at home and we are busy at work.

That makes health difficult for most employees. With time being a stress in itself, it is a challenge to get exercise in or take time to make good food choices. That is what most employees struggle with at the core. That is also why the health of our workforce in our country is on the decline.

The workforce is just a mirror of our overall population. When you hear a statistic about obesity, it also applies to the workforce. When you hear a statistic about disease, it also applies to the workforce. Anything health-related that can be said about the American public, can also be said about the workforce in businesses around the country.

As a business, you are hiring people from the general population, so naturally, you can expect the issues to be similar. More accurately, you can expect attitudes to be the same in your workforce as they are in the general population. That is one of the biggest issues when it comes to time. Time is something that we have decided is optional.

When it comes to health, time is not optional. If you don't have time for health, you don't have health. When your company decides to change the culture and make health a part of it, time is part of the equation. If your company has time for health, you can help employees realize that they have time for it too. If your company doesn't have time for health, your company won't have health. Instead, you will simply have a workforce that don't have time for health and a company that actually supports that attitude.

That is the first step in creating a healthy company culture. When you are thinking about resources to devote to wellness, time is the first one that you have to make part of the equation. In order to create a plan, you have to take the time to discuss your company goals. If you want to create a particular result of any kind, you have to take the time to determine your actions that will lead to those results.

Your company is no stranger to this. Every company realizes that time is important to any area of business. That is why you make time for training. It is also why businesses make time for sales. Time is at the core of all areas of a successful business. The parts of the business that need to be supported are given the time. Likewise, the parts of the business that are given time are supported.

This support leads to success. When something is given time in your business, it becomes a growing area that is eventually a strength. When something is pushed aside and not given time, there is no way that this growth can take place. That is why so many companies struggle with wellness. When you devote time to wellness, there is growth. When your company doesn't have time for wellness, there is only the same results that you are already getting.

When you make wellness optional, your company will only invest as much time as you can spare. When you make wellness optional for employees, they will do the same. That is why health is going in the direction that it is going today. Health is something that none of us have time for. When your company supports that, you are promoting it and encouraging employees to continue down the same path, leading to the same results.

This raises a few questions:
How much time is your company devoting to wellness now?
That is a question that I would like to pose to all businesses across the country. The question that would follow directly would be: What results is your company getting now? What does your employee health look like now? What is the trend that you are seeing over the past 5 years, 10 years or 15 years? These questions are not difficult to answer. Every company knows exactly how much time they have spent on their wellness programs. Every company knows how much time they have invested in their employees in all areas. Health is no different. Every company knows how much time has been invested in employee health.

The questions posed are not pointed. They are not meant to insult any business or shame them for time they have spent or not spent on any particular area. When it comes to health, the fact remains, employees are not investing enough time in themselves. When it comes to employee health, many companies are still not investing time in their employees.

If your business wants to get control of healthcare costs and improve health, wellness is not optional. Time is finite, so there is only so much time in everyone's schedule. That is not a mystery. What is a mystery is how people can spend no time on something until there is an emergency and they are forced to spend the time. Medical emergencies are a clear example for both employees and companies. When someone hits the ultimate wall, there is no choice but to take the time to fix the problem.

Avoiding the problem is actually going to take less time and by far less painful. For employees and companies, health and wellness is nothing more than avoiding the problem by taking a little time now and saving a lot of time later. More importantly, we are able to save a lot of money by investing a little money. In business, saving money and saving time are not optional. If you don't strive to do these things, you will not be successful. If you are able to focus investment, you will get results.

Health is simple. Employee health is the same thing as health for the general population. If your company can devote time to wellness, you can avoid what is happening in the general population. How can you do this? You can create your own culture and with it, your own trends. One of those trends has to be health and more importantly that time for health is not optional.

Making time for health is not easy, but if it isn't done, we know what will happen. The fact is, we need to invest our time in ourselves and in our employees in order to improve health and in order to improve business. The state of affairs now has us dealing with rising costs. These costs are due to the choice to ignore health and to make improving it optional. The key to improving health and getting cost in line is time. When health is the goal, time is a necessity. When health is the goal time for health is not optional.

Planning Your Own Pay Per View Event

Live video streaming services have become one of the biggest net sensations over the last couple of years. You can remember growing up as a child with your father watching George Foreman winning championships in boxing on pay per view. The days of mega millionaire companies and pay per views will likely never go away as subscriptions grow by the millions every year.

However, earning revenue from putting on a pay per view event is no longer relegated to just the largest media companies in the world. Now, a small start up sports league, fight league or extreme sports league can afford to host a pay per view online with live video streaming services.

Not only can live video streaming be a success for sporting leagues, it can be a success for musicians who wish to put on a concert for their adoring fans and it can also be a great way to broadcast special events like a wedding. We all know that there can be times when it's not feasible to have every loved one at an event so offering the ability to stream an event over the internet is a great way to ensure everyone can be included in your special event.

With live video streaming services, it's now become possible to literally film and stream recorded and live events of any nature online for anyone you want to see it or anyone you want to pay to see it. This technology truly takes the capabilities of tomorrow and puts them in your lap today!

It's important to find a service company that will partner with you by tailoring to your needs. It's important to find a service company that will allow you to host your Pay per view on their server. They should be willing to handle the monetary transactions while hosting your web space so you can focus on your event. They should offer technical services to make sure that everything goes off without a hitch. They should also be able to direct you to camera operators that have the capability to interface with the technology needed for live streaming of your event.

Few companies offer this level of service but it is important when making a decision that the company you partner with to broadcast your event is trust worthy and that they are there to ensure your event's success. If a company offers all of these things to you it will be easy to have confidence that your pay per view event will go off without a hitch and your event will be a financial success.

Planning an Event - Piece of Cake

There has been a steady increase in the demand for professional Event Planning in San Francisco. Planning any sort of event is a laborious task because there are far too many aspects that make an event a success. And a successful event is a memorable event. The food, the service, the music, the lighting, the seating everything must be organized well so that it can all work together in tandem to contribute to a spectacular event. And who better to do this than a professional.

An event management company caters to many different kinds of events - birthday parties for all ages, engagement, wedding and baby showers, reunions, anniversaries and retirement parties not to mention Halloween, Christmas, and New Year parties and well as corporate dinner parties and gala events. These companies co-ordinate every minute details of the event. They give suggestions and tips in relation to themes and d矇cor as well. They are experienced enough to avoid obvious hiccoughs and apt with dealing with major disaster situations if required.

These companies are tied up with the best caterers, bands, and party supply stores. They have working for them an army of people who are creative and artistic who can take your ideas and make them into a fantastic event. Using an event management company can help take most of the pressure off, leaving the hosts to enjoy their own events. Many a times, if you decides to organize the event on your own, you practically spread thin trying to manage everything and totally unable to make any real time for your guests. Also, there are times when you get so caught up in the food or music you tend to disregard certain subtleties like decoration and lighting which tends to be a major faux pas, becoming sometimes the only thing people remember of an otherwise spectacular event.

Choosing an event management company has become fairly simple in San Francisco as most of them can be found online. A few things to remember while choosing an event management company are - looking through their previous events, references and success rate. In an industry such as this word of mouth can be extremely helpful. Also if they have done enough of events you can be assured that you can rely on them because of their experience. Be very careful to tell the company exactly what you are looking for in the event and what your budget is so that they can keep that in mind during the planning period.

Key Factors To Look For When Sourcing Quality Event Medical Services And Medical Staffing

When it comes to planning group occasions and functions, the priority checklist can prove fairly lengthy. Whether coordinating the details of a family party or managing an elaborate corporate affair, there are many factors to take into consideration to ensure a seamless and fun gathering for all. From venue and theme to invitation and entertainment, a truly enjoyable event includes a wide range of logistical "must haves."

Unfortunately, function safety and security is often completely overlooked as a critical component to guaranteeing optimal function success. Regardless of the size of the gathering, the safety and well-being of every attendee should always take precedence over other planning details. From small personal gatherings to grand scale business parties, hiring an outside event medical services vendor to provide various medical staffing for an upcoming event can keep all guests safe, minimize liability and deliver extra piece of mind to the host.

Seek Comprehensive Specialties With Event Medical Services Vendors

Unlike other party details like centerpieces and color schemes, finding an appropriate provider for event healthcare services isn't simply a mere question of taste. There are several vital elements to look for when doing research on quality and professional companies that specialize in event medical services. Understanding some of the most important factors to look for can help streamline the selection process.

Only work with an event medical services provider that offers a comprehensive range of specialists with up to date training, accreditations and certifications. A function of any size may require various healthcare staffing options for optimal guest safety. Finding an individual company for each staffing obligation will waste precious time and resources. Instead, to ensure your vendor offers a diverse array of qualified healthcare staffing options, source a company with resources for emergency care, licensed paramedics and physicians, EMT's and registered nurses. If an occasion is being planned near water, finding a company that delivers rescue divers may also be an important criterion to consider. Sourcing a provider with an all-encompassing assortment of healthcare staffing options means that, from basic first aid to vital life saving techniques, every guest's personal needs can be met and managed.

Look For Diversity Of Services And Other Accommodations

Determining the list of service offerings and other less tangible amenities should also weigh heavily during the selection process. In addition to a highly-trained staff that delivers expert healthcare, always look for competitively priced services, cultural sensitivity and on-call crew options for complete and seamless coverage. Also, always partner with a medical staffing business that offers flexible attire so team members fit in with the look and feel of the party and don't prove distracting to guests.

Finally, a company's established history and experience with managing various sized venues should also play critical roles when selecting a medical staffing company. Only team with a firm that has an established reputation for professional and reputable services and has managed functions of various sizes for maximum results. Whether it's an anniversary party for 15 or a concert for 15,000, working with a qualified business that specializes in event healthcare services means that a host can actually enjoy the party themselves knowing that their guests' safety is being effectively managed.

Without Plans, Businesses Fail

Many business owners will agree that profitability is a key indicator of business success and most measure their growth by tracking sales or market share improvements. Business owners are often on the look for new and improved ways to increase their business growth, yet many fail to see the link between long-term business sustainability and business planning. For some, business planning is a tedious process that they do not have time for, others are unsure of what to do. This article we will help you to understand the key steps when undertaking the business planning process.

According to recent figures from Dunn and Bradstreet (August 2011), business failures have increased by 25% in the past twelve months. Tony Featherstone from the Sydney Morning Herald analysed the figures provided by an ASIC study (2005-2010) in relation to business failures and found that poor strategic management is the highest cause of business failure. It accounts for around 43 per cent of all external administrator reports and has remained constant over the past six years.

Strategic business planning is essential for businesses to grow and improve. It enables businesses to see upcoming trends and create pro-active strategies to gain the best results. The clear focus and direction that comes with a plan will help you understand who your key target market is and the message that you should use when selling your business/product/service to them.

To create an effective business plan you first need to identify or confirm the overall business strategy that you are pursuing. In general you will be following one of three generic strategies developed by Michael Porter in 1980 in his book "Competitive Strategy: Techniques for analysing Industries and Competitors":

a. Cost Leadership - Here you sell at a low price with the aim to sell in high quantities to take advantage of manufacturing discounts.

b. Product Differentiation - This is where your product has higher perceived value to that of a competitor product. E.g. BWM & Mercedes both have a higher perceived value than a Holden or a Ford.

c. Market segmentation. - This is where you target your product specifically to a specialised market niche. E.g. Maternity Clothing - you target market is very specific - ladies who are pregnant or trying to become pregnant.

Once you have re-affirmed your strategy you need to do some external and internal analysis of the markets. With external analysis, a P.E.S.T.L.E. (Political. Economic. Social. Technological. Legal. Environmental) analysis is ideal to give you a good grasp on the market around you, the upcoming trends, opportunities and threats. A S.W.O.T. (Strengths. Weaknesses. Opportunities. Threats) analysis should then be carried out for the internal section. The S.W.O.T. analysis is a powerful tool due to its simplicity and effectiveness in helping to determine the critical issues to address and pursue. Strengths and Weaknesses are internal factors, while Opportunities and Threats are external and can be taken from your P.E.S.T.L.E. analysis. V.M.F also recommend that you include financial, competitive and channel/distribution factors within your analysis to gain the best picture of your market.

With the analysis completed you need to create your business goals. S.M.A.R.T. (Specific. Measurable. Attainable. Relevant. Timely) goals are recommended as vague goals will not drive success and can lead to employee dissatisfaction and incorrect business results which may lead your business astray. With your S.M.A.R.T. goals and your understanding of the market factors you now should determine the required factors for success. What resources (people, equipment, etc) do you need to fulfil your goals?

Following this you can start creating marketing strategies and tactics, including action plans for goal achievement along with how and when you are going to measure your progress for each factor (monthly, quarterly, etc).

The final and most important two steps are to implement the plan you have created and to monitor and continually evaluate the effectiveness of your strategies continuing to make minor adjustments along the way to improve their effectiveness in driving your business towards growth and your goal achievement.

Proper Planning and Preparation for the Future Chemical Logistics

Chemicals are useful and necessary in order to produce the products that the public wants and needs. How do they get from point A to point B? The answer is logistics. Chemical logistics is distinctive than any other type. To mitigate the hazards of moving a chemical, it requires good planning and proper documentation. All freight transportation and storage has its difficulties. Chemicals, especially hazardous chemicals need to be handled with care and present greater risks.

There are a myriad of companies whose expertise is the movement of freight; however, there are few corporations that have the ability to properly and safely handle the shipment of chemicals, due to the stringent regulations that are enforced by federal, state and local governments. In the years ahead the requirements and regulations will in no doubt increase, and the properly prepared logistics company will rise to meet the challenge.

Warehousing is another issue facing the chemical logistics industry. How to properly store and dispose of chemicals before, during and after usage. Environmentally sound procedures and earth friendly solutions are challenges that the chemical sourcing corporations are facing in the years ahead. The main emphasis is safety. Whereas; some chemicals are considered hazardous, others are deemed to be harmless to the environment. A company with the most up-to-date policies and procedures will offer its customers the assurances that all chemicals will be handled properly and safely.

International shipments of products in a global economy will be preeminent. Vendors from countries outside of our own are competing for market share. Logistics will play a key role in keeping cost down and profits up. The logistics companies who know how to transport, store and distribute chemicals will remain solid.

The classifications by government regulators has added additional burdens for the companies who procure and transport chemicals for the manufacturing and distribution sectors. Even though it has been some time since a company could dump chemicals in any public landfill, all chemicals have a classification as to its environmental impact. There are stiff penalties that can be levied against a chemical sourcing company for mishandling dangerous and toxic materials. Improper labeling is not least among the violations that enforcement agencies pay close attention to.

Chemicals are here to stay. The transportation and storage issues facing the manufacturing community are not insurmountable. Proper planning and good communication are the cornerstone of a symbiotic relationship between a manufacturer and a supplier.

Creative Ways to Engage Employees and Boost Performance

Every time you hire a new employee, you spend money on the hiring process and lose productivity during training. The most financially sound businesses are those that have low turnover and make infrequent new hires. In order to be this company, you must retain employees, which means keeping them happy and encouraged. Engage employees in a variety of ways to keep them involved in the company and boost their work performances.

Keep Work Fun

A company's employees are part of a team, but with cubicles keeping them pinned up all day and departments segregated in different areas of the building, it may be difficult to feel that team spirit. Help employees see the bigger picture by getting them together frequently with company activities, like monthly or weekly games or scavenger hunts. Encourage participation by giving prizes to winning groups.

Ask for Advice

To make employees feel like part of the team, prove they are part of the team. The execs may know the ins and outs of the business, but employees often come up with solutions that those locked away in their offices may not see. When changes need to be made to company operations, go to employees for their thoughts. Keep an open-suggestion policy where any new idea is considered. When employees have a say in the running of their own departments, they'll be looking for ways to improve the process every day, upping employee engagement.

Rewards

Nothing makes employees go above and beyond like rewarding them for that effort. Make the workplace one of recognition by handing out award certificates on an annual, or even monthly, basis. Rewards don't have to be for common categories, like attendance and sales volume. Think high school yearbook, and consider awards for "best hair" or "best potluck dish." Do it until every employee has awards peppering their workspaces.

A Word on Bonuses

When you do give out official performance-related rewards, keep them in line with your employee's purpose. Remember, employees come to work each day to make a living, so rewards that acknowledge that have the most impact. If the company has the funds, immediate rewards like cash bonuses or trips have the most impact on employee engagement. If a company is growing, stock options may be more budget-friendly, and still offer financial incentive. No matter what business you're in, you must engage employees to keep the workplace from becoming a place of tedium and dread. Create a workplace to which employees don't mind coming, foster relationships within the company to create loyalty, and reward employees for their hard work to keep them on the team and working for the good of the company for years to come.

The Link Between Successful Business Strategy and Leadership

Do you sometimes wonder why some companies in an industry succeed and others fail? When strategies look similar between companies, why do some perform better than others?

It may be natural for companies to think that their strategy is missing the mark but that probably isn't the case. Over the last 20 years companies have spent an increasing percentage of their management time developing strategic plans. However many of them have found that they have not achieved the results that they expected from those plans. In fact, many plans are prepared but sit on the shelf awaiting the next revision.

Companies' weak performance is not in fact because they have weak strategic plans; it's because they haven't implemented those plans in an effective manner.

According to recent studies:

• Between 70% and 90% of organizations that have formulated strategies fail to execute them.

• A Fortune Magazine study has shown that 7 out of 10 CEOs who fail do so not because of bad strategy, but because of bad execution.

• In another study of Times 1000 companies, 80% of directors said they had the right strategies but only 14% thought they were implementing them well.

• Only 1 in 3 companies, in their own assessment, were achieving significant strategic success.

Research published by the Harvard Business Review shows that on average, companies deliver only 63% of the performance that is anticipated in their strategic plans.

One problem seen by this study is that less than 15% of companies regularly compare their business performance against their strategic plan. Harvard's survey demonstrates a sequence of events that causes companies to fail:

• Strategies are approved but poorly communicated.

• The lack of communication makes the translation of strategy into specific action all but impossible.

• Lower levels in an organization don't know what they need to do, when they need to do it or what resources are required.

• As a result, expected results never materialize and since management doesn't review old plans, no one is held accountable for the results and the cycle of underperformance gets repeated.

What is going wrong here? Why are strategies poorly communicated? Why aren't action plans developed? Why don't employees know what they should be doing? Why aren't people being held accountable?

Strategic plans aren't being implemented due to a lack of leadership.

Why is there a problem?

The nature of work being performed by companies has changed. Over the last 30 years we have moved from a manufacturing and resource driven economy to one that is significantly service oriented.

Many firms are now driven by intellectual capital.

Baruch Lev of the Brookings Institute has undertaken significant research in this area. His studies found that in 1982, 62% of the market value of public firms could be attributed to tangible assets and only 38% to intangible assets. In 1998 with the rise of the knowledge-based economy, only 15% of the market value of public firms could be attributed to tangible assets and fully 85% could be attributed to intangible assets.

Thirty years ago as a business owner if you ran a manufacturing oriented business it was much simpler to execute on your strategy. Your manufacturing plant would have reported a significant variety of information on its inputs, outputs, production, and inventory etc., all without the extensive use of computerization. Your plant could be finely tuned to produce value economically for customers.

Nowadays, as a business owner it is likely that your business is based on the creativity and knowledge of your people. This intellectual capital is much more difficult to measure and manage that a manufacturing environment.

Business doesn't have the dials, levers, and controls over intellectual capital that that it did in a manufacturing environment.

Another reason that companies have difficulty implementing strategy is that it is a cross functional, multi-disciplinary process. It requires the involvement of marketing, sales, operations, finance and information technology and cannot be approached from the perspective of one discipline only. In order to get the plans for one department such as marketing implemented in an effective manner, it will require the involvement of other departments such as finance and IT. The co-ordination of strategic implementation among different departments within a company is frequently a challenge as each one of the departments does not normally understand the requirements for success of any other department.

But of all of the issues with strategic implementation, perhaps the greatest is that of leadership. A leader's job is to set the vision, communicate the vision and motivate employees to achieve the vision. A weak leader may be able to set the vision but implementation of that vision requires good communication skills and the ability to motivate people effectively.

Strategy implementation is the single greatest problem and the single greatest opportunity facing businesses today. Improving leadership is the key to solving that problem.

Important Aspects of Planning a Wedding

Whether you are planning a wedding for a client or for yourself, there are some things that you just cannot get by without. Certain things are more obvious, such as the theme, the cake, the dresses, the colors that the men and women are to wear, the music, and all other things that are commonly associated with a wedding.

This article focuses on the not so obvious parts of the wedding; the things that people do not actively notice, but definitely add to the overall experience nevertheless. Wedding decorations are a good example. Wedding linens such as chair covers and napkins are something that must be taken into consideration, but they are often overlooked until the last minute.

People mainly pay attention to the food that is going to be served, but little effort is spent on what the food is going to be served ON. It is just one of those small details that is going to come back and bite you. Fortunately there are companies that anticipate this, and make it easy for you to correct your mistake before it is entirely too late.

These companies are very convenient, as they are likely to carry the whole mess of your needs in one place, whether it is for party rentals or wedding linen rentals. San Diego in particular is home to exceptional event linen rentals.

It is important to take note of the area or building you are having your reception in. Study the architectural style, whether there is carpeting or hard wood floors and, if there is carpeting, the color of the carpet. If you really want to impress people, you could use this information to your advantage by having everything complement each other.

If you are having your reception in a ballroom that does not already have tables and chairs, you should look for a company that has table chair rental combos, along with chair cover rentals and linen tablecloth rentals.

Linen rentals that have the same general color scheme as the rest of the wedding are always impressive and complimentary. If all of the bride's maids' dresses are of different colors, then the rentals should emulate this. Perhaps the tablecloth could be white, an d the chair cover rentals could be the color of the dresses, or maybe all of the linens could be white with different colored sashes.

There are no limits to the colors you choose to use. There are many different companies out there with all different selections for you to peruse. If you are willing to spend extra money you could even get custom linens made, although these would undoubtedly be very expensive, and you would have to buy them rather than rent.

Of course the alternative is disposable wedding linen rentals. These are quite cheap, but unfortunately they have the look of being cheap as well. But if function, rather than image, is what you are going for, then have at it. Hopefully your guests will be having such a great time, they won't even notice!

How to Plan a Corporate Outing

Corporate outings and retreats can be a great way to motivate employees and reward those for a job well done. They can be ways to build team unity and promote retention. No matter the reason, there are a few steps to follow when planning a corporate outing.

The first step is to determine the purpose of the outing. Once you know the reason you're planning an outing, then you can start to look at locations secondly. A team building outing should be different from a reward outing and a full company outing. The reasoning is just as important as anything else in the decision making process.

The location comes next. Once you know the reason, you can begin picking a location for your corporate event planning. There are many different companies that cater to corporations looking for retreat locations. Some can be parks or in the mountains, others are cruises and beach locations. Are you taking the whole company? You might want to go to a location in town for a day or two. Is it a reward? A cruise to the Caribbean may be a great way to reward top employees for reaching certain benchmarks. Small team building? Maybe a cabin in the woods is the right location for your company. Location matters.

The total cost is the next issue. Depending on where the outing is going to be held and how many people are attending, the price can vary greatly. If you have to work on a limited budget, there are companies that can help plan a corporate outing for a specific reason and work within your budget. The company itself can plan their outing by making phone calls to various locations to determine the right combination of scenery and price. They can even help with booking all the arrangements without huge deposits.

The next step is to find out who is paying for it. Is the company paying for everything for everyone? Are people expected to pay to participate? Is it a reimbursement for the employees to pay now, get paid later? These decisions factor into the budget for the outing and figuring out how many people will be in attendance. If a company pays for the outing, it can allow more employees to attend. If the employees are asked to pay for hotels or travel, that can reduce the total number of people in attendance, thus creating a situation of the company overpaying for the outing. Knowing who is funding the outing allows the company to know how much to budget and to estimate total expenditures.

Planning a corporate outing is not difficult but it can take some time. Allow yourself a lot of time to setup the outing and give people as much information as possible when you inform the employees. The more time and information the company provides when the decision is finalized, the easier it is for the company to ensure they are getting the most bang for their corporate event planning dollar.

Is it the First Time You Are Planning an Event - Get Some Ideas From Us

Event planning is the procedure of planning a festival, party, ceremony, competition or any gathering. It includes many things like budget; confirm date for the event and also the alternate date for it, choosing and reserving the sites for the event, obtaining permits and managing transportation and parking. Depending upon the type of event the arrangements are done accordingly.

As you know that New York is considered to be the most vibrant, most classy, most fascinating and the most exciting city in the world. There is no need to mention that large number of visitors comes here so you can imagine the number of social events, functions and all types of meeting or gathering are continuous part of New York social life. In reality it is quite easy to find a New York event planners anywhere in this happening city because it has thriving demand in event planning. If you are looking for New York event planner in respect of your event you will get the best arrangements that would be provided by many fantastic event planner companies.

The company should be good enough in taking care of every single aspects of your social function in the New York City like from event planning to acquire the place for the event to take place. The company should also take care of your budget which you actually desire to spend for the event. Decoration of the event place also comes under event planning. An event looks very attractive when decoration and arrangements are done properly.

The event can look very grand if your event planner can plan it wisely. Many nightclubs in the New York City offer the best amenities and other facilities at a very low budget and will make your event the most memorable one. Some of the nightclubs which offer space for event planning are:

1. Dune: this one of the most famous and reputed hotel in the city. This hotel hosts many grand and famous events almost every month. And if you are planning to organize an event in this hotel you can also avail this opportunity that too in your budget or at a very low rates. In fact the hotel also gives high discount at the time when the hotel nightclub remains closed.

2. Pink elephant: this night club has extremely great atmosphere and has a very beautiful decor which attracts the people a lot. It is one of the best nightclubs in the New York City. Those who are looking for low budget event this will be the best place for them. Events of low as well as high budget are planned here. Event planning in such a nightclub will make it one of the memorable one.

Finding The Best Catering Services For Corporate Events

Planning a huge party can be stressful enough, but planning corporate events can be off the charts. Impressing your close friends and family is an entirely different story than impressing your boss, his friends and his family. A few mistakes won't cost you anything at a family gathering but even just one mistake at a corporate gathering can cost you your job, which is why corporate event planning can be so stressful - everything has to be absolutely perfect.

When planning corporate events, you first of all need to take a deep breath and be able to take things in perspective. Make sure you give your guests enough time to reserve your event date on their calendars and to RSVP their attendance and more importantly, make sure you have your theme, venue and menu ready for the big day. While the guest list can be easier to handle, selecting the best venue and the food to be served at the event are not. This is when hiring the best catering services for your event can be a god-send... and can also help you create a great impression on the boss.

To start, you need to ask yourself important questions like how formal the event is going to be, what menu should ideally be served and what location can possibly accommodate your guests. Remember that your menu should include items that cater to varying tastes and preferences as some, if not most of your guests may be on some kind of diet regimen they would like to stick to. Your potential venue on the other hand, should accommodate the maximum number of people possible as you don't want your guests to literally rub elbows with each other.

The best thing about catering companies these days is that they also do complete event management. They take of everything from the venue, to the d矇cor, to the food to be served and even the host and sound system if you please. They will also post suggested menus for your corporate events, from gourmet sandwiches to menus fit for morning or afternoon tea like mezze platters or a selection of Greek and Middle-Eastern dishes served in "mezze" portions. If you are holding an informal corporate event outdoors, the best catering companies will also offer boxed lunches delivered straight to your designated venue complete with napkins and cutlery, available in vegan and non-vegan varieties.

To start your search for the best catering companies, you can ask for personal referrals or references from close friends and colleagues. Reputable catering companies will be willing to take you a personal tour of their kitchens, as well as set up tasting sessions to give you a sample of the kind of high quality food they serve. They may also invite you to an event that they will be catering so you can get an idea of how they work a particular event.

Once you've narrowed down your potential list of candidates, you can call each one and discuss preliminary budget and to confirm availability for your event date. You can ask each one to provide a sample menu for your budget and projected number of guests. You must also make sure to ask each one about their policies regarding minimums, specific hours during the event and extra costs besides food and drinks.

Lastly, it is also important to find out whether your chosen caterer carries any kind of food manager's certificate for sanitation purposes or is insured - you can ask to see any occupational licenses, certification and insurance documents. Also, don't forget to draw up contracts listing every aspect of your agreement down. Don't be afraid to ask questions and more importantly trust your instincts. The best catering companies after all, will always want to make you feel special.

Are Your Fundraisers Exciting?

Fundraisers for schools and other organizations are incredibly important. For schools, fundraisers raise money for important special events to benefit the children. A fundraiser is a great way to raise money for your organization or cause, but it can be difficult to decide what type of fundraiser to organize. It is important to come up with new ideas to keep people excited about raising money.

If you have children in school, you are probably familiar with fundraisers. You have probably been asked to help raise money for your school PTO by selling chocolate, magazine subscriptions, wrapping paper or other items. The problem with this type of fundraiser is that parents and children are required to ask friends, family and neighbors to buy items they most likely do not need. Parents may not wish to sell to friends and family and they may have limited time to solicit sales, collect the money and deliver the items. This type of fundraiser gets old and can be especially troubling for families with several children in school. Many families want to support the school or organization, but experience fundraiser fatigue and simply tune-out and no longer support these programs. If this is happening at you school or organization, it is time to make a change to a new style of fundraising. Outdoor movies events are a great alternative fundraising idea.

Outdoor movie events make for great fundraisers for several reasons. First, outdoor movies appeal to children and adults of all ages. You can tailor your event to specific audiences through your movie selection. At an elementary school, for example, choose a popular movie that is appropriate for children and families. Second, outdoor movie event fundraisers can be stress-free to organize with the assistance of outdoor movie equipment providers who offer full turn-key productions. Next, this type of event can easily be promoted within your organization. Hang posters and utilize social media if your organization maintains a presence. For a school, send information about the event home in student's backpacks. Finally, you will be able to raise valuable dollars for your organization or cause while enjoying a fun event.

Fundraisers shouldn't give parents or supporters of your organization a bad feeling. Fresh, fun fundraising ideas that do not require selling are a great way to beat fundraising fatigue and gather more support for your organization or cause. Plan an exciting outdoor movie event fundraiser and have fun raising the money your organization needs.

Important Role of Corporate Catering Services!

No matter, whether you are running a small business with few staff members or a big one, you need to maintain a successful relationship with your employees for better productivity. The best way to do this is by organizing corporate parties from time to time. This is because a well-organized party not only creates a better impression of the company in front of its employees but clients as well. In other words, a perfectly planned corporate event presents a better image of the company and makes it more popular.

Organizing a corporate event is a tough task. Proper planning is required to make each thing perfect so that the guests in the party can have moments to treasure forever. If not planned properly, it can present a bad image of the company. In order to have your event organized in a comfortable manner, you can hire professional catering company. A professional catering company deals with each and every small or big task and ensures that the customers receive results beyond their expectation level.

Important tasks performed by the company include:

Complete event planning

This is an important service provided by professional caterers. They perform their best in order to plan the whole party in a way to make it special and unique. Event planning involves a number of steps such as budget setting, venue setting, food preparation and presentation, entertainment options, etc. All these tasks need to be carried out in a proper way so as to leave a better impression on clients and employees.

Perfect decoration

The next important task performed by a caterer is that of decoration. In order to give a better and stylish look to the event, they decorate the venue with ribbons, flowers and candles. In addition to this, they also take care of the lighting arrangement by providing high-quality electronic lighting equipment for the event.

Table service items

Besides an ideal planning and decoration of an event, there is something else corporate catering services can do. They also provide a wide range of table service items, required in an event.

Entertainment

For making a corporate event interesting and exciting, entertainment options should be there. Catering companies arrange entertainment activities like magic shows, orchestra, dance floor and many others to create a fresh and exciting environment.

Thus, it becomes clear from the above discussion that corporate catering service providers play an important role in organizing better events and upholding the status of your company.

Four Reasons Why Small Business Fail To Plan and Why They Need To Think Again

It is so widely acknowledged that a robust business plan is one of the key ingredients in small business success, it seems remarkable that anyone serious about their business could considerable it optional. For example, Business Link say, "It is essential to have a realistic, working business plan when you're starting up a business". A recent survey showed that small businesses were twice as likely to be successful with a written business plan as compared with those without one. The Times in their annual round up of 100 up and coming UK businesses suggest that "poor business planning" is a key reason for failure. Indeed, it's almost impossible to find an authority that would advocate the opposite idea, a clear signal that this idea is accepted wisdom. Despite this, a recent survey shows that two thirds of small business owners run their businesses on gut instinct alone.

I had a very interesting discussion about this a couple of days ago with a good friend of mine who has run several successful small businesses in which he posited the idea of a "planning gene". He felt that the only possible explanation for the lack of proper planning in small business was genetic.

According to his theory, the majority of people are born without the "planning gene" and this explains why so many people don't have any written business plan, despite the overwhelming evidence of a high correlation between a robust and vigorously implemented business plan and business success. The majority of us are simply not biologically and genetically wired to plan.

This is certainly one explanation, although I have to say I have a few reservations as to the validity of his theory. I talk with small business owners about planning every day. I'm part of a small business myself. I've owned several small businesses over the last ten years each with varying degrees of success. In all those conversations and all that experience, this was the first (semi) serious discussion I'd had about the planning gene.

If I was to aggregate the results of the conversations I have had with actual and prospective customers on this topic, four distinctive strands emerge explaining why small business owners fail to plan. Whilst I have heard a few other explanations for the lack of effective small business planning, I am treating these as outliers and focusing on the most significant.

I'm Too Busy To Plan - More often than not, the small business owners we talk to tell us that proper planning is a luxury that only big business can afford. For them, business planning, if done at all, was a one-time event that produced a document for a bank manager or investor which is now gathering dust in the furthest recesses of some rarely opened filing cabinet. There just aren't enough hours in the day and if forced to choose, they would do the real, physical work and leave the mental work undone, which seems to be the poor relation at best, if it is even dignified with the status of work at all.

Traditional Planning Doesn't Work - The "I'm too busy to plan" excuse is often supplemented with this one. I've heard the stories of the most legendary construction overrun of all time, The Sydney Opera House, originally estimated to be completed in 1963 for $7 million, and finally completed in 1973 for $102 million, more times than I can remember. Sometimes, this idea is backed up with some actual research, such as the fascinating study by several eminent psychologists of what has been called the "planning fallacy". It seems that some small business owners genuinely believe that mental work and planning is a bit of a con with no traction on physical reality.

My Business Is Doing Fine Without Detailed Planning - A minority of small business owners we speak to are in the privileged position of being able to say they've done pretty well without a plan. Why should they invest time and resources into something they don't appear to have missed?

Planning Is Futile In A Chaotic World - Every once in a while, we hear how deluded we are to believe that the world can be shaped by our hopes and actions. This philosophical objection to planning is perhaps my favourite. It takes ammunition from a serious debate about the fundamental nature of the universe and uses it to defend what almost always is either uncertainty about how to plan effectively or simple pessimism. This is different from the idea that planning doesn't work as these business owners have never even tried to form a coherent plan, but have just decided to do the best they can and hope that they get lucky as they are knocked hither and thither like a steel ball in the pinball machine of life.

As with all of the most dangerous excuses, there is a kernel of truth in each of these ideas and I sympathise with those who have allowed themselves to be seduced into either abandoning or failing to adopt the habit of business planning. Most small business owners feel the same dread in relation to business planning as they do to visits to the dentist, so it's unsurprising that so many simply don't bother. However, by turning their backs completely on planning, they are in danger of throwing the baby out with the bathwater. Taking each idea outlined above in turn, I'll attempt to show why business planning is critical, not just despite that reason but precisely because of that reason.

I'm Too Busy Not To Plan - Time is the scarcest resource we have and it is natural that we would want to spend it doing those things that we believe will have the greatest impact. Of course, we want to spend most of our time producing, but we should also invest at least some time into developing our productive capacity. As Stephen Covey pointed out in his seminal work, "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People", we should never be too busy sawing to sharpen a blunted saw. Planning is one of the highest leverage activities we can engage in, as when done effectively it enhances the productive capacity of small businesses, enabling them to do more with less. Nothing could be a bigger waste of precious time than to find out too late that we have been using blunt tools in pursuit of our business goals.

If we as small business owners weren't so busy and time wasn't so scarce, then we wouldn't have to make choices about what we did with our time and resources. We could simply pursue every opportunity which presented itself. However, for the busy entrepreneur, the decision to do one thing always has the opportunity cost of not being able to do something else. How can we be certain that our business is going where we want it to go without pausing regularly, scanning the horizon and making sure not only that we are on track but also making sure that we still want to get to where we are heading? I believe more time is wasted in the single-minded pursuit of opportunities that are not right than is wasted by over thinking the opportunity of a lifetime.

In short, small business owners are extremely busy and their time is precious. So much so that to waste it doing the wrong things with the wrong tools would be tragic. Small business owners that cannot afford the luxury of making expensive mistakes simply must regularly sharpen the saw through continuous business planning.

Traditional Planning Doesn't Work, So We Need a New Approach That Does - There are some fairly large question marks over the effectiveness of traditional business planning techniques. In an age where business models are becoming obsolete in months rather than years, a business plan projecting five years into the future cannot be viewed as gospel. Nobody has a crystal ball and if they did, they probably wouldn't be writing business plans but using their remarkable predictive powers to some more profitable end.

Dwight D Eisenhower said "plans are useless, but planning is essential". Whilst producing a document called a business plan is far from useless, the real value lies in the process by which the plan is created in the first place. If this process can be kept alive in a business then the dangers associated with traditional planning can be minimised or avoided all together. In an environment of continuous business planning, small businesses can be flexible and adaptive to the inevitable changes and challenges they will face. Rather than quickly becoming obsolete, their plan will simply evolve with the changing circumstances.

Accepting that the plan is a living thing that will evolve necessitates a change of approach to business planning. An effective business plan is the response to the repeated asking of the questions what, why, how, who and how much. It is not a 20 - 30 page form to fill in for the benefit of a bank manager or some venture capitalist, who will probably never fully read it. A business plan should help you, not hinder you, in doing business. If traditional business planning doesn't work for you, it's time to embrace the new paradigm of continuous business planning.

My Business Could Do Even Better With Effective Planning - If you are one of the lucky few whose business has thrived despite an absence of traditional business planning, then I say a sincere well done. I hope that you can say the same thing in five years time.

Business life expectancy in Britain and across Europe and indeed the world are in rapid decline. A study done at the end of the eighties and then again as we marched into the new Millennium showed that life expectancy had more than halved for British businesses in those ten years, from an average of 9.7 years to 4.1 years. Just because a company once enjoyed market leadership does not mean that its future is assured. Many high street institutions have fallen victim to the recent recession. Five years ago it was inconceivable that UK retail institutions like Clinton Cards, Game, Borders, Barratts, T J Hughes, Habitat, Focus DIY, Oddbins, Ethel Austin, Principles, Allied Carpets, Woolworths, MFI and Zavvi/Virgin Megastore would all be either out of business or teetering on the brink of oblivion in 2012. Yet that is exactly what has transpired.

Any business from the smallest to the greatest is not impervious to the winds of change. A new competitor, a technological breakthrough, new laws or simply changes in fashion and consumer preference can all re-write the future of a company regardless of how bright that future once seemed. It is precisely because these risks exist that business planning is critical. To survive in business is extremely hard, but failing to effectively plan for the future or adapt to current realities surely makes it impossible and failure inevitable.

Of course, it is not necessarily the absence of plans that did for these companies but the quality of their plans and most especially the quality of their implementation. Even a poor plan vigorously executed is preferable to the finest planning and research left to rot in a drawer. Continuous business planning is effective business planning because it emphasizes implementation and regular reviews of real results as part of what should be a continual process of improving company performance rather than simply attempting to predict the future and wringing our hands when our prophecy fails to come true. We believe, like Peter Drucker, that the best way to predict the future is to create it.

Planning Is Essential In A Chaotic World - We sometimes feel small and insignificant as we try against all odds to translate our dreams into business reality. It's easy to feel all at sea when we consider some of the challenges we face. However, whilst it is true that we cannot control the direction of the wind, we can adjust our sails and change the direction of the rudder. Difficult and challenging circumstances may come in our lives, but we can control the outcome of these circumstances by choosing which path to take.

The truth is that we are fundamentally achievement orientated as human beings. When this is taken away, we lose much of the energy and motivation that propels us forward. There have been numerous studies carried out on life expectancy rates after retirement, which show that when clearly defined goals and daily action moving in the direction of those goals are removed from our lives, the result is literally fatal. The individuals studied who failed to replace their career goals with a new focus for their retirement simply shriveled up and died. The implications for small business owners are clear. Those business owners with clear goals who take action daily that propels them in the direction of their goals are far more likely to thrive and survive than those who take any old goal that comes along or move from day to day with no defined objective other than survival.

It seems to me that precisely because life is so chaotic and challenging that effective planning is essential. Without continuous business planning, our businesses and the small business owners that work in them may find that bit by bit they are atrophying and on their way to becoming another business failure statistic.

There undoubtedly exists an antipathy for business planning felt by many small business owners. Clearly, this cannot be fully explained by the lack of a "planning gene", but it equally cannot be fully justified by the reasons most commonly put forward by small business owners to not engage in the business planning process. These reasons must be critically re-evaluated and a commitment made to a continual and never ending process of improving the condition of their small businesses. Without such a commitment, the future for small businesses in the UK is uncertain.

Planning Effective Exit Strategies For Business Owners

Today, many business owners are finding it increasingly difficult to retire due to a lack of an effective exit strategy and planning. Contracting cash flow in a tough economy, declines in net income and the credit crunch have all conspired to force many business owners into a fight-or-flight mindset.

Several companies have successfully compensated by trying to expand sales and cutting costs. Many small to mid-sized companies, however, have experienced a drop in value, with no end in sight.

Owners are also entering the chapter in their life when exiting their business in one way or another is becoming more probable. Unfortunately, the business may not be currently worth what they need it to be to successfully exit.

Or what very often happens, is the business owner wakes up one morning, so to speak, and decides that they don't want to run the business anymore and often decides the fate of the business without any careful planning.

The reality is that selling or exiting a business, is probably the single most important decision an owner will make. Instead of blindly hoping to sell their business one day, an alternative is for the business owners formulate a thoroughly planned exit strategy in order to sell or transfer their business for maximum value or compensation in the most tax-efficient method.

Creating an exit strategy, a process which takes three to five years, is the most significant step a business owner can make. All businesses are different and all business owners are different, therefore the exit strategy must be integrated with the owner's objectives and requirements.

Is it a lifestyle business that produces revenue which does not need to be sold? Can the business be transferred over to a family member or key employee, or will it be sold to a third party? If a business owner is entering the stage in life when they need to be planning their exit, here is what they should be attentive to:

Define Objectives

Before you formulate your exit strategy, you must know when you want to leave your business, to whom you want to leave it to and how much money you hope to get from the transaction. Formal retirement planning and the creation of a life goal statement should be the first steps in this process.

Ascertain Value and Cash Flow

Regardless of who you are selling your business to, if your payout will come from future cash flow, then future cash flow is more important than current value. You can use many reliable valuation methods to estimate your business' value. A formal valuation can come later.

Build Value

This step decreases the risk linked to owning your own business and helps improve the outlook for future growth. Setting your business up to operate without you, through improving the dedication of key employees, systematizing your business to run on autopilot, expanding market share, diversifying revenue sources, and growing corporate leadership, can significantly increase your businesses value.

Establish a Successor

The process of transferring your business takes time the sale will continue even after the deal is confirmed because future payouts are usually necessary. The transaction is completed once the agreed price is fully paid. Careful planning is required to successfully manage a sale to insiders who frequently are short of the necessary capital for a total cash buyout.

Conserve Wealth

Selling your business will create income for you, your family and the Internal Revenue Service. Cautious planning must be employed to diminish taxes, and preserve the accumulated wealth.

Exiting a business is probably the most important decision a business owner will make. They usually only get to do it one time, and all of the many years of hard work, risk and dedication is being realize with one event.

Regardless if an owner is transferring it to an insider or selling it to a third party, careful planning and consideration must be taken over an extended period of usually 3 to 5 years. It is a process that is driven by the owner and accompanied by a team of advisors that may include their financial advisor, accountant, business attorney, estate planning attorney, and so on.

It is also important that one of the advisors is thoroughly experienced with the process and can help the owner along through the required steps.

The Best Virtual Jobs for Moms

If you're a stay-at-home mom, a virtual job can help you find that balance between raising a family and earning a steady income. Moms who want to contribute financially to their family while taking care of their children can find work as virtual assistants, customer service representatives and telemarketers. Home-based positions tend to be more flexible and allow you to create a schedule around the schedule of other activities.

Working from Home

In order to work from home, you need to be able to dedicate enough hours each day to complete a shift or accomplish all daily tasks required. If you have small children, you may need to hire a babysitter or consider daycare options so you aren't distracted during your shift. Many companies have specific criteria that require employees to work in a quiet environment in order to better serve their customers.

For most work-at-home jobs, you will need a computer, Internet connection, dedicated phone line, and other items including a printer, fax machine, or transcription equipment. When applying for a virtual position, you should ask if special equipment will be needed. You may have to attend on-site training for a week or longer to learn how to use special equipment or to learn more about the company's customer service procedures.

Types of Virtual Jobs Available

Depending on the job experiences and training you already having, obtaining a work from home position may be easier than you think. Virtual secretary jobs are best for those who have worked in business administration or those who have typing and other office skills. You can start your own virtual assisting business, or you can work for a virtual assisting service. Common job tasks include typing documents, transcription, email monitoring, meeting planning, event planning, and maintaining business calendars. You may also be asked to edit reports and other documents, create spreadsheets, or update web pages.

Work-from-home customer service positions require prior customer service experience in many cases. Because you will be answering customer questions, taking reservations, and processing orders, you need to have excellent typing and data entry skills. You should also be able to talk to customers easily and be able to problem solve quickly in order to maintain quality customer service. If you enjoy helping others and are able to maintain a professional demeanor in any situation, this position may be for you.

At-home telemarketing positions are best for those who feel comfortable speaking with others and selling goods and services over the phone. Some companies prefer hiring employees that have sales or telemarketing experience, but others are willing to train the right people.

Other virtual positions include appointment setting, reservation services, concierge services, and help desk services.

Where to Find Virtual Jobs

There are many places to look when trying to find a virtual job. Paid online classifieds (and a few free classified sites like Craigslist), job boards, and company websites are some of the best places to look. If you're interested in starting a virtual assistant service, you should ask former employers, former co-workers, place an ad in trade newspapers or local newspapers, and join a small business group in order to meet people who may be in need of your services.

When you find a virtual position that interests you, sending a professional resume either by mail or email will make a great first impression. The competition for virtual positions can be tough, but if you approach your search in a professional manner, you should be able to find a few potential employers in a short amount of time.

How to Plan a Successful Team Building Event

Planning a company team building event is a little more scientific than simply deciding what kind of activity you fancy partaking in on any given day, racing off and then coming into work the following day expecting to see a 50 percent rise in profits. A lot of planning and thought is required to ensure that your team building event maximises the positive impact it has on your workforce.

1. Consider your workforce: By carefully thinking about your workforce and by asking advice from a company who specialises in hosting team building events, you can ensure that the activity or activities you choose will be suited to your group and deliver the messages that you want.

2. Planning is key : If you book an event and make no preparation and then turn up on the day with little structure in place, then your event is not going to be as successful as you would like. Planning in detail for the day is vital to ensure you maximise the opportunities available to you. A specialist Corporate Events company can help you immeasurably with this. Your plan should allow plenty of time for each activity so that the activities are not rushed but should remain flexible to allow a degree of freedom to shuffle items around if necessary. Remember the six Ps: Perfect Preparation Prevents Particularly Poor Performance!

3. Food and Drink : It is important that your workforce are fed and watered on your activity. Again a company team building event organiser can help you decide what is suitable for your workforce. If you plan to bring alcohol then it is wisest to ensure that this is used in moderation. This is particularly important if you are planning an activity which involves some kind of physical activity or perhaps driving of some form, when alcohol can seriously impair the participants judgement and lead to possible injury to them or fellow workers.

4. Use part of the budget for a Team Building professional: While it is tempting to think that organising a trip like this for the office is relatively straightforward, there are a great many things that need to be considered. Using part of your budget for the day to employ a specialist team building event organiser to help with your planning of the day is a very wise move. Companies such as Chillisauce for example, have vast experience of providing many successful activities for companies of all sizes and their expertise is a fantastic resource to draw upon to ensure your team building event is as successful as it can possibly be.

Then when you do return to the office after your successful company team building event, you can be secure in the knowledge that the skills and concepts learned that day, are going to impact your business in a positive way.

The CEO's Guide To Succession Planning - Managing Risk & Ensuring Business Continuity

Introduction

Once reserved for the upper echelons of senior management, and often viewed as replacement planning should catastrophe strike, today's succession planning is being redefined. The discipline has broadened in both breadth and scope to become a central component of board-level strategy.

Succession planning focuses on managing risk and ensuring continuity across all levels of the organization - risk of untimely departures of critical personnel, risk of retirees taking their skills and knowledge with them and leaving nothing behind, and risk of losing high value employees to competitors. It does so by helping your business leaders to identify top performers within the organization, create dynamic "talent pools" of this critical talent that other leaders can leverage, and prepare and develop these high performing employees for future roles.

If this was easy, everyone would be doing it. The problem that exists today is that succession planning is barely automated, let alone optimized. This CEO guide provides five key tips for jump starting your succession planning efforts.

1. Automate and Reduce Costs

Today's succession planning efforts are characterized by fragmented, inconsistent, paper-based processes. Indeed, 67% of companies are still primarily paper-based, according to a global survey conducted by SumTotal.

Conventionally, business and HR leaders will spend weeks or even months manually scouring different parts of the organization for information needed to build lists and pools of nominees and successors for specific job families or positions. The information required to generate the lists often includes self assessments, past performance appraisals (often paper-based), and 360 feedback. After a lengthy period of information gathering and aggregation followed by manual analysis (e.g., nine-box, gap analysis), the results are printed and collated into large three-ring binders for use in executive planning meetings. This time-consuming, inefficient, and costly process is still commonplace today.

To effectively transform succession planning from a manual, paper-based process to one that is systematic and technology-enabled, CEOs must focus on laying a solid foundation supported by strong executive leadership.

Program & Process Foundation

• Establish dedicated management function (e.g., program management office) with CEO-sponsored executive leader or council (with senior representation from line-of-business, geography, and corporate HR)


• Define core succession process along with key constituents and tasks at each step of the process; Clearly articulate touch points to other business processes (e.g., performance management, career development)


• Understand implications of change with emphasis on managers & employees


• Align program with broader business strategy


• Determine initial scope (e.g., enterprise-wide, divisional)


• Define processes independent of technology

Technology Foundation

• Must support and enable key processes


• Must integrate learning and development


• Must link seamlessly to other business processes, especially performance management


• Must be flexible and configurable to meet unique needs


• Must centralize and consolidate key information and data


• Must be easy for managers and employees to use

2. Drive Succession Planning Deeper into Your Organization

Many CEOs still view succession planning as replacement planning to designate successors in the event of a catastrophe befalling senior company leaders. Indeed, succession planning penetrates only the highest levels of the organizational hierarchy, according to survey data. Only 35% of companies currently focus their succession planning efforts on most critical roles within the organization.

Yet a most dramatic transformation is underway: 65% of the organizations surveyed plan to extend succession planning to all critical positions within the two years. Applying succession planning beyond the top layers of management is critical to retaining high performers across all levels of the organization and mitigating the risk of untimely departures of personnel in high-value positions.

The key to extending succession planning into the organization is to provide career development planning to employees. Indeed, fully 97% of business and HR leaders believe that a systematic career development process positively impacts employee retention and engagement. These leaders also believe that providing career advancement opportunities as well as dedicated development planning to employees are the two most important mechanisms for retaining high performers.

Retaining existing employees not only has the potential to minimize the effects of talent shortages, it also provides significant and tangible cost savings (since replacement costs range from 100%-150% of the salary for a departing employee).

3. Establish Dynamic Talent Pools to Improve Pipeline Visibility

Centralized talent pools provide CEOs with global visibility into their talent pipeline and overall organization bench strength. They provide a mechanism for ensuring that the organization's future staffing plans are adequate, thereby reducing risk and ensuring continuity. To be truly effective, talent pools need to be dynamic in nature. For instance, if an employee is terminated, that person should be automatically removed from existing successor pools. Alternatively, if an employee closes a key skill or certification gap that had previously kept her from being considered as a successor, the pool should be updated appropriately. Talent pools that are inaccessible or not up-to-date are of little use to decision makers.

A key element of making talent pools accessible is in-depth searching for talent exploration. A talent pool is not much good if managers cannot easily view, track, update, and search for potential successors. Dynamic talent pools should take the guess work out of succession planning by aligning employee assessments, competencies, development plans, and learning programs. Proactive system monitoring ensures that as employees learn and grow, talent pools are dynamically updated to reflect the changes. It is this element in particular - supported by robust reporting and analytic capabilities - that helps CEOs make more objective staffing decisions and better plan for future staffing needs.

4. Promote Talent Mobility to Retain High Performers

Industry analyst firm Bersin & Associates defines talent mobility as "a dynamic internal process for moving talent from role to role - at the leadership, professional and operational levels." The company further states that "the ability to move talent to where it is needed and by when it is needed will be essential for building an adaptable and enduring organization."[1]

Talent mobility is:

• A business strategy that facilitates organizational agility and flexibility


• A mechanism for acquiring and retaining high performing and potential talent


• A recruiting philosophy that favors internal sourcing over costly external hiring


• A method for aligning organizational and individual needs through development


• A proactive and ongoing approach to succession planning rather than a reactive approach

A systematic talent mobility strategy enables business leaders to more effectively acquire, align, develop, engage, and retain high performing talent by implementing a consistent, repeatable, and global process for talent rotation. Without a cohesive talent mobility strategy, CEOs face several risks:

• Focus on costly external recruiting vs. internal sourcing


• Wrong hires (cost can be 3-5x person's salary)


• Increased high performer churn


• Reduced employee engagement


• Reduced flexibility as business conditions change

CEOs should consider the following integrated processes - and a complete technology platform to support them - to promote and enable talent mobility:

• Current workforce analysis:Includes detailed talent profiles, employee summaries, organization charts, competencies, and job profiles.


• Talent needs assessment: Assess employees on key areas of leadership potential, job performance, and risk of leaving.


• Future needs analysis:Development-centric succession planning to create and manage dynamic, fully-populated talent pools.

5. Integrate Succession Planning to Broader Business Processes

Succession planning is not a silo. It implicitly relies on other talent processes and data, especially assessments that provide a performance and competency baseline. Yet unlike a performance management process, which can be executed in a relatively self-contained fashion (assuming it has access to core employee data), the same is not true for succession planning.

Succession planning requires foundational data (e.g., competencies, job profiles, talent profiles, and employee records) and inputs (e.g., appraisals, feedback). Outputs include nominee pools, successor pools, development/learning plans, and reports. To facilitate the level of integration required to get succession planning right, a single, natively-integrated technology platform that centralizes key talent processes and information is required. With this single platform, the time to develop succession plans can easily be reduced from weeks or months to mere hours. The benefits can be significant: reduce costs, reallocate personnel from tactical activities to more strategic endeavors, and mitigate the risk of untimely departures of essential personnel.

Additionally, a single technology platform promotes the linkage of learning and career development to succession planning. By bridging these processes, nominees who are not ready for advancement can be assigned detailed development plans that guide them to improve the competencies and skills required for new job positions. Learning paths and specific courses can be established for employees to facilitate their career growth. By providing learning opportunities and development plans to employees, CEOs can take a more active role in promoting employee growth, retention, and engagement.

Finally, with a single system of record, reporting and analysis is vastly improved, since all relevant talent data resides within a single data structure. Strategic cross-functional metrics can be readily established (e.g., measure the impact of learning and development programs on performance). Reporting and analysis are key to the CEO's success in managing employee resources and implementing strategies that support corporate objectives and initiatives.

Conclusion

Organizations can realize significant efficiency gains and cost savings by moving from a manual, paper-based succession process to one that is fully technology-enabled. The shift to a single technology platform facilitates extending succession planning deeper into the organization, since a well-architected solution seamlessly links succession to career development and learning. A complete platform improves senior management's global visibility into the talent pipeline and bench strength, and promoting talent mobility to retain high performers becomes a viable engagement strategy. Succession planning, done correctly, is all about process and supporting technology integration. Without integration, succession planning becomes just another organizational silo.

Endnotes

[1]Lamoureux, Kim. "Talent Mobility: A New Standard of Endurance." Bersin & Associates, November 30, 2009.