8 Work-Life Balance Activities for Your Events

 Why Work-life Balance is Important

The U.S. ranks in the bottom 20 percent for work-life balance among the 38 countries surveyed in a report compiled by Family Living Today and Now Sourcing On average, people spend nine and a half hours a day on “personal care” and that includes everything from sleep to showering. Nine and a half hours a day is not much when you consider that eight hours of sleep is optimal.

Because of technology, it has becoming increasingly difficult to separate work from personal life making it a challenge for employees to achieve a healthy work-life balance.  Not only is this balance necessary for mental health and personal growth, but it also creates a more desirable working environment and happier employees. “Put simply, if your people don’t view work as a chore, then they will work harder, make fewer mistakes and are more likely to become advocates for your brand,” according to the Happiness Index.

Events and meetings are a prime opportunity to introduce and practice work-life balance principles within your team. Work-life balance was one of the focused themes of our MTA Workshop this year. Although we were on site together for intensive training, we also sought to put into practice these important concepts.

Continue reading “8 Work-Life Balance Activities for Your Events”

How to Plan a Socially-Responsible Green Event

How to Design a More Socially-Conscious, Environmentally-Friendly Event

Here are four ways that you can plan a more intentional event and how our team accomplished it at one of our annual MTA Workshops:

1. Give-Back Programs

Why not bring your teams together for a combined team-building activity while supporting a worthy cause? Double whammy! Find a local or global philanthropic organization to support or contribute volunteer time to a community service project for an on-site or off-site CSR activity. You can also weave CSR throughout your event by sourcing gift and decoration products from socially-responsible vendors.

giveback

Support a local organization

How we did it:

Because our team met in Pennsylvania, we wanted to support an organization locally so we chose a project to support the Girls and Boys Club of Northern PA. Our team decorated shoes for 3rd, 4th and 5th grade at-risk students and stuffed 100 backpacks filled with back-to-school supplies for students that excelled in their “Power Hour” after-school program.

Integrate CSR into your on-site decorations and gift products 

How we did it:

Since a lot of our activities took place in the great outdoors, we sourced citronella candles from United by Blue. In doing so, MTA removed 82 pounds of ocean waste with our purchases! Our Workshop wouldn’t have been complete without fireside chats and s’mores around the fire pit. We sourced hand-crafted Kabbage and Hugs s’more sticks, made from beetle kill wood, reused and repurposed from forests in the Rocky Mountains. Throughout our event we incorporated beautiful multi-use blankets by the Riviera Towel Company, a Santa Barbara company that donates funding to ocean clean up efforts.

Each day our Give-Back Canteen, a decorative outdoor fixture, was fully stocked with a variety of products from brands with missions that support reducing environmental waste, providing meals to the hungry, providing for the homeless, and/or donating proceeds toward worthy causes. Some of the brands included Annie’s, Bombas (72 pairs of anti-microbial socks provided to the homeless), Brandless (66 meals provided to the hungry), Kind, Love with Food, Project 7, This Bar Saves Lives (72 nutrient packets provided to malnourished children) and more! At the conclusion of the event, all unused products were donated to the Boys and Girls Club.

2. Source and Support Locally

Choose local. By sourcing locally from the location of the event, you’ll minimize shipping and reduce your carbon footprint. This will not only make a big impact on the environment but also on your event budget. Save money, save the environment. Make it a win-win!

Support local businesses and vendors 

How we did it:

Our team of planners intentionally chose socially-responsible vendors from which to purchase products and services. We also used locally-owned restaurants and food service providers for our team dinners. And many locally-made gifts were purchased from surrounding area shops.

Support local artists and contractors

How we did it:

To add a whimsical flair to our event set, we had a few structures including a “Depth Tower” and a Give-Back Canteen built on site using local contractors. We also hired local artists to produce signage.

3. Reduce and Recycle Waste

Cut out the excess. Plan your event with the intent of producing less waste. You can do this countless ways starting with going paperless and getting rid of paper agendas and programs. Also, consider recycling at your event! This can be accomplished by taking simple measures such as placing recycle bins throughout the venue, and using recyclable packaging and bio-degradable items.

signs

Go paperless

How we did it:

Thanks to our Mobile Attendee Website, our event was paperless! All agendas and itineraries were easily accessible with the click of a button. We also used popular marquee displays allowing us to change out messaging daily while easily reducing the waste of additional signage.

Reduce use of plastics and use recyclable goods

How we did it:

Our attendees were gifted refillable stainless-steel water bottles that keep beverages cold all day, allowing attendees to fill up their water bottles when needed. We provided various flavor add-ins for their choosing. This omitted the need for plastic water bottles on site at the event. We ditched excess packaging and opted for ECOHIP reusable grocery bags to shop the Give-Back Canteen. Our branded welcome boxes were 100% recyclable as were our paper straws, in an effort to minimize plastic pollution.

Reduce carbon footprint

How we did it:

Instead of the typical one-car-per-person travel, we doubled up on transfers and grouped attendees together to offer the experience of traveling as part of the meeting. Yet again reducing our carbon footprint.

4. Repurpose

So many aspects of your event can be repurposed; it just takes a little extra planning. Look for ways in which you might donate items or dismantle structures to reuse in a new, creative way.

Canteen, tower, chairs

Donate

How we did it:

The wooden Give-Back Canteen structure will soon be reincarnated; in its next life, it will serve as a playhouse for happy children at a local community park. All remaining canteen items, such as individually-wrapped snacks, were donated to the local Boys and Girls Club.

The white directors chairs that were used for event seating, were donated to two local theaters along with the tables to be used for stage furniture in future productions.

Reinvent

How we did it:

As part of our event set, we created a “Depth Tower” which not only served as a decorative structure but was also used as a message board and a way for our team to engage with one another. The tower will be dismantled and repurposed to create handmade gift boxes filled with gifts to be donated to families in need at Christmas.

It doesn’t take an environmental scientist to determine impactful ways of creating a greener event. It just takes some great preplanning and maybe some paper straws to get you started.

Our team can help plan a socially-responsible event just like they did with ours. Reach out to us to learn how you can make a difference at your next event. 

A Simpler Strategy for Successful Employee Onboarding

employee onboarding

Do you have processes or procedures that are required to be completed and need to be documented by your staff in the same manner regardless of their location?

Do you need to assess your workforce’s understanding of your procedures?

Are you creating training manuals and requiring your workforce members to sign a hard copy to help you document their training?

Do you struggle to keep track of all of these moving parts when it comes to onboarding new employees?

In a recent survey conducted by CareerBuilder, more than a third of employers (36 percent) do not have a structured onboarding process. This can have costly ramifications. Forty-one percent of these employers believe the lack of a structured onboarding process has had one of the following negative impacts on their company including lower productivity, greater inefficiencies, higher employee turnover, lower employee morale, lower level of employee engagement, lower confidence among employees, lack of trust within the organization and missed revenue targets.

Maybe it’s time to upgrade your approach to the onboarding process. 

Why using a learning management system like VALTs makes sense for onboarding:

1. House your training in one easily-accessible automated system

You can breathe a sigh of relief. No more hunting through various files and emails for onboarding documents. When using VALTs, all training documentation is housed in one, easy-to-access system for both the user and the administrator.

Use your company’s internal documents and also include reference documents or website links that can be housed or linked within VALTs creating a one-stop-shop for all onboarding training. Post employee handbook updates and new or revised policies, best practices, safety regulations, assessments, policies and procedures, and reference documents.

Use a variety of media for your training such as video, slideshows, and more. Additionally, administrators can gain access to real-time reports and set training deadlines with reminders to complete training within companies requirements.

Technology not only makes the onboarding process more efficient, it also cuts down on mistakes. However, not all companies are handling things digitally. Looking at a subset of HR managers, 39 percent say they electronically capture most or all of their onboarding information for new hires at their company, while 47 percent capture some of it. – Career Builder

2. Customized learning plans for each new hire as it relates to their position

Not all roles require the same training. With VALTs, each training can be tailored per employee, per role, with secure sign-in to enhance security. You can include required or non-required materials to be viewed based on the employee’s title, role, job function and with the option to create customizable training as it suits your employee’s specific role.

3. Makes it easy for new hires to review training on their own time, on-demand, at their own pace or by a given deadline

Why not make onboarding more versatile for your new hires? With VALTs,  training documents are accessible 24/7. Instead of keeping track of deadline, the system does it for you!

Set it and forget it. Users and administrators receive alerts for approaching or missed deadlines. As an administrator, you have access to pull progress reports to keep training on track for new hires and existing employees alike.

4. Makes training a more efficient process

In today’s busy working world, who has time to paper chase? By eliminating cumbersome paperwork and, instead, implementing electronic-based training, your training is much more efficient. And saves you time.

The Career Builder study also explored the consequences associated with manually collecting onboarding documents versus automating the process, which included everything from delayed start dates to required documentation, like compliance forms, gone missing.

“Manual collection and processing takes time – 42 percent of HR managers who don’t capture onboarding information electronically spend three hours or more per employee manually collecting and processing onboarding information, while 16 percent spend five or more hours,” according to stats from a new Career Builder Survey.

5. More engaging than a binder of documents

Not every learner is the same. We all have different learning styles at Miller Tanner Associates. Reading a binder of documents may be effective for a small percentage of people but odds are, a majority will not be engaged.

The benefit of using VALTs for your onboarding is that you can include a variety of materials such as video, slideshows, or pre-recorded presentations to engage and increase learning retention. And if a user has a question, he/she can send questions directly to the presenter in real-time.

6. Can include assessments to reinforce learning principles

Another great feature of VALTs is the ability to provide assessments throughout the training. Assessments are a key to reinforcing learning principles. Not only can you measure your new hire’s understanding and knowledge retention, but these metrics serve as a metric to improve future training.

7. Easily document signatures with timestamp capabilities and electronic format

With VALTs you can also track training by applying assessments for outside training along with e-sign. As an administrator, you can gather electronic signatures with ease and have the ability to pull and file the signature relating to the new (or revised) policy and well as track that each has read and signed off on the new (or revised) policy.

Ready to try a digital approach to onboarding? Contact the Virtual Events Team for a demo of VALTs, one source for all your expertise available to your team accessible at any time from any location.

Other Resources:

http://press.careerbuilder.com/2017-05-11-Thirty-Six-Percent-of-Employers-Lack-a-Structured-Onboarding-Process-for-New-Employees-According-to-New-CareerBuilder-Survey 

https://trainingmag.com/board-onboarding

https://www.td.org/newsletters/atd-links/10-onboarding-best-practices

CSR Spotlight: Circus Kathmandu

Circus Kathmandu CSR

At the heart of Miller Tanner Associates, you will find two distinctions: a team of dedicated individuals who strive for excellence in the work that they do every day; and a work culture that promotes a spirit of generosity and hospitality through Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).

Recently we sat down with Glenda Ann Robertson, Global Event Specialist who, in February, participated in a CSR opportunity with Circus Kathmandu.

Continue reading “CSR Spotlight: Circus Kathmandu”

Powerful Technology Tools to Boost Your Events

Boost your event with these powerful tech tools.

Chris Scott

It is crucial to think about your training and event needs in a holistic way and to utilize all of the tools at your disposal to make the greatest impact on your attendees’ comprehension of the data and to get the most out of your training budgets.

As event solutions experts, we are all constantly in search of amazing ideas and tools to up the engagement levels for our attendees.  We have some clever and powerful technology tools to add some pop and sizzle to your face-to-face events:

  • Bird  – It is a wearable presentation tool à la the movie Minority Report, that turns any surface (e.g. wall or table) into an interactive touch screen, giving presenters tons of options to make presentations more engaging and compelling.
  • Hologram –  Yes, the future is here, and the cost and complexity of this technology have come down from the stratosphere to terra firma. We are getting a lot of client feedback and interest in this novel way to bring remote presenters into the room in an exciting way.  Look for the magic at one of your upcoming events or reach out to us for more information!

We are also very keen on using other tools to supplement the face-to-face event such as:

  • Virtual Events – Deploy for other training needs like amendments and updates which may not require the time commitment and financial outlay of bringing folks to a physical location.  The adoption of this technology is now, fully global and many of our clients are maximizing reach, flexibility, and cost savings by using virtual events to continue training.
  • VALTs Virtual Assessment, Learning & Training Source –  Use in creative ways to get folks trained before they get onsite to focus or shorten the agenda, allowing more targeted discussion and time together face-to-face.  In addition, we can deploy this training method to continue, replicate, and refresh previous training for new staff in perpetuity.

At Miller Tanner Associates, we never stop looking for ways to make your event impactful and meaningful, so your attendees can experience excellence! Contact us today for help with your next event or meeting

Sincerely,

Chris Scott
Director, Media and Production

{Infographic} Key Questions to Ask When Hiring an Event Planner

Questions That You Should Ask Before Hiring an Event Planner

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Whether it be for a pharmaceutical investigator meeting or a company’s national sales meeting, here are key questions to ask when hiring an event planner for your next corporate event.

General Capabilities & Support

  • What is the company’s area of expertise?
  • What is the process from start to finish?
  • What specific services will be provided?
  • What factors should I consider when determining a virtual or hybrid meeting versus a face-to-face meeting?

Operational Structure

  • Will I have one contact person or be working with a team of planners throughout the planning process?
  • How many planners will be available on the day of the event?
  • What method of communication is preferred?

Media & Production Services

  • Is there equipment/technician oversight?
  • Is graphics, design, and support available?
  • Is technical direction provided for the event?
  • What will I be responsible for providing?

Financial Reporting Procedures

  • How often will billing updates be provided?
  • Are final bills paid, documented, and provided as a single package?
  • How is healthcare provider (HCP) spend managed, if required?

Compliance & Security

  • Does the company offer compliance as a service?
  • Are standard processes in place and available for review?
  • Where is your meeting data stored and how safe is storage?

Company Philosophy

  • Will our company values align?
  • Do I feel like a VIP when interacting with your event planner?
  • How are the small details handled?
  • What’s the plan if an unforeseen issue should arise?

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Miller Tanner Associates has corporate event planning experience and expertise. Contact us today to learn how we can help plan your conference, business meeting or company recognition event.