Two Perspectives, One Event

Renée Mauborgne, co-author of the acclaimed Blue Ocean Strategy, explained to the group the importance of creating uncontested market space. "Too many companies are swimming in the red ocean of bloody competition where there is limited room for real growth. The image of the vast blue ocean conveys the infinite possibilities for profitable growth that exist with this strategy," she said.

The New Yorker writer and The Tipping Point and Blink author Malcolm Gladwell shared his insights on how social power affects an organization. He referred to Karen Stevenson, an anthropologist who works with today's top companies. "Within an organization, she asks, 'Who do you talk to when you want new ideas?' She draws a map, makes a grid. These are social maps and they all look the same; a couple of communication hubs. Often the people who generate new ideas are not the top managers, they are a random selection of people who have a different kind of power - social power."

In his research, Gladwell has found that the average size of one's social circle is about 35 people, including friends and family. But in every group, there is at least one person who has a social circle five or six times that size. They are the compulsively social "connectors" who not only know more people; they know different kinds of people.

Gladwell next turned his attention to e-mail. He said when you go online, you gain efficiency and scale, but you lose intimacy. He gave an example of a study of couples in long-distance relationships. "The first group got a plane ticket for every other weekend for six months. The second group could talk on the phone and not see each other. The third group could only do e-mail. After six months, the e-mailers were getting along wonderfully, the phone callers were having a few problems, and the first group was not getting along at all." The third group, he said, was not having a relationship. They were reading what the other person typed, but feeling the emotional context in their own head. "My view on connectors in the online space is that they are far more powerful if they are able to supplement that online interaction with another kind of interaction," he said.

A fellow attendee, technology trendwatcher and consultant Sander Raaymakers, disagreed with Gladwell's premise. "The lack of emotional cues Gladwell cites is an old-school perception," he said. "America's youth maintains very extensive networks of friends through online communication networks, which include instant messaging, voice, and Web-cams. Many people who find partners through online dating like the fact that the absence of a picture allowed them to get to know the person first."

It's this richness and diversity of perspectives among speakers and attendees alike that makes World Business Forum so invaluable. Hundreds have already registered for the World Business Forum New York 2007, Oct. 10-11. Alan Greenspan, former chairman of the Federal Reserve; Michael Eisner, former CEO of The Walt Disney Company; Herb Kelleher, founder and chairman of Southwest Airlines; Rudy Giuliani, former New York City Mayor; and Jack Welch, former CEO, GE, are already confirmed speakers.

More information can be found at www.wbfny.com. 

Another Perspective

The World Innovation and Business Forums I attended in the spring and fall opened up a world of "what ifs" for me. How else can you react after hearing from the best? Tom Peters, Clayton Christensen, Seth Godin, Tom Kelley, Neil Rackham, Robert Herbold, and Bran Ferran - leaders in management, advertising, design, marketing, operations, and Disney's Imagineering, respectively, spoke at the World Innovation Forum, as did executives from Google, BusinessWeek, and Philips Design. They made me see how the creativity process works in all of these disciplines and how the naysayers, for whatever reason, can kill an idea before it even stands a chance. No one needed an iPod, but now there probably isn't a person who would turn down owning one of those nifty MP3 players (and while there are dozens of different brands of MP3 players, the cool advertising has made you really want an iPod).

Some takeaways: It's OK to not be like everyone else. It's good to disagree, although it's not easy. Savvy management doesn't punish team members who go out on a limb and make a mistake; it's those same people that push the envelope and come up with amazing ideas. If you surround yourself only with people like yourself, you will not grow.

From the World Business Forum, I listened attentively to Jack Welch and Larry Bossidy talk frankly about the difficulties of leadership and successful execution. The words "strategy" and "performance" came to life as Welch and Bossidy used colorful real-life examples to answer questions from the audience of entrepreneurs and executives anxious to gain advice from the pros. I also came to realize that I know very little about the complexity and cultural differences in Japan, India, and China after hearing Kenichi Ohmae and Jiren Liu speak. Yet, regardless of differences, the desire to innovate, to make a difference, to succeed, remains universal.

Sure, the speakers were amazing. But so were my fellow attendees. Sitting next to me at one of the sessions was a diversity specialist who reported to the CEO (not human resources, as you might expect). I met two executive recruiting specialists who flew in from England, aerospace engineers, and a medical meeting planner previewing the speakers for her group. A banker I enjoyed a conversation with between sessions later handed me an extra ticket to an after-event with Tom Peters. I felt like I had been given a winning lottery ticket.

Branson's Chateau on the Lake Resort & Convention Center Adds Spa to Offerings

Chateau on the Lake Resort Spa & Convention Center in Branson, Mo., recently added a new, state-of-the-art $6 million Spa Chateau to its 301-room resort. The 14,000-square-foot European-style Spa Chateau offers 10 luxurious treatment rooms, dry saunas, steam rooms, an indoor coed Jacuzzi, outdoor Roman bath, and men's and women's private relaxation lounges. Many of the two-story spa's rooms offer a view of pristine Table Rock Lake amidst the Ozark Mountains. According to Spa Director Kristi Gilmore, since the spa opened this spring, 60 percent of its bookings have come from groups. The spa adds another luxury guest amenity for the Chateau on the Lake - and continues to raise the bar for this Midwest destination. When it opened about a decade ago, the resort brought a new level of visitor to this family-friendly destination which draws 8 million visitors each year, according to Ross Summers, president/CEO of the Branson Convention & Visitors Bureau. The resort offers 43,500-plus square feet of flexible meeting space and can accommodate events with up to 3,500 attendees. Forty-nine live-entertainment theaters and a host of attractions line Branson's Entertainment Row, including the all-new, stunning Titanic museum, built half-scale to the original, and displaying more than 400 rare Titanic artifacts. At Dick Clark's American Bandstand Theater, visitors can visit '57 Heaven, offering an amazing variety of flawless automobiles from 1957.

Access 2006 Draws Planners From 17 Countries to Explore Austria's Venues

Vienna is a city of operas, waltzes, marble palaces, grand hotels, and majestic museums. At a recent industry trade show, it also proved to be an excellent place to meet and do business. The city's elegant attractions and state-of-the-art meeting facilities were shown off to great advantage in early October, when 300 meeting planners, business partners, and media from 17 countries, including the United States, Canada, Germany, Britain, Belgium, France, Switzerland, the CIS (former Soviet Republic), were invited to the glittering Hofburg Congress Center for Access 2006, organized by the Austrian business and convention network (abcn) comprising Austrian National Tourist Office, ACB Austrian Convention Bureau, Austrian Airlines, RTK Round Table Konferenzhotels, and the Vienna Convention Bureau.

The show's 200 exhibitors included Austrian convention and congress centers, hotels, event locations, agencies, convention bureaus, tourism organizations, marketing and sales alliances, event service companies, and transport providers. Also featured were educational marketing seminars and a cyber café that served Viennese coffee and delicious samples of apple strudel.

The Hofburg Congress Center has a total of 118,400 square feet of meeting space with state-of-the-art technical facilities, including simultaneous interpretation equipment which was used by international participants during the educational segment of the show. Located in the center of the city, it was walking distance for attendees who were staying in a number of nearby hotels, including the modern, 579-room Hilton Vienna, the 453-room Hotel InterContinental Vienna, and the classically deluxe, 108-room Sacher Hotel.

Barry McKennitt, executive director of the National Association of Petroleum Investment Analysts, plans international meetings for his group every two or three years and found much of his time at the show was used to make contacts with hotels for follow-up site inspections. "It is great to go over brochures, but you also need to kick the tires and see the products," he said.

Visitors were also given tours of the two-year-old, steel and glass RX Messe Wien Congress Center, with 592,000-plus square feet of exhibition space, and treated to special events and tours in spectacular venues including the Neue Burg Imperial Palace, and the Schonbrunn Palace.

Julie DeLeon, an account executive with Travel Planners Inc., plans meetings for associations and medical groups. "With medical meetings, there is a lot of diversity in attendees, from novice to world traveler. They pay for the trip themselves, so price point is important. After attending Access 2006, I can now recommend places they can visit on their own, plus I found guides who don't give canned lectures."

A day trip to Niederosterreich (lower Austria) with wine tasting at the ultra modern Loisium (a hotel and wine museum complex), a cruise of the Danube, and sumptuous dinner at Grafenegg Castle (where a world-class classical musical festival will be launched next summer) provided additional meeting ideas.

"I learned so much about Austria and the optional tours I can offer my clients," said Tisa Meer Nava, national account manager for ConferenceDirect.

Another advantage of attending the show was a face-to-face exchange with destination management companies. "I'm planning a meeting in Vienna for 2008 and after I return to the United States, I'll put my head together with the DMCs I met and come up with what is best for my client - from transportation, to tour guides, to hotels that are the right size. It will probably save me six months' time," said Meer Nava.

Betty Berndt Brown, executive director, Photo Chemical Machining Institute, found the best hotel for her international group with "service in multiple languages, as well as a permanent board room and top-quality AV equipment."

Taking part in Access 2006 answered a lot of questions for the meeting planners who participated. And many will be back to Austria soon, along with their groups.