Health care professionals have realized that a focus on prevention, rather than on cures, is a more beneficial approach to ensuring both healthy individuals and a healthy environment. And because it takes healthy individuals to achieve healthy organizations, wellness is not just a personal concern but a business concern as well. Because of widespread interest in the trend and because of its potential influence on the business world, savvy meeting planners are looking for ways to incorporate attendees' interest in wellness into their meetings and events.

With the help of creative suppliers, particularly meeting hotels, planners now have a number of options for producing meetings that incorporate wellness in more ways than simply offering bottled water and nutritious food options. Some hotels have developed unique, one-of-a-kind programs that meeting planners can utilize to wow even the most sophisticated attendees.

Feng Shui Meetings.
At the Westin Chicago River North, your group can participate in a "Feng Shui Meeting," which incorporates the ancient Chinese practice of working with energy and environment to create harmony and balance while enhancing attendees' senses and fostering creativity and results. These meetings feature soothing music, Feng Shui-themed décor, furniture arranged according to Feng Shui principles to enhance the flow of ideas, personal Zen Gardens for each attendee, and Feng Shui-inspired food options.

"After meetings, attendees often leave feeling fatigued because they have just spent a long period of time focusing on the agenda at hand," said Michelle Abril, representative for the Westin Chicago River North. "The Feng Shui meeting utilizes a variety of techniques centered around the five elements of Feng Shui to ease this common source of fatigue and allow attendees to increase productivity while experiencing a more relaxed and comfortable environment."

The hotel offers Feng Shui meetings for groups of 20 to 30 people. They are ideal for "intimate, interactive meetings where creativity and out-of-the-box thinking are encouraged," Abril said. "Attendees will find themselves in an environment that allows them to perform at a highly creative and productive level, and they leave with an enhanced sense of enlightenment, rejuvenation and renewal."

WellBeing Institute.
Just opened last November, the Four Seasons Hotel Westlake Village, located outside Los Angeles, takes the concept of wellness to a whole new level. In addition to the requisite meeting space, guest rooms, dining, and other services, the property includes the California WellBeing Institute, located just adjacent to the hotel. The California WellBeing Institute offers "comprehensive and progressive programs to help groups and individual attendees achieve healthier, more balanced lives, while enjoying Four Seasons accommodations, meeting space, unique outdoor venues, attentive Four Seasons service and expert conference services teams," said Shelby Taylor, director of public relations for the Four Seasons Hotel Westlake Village.

At the WellBeing Institute, groups can choose from interactive nutrition and cooking forums, success-oriented fitness and inner-living workshops, and customized speaker events to incorporate wellness trends into their meetings. For instance, workshops offered for large groups include "Stress for Success," "Strategies for Healthy Eating," and "How Successful People Succeed." Small group options include "LifeKitchen" cooking classes and nutrition workshops, and multi-day retreats that include personalized assessments involving integrated clinical, nutritional and fitness evaluations; cooking classes; fitness courses; and spa treatments.

The collaboration of the hotel and the California WellBeing Institute allows for a number of unique offerings for attendees. For instance, the property's 12,000-square-foot fitness center doesn't just feature more than 20 cardio stations; it also makes available to attendees certified exercise physiologists, who are on staff with the WellBeing Institute.

"Rather than fostering health by addressing sickness, preventive and whole-life approaches to maintaining wellness can do so much more," Taylor said. "For instance, a health-focused business can improve recruiting, save money on health care costs, and inspire the greatest creativity and passionate involvement from employees. Simply put, the healthiest minds, bodies, and spirits create the healthiest organizations."

° Contributing Editor Nancy Mann Jackson is a freelance writer in Birmingham, Ala.

Eco-Meet

For some suppliers, a focus on wellness emphasizes respect for the environment and the promotion of sustainable travel. Fairmont Hotels and Resorts has launched Eco-Meet, a brand-wide environmentally friendly conferencing program, intended to minimize harm to the environment during meetings and events. Through the Eco-Meet program, trained hotel staff members are available to work with interested meeting planners to "green" their events. The program includes four key components, which can be tailored to meet the needs of each particular meeting:

• Eco-service provides disposable-free food and beverage services and recycling stations in the meeting rooms. This service includes environmentally friendly options such as using china and cutlery rather than disposal items, linen napkins instead of paper, centerpieces that are edible or made from reusable items such as silk flowers, and white boards rather than paper flip charts.
• Eco-accommodation offers in-room environmentally friendly options including information about environmental practices, recycling bins, optional sheet and towel replacement, energy efficient lighting, and water-conserving shower heads, toilets, and tap aerators.
• Eco-cuisine menus incorporate local, seasonal, and organically grown foods wherever possible. Special Eco-Meet menus can also include a 50 percent reduction in animal proteins, supplemented by vegetable proteins at meal functions. Some Fairmont properties feature dishes seasoned with herbs from their own herb gardens or other local sources. The emphasis is on healthy, environmentally friendly and tasty food.
• Eco-programming offers activities and guest speakers to complement the Eco-Meet experience. Whether it's a keynote address, a full-day teambuilding eco-experience or something in between, this Eco-Meet option educates and informs meeting attendees while providing innovative meeting services. It also includes paperless options such as a dedicated TV channel to provide information and updates to delegates, electronic paperless check-in and check-out, and e-mailed contracts and information wherever possible.