The remote work hiring process

Remote work is becoming mainstream. The benefits of remote work range from no commute (hello Angelenos!), to increased productivity, to happier and healthier workers, to flexibility and more. But what does the remote work hiring process actually look like? I spoke with Zach Montroy, Director of People & Team Strategy with Summit CPA Group about the remote work hiring process, and here’s what he had to say:

Andrea: What does the remote work hiring process look like? Where do you start?

Zach: The hiring process actually looks very similar to a brick-and-mortar company process. However, being a distributed firm allows us to be more agile in the process and we’re able to expand our possibilities. For example, we have the opportunity to recruit talent from anywhere in the USA, and we don’t have the added costs of relocation. The way we advertise for the job is different as well. We target a variety of markets and home in on areas of expertise by tapping into platforms such as LinkedIn, Indeed, Virtual Vocations, and FlexJobs.

 Andrea: Do you interview candidates remotely as well?

Zach: We do. Our team is in front of a screen interacting with colleagues and clients every day, so it’s a perfect filter. It’s important to see how candidates interact with the camera, and also how they handle the technology. We utilize the power of our team in every step asking candidates about their professional journey, how they live out our core values, what their core values are, and we test for things like emotional intelligence and job skills. For our Virtual CFOs, we do interviews in person as well.

Andrea: How does culture fit into the hiring process?

Zach: We take our core values very seriously and we work to live them out daily. We ask our candidates examples of how they live out our core values and what they look like to them. We’re “changing the way people think about accounting”– it’s at the core of who we are, and we need to ensure the candidates’ values align with Summit CPA Group. Studies have found that Emotional Intelligence accounts for 60% of job success so we test for that in our process as well. Emotional intelligence testing gives us a good sense of how the candidate will interact with others and how their emotions play into, and help manage, relationships.

Andrea: Do you require candidates to perform test projects?

Zach: We use case studies as a way to assess past performance and knowledge around the job. We ask candidates how they would approach situations. This allows us to see first-hand how the candidate will likely function in the environment.

 Andrea: What is the biggest challenge of hiring remotely?

Zach: If you had told me 10 years ago that I’d be hiring people without ever meeting them in person, I would have called you crazy. I think there is value in spending extended lengths of time with a candidate, but that can be done virtually as well. Spending an entire day with a candidate is really telling. Anyone can be in character for an hour or two, but throughout a day, you really see their personality and how they handle different situations. You lose a bit of that aspect with remote hiring, but we’ve really tried to compensate for this in our process to make sure we’re getting the right people on the bus and getting them in the right seats quickly.

Andrea: What’s the biggest opportunity of hiring remote workers?

Zach: Being able to pull from a larger geographic area. I can find the best of the best when I don’t have any geographic limitations. Remote work opens up opportunity for people with expertise who have “traditional work hour” limitations. We’re also helping people get their lives back. When we lived in Chicago, my wife commuted 3 hours each day. That was 15 hours of her week, GONE. It also helps team members be more efficient, I’m able to collaborate and be social, but working remotely allows our team members to focus when they need that space as well.

Andrea: What qualities do you see in remote workers?

Zach: Grit, resilience, adaptability, strong work ethic, integrity. The tech tools we use as a remote company are always changing, and at Summit CPA Group we are always embracing new technology. Our team must be comfortable with technology and with change. Self-discipline is huge. As a remote worker you must be able to shut it off. No one is going to show up with their best self if they are working 24/7.

RFPs: The Foundation for a Successful Meeting

There are many factors to consider when creating RFPs for hotels and venues. Before you can go to contract, here are a few questions to address:

1. What are the goals and objectives of your program?
Communicating the metrics that the success of the program will be based is key. It’s important the venue understands what needs to happen and how they can be a partner in achieving those goals.

2. What’s the history of your program?
Where was your program last year? (Destination and venue) How many attendees? Past budget? Biggest success? Biggest challenge? Communicating past history will help ensure future success.

3. Who are the stakeholders?
Who has a say in the budget? Goals? Destination? It’s highly recommended that all stakeholders have buy-in and agree.

4. What’s the time frame to make a decision?

Hotels and venues rarely hold rooms and meeting space until a contract is signed. The sweet room rate and first choice meeting space can disappear overnight. It’s important to move quickly when you find the right fit.

For more tips on creating RFPs visit andgreat.net

Event Management Services Defined

Events, meetings, and conferences bring a team together, they energize actions and expand world views. Planning and managing events, meeting, and conferences is also a ton of work!

Whether it’s a company retreat, industry conference or a VIP summit we integrate logistics and meeting content to achieve a focused event with maximum impact. We find, select, negotiate, coordinate, plan, manage, promote, create, transport, staff, direct, reconcile, measure, and track.

We can do it all for you or just provide select services as an extension of your team.

Do you need help managing your next meeting or event?

4 reasons you should NOT outsource your event to your office manager

Do you think outsourcing your event and meeting planning to your office manger, virtual assistant, or executive assistant will save you a whole lot of time and hassle? Think again.  Likely your office manager will likely be “winging it.” She doesn’t know the ins and outs of the meeting planning world. You will end up spending more time, paying more money, and be more involved than you really ever cared to be. 

Sadly, in many small and medium businesses the task of planning the company retreat or board meeting or conference is often assigned to office managers, receptionists, VAs and even sales professionals. This is a huge mistake as you are pulling their time, concentration and energy away from performing their own set of important tasks. Plus, you are creating a level of expectation and responsibility that, in all fairness, does not live under the scope of their job description. Contrary to popular belief, everyone is not a meeting professional.

A meeting professional knows what to do and what not to do and is 100% focused on your meeting or event. Professional meeting planners are masters of juggling details, people and priorities. They don’t get frazzled. They just go on with the show!

Still not convinced?  Here are four reasons to hire a professional:

1.    Office managers do not have supplier relationships.
Professional meeting planners have built deep relationships with suppliers. Once you tell your planner the basic essentials like goals, date, budget, number of people, she can get to work straight away for you. And I really do mean straight away. With just the minimum parameters, she’ll be able to rattle off at least a half dozens perfect hidden gems that she will send RFPs. She’ll spend minimal time researching because she knows the properties. And, did you know that most site selection services are complimentary. So you won’t be paying a dime to hire a professional planner to source and negotiate the perfect venue, for a great rate.

2.    Office managers do not know the intricacies of destinations.
Professional meeting planners know that if you want to your event in Napa, for example, you best stay away from the month of October. All suppliers have windows they need to fill, and a professional planner will find those windows and negotiate the best rates, concessions, and deliver you a cost savings report. (all complimentary, btw) A professional planner also likely has relationships with third-party vendors in most major cities, and can leverage those relationships to get you the best bang for your buck. The work closely with CVBs to review the calendar so to avoid such conflicts as city-wides.

3.    Office managers do not know the questions to ask.
You don’t know what you don’t know. Negotiating contracts is a very important part of meeting planning. Your office manager probably doesn’t know what attrition is or to ask for more than 10%. Professional meeting planners know all the questions to ask and to be sure certain clauses are included in the contract. These clauses are things as a CEO you aren’t even aware of or thinking about.

4.    Office managers are not meeting planners.
Did you know that the position of meeting planner made the Forbes list for the top 5 most stressful jobs in 2017? Meeting planning requires expertise in communications, preparation, management, logistics, marketing and crisis management too. Because, with events, last-minute problems and emergencies happen — all the time. A professional meeting planner does more than plan your event or meeting—she focuses on the branding, marketing, reputation and future success of your business.

Meeting planning is one of the most stressful jobs around, however, professional meeting planners know how to handle the stress — and deliver memorable experiences. Dumping that degree of stress onto an individual not equipped to handle it with grace under fire is simply bad for your event or meeting — and quite frankly, bad for your business.

    

5 Tips for an Engaging Gifting Experience

This article was first printed in Prevue Magazine on July 11, 2018. https://prevuemeetings.com/spark-blog/flip-the-script/5-tips-for-an-engaging-gifting-experience/

Corporate gifting is an opportunity to connect with clients, strengthen relationships and provide an experience—and it takes on many shapes.

At one end of the spectrum, you have the (boring, non-creative, no choice) old-school room drop with a branded goodie bag filled with a few sponsored snacks, and at the opposite spectrum you have a custom corporate gifting experience that’s focused on selection, choice and brands.

Planners are definitely using gifting more now than ever. Many companies are realizing that a fabulous trip in a beautiful destination is only a part of the experience. Corporate gifting now tends to be a bigger part of the memorable experience and companies are recognizing this and the attendees are wanting (and expecting) more.

 

The meetings and events industry is skewed towards the female gender, and Associated Luxury Hotels International (ALHI) never ceases to impress with its lady-friendly corporate gifts such as lipgloss with mirror and OPI-branded nail polish in ALHI Red. At a horse race event, Preferred Hotels partnered with a hat company to allow attendees to select a hat or fascinator to go with their outfit. Impact GPS partnered with Maui Jim for its Los Angels event a few weeks ago to provide a custom sunglass fitting experience. Attendees were able to try on about eight different pairs of sunglasses, see how they fit, seek professional fitting advice and walk away with a free pair of Maui Jims sunglasses.

A meeting planner veteran noted, “I always give gifts as a reminder of the key takeaways of that meeting. If it is an incentive meeting, it is a reminder of the fun that was had and a talking point for when they see you in the shirt, sunglasses etc. It leads to a discussion: Where did you get those glasses?”

andgreat has personally commissioned custom belt buckles for a VIP client event in Austin, Texas. We mailed the buckles ahead of time as an event teaser, and then brought the artist onsite with leather straps for a complete custom belt fitting experience. Not only was it a memorable experience, it tied into the unique destination.

Here are my top five tips for corporate gifting:

Check Corporate Policies

Many companies—especially in the pharmaceutical world—cannot participate in corporate gifting as they pay their attendees an honorarium. A pharma planner noted that corporate gifting is still relevant but gets harder and harder with parameters being put into place by companies.

Determine Wants

Knowing your audience will help narrow and focus your selection. If you know your attendees are mostly female, for example, have a heavier selection of lady-friendly products. If you audience is a mixed bag, you can’t go wrong with a selection of high-end male, female and unisex sunglasses, running shoes or sandals.

Get Creative 

Corporate gifting that reflects the city or destination you are hosting your event is a great starting point. Tying the corporate gifting to the event destination lends to the overall experience. If you’re meeting in a colder mountain destination, a branded Patagonia fleece makes sense. If you’re meeting at a beach resort, consider offering a sandals experience.

Quality Over Quantity

Branded “junk” is self-serving and comes across as such. No one wants branded stress balls. And at the end of the day, your corporate gifting reflects your brand and your reputation. Do you want to be associated with junk?

Find a Trusted Partner

Find a partner that will be with you every step of the way and has experience with corporate gifting. While Maui Jim pioneered the onsite experiential gifting concept over 17 years ago, there are other vendors that offer a wider range of products and brands. Global Gifting partners with high-end brands that manufacturer everything from sandals to electronics, for example.

What’s the coolest corporate gift you’ve received?

My Top 5 Meeting Planning Tips

1.     Customize the way you communicate with each specific client.
Some of my clients love email, others prefer I pick up the phone.  Several prefer to communicate via Slack or other tech platforms. Knowing the preferred method of communication is key and helps alleviate stress on both sides.

2.     Have a detailed agenda.

With that being said, any planner will tell you that something will always go wrong. So while you should have a detailed run of show in place (and a backup plan), it’s equally important to think on your feet and continuously assess and adjust as needed.

3.     Site inspection. Site inspection.

It’s imperative that you conduct a site inspection to not only see the venue, but to walk through the agenda of your event.  It’s key to be able to see how far, for example, the sleeping rooms are from the breakfast, and how many minutes will it take to walk from the general session to the breakouts. Becoming intimately familiar with the property and building a rapport with staff before everyone arrives will make for a smoother event.

4.     Leverage ideas from other events.

I was staying at a hotel a few weeks ago and decided to meander through the meeting space (It’s what planners do when they are on holiday...we can’t help ourselves.) I saw the coolest snack break: a donut wall. I knew immediately I had to replicate this for one of my events. I mean, who doesn’t love donuts?! And a wall of donuts is totally Instagram-able.

5.    Be VERY specific when communicating the details of the event.

Everyone may understand that the event starts at 5pm, but do they understand that they need to book a flight that arrives no later than 3pm in order to make it to the event by 5pm?  Most attendees do not take into consideration the tiny details like ground transfers, and distance of venue from airport. It’s your job as the planner to communicate those nitty gtritty details.

The Wheels on the Bus

Ground transfers are part of most meeting and events. Whether you are transporting to/from airport and hotel, team building activities, or dinners—there are many opportunities to not only brand and communicate your message—but also to engage your attendees. It’s always great to have a cooler of bottled water on hand and a basket of snacks. If my client has the budget, I’ll brand the bottled water—or even suggest they go green and provide everyone a branded re-usable water bottle for later use. Snacks are good too! A variety of sweet, salty, and healthy is important. I try to source from local vendors and introduce my groups to unique and tasty snacks that are made in the area they are visiting.

You have your attendees’ full attention. They aren’t going anywhere while the bus is moving. How do you take advantage of that? How do you make it a memorable experience? These three interactive games work best for smaller groups (under 50 people) and really well for company retreats.

Who Bowled in a League with OutKast in Atlanta?

Ahead of your program, ask each attendee to provide three “secret” facts about themselves. On the bus drive, read the fun facts and have attendees guess who it is.  Attendees will not only get to know each other better, they may connect over similar interests.

I Got the 1981 Motley Crue Album. 
Ask attendees to bring an old CD or DVD that they no longer want/need. Collect all the items and redistribute on the bus ride.  It’s really fun to see peoples’ different music and movie preferences. You can even try to guess who “donated” your new gift.

I Love Your Purple Squirrel Hat!

Ask each attendee to bring a crazy hat. Do not define “crazy”—let them decide how they define “crazy.” Attendees can wear their crazy hats on the bus—it’s a great ice breaker and even better for photos once you get to where you are going!

How do you use ground transfers as a marketing opportunity?

Seven Tips for Curating a Memorable Company Retreat

This article was originally published in the May 2018 Group Travel Leader Magazine.

http://smallmarketmeetings.com/articles/seven-tips-planning-memorable-company-retreat/

More companies, especially distributed ones, are implementing company retreats into their budgets. It’s a smart move as it allows employees to bond in a more relaxed, open environment and for leadership to receive candid real-time feedback. It’s also a great way to kick off the year and set goals. As with any event, all the elements are a big puzzle—that you the planner—need to fit together. Andrea Cannistraci, CMM, President & Founder of andgreat, a marketing, branding , and events agency, shares seven tips to ensure a successful and memorable company retreat.

1. Send a pre-planning survey
Survey your attendees before the company retreat. Find out what destinations interest them, what topics they would like to discuss, what goals they hope to achieve from attending, and what activities interest them. Getting attendees onboard at the planning stage will ensure better participation, excitement, and a much more focused and successful event.

2. Develop a strong team of suppliers
Reach out to the local CVB of your chosen destination. They are the experts on the area and will be essential to helping you navigate the area and source the best caterers, AV, entertainment, restaurants, transportation, off site venues, and team building activities.

3. Conduct a site inspection

It’s imperative that you know the area and your way around. Meet personally with all the suppliers you’ve received quotes, experience the activities, restaurants, venues, entertainment. Start to build the relationships. Take copious notes. Know where the closest hospital, pharmacy, Kinkos, and grocery store are located.

4. Schedule free time
One of the biggest mistakes you can make is not building free time into your agenda.  Give attendees an hour each later afternoon before dinner to check-in with family, refresh, relax, or hit the gym. Often, you’ll see the attendees will want to continue the day’s conversions at the bar, or around the pool. Those unstructured moments where employees bond on their own can create the most insight—and best memories.

5. Use natural meeting space

If your company retreat is in a warm climate, definitely take advantage of outdoor meetings places for casual breakouts and meals. There’s nothing worse than being in an awesome destination but stuck inside four walls all day. Let your attendees see the sun and feel the breeze! A simple U-shape of chairs under a tree, or a few cabanas at the pool are excellent non-traditional meeting spaces for breakouts. Many conference rooms have patios—use those for breakfasts and lunches. Trust me, your attendees will thank you.  (And the Instagram pics will be the envy of all.)

6. Consider meeting floor plans
The setup of the meeting room matters.  Know how many attendees you are expecting and plan accordingly. Your General Session should be configured so that everyone can see everyone. A flat oval shape works well.  Will attendees be taking notes on their laptops? If so, they’ll need a bit more space.  The last thing you want is a room full of sardines.  A good rule to follow is two people per six foot table. And make sure the room has windows—preferably doors that open to a patio (see #4.)

7. Plan an unforgettable group activity
Almost every company retreat has at least one group activity incorporated.  This is a great opportunity to make your company retreat memorable. Look at your destination. Look at your demographics.  Keep it local. If you’re at a beach, consider SUP or surfing lessons, or chartering a boat for a dinner cruise. If you’re in wine country, schedule dinner in a wine cave or a biking wine tour with lunch. If you’re in New Orleans, plan a hands-on Creole cooking class for dinner or a scavenger hunt through the Garden District.

Curating Memorable Experiences: An Interview with Prevue Magazine

I was recently interviewed by Jessie Fetterling with Prevue Magazine for the professional development section of their website and newsletters related to the same topic.  Prevue provides meeting and incentive planners with insightful, experiential destination coverage to help them imagine and create exceptional group events. Prevue publishes its exclusive content across numerous platforms including a bi-monthly print edition (reaching 35,000 meeting and incentive planners), a digital edition, www.prevuemeetings.com and Prevue Extra (its monthly e-newsletter).

http://prevuemeetings.com/spark-blog/the-shakedown/how-one-planner-curates-memorable-experiences-for-corporate-retreats/

What do you define as a "memorable" experience?

A memorable experience is one that attendees will recall with a smile on their faces and continue to talk about weeks and months after the experience. Most often this is achieved y conducting a short pre-event survey. Find out more about the attendees--what do they want to learn, to see, eat? Allowing attendees to be involved in the process, ensures they have a great experience. A memorable experience involves getting out of the ballroom, outside the four hotel walls--it means hosting breakout sessions in a circle outside on the lawn, in a vineyard, on the beach. It means breaking away from your typical boring F&B options and customizing. Swap out the traditional "continental breakfast" for an avocado toast bar, for example. Lastly, I always try to use boutique properties that have lots of outdoor space and windows. If people are going to fly to across the country to a retreat--let them be reminded every minute where they are. Don't hold them hostage in a big box hotel conference room that could be anywhere in the world.

What tends to be the biggest hurdles to achieving "memorable" experiences at events?

Budget, time, and travel. The company must build in a budget for an experience, they must be willing to carve out time in their agenda, and be willing to have their employees travel to a destination that is often not a single flight away. 

What are three ways you have curated "memorable" experiences at corporate retreats?
1. Reserved a wine cave dinner in Sonoma County with fun photo photo props. The F&B was all local and seasonal and of course the wine was all estate wine. A real farm to table experience. I don't think one person in that group had ever dined in a wine cave. They had so many questions ahead of the dinner. They were excited, some were anxious. It was memorable and they are still talking about it a year later.

2. Arranged a Baja Truck driving experience in Colorado. The son of the resort owner is a well known Baja 500 driver and had a track and trucks on property with a driving school. I had the trucks wrapped with the company logo and they just loved it. It was truly a once in a lifetime experience. 

3. Hired a corporate leadership facilitator to administer a DISC profile--a tool used for discussion of people's behavioral differences. Attendees completed the profile and received tips related to working with people of other styles. The exercise increased self-knowledge and attendees were better able to understand how they respond to conflict, what motivates them, what causes them to stress, and how they solve problems. It not only helped facilitate better teamwork, it helped the leadership team, to manage more effectively by understanding the dispositions and priorities of employees and team members.Now when the company needs to make company-wide decisions, they ask, "How will the D's react to this? Do we need to be concerned about the S's?" Overall, a fun exercise that truly made a difference to the company and it's employees.

What are three ways you have curated "memorable" experiences at off-the-beaten-path destinations?

1. I use a remote property in Western Colorado often as I can do a buy-out, and produce a truly memorable experience. It's a pain to get to, but once you're there, you forget about the travel. It's two hours from anything really, so everything must be done onsite. They have an Auto Museum on property and I produced a "Dinner through the Ages" Welcome Reception. The museum contains cars from the early 1800's up to 1989. I worked closely with Chef to choose small bites and a cocktail from each time period. That "Dinner through the Ages" is now a part of their menu--a huge compliment!

2. Chartered a boat to a private island off the coast of Southern Belize for attendees to enjoy the day as they pleased. Simply building a few hours into the agenda for attendees to explore the destination on their own and with whom they want can be memorable. Often Corporate Retreats are structured so much that there is no free time. 

3. Scheduled a hands on cooking class with an award winning James Beard Chef and author in Santa Fe. Everyone divided up into teams: appetizers, salads, main course, desserts. The experience was very interactive and the cuisine was all local fare and allowed for collaboration across different cross-functionally teams. Some people had never cooked before, others were "at home" in the kitchen. It was great to see everyone working together toward an end goal: a memorable, and delicious lunch. I made sure the recipes were all printed out so everyone could try cooking the meal back home. And, as a bonus, everyone was able to keep their branded apron as a reminder of their experience.

What tends to be the attendee feedback in regard to these experiences?Attendees love the free time. Again, often agendas are jammed packed, run over, and there is no time to even breathe. Building in an hour every day--right before dinner--is always appreciated. It gives attendees a chance to checkin with family, clients, workout, rest and refresh. Some attendees don't mind the travel time to reach the memorable destinations, and some do. It just depends on the personalities of your group. They definitely enjoy experiencing the local food, culture, and activities. They especially enjoy the time away form he office and getting to know colleagues on a different level. The partnerships and bonds that are created during these retreats strengthen the work relationships and often translate into higher revenues and ROI. 

Life's too short to give boring swag

As a marketer first, and meeting planner second, bad swag is one of my biggest pet peeves.  What constitutes BAD swag?

1. Cheap (and it’s going to reflect on your brand as being cheap!)
2. Doesn’t align with your brand

3. Logistically isn’t easy to transport (yeah fancy wine opener-I’m talking to you and TSA)

4. Very forgettable (pen, stress ball, notebook)

5. Useless (the kids or dog will end up playing with and /or breaking it—or you’ll see it piled in the trash—not a good look)

6. Over-branded (love the Patagonia beanie—wish your logo wasn’t in 72 point font on it)

Clients always ask me, “What should we do for swag?”  My response is to share the three pieces of swag I have received that changed my life, meaning:  A. I still use the product, or B. I still remember the experience (because giving an experience can be considered swag.)

My favorite product (higher end)
As a constant jet-setter, I am used to living out of a pre-packed, ready–to-go-at-all-times carry-on. I even had an old Target plastic bag that I kept in my carry-on for dirty clothes. That is, until a hotel partner gave me the most USEFUL piece of swag—a linen laundry bag with their logo and MY name, hand embroidered! You better believe I keep this thing in my carry-on, and use it every.single.time I travel. You’ll note the supplier logo is subtle—love that. Bye bye Target bag.

My favorite product (lower end)

Memorable, useful swag doesn’t need to break the bank. Point in turn, this handy dandy “sticker pocket” that I received on a FAM. I wanted to be polite when I received it, so I placed it on my phone case and then stuck a biz card inside it. Honestly, I have a really nice Bosca leather business card holder—why would I use an inexpensive plastic rubber whatever-it-is-made-of sticker for my cards? Convenience! Sadly, we are rarely without our phones these days. And I found when I’m at a networking function, holding my phone, I can easily present a biz card without digging through my Mom-purse looking for my “proper” business card holder. Love it!  In fact, the sticker outlasted my case, so I had to ask for another one when I bought a new case.

My favorite experience
Imagine my surprise when I arrive back home from the gym at 8:30am to find this box on my door step. #Panic. OMG there are ALIVE in there!  Geez—do I need to cancel all my morning calls and make sure they are ok? I don’t know what to do with live lobsters! How do I cook them? Do I have to cook them now? Will they last until 5pm? As a friend told me later that day, “Only you would be stressed out by free live lobsters.” Yes, it was a stressful day—but guess what? My two year old daughter had her first live lobster meal that night. #memorable.  Why were they sent? To get my attention and to entice me to register for a conference. Of course the promoters could have sent me a luggage tag, or a Starbucks card. But #this, sure did get my attention and will soon not be forgotten. #nicetry #AforEffort

Bonus Tips:
1. Have a trusted supplier.
2. Order well in advance as to not incur rush production or shipping charges.
3. And speaking of shipping, don’t forget to include shipping (and hotel/venue receiving fees) in your budget.
What's your favorite piece of swag? Worse?  Would love to hear!