Q&A with hospitality professional and host of Travel Channel's "Resort Rescue," Shane Green; sidebar on purveyor of local Southern goods, Batch

1. IDEAWATCH
To ensure a toxic environment doesn’t take over your innovative office, measure employee responses. If an idea doesn’t work,
relay the message that you are rejecting the idea, not the employee. Source: Harvard Business Review
CORPORATEGIFTS
GETAFACE-LIFT
What began as a monthly
subscription-based box
of local goods two years
ago has turned into a
business that reimagines
the standard corporate
gift—no more wicker
and cellophane.
Nashville-based Batch
creates customized
packages of locally
made, take-home goods
for events, including
welcome, pre-event and
sponsor thank-you gifts.
“After being up and
running for two months,
we got a call from an event
that wanted to thank their
speakers and participants
with gifts from Nashville,”
says Sam Davidson,
co-founder and CEO. “We
put together 20 gifts for
the event. A lightbulb
went off in that moment.”
Available in four cities
(Austin; Charleston,
South Carolina; Memphis,
Tennessee; and Nashville)
and launching in Atlanta
this fall, Batch gift boxes
give corporate gifts an
artisanal and hyperlocal
makeover, containing
only high-quality items
handmade in that city.
“People want things
they can snack on,” says
Davidson. “We also like
to have something folks
can take home, like biscuit
mixes, candles, soap,
posters and postcards.”
Batch can also set up
a pop-up souvenir shop
on your trade show floor
for attendees who don’t
have time to get out
and purchase authentic
reminders of their stay.
The VIP Treatment
With clients including Starwood, MGM, The Ritz-Carlton and The Cosmopolitan
of Las Vegas, Shane Green, 25-year hospitality industry vet and host of
Travel Channel’s “Resort Rescue,” is a pro at curating memorable experiences—
like a private luncheon on a helicopter pad in the middle of the Great Barrier
Reef. His trick: making things individualized, like handing an iPad with a live
feed of a cricket match to a VIP who wanted to watch upon
check-in at his hotel. “That personal angle is so key,” says
Green, who founded global consulting firm SGEi in 2001 with
a focus on helping hotels create special guest experiences.
“Part of being a great planner is becoming an experience
expert and being willing to challenge the norm.”
Here are four ideas to consider for making a VIP feel, well,
very important, from the experience expert himself.
1. Find a takeaway. “The big area we’re focusing on is health and wellness.
Everybody is being challenged today with their health, so there’s a growing
opportunity to give them something to take with them, like a fitness watch.”
2. Get out of here. “When I started in the hotel business, there was a rule
you would never let guests out of your hotel. Some hotels still think that way.
It’s one of the most outdated ideas. In today’s world, hoteliers have to connect
with the local market and the experiences around them. The hotel is ground
zero, but the meeting planner has to create experiences that get guests
off-property, not just take them to the golf course or spa.”
3. Family matters. “If an attendee brings a spouse along, the spouse is
supporting them. Recognize the spouse and involve them. Inclusion is powerful
and sends a message about the value of the organization and what it believes
in. The world is becoming a place where the act of balancing life and work is
getting closer than ever before.”
4. Add touches of home. “For VIPs, get family pictures from their home
(don’t forget the dog), and know their snack choices so you can create a
customized basket of their personal favorites. Or, find out their favorite music
genre and have it playing when they enter their room.”
By Anna Dunn
Read more of Green’s
tips for wowing VIPs at
collaborate.com/shane-green. BATCH
Breaking the Mold
Industrial designer Andew Watson is on
a mission to leave the dark wood plaque
mounted with a brassy engraved square
in the past. At his company, Andrew
Watson Design, branding is the top
priority, as evidenced by the 150 sleek,
laser-cut aluminum and acrylic trophies
he created for a recent Verizon event.
The top winners received versions
illuminated with red LEDs hidden inside.
Watson believes what trophies are
made of can be as important as their
design in terms of sparking positive
attention. For example, he used
embroidery string art and denim fabric
for trophies at a supplier event for Gap.
Why aren’t there more options for
planners when it comes to inventive
plaques and awards? “Everyone is
doing the same old thing,” says Watson,
who also has designed trophies for
LG Electronics, Absolut and The Linde
Group, among many others. “If someone
wants something traditional, I tell them
to go somewhere else. Brands are like
fashion; they evolve. Awards should too.”
16 COLLABORATE AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2015