management – Fedra Meetings & Events

Tag: management

How to transform your inauguration in an event

Posted on 25 Luglio 201710 Febbraio 2023 by Fedra

You spent time and money into the opening of an activity, you passed unscathed a jungle of bureaucratic demands, an odyssey of restructuring and supply contracts… And now you arrived at the inauguration day. The real work starts now.

In the first month of life, in fact, a new business forms the basis of his reputation: the choices made at this stage will affect the future of the whole enterprise.

The opening of your activity is not only a necessary step before you start to work seriously, it is a fundamental and irreplaceable element in the promotion of your business.

Here are five ideas to make it memorable.

The rules of good neighbourliness

Make sure that the opening will serve to reinforce the good neighbourly relations with residents and other merchants of your way.

If possible, transform everything into an event with music and drink in the street, but, if your location does not allow it, remember to personally invite other traders in the area and generally make sure that their businesses can benefit from the traffic generated from your inauguration.

Pictures or it did not happen

Invest in a good photographer. Of course, an Instagram filter can do wonders, but it can not compete with a professional photo shoot, which also remains visible long after the event on your website or on your Facebook page.

There’s no sandwiches tray photographed with the smartphone that can compete with a well post-produced photo of your guests enjoying the event with a good glass of white wine.

Special moments streaming

Until recently, the online streaming option was available only in front of substantial budget. Today, thanks to Periscope and other similar platforms, a smartphone connected to internet can provide to a real live session.

Focus on something that really captures the attention of your potential audience, such as music or entertainment gadgets as gifts (see point 4).

All customers are special

But those who are at the opening event are more, so prove it with a small gift to each one.

Put in your budget, among the promotional investments, a number of discount vouchers, gadgets or coupons, to give to your attendees.

This is the best way to capitalize on the enthusiasm of the event and start building a loyal customer base and a good reputation for your business.

The difference between the opening event and the school party…

… It’s all in the buffet. Forget all the garden tables, glasses and plastic bottles and sandwiches tray. Invest instead in a small but high-quality catering, presented with elegance, and in some decoration suited to the spirit of your business.

10 Tips to better manage your time

Posted on 23 Maggio 201618 Luglio 2017 by Fedra

The reason time management gadgets and systems don’t work is that these systems are designed to manage clock time. Clock time is irrelevant. You don’t live in or even have access to clock time. You live in real time, a world in which all time flies when you are having fun or drags when you are doing your taxes.

The good news is that real time is mental: you create it. Anything you create, you can manage. It’s time to remove any self-sabotage or self-limitation you have around “not having enough time,” or today not being “the right time” to start a business or manage your current business properly.

There are only three ways to spend time: thoughts, conversations and actions. Regardless of the type of business you own, your work will be composed of those three items.

As an entrepreneur, you may be frequently interrupted or pulled in different directions. While you cannot eliminate interruptions, you do get a say on how much time you will spend on them and how much time you will spend on the thoughts, conversations and actions that will lead you to success.

Here is an infographic that will help you managing your time:

How having more energy at work

Posted on 18 Maggio 201618 Luglio 2017 by Fedra

When working with employees and first time leaders around the world, over half (56%) of them spend time on activity that takes lots of effort for very little result. In short, they’re wasting their time. Yet, just a few small adjustments to the way they work can make a big difference to their productivity.

Multi-tasking

Despite what many believe, multi-tasking is not a great way to manage time efficiently nor to get things done: each time someone switches from one activity to another, people suffer from something similar to writer’s block and then need to take time to ‘reset’ their minds between tasks.

The more complex the tasks the more time it takes to re-organize the mind but even brief distractions add up.

Rather than multi-tasking, employees should estimate how long it will take to accomplish an activity and only focus on those things that generate a good return on investment. They should be allowed to block dedicated periods of time in their calendar and discipline themselves to focus on the task at hand during those periods.

Lack of clarity

A lot of work gets done without the benefit of clearly defined goals and objectives but without clarity it is difficult to know whether the right work is getting done and priorities then start to clash.

Sense of meaninglessness

It’s also important for employees to set personal goals which will energize and engage but as we become busier it is easy for meaningful goals to be displaced by urgent things. The longer this goes on, the more stressed a person becomes.

Create a flexible weekly schedule in terms of work and home-life categories of activities job, chores, exercise, family, unstructured relaxation, and so on.

Over-committing

People over-commit for a variety of reasons: they don’t want to disappoint others; they feel they have no choice; they have an unrealistic idea of current commitments or of what is involved in the new commitment.

But those that over-commit can quickly become burnt-out and exhausted.

It’s important to create a workplace culture where it’s acceptable to say ‘no’ at times; that it doesn’t show unwillingness but rather a sign that you are responsible and take your commitments seriously.

Before saying yes, employees should let the person know that they will check their other priorities and time-frames. Before agreeing, they should have a realistic and detailed idea of what the commitment entails and if they can’t do it, then give a reason for declining.

Distractions

We are constantly bombarded by distractions and interruptions in the workplace.

Think of these events as forcing the mind into a multi-task mode, with each event either preventing or breaking concentration and time lost to constant task switching.

To overcome distractions, employers should provide quiet places of work or flexibility to work from home for when employees are working on projects that require concentration. Employees should set aside time periods for specific activities, and discourage interruptions. Email and voicemail checking should be saved for the time between other tasks.

Lack of organization

For some people, organization means files, drawers, cubbies, neat stacks (or no stacks at all), and a complete lack of clutter. For others, it simply means knowing where to look and being able to find what you need right away.

The point of organization is not to fit someone else’s definition of ‘organized’, but for employees to have what they need in an easily accessible place.

They should be encouraged to organize themselves in a way that makes sense to them, to cull information and emails regularly and to recognize that being disorganized is a drain on their time and energy.

Lack of reflection time

Failing to reflect is a vicious circle as it can lead to people becoming stressed and overworked which then means even less time for thinking. This stifles creativity and innovation but also a lack of downtime means many aren’t considering their activities and whether they’re key for meeting their goals and objectives.

Employees should set aside specific time each month or week to reflect on their work, themselves and their long-term goals, and be partnered with a coach or mentor for support (this could be a manager, colleague, or friend outside work).

Perfectionism

Perfection is an indefinable and unobtainable goal that increases workload significantly for very little value. Employers and managers should establish objective quality measures by defining what is ‘good enough’.

But if in doubt, before ‘making it better’, they should ask themselves whether a person, whom they respect, would notice a meaningful qualitative difference if more time and effort was invested.

We can’t of course all work like robots, ensuring that every minute of the working day is used efficiently and productively. There will of course be days where people lack energy and enthusiasm either due to personal issues, ill health or just general ‘off’ days. But with the right motivational leadership in place and a few simple steps to help teams to use time effectively, then output versus activity should be evenly balanced.