GOING GREEN - WHAT'S ALL THE HYPE ABOUT?

What have you done to go GREEN and help save the environment? Every ton of paper saves 17 trees, 7,000 gallons of water, 380 gallons of oil, 60 pounds of air pollution and enough electricity to power the average house for 6 months. HYPE: If every American home replaced just one light bulb with an ENERGY STAR qualified bulb, we would save enough energy to light more than 3 million homes for a year, more than $600 million in annual energy costs and prevent greenhouse gases equivalent to the emissions of more than 800,000 cars. Not only does going green save energy and our planet, it also contributes to your personal savings and improved health! What are some of the changes I have made? *I have replaced all of the lights in my house with compact fluorescent light bulbs. Fact: ENERGY STAR qualified light bulbs use 75% less energy than standard incandescent light bulbs and last 10 times longer. They also save $30+ in electricity costs in each bulbs lifetime. *Eating organic fruits and vegetables Fact: Purchasing from local farmers keeps money in the local economy. Health Benefit: Organic food is free of pesticides and antibiotics. * Recycling scrap paper at work and recycling cans and bottles at home. Fact: It takes 2-3.5 tons of trees to make 1 ton of paper. The recycling of paper will save 60% energy. If offices across the country increased 2-sided photocopying, 15 million trees could be saved. Fact: The recycling of aluminum will save 95% energy and reduce pollution by 95%. The recycling of one aluminum can will save enough energy to run a TV for 6 hours. Fact: The recycling of glass will save 50% energy, generate 20% less air pollution and 50% less water pollution * Turning off the lights and the fans when I am not in the room. Fact: By turning off and un-plugging non essential lights and appliances, the electricity generated by fossil fuels for a single home puts more carbon dioxide into the air than 2 average cars. * Driving my car less Fact: Saves money on gas. Health Benefit: Biking, rollerblading and walking to nearby stores and restaurants improves cardiovascular health. * I just moved into a new place, so for large pieces of furniture I have been searching Craigslist.com. On the weekends, I wake up early to take my dog for a walk, in search of some cool garage sales too! Fact: Buy used. Buy Local. Know where your money is going and what it is being spent on. *I went and got a library card. I also rent DVD’s from the library. They have some really good movies in stock and they’re free! Fact: This saves money, ink and paper that go into printing new books. What I intend to do: *Buy a water filter to purify tap water and pour it into reusable water bottles when I’m on the go! Fact: Bottled water is expensive and generates large amount of container waste. Fact: We create enough plastic water bottles to give each American 167 bottles each. Fact: Only 23% of water bottles are recycled, leaving 38 billion bottles to landfills. Fact: It takes 700 years for a plastic bottle to start to decompose. Fact: We create enough plastic water bottles to use 1.5 million barrels of oil per year. That’s enough oil to fuel 100,000 cars per year! Fact: We use enough plastic to wrap all of Texas every year. *Make my own toxic free cleaning products with vinegar, baking soda, lemon, soap and water. Fact: Making your own cleaning products saves money, time and packaging and improves indoor air quality. By starting small you can make a BIG difference!

MISSION: IMPOSSIBILITY

In the event planning industry there is a saying…”Anything that Can Go Wrong…Will Go Wrong – ON SITE!” In the event planning industry there is a saying…”Anything that Can Go Wrong…Will Go Wrong – ON SITE!” So, as a corporate event coordinator it is your job to make sure that all plans are as firm as a rock and of course have a backup…but what happens when something goes wrong and there is nothing short of a miracle that can be done to fix it? My co-workers and I found ourselves asking that very question a few short months ago! It’s early spring and as usual another flawlessly executed event was about to conclude, and we faced a huge problem; a force majeure. Was it an Act of God? NO! An Act of Terrorism? Probably Not! Was it an Act of War? You guessed it…No! So what on earth could have gone so wrong to make us squirm? So glad you asked! Well the short story is that the airlines did us in! In a matter of a few hours American Airlines had cancelled almost a thousand flights….and it seems that almost every one of our 350 attendees were scheduled to be on those flights the very next morning! The hotel was sold out, the CEO of the company hosting the meeting instructed us not to book tickets for anyone that were scheduled to leave before the conference finished, and ticket prices from other airlines were skyrocketing! So even though this wasn’t our mistake…it was now our problem! How did we fix it you ask? Well…we became travel agents at the drop of a dime and re-booked over 75 flights, begged for any late check-outs we could get and any rooms the hotel could spare! Needless to say…the fact that I am writing to you today proves that we lived through it, but this episode just confirms my reasoning for why everyone should hire an event planner, especially a Paragon Event Planner!

I SCREAM, YOU SCREAM, WE ALL SCREAM FOR...CHEESECAKE?

I am sure that I speak for most when I say that dessert is definitely the most important part of a meal…at least when the meal is awarded to you by your company for a years’ worth of excellent work! I am sure that I speak for most when I say that dessert is definitely the most important part of a meal…at least when the meal is awarded to you by your company for a years’ worth of excellent work! About a week or so ago, Paragon Events coordinated a “Hospital of the Year Luncheon” in Albuquerque, New Mexico. It was a fairly simple event to coordinate, and there really wasn’t much that could go wrong. As a co-worker and I helped our client prepare for his opening remarks, we grabbed our Banquet Captain and his BEO’s and double checked what was on the menu for lunch. Our client decided that he would share what was in store for the group during his opening statements… “We have London broil for lunch, and better yet…Cheesecake for dessert!” The crowd went wild! One might have thought that cheesecake was better than gold…considering the reaction. So as the luncheon proceeded it was called to our attention that cheesecake was never on the menu, never supposed to be served, and the hotel definitely didn’t have enough for our group! In all actuality, our cheesecake…was for the other group in house. As the hotel staff began serving the final course of the meal, they served about half of the crowd cheesecake and the other half black forest cake. When half of the room received their black forest cake, you could just see the disappointment in their faces. Some even refused the tasty treats! Thankfully in our travels around the town the day before we had stumbled upon an actual Cheesecake Factory (not the restaurant, but a factory of the much sought after dessert!) We received approval from our client to order a few cakes and have them delivered to the Hospital the next afternoon. We were able to do all of this before the luncheon concluded, and our client was able to make the announcement to the crowd! Once again the crowd roared in excitement…and it just proves my theory that dessert is definitely the most important part of a meal!