“Meeting Planning: More Than a Hobby” (Religious Conference Manager profile)

“Meeting Planning: More Than a Hobby”
By Bob Andelman
Religious Conference Manager Magazine
October 2006

Hobbies? Who needs hobbies when you spend your free time planning meetings and conferences?

If Harry Schmidt has free time — when he's not in his professional capacity as president of Christian Life College in Mount Prospect, Illinois — he likes doing nothing better than reviewing site plans, sifting through contracts, and bringing order to chaos.

“Everybody has hobbies,” Schmidt says with a chuckle. “Some enjoy golfing; others, boating. I really enjoy the dynamics of meeting planning and helping organizations get the right fit.”

Schmidt's meeting planning truly is an act of service.

“I don't accept remuneration,” he says. “I know it's a great livelihood for some meeting planners on the professional side, but I have always done it as a volunteer. Hotel people are always surprised when I don't ask for a commission. Then they're a little suspicious of my motives: ‘Why do you do this? Does the organization pay you? Do you get a per diem? A kickback? A rebate?’”

And why does this gentle soul take on so much additional responsibility with no personal benefit?

“I enjoy the satisfaction of seeing a good event,” Schmidt says.

He believes he can make a difference for church groups.

“Many times, religious organizations and churches don't understand their buying power,” he says. “They have an opportunity for getting a much better product that will showcase their meeting better than they're used to. Without understanding their own power, they may relegate themselves to a third-tier hotel property, for example. I've enjoyed showing religious groups that the dollars they generate can upgrade their event and image by getting them into a better hotel or convention center for the same dollars. There's a right place and a right venue, for the right organization.”

With his devotion to meeting planning, it's no surprise to learn that Schmidt believes wholeheartedly in RCMA's mission.

“Becoming members of RCMA provides many meeting planners a ‘Wow!’” he says. “My first RCMA conference was in 1988 in Milwaukee. What I so appreciated about it was the way it brought together the entire industry. It was a fantastic opportunity under one tent to network with hundreds of suppliers all at one place. I was thoroughly energized by it.”

Over the years, Schmidt became a big fan of the conference tutorials as well.

“The tutorials provide entrée to meeting planners with little or no experience,” he says. “And, at the same time, depending on the length of your service, you can still be challenged by them. I have been a meeting planner a long time, and I still walk away feeling inspired.”

Christian Life College (formerly Chicago Bible College) is a small religious college with 135 students all studying a single major: a bachelor of arts in church ministries.

Schmidt graduated from the college in 1972 and went into the world as a church planter, initiating and establishing — as its pastor — Gateway Church in Momence, Illinois, a congregation that is now 30 years old and thriving.

“Being in the Chicago area, I kept a relationship with the college,” Schmidt says.

After 11 years with the new church, he became administrative dean at Christian Life College, eventually advancing to executive vice president before being named president in 1996. The college itself hosts Ascension Convention, an annual conference that attracts 2,500 young people over Easter weekend.

“You can't be in this environment without hosting conferences and seminars,” he says. “And in doing that over 25-plus years, I got connected with other religious organizations in the Chicago area. People found out that I enjoyed doing meeting planning and hotel negotiations. I would receive phone calls: ‘Would you lend us some expertise?’ So I just expanded that.”
Getting to Know

Harry Schmidt

Background: Born and raised in Davenport, Iowa

Family: Schmidt met his wife, Donna, when they were 10 years old and growing up in Iowa. They both like to travel and antique. “As we travel, we have to hit an antique shop once in a while. How can you not like early Americana?” The couple has one child, Jennifer, who is 21 and a junior in college.

“Devoted: Miller Works Hard for RCMA” (Religious Conference Manager profile)

“Devoted: Miller Works Hard for RCMA”
By Bob Andelman
Religious Conference Manager Magazine
December 2006

You'll have to forgive Elaine Miller if she seems a bit distracted.

After all, how focused would you be on being interviewed if you were reclining on a hotel balcony in Jamaica, eager to get on with the vacation that you recently earned?

“I won second prize from RCMA in the Member-Get-A-Member Contest,” she says. “Coming from Michigan, you can't help but enjoy this weather. I'm sitting on a deck, looking at the ocean. It's all because of RCMA and my relationship to God. That's made me what I am today.”

What she is is executive director of events and planning for New Mount Moriah Baptist Missionary Church in Pontiac, Mich. It's a job she has held since retiring from General Motors in 2002 after 30 years.

But Miller is hardly new around the church; she was its first administrator — as a weekend volunteer — when New Mount Moriah formed 17 years ago, eventually moving into event planning. “We have about 1,200 active members on any given Sunday; we have 3,000 to 3,500 on our rolls,” she says.

Jamaica, incidentally, is not the first trip Miller has won by turning folks on to RCMA. A year earlier, she earned first prize in the contest: a seven-day biblical trip to Turkey. She plans to take that one sometime in 2007.

This is a devoted RCMA member.

“I let them know that RCMA is a religious organization that gives you knowledge about event planning and hotels, and there are classes to give you information,” she says. “There are vendors you can build relationships with. I can get good rates from them and negotiate good prices.”

At General Motors, Miller began as a secretary and rose to work in engineering as an administrator with operations. “I retired from GM to do ministry,” she says, “but I use a lot of the technology and administrative skills I learned at GM here, such as how to deal with people, how to understand people, what makes people tick. Understanding the real personas, as opposed to the pretensions. I've grown a lot, helped the church to advance with technology, people skills, training, and development. My objective is to train other people.”

In her role as executive director of events and planning, Miller plans all her church's events, including conferences, meetings, and special events. Her menu of 10 events includes two big ones: the Full Gospel Baptist Church Fellowship Regional Summits and Full Gospel Baptist Church State Conferences.

She is responsible for planning, getting speakers, and confirming engagements.

“And I support marriage retreats and women's conferences; men's conferences; and intercessory prayer conferences,” she adds.

Although she has been a factor in the development of New Mount Moriah Baptist Missionary Church since the beginning, Miller says that her life has dramatically evolved since she joined the operation full time in 2002.

“It has changed tremendously,” she says. “I travel much more. I've had a chance to network with the international ministries and meet Christian people in other states doing what I do. I've gained knowledge. I benchmark against other ministry conferences. My pastor, Bishop William H. Murphy Jr., has had a very important role in my development and in my efforts to gain knowledge. We're a team. My whole goal is to look at other ministry church functions and how they do programs. I want to be on the cutting edge of what's going on in ministry development.”


Elaine Miller

Born and raised: Liberty, Miss.

Family: One of seven children; mother of two children

Education: Business administration degree from Alcorn University in Michigan; studied psychology at Michigan State

Inspiration: “My mother was instrumental in instilling the morals and spirituality of my life. She helped me understand people and life. She's my hero.”

Hobbies: “I love golf, I love traveling, cooking, and meeting new people.”

On the Side: Miller is pursuing CMP certification. “It's a distinction that's recognized across the market,” she says.

“The Big Time: Clemmer Embraces Challenging Job” (Religious Conference Manager profile)

“The Big Time: Clemmer Embraces Challenging Job”
By Bob Andelman
Religious Conference Manager Magazine
October 2006

Is there anything tougher than following in the footsteps of a legend?

No matter what line of work a person is in, the challenge of living up to a respected predecessor in a key role is never easy.

That's why, when RCMA board member and President's Award recipient Linda de Leon announced her plans to retire as meeting planner for the Seventh-day Adventists World Headquarters in Silver Spring, Md., it created a great opportunity — and apprehension — for her protégé and successor.

“I was honored and pleased that the organization thought I could pick up where Linda left off — not that anyone could fill her shoes,” says Sheri Clemmer, who became the church's new meeting planner in July 2002.

Fortunately for Clemmer, who assumed responsibility for the organization's day-to-day meeting needs, as well as its fall and spring meetings, de Leon stayed on until the church's general conference session in 2005.

The Seventh-day Adventists' quinquennial (occurring every five years) is a citywide, 12-day conference that attracts 60,000 attendees. As religious meetings go, it's a monster.

“Linda did not retire until after that,” Clemmer recalls. “The church allowed me to shadow her for the remaining years leading up to that event with her as a mentor, sort of on-the-job training.”

The accidental planner

Like many, Clemmer is an accidental meeting planner.

“I fell into it,” she says. “I started out as a medical secretary a number of years ago. I worked for our denomination at our hospital in the 1970s and then for a private-practice doctor, part-time for 15 years, while our children grew up.”

In 1994, with her children heading for college, Clemmer sought full-time employment again. She took a job as an administrative assistant in the Seventh-day Adventists' stewardship department and stayed in that position for six years.

Clemmer then accepted an opportunity to join the church's treasury department and worked as a volunteer coordinator, particularly assigned to 450 student missionaries headed to points far and wide around the globe. “I arranged their travels, visits, and insurance,” she recalls.

That was the job that established Clemmer's bona fides for the quinquennial. She learned the ins and outs at de Leon's elbow for three years leading up to the 2005 conference; in 2010, when the group will use the Georgia World Conference Center and Georgia Dome in Atlanta in 2010, she'll be on her own.

A year into those preparations, does she feel prepared?

“Um … No!” she says, laughing. “We won't feel prepared until it's over!” But Clemmer isn't alone in this Herculean task.

“We have a committee and 14 sub-committees and sub-subcommittees. It's not all on one person's shoulders — there's no way one person could manage it alone. We have committees for music, security, AV, platform, and the program. There are many, many people who have a lot of important tasks. We try to keep others on track; my job is to know everything that's going on.”

More Than One Meeting

As big a job as the quinquennial is, it's not Clemmer's only responsibility.

“I may review a contract from a hotel for a meeting,” she says. “I may try to negotiate that, have a breakfast included, have a space fee waived. I will work with the department that requested the contract, see if it meets their needs. I may work on the Atlanta meeting and hotels. I will contact our division officers. I attend several different committees here in the building. And I'm part of the administrative committee, so I'm aware of what's going on in the building.

“We also pay all the hotel bills out of our office,” Clemmer adds. “I have an administrative assistant who does that, but I have to sign off. We also do letters of invitation for our international guests for visa purposes. I just know that I'm busy all the time.”
Thinking of Work

She often finds herself on the job even when she's not.

“I recently came up with a local artisan shop that shears its own sheep and dyes the wool,” Clemmer says. “I had seen it in a magazine while I waited for a medical appointment. I thought maybe our Shepherdess group — they're the wives of pastors — might like that.”

There are, of course, numerous perks to the job, including travel.

“As I've taken digital pictures of places to which I've traveled, I put them in my screensaver,” she says. “If I'm eating lunch, I love to see those photos. It's great to have those memories and meet people that I wouldn't meet otherwise, such as mayors. That's a nice perk.”

Still, there's no place like home.

“I am a homebody,” Clemmer says. “I miss my family greatly when I'm gone. I'm always counting the days when I'm gone. Not that I don't have a good time, but I'm always happy to come home. It's just the way I am.”
Sheri Clemmer

Family: “I have a husband, Darryl, and a lovely golden retriever, Sienna, just like the color in the crayon box. We've been married 33 years and have three adult children: a daughter and two sons. I'm empty-nested but have two grandsons that I can't wait to get home to.

“My husband is the director of a retirement community; we live on the grounds. My perspective there is that I'm really young. The average age is 83. It's been a great place to raise our three kids.”

Hobbies: “Music is my strongest hobby. I enjoy playing the piano. I have conducted choir in the past. I also enjoy cooking, especially when the whole family comes over.”

Born and raised: Born in Chattanooga, Tennessee, Clemmer's family moved to a suburb of Silver Spring, Md., when she was 2.

"SiteFiles: Mid-South States 2006” (Corporate Meetings & Incentives Magazine Story)

"SiteFiles: Mid-South States 2006”
By Bob Andelman
Corporate Meetings & Incentives Magazine
October 2006

What's New

Louisiana and Mississippi, in the heart of the Mid-South region, took a serious blow from Hurricane Katrina last year. But the region is coming back. New Orleans, specifically, is courting corporate business. The Marriott properties are all back up and running, the number of daily flights in and out of Louis Armstrong Airport is on the rise, and the Morial Convention Center recently welcomed its first convention since Katrina.

Baton Rouge, despite its proximity to New Orleans, remained largely unscathed by Katrina.

Meanwhile, the Mississippi Coast Coliseum and Convention Center in Biloxi remains out of commission until January 1, 2007. Vicki Miller, special events marketing coordinator, says there was one fortunate turn for the Coliseum. “All of our seats in the arena were sent to Arkansas before the storm to be reupholstered. That saved nearly all the seats in the arena.” The convention center, which was completing plans to nearly double its size pre-Katrina, will resume its expansion plans after reopening.

In Huntsville, Ala., Huntsville Bicentennial Water Park, situated above Huntsville's Big Spring and intended to commemorate the city's founding at that location, opened last summer. And getting to Huntsville keeps getting easier. Nonstop air service to the city is now available from more than a dozen airports across the nation.

Riverwalk Orange Beach on Alabama's Gulf Coast will open in spring 2007. The development's first phase includes a marina, retail and restaurant space, Gulf World Marine, and a swim-with-the-dolphins experience. A 680-unit condo-hotel resort with more than 68,000 square feet of meeting space will open in early 2008. Additionally, The Wharf opened with a new 10,000-seat amphitheater. This development will involve a luxury inn and meeting space of up to 20,000 square feet.

And in Kentucky, the Northern Kentucky Convention & Visitors Bureau is exploring expansion of the NKY Convention Center. This past summer the convention center underwent a $400,000 renovation of its exhibit hall, creating additional large group meeting space and breakout space.

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“Motivating Meeting Planners" (Medical Meetings Magazine Story)

“Motivating Meeting Planners: How meeting department managers keep their independent, world-traveling, Type A planners challenged, happy, and sane.”
By Bob Andelman
Medical Meetings Magazine
September/October 2006

Are planners a tougher crew to manage than other employees?

You bet.

For starters, they need to be offered different incentives than their co-workers. Mostly what they want is some time off and a little stress relief. They need recognition for doing an arduous job that their fellow employees often misunderstand and underestimate, and they need help coping with all the regulatory changes in the medical industry that affect meetings.

We decided to approach five experienced healthcare industry meeting department managers to find out how they manage it all, and keep their staffs — and themselves — sane.

MM: What's different about managing a meeting planning department versus other departments?

JENNIFER HEGNER: We're focused on one area, but we seem to touch almost every department — research and development, clinical, sales, and finance. We're very diverse compared to some groups. People underestimate the knowledge and information that passes through a meetings department. That's why I find this so appealing. If you want to know about the company, you get many different perspectives.

JUDY BENAROCHE JOHNSON: Pharma meetings are in the spotlight more than other types of meetings, and we deal with a lot of compliance issues. Also, the types of attendees are physicians, clinical teams, and pharma company employees who generally do not know one another prior to arrival. They have different objectives versus a sales meeting at which all the attendees are from one company.

DEBBIE RICCIARDELLI: It's not as easy to “grade” a meeting planner's performance as other employees. Unless you are at the planned function, you often have to depend on the feedback of the attendees to determine how well the meeting was executed. I usually don't have to solicit feedback if the meeting did not go as well as I would have liked, as more than enough people will comment. If the meeting goes well, as 99.9 percent of them do, I ask the person who was my contact from the company side for feedback, and anyone else whom I speak with who was in attendance if I cross their path. Other jobs can be measured more objectively, with facts and figures.

MM: There have been numerous changes in the medical meeting industry: regulatory, compliance, and legal issues; and the role of procurement. How do you help your staff to handle the increased stress level?

HEGNER: We have a network of people we can reach out to for help. We have a good relationship with our corporate attorney and our regulatory and clinical departments, for example. They've helped us to understand any changes in the industry and how we may have to change our behavior [in response]. We have a positive attitude here — life changes, and you have to adapt to those changes.

I really believe that it's all about relationships. If you have a good relationship [with different departments], that keeps you ahead of the game. They can be great advocates in getting you through it as painlessly as possible. You can't be a successful meeting planner these days and be stuck in your ways. You have to keep up with trends, technology, your industry, and your company to be successful.

JOHNSON: We continue to stay abreast of issues by reading as many publications as possible, attending conferences, and viewing Web sites and then communicating the issues clearly and often. The company must be creative, and everyone needs to have a willingness to change, learn, and continue to reinvent their roles within the company.

MM: How do you compensate staff for time away and late hours?

VALERIE RICHARD: Personally, I have five weeks' vacation (when I can use it!) plus extra days off when I must work weekends. I also am allowed to keep my planner and travel points (hotel and airline programs).

JOHNSON: We offer Meeting Time Off to be used at the meeting manager's discretion. MTO is earned for weekend days worked.

RICCIARDELLI: If a planner works weekends or long days, I try to be lenient with the punctuality and time off rules. Of course, as with anything else, you have to make sure everyone is in agreement as to what constitutes “reasonable” and make sure you are both on the same page, or it can get one-sided very quickly.

MICHELLE BERRIOS: We offer an AWS (adjusted weekly schedule). If a planner is on site over the weekend, he or she has the opportunity to take a day off during the week after the event.

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“Meeting Effectiveness 101" (Corporate Meetings & Incentives Magazine Story)

“Meeting Effectiveness 101: Twenty years ago, Intel designed a training course for new hires around Andy Grove’s theories on effective meetings. Today, the program is stronger than ever”
By Bob Andelman
Corporate Meetings & Incentives
December 2006

Many of the Greatest concepts that flowed from Intel Corp. over the past quarter century can be traced, in some way, back to the mind of Andrew S. Grove. Who would have guessed that the inspiration for effective meetings was among them?

But there it is, right in the pages of the legendary retired chairman's 1986 book, High Output Management. Grove began Chapter 4, “Meetings — The Medium of Managerial Work,” with the opening volley:

Meetings have a bad name. One school of management thought considers them the curse of the manager's existence. But there is another way to regard meetings … a meeting is nothing less than the medium through which managerial work is performed. That means we should not be fighting their very existence, but rather use the time spent in them as efficiently as possible.

When Grove's book was first published, Tracy Koon was one of the people tasked with applying his ideas about efficient meetings to an internal training course at the company's Intel University.

“We do sit in a lot of meetings,” says Koon, who recently retired from her position as Intel's director of corporate communications, laughing. “A lot of meetings.” Grove's philosophy became hers as well: “Meetings are inevitable,” she says. “Let's look at them as a way to get real work done and real decisions made.

“Intel had had a course about meetings before,” Koon adds, “but it was of the ‘why we have meetings’ variety. I took it when I first got here, and I thought, ‘This is interesting, but it doesn't help me do anything.’ It didn't do much to tell you how to make your meetings more effective.”

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“Managing Meeting Pros, Part 2” (Coporate Meetings & Incentives Magazine Story)

“Managing Meeting Pros, Part 2”
By Bob Andelman
Corporate Meetings & Incentives
October 2006

How can meeting department managers keep their independent, world-traveling, Type A planners challenged and motivated? Last issue, five readers shared their secrets to maintaining everyone's sanity in a pressure-cooker environment. This month, we explore how they find the best talent, as well as how they evaluate and compensate their staffs.

Are Planners A Tough crew to manage?

You bet. For starters, they need to be offered different incentives than their co-workers. Let's face it. When you're working weekends and nights, what you crave most is time off and a little stress relief.

In the end, what planners are looking for is recognition for a job with demands that exceed the boundaries of most office positions, the opportunity to call some of the shots, and the chance for training and growth within their companies.

On our panel:

*

JULIE JOHNSON, CMP, CMM, DIRECTOR, EVENTS AND INCENTIVES, LENNOX INTERNATIONAL WORLDWIDE HEATING & COOLING, Richardson, Texas — Her staff of four manages 150 meetings a year;
*

PAMELA WYNNE, CMP, CMM, MANAGER OF CORPORATE MEETING PLANNING, EDUCATIONAL TESTING SERVICE, Princeton, N.J. — Wynne oversees strategic sourcing, contract negotiations, cost analysis, billing and reconciliation, and tracking of expenses for about 800 meetings per year with six full-time planners;
*

MICHELLE BERRIOS, CMP, SENIOR MEETING PLANNER, KAISER PERMANENTE NATIONAL CORPORATE MEETING SERVICES, Oakland, Calif. — The majority of her company's 600 — 800 meetings each year are handled by the National Corporate Meeting Services staff of six. (Michelle left her position as this article was going to press.);
*

DEBBIE RICCIARDELLI, CMP, MANAGER, SALES OPERATIONS, ESPRIT PHARMA INC., East Brunswick, N.J. — Although she recently moved to Esprit and now is the sole planner, in her previous positions with Odyssey Pharmaceuticals and Watson Pharmaceuticals, she ran 15 to 25 meetings per year, ranging from five-person meetings to semi-annual meetings for 300 people, usually handled by herself, an additional full-time planner, and two or three ad hoc planners.

CMI: How do you know when a person is not going to be right for the job?

PAMELA WYNNE: During the interview process, I focus on certain key skills: negotiating, the ability to multitask, organizational skills, risk management, and customer service. I ask questions based on specific work experiences and their ability to problem-solve. I look for people who show the greatest skill in analyzing a problem, looking at solutions, and not being afraid to take risks.

Once a person is hired, it becomes apparent that maybe he or she is good with certain meetings or clients over others. If you can make shifts to have people doing the jobs they are best suited for, the entire team will excel.

DEBBIE RICCIARDELLI: You can tell by the person's demeanor in the office as well: One person who didn't work out used to slam her fists on the desk and get totally frustrated when things weren't going her way. That was very childish behavior.

CMI: What are some signs of trouble to watch out for with meeting planners?

JULIE JOHNSON: Whininess. Lack of attention to detail. Procrastination.

RICCIARDELLI: Two important things, I think: their ethics (how they handle amenities and offers); and when logistics are not coordinated well (i.e., when someone's flight is changed and the planner never notifies the ground transportation company, things like that).

WYNNE: If they get sidetracked when dealing with clients who are asking for more or are difficult to handle, it's a sign of trouble. It's also up to the manager to make sure planners stay on track and to help with any issues that might cause them to lose focus.

CMI: Tell us about your annual review process for meeting planners.

JOHNSON: Our company has a specific process I must follow. Salary planning is done in the fall. We set an increase date then for the following year. Planners are evaluated on the quality of their programs, customer and peer reviews, and input from VPs with whom they work closely. And, primarily: Did they stay within budgetary constraints and still deliver quality programs?

RICCIARDELLI: Part of the review is also subliminal: how their personality traits match with the job. Is my contract negotiator assertive enough to get the best deal for the company? Is the meet-and-greet employee enough of a people person?

WYNNE: We evaluate the person's financial contribution to the company through cost savings and cost avoidance, improvements to processes, and customer service ratings. Objectives are reviewed quarterly, and then we conduct an annual performance review.

MICHELLE BERRIOS: We ask each employee to propose goals for the year, which are then approved by our director. At the end of the year, the director will review the personal goals and client feedback with each person on the team.

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“Managing Meeting Pros, Part 1” (Corporate Meetings & Incentives Magazine Story)

“Managing Meeting Pros, Part 1”
By Bob Andelman
Corporate Meetings & Incentives
September 2006

Are Meeting Professionals a tough crew to manage? You bet.

Because they are on the road so much, there can be communication and comp-time issues. They are expected to work all kinds of crazy hours — so how can a manager possibly compensate them for that? Then there is the pressure-cooker environment, and Type A personalities, and occasional sleep deprivation.

We decided to approach five experienced meeting department managers to explore how they manage it all and keep their staffs — and themselves — sane.

On our panel:

*

JULIE JOHNSON, CMP, CMM, DIRECTOR, EVENTS & INCENTIVES, LENNOX INTERNATIONAL WORLDWIDE HEATING & COOLING, Richardson, Texas — Her staff of four manages 150 meetings a year.
*

PAMELA WYNNE, CMP, CMM, MANAGER OF CORPORATE MEETING PLANNING, EDUCATIONAL TESTING SERVICE, Princeton, N.J. — Wynne oversees strategic sourcing, contract negotiations, cost analysis, billing and reconciliation, and tracking of expenses for about 800 meetings per year with six full-time planners.
*

MICHELLE BERRIOS, CMP, SENIOR MEETING PLANNER, KAISER PERMANENTE, Oakland, Calif. — The majority of her company's 600 to 800 meetings each year are handled by a staff of six in the national corporate meeting department.
*

PEG WOLSCHON, CMP, CTP (CERTIFIED TOUR PROFESSIONAL), MANAGER OF MEETING SERVICES, TENET HEALTHCARE CORP., Dallas — Wolschon runs a fairly new department with about 115 meetings on the books for 2006, a number that is likely to reach 200 by year's end. (Peg left her position as this article went to press.)
*

DEBBIE RICCIARDELLI, CMP, MANAGER, SALES OPERATIONS, ESPRIT PHARMA INC., East Brunswick, N.J. — Although she recently moved to Esprit and now is the sole planner, in her previous positions with Odyssey Pharmaceuticals and Watson Pharmaceuticals, she ran 15 to 25 meetings per year, ranging from five-person meetings to semi-annual meetings for 300 people, usually handled by herself, an additional full-time planner, and two or three ad hoc planners.

CMI: What's different about managing a meeting planning department versus other departments you have managed?

WYNNE: I find it to be a lot harder than managing a department where people are at their desks all day. Usually someone is out, and we have to fill them in later, either via e-mail or by calling them. I try to take into consideration the different learning and communication styles of my staff, but it is much harder to do that with a staff that is multitasking.

RICCIARDELLI: It's not easy to “grade” a meeting planner's performance. Other jobs can be measured more objectively, with facts and figures.

With meetings, unless you are at the planned function, you often have to depend on the feedback of the attendees to determine how well things were executed. If a meeting did not go as well as I would have liked, we will have more than enough people comment on it. If the meeting goes well — as 99.9 percent of them do — the way I get feedback is to ask everyone with whom I cross paths about it.

JOHNSON: I used to be a regional director of sales for a hotel corporation and had even more staff than I do now, but I don't see much difference. Everyone in every job is under some pressure to excel and to attain his or her objectives. Managers must put themselves in their employees' shoes and recognize the pressures that are inherent.

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“Meat and Greet Services" (Motivation Strategies Magazine Story)

“Meat and Greet Services:
Eatertainment companies focus on group events”

By Bob Andelman
Motivation Strategies Magazine
(Motivation Show 2006 issue)

Even a 35-year-old venue with locations worldwide can still learn new tricks when it comes to hosting group business.

That’s what happened in February, when the Hard Rock Café chain hosted a 12-city, multi-venue video sales conference. The client imagined holding its event at the Hard Rock in a way that the restaurant chain itself hadn’t considered before.

“This company knew it could pick from the banquet menus we had,” says Kevin Kirby, senior director of sales for Hard Rock International in Orlando. “They had an A/V company that came in and did the hookups. It was a morning day part; we weren’t open to the general public. This company got its message out and didn’t incur the cost of flying everyone somewhere else.”

As obvious as it seems in retrospect, running a meeting or special event at multiple Hard Rocks – or any eatertainment venue, for that matter – was actually an “a-ha!” moment for the parent company.

“It was interesting to us and we’ve put the team to thinking about how we’d do this again in the future. It really worked quite well,” Kirby says.

In the case of the video sales conference, the client originally approached individual Hard Rocks in the cities it was interested in before corporate headquarters became involved as a unifying force. From there, everything fell into place, including a special limited brunch menu.

“Ironically, it gave them a unifying experience as best they could without being in the same city,” Kirby says. “And this wasn’t an over-the-top experience relative to high-end budgets, either.”

The Hard Rock, for one, has greatly evolved in the last decade.

“It’s been a revolution with what we do with hotels, casinos and live concert venues,” Kirby says. “We’ve reached out to groups and can offer a diversity of experiences they’re not used to from the Hard Rock Cafe they might remember from 15 years ago. A lot of the programs we’ve been implementing have more global scale and synergy with the cafes and how they’re positioned to the group marketplace. The seeds have been planted; it just needs to be communicated to the marketplace. If you want a unique experience and high energy, this is the place to go.”

Each Hard Rock – and there are now 132 of them worldwide – is different. Some are stand-alone restaurants; some are part of a casino, whether in Las Vegas or Tampa; still others are part of a concert venue. Some can accommodate a group of 50; some 200. Many cafes and casinos have private rooms. “There are a number of different ways you can go about it,” Kirby says.

Places such as the Hard Rock Café, Dave and Buster’s, Planet Hollywood, NASCAR Café, GameWorks, and Harley-Davidson Café are known for their specialized motifs, classic menus, souvenirs and many for their food. Why not consider holding an event at one – or several?

Dave and Buster's bills itself as “the perfect location for business meetings and events all in one facility,” according to the Dallas-based chain’s director of sales, Ty Watson. “We give them the opportunity to meet, network, play and build tremendous relationships all under one roof. We offer everything that a hotel can offer for the actual meeting itself, but then so much more in the way of team building exercises and the social aspect of what we can do after the meeting is complete. We also offer many chef crafted buffets that are competitive in pricing, if not lower than most conference centers.”

Dave and Buster’s is in 44 North American cities; if you’ve never been to one, it is the ultimate electronic game arcade, minus the gambling, plus a full menu. The typical location ideally can handle meetings for up to 200 or special events for up to 2,000.

"The largest advantage of holding a meeting at Dave and Buster's is the true interpersonal relationship building factor that our facilities provide,” Watson says. “By offering an all-inclusive destination, attendees can experience a first-class meeting environment while networking and strengthening relationships within the organization through team building exercises and other competitive games. We specialize in customizing all-inclusive packages for meeting planners to include meeting rooms with state of the art A/V equipment, multiple buffet options, hundreds of drink combinations, team building exercises and all the fun you can imagine in the Million Dollar Midway. It is truly a more complete option than using the familiar hotel banquet space that spills out into an empty banquet foyer."

The Harley-Davidson Cafe in Las Vegas features private and semi-private areas; the entire venue can be rented for an evening and can hold up to 1,400 guests for a corporate reception or theme party.

“We offer a variety of banquet menus or we will custom-create a menu specifically tailored to the demographics of our clients,” says Kate Mazzarella-Minshall, director of sales and catering for the Harley-Davidson Cafe. “We are customer-service oriented, flexible and accommodating and we offer quality and consistency in our food at competitive pricing.”

Because these places are used to serving a lot of volume – in terms of people and food – they can often be booked on shorter notice than other types of venues. But not too short.

“A lot of people have waited to book their reservations, but we encourage them to do it further in advance,” Kirby says. “But a week or two weeks? We can do that. Hard Rock Café Times Square on a week’s notice, however, we might not be able to do. We don’t want them to have an unfavorable experience.”

Choosing an appropriate venue is always an issue for corporate groups, of course. Hard Rock Café or Planet Hollywood might be considered too risqué for a group’s function; the same folks might be more at home among the games at Dave and Buster’s and GameWorks or the race cars at NASCAR Café, however.

“Rock ‘n’ roll can be deeply personal or something you do with a group of people,” Kirby says. “It appeals to so many people in so many different ways – people that you wouldn’t think of as headbangers or enjoying a certain music genre, will still surprise you by appreciating the memorabilia and experience. A Hard Rock really is a place for people of different classes of society and love of music to come together.”

There are a few things you can’t do at an eatertainment venue that you can do in a hotel or banquet hall, such as transforming the venue into something else. The genre relics on the wall stay; no exploding volcanoes will be built center stage, thank you.

Many of the cafes have gone through A/V upgrades and some have their own in-house A/V staffs, large projection screens TVs, PowerPoint and video hook-ups? And if they can’t do it, they typically have a local production partner that can.

Costs for an eatertainment venue will likely compare with conference centers.

“If it’s a meeting, it would probably be no different than what a venue rental would be,” Kirby says. “We would need staff, of course. In the case of the multi-venue, multi-city client, we had to be staffed in the morning – a time when we’re not usually open – and be able to deliver. And we don’t charge the same price in every café. There’s nothing we do that’s different than anybody else. If we don’t charge a venue fee, we’re looking at F&B minimums, no different than a hotel would do.”

And then, of course, there are the cool souvenirs.

“If a customer does a bulk buy, we have taken some of our shirts and put the name of company X or the name of their product launch on the sleeve,” Kirby says. “If the company’s not willing to offer something to attendees, we offer a gift-with-purchase strategy. We do try to incorporate the merchandise with the experience. We like to do a t-shirt, something they’d wear and be proud of and it would resonate for a while.”

So the Hard Rock Café merchandise store would likely be open even if the venue were rented out for a special event?

“The fact that I would have it fully stocked is coincidental,” Kirby says, laughing. “As much as we believe our food drives people back, it’s the service and the merchandise.”

Eatertainment Directory

NASCAR Cafe Corporate HQ
(865) 637-2324
http://www.nascarcafe.com
Theme: Racing

Harley-Davidson Café - Las Vegas
(702) 740-455
http://www.harley-davidsoncafe.com/
Theme: Classic motorcycles

Planet Hollywood International Corporate HQ
(407) 903-5500
http://www.planethollywood.com/
Theme: Movies, Hollywood

Dave and Busters, Inc. Corporate HQ
(214) 904-2241
http://www.daveandbusters.com
Theme: Games

Hard Rock International Corporate HQ
(407) 445-7625
http://www.hardrock.com
Theme: Rock ‘n’ roll

GameWorks Corporate HQ
(818) 254-4263
http://www.gameworks.com
Theme: Games

David Fury "24" writer/producer: Mr. Media Interview, Pt. 1

Pop quiz: name the man who’s been a writer and/or producer for the following TV shows: “The Jackie Thomas Show,” “House of Buggin’,” “Dream On,” “Pinky and the Brain,” “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” “Angel,” “Lost,” “24.”

Give up?

It’s David Fury, and he joins us today via phone from Hollywood.

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BOB ANDELMAN: David, welcome to Mr. Media.

DAVID FURY: Thanks very much, Bob. I want to answer that question. I know, I know who that is.

ANDELMAN: And we will send you a prize, I promise.

FURY: Oh, thank you.

ANDELMAN: David, does Barack Obama’s presidential campaign send a commission on every dollar it collects to the producers of “24”?

FURY: No, not that I know of. How did Barack Obama come into this?

ANDELMAN: Well, I look at Barack Obama, and it seems like he’s had a very smooth sail in these first months of his presidential campaign, and it seems to me, and maybe I’m alone, that a lot of it has to do with “24” making it very comfortable for America to have an African-American president, twice even.

FURY: Interesting. Interesting premise. Well, I’d like to think that we’ve, as a country we’ve become more comfortable with the idea of bringing in presidential candidates from different walks of life, whether they be black or women or Asian or anything. If “24” has anything to do with it? All the better. I’d love to think that we’ve, to some extent we’ve matured enough that people are open to the idea.

ANDELMAN: It’s interesting. I mean, there hasn’t really been a situation in years past where an African-American would play the President and it wouldn’t be like a big deal, but now it’s like….

FURY: Well, there was Deep Impact I remember which had Morgan Freeman as President. My God, I would have voted for him right there if Morgan Freeman had run, such an excellent presidential candidate. Or James Earl Jones years ago in a movie called The Man.

ANDELMAN: I remember that.

FURY: I remember that, as well, so I don’t think we’re the first, certainly, to do it, but perhaps….

ANDELMAN: No, but it’s very matter of fact in “24.” I think in those previous settings, it was more, you know, “What?”

FURY: Well, certainly in The Man, it was very much evident that this was a racial issue and was telling a racial story. Morgan Freeman was handled matter-of-factly, and certainly David Palmer has been on the show. You may be right, you may have something to that.

ANDELMAN: Well, I do think you guys should get a commission. I think you should look into that.

FURY: All right.

ANDELMAN: I hear a lot that Republicans tend to love “24” because of its kind of take-no-shit approach to terrorism, and I wondered if the creative staff has a noticeable political bent.

FURY: Well, certainly a couple members of our staff lean very heavily toward the right, as there are a couple members that lean very heavily toward the left. We have a wide diversity of different political viewpoints. I don’t think Republicans, just simply Republicans love the show. I have heard that people as diverse as Barbra Streisand is apparently a big fan of the show.

ANDELMAN: I didn’t mean to suggest that only Republicans, by no means, but…

FURY: Everybody likes to filter their viewing of “24” through their own viewpoint, and we try to give a very diverse viewpoint on the show. Republicans will certainly embrace some of the more right wing aspects of “24,” the take-no-prisoners approach to terrorism, and there are others who recognize that that doesn’t work all the time. What you really have is somebody like Jack Bauer, who is serving the greater good but who has no particular political bent. I mean, David Palmer, I think, was always presented as, I think, a Democratic president, and Jack’s loyalty was to him for the most part for the first few years. Our executive producer/co-creator, Joel Surnow, is very vocal about his conservative Republican leanings, and he has a lot of friends of his who do enjoy the show and do think it supports their agenda. Although many of them criticized the show earlier this year, when we did the story line about Wayne Palmer’s sister who was voicing sort of the liberal bent, and her boyfriend, who was incarcerated along with other Muslim prisoners, we suspected to be involved with terrorism and then weren’t, I know Joel got a lot of criticism that, “What, is the show starting to lean toward the left? There are good Muslims that were over-reacting?” We’re trying to say that there’s no easy answers, basically, and some people look for answers in the show, and some people recognize that that’s just not going to come.

ANDELMAN: You don’t have to answer this, but where are you in your own political leanings?

FURY: I’m very moderate. I’m a registered Democrat. I suppose I’m conservative fiscally, and socially I’m much more moderate, so I am either a very liberal Republican or very conservative Democrat, I’m not quite sure.

ANDELMAN: Would it be a wrong guess that, politically, those writers’ room sessions could be pretty interesting conversations?

FURY: Oh, you have no idea! The debates that go on and on on a daily basis regarding whatever is going on in the current administration. There’s people, Evan Katz, another executive producer on the show, who definitely leans more toward the left, and he gets into a lot of debates with Joel and Manny Coto, another one of our co-executive producers who is a staunch Republican. And then you have somebody like Bob Cochran, the other co-creator, who is a Republican but much more moderate than other people. And then Howard Gordon, our show-runner, whose wife is very heavily involved with liberal causes -- and Howard himself is a registered Democrat -- supports Democratic causes. The conversation does lean toward political debates.

ANDELMAN: Did the conversation a few months ago about torture on the show come back to the writers’ room?

FURY: Oh, most definitely. We discussed it. Even when it came on and before it became an issue, before it was made into a news issue, the discussion whether torture works, about whether it should ever be used, and the moral ramifications. We discussed that at great length. Once it became more of an issue, I found myself defending our approach to it on a podcast and wound up on CNN News as the “writers of ‘24’ speak up on this controversy.” My contention was simply that we’re not trying to present a documentary or a realistic approach to fighting terrorism, we’re producing an evening of entertainment, and liberties have to be taken. The whole structure of the show, the ticking time clock and Jack Bauer fighting it the entire season, that’s something that just doesn’t happen in real life. There is no ticking clock, so there’s never any need to torture someone to get information out of them so quickly. You have to create scenarios where that would have to be, and at that point, you’re speaking in hyperbole.

ANDELMAN: I find the recovery from some of the torture sometimes to be entertaining. I keep thinking back to poor Morris getting that drill through his shoulder, but there he is back at work a few hours later (laughs).

FURY: Well, he’s a strong man, that Morris. Again, it’s the real challenge of the show, and certainly we’ve taken a lot more liberties later than earlier in the earlier years of the show where people do have to bounce back so that we can bring them back into the story. It’s very difficult if someone is tortured. Generally speaking, they’d be hospitalized, and you wouldn’t see them for several days, but of course, in a 24-hour period, you have to find ways to re-integrate them, and sometimes it takes a lot of suspension of disbelief to get those people back. Poor Milo was shot, and there he is with a sling, still back at work. We just have to chalk it up to, “Well, we’re understaffed, and we need you, and this is an emergency situation, and normally, we’d let you rest, but you can’t now.”

ANDELMAN: Well, and how often does Jack get hit in the head with a heavy metal object….

FURY: Oh, well, sure. My God, Jack never died and was revived and picked up a gun and went after the bad guys again.

ANDELMAN: Well, now, it’s funny you mentioned that, because I wanted to ask you the thing that has always driven me crazy, and I mean in a good way as a viewer, is that the CTU staff seems to have the worst institutional security in America. I mean, there’s spies, there’s moles, there’s data taps, and God forbid you’re a high-threat suspect and you get brought back to CTU for questioning, because you or somebody is going to die, right?

FURY: Yeah, that’s usually the case. The justification that’s been given to me when I bring these things up is that CTU is really an intelligence-gathering organization, and organizations like that aren’t really heavily fortified security-wise. I mean, certainly we do an excessive amount of it, but the idea that CTU cannot be breached because it’s such a top government agency is probably over-stating it, since what they mostly do, they are a branch office of an anti-terrorist intelligence-gathering organization. They do have a task force, but if we need their systems to be tapped for a story, we’ll do it. If we need someone to get into CTU to stage a gas attack, that’s going to be a lot more interesting than saying, “Well, it’s impossible to get into CTU, no one would ever be able to do that.” We have to make allowances like that for dramatic purposes. Well, it does make CTU look a little, well, inept, you know, and again, it’s the alternative is, well, if we show them being absolutely impenetrable, we’re going to be running out of story very quickly.

ANDELMAN: Well, and along that line, I think my favorite moment, and I think you may have written this episode, was a few weeks ago, Bauer and Doyle are driving Fayed back to CTU in a truck, and you just know they’re never going to make it there, because nobody ever makes it from point A to point B….

FURY: Nobody gets where they’re going, especially if you see them in the car on their way.

ANDELMAN: Well, yeah, exactly, and it was very funny, because it’s like the writers knew what viewers expected, and yet in this case, they turned those expectations upside down quite literally.

FURY: I knew that we had to when I was working on the story. I knew that really to make this thing work is to play off -- and I approach this as a fan myself, say, “What is my expectation?” My expectation is that Fayed is going to be rescued by his men, then to turn that and to find out he’s not rescued by his men but it was staged, those are the ways that we try to hopefully keep acknowledging the story but also trying to keep everyone smart. It made CTU seem smart in trying this tactic. It made Fayed smart that he didn’t lead them right back to the bomb and to his men by winning the general’s okay. And then the general gives his distress code to Fayed, letting him know that this is all a trap. It was great fun to write, and I was very conscious when we were coming up with the story of trying to keep everybody smart, keep expectations there but find ways to twist them.

ANDELMAN: It seemed like that was one of those moments where your background as a stand-up comedian may have come in handy, because I laughed at that. It just cracked me up.

FURY: Well, I’m glad you got a laugh out of it. I rarely miss the opportunity to inject any kind of humor into the show, so I’ll take it where I can get it, quite frankly. But I see what you mean. It is the way I approached the story when I started writing “Hours” for “Buffy,” is finding the turns, finding the turns in the story, going with the expectations, and that’s where good comedy comes from, too. I mean, the sketches I used to write when I had sketch shows would have that same sort of thing, playing off expectations, buying the turn, and keeping the audience engaged.

ANDELMAN: Speaking of that, and the sketch show that I’m thinking of that you worked on was “House of Buggin’” with John Leguizamo, did you ever think you’d see him in a drama like “ER”?

FURY: Oh, yeah. John’s an incredibly versatile actor. Well, he had already done several dramas. He did Casualties of War with Michael Fox, he’s done some thrillers. I knew him as an improvisational actor in New York playing with a company, as did my wife. I think “First Amendment” was the name of the company off-Broadway, improv company, so I certainly knew he could do comedy, but drama, he’s a very talented guy, and there’s pretty much nothing John can’t do.

ANDELMAN: I was very surprised. I thought he carried off “ER” very well, and it was quite a surprise.

FURY: I didn’t see his run in “ER,” but I had no doubt he was strong. He’s best when, and quite frankly, as funny as he is, when it’s comedy, he loves to inject more of himself and re-write his lines, futz with the dialogue. I think probably when he does dramas, he’s far more studied, he’s far more tapping into his real talents as an actor.

ANDELMAN: As a co-executive producer and a writer, you were part of two different teams that won back to back Emmy Awards for Best Drama, “Lost” in 2005 and “24” in 2006. How on earth does that happen?

FURY: Well, I’d love to tell you that it was very calculated on my part, and I’m afraid I can’t. Other people have mentioned it, and I have questioned whether or not anyone else has won back to back Emmys on two separate shows. I don’t know how that happened except to say that I’d like to think that my influence on “Lost” for the first season was felt. I certainly enjoyed my time there. I loved writing the show, and when I regrettably moved to “24,” I tried to do the same. I tried to help make the show as great as it was, but it’s really about the people I’m surrounded with. I mean, I’ve been very fortunate to be surrounded by very brilliant writers, and really, you’re only as good as the people around you, I think. If my contribution somehow helped tip the scale, I’m very happy about that, but it couldn’t be done without the rest of the staff.

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© 2007 by Bob Andelman. All rights reserved.

Tim Dorsey, "Hurricane Punch" author: Mr. Media Interview, Pt. 1

The first time I tried my hand at fiction in high school, it was a way of dealing with people and issues that I couldn’t handle in real life. My friends thought it was hysterical and that I was a little twisted.

In college, I again used fiction writing for my personal aims, this time to deal with my frustrating inability to get laid as a freshman at the University of Miami. I thought it might be a way of leveling the playing field. It didn’t change my virginal status, but as the manuscript was handed around the dormitory, I earned a different kind of reputation. I was the guy who remembered and chronicled all the stuff that happened when everyone else was falling-down drunk, and I was the guy who, if you messed with me, would get even with you at the typewriter.

My father once said to me, “Nothing bad will ever happen to you because you’ll just write about it and get even.”

And isn’t that what the power of the press is all about?

Twenty-five years later, I read the latest novel by Tim Dorsey. Hurricane Punch reminded me of, well, me. As I turned the pages and read about people being barbecued by military meals-ready-to-eat lasagna or being fried by the world’s most powerful guitar amp, I remembered the thrill of brutalizing the people I thought were idiots or who had done me wrong.

Dorsey, who’s joining us today (April 12, 2007), is a former journalist who made it out alive, having worked at the Tampa Tribune from 1987 until 1999.

Hurricane Punch, which was published in February 2007, is Dorsey’s ninth novel. It’s an all-too-funny story about life in the world’s emerging media capital, Tampa Bay, during hurricane season. It skewers the media left and right, which made it perfect for discussion here.

DOWNLOAD THE MP3; LISTEN HERE.

ALSO AVAILABLE AS A PODCAST ON iTUNES.

BOB ANDELMAN: Tim, welcome to Mr. Media.

TIM DORSEY: Oh, thank you for having me.

ANDELMAN: Not to make your interview all about me, Tim, but am I the only one who thinks fiction writing is a great place for vengeance?

DORSEY: Umm, actually, I think maybe that’s the chord that I struck. It’s a lot broader than I think even my publisher or my agent thought. Originally, I guess it was presumed that these would be more of a cult or underground type thing, but just if you look at my Web site, the pictures of my audiences, they look the local neighborhood association. Well, I have a theory about that, and that is that even more so than your background and mine, I think out there there is this kind of untapped reservoir of this feeling that all the people that obey the rules and are good pillars of the community, there is a growing resentment that the people who are breaking the rules are winning. Maybe vicariously, through Serge and the books, they see these miscreants who are getting their just desserts.

ANDELMAN: I was kind of reminded of the Zach Braff character on “Scrubs” who is dealing with real life, and you always see what’s actually going on in his head and what he’d like to do and how he’d like to deal with the person. And that’s pretty much what Serge does. I mean, he just deals with it the way he wants to. He doesn’t seem to filter things like the rest of us do.

DORSEY: That’s the best part of doing this, it’s a matter of not censoring your imagination, and I think we all have this sort of stream of consciousness to one degree or another where, as we go through the day, we have this internal dialogue, and it’s basically, he is just externalizing our collective internal dialogue, I think. I don’t mean to be so heavy about it (laughs), but really, we all have these little voices and these little things going on as we drive around and curse at people on the highway, anyway…

ANDELMAN: Oh, absolutely. Well, I was going to ask you, I mean, it seems like there is a little passive-aggressive streak at work with the author here?

DORSEY: Oh, absolutely! It’s kind of funny. And I have a great temper, probably as a result of the books, but at the beginning, I guess,

maybe there was a lot of bottled-up frustration that ended up coming out as Serge’s violent streak. And then as my dreams came true and I got books published and sales started going up and royalties started going up, I became quite happy. People started complaining that Serge wasn’t killing enough people, and they were criticizing the books, so they pissed me off, and I killed more people.

ANDELMAN: A lot of what happens happens on the road in different places, and I got to wondering. I saw that you have done well over 800 personal appearances for the books over the years. Do you find yourself hatching up ways to kill people while you’re out traveling?

DORSEY: Yes. Actually, when I speak to writers’ groups, I explain that most of my best writing is -- and I don’t mean to be glib here -- but it’s done like in the shower or while driving. What I mean by that is, I don’t sit down at the computer and think of what I’m going to write. I already pretty much know what I’m going to write by the time I sit down, because I’ve kind of daydreamed it and turned it over and visualized it in my head while doing other stuff.








ANDELMAN: Did you ever think that Serge was going to become, I don’t know if alter ego, because, you know, hopefully you’re not quite like that, but did you think that you’d be living with him 10 years later?

DORSEY: You know, I guess it’s like young people. They don’t look for the future. You know, if you’re 18 or you’re 21, you never think of being 25. It’s like when I started, I just wanted to get one book published and just be able to hold a hardcover with my name on it in my hand, and that would have just been, you know, like winning the lottery, and I really didn’t think beyond that. But it just took off, and I ended up connecting on levels that my publisher and I didn’t necessarily expect.

ANDELMAN: You and I have never met or officially crossed paths, but I was actually at the Tampa Tribune in l986.

DORSEY: I came in 1987.

ANDELMAN: Right, and it wasn’t hard for me to imagine a couple of things while reading Hurricane Punch. One is, I guess by the time you were writing the book, you were a copy editor by then. You were no longer out working a beat. But I know that room that you were in, and I know what had been going on in the years leading up to that. I mean, you make reference in the novel a lot to “convergence,” and I can just imagine a copy editor sitting around daydreaming about other things. Am I wrong this was going on?

DORSEY: Doing anything but the work I was paid to do (laughs).

ANDELMAN: Exactly. Yes.

DORSEY: Actually, it’s interesting. As I was working on the very first book, which was Florida Roadkill, I wasn’t going to have violence or crime or anything in the books, I was just going to have satires on Florida because I felt that would be a crutch, but it’s been a great crutch. I finally had an epiphany that basically the crime and all of the news stories I’ve covered either as a reporter or an editor, it’s what I know, and I had a large tank of material to tap into. Literally the day the first book got published is when I left the Tribune, but while I was working on that first book, I was writing it at home, but as you know, when you write something, it’s constantly, even though you have an outline, it changes as you go along.

Each shift at the paper, whatever my imagination might have thought up, quite often reality would trump it. Something would come over the AP wire, or the cop reporter would come over and tell me something, an arrest report he just picked up, and I would slide open my drawer and get my note pad and make a note for the next chapter.

ANDELMAN: So you didn’t actually write this at work? I’m very disappointed to hear that.

DORSEY: Oh, Hurricane Punch?

ANDELMAN: No, I mean Florida Roadkill. I was really hoping to hear that you wrote it in between stories at the Tribune.

DORSEY: Oh, no, no. Actually, I really didn’t. I would take shorthand notes if I saw a news story come across that I thought I could use, but no, I did this… And I worked the night desk, so I would think about it at work, but I would come home and write late into the night after the night shift or get up early. It was one of those sorts of med student residency crucibles that you have to survive, pulling a double shift like that, but.... Nobody has time to write a book. You just have to do it while juggling the other job.

ANDELMAN: You used up an awful lot of pop culture and Florida news references in this book. I was amazed. It seemed like every time I turned a page, it was like, oh, right, there’s Terry Sciavo… Did you use too many? Did you really have enough for the next book?

DORSEY: I’ll tell you, I have a stack of newspapers right next to me here in my office, and it’s like a conveyor belt. You never use it up. Remember the Lucille Ball episode with the cream pies coming down? You’re never going to run out of weird news stories in Florida. There will always be… You can’t get enough books out, frankly.

ANDELMAN: You must get asked about this a lot. What is it about Florida? We certainly have this whole Florida fiction genre now. Yourself and Carl Hiaasen and others, and then there’s things like my friend Chuck Shepherd who does the “News of the Weird” column. There is so much that happens in Florida on a regular basis, he does a whole separate thing called “The F State.”

DORSEY: Well, I think first as far as the genre, and this goes to another question that people ask as far as what is it with the journalists so heavily populating that school of writing? The question answers itself there that the ones who read the news, especially the little stuff on the wires that doesn’t necessarily make the paper, all those little tidbits, that’s responsible for the genre of basically the journalists. And then the other part as far as why it’s so odd, I just think it’s a combination of the weather and the lack of control of the state. There is a robust business in the economy, but nobody’s really running things in the overall sense. Everything is up for grabs, and there is such growth and transiency of population that people just pass each other. It’s very easy for somebody who’s on the lam or doing no good to sort of blend in or hide in the cracks.


ANDELMAN: Serge certainly does that. I mean, that’s amazing. Is the character today, is he different than the way he started 10 years ago? You said you didn’t plan on all the violence and mayhem that way, but are there other aspects of him that are different, or is he pretty consistent 10 years out?

DORSEY: I think he’s probably a lot different, and not by plan or anything but simply unconsciously as, if you write over the course, I mean, if I look back over a nine-year span of when I was working for newspapers and I took clips that I wrote at the beginning and clips at the end, there is a difference in writing, and I just think just the inevitable, unconscious changes in your writing as you go along will affect the characters.

ANDELMAN: Hurricane Punch in particular is as much about Serge as it is about the media, the Tampa Bay media in particular. Was that aspect of it too easy to write in parody?

DORSEY: The media part?

ANDELMAN: Yeah.

DORSEY: That’s the thing as far as this book, it was one of the easiest to write, and therefore one of the most fun, and I think that helped the book. I think if it’s work and you are not enjoying it, I think that will show up in the final product. But no, this was a blast.

ANDELMAN: It seemed like Jeff McSwirley, and I love that name, who’s the journalist in the book and one of the protagonists, he works for not the Tampa Tribune or the St. Pete Times but a third Tampa Bay daily, but I mean, it seemed to me that Tampa Bay Today, as it’s called in the book, it really reminded me of the Tampa Tribune under Doyle Harville. There was a period of, oh, all the convergence, we’re going to do the Internet here, and we brought the TV station in, and we’re going to do news. Am I wrong?

DORSEY: I think time line-wise, it was a little later, but no, I mean, you’re accurate in that it was an industry-wide movement, and the Tribune was part of it, but one thing I wanted to stress by having a fictitious third party newspaper is that there are places where I have taken it to the extreme, and I didn’t want to say that it was the Tribune, because it’s not. But my experience is that the media has got to be there. Frankly, this is what I intended to do all along, but I really loved working at the Tribune, and I have so many friends there. They’ve gotten a kick out of this, because they are all in the media, and they have seen what’s happened… Hopefully, it’s enjoyed on a broad level, but I think journalists in particular kind of smile at a lot of the references.


ANDELMAN: It did seem more to me reflective of the Tribune than in any way, really, the St. Pete Times, and I just assumed that that was mostly because, well, of course, you worked at the Tribune …

DORSEY: Oh sure. Absolutely. I mean, if I’m going to describe a newsroom or one of the news meetings or this or that, it’s going to be either consciously or subconsciously from the memories of where I worked. So yeah, absolutely, and my knowledge of the Times is much less.

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