I was recently invited to attend an event industry cocktail reception at a hotel. As I was filling out the online registration, I paused at what’s usually a simple, perfunctory box to check: my title. Should people address me as Mr., Mrs., Ms., or other? I’m a married woman, but it felt like an odd question to ask for a cocktail reception. What does it matter what I am? I’m just going for a drink. Formal titles are never put on…
Author: Andrea Boulden
Andrea Boulden has been working in corporate meeting planning for over 20 years. She has spent the last three years in Employee Experience at TD Wealth managing a team of eight event professionals. Andrea is a member of the Meeting Professionals Against Human Trafficking committee working to create awareness of this important issue in our industry. Her articles will be mainly focused on how to incorporate the lens of diversity and inclusion into how we plan events. She feels that event planners have an opportunity to really bring this strategic priority to life by being proactive, thinking of all participants' unique requirements and being open to making accommodations.
Articles by Andrea Boulden
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Alcohol-focused team-building events: Is it time to rethink them?
When planning meetings and events, it is our job to step out of our own preferences and think about the perspectives of all attendees. This can be challenging as the majority of event planners fall into the same demographic and it can make seeing different perspectives even more difficult when most of your peers see the world through a similar lens. Meeting professionals have a real opportunity to bring diversity and inclusion to life, which is a strategic priority for…
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Ramadan is coming – Are you prepared?
Experienced meeting professionals know to check the calendar very carefully when choosing event dates. Statutory and religious holidays are simple – we need to just avoid them altogether! Examples of some dates that are completely off limits: Christmas, Easter, Yom Kippur and Passover. One of the religious holidays that causes some confusion among event planners is Ramadan. Ramadan is observed by Muslims worldwide, it falls in May/June and it lasts for about a month. The timing is different every year.…
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Meeting Professionals Against Human Trafficking to hold meeting in Toronto
Perhaps you have been hearing the buzz about Human Trafficking lately and how it is becoming a hot topic in the events industry, or maybe this is the first you are hearing about it (and you aren’t alone). Either way, you might be wondering what this has to do with the meetings you are planning (assuming that someone else in responsible for this) or, if you work in a hotel, you might be thinking that surely it isn’t happening in your…
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How to plan events with food allergies in mind
I would say that I have a lot of food preferences. I like healthy food: nothing fried, no white sugar or processed food. I often have a hard time when the only options at conferences are sugary breakfast items or processed meat sandwiches. The frustration! I thought I had it hard… until I spoke with a few colleagues who have serious food allergies and heard what it is like to be in their situation. I now have a sense of…
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Planning accessible events for every body
Chances are that if you are an event planner, you are able to move around quickly, you are agile and you are used to literally being on the run! It is a physically demanding job. This also means that because you are able-bodied, it might not occur to you to plan for people who are not as mobile. If this is not the case and you are always proactively planning for different abilities at your events, I congratulate you. This,…
