As a mom, I wouldn’t dream of bringing peanut-laden snacks for my sons after being told there was a child in the class with a serious peanut allergy. Our meetings should be likewise considerate of people with food allergies—because it’s the right thing to do. If that’s not reason enough, then because of the growing risk of liability for failing to do so.
Food Allergy Research & Education (FARE) estimates that 15 million Americans have food allergies; nine million of those are adults. Seventeen million Europeans have food allergies. These figures don’t even include people with other dietary restrictions (e.g., low-sodium, low-cholesterol) or people following specific diets or styles of eating (e.g., Paleo, vegetarian).
Thrive! Meetings & Events, which has a special expertise in managing food allergies at meetings and events, estimates that 38% of meeting attendees worldwide have food allergies or other dietary restrictions. FARE suggests that close to half of fatal food allergy reactions are triggered by food consumed outside the home, which could easily include meetings or eating while traveling. It’s simply not possible for meeting planners to ignore the problem and yet planners often ask me, “Do I have to provide special meals for <insert dietary restriction>?” The ethical answer is, “Of course!” The legal answer, as is typical: “It depends.”
Yet for years, courts construed the ADA narrowly, and refused to grant disability status to those with severe food allergies. Cue sigh of relief from meeting planners, hotels and restaurants—and cry of frustration from those with serious food allergies.
But here’s the thing—times (and the law), they are a-changin’.
Like many new laws, over time it became apparent that the ADA was not being applied quite like it was intended. Indeed, the law was often being used as a sword rather than a shield—it was being used to exclude people from coverage rather than to include them. To fix this, the Americans with Disabilities Act was amended in 2008.
The Americans with Disabilities Act as Amended (ADAAA) made many clarifications, including what constitute “major life activities” (including eating and breathing). The amendment was made in an effort to make the ADA more inclusive and is broader in scope than the original.
The gravity of these changes was made imminently clear in 2013 with the case United States Department of Justice v. Lesley University, in which a group of students with food allergies brought a complaint that the university required them to purchase a meal plan but refused to provide food options that accommodated their special needs. The U.S. Department of Justice agreed with the students and this became the first major case to apply the ADAAA to food allergies.
There will likely be more complaints and lawsuits to come, and the meeting and hospitality industries seem likely targets.
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As a passive or active job seeker, you should always listen to what a recruiter has to say. Something caught their eye about you.
When opportunity comes knocking, this is the time to at least open your mind to new possibilities. Be prepared for some pretty specific questions about exactly what it would take for you to change companies. This includes benefits, salary, job duties and title.
Think of this as a great exercise to brush up on your career goals.
And after they make their pitch, and you are still not interested, be respectful and timely in your responses back to the recruiter.
Why?
Because they have long memories, and that cushy job you’ve been enjoying can evaporate at the click on a supervisor’s keyboard. The adage of “don’t burn bridges” comes to mind—recruiters are a tight-knit community, and they talk. If you are rude, dismissive or otherwise unpleasant, word gets around.
Remember: You might not be interested in opportunities right now. But you might be later.
For those job seekers who are actively on the hunt for a new job, besides silently yelling “YES!” away from the phone, this is a good opportunity for you to remember one thing: You are in the driver’s seat.
The recruiter has contacted you because they have a specific need to fill, and you are a likely candidate. But don’t get too full of yourself.
Ask questions back. This is your opportunity to learn more about the employer than what they will typically tell you. Recruiters are also careful about finding the right culture fit, so you need to ask the right questions about how the potential company treats their workers.
If a candidate that the recruiter puts forward doesn’t work out, the recruiter loses that account and they don’t get paid. So it is in their best interest to share as much as they can with you so there is that magic match.
So when a recruiter picks up the phone and calls you, it is in your best interest to listen and consider. It doesn’t mean you have to act.
And who doesn’t love a call from someone who thinks you would be a valuable asset? It’s extremely flattering.
As a final note, there is a common misperception out there that recruiters work for you, the job seeker.
Reality Check: Recruiters work for their client companies, who have hired them to fill a specific job order. Although it may seem that they are a barrier to you and the target company, they are actually your best advocate for getting you the job. So treat them as such.
In the meeting and event industry, there are a couple of standard practices that need to be re-assessed:
requesting proposals with detailed creative briefs and venue suggestions
asking speakers and trainers to work for free “to gain exposure”
These practices lead to a number of abuses yet they are so common that one dare not challenge them without developing a reputation for being “difficult.”
Let’s look at each of these practices and consider some alternatives.
A broken RFP process
For planners, preparing detailed RFPs requires laboring for many hours and sometimes days—this amounts to giving away one’s work for free. The following video highlights the absurdity of this practice.
Often, the organizations that request detailed RFPs, seem to fall of the face of the earth. It’s called “mining proposals” and the proposals are subsequently handed over to an internal employee or an external planner with lower rates for execution.
Speaking for free
We have previously highlighted concerns about asking professionals to speak for free. Experienced speakers and facilitators are invited to speak for free in order to “gain exposure.” (This is particularly absurd when the speaker has decades of experience.) The premise is that this free engagement will lead to future business—but this rarely happens. Conference and meeting participants don’t pay hefty fees in order to scout talent. They expect to receive value.
People don’t just mosey on down to the Lamborghini dealership and see if they will give you a free car as a method of promotion. One would never think of going to an expensive restaurant and asking for a free meal to determine if you want to eat there in the future. (Some venues do give taste tests for weddings or events but this is either for a fee or as part of the menu-selection process after the venue has been booked with a deposit.)
A better approach is to use requests for information (RFI) process. The RFI addresses some key questions that are crucial for decision-making. The goal is to uncover enough information to determine whether or not the event professional would be a good fit for the assignment.
Outline your requirements including preferred dates, group size, goals and objectives and budget.
Describe the group.
Describe what you have tried in the past including what worked well and what you don’t want to repeat.
Ask for brief examples of work on similar assignments or projects.
Request information about:
the length of time the meeting planner or event company has been in business
experience in serving clients in your industry and your area or country
pricing
travel expenses and accommodations required
payment terms and conditions
If the planner has video or photo examples, it’s a good idea to request them.
Once you have identified your preferred vendor, ask for references as a final check.
If you have narrowed your selection down to a couple of vendors, pay a consulting fee and ask for a more detailed proposal or creative brief. This fee will be deductible from the final invoice for the selected vendor.
Alternatives to free speaking
Sometimes budgets are tight and event planners make an argument for asking speakers and facilitators to waive their fees. Consider the following strategies in addition to the options that we previously discussed.
Reduce the length of your meeting or conference and adjust the scope of the agenda accordingly.
Increase the admission price.
Offer something of tangible value to speakers. (e.g. ads, a complimentary trade show booth, distribution of promotional material before or after the conference or meeting).
These strategies should reduce stress for event planners, speakers and facilitators. Have you ever tried any of these strategies? Please weigh in and give your point of view about current industry RFP and speaker engagement practices.
After 960 presentations at conferences and conventions, I have a fairly good idea of what type of meeting planner is a good client and best to work with.
1. A good client completes my pre-speech survey.
A less-than-good client, even after asking them a couple times, does not get around to completing my pre-speech survey. So I ask if we can cover the Qs during a phone call, and that usually works.
2. A good client has accurately gauged their audience’s needs, but this is something you generally come to realize on site, and afterward.
A less-than-good client offers clues if they have insufficiently gauged audience needs, including not being consistent in what they tell you about the group, or seeking to micro-manage your presentation in the pre-speech stage.
3. A good client does not over-schedule their attendees.
A less-than-good client over-schedules their attendees, which is evident in the pre-conference schedule or flyer that they’ve posted. If you’re presenting early in the conference, fine. Presenting later, in a too-packed conference, could mean that the audience is in extreme over-drive by the time you say word one.
4. A good client allows me free reign with handouts.
A less-than-good client micro-manages the handouts, which might be evident in the weeks leading up to the engagement, but possibly might only be apparent once on site. Please square up the disposition of the handouts long before you step on the plane.
5. A good client, related to No. 3 above, offers a good flyer and good write-up.
A less-than-good client offers a poor flyer and/or poor write-up, which you can discern via this year’s or even last year’s conference announcement and supporting literature. There is not much you can do here, but forewarned is better than nothing.
6. A good client arranges the meeting room as I’ve requested, or tells me in advance why this cannot be done.
A less-than-good client ignores the room arrangement request. So you have two options, 1) strive for a solid two-way understanding in advance of how you need the room to be set up, and confirm this early, or 2) arrive extra early in case a major room re-assembly is needed.
The Americans with Disabilities Act as Amended (ADAAA) made many clarifications, including what constitute “major life activities” (including eating and breathing). The amendment was made in an effort to make the ADA more inclusive and is broader in scope than the original.
