Friday, September 28, 2012

Unique baby gift

Wonderful tip for giving a unique, cute, adorable and unusual baby gift is to order a baby girl or baby boy welcome wagon. The cute small red wagons hold lots of baby gift stuff that are practical for recently born babies. Knowing that it is always fun to send something unique for the new baby is a difficult task. Usually individuals call the medical center gift shop for the same, mundane gifts they have. They have the usual blue and pink floral arrangements which are fine but do not last and are hard to transport home. That kind of baby gift is soon forgotten. They also have baby gift baskets but you may find that the parents have already received at least one or more from the hospital gift shop. Asking the gift shop worker does not ensure you that visitors have popped into the gift shop and purchased the same gift. I was humiliated to stop in and purchase a cute basket and went up to her room to see two similar baskets from other people. That meant I had to go back down and switch it for something really common in the gift shop. The most terrible part was that it definitely took the pleasure of my gift giving away. They were apologetic as was I apologetic and embarrassed. When the the gift shop individual just rolled her eyes about wanting to exchange it, I had just had it and instructed her I wanted a refund. In the parking lot of the Denver hospital I met a guy and gal carrying in these adorable pink baby girl and blue baby boy gift red wagons. That is exactly what I had wanted to walk in with something that caused the couple to ooh and aah about. I just flat out stopped them and asked where they got them. Baby Girl Welcome Wagon Gift BasketThey had ordered them from a basket store near the Denver hospital called Baskets by Rita. Cut little welcome baby wagon that were the wonderful birth gift. They were definitely special baby gifts and practical and enjoyable. They told me Baskets by Rita also has a big brother/sister line of baskets that they gave one time. I got on my iphone and without delay called Baskets by Rita and ordered one of the little red wagon as a baby welcome gift for the newly born. It was easy to arrange to have it delivered to their house when they got home from the hospital. When they got home with the new baby and got the baby welcome wagon, they immediately called me and said I just had to come over to see the new baby and the adorable wagon. So from now on the hospital gift shop will not be my first selection for sending gifts or flowers.

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Hosting a Special Event in Denver?

Conferences are not cheap. They can make a significant effect and thorough planning is vital. Not only are theconferences expensive for the host, but also for the participants. Participants and companies are not easily parted with their dough and they want to be guaranteed and reassured that they have invested their time and funds well. Post critiques show that small details make a huge difference. Throwing a conference or convention together without consideration to the smallest details can spell failure. So the steps to take as a promoter and host for the conference/convention are to find a great destination. Knowing your would-be attendees is major whether you choose a location that is a short distance for them to drive or choosing a great getaway for companies to check out and experience a new city. chocolate and cookie gift basketCheck out the cost of the venue and ask for details. Do not select busy times of the year for holidays, family vacations or a busy time for the businesses targeted. For example, as retailers do their buying for summer sports equipment, late spring and early summer or not the time to entice them. They are preoccupied and they have already acquired their items for the year. Next you must evaluate the schedule to be sure the timing is good. If you overbook they may not have down time to enjoy themselves. If you do not offer sufficient workshops or variable schedules of interest, they will not feel they gained anything from the conference or convention. Try to get a key speaker or two to draw a crowd. Promote early to get them to lock into your event first on their calendars. It even works to offer a discount incentive for early signup. Do assign an professional to offer all information the convention goer will need from airport transportation to hotel registration and maps. Of course your serious concern will be the conference content itself. So plan to keep it moving, keep it productive, keep it exciting. It is better to have more short sessions with question/answer free time to chat and interact than to have participants leaving lengthy sessions because they are tired or feel they are hearing repetitive information. The first impact will make a huge difference. Efficiency and getting information to help airport/hotel/conference center logistics run efficiently will set off the tone of the convention. It is also important that when they arrive there are plenty of welcome folks available to set that upbeat optimistic tone and answer questions. The check-in table should include all the info they will need. And you always must be willing to put out the money for freebies. Our company attended a conference in a small city in a mid-western town. It was obvious they were trying to save money and got the conference center and food cheap. We paid a alot for a rental car to drive the 2 hours to the locations and stay in a small 2 star hotel/motel conference center. The pretzels and vats of bad coffee set the tone for a long two days ahead. The next year we chose to go to the Denver Convention Center and what a big difference. Flying into DIA was so impressive with those stunning mountains as a backdrop. Our hotel was attached to center and there were all kinds of restaurants, night life, shopping nearby. We found a cool Cookie and Brownie Gift Basket from a local basket company in Aurora. It was a box with all sorts of Colorado snacks. That convention rocked and we will go again next year.

Friday, September 14, 2012

How can we improve our firm's relationship with our employees?

Today's post features recommendations acquired from a few businesses about how to boost morale and not destroy good employees. Striving to keep the workplace positive should be of major concern to CEOs and bosses. Losing revenue and time is a huge concern. If workers are happy and like to come to work production grows. If they feel that they are integral team member and that they are appreciated they become invested to the company. Factory formed thank yous and anticipated pats on the back even raises and the same old bonuses or gifts or treats destroy their impact after awhile. In fact employees begin to bank on predictable gratitudes and gifts and treats. starbucks coffee gift basketIf you furnish donuts every Friday it becomes the norm and just a normal part of the work schedule. If you give a gift card for every 10 sales it becomes predictable and if you miss one you will get resentment instead of thanks for the gift cards you gave. Remember the movie with Chevy Chase in the Christmas movie where he counts on the yearly bonus from work and when it is not given one year the manager becomes the bad guy in everyone's eyes. In the movie and in real life people just expect the bonus, money gift, turkey, whatever is the norm every year. Often they order items or spend the money before it even comes in. For that reason organizations need to be very careful not to do the same thing week after week or month after month or year after year. Food treats should not be the same because they become anticipated and actually become rather boring. Some would say that cash is always the best way to go because everyone can spend it however they want. True, but it also can get repetitive. If you throw out a dollar at the weekly meeting one week for something, the next week you get a gourmet coffee cart. If you provide a grocery card for Christmas one year you need to deliver a gourmet gift basket the next year. If you provide lunch a day one month you need to do something diverse the next month. Most executives feel that this type of imagination is not a part of their tasks and it is not important. Morale boosters are very important. Creative gift giving are one of the best way to say thanks for a task well done and to encourage hard work in the future. Most of the time companies use administrative assistants to find ideas and put together the thank you. For women flowers and spa packages and gift cards work. For men beer tubs, hardware/home improvement gift cards are great. Restaurant gift certificates are good too. You just have to get creative. Corporate Gifts or Company gifts can be tricky when you are including a lot of people in one office--it could be a gesture of kindness or a thank you gift to a whole office or company. You either have food delivered or if you are worried about food spoilage send a huge corporate gift basket with various items. My company has put the burden on me, the administrative assistant, to come up with two new options each month to spend only $300 on the 20 employees. They said I need to find gifts of tokens to include everyone. I am looking for new tips for next month but this month we have seen a big difference in positive attitude around the office after my two appreciation gifts were done. The first was for each employee to find one dollar bills in various places during a week. This last week to thank them for their labors, we had a Coffee Gift Basket arrive to overpower the snack table. After hearing workers talking about the Aurora movie theatre shooting victims, we chose an Aurora gift basket company, Baskets by Rita and we were not disappointed. So remember to thank your employees and show gratitute for a job well done and to encourage really hard work.

Sunday, September 9, 2012

Tusen takk, a Token of Appreciation

It is difficult to come across unusual and sincere and special ways of saying thank you to someone you treasure or endorse. To pay honor to their knowledge and work by commending them for assistance. You want them to know of your thankfulness what they have performed for you or for others or for the business. To recognize that is the first step. To let the person know you sincerely and truly appreciate them and acknowledge them is very important. Offering thanks is not just for Thanksgiving anymore. You must offer and endorse the behaviors you want to see continue. So the first step is to be aware of showing appreciation and acknowledging it. That does not mean going overboard all the time and having to give lots of gifts or money for every little thing. monte's fruit and cheese gift basketFindings have found that people respond to acknowledgements of even the slightest kind such as a nod or look of endorsement or an actual pat on the back. Even a smile and a look of facial gratitute can be ways of endorsing self esteem and showing you like and recognize what has been done or said. These words of appreciation and commendation display tribute to the person and show that you value them. Saying thank you works. Now if you overdo it for every little thing it thanks and appreciation lose their value. It has to fit your personal way and must be sincere. Sincere gratitude and the word here is sincere is enormous. For a corporate praise of any kind is good but eventually and periodically you need to put your money where your mouth is and hand something as appreciation of services and recognition of gratitute. That token of appreciation could be money such as a raise or cash with a thank you note. And you have to mix it up a little bit too. If you know the person shops at a certain store or enjoys a particular coffee house or bistro you could give gift certificates. They are always appreciated. This works if you also do not want to make a big deal or applaud out loud for everyone to see or hear. Sometimes you do and you want others to step up so they too will get those monetary awards. So the looks, the thank you words, the notes and the occasional gift cards work. If you feel you want something with more of a wow factor then consider an genuine gift that wows. The problem with money or gift cards is that they are definitely appreciated but have an exact value and the amount given one employee can be perceived by others as a rating scale by what they get. My firm has small gift cards that are consistent for certain things then we started going to get plaques engraved and people displayed them for a while but are now gone and seem to be old hat to everyone. The secretaries said it is taking too much effort to go out and shop for these prizes and that employees compare how much we spend on one compared to another. One of our secretaries found an Aurora based gift basket company that she now calls and has a gift basket or pail made up and delivered to us. It is so easy. Sometimes she just orders one of the baskets online from Baskets by Rita and tells them what to put on the card. More often recently she has been writing a note on the order or even calling and asking that the basket be unique. She just gives the price we want to pay and they put together a different gift basket crate box or pail every time. That way employees have no idea what amount we spent and theirs is unique. It is great way to say, "Thank You!- A Thank You Gift Basket." http://www.basketsbyrita.com