The Breakfast Series are just that – a series of breakfast workshops designed for individuals in marketing, event planning, and public relations fields, which includes networking, breakfast, presentations, and guest speakers. Our winter workshop in January was held at the Elmwood Spa, just off Yonge Street. It was the perfect place to relax and come in out of the cold. Tucked away in a historic building on Elm Street, one could walk right past without noticing, however, once inside one has to marvel at the tranquility and elegance of one of Toronto’s top day spas.              

                                                                                   

To begin the session, Carol Moxam, First Sergeant with Special Event Boot Camp, introduced herself and thanked everyone for attending. She proceeded to introduce the morning’s  sponsors – first, Pamela Brohm from the Elmwood Spa welcomed the group and spoke about the importance of relaxation and "taking care of oneself", which is exactly what the spa promotes. Pamela was followed by a presentation from VenueSource.ca.  

 

Venue Source is a valuable online tool to help event planners find the perfect venue for their next meeting, wedding, or gala. Following the short demo, it was the pleasure of Carol and Special Event Boot Camp to introduce the morning’s guest speaker. This session featured Andrew Long, who is the owner of Critical Pathfinders, a firm which specializes in corporate team building and development. Andrew’s self-proclaimed goal is to live in a world where "everyone loves their work", and it is the goal of his company to help corporations develop this attitude in its employees.

                                                                                                             

Andrew’s presentation was geared at a topic which is on everyone’s minds right now – the economy. Not to fear, he said, because he claimed he could show the group how to turn the downturn in the economy into a competitive advantage for one’s business, by thinking outside the box. His presentation included audience participation, brainstorming, and even some group activities on things such as multi-generational workplaces, employee retention, and work-life balance. We were challenged, in our groups, to come up with new ideas which would keep the workplace a stable, enjoyable, and profitable place to work.

 

Everyone came up with great ideas which were shared with the groups; some of the ideas we came up with were: job rotation to improve employee retention, shorter work weeks to create better work-life balance, and mentorship programs to foster cooperation in workplaces where employees of different generations have to come together in these difficult times. Although it seemed like Andrew Long is a person who could find optimism in even the worst of circumstances, all the day’s participants took home a little better understanding of how to turn the failing economy into an "opportunity" (which seems to be Andrew’s catchprase).                     

                                                                                    

Following the presentation, guests were invited for a special surprise downstairs in the Bangkok Garden, the authentic Thai restaurant housed in the Spa. Waiting for us was a demonstration by Lee’s Ultimate Thai Kickboxing Toronto. Owner Warren Lee and two of his students treated the group to an authentic Thai kickboxing demo – which looked like a half-dance, half-fight – between two of the club’s premier students. 

                                                                                                              

This marked the conclusion of the day’s activities, all finished before 10.30am! Guests were invited by Pamela to take a tour of the Spa and its facilities, and everyone was given "swag bags" from the Elmwood Spa, filled with luxurious products from the Spa, a voucher for a Thai Kickboxing class.

 

See you at the next Breakfast on April 8th.