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In a previous blog post we showed that boardrooms can take advantage of design and transcend function to become works of art. But what about the meetings that take place in these rooms? Is there any room for originality there? After doing a little digging we believe the answer is yes. We’ve found some truly unique meeting ideas that, though they might seem bit ridiculous at first, could serve as an inspiration to those look to plan meeting that transcends the usual PowerPoint presentations and paper shuffling.

Here they are:

Meeting Idea #5: Hold the Meeting Underwater

In October 2009, feeling the need for a more unique venue, the Mr. Mohamed Nasheed, president of the Maldives, held a meeting underwater. Here he is below signing papers in full scuba gear.

While this certainly might not be an idea any of our readers may replicate any time soon, for president Nasheed, it served his purposes admirably. The Maldives, so we found out, happen to be one of the the lowest lying countries in the world, and is likely to be submerged in the event of rising sea levels due to global warming. While we imagine it wasn't a very productive meeting in conventional terms, President Nasheed's choice of venue made a strong statement about the issues that concerned him and his country most.

Meeting Idea #4: Fall Asleep on Purpose

While it isn't unusual to see someone nodding out during a meeting, John Quincy Adams, while serving as a member of congress, abandoned all discretion and made sessions of congress his own private nap time.

Anthony Hopkins as John Quincy Adams in the Steven Spielberg film Amistad

While this hardly seems like an effective way to participate in a meeting, Adams wasn't actually sleeping, but he was listening to his political opponents whisper their plans and strategies from more than 50 feet away.

Unless you have superhuman hearing, this is generally a very difficult thing to do, but Adams, being a student of optics and acoustics  took advantage of a peculiar acoustic phenomenon whereby sound can bounce off a domed ceiling and be heard if you position yourself in the right place.

While you might be hard pressed to find a venue with unique acoustics such as the Old House of Congress Building, it doesn't mean that you shouldn't learn as much about a venue where you hold meetings as possible. Who knows what advantages could be discovered.

Meeting Idea #3 Meet on a seven person bike

Source: conferencebike.com

While the conference cycle may not be ideal for many kinds of meetings, it can be a great way to stimulate creative ideas in order to solve problems. Psychological studies have already shown that novelty (new venues, new situations) can lead to more creative thinking, which makes the conference cycle an ideal choice for creative problem solving with a small team.

Meeting Idea #2 Hug Dots

At Mensa, the high IQ society, meetings are often held where members play games, watch movies, discuss interesting topics and take turns speaking about their areas of expertise. Oh, and there’s also spontaneous hugging involved.

Hugging at mensa meetings is intended to bring members closer together. Some members, however, are very particular about other who invade their personal space. These individuals are encouraged to place red dots on their nametags to indicate that they don’t want to be hugged. Those who wear yellow dots can be hugged but you must ask them first, and those with green dots can be hugged at any time.

Source: discoverblogs.com

While this might seem like an absurd idea, reserved for the socially awkward, it does serve a purpose. It creates an environment where hugging strangers is more socially acceptable and thus more likely to happen while at the same time providing others who are less hug-friendly to protect their personal space.

Meeting idea #1: Have your Boss Appear in a Sitcom

This is exactly what Warren Buffet, CEO of Berkshire Hathaway did for his company's annual shareholder's meeting. The creators of NBC's The office, put together a five minute scene where Warren Buffet visits the Dunder Mifflin Scranton Branch office. While the clip is unfortunately under lock and key somewhere at the Berkshire Hathaway offices, Buffet also agreed to appear in a cameo scene in the actual show. Here he is in an interview for the replacement of the Scranton branch manager, Michael Scott:

While appearing in a sitcom isn't the most practical idea for most company owners, it may be interesting to do something similar to show to employees that their fearless leader has a sense of humor.

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What other strange or outlandish meeting ideas have you come across?

Want to learn more about planning a meeting? Check out our new Event Planning Guide!

It's a fact: the best performing spaces on eVenues generate somewhere between $10 - $15k in new revenue per year. We looked into what set these venues apart from the others and realized that there were really only a few small differences. We've organized these findings into 5 easy to implement tips that should not only improve your eVenues experience, but also possibly lead to more bookings.

Here's the breakdown:

1. How the right photos can lead to 2 to 3 times more bookings
2. Increase booking conversions by choosing the right venue contact
3. Often away from your desk? Be sure to set up booking notifications via cell phone
4. Why venue reviews are important and how to get them easily
5. Make it easier for customers to find and view your venue profile page

How the right photos can lead to 2 to 3 times more bookings

Did you know that having professional photos on your profile can lead to a higher rate of booking? Industry studies have shown that great photos can lead to 2 to 3 times more bookings than the market average. While hiring a professional photographer is a great way to go, we've provided some simple guidelines for photos that will make your venue's profile stand out from the rest.

Include photos with people in them  - Photos which include people in them can help the customer visualize their meeting and ultimately book the space. Not only that, but photos showing the venue in use shows that the space has been rented out before. This can also lead to a significant boost in trust in you and your venue.

Show the entrance/exterior to the meeting room or site -  Venue renters want to ensure the venue looks nice and accessible from the outside so they can make a good first impression on those who are attending the meeting or event they plan to host.

Make sure that your image is cropped to the correct dimensions and is high resolution - Ensure that your photo is taken with a camera that has at least 8 MegaPixels of resolution. Many of the latest cell phone cameras have 8 MegaPixels and above. After you take the picture, be sure to use an image editor like IrfanView to crop and resize it to the optimal 600x377 pixels. By doing this you'll ensure that the photo doesn't get automatically re-sized when it gets uploaded, and thus could look skewed.

Show pictures with different room configurations - Showcase the versatility of your space by providing pictures of varying room configurations.

Avoid timestamps on photos - Timestamps date photos so that any profile more than a year old may get less bookings because the customer isn't sure whether or not the photos are out of date.

Increase booking conversions by choosing the right venue contact

When it comes to customers renting out venues, quick response time after a booking request is made is extremely important. Even a few hours delay can mean a lost booking.

Chances are, however, renting out your rooms is not your main business. You want to ensure that the right person from your organization handles the bookings. When choosing your venue's primary email contact, be sure to pick the person who will be able to respond most quickly. This person could be an office manager or receptionist, the director of sales and marketing or catering manager for a hotel, or sometimes the venue owners themselves. If you know you won't be able to keep track of the venue bookings yourself, but still want to receive booking notifications, you can add yourself as an alternate contact so that you can still keep tabs of bookings while concentrating on other matters.

Finally, if you have a group email address like "team@example.com" you can ensure that several people see the booking notification so that if you feel hesitant to assign booking responsibilities to any one person, you can make it a team responsibility. Basically whoever sees the booking notification first in the group email list will take care of the booking.

Often away from your desk? Be sure to set up booking notifications via cell phone

Quick response time. This is what our customers want when working with a venue. The problem is, you're busy. You don't have time sit beside your email waiting for that booking request to come in. That's why we've set up automated SMS texts to alert you right away when someone books your space...before they start looking elsewhere.

Setup is easy. Just login to eVenues, and from the Dashboard click the "Edit" option from the “Venue” menu.

From there, scroll down to the bottom of the Venue profile and input the cell phone number with which you'd like to receive SMS text alerts, and check the box below the field:

Why venue reviews are important and how to get them easily

According to a major e-commerce site, 80% of their customer reviews are 4 out of 5 stars or more. This means that if you get reviews they're likely to be quite positive. Not only that, but reviews have been shown to double or even triple online purchase rates. Because of this, we've made it super simple for you to get reviews from customers who rent your space.

Getting reviews is very easy. All you have to do is go to to your venue management dashboard (Click "Manage your space") in the top right corner when logged in and then click Venues → Reviews:

Once you're there click "Get reviews" on the left hand side. You should see this dialog box pop up below:

Type in the email address of the customer who rented your venue and add a short note if you like. The customer will receive an email like this:

Once they click the link, they'll be directed to a simple review form (pictured below). The great thing about this is that there is no login or signup required!

Make it easier for customers to find and view your venue profile page

Some of our most successful venues in terms of bookings are those that have their own website and link to their eVenues profile page. They are busy and realized eVenues can save them a ton of time handling the questions, scheduling, and payment all in one place.

While a simple link can work, we thought we'd provide you with an attractive and eye-catching link banner that is really easy to install on any website. First click Venue Manager dashboard and then go to the top menu and go to "Rooms" in the menu bar and click link banner.

You should then see a variety of banners to choose from as well as the HTML code needed to put the banner on your site.

We hope that you've found this lists of tips and tricks helpful. Please feel free to bookmark it and use it as a reference!

Looming deadlines, fires that need putting out, the strain of constant travel, and all the little details that need to be taken care of are just a few reasons why working in the meetings industry is so challenging. Because of this challenge, and because most customers of eVenues have some connection to meetings and events, we thought we'd do a little outreach and ask some of the leaders in the meetings industry to contribute some of their best career advice.

This is what they had to say:

"The best career advice I have received (and have definitely found it valuable in my career) is: Understand the basics of the business around you & always be curious about it. It’s important to be an expert in your field, but also important to have a broad understanding of your company, marketing (in general), and how sales works at your company. If you manage lead-generation events, understanding what margins your company gets on sales helps you calculate the necessary pipeline that your events need to generate for positive ROI. If you manage training events, understanding the content well enough to know the right environment for your training is essential."

--Liz Lathan CMP, Event Marketing Director at Dell and Blogger at Event Philosopher

"The best career advice I can offer is to join and get involved in a local chapter of one of the several meeting industry associations available such as MPI, PCMA, IAEE or others. The meetings industry is a very well connected one – it is a relationship-based industry. This is where you can learn from your peers, find the best planners/suppliers, get known by others in the industry and make great friends as well.

However, it is not a simple as just sending in your membership fee. 80% of the volunteer work is done by 20% of the members. If you get active in your chapter (and there are always plenty of jobs needing filled), you are working with this top 20% -- the movers of the organization. Those that get the most out of their chapters are the ones that are giving back. Activity at the local level leads to opportunities at the national and international association level as well.

Two other quick suggestions:

1. Work to get a certification such as a CMP, CMM, CEM or others. Designations demonstrate a commitment to the industry and are an opportunity to learn and make great connections as well.

2. Do your best to keep up with technology which will likely change the meetings industry more in the next five years than it has in the past twenty years."

--Corbin Ball CSP CMP, Owner at Corbin Ball Associates.

"Stay current and have empathy. Staying current often relates to technology, but in a broader sense, is all about keeping tabs on innovations and trends in the meetings and events space. These days, that includes social media, mobile, sustainability and much more. Regarding empathy, be sure to attend a healthy number of meetings and events throughout the year. It's the only way you can truly understand the attendee experience."

--Dennis Shiao, Director of Product Marketing at INXPO and blogger at It's All Virtual

"Be CLEAR on what YOU want. Some of it is regular stuff: salary, the hours, how much travel, how much advancement potential. But also less obvious stuff: how much autonomy to make decisions, what motivates you to get up everyday, what kind of people you like to work with, what you're NOT WILLING to compromise."

--Doreen Ashton Wagner, Managing Director at Greenfield Services

"Stick with what you do best and become a master at it and never over-promise. Your stellar work can act as the over promise without mention. The pitfalls of over promising is most likely you will under deliver, not intentionally, but because you promised more. You can't control the unexpected and the unexpected usually happens when you over promise.

Be clear, upfront and honest in your communication. If you can't meet a deadline communicate that. Accountability goes a long way! Life happens and its best to admit fault, we are all human, better to be approachable and real about any situation, no matter how much you may fear that phone call, or conversation, the burden that gets lifted alleviates so much stress you wouldn't believe! You'll thank me later!"

--Michelle Bergstein Fontanez, Marketing Maven Event Industry Marketing by BeatCreative

"While getting up to speed on meeting logistics is important and something you should quickly master, it’s foundational. It’s the price of admission.

Aim higher. Dream bigger. Think about WHY people attend meetings and events. They want to experience something new and meaningful. Something that helps them address their critical issues faster/better. Something they’d never find anywhere else. Lift your vision from meeting planner to business results driver. Leverage smart technologies to accelerate the value curve whenever possible.

Do this well and your event audience no longer budgets for you – they invest in you."

--Donna Kastner, Director of Education and Engagement at Velvet Chainsaw Consulting

"Getting an industry designation is really important for credibility, especially for those who are younger or newer to the industry. The industry’s job market is pretty competitive right now, so anything you can do to set yourself apart from those just looking to “hang a shingle” will really help. If you don’t have the requirements to pursue the designation yet, then volunteer or pursue an internship – create your own internship if needed, by offering to work for free for a company that interests you. It will gain you valuable connections and experience, even if it’s only part-time for a month or two, whatever time you can spare."

--Shawna Suckow CMP, Founder and President of the Senior Planners Industry Network (SPIN)

"You have to always keep learning. What was once delegated to the role of a consultant is knowledge that sets you apart. "

--Kyle Hillman, CMP: MPI Board Member, Co-Chair of MPI Chicago TechCon 2013

"Everyone tells you that you should do what you love. Sounds good in a blog or on a poster. It isn’t necessarily realistic or possible. Enjoying your work, being valued in your industry and community, and making money makes sense. Bottom line, keep a realistic outlook on your career."

--Dawn Penfold CMP, President at Meetingjobs

"If I could talk to my 21 year old self, I would tell her to get both classroom education and hands-on experience. I would make sure that she worked (or volunteered) in a variety of settings so that she knew what type of job(s) she would enjoy and what she wouldn't. I would make sure asked a lot of questions and network with people who were smarter and more experienced than her. I would tell her to get involved in industry organizations and participate as best she could. I would tell myself that there will be people who will try to hold me back, but even more who are willing to help me succeed. I ask her to start helping others however she could, even if they might know more than her in certain areas. I would make sure that she talked to as many people as she could and listen to what everyone says. Then I would remind myself to form my own opinions. I would tell her to invest in a good pair of comfortable shoes because she will be on my feet a lot. I would also tell her to dress for the part she wants, not the part she has. I would encourage her to challenge the norm, once she had an understanding what the norm was. And most important, I would tell her to ask herself if she loves what she is doing and to make sure that her work is fulfilling."

--Jessica Levin MBA CMP, President at Seven Degrees Communications

"At first you will be the youngest person in the room and think you are much smarter than the old ones. At the end you will be the oldest person in the room and think you are much smarter than the young ones. If you do this, you will have been wrong both times."

--Randall Whatley, President at Cypress Media Group

"Broaden your scope of knowledge and experience in meetings by volunteering (easier when you are new to the industry and have less on your plate) for both nonprofit and for-profit organizations and ABL (Always Be Learning).

Build your own brand whether you are self-employed or not so that your (excellent) reputation can always precede you in any job or project. Use social media channels to demonstrate your thought leadership or unique perspective.

Be proactive in cultivating friendships because it's more satisfying to do what you do with friends and because they will be there after the job goes away.

Take criticism or "feedback" for what it is: a gift given to you to make you better at what you do. Don't concern yourself with the person or the method of delivery. Instead, glean out the teachable nuggets and move on."

--Michelle Bruno, President at Bruno Group Signature Events and Head Thinker at Fork in the Road

"As an "ex" recruiter, offering career advice is something that I've been fortunate to do for the last 6 or 7 years and taking my own career advice as helped me develop my career in the meetings and events industry.

1) Ensure you have a clear concise CV outlining not only the day to day responsibilities of your previous jobs but most importantly, your achievements whilst completing these duties. Employers want to see success and this is the first opportunity to highlight your skills.

2) Network. The old cliché of "who you know, rather than what you know" exists. Peer recommendation is often the biggest recruiting tool so join associations such as MPI (Meeting Professionals International) and go and meet people who not only may employ you or recommend you but they will also be your support and offer advice during your career.

3) Don't blanket send your CV to all and sundry. It's a personal thing getting a job and you would not want to be treated the same way.

4) Remember to enjoy the interview and really ensure that you have asked the questions and determine whether the role is right for you. If, at interview, you feel this is the case, TELL THE INTERVIEWER! Many people don't express their enthusiasm due to nerves etc and often get passed on.

5) Social media/MPI career connections. Ensure your linked in profile is up to date, you have recommendations for each role on linked in and that the link to your profile is on your CV. Log onto www.mpiweb.org for an updated list of international meetings and events jobs."

--Samme Allen, Head of Sales - Business Events at Barbican Centre and President, MPI UK & Ireland Chapter.

"Take a wide view, and be curious! That's the starting point if you want to advance in your organization, differentiate yourself in a crowded job market, and anticipate the trends, issues, and challenges that will continue to reshape the meetings industry. Meetings and hospitality are vulnerable in a shaky economy, so meeting professionals and venues miss important cues if we aren't paying attention. That's why it's risky (not to mention far less interesting) when we focus most or all of our attention on the logistics of a specific event, rather than the bigger picture."

--Mitchell Beer CMM, President at the Conference Publishers

"Be open to learning and you will grow every day. Think of every event as if you were the guest - would you enjoy it? You simply cannot do an event alone, surround yourself with people who are smarter and more savvy than you and make them want to be part of your team. Be courteous, kind and respectful of and to others - there will be many challenges on the road to awesome events. Remember 'all of us' are smarter than 'any of us'!"

--Tahira Endean CMP, Director - Creative and Production at Cantrav and Blogger at Events, Life and Impact Points

"My advice for everyone in the industry is to find a mentor and to be a mentor. You'll learn a great deal from both of these experiences, and make sure to leverage these roles for networking. Ask your mentor for introductions, and introduce the person that you're mentoring to others - both will increase your visibility in the industry. Getting involved in professional associations - on committees or boards, is also a great way to learn from others and to make meaningful connections that translate to business results. Finally, I'd also recommend having the confidence in yourself to hire yourself - a great way of expanding your own limits and skills is to have the experience of being self-employed."

--Mariela McIlwraith CMP CMM MBA, President at Meeting Change

"Use social media to find and make friends with many people who share your interests. Don't worry about whether or not you think they can benefit you. Just try to help people and be consistent. Within two or three years, many of those relationships will benefit and/or open doors for you in ways you never dreamed of."

--Jenise Fryatt, Co-Owner and Director of Icon Presentations

"There are four simple things that you can do to excel in the meetings and events industry and lucky for you, 95% of people do not do them.

The first thing that you need to do is learn every day. If you are a meeting planner, take the time to understand the positions of everyone that you work with from the caterer to the A/V techs. You do not need to know how to do their jobs, but you should understand what they do so that you can understand that they are mission critical to your success.

The second thing that you need to do is be involved in the industry. Get out to networking events and be involved with social networking groups like EventProfs. If you are known, people can recommend you.

The third thing that you need to do is work harder than everyone under you or above you. Nothing commands respect more than a good work ethic. This means being the first one at the event in the morning and the last one to leave in the evening. No one said this gig was easy.

The final thing that you need to do is have an opinion that matters, that means saying "I think that we should do it this way because.....". There is nothing worse than "I don't know" or "it does not matter".

Four simple things that most people fail to do and because they fail to do them, you can take advantage of them and create a career that matters."

--Keith Johnston, Event Consultant at Plannerwire

"Never stop learning. By leaving yourself open to new ideas, you will be a more valuable team player and more creative: great ideas breed even greater ideas!"

--Judy Kucharuk, Owner at Footprint Management Systems

"If you want to get into event planning, start off working in hotel’s catering department, rental companies or a catering company. This will help you learn the business of event planning."

--Jennifer Taylor, Owner at Taylor'd Events

"Someone once shared with me: "opportunities never die, they just pass on to someone else" and this saying always reminded me to be open to what came next…even when my brain was telling me it didn't look like an opportunity! And it has served me well having worked on events for the then flourishing Atari (now I'm dating myself), my hotel career with the rapidly growing Marriott Hotels and Resorts, and for the past 19 years (wow, now that is a long time) for the non-profit world of convention and visitors bureaus. And as I mature, I have recognized there are in fact an abundance of opportunities (some which I can see and many which I can’t). The way I gain access to those opportunities (visible or not) is to be in a practice or constant learning about myself and being mindful of the choices I make every day."

--Christine Shimasaki CDME CMP, Managing Director of EmpowerMINT.com

"I love that our industry is in essence a playground for manifesting ways to bring people together. Be bold enough to take chances in designing fresh, innovative ways to connect people thru meetings even when others may be skeptical of your ideas or approach."

--Amy Spatrisano CMP, Principal at MeetGreen

"Take time to be present, listen and empathise. I was given the advice during my first summer internship when I was working a job that involved a lot of customer and membership services. It's something that has stayed with me ever since and been key in every position I've ever held. I think it's even more important now information moves so fast and expectations only continue to increase. It's hard to pause and present. And it takes extra time to understand others' perspectives and create collaborative solutions. But when you can the results are so rewarding."

--Shawna McKinley, Director of Sustainability at MeetGreen

"PUSH THE ENVELOPE. Every time you learn about an aspect of our industry, look for the challenges. What does not work as it should? By constantly innovating, you will put yourself ahead of the others entering the industry at the same time as you. Don't just learn how everyone does things, but figure out how you can put your stamp on it and make it better!"

--Liz King, CEO and Chief Event Specialist at Liz King Events

"Don't be bland! Stand out. Be different. Offer contrast in this world of status-quo, cookie-cutter camo sameness."

--Jeff Hurt, Executive VP, Education & Engagement at Velvet Chainsaw Consulting

"When it comes to business leadership, there is nothing more valuable than a supportive network of genuine friendships based on trust, respect and authenticity. This close community is not something that can be substituted or bought. It is forged out of the challenges we deal with every day; from approaching work with a ‘can do’ attitude, gaining respect and being true to yourself. In a close-knit industry, the value of transparency and authenticity has never been higher. It is what wins new business, creates market leadership and respect amongst your peers. To remain an authentic leader, it is important to ‘say & do’ and truly champion your vision with conviction."

--Hugh Robertson, Founder and CEO at RPM Marketing Agency

We'd like to thank everyone for taking valuable time our of their schedules to provide some incredible career advice. Please feel free to contribute some of your own advice in the comments below!

The trip begins! eVenues staff and friends on the "Big Woody" Limo Bus.

Question: What do a movie theater, a cathedral, and a glass blowing studio have in common?

Answer: Any of these spaces can be booked on eVenues!

Not only that, but just last week we invited journalists, meeting and event planners, as well as social media influencers to join us on our very first Venue Crawl. We loaded everyone up on the Big Woody Limo on a lovely sunny Seattle day and went on a trip to some of the most unique venues the city (and we) have to offer.

First Stop: Central Cinema

Central Cinema

The Central Cinema in Seattle's Central district is one of our favorite venues that happens to host a lot of corporate events. Not only does the large screen make it great for presentation but it also has seats and is set up for both in-house and outside catering.

Liz Cepanec, who happens to be the mother of the central cinema's owner, cooked up a big batch of popcorn for us and we learned a little bit about the cinema's history and the amazing flexibility of the space, which seemed ideal for parties and events as well as workshops and presentations.

Second Stop: St. Mark's Cathedral

In order to stay on schedule we got back on the bus after only 10 minutes in the theater. We then headed over to St. Mark's Cathedral, which just recently served as a location for the short film 21 and over, written by the same guys who did the Hangover Movies.

In addition to the cathedral's nave, we visited several conference rooms and a kitchen that was designed by none other than Julia Child!

Alan De Puy of St. Mark's Shows us the Kitchen

 Third Stop: Canlis Glass Gallery and Studio

Our last stop before heading back to the Yacht Club was the Canlis Glass Gallery, which showcases work from J.P. Canlis, a former student of Dale Chihuly. The gallery space can be used for receptions and formal dinners.

A dinner setup at Canlis Glass Studio

Leigh Canlis, J.P.'s wife also gave us a tour of the workshop.

Final Stop: The Lake Union Yacht Club and Electric Boat Company

Finally, we made our way back to the Lake Union Yacht club. The rush hour traffic was pretty ridiculous but since we had some wine and beer on board we didn't seem to mind as much.

Breaking out the brews and red SOLO cups!

We finally arrived at the Yacht Club and Leanne Pardo of One Hour Parties was there to meet us with wine and appetizers...much welcome after the trip!

'

Reception at the Lake Union Yacht Club

After the reception and a speech by our CEO David Jennings, we went out onto the electric boats provided by Jennifer Towne of the Yacht company, bringing on some desserts and a few bottles of wine, of course!

On the Electric Boat!

A Success!

Our inagural venue crawl was a great success and we plan to do more of these in the future. There are a lot of pictures that didn't make the cut so feel free to check out our facebook album here.

Let's face it. Most boardrooms don't really have an original design. They're utilitarian. They have long mahogany tables, some Aeron or leather chairs, and usually a projector and a screen for presentations. The quality of the furnishings might vary from one to the other, but for the most part a boardroom is a boardroom is a boardroom.

At eVenues, we believe that a room can do much to affect the quality of a meeting, it's not just feng shui, but also has its basis in psychological studies, and since board meetings can be some of the most important meetings for any company or organization, we thought we'd spend some time to celebrate the designers and companies who have created some truly unique boardrooms.

Here they are:

#8 The Baltimore Mariott Bank Vault Boardroom

Photo by Bill McChesney

We were delighted to find this bank vault converted into a boardroom at the Baltimore Mariott Hotel. While the layout inside the boardroom is pretty conventional, we felt that this room deserved inclusion in the list because of its choice of location. It's complete with all the necessary amenities like WiFi and is the perfect boardroom if you want to ensure that no one sneaks out early!

#7 The Boys and Girls Ad Agency Boardroom

Photo Credit: seanandyvette.com

Boys and Girls is an advertising agency in Dublin, Ireland who hired the the architecture and design firm abgc to create a lego table. According to the agency's blog, they wanted to do something a little differently, so they "eschewed traditional mahogany" for something a little more fun.

Here's a video of the architects Gearóid Carvill and Andrew Brady who, along with some friends, assembled the table. Fueled by a pizza or two and lot of coffee, it took them 36 hours in 3 days to build it out of 22,742 pieces (!) then 1 day to disassemble, transport and reassemble it on site:

#6 Cape Town Ogilvy Boardroom

While this photo of Ogilvy's Cape Town Office boardroom is so pink only Dolores Umbridge would like it, the fun feature that this boardroom has the ability to change color based on the ambient light. While some might question the practicality of a boardroom that changes color, the novelty of the environments is sure to inspire creativity--the lifeblood of any ad agency. For more pictures of the office click here.

#5 Ernst and Young Berlin Boardroom

When designing Ernst and Young's Berlin boardroom KINZO, a German design firm, set out to defy the staid and conservative image that most accounting firms have by creating this boardroom table. Just sitting down at the large irregularly shaped space-agey boardroom table would instill anyone with the feeling that they were undertaking a project of EPIC importance.

#4  Take Two Asia Games Boardroom

While it's true that some board meetings do happen "under the gun," the folks at the Take Two Games Asia HQ seem to take that expression literally. Not only are there several illustrations of firearms on the shining white table, but there is also a larger than life handgun hanging from the ceiling. Seems appropriate for a company that makes such action packed tiles like Grand Theft Auto, Red Dead Redemption and L.A. Noire. Kudos to the design firm FARM for the appropriate and unique design.

#3 The No Picnic Boardroom

Photo © Åke E:son Lindman

No Picnic is a design firm in Sweden that hired the architects from Elding Oscarson to design their office. What makes this room truly unique is how it looks from the outside, with an mirror polished aluminum wall and large window panes. Upon entering, it feels as though you're stepping into a parallel dimension...both close to home and very far away.

We got in touch with one of No Picnic's client managers, Sebastian Sabouné, and this is what he said about the boardroom:

"The large meeting room 'board room' is a natural spot for our weekly Monday meetings, large workshop both internal and together with clients and also for when we have lectures for visitors to No Picnic. It has really made our working climate easier, and more effective."

#2 The Sheffield Meeting Room

While most of the creative boardroom designs sport a sleek futuristic look, it was refreshing to find the Sheffield meeting room at a UK venue called The Chimney House. The red-brick walls, hardwood floors and salvaged furniture and decor give the place a welcoming, "lived-in" feeling which is sure to make anyone feel at home the moment they walk in. Not only that but it comes equipped with a projector, screen, WiFi and audio system to meet any presentation's needs.

One thing that sets this venue apart from all the rest is that the design studio 93ft (Strange coincidence, but the Chimney House happens to be 93ft tall) which restored and rescued this 19th Century building actually makes their home here--so there was extra incentive to get it right!

#1 Steampunk Submarine from the Three Rings Office

Three Rings is a game company devoted to creating "innovative and engaging" online games, and this most definitely shows in their steampunk submarine office inspired by Captain Nemo's submarine from Jules Verne's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (Designed by Because We Can). The office is a virtual playhouse, which is perfect considering what they do at Three Rings.

What did we miss?

Do you know of a creatively boardroom that we missed? We'd be happy to add it to the list. Feel free to mention it down in the comments or email me at kenji -at- evenues dot com.

Startuppers are a little like mad scientists. They find themselves possessed by an idea that they can't shake and the only way to get the Frankenstinian monster out of their heads is to assemble the monster’s parts on a gurney, slap a lightning rod to its noggin, step back, and hope for the best.

The one thing that sets startuppers apart from mad scientists, however, is that that they don’t work alone in secret labs. No matter your idea, whether it’s a death ray, an asteroid magnet, or an army of rabid Sharktopi, mad genius isn’t enough. You need minions, partners in crime who believe in your grandiose designs. You need a place to meet with other mad scientists, a place to exchange ideas free from the scrutiny of the outside world.

Seattle has such a place. It’s called “The Easy.”

Like the speakeasies of the past from which it takes its name, The Easy is a startupper’s refuge, hidden away in the heart of the ever expanding Amazon HQ campus. Here geeks of all stripes meet and discuss technology and startups over pizza and beer. More importantly, however, they come to The Easy to make lasting connections, connections which could very well become the foundation for Seattle’s next tech giant. Considering how The Easy has hosted over 50 events (like the Lean Startup Seattle and Hacker News Meetups) and over 3,000 entrepreneurs (and would-be "wantrepreneurs") met there last year, it’s likely these connections have already been made.

But don’t take our word for it, just listen to what Seattle’s tech community has to say about the space:

We're proud to list “The Easy” on eVenues and feature it here on the eVenues blog. We'd like to point out that if you're organizing any event around a startup related theme, Red, the startup concierge for the Easy and the mastermind behind StartupCity will waive the cost and let you use the space for FREE.

Finally, you might have noticed from the video that they're looking to give the space a makeover. Please support the Easy in the $25k makeover contest sponsored by Turnstone. By voting for them you'll help make Seattle a better place for startuppers and mad scientists alike. Also, you won't be attacked by a sharktopus.

It's administrative assistants week, and to express our appreciation for all the admins who use eVenues to book meeting space we decided to take a look at administrative professionals from television history who kept everything running smoothly.

Although all of these admins are likeable in their own way, we thought it would be cool to rate each of them on their ability to do their job. We invited Bonnie Low-Kramen, former assistant to Academy award winning actress Olympia Dukakis to rate the administrative assistants based on these five criteria:

1. Ability to Put Out Fires

2. Handle of Office Politics

3. Level of Organization

4. Ability to Anticipate Needs

5. Ability to Multitask

Without further ado, here are the admins:

#10 - April Ludgate

April Ludgate from NBC's Parks and Recreation

April Ludgate is probably one of the last people you'd pick for a personal assistant. You however, are not Ron Swanson, the director of Pawnee's Parks and Recreation Department. Since Ron doesn't actually want to see anyone in his office, she's the perfect pick. She's surly, sarcastic and apathetic and no matter what business you have with Ron you can pretty much count on the fact that she won't let you see him, as evidenced by this clip (45 seconds in):

#9 - Betty Suarez

Betty Suarez from ABC's Ugly Betty

Betty is the personal assistant to womanizing and often irresponsible Daniel Meade, the Editor-in-Chief of the fashion magazine "Mode". We like Betty, she's diligent, conscientious and hard-working. If you were to pick an administrative assistant, you could certainly do worse. While Betty gets points for character, it always seems like she's rushing around putting out fires rather than preventing them before they happen. Although some might call her naïve, victim to the machinations of her rival assitant Marc and Mode's receptionist Amanda Tannen, her strong moral compass has managed keep her above the petty squabbles and schemes in her office.

Betty, like any great assistant, essentially runs her boss' life, as shown in this clip below:

 #8 - Waylon Smithers

Waylon Smithers from Fox's The Simpsons

Smithers is the personal assistant to Montgomery Burns a man who, According to Forbes Magazine, is the one of the richest men in the country, with a net worth of over $1.3 Billion.  Anyone who has watched the Simpsons knows that Smithers is nothing if not devoted to Mr. Burns, mainly due to the fact that he harbors a secret crush for his employer. He is an excellent personal assistant, highly organized and hard-working. His feelings for Mr. Burns, however, may have a tendency to get in the way of him doing is job.

Here's a few clips of Mr. Smithers:

#7 Pam Beesly Halpert

Pam Beesly Hapert from NBC's The Office

For the first four seasons of The Office, Pam was receptionist for the paper company Dunder Mifflin's Scranton branch. This wouldn't have been so bad if it wasn't for the fact that she often had to act as the Branch Manager Michael Scott's personal assistant. For this, and this alone, she deserves a medal. Pam started off as passive early in the show, but she grows to be more assertive and manipulative, especially when she tricks a fellow employee into promoting her into the salaried position of "Office Manager."

In this clip below, Pam shows off a bit of her assertiveness:

#6 - Jennifer Marlowe

Jennifer Marlowe from the CBS show WKRP in Cincinnati

Jennifer the smart and attractive receptionist at the WKRP radio station in Cincinnati. She also acts as an ad-hoc personal assistant to the general manager, Arthur Carlson. Her ability to keep her cool even in the most trying of situations gives her high marks for her handle of office politics, but her refusal to do anything but answer the phone leaves her wanting in the "anticipating needs" department. 

Clip of Jennifer:

#5 - Kenneth Parcell

Kenneth Parcell from NBC's 30 Rock

Kenneth is an NBC page, who often runs errands for the staff of "The Girly Show with Tracy Jordan"

It's really hard not to like Kenneth. He's unceasingly cheerful and has the uncanny ability to accomplish any task set out for him, no matter how difficult or ridiculous it may be. The only thing that really keeps him from being an exceptional assistant is his naivete, which makes him easy to manipulate.

Here's a clip of Kenneth:

#4 - Joan Halloway

Joan Holloway from AMC's MadMen

Joan Holloway starts out in Mad Men as the Office Manager for Sterling-Cooper, the fictional ad agency in the show. Joan is sultry, sassy, and a little dangerous. She's not afraid of speaking her mind and putting people in their place. While she gets more overall points for her incredible ability to anticipate needs and to put out fires than Donna Moss or "Radar" O'Reilly, she takes the #4 spot because of her manipulative personality. Still, it might be worth hiring her considering the other skills she brings to the table.

Here's a clip of Joan giving Peggy, a new arrival to the office the 411:

#3 - Donna Moss

Donna from NBC's The West Wing

Donna Moss starts out on the show as Deputy White House Chief of Staff Josh Lyman's assistant, and later progresses through the show to become the chief of staff to the first lady.

Here's a clip of when Donna and Josh first meet:

#2 - "Radar" O'Reilly

"Radar" O'Reilly from the CBS show M*A*SH

Radar starts off in the show as Colonel Blake's assistant, and then later becomes Colonel potters. If we could give 6 points to Radar for the ability to anticipate needs, we would. Not only does he have extremely perceptive hearing (he's able to hear helicopters come in before anyone else) but he can practically predict what his commanding officer is going to say before he says it, (as evidenced in the clip below):

#1 - Miss Jane Hathaway

Miss Jane Hathaway from the CBS Show The Beverly Hillbillies

Miss Jane Hathaway is the personal assistant to Mr. Drysdale, the money grubbing banker who constantly thinks up schemes to keep the Clampett family's newly found wealth in his bank. Our Judge Bonnie says of Jane that while "All the [admins in this list] have qualities that are important as an administrative professional...Jane has them all. She is experienced, smart, has a do-whatever-it-takes attitude, always looks professional, and speaks up to her manager, Mr. Drysdale, when necessary. She is not a manipulator and uses her brain to get ahead, even though she does have a little crush on Jethro.

Check out Miss Jane in action (jump to 14:10):

About our judge:

Bonnie Low-Kramen is a celebrity assistant, speaker, and author of "Be the Ultimate Assistant, A celebrity assistant's secrets to working with any high-powered employer." For 25 years, she worked as the Personal Assistant to Oscar winner Olympia Dukakis and now teaches workshops around the country. She is the co-founder of New York Celebrity Assistants (NYCA), a networking professional association. www.bonnielowkramen.com

How much can a spare boardroom, conference room or other space make in a year? If you have an office, chances are that you might have one of these spaces that you only happen to use only one or two hours a week. The rest of the time it just sits there as unused (one might almost say "wasted") space. While you might not think it's worth your time to consider renting out your space, we're thinking that the numbers provided below might change your tune. Just select your room capacity, type of space, city and distance from your city center and you'll see what we mean:

Creating the perfect Mad Men Space would be difficult, not to mention expensive (the show has over a $25,000 weekly budget for set decorations). If you’re willing to sacrifice a little period authenticity, however,  there are a lot of compromises that you can do to make your space “MadMen-esque” without having to mortgage your kidneys. From the resurgence of cocktails to Banana Republic’s Mad Men Collection, it’s obvious that the show has had a significant influence on contemporary style and culture.

Instead of spending your day at the thrift store or cruising ebay, you may be better off stopping by your local retailer and find something that approximates the Mid-Century Modern Style. Of course, you have to know what you’re looking for. Start a collection of 1960s Sears and Montgomery Ward Catalogs, as well as issues of Better Homes and Gardens. Before you know it, you’ll be an expert on the period in no time. Furthermore, you’ll know what to look for when you make that trip down to your local thrift shop.

The Art of Mad Men

If you really want to go all out, you’ll want to decorate your space with art from the period. If you want a comprehensive look at the kind of artwork that gracing the walls of Sterling Cooper’s offices and the homes of their employees look no further than the Art of MadMen Blog.

While the art in Mad Men isn’t all from the 60s, a good portion of it reflects the minimalst abstract style that was popular then. While it would probably be prohibitively expensive to get original of minimalist art, it should be easy enough to find prints to give your space that extra touch of authenticity. For inspiration, check out this image gallery.

Art pic from: http://papculture.com/2010/08/01/mad-men-op-art-in-roger-sterlings-office/

Sweating the Small Stuff

Of course, it’s not just furniture and art. In order to really make your space evoke the Mad Men period, get old 1960s issues of Life or playboy and set them on the coffee table. In place of a computer or laptop, get yourself an IBM selectric. Also, and this should go without saying, get yourself a nice liquor cabinet and stock it full of gins, whiskeys and vodkas. You don’t have to get these things all at once, but if you’re really intent on bringing the early 1960s back to life, every little bit helps.

Recreating Don Draper's Office

If price isn’t a concern, it might be fun to go all out and see if you can recreate Don Draper’s office to the letter. This can be a challenge because a lot of the set decorations are, according to the set decorator Amy Wells, very rare thrift shop finds, but this list below should be helpful getting you started. (Note: We couldn’t identify everything precisely, so in some instances we gave our best approximations.

1. Time Life Executive Chair
2. Hvidt/Mølgaard-Nielsen FD 146 Chair
3. Office desk - The wooden paneling and metal desk legs are suggestive of Knoll and Steelcase designs of that era. Your best bet would be to do a eBay search for Knoll/Steelcase and use the category filters to limit your search to the correct period.
4.  Boxy Sofa (A reproduction by Futurama Furniture). Pretty cheap when you consider that the comparable Florence Knoll Two Seater runs for close to $10,000!
5. Lounge Chair/Coffee table from Futurama.
6. Crosley Kettle Classic Desk Phone
7. Underwriter’s Laboratory desk lamps come pretty close, they aren’t as fancy as Draper’s desk lamps but at least they’re period appropriate.
8.The orb-like object near the front left corner of the desk  is actually a roulette cigarette dispenser. While you might be hard pressed to find one of those, ebay certainly has plenty of alternatives. Personally, I think this brass world dispenser might give the roulette ball a run for its money.
9. Painting by Michal Shapiro called Butternut.
10. Find something we missed? Feel free to let us know in the comments and we’ll edit the list!

More Inspiration

Need some more inspiration for MadMen-ifying your space? Check out our Mad Men Pinterest Board and be sure to repin the stuff you like!

Last week we talked about how the Seattle Startup Giant Thinkwell managed to capture 9% of the twitter audience with just 20 people, a room and a plan. We thought this was an excellent story to cover for eVenues because it seems like every other month we hear about some technological innovation that "threatens to replace" face-to-face meetings. Time and again, however, we've found that technologies like email, Skype, and social media have not replaced face-to-face meetings at all. Rather, they’ve made meetings better.

When Interviewing Giant Thinkwell’s CEO Adam Tratt for last week's post, we learned that Adam Loving, a developer for BigDoor, a gamification startup based in Seattle, came up with a new web tool called Linksy (still in private beta), inspired in part by the success of Giant Thinkwell's social media war room. We sat down with Loving and asked him about it.

What does Linksy Do?

Like Thinkwell’s war room invitations, Linksy is a tool that enlists your supporters to share links to content through social media channels. Unlike the war room, however, you don’t need to send invitations, and (gasp!) you don’t need to find or book a venue.

All you have to do is input the URL of the content you’d like to share as well as a list of 20 of your closest fans (investors, executives, employees, and customers) into Linksy’s web interface. Linksy then generates an email that goes to those 20 people. The email directs them to the Linksy web site which then directs them to choose what kind of message they want to go along with the link they are to share and which services they want to share it on.

Users don’t have to sign into anything. They just open it up, click it, close it, and they go on with their day. If they care to, they can check out a dashboard which shows who happens to be driving the most clicks and traffic to the target URL.

Linksy’s Origins

Linksy's first customer, the Startup Weekend team "Chicken Check-in." Loving initially tested out Linksy by helping promote several Startup Weekend Projects.

Aside from Thinkwell’s war room success, part of the inspiration for Linksy comes from Loving’s experiences working for tech startups. For most startups operating on a tight budget, PR efforts largely revolve around leveraging supporter’s social networks on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

Says Loving: ”The VP of marketing sends around an email saying: ‘Here’s the coverage we got. Here’s the link to it. Could you, first of all, tweet and “like” this? Second of all, could you go comment on this?’ A lot of times the employees don’t necessarily recognize the benefit, like if you’re a developer who has 80 followers or if you have 60 Facebook friends you’re like: ‘how does that benefit?’"

As marketers know, and early trials of Linksy have proven - every share on the social web provides benefit. Perhaps more important, Linksy rewards the influential people in your social circle by showing them just how much benefit they’ve provided through the simple act of sharing a link. People like being helpful to their friends, as long as they know what they’re doing really does help. Linksy provides them with that knowledge.

Case Study: Linksy and Vittana

While Linksy hasn’t been put to the test with any large launches like Giant Thinkwell’s war room, it has already proven useful to help get a real idea just how well tweets and facebook shares from certain people convert into newsletter signups or dollars spent. Loving tested Linksy out by promoting a link from Vittana, a Seattle based non-profit with a website that helps users make microloans to students in developing countries. Each loan helps students get a little closer to finishing their education. After graduation, many of these students earn anywhere from 3 to 8 times more in annual income than they would have earned without a degree.

For the promotion, Loving chose Sergio, a computer science student in Paraguay, and asked ten people in his personal network to tweet out the link. Loving says that only half  of his friends participated, but even then they managed to get over 600 clicks to Sergio’s lending page. The tweet that drove the most clicks was by GroupTalent founder Andrew Kinzer, which was then retweeted by Dave Schappell, another notable influencer in Seattle’s tech community:

Let's make Sergio's day. He's studying computer engineering in Paraguay. Make a loan NOT a donation. linksy.me/r/52 via @adamloving

— Andrew Kinzer (@superkinz) January 22, 2012

Out of the total 600 clicks Schappell and Kinzer drove about 400 of them and helped raise $50 for Sergio’s education. While $50 doesn’t sound like much, it’s not bad for just a few tweets.

Partial View: Click to See the Entire Dashboard

Does Linksy Replace a Launch War Room?

In a word: no. What Linksy does is provide a way to reach out to friends to help promote links a few times a month. This tool certainly doesn’t replace a coordinated launch effort like Giant Thinkwell’s war room. There’s simply no replacement for a coordinated team responding in real-time to social media chatter.

Linksy, rather than being a replacement for a social media war room, could actually become one of the main tools in a war room’s arsenal. By using this tool you’d be able to keep track of just whom among your friends and family are the most influential as far as driving clicks and traffic. When the time came to send out invitations to your war room, you’d be able to limit your list to a select few whom you know would really be able to help you out--thus saving you beer and pizza money...not to mention the money you’d be saving by booking a smaller, cheaper venue.

Thinking about organizing a social media war room yourself? Consider booking a one of our venues in Seattle, SanFrancisco, LosAngeles, San Jose, or Portland.