„The obesity crisis is one of the biggest challenges of our time and it is more important than ever that there is strong and unified global action to tackle it“. In the United States alone there are an estimated 225 million visitors to conventions, conferences, congresses, exhibitions, incentives or corporate meetings. Even if these events are organised around health issues: sadly, they often are unwholesome affairs caused by an unwise choice of food types. Aggravated by a lack of physical activities to compensate the caloric intake, subtle weight-gain is sowing the seeds for obesity-related diseases. In order to promote and secure health and well-being within conference venues, the Healthy Venues Award was conceived as part of World Obesity Federation’s Action Initiative. The organisation represents professional members of the scientific, medical and research communities from over 50 regional and national obesity associations, whose mission it is to reduce, prevent and treat obesity on a global scale.
Posts about Meeting Culture
London: The German Gymnasium at King’s Cross
For the conscientiously-thinking German of the past centuries, keeping physically fit was equal to a national duty to be fulfilled – like going to church on Holy Sundays. Not a chance of ever playing truant. The constant surveillance by a rigorously watchful society saw to these rules not being neglected. Meanwhile in Germany, like in any place else in the world, people who work out regularly on a voluntary basis have become rarer and those zigzagging between sporadic exertion and hard-core couch-potatoing a sad majority.
German discipline was worthwhile being exported to ensure that far-away expats would not forget to stay in shape. And this is how the German Gymnasium at King’s Cross came to be. The money for „the first purpose-built gymnasium in the United Kingdom“, opened in 1865, was raised entirely by the German Gymnastics Society and the German community in London. 6,000 pounds well invested. Even women were allowed to use the facility: a freedom otherwise alien to ladies of that era.
TED Talk. Jason Fried: Why work doesn’t happen at work
Where do people go when they really need to get something done? Answers are: the porch, the coffee shop, the library, the kitchen, or while commuting. For some, it doesn’t really matter where they are, as long as it’s early in the morning or late at night or on the weekends. „The office“ is hardly ever the response given. That fully complies with Jason Fried’s theory: that the office isn’t a very good place for productivity. In his opinion, the main disruptions at work are caused by M&M’s: managers and meetings. This video – watched by nearly four million viewers – was filmed five years ago. Yet, its content today is true more than ever!
Twelve days in Oman – a short film
Marko Roth and his friends Lucas, Dominik and Vivi were looking for a cheap random flight to anywhere on the map and ended up in Oman, a destination they had not even heard of before. Their 12-day adventure took them crisscross through the scenic Sultanate located at the southeastern tip of the Arabian Peninsula that shares its shores between the Strait of Hormuz and the Indian Ocean. They devoured every inch of the country’s beauty, climbed mountains, dove into crystal-clear waters, and conquered the hustle-bustle of Muscat, Salalah, and Musandam streets and souks.
TED Talk. Suki Kim: This is what it’s like to teach in North Korea
To be able to write her book from an insider’s point of view, South Korean-born Suki Kim took the risk of going undercover in North Korea. For half a year, Kim worked as an English teacher at an elite school honing the country’s future leaders. While sensitising her students through concepts based on “seeking the truth” and “critical thinking“, massive doubts arose on her part at the same time: Was she putting them to peril by merely exposing them to usually unspeakable topics? “Without You, There Is No Us: My Time with the Sons of North Korea’s Elite,” is the memoir of Kim’s stay in Pyongyang during Kim Jong-Il’s final six months. Her work offers unprecedented insights into the psychology of North Korea’s ruling class.