Posts in category: Article

Sketchnotes are a valuable tool during meetings.

Scribble + Doodle = Scroodle?

10.06.2014

Serious Sketchnoting on the Uprise

When caught doodling at school back in the old days, one was in for a hefty reprimand by the teacher, who would then maliciously peach on you at home, throwing your poor parents into a state of quiet devastation. Caught more frequently, your next stop was likely to be at the dreaded in-house psychologist’s office, where an expert human lack-of-concentration detector would painfully be deep-probing into the diminishing source of your ability to keep your young mind focussed. Serves you right when you allow your thoughts to go all spaghetti!

Read article

Apples: Insanely simple meetings taught by Ken Segall

Ken Segall: Insanely Simple

18.04.2014

What I Learned About Great Meetings from Steve Jobs

A guest post by Ken Segall

The principle of keeping meetings small and made up of smart people is deeply woven into the religion of electronics behemoth Apple and is key to any organization that wants to nurture quality thinking. The idea is pretty basic: Everyone in the room should be there for a reason. There’s no such thing as a mercy invitation. Either you’re critical to the meeting or you’re not. It’s nothing personal, just business. Apple co-founder, the late Steve Jobs, actively resisted any behavior he believed representative of the way big companies think – even though Apple had been a big company for many years. When he called a meeting or reported to a meeting, his expectation was that everyone in the room would be an essential participant. Spectators were not welcome.

Read article

Window cleaners on Burj Khalifa - the epitome of the emirate's economic success.

Dubai Video: HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum’s life Journey

7.04.2014

“I do not know if I am a good leader, but I am a leader. And I have a vision. I look to the future, 20, 30 years. I learned that from my father, Sheikh Rashid. He was the true father of Dubai. I follow his example. He would rise early and go alone to watch what was happening on each of his projects.   I do the same. I watch. I read faces. I take decisions and I move fast; full throttle.”

Read article

Interior: The Historic Town Hall Wuppertal is a treat for eyes and ears.

Germany: Wuppertal’s Historic Town Hall

31.03.2014

Up and above

For an international meeting planners’ audience not familiar with Germany, the city of Wuppertal may not come to mind instantaneously when looking for a destination suitable for a glitzy function. If they knew, what Wuppertal – pretty close to Duesseldorf and Cologne and their airports – had in stock, they would surely be envious of its 350,000 inhabitants and its numerous visitors and might rapidly change their attitude. The town, embedded in the lovely scenery of the Bergisches Land situated in the Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia, may rather be associated with down-to-earth features. But especially for these two cases of the „elevated“ variety, quite the opposite is true.

The most extraordinary attraction is perhaps the suspended monorail inaugurated in 1901 and in operation for public transport since. It’s most stunning property may be this one:

Read article

A tailor cutting a pattern. Fashion and Couture: There are many creative minds active in Berlin.

Berlin: A City on the Catwalk

15.01.2014

From 1961 to 1989 Berlin, divided into East and West since 1945, was scarred with an invincible concrete wall topped with multiple rolls of impenetrable barbed wire. Armed Vopos, the East German ‘people’s’ policemen equipped with a licence to kill, controlled from their watchtowers the so-called ‘death strip’ passing between the two Germanies; none of the GDR’s involuntary citizens were to escape the socialist paradise imposed on them. Inhabitants of West Berlin belonging to the Federal Republic were better off – and seemingly unimpressed by their severed freedom. Although fenced in, neither their positive attitude, nor their special sense of humour could be suffocated – nor their creativity be paralysed by the circumstances.

Read article