Considerations
The meals – including morning and afternoon coffee breaks – that are built into your schedule.
Proximity of desirable dining options to your lodging and business activity location/s for your “free choice” meals. (If your lodging and meetings are at a hotel near an airport, then you may not have many convenient dining options outside of the hotel – especially if you are without a rental car.)
Your dining locations relative to your lodging. For example, will you have time to return to your hotel room to eat a hot entree before dinner? (Keep in mind that if you prefer to exercise between afternoon meetings and dinner – as opposed to early-morning exercise… late-night exercise is not conducive to good sleep – then your time to eat pre-dinner will be limited.)
Type of dining: includes sit-down restaurant, sit-down catered, buffet, and counter service (includes food service, fast food, and food truck) / take-out / delivery / room service.
Your role at the event and at a particular meal – such as speaker, host, guest of honor, guest, or paid attendee – may impact your participation in shared meals.
Duration of trip including travel days.
The number of destinations (a single destination is the baseline) on your trip. For a multi-destination trip, consider whether you’ll easily be able to take (or ship in a timely fashion) the Nutriate Business Travel Kit from your first destination to your subsequent destinations.
Assumptions
Your hotel room is assumed to have a small refrigerator (to house items that should be refrigerated after opening) and either an electric hot water heater or a microwave (for heating water).
External Meetings
Meetings with some of the attendees from outside your organization such as quarterly industry board meetings, sales calls, or vendor / partner / distributor meetings; providing consulting and other services; receiving services; and training. Typically but not necessarily held at a single location. May be combined with internal meetings at a remote office location. Some or all meals may be provided at the meeting facility. The hotel room may or not be readily accessible before lunch and dinner. The hotel room is assumed to have a small refrigerator (to house items that should be refrigerated after opening) and either an electric hot water heater or a microwave (for heating water).
Typical Scenario: Quarterly Industry Board Meeting
Three-day meeting held at an upscale hotel resort. Arrive morning or afternoon before the meeting; depart the evening of the fourth day or the morning of the next day (if not extending trip with a few vacation days). All meals excluding dinner on the fourth day are at the resort: breakfast and lunch buffets,
Rob – sometimes in conjunction with other meetings – some CEOs fly in night before and then just stay for one day of meetings; two – four day meetings; about 1/3 of attendees bring their spouses – and spouses attend the dinners. Breakfast almost always buffet – scrambled eggs, meat products, fried potatoes, fruit, pastries,… A lot of people skip the buffet since they exercise and/or work in the morning and don’t want to wait for the breakfast buffet. Lunches – 1/2 buffet, 1/2 catered sit-down; hunk of beef or chicken / fish, starch, veggies, white roll, dessert. Cheaper buffets have sandwiches and cheapish salads. Dinner: 1/4 buffet, 3/4 catered. Iceberg lettuce salad starter sometimes and rest similar to lunch menu. Not all hotels have microwave in room – or at all. More often in business hotels but resort hotels don’t have it. Cheap business hotels have microwave in the shared breakfast room. Not always in-room frig. Almost all the rooms have an electric coffee pot. Cocktail reception or some sort of PAC fundraising reception before dinner. Includes appetizers – almost guaranteed to be unhealthy. Usually 1 – 2 hours between last meeting and the start of the reception – but need to use that time to check email, make phone calls, use the bathroom, change clothes (more for the women), and the like. Not really enough time to exercise and not really expected.
Internal Meetings
Off-site
Meetings such as executive retreats, annual kickoff, training, quarterly Board meetings, strategy and planning sessions, and HR (such as performance reviews with remote employees). Typically but not necessarily held at a single location. Some or all meals may be provided at the meeting facility. The hotel room may or not be readily accessible before lunch and dinner. The hotel room is assumed to have a small refrigerator (to house items that should be refrigerated after opening) and either an electric hot water heater or a microwave (for heating water).
Typical Scenario: Annual Kickoff
Five-day meeting held in a hotel with meeting facilities in a major metropolitan city.
Remote (to You) Office Location
Meetings such as strategy and planning sessions, training, and HR (such as performance reviews with remote employees) held at one of your organization’s facilities. Typically but not necessarily held at a single location. Typically the morning and afternoon breaks are catered near or in the meeting room/s; usually breakfast is also catered and lunch is either catered or held in the facility’s cafeteria. Your hotel room is not readily accessible before lunch and dinner (ditto your rental car).
Typical Scenario: Executive Retreat
Three to five-day meeting held at an upscale hotel resort.
Conference
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Trade Show / Convention
Exhibitor
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Attendee
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