Superstar performers like Hugh Jackman and Carl Lewis know how to leave something in the tank for the moments they will need the extra boost most. This is a little discussed secret that can be applied to how we manage our time and schedules. It's called the 15% buffer or adaptive capacity that will not only help reclaim some of your time back but also help you achieve more. This is part two of a two-part episode.

Donna McGeorge makes work work. She is a productivity coach, best-selling author, trainer, and facilitator. Her focus is on helping individuals, managers, and teams work smarter, build collaborative relationships, and make efficient use of time. She has written 10 productivity books, with The 1 Day Refund  published this month.

Quotes from this episode:

"I tell everyone to start at the end of the day.  So if you're swamped, you drowning... You're at risk of failing at the important things....  I'm going to say protect the last hour of your day or whatever is possible in your busy world."

"Does it start with I'll trust you first and give you a crack? Or do you have to prove (yourself), and then I'll trust you? I think it's the former".

"If we're operating at 100% we've got no room to move... We should be operating at that 85% more consistently to feel better, do better and actually achieve more."

-Donna McGeorge

Don’t miss:

- Why Donna doesn’t believe in New Year’s resolutions
- The solution to feeling busy but not feeling productive
-  The 15% buffer or adaptive capacity
- Thinking, breathing, living and working space
- Breaking the habit of always being busy
- How to be more essential but less involved
- How to protect your time

Donna’s book:
www.the1dayrefund.com
Donna's free 1 Day Refund productivity tools:
www.the1dayrefund.com/resources

Connect with Donna:
LinkedIn:Donna McGeorge
www.donnamcgeorge.com

Connect with Adelaine:
Email: [email protected]

Have you found yourself asking, where has all the time gone? Or why did I feel so insanely busy last year but not more productive, even when I worked from home and in theory should've had more time to spare? Fortunately, you can get back in control of your time with some intentional strategies and a formula for reclaiming time. That's right, it's time to get your time back and here's how, in the first of a two-part episode.

Donna McGeorge makes work work. She is a productivity coach, best-selling author, trainer, and facilitator. Her focus is on helping individuals, managers, and teams work smarter, build collaborative relationships, and make efficient use of time. She has written 10 productivity books, with The 1 Day Refund  published this month.

Quotes from this episode:

"The tendency for all of us is to say, I need more time or I need more space,  more capacity. Actually, we've got enough. We just need to be clever about how we use what we've got."

"Decision fatigue... impacts our willpower. And so if I'm trying to make too many decisions about how I'm going to do my world, when it gets to the time of day where I have to jump on the Peloton or go to the gym or whatever I'm choosing to do, it's just that much harder."

"It's much easier just to say here, do this, but in the long-term you're creating a culture of learned helplessness."

-Donna McGeorge

Don’t miss:

- Why Donna doesn’t believe in New Year’s resolutions
- The solution to feeling busy but not feeling productive
-  The 15% buffer or adaptive capacity
- Thinking, breathing, living and working space
- Breaking the habit of always being busy
- How to be more essential but less involved
- How to protect your time

Donna’s book:
www.the1dayrefund.com
Donna's free 1 Day Refund productivity tools:
www.the1dayrefund.com/resources

Connect with Donna:
LinkedIn: Donna McGeorge
www.donnamcgeorge.com

Connect with Adelaine:
Email: [email protected]

A short reflection on what went well and what didn't for me this year. Things don't automatically improve at the stroke of midnight into the new year. I'm still recovering from 2021 and I suspect I'll still need healing way into 2022.

Connect with Adelaine:
Email: [email protected]

How do you create the ultimate office Christmas party? There are some simple but big ideas that can make your event a great success, whether the idea of being volunteered to organise the big year-end event at your workplace fills you with excitement or dread. For example, if you know what to do with lighting and the size of your props, that’s more than half the battle won.

Lisa Wiles is the founder of Sydney Party Planner, a company she launched in 2001 after working in the events industry for global companies for over 20 years.  She has professionally organised hundreds of themed Christmas parties and loves a challenge, which has included venues from country barns to secret warehouses.

Quotes from Episode:

"Anyone can do events but it's the people that love it that bring the extra."

"People talk about decorations but I think lighting is way more important than decorations".

"There's this guy... it's in an industrial wasteland of warehouses and near the airport, and his life passion is to restore carousels and penny arcade circus games. The whole venue just absolutely blows your mind when you walk in".

-Lisa Wiles

Don’t miss:

-Lisa’s most challenging Christmas party assignment and how she solved it
-From Cuban to Gatsby to Beach themes
-How to use lighting effectively in a party
-What to do if you’re given a blank canvas
-Career destroying moves at Christmas parties
-How the event industry and party suppliers are affected by Covid
-Can you save a party if not enough people turn up?

Connect with Lisa:
IG: @sydneypartyplanner
LinkedIn: Lisa Wiles

Connect with Adelaine / Sign up for her newsletter:
Email: [email protected]

Smaller or lesser known destinations have achieved some pretty amazing things for events. Can Australia's Northern Territory surprise and wow event planners who've seen it all? It certainly wowed the Australian Event Awards & Symposium for Parrtijima – A Festival in Light, which awarded Northern Territory Major Events Company (NTMEC) the Best Regional Event this year.

Tim Watsford is the CEO of NTMEC, joining the business events tourism industry from a cricket and rugby background.  Over the past 18 months, Tim has led the NTMEC team in new directions as they navigate an events sector profoundly affected by COVID-19 restrictions. The result has seen the team successfully deliver several large-scale major events in the Territory that have attracted national and international attention, and record attendance numbers.

Quotes from Episode:

"If you haven't been to the Territory, you'll never experience what we have to offer... Everything from chasing the elusive barramundi all the way to the river systems in the Top End . Kakadu National Park has to be seen to be believed."

"We've got a very starved industry that wants to get back in and get in big. I'll be quite honest, there are some challenges for us coming into next year. We hope we've proven what the territory can offer."

"The two lessons I've learned as a CEO  or leader is, one, people are your most important asset... I've learned that in droves and two, back yourself." 

-Tim Watsford

Don’t miss:

-How moving from the big city life to the Northern Territory was transformational
-There's more to discover in Australia's Top End than crocodiles.
-Why events in the NT thrived during the pandemic.
-Leadership lessons managing a transient staff.

Tim's resource recommendation:
Leaders Eat Last by Simon Sinek (and anything by Simon Sinek).

Connect with Tim:
LinkedIn: Tim Watsford

Connect with Adelaine / Sign up for her newsletter:
Email: [email protected]

Your leadership will be exposed when tough times come knocking. Who will you be looking out for when the ground underneath is crumbling? Interestingly, by genuinely prioritising others, you may end up securing your own success.  And the kind of leader you become can be traced back to, and be greatly influenced by your environment and mentors during your younger years.  

Geoff Donaghy is the CEO of ICCSydney, Group Director (Asia Pacific) at ASM Global and  Deputy Chair of Business Events Council of Australia.  Some of his former roles include  President of the International Association of Congress Centres, CEO of Suncorp Stadium and Managing Director of Cairns Convention Centre. Geoff was inducted into the Event Industry Council's prestigious Hall of Leaders  in October 2021.

Quotes from Episode:

"Running and operating a venue is  a little bit like sending a rocket to the moon. If the aim is out by a thousandth of a degree, you miss the moon by thousands of miles. So your goals and your targets... those goals have to be precise and they have to be understood by everyone, otherwise  if not everyone understands them and  buys into them, you won't reach them."

"While occasionally it's valuable and useful to appear angry, whatever you do, never get angry".

“It's amazing what you can achieve if you don't care who gets the credit.”

-Geoff Donaghy

Don’t miss:

-How Geoff's early experiences shaped his leadership values.
-Leadership and emotional intelligence.
-There is a solution to everything and  two variables involved.
-The 5Cs of successful leadership.
-How to grow a loyal team, even if you have to fire some of them.
-The destination package required for attracting successful events

Geoff's book recommendation:
7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R Covey

Connect with Geoff:
LinkedIn: Geoff Donaghy

Connect with Adelaine / Sign up for her newsletter:
Email: [email protected]

The Great Resignation? Not so fast, and we'll see why in this episode. Millions of people are expected to quit their jobs after the pandemic, thanks to this unprecedented time of change. What does this mean for you if you're an employer? Are you about to have almost half your workforce walk out on you? Or what if you're the employee already hatching a plan for your great corporate escape? How does your personal growth affect your career?

Rachel Service is a workplace culture expert and CEO of the Happiness Concierge. Her award-winning approach to personal and professional growth has been featured in the BBC, Financial Review, Sydney Morning Herald and The Age. Her TED talk, How to Break Up With Your Public Identity, was internationally syndicated on the official TED website in 2020. Rachel's new book is There Has To Be More: The Essential Guide to Personal Growth.

Quotes from Episode:

"A lot of leaders are afraid to have the conversation of, 'Are we all in or are we half in, half out?' Because countless studies show, if you've got people with one foot in the boat and one foot out, they're actually just treading water and not adding any value. So number one, have the conversation. Don't be afraid to lose people who aren't completely invested anyway."

"There's this romantic idea that I'll quit my job and start a business. And for some people that would be a sexy proposition. It's exciting. And I'm here to say it's a heck of a ride if that's appealing to you. For the majority, 94% or 95% of people in my care, they don't want to start a business. They just want to make a change. They want to feel valued in their job."

"My belief is personal growth fuels business growth. And what I've learned is how we show up in any context influences what happens next."

-Rachel Service

Don’t miss:

-The perfect storm that created The Great Resignation. But why it won't happen as quickly as pundits suggest
-What employers can do before the workforce tide shifts
-How you can decide whether your workplace is right for you
-The danger of staying somewhere you've outgrown
-How to work with the parts of your brain that will help you succeed
-The loss aversion phenomenon and how it influences your decisions
-How to navigate personal growth
-What being  overwhelmed and bored simultaneously means

Rachel's website with audiobook and video resources:
www.rachelservice.com

Rachel's book:
There Has To Be More: The Essential Guide to Personal Growth

Connect with Rachel:
Email: [email protected]
LinkedIn: Rachel Service

Connect with Adelaine / Sign up for her newsletter:
Email: [email protected]

Why are we talking about China? Well, there are a lot of reasons to talk about China but for our purposes, we're most interested in the country's changing travel appetite. Like it or not, China's massive population and growing wealth is a great attraction for many countries looking for tourists. At the time of this recording, China's borders remain firmly shut and they practise a Covid Zero policy. But China's residents are raring to go abroad as soon as they're allowed to.

In the second of a two-part series, Professor Wolfgang Georg Arlt shows us where many countries, especially Western, misunderstand the needs of the Chinese tourist and are  misfiring in their marketing efforts to attract them. Professor Arlt is the German-based founder and director of the China Outbound Tourism Research Institute (COTRI), and a member of the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNTWO) Panel of Tourism Experts. 

Quotes from Episode:

"There was a clear focus on quantity of arrival numbers...This has been a trap. This development looked very nice for the tourism ministers or their annual press conference. But if you look from the industry point of view, how happy have people been with this large group of Chinese visitors or guests? Not very."

"We had a lot of Chinese people that  were interviewed in the last year where they said, 'I actually came back to China with some money in my pocket. I wanted to spend more, but I couldn't find a reason'."

"Everybody says the Chinese market is very important, but they have no idea about who are their customers, what their customers really wanted, what they actually really did. And you could see, wow. It boils down to  this not very outlandish idea: Know your customer"

-Wolfgang Georg Arlt

Don’t miss:

-The size of China's group travel post pandemic isn't the biggest issue
-Why a marketing strategy for China needs to go far beyond WeChat and Weibo
-The shift of influencer power from Key Opinion Leaders to Key Opinion Consumers
-The sales app being created for Chinese tourists so they don't have to carry all those souvenirs home
-How the Chinese tourist has changed during the pandemic
-Wolfgang's top 3 tips for destinations that enjoyed high numbers of Chinese visitation

Wolfgang's book recommendation:
Getting Along With TheChinese: For Fun and Profit by Fred Schneiter

Connect with Wolfgang:
LinkedIn: Wolfgang Georg Arlt

COTRI China Outbound Tourism Research Institute:
china-outbound.com

Connect with Adelaine / Sign up for her newsletter:
Email: [email protected]

If there was one country that all destination bureaus are most curious about during this pandemic period, it's China.  The country which is probably the world’s most significant source of tourism has been locked in for almost two years with a Zero-Covid policy. So how have Chinese travel trends and preferences changed in this time?

Professor Wolfgang Georg Arlt is the German-based founder and director of the China Outbound Tourism Research Institute (COTRI), and a member of the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNTWO) Panel of Tourism Experts.  In the first of a two-part series, he pulls apart the curtains behind China's great wall of information for a sneak peek into the changing Chinese attitudes towards travel and experiences.

Quotes from Episode:

"There is an opportunity for many small places. If you offer a nice product, if you give people a reason to come, you can get Chinese tourists to places which are not on the main track, and also at times of the year where maybe it is low season... So there's opportunity, but also it means that for places like Paris or the Maldives, they have to work harder than before because the competition is growing."

 "I think it's the same for destinations and for luxury brands. It's getting harder. You have to be more knowledgeable about your specific target group.

"Recommendation marketing in China is the key. The Word of Mouth and the Word of (computer) Mouse..."

-Wolfgang Georg Arlt

Don’t miss:

-Why international destinations will be competing with China's local destinations for the travel market
-China's new camping and  driving trend
-The rise of meaningful tourism in China   
-If shopping has lost its appeal in China, where's the money going?
-The new countries Chinese tourists will pick when its borders re-open
-The impact of political tensions on overseas tourism

Connect with Wolfgang:
LinkedIn: Wolfgang Georg Arlt

COTRI China Outbound Tourism Research Institute:
china-outbound.com

Connect with Adelaine / Sign up for her newsletter:
Email: [email protected]

How would you like to never pay ticketing fees and always get a better deal to access live events? That's the promise of Festival Pass, which is the world's first live events subscription service across various experiences including music, film, food & wine, theatre, and tech & innovation. Launched in the US, the plan is for a truly global village of experiences as more countries ease restrictions to allow gatherings again.

Ed Vincent is an entrepreneur with over 25 years experience in business, technology and management. Among his achievements was the founding of an e-commerce business in 1999 which was sold to a competitor in 2001. He also founded companies like SimplyEngage, myProducer, and Predict Ventures before starting and becoming the CEO of Festival Pass.

Quotes from Episode:

"What I'm most excited about is when somebody comes onto our platform and says, Hey, I'm in New York city but I can't get out ...and I want to see my favourite band in five places playing live tonight.... And I'm going to pay five credits,, maybe the equivalent of $5 or $10 to see them playing for a half hour or an hour in New York. And then I'll flip over to LA to the Viper room and I'll see my second favourite band playing live there."

"It's not that our product is only for millennial and Gen Zs, it's that they're leading kind of the path of how to consume for the future."

-Ed Vincent

Don’t miss:

-The return of major festivals as the world lives with COVID-19
-An offer to never pay ticketing fees and always get a better deal to experience live events
-How technology for capturing live events has become affordable even for small players
-How Festival Pass is like AirBnB meets ClassPass
-Using credits to book hotels at cheaper rates than you can find online
-Painful past failed subscription models and what they've taught Ed
-How Gen Z is informing experience platforms for the future

What Ed is reading now:
Nonviolent Communication by Marshall Rosenberg

Connect with Ed:
LinkedIn: Ed Vincent

Festival Pass:
Website: www.festivalpass.com
IG: festival_pass
FB: getfestivalpass

Connect with Adelaine / Sign up for her newsletter:
Email: [email protected]