Cool Product Alert: Stylish Purses With Chargers

How many times have you had a co-worker or a guest at an event ask if you have an extra phone charger? It seems to be happening to me more and more, especially with males. And I understand. They can't really carry a charger in their pocket. It's much more likely that a female would be carrying around a charger.

Now anyone who carries a purse, can carry around a charger in style. But not one that you have to plug in the wall, one that acts as a charger on its own. These weren't really designed with other people's phones dying though; they were designed for on-the-go nomophobics who are draining their batteries from sun up to sun down.

Being fully charged and stylish comes at a price though. The Kate Spade model is high at $698, where the Ivanka Trump model seems more reasonable at $325. Although a bit too pricey for me, I love the aspect of combining technology and style. We need our phones to last throughout the day, especially if we're away from the convenience of a wall plug. Until phone makers can extend the battery life of a phone 100 times (without making it a brick), consumers are going to look for products that combine technology with wearables and accessories.

Team Building in Kansas City

Let's be honest, team building in a Corporate setting can be a little awkward, especially if you've never seen your co-worker out of a suit. But there are a lot of options that can keep you in your normal clothes, but still interact in a different way with your co-workers. In Lee's Summit (Southeast of Kansas City), there is a new entertainment venue that recently opened called The Exit Room.

In The Exit Room, up to eight people are "locked" in a room and have to work together to get out. It's timed too, which creates an additional layer of excitement to work together. As an event organizer and planner, I like the idea of The Exit Room for team building because all I have to do is reserve a room (they're starting out with four) and determine which people I want to pair together. There is a built-in time limit of one hour, which could also allow me a mechanism to award a prize for the team to exit their room first. There are plenty of places nearby to reserve for a happy hour for your co-workers, so everyone can rehash their time working together to get out of The Exit Room.

Airbnb Could be a Good Option for Conference Travel

What do you do when you're going to a conference and can't find a hotel nearby? Try Airbnb or Airbnb for Business if you and your co-workers travel frequently. I recently took over coordinating a hotel room block for a conference a few months prior to the event. Confirmations of when people were actually arriving and departing were all over the place and because of the proximity to the conference, I had to schedule some people at two different hotels during the conference. Not the ideal situation.

Airbnb had some options in the same proximity as the convention center, at a fraction of the price. Now it may not be ideal for your colleagues to share a house, but take a look at different options, even if it's just for one person. There are a variety of options: anything from a shared room, to a private room, to an entire house.

Here are some things to consider if you're out of traditional hotel options and want to try Airbnb:

• Read the reviews on Airbnb and check the response rate and time of the host. 
• Look at all of the costs that you'll incur with your stay. Cleaning, deposit and extra people are a few of the charges that could be added. When you go into a specific listing, it will add up all the fees for you on the right.
• Read the cancellation policy carefully. If you don't have a definitive schedule, Airbnb may not be the right fit. Hosts will need to give you access to their home or shared space. 

It's always good to have options when you're limited because everyone seems to be descending on a city at the same time as you. Keep Airbnb in your back pocket.

Book Review: The Sell: The Secrets of Selling Anything to Anyone by Fredrik Eklund

Let me first admit that I am a fan of Fredrik Eklund of Bravo tv's Million Dollar Listing: New York fame. Knowing his adorable Swedish accent made reading The Sell even more entertaining.

The history of Fredrik's life helps illustrate how his foundation helped set him up for his future successes. He does discuss his tactics for negotiating and keeping the upper hand; something extremely important in your professional and personal life.

The discussion of personal brand and how to maximize your time for PR items (social media mainly) was a great reinforcement of other business books I've read. It's hard to implement advice sometimes, no matter how much sense it makes, but it was great to see the effect with a personal example. This example is also seen in Million Dollar Listing: New York.

Read this book for a different perspective on negotiating and selling yourself. If you buy it for your Kindle, get the "deluxe" version so you can watch videos of the endearing Fredrik.

The Evolution of Integrating Work Travel With Home Life

In the February/March issue of Collaborate magazine, there was an interesting brief about a conference that provided onsite child care for participants. It can be tough to be away from your family, especially if you're also the primary caregiver for your children. In a 2014 study conducted by The Council of Economic Advisors, 49% of parents said they passed up a job they felt would conflict with family obligations. Traveling for work, including attending a conference, would count towards that conflict.

Providing assistance for childcare onsite is a great way to give flexibility to the parents to still do their jobs well, but also know that they can travel with their child as well. Child care isn't just popping up at conferences, golf courses like Province Lake Golf Club in Maine are beginning to provide this service too!

By understanding the needs of your demographic and their psychographics, you can offer additional services to either draw more people, or enhance their experience. Providing child care is just one example of how you can help remove barriers from people partaking in events or using your product or service.

Shoes That Repair Your Feet

All road warriors know what to expect on the road: long hours standing or walking. This is especially true when you're a trade show road warrior. At the PGA Show in Orlando, I stopped by the Telic footwear booth.

They promised comfort and recovery for any trade show goer's aching feet. After being on the floor for 10 hours that day, I went back to my hotel room completely exhausted. I popped on my bright pink Telic flip flops and it felt like a massage on my feet.

The next day, I didn't have any issues with my feet - they weren't sore, they weren't achy. Believe me, that has never happened before. It helped with a blister I had developed after wearing high heels one day, and even just standing on my feet all day. Road warriors - check these shoes out!