Meeting News - December 3, 2007 - (Page 27)

Live from the Forum @ MeetingNews.com TOPIC: Legal issues for beer and wine tastings have a question about the legalities of wine/beer tasting events. I used to plan these a few years back and have recently been on the vendor side (helping a friend at about ﬁve events here in California over the past few months). Each event was handled differently, but as someone who has had experience in this ﬁeld, I felt that organizers dropped the ball when it came to security and management of alcohol. First, when we checked in through the back, we were just handed wristbands; no one checked IDs, and they gave us extra wristbands for additional workers. We were not informed how much we could/should pour, nor did I notice security patrolling the events. At one event, I did notice Designated Driver signs upon exiting, with a designated staff member willing to call cabs if needed, but this was not prevalent at all of the events. My questions to those who handle these types of events: How do you make sure that you are in compliance and that all guests are above the legal age? Is there an amount that should be allowed for tastings—1 oz, half-glasses, one glass? Should wristbands be used? How else would you control checking IDs? Is security needed? Legally, how do you know that you are covered as the host who is overseeing the distribution of alcohol “tastings”? I will be involved in another event like this from a logistics standpoint, so I want to make sure that when I am in charge, these things are not overlooked. Celeste Berke, Volunteer Make-A-Wish Foundation, Sacramento, CA irst and foremost, you need to be asking these questions to your state Alcoholic Beverage Commission (ABC) or agency responsible for administering the state’s liquor laws. Typically, you must have a liquor license to sell or serve alcohol, and you may need to acquire a licensed liquor caterer to procure a “picnic” license if your event is being held at a venue that does not have its own liquor license. The organization hosting this event (you?) should procure liquor liabili- I ty insurance coverage. All servers should be fully trained and may need to be “certiﬁed” through a server training program depending on your state’s laws. (The server, or “bartender” as it were, can be held liable for serving to underage or intoxicated persons.) All entrances must be monitored; speciﬁcs will depend on the venue, attendee volume and demographics, and form of entry access (invitational, ticketed, etc.). Security personnel may or may not be mandated but is always a good idea. Julia Rutherford Silvers Author, Risk Management for Meetings and Events, Albuquerque, NM H aving worked at the Sonoma County CVB for ﬁve years, we worked with the following guidelines for all of our off-site wine tastings: F 1. You can legally dispense wine under the winegrower’s license; be sure there is one and get a copy on hand at the event. 2. Card everybody before entry and use wristbands to identify all over 21, and advise servers no exceptions. 3. Limit all servers to 1- to 2-oz pours, and give them all training to be able to identify this amount prior to the event. 4. Be sure to practice “responsible hospitality” by serving plenty of food. If budget is an issue, do breads and cheeses. 5. Make sure someone from the organization or private security personnel is at each exit to make sure no one drives drunk. 6. Make sure all of these instructions are in writing and distributed to all involved. Liability laws in California now read that the last person, corporation, and/or organization to serve alcohol to an individual prior to a car accident can be held liable in a criminal or personal injury case. Katherine Fox Ehlert, Assistant Director of Sales Hilton Santa Fe Golf Resort & Spa at Buffalo Thunder, Santa Fe, NM TOPIC: Reusable meeting room signage W e are looking to redo our meeting room signage. Our annual conference has 100 breakouts (10 rooms, 10 blocks) and we want to have signage outside each room indicating what happens in that room that day. Also, we want to have the conference logo and other graphics on the sign. Currently we have a set up where the base of each sign is reusable. Our graphic designer redoes the “skin” to go on each sign, and our meeting staff makes 11-by-17 pages that will go outside each room each day. I am looking for alternatives to this set up that are sustainable, shippable, and affordable. Michelle Smith, Director of Educational Programs and Services Association of College Unions International, Bloomington, IN highly recommend Madison Avenue Inc. They make what they call SmartSigns, which are extremely durable and reusable. They will create a unique design using your logo (and you can add other logos with smaller magnetized signs). You create inserts on paper, with the name of your breakout, etc., and just slide the paper into the lens on the front of the sign. They also have removable/reusable arrows which you can point in any direction. Martha Smith, Director of Event Services Virtual Inc., Wakeﬁeld, MA T I his year, I placed ﬂat-screen TVs outside each room. They were set on draped carts and connected to laptops. I did slide presentations that included the agenda, advertised sponsors, highlighted certain events, etc. My desire was to have them all networked, so I could update from one central location, but this got to be too expensive. It was so nice to be able to make changes quickly on a slide instead of having to print/reformat and reprint. Megan Sinesiou, Meetings Manager American Society of Naval Engineers, Alexandria, VA MEETING NEWS (ISSN 0145-630X, USPS No.356-010, December 3 2007, Vol. 31, No. 17 is published semi-monthly except for January, February, April, June, July, August, which are monthly, by Nielsen Business Media, 770 Broadway, New York, NY 10003-9595, tel. 646-654-5000. Subscriptions are offered free of charge to individuals actively engaged in planning meetings or conventions in the U.S. and Canada. The cost of a subscription to non-qualiﬁed subscribers is $79 in the U.S. and $95 in Canada (Canada Post Publications Mail Agreement No. 40031729). The cost of a foreign subscription, payable in U.S. dollars, is $195. Periodicals postage paid at New York, NY and additional mailing ofﬁces. MeetingNews is a trademark owned exclusively by Nielsen Business Media. Copyright © 2007 by Nielsen Business Media Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction of this magazine, in whole or in part, is prohibited unless authorized by the publisher. For address changes (please include mailing label), single copy sales ($10 per issue including shipping and handling, prepayment required), subscription information, and other customer service inquiries, write to MEETING NEWS, P.O. Box 1189, Skokie, IL 600768189 or call 847-763-9050. Printed in the USA. POSTMASTER: Send changes of address to MEETING NEWS, P.O. Box 1189, Skokie, IL 60076-8189. www.meetingnews.com December 3, 2007 MeetingNews 27 http://www.meetingnews.com http://www.meetingnews.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Meeting News - December 3, 2007

Meeting News - December 3, 2007
Contents
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MN Webcast Report
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Meeting News - December 3, 2007