Business Archives - Page 5 of 6 - Fuzzi Day - Health | Home

February 29, 2016

Tips For Keeping Your Office Clean

A clean office enhances the smooth running of a business and keeps employees happy and healthy. This may be hard to believe but in reality, it improves productivity because every item is in its rightful place thereby making the office well organized for business. Also, to a large extent, a clean office improves creativity and focus. Yes, this is very correct, as workers are sure to remain focused without being distracted by the crumbs on their keyboard.

With a clean office, good health is improved because there are reduced germs as well as rodents and pests everything is properly disinfected and sanitized. On a final note, the reputation of your business is not endangered when your office is clean. It gives everyone who walks in the impression that your company is organized and efficient. So if you are thinking of how to make your office look clean, here are some helpful cleaning tips that can ensure that for you.

Stock your closet with all the essential cleaning products for your office. These include microfiber wipes, paper towels, dusting spray, glass cleaner etc. Also, ensure that your employees are reminded and aware of your cleaning procedures by including a simple chart that presents common office cleaning tips. Steve from Carolina Office Cleaning in Charlotte says that even if you do your own cleaning, you should bring in a commercial cleaning company periodically for a full top to bottom cleaning of your office.

Ensure that every item in your office has its own place and leave it that way. If you think you would experience trouble remembering their location, do well to label their positions.

Have a limited number of items on your desk. It will be difficult to spread out your work with excess clutter. Delegate anything that is not always in use to another location such as business cards, paper clips, an extra calendar etc.
Wipe your keyboard and monitor daily with special wipes that are specially made for them. They can be found in most office supply and electronics stores. Please make sure that the keyboard is dried before putting it to use.
Endeavor to clean your office phone regularly. This can be done by wiping the phone with a neat cloth that is sprayed with cleaner. Wipe down the dial pad with a cotton ball dipped in rubbing alcohol.
Ensure to keep bugs at bay by vacuuming areas where people eat and taking out the trash regularly.
At least, a day in each month should be assigned as “Kitchen clean-out day.” During this day, leftover food in the fridge should be thrown away except if they have long expiry dates like olives or ketchup.
Dirty dishes should not be kept, immediately after every meal all dishes in the break room should be properly washed and dried. To avoid overcrowding on the dish rack, choose a specific day in a month to appoint employees to put away any dried dish.

February 15, 2016February 15, 2016

Selling At Your Local Farmers Market

The Farmers Market is a great place to sell your food because people are coming out to shop, to eat, and to not worry about the slightly exaggerated prices. There are dozens upon dozens of booths, selling all sorts of organic foods, grilled foods, raw foods, anything your heart can desire. So when folks come to the farmers market, they usually don’t have a specific cuisine in mind, they want to follow their noses and their whims. Organic produce, gluten free baked goods and local artisan foods are all very popular items at any farmers market.

So it’s up to you, the food vendor, the attract the people to your booth, and let their stomachs and taste buds choose you over everyone else.

But how?

The first thing you need to do is catch people’s attention. This can be done with the sweet smells of your fare wafting in the summer breeze, but if you rely on that you will soon be in the back of the pack, tossing all your unsold food at the end of the day, wondering where you went wrong. The first step toward getting someone to buy your food is having them know you’re there, and attracting their attention and piquing their interest. We suggest getting something like these pop-up banners and other visuals that will capture passing traffic. A passer-by will see your visuals and at least come over to your stand, where you’ll be able to engage them and sell them on your specific offering.

You also want to make sure that if they do decide to buy from you, that the service is quick and efficient. If you sell the best food but it takes 5 minutes to prepare and serve, you’re going to have a tough time attracting repeat customers. And remember, these farmers market goers like to go almost every week, and they will definitely return to a booth that they loved. Do as much prep work as you can before hand, and make sure your food is easy to serve. A line is good as it shows that your booth is popular, but a quickly moving line is best. If it means hiring someone to accept payments, or someone addition to serve, do it, because an efficient food stand is one that will have return customers, and customers who talk up your food to others.

You should also never underestimate the power of the free sample. It’s a percentage game of course – you can’t expect and shouldn’t expect anyone to sample your food to come right over and buy a plate of it. But you will certainly attract some customers and the cost of samples is well worth even just a few new eaters. These new eaters will likely become repeat customers and pay off the minimal expenditure of the free sample in short time. Much like a banner display, if you can put someone out a bit away from your booth offering samples, you will direct new people to your food that may have never known you existed.

Lastly, make sure your food is amazing. That should go without saying, but if it’s amazing, people will find out about it. That’s the bottom line.

October 13, 2015

Prohibited Items of Interest – Are the Following Prohibited or Not?

Airport security is very similar to postal security in the prohibited items list share distinctive similarities. You’re probably wondering how such a subject could interesting enough to write an article about, when in truth the prohibited items list remains one of the most fascinating authoritative write-ups in existence.

You’ll definitely be surprised by some of the items that are on the list and others less so. What’s really interesting though is looking at some of the things you CAN take with you and they compare to some of the stuff that’s prohibited. Here are some examples of items that are either inevitably on the prohibited items list, debatable or potentially lucky not to be present….

Knitting Needles

It’s good news for those interested in arts and crafts as knitting needles are not on the TSA Prohibited Items list. There are ways in which a knitting needle could be harmful to other passengers of course, with their long length and pointed (albeit unsharpened) end capable of causing damage.

Needles do of curse come in a range of different shape and sizes though and you couldn’t blame security from taking a set of knitting needles that look more like a pair of medieval spears. They should also preferably be made from plastic or wood if you hope to avoid issues at security.

Dead Bodies

You might be surprised to learn that taking a dead body with you from one country to another is not allowed. Not so surprising then?

Well you’ll be baffled to learn that there are plenty of people out there who do their utmost to take dead bodies with them onto flights in order to save on the high costs of transporting a loved one who is deceased. From hiding the body in carry-on bags to making them appear alive, these incidences have been reported.

Snow Globes

Liquids aren’t meant to be transported in hand luggage, which is we have smaller versions that do pass the 3.4 ounces maximum liquid content. Snow globes are a popular tourist souvenir that many people worry may be present on the prohibited items list.

Well, as long as they contain less than 3.4 ounces of liquid they can be brought on board, but they also need to be stored in a re-sealable security bag. You can tell if a snow globe is too big to take with you if it’s larger than a tennis ball.

Scissors

A pretty standard item for most people is scissors, which may be required for arts and crafts for instance. However, they cannot be brought onto any flight in any circumstance. Most scissors have blades which are longer than 4 inches and this won’t pass security officials.

They will be classed as a sharp object and, let’s face it, could potentially cause harm to other passengers. You can acquire scissors wherever you are, so don’t take them on a plane with you!

Ice Skates

Despite the presence of blades on this type of footwear, hockey players and figure skaters alike can rejoice in the fact that they won’t be prevented from taking their ice skates with them on a flight.

The blades may prove to be a danger to fellow passengers, security officials will allow them on a flight. Your skates should be stored in a small bag that can be classified as a carry-on item.

Article provided by Rand Logistics, a market leading parcel broker with links to courier services across more than 240 countries worldwide – meaning you can send almost anywhere with great confidence and at the best possible price.

October 13, 2015October 13, 2015

5 Unbelievable Supercar Fails

For most of us a Bugatti Veyron or a Lamborghini Aventador are only ever going to be owned in a dream. This does not mean we cannot enjoy these most luxurious of cars and aspire to one day be in a position to own the latest, fastest and most desirable cars, they often at their most enjoyable when their incredibly rich owner does something incredibly dumb in them.

Just take a moment to think about those that have just purchased their dream car, they are on the way back from the showroom, proud and beaming from ear to ear and then it happens. The car is too powerful, or they underestimate a corner and end up on a YouTube ‘supercar fails’ compilation video. Not the ideal way to show off your latest purchase, but it at least allows you and me to have a little smile at their (considerable) expense.

Below are 5 of our favourite supercar fails, showing you that showing off doesn’t always pay off. The only thing hurt in these videos was pride and those beautiful and very expensive cars.

Nissan GT-R – The Flying Car?

Just because you have all those horses doesn’t mean they all need to gallop at once, as the driver of this Nissan GT-R found out. Yes, being stuck behind a slow pickup truck can be frustrating but you need to gauge the road ahead when overtaking. Commence high-speed overtaking on a bouncy bit of road, just before a roundabout; as you can imagine it doesn’t turn out too well for this poor car. This video does show that we may just be closer to flying cars than we thought.

Bugatti Veyron – The Floating Car?

In one of the more bizarre supercar fails, the driver of this Bugatti Veyron appears to be admiring the scenery of the upcoming lake a little bit too much. It’s a lovely winter day and you are enjoying your £1 million car, not using excessive speed or doing anything out of the ordinary – unlike most other supercar fails – when all of a sudden you veer of course straight into that lake you’ve been admiring.

Whilst not necessarily the biggest or most epic supercar fail, you can’t help but wince at a £1 million car taking a swim.

Lamborghini Gallardo – Suburban Supercar

There is just something about supercars that make people want to film them. It’s not every day you see a Lamborghini Gallardo at a red light, so naturally the first thing you reach for is your video camera to record this chance meeting. Unfortunately for the driver of this £200,000 car, we are about to see him oversteer and incredibly squeeze himself between two cars.

If there is anywhere you don’t want to make a fool of yourself it is at the traffic lights, even less so when you are in the suburbs of one of the largest cities in America.

Off-Road Testing a Lamborghini Gallardo

The first thing that I think about when I look at a Lamborghini is ‘I bet that’s a good off roader’. The driver of this Gallardo wanted to test out the theory that Lamborghinis are better than Land Rovers. Clearly they are faster off road but if you don’t apply the brakes there’s only one place you are going to end up – in the dealership with a large bill to pay.

Ferrari Enzo – Making the News

You’re a famous comedian and have the pleasure of test driving someone else’s Ferrari Enzo. With only 400 ever produced the Enzo is a car where its value is increased each time there is a crash involving one, they are just so limited. The pressure of being on local news, driving someone else’s car and knowing there are so few Enzo’s in the world obviously got to Eddie Griffin in one of the worst understeering incidents you are likely to see.

Amazingly the owner came out of his Enzo being crashed on TV quite happy. He posed for photos with his Enzo wreck, had his insurance pay out 50% of his initial $650,000 cost and sold the wreckage for another $500,000. Not too horrendous for a chance meeting with a concrete barrier.

Article provided by FEV, a family-run fire extinguisher company established in 1990 and serving both commercial and motorsport markets to keep cars safe and fireproof ever since.

October 12, 2015October 13, 2015

6 Top Office Refurbishment Tips

There are plenty of reasons why someone would consider going through a complete office overhaul, whether it’s to boost morale, make the most space or compensate for an increase in employees.

Office refurbishment has all kinds of advantages and is often the hidden solution to many problems that arise in the commercial environment. Here are some useful office refurbishment tips you can use to structure your overhaul so that it provides you with everything you’d need…

Company Image

If your company image requires a complete review and potential overhaul, it’s important that your refurbishment process matches these requirements. Image proves to be everything in a business environment and first impressions play a huge part in the success of a business.

One of the biggest aspects of a first impression come from the office and how it looks. Your clients will take note of your operations upon visiting your property, so make sure cluttering is at a minimum.

Being Environmentally Friendly

It’s both fashionable and vitally important to the welfare of the planet to be environmentally friendly as a company, while it’ll also be noted as part of your company image.

Architecture, technology and processes should all follow some kind of environmentally friendly checklist and you will likely attract more clients and boost overall morale.

Using Space More Efficiently

Using space efficiently is one of the most important aspects of any office refurbishment process and usually the main reason for wanting an overhaul.

Filing cabinets, desks and office dividers all take up space, so it’s all about how you use them to suit the space that you have. It’s a good idea to contact an expert in office reorganisation and refurbishment to give you an idea of how you should plan your new office.

Safety and Security

Offices that have not bene refurbished for some time may well lack the security and safety that is required to ensure employees and visitors are safe from potential harm.

Any hazardous situation in an office must be dealt with if you want to avoid potential legal action and you can do this through a complete overhaul of your office space. Carry out a risk assessment prior to the refurbishment project and you can deal with these issues accordingly.

Benefit to Employees

Office refurbishment can be used to your advantage and ultimately lead to a more motivated and inspired team of employees. Better working conditions can be created to make it more enjoyable for your employees to operate, which will in turn lead to more efficiency throughout the office.

Employees work far better when they are in an office that has everything they need within reach and provides a comfortable place to operate.

Look to the Future

Your office space should meet all of the above requirements and one of the best ways of achieving this is to look at how office refurbishments have changed over the years.

What’s more, you should also be looking at how you want your business to change over time and ensure that your office space can accommodate for any changes that could be in the pipeline over the coming years.

Article provided by www.completeinteriordesign.co.uk, a commercial interior fit out and office refurbishment business serving Surrey, Sussex, London and the rest of the Home Counties.

October 12, 2015October 13, 2015

Memorabilia to Remember, from the Rugby World Cup to Baseball – the booming Sport Souvenir industry

With the eyes of the nation firmly on the Rugby World Cup and the action happening on the pitch across England & Wales, the huge business of sports memorabilia and souvenirs is in full flow. The sport memorabilia industry is worth an estimated £1 billion and with major events, like this year’s Rugby World Cup, the demand for a unique memory is hugely in demand.

Companies up and down the country are looking for ways to provide these memories through the manufacture and sell of items – ranging from a simple keyring right through to signed match shirts and bespoke jewellery. There are some amazing examples of sports memorabilia out there, ranging from keyrings and pin badges, right through to the rarest baseball jerseys that are worth millions of pounds.

Below we take a look at some different examples across this industry and see what memorabilia there is commemorating not only the 2015 Rugby World Cup, but also teams, tournaments and players of the past.

Key Rings

A staple in the gift and souvenir section of any sports club, key rings are a simple and functional gift for any sports fan. From key rings with the shirt design of your club and country to more elaborate designs, a key ring is an affordable way to cling on to the precious memories of the big game day.

Badges

Metal pin badges are a true collectable and event badges can only further enhance someone’s collections. With avid collectors after the latest badges this can be big business, regardless of the event. The Rugby World Cup has produced a number of metal pin badges, ranging from the official emblem to all 20 official match shirts. It’s not only a collector that may be interested in pin badges, it makes a nice subtle souvenir where you can wear it with pride without drawing attention to it.

Cufflinks

One of the more leftfield items being sold for the Rugby World Cup, you can pick up some silver, hand engraved cufflinks. Unlike a lot of event souvenirs, cufflinks are something useable in day-to-day life. For those that have to wear cuffed shirts for business, cufflinks are a great way to be able to either show support for a tem or event whilst still meeting the all-important appearance guidelines.

Playing shirts

The most obvious souvenir for a team is the replica playing shirt. Every team has one and each major tournament that comes around there are bespoke shirts made as a one off. The way to increase the value of these shirts even further is to get it signed. Having a signed shirt is a great piece of memorabilia and if you walk into any sports club you are sure to see at least one signed shirt.

Unique historic memorabilia

Outside of traditional sporting memorabilia, like the previously mentioned examples, there are some extraordinary pieces of historic memorabilia that sell for millions of pounds. A lot of these items were never for sale originally but have high significance to that sport or period of time.

One of the more fascinating pieces that has made its way through an auction house, selling for over £900,000, is the original rule book for Sheffield United Football Club. This item is looked upon as the first official document detailing the rules of football and therefore has huge historic value.

There is also a huge amount of money in significant baseballs in the USA. There are examples of baseballs being sold for $3 million (£1.9 million) for players that hit significant landmarks. The most expensive one to be sold at auction is Mark McGwire’s record breaking 70^th Home Run baseball from the 1998 season.

Sports memorabilia is a large, ever growing industry and there will always be news stories about pieces that are sold for extortionate sums of money but for most people it is about having a souvenir of the big game. Whether it is the Rugby World Cup or a community sports tournament, there is always a desire for players and spectators to mark the occasion; this is unlikely to change any time in the future.

Article provided by Southern United; specialist label manufacturers and reputable suppliers of sports memorabilia – working with the aerospace, defence and commercial sectors.

September 2, 2015

4 Instances of Wildly Successful Visual Merchandising

Advertising has always been used to tug at the emotions, to make us feel or want to do something in response to the advertisement itself. Whether you are looking at a shop floor design, a national marketing campaign or just a simple poster, advertisement can be extremely persuasive if gone about the right way.

Whether love them or hate them, everyone has one or two advertisements they can remember that stick out in their minds for whatever reason. We’ll take a look at four perfect examples of great advertisements that made people think, and what effect it may have had on those people.

Disney Side – Disney

Why not show your Disney Side? #disneyside was a widely popular campaign that saw shoppers coming ‘face to face’ with silhouettes of their favourite Disney characters. The set up; a simple shopping centre. A seemingly innocuous paper screen is placed along one wall of a shopping centre, making it look like an as of yet, unopened shop. Passers-by wouldn’t notice anything much out of the ordinary, but if you were to walk past at the right time you might see something a little strange about your shadow.

In the video shared by the Disney Parks, the first shopper doesn’t notice anything out of the ordinary, even though a silhouetted Mickey Mouse follows his move across the centre. In fact, the first few passers-by move along without a word. The first one to notice his silhouette replaced with Donald Duck is a young man on the phone, who hesitantly waves back. This quaint advertisement was all done in fun to ‘show your Disney side’ and is a great way of generating viral interest without seemingly trying to ‘sell’ anything.

Monty The Penguin – John Lewis

This heart-warming Christmas advertisement showed the day-to-day life of a young boy and his ‘pet’ penguin. They get into all sorts of adventures, with the young boy even occasionally feeding his unwanted food to Monty. At the end of the advertisement, we see Monty united with his very own female penguin friend, as a much cherished Christmas present. Mother comes down with a cup of coffee to see her son playing with his new friends, who were in fact, plush toys all along.

It is a beautiful advertisement coupled with emotional scenes and music that takes us back to our childhood days, where stuffed toys had their own voices and personality. The caption ‘Give someone the Christmas they’ve been dreaming of’ nicely rounds off the campaign and makes the message of the advertisement very clear.

2 Euro T-Shirt

Designed as a social campaign for a cause, this advertisement is a little different. A bright gaudy turquoise vending machine is placed in the centre of a busy city. Inside the vending machine? T-shirts for a mere 2€. Once shoppers have inserted the money and chosen their needed size, instead of the shirt popping out, a small video is seen playing on a hidden monitor within the vending machine. The video shows women and children working hard, sewing t-shirts and other such clothing, without breaks, often in hard, life-threatening conditions.

At the end of the video a choice can be made; to donate the 2€ or to buy the T-shirt. Unsurprisingly, most chose to donate. It can be hard for charities and companies to ask us for our custom, particularly if it requires a monthly subscription and adverts on the television only get so far. To see how easily something as small as 2€ can change a life, without expecting to see it, can quickly tug on the heartstrings and that is exactly what this advertisement is doing.

We Can Do It – Rosie the Riveter

One of the oldest and most well-known advertisements globally is still making the rounds as a magnet, keychain and poster even today. Throughout the Second World War, the Us government was having difficulty keeping construction lines working, what with many men being conscripted into the army at that time. It was therefore necessary; in the wake of women gaining their right to vote, to spur on women to ‘do their bit for the country’ and to take on more traditionally male roles.

While they were paid less than their male counterparts and were soon sent back to their traditional job of homemaker upon their husbands return ‘Rosie the Riveter’ has long been used as a symbol for female empowerment, as a sign that women can and will do a man’s job, and she will do it just as well.

Whether you are trying to sell a product or just trying to promote your new brand, advertisement is incredibly important. Hundreds of thousands of pounds have been put into promotion and advertisement design in order to get passers-by to stop, look and even buy certain products. By affecting our intended audiences emotions, or urging them to get out there and do something, we essentially encourage them towards a set goal on a subliminal level, using our product. Good advertisement is a solid power, so it is a great tool to use when promoting your brand or product.

Article provided by www.propstudios.co.uk, a multi-award winning design studio with a great experience and special focus on the design, project management and installation of bespoke luxury retail window display schemes.

September 1, 2015September 2, 2015

Home Remedies For Keeping Your Home Office Clean and Smelling Fresh!

Although you may feel most productive while at home, you are also more relaxed and more lax when it comes to working at home. You might be a complete neat freak in an office environment in public, but the difference with a home office is that there aren’t often meetings held there. You can host conferences over skype and barely anyone else enters into your office, so cleanliness might go out the window if you’re not careful.

We’re not saying your home office is filthy but it can be easy to forget that you have to clean and maintain it just as you would a work office. People relax once they are in their homes and this is no crime, but it is essential that you try to keep your home office clean and tidy, as studies have shown it has a profound effect on the quality of your work and your levels of concentration during the working hours.

Home-Made Potpourri
Pick a scent you like, be it vanilla, lemon or lavender and create your own made little potpourri bag! Buy a small, simple organza bag from a craft shop or off the internet and use potpourri or scented air fresheners to fill it up with lovely, subtle scents. You can also make it from scratch by using coffee beans, lemon peels or even a piece of cotton with a few drops of vanilla extract dripped onto it. In order to keep everything in place (and to reduce mess) you can place it in the organza bag and then pop the bag where your office is most likely to benefit from it.

Some bags are great for musty old paperwork drawers, whereas others benefit from staying near the fridge. Of course you don’t want to ignore any overpowering odours as that is normally a sign of something off, and you’ll want to clean that. The scent bags are just a good way of making your home office smell fresh and clean all the time!

Cleaning and Sterilising the Keyboard
People don’t often realise how dirty their keyboards can get. You type on it all day, snacking on food with your fingers without washing your hands and then absentmindedly return to the keys. Dust, nail residue, crumbs and more can built up in between the keys as well as sweat and grease from your fingers, so it is important to give it a good clean every now and then.

Make sure to unplug the keyboard before cleaning it. Most keyboard keys have a special mechanism that means they are easy to snap off and snap back on again. Use a credit card for the first few keys and wiggle it about gently so that you don’t break the mechanism, then once a few keys are free you can easily remove the rest.

Get a spray bottle and fill it with 2 parts water, 1 part vinegar slightly warmed in the microwave with a few droplets of tea tree oil. Leave the keys in another, smaller bowl of vinegar/water mixture to soak while you give the base of the keyboard a few good squirts. Leave it for a few minutes then wipe it down fully with a clean cloth. You might see a lot of gunk come off the keyboard this way, so try wiping it down with a tissue first! Dry off the keys and then wiped down all surfaces with a scented wipe (to get rid of the vinegar smell). Once everything has dried fully, you can snap the keys back into place and plug the keyboard back in. Lovely!

Regular Clear Outs
Little things like organising your paper tray every week and emptying the bin before it gets too full will really help when it comes to keeping your home office clean. It might not seem like a big deal but it can help in the long scheme of things and reduces the amount of objects you have to fiddle with when you should be working on long projects! If you have a fridge in your home office, make sure to give it a wipe down every now and then and remember to throw out of date food out, otherwise it can build up a nasty smell over time.

By making little amendments often throughout the month, you will be able to keep on top of office cleaning far better than you would if you try to do one big clear out every few months or so. If you let it build up you might be tempted to keep allowing it to get worse and worse, so it is always good to get into a regular cleaning routine before it gets too bad. Even something as small as throwing away old or broken pens every week and making sure any shavings are properly put in the bin will be a massive help in the long run.

Article provided by Supreme Office Cleaning; a professional cleaning service based in London and Kent established in 2006.

September 1, 2015September 2, 2015

3 Reasons Why Booking a Venue Instantly Gives Your Event Class

From drafting the initial plans to sorting out the transport to and from the venue to the cuisine provided, organising an event puts a lot of strain on you. It can create a lot of pressure for you to do well, particularly if you are hosting a business event for industry partners or esteemed guests. Likewise the pressure is also’ if you have been assigned the job of finding a venue for the school dance or school prom.

Whether you were tasked to organise this event on your own or you lead a planning committee, the decision to hold the event at a certain venue can be a risky one. What if the guests have difficulty getting to the venue? What if the venue does not accommodate all of the guests? What if the venue is not able to cater to the needs of every guest? There will be a lot of doubts and worried running through your mind but it is important to remember that if you have done this our research properly and organised everything in advance, you shouldn’t have any serious issues.

Here are three reasons why booking a separate venue instantly wins brownie points for your event organisation skills.

Equipment Designed to Suit the needs of your conference

From overhead projectors to interactive whiteboards, computers with PowerPoint, Wi-Fi access and conference call features available, conference events can often get pretty heavy handed on the technology side of things. With a huge range of different venues to choose from, you will be able to pick a venue that has the equipment you need to run a successful convention.

If you are unsure as to whether or not your potential venue provides these features, all you can do is ask. Bear in mind that it may not be enough that a venue does provide all these features; you might need to run them at the same time. Check if sufficient power outlets are provided and whether or not running costs are included in the booking, otherwise you might find yourself paying some nasty surprise fees.

A Neutral Location to Discuss the Future of the company

If this is a business conference and you are looking forward to networking, the concept of meeting at a neutral location can be quite an attractive one for potential partners. It puts them at ease and allows them to enjoy themselves in a more relaxing environment, which would not be the case had you hosted the event in your own company offices or conference room.

When making connections, it is important to get a potential business partner to trust you before making any arrangements and they may not feel as if they can speak freely at your own conference rooms. A booked venue provides a neutral location where you can discuss the nature of your partnership and the future of this partnership with the business.

Catering Services provided by the venue

Do not worry about sorting out the catering options. In many cases event venues are specifically designed to cater to the needs of your party members and so long as you have notified the catering staff of any dietary requirements beforehand you should have no issue. Some venues even provide several choices in order to meet your catering requirements, so if you are having a formal dinner, a choice of menus is always beneficial and makes a good impression on your superiors.

Some venues may include the price of the wine in the booking costs per head, others may include just one free half bottle or one free bottle per head with extra charges applying afterwards. It is important to realise that most, if not all venues will not allow you to provide your own cuisine, so making good use of the catering options provided is essential.

At the end of the day it is not about scoring points with anyone in particular, but if you have learned anything from booking your first event, even if it is just to be a little more conservative with the budget provided, you can chalk that up as a win. When it comes to organising business events, everyone is going to have that one event that might not go so well, but if you prepare adequately beforehand, you should have no problems. Stay calm and do your research before jumping in and making a booking out of the blue. In all honesty, the very fact you have chosen an external venue in favour of a boardroom or in office meeting room for the event speaks volumes. Good luck!

Article provided by www.bestvenues.london, an online venue sourcing service that is completely FREE to customers. Looking for a unique, quirky or unusual place for your event? Best Venues specialises in providing the perfect place for your celebrations!

April 21, 2015

The Rise of CCTV

CCTV has had a huge effect on the way in which we treat security systems, protect our valuables and monitor illegal activity. It is certainly something we take for granted considering its recent emergence and high-tech characteristics.

You are likely to find CCTV everywhere in the public domain as well as in domestic and commercial properties. There’s no doubt CCTV has become something we simply accept for what it is, so how exactly has it turned into one of the most important security features of our generation?

The vast majority of businesses nowadays will take full advantage of CCTV to prevent intruders from getting away with stolen property. In addition, consumers have invested millions in having CCTV installed for their premises to encourage tighter security that reduces the risk of theft. Ultimately, it helps prevent anxiety surrounding the potential for robbery and theft and gives both domestic and commercial property owners peace of mind.

Over the years, CCTV cameras have taken many different shapes and have subsequently developed to become more efficient in catching criminals in the act, from bank robberies to speeding. Here’s how this fascinating bit of tech has evolved over the years.

Before Commercial Use

CCTV was actually first introduced to monitor V-2 rockets in 1942 in Germany, with engineer Walter Bruch using the technology for monitoring purposes only. This is the earliest documented use of CCTV. However, it was soon as introduced on a commercial scale and in 1949, the system was promoted by an American government contractor.

This was CCTV in its infancy, so it could do little more than monitor live events and didn’t have the capability to capture or record events. This meant that anyone using these systems would have to be watching a live feed and note down anything suspicious.

The First Video Recordings

It was recognised that the data provided by CCTV could be incredibly valuable to detectives and government officials, so methods of capturing and recording this data were thought up and tested. These were first introduced as highly primitive reel-to-reel recording systems which used magnetic tapes.

These tapes needed to be swapped manually which cost a lot of money and proved to be both difficult and unreliable. These systems were relatively rare due to the cost of manufacturing, so it’s no surprise operatives soon got tired of threading tape from the used reel through the recorder onto a new empty reel.

The Age of VCR’s

It wasn’t until the introduction of VCR’s that surveillance technology was unearthed once again and rapidly developed to create far more reliable, cost-effective and efficient CCTV systems. VCR’s, or video cassette recordings, were widely available in the 70’s and it was this technology that was passed over to those working on new and improved surveillance cameras.

Thanks to this new technology, CCTV was given a new lease of life and could now be used in many different ways. Screens no longer needed to be monitored by staff, with systems running by themselves and recording collected data. Business found this new form of CCTV to be extremely handy, especially when it came to catching thieves who, unexpected to them, had been caught stealing private property overnight.

Like most groundbreaking technologies, these CCTV cameras were far from perfect and still had their flaws. Only so much data could be stored on one tape, meaning that any criminal investigation required shelves upon shelves of tape recordings to be stored like a library, taking up plenty of office space.

The Introduction of DVR’s and NVR’s

VCR’s could only take CCTV so far and soon enough, in the 1990’s; DVR’s (digital video recorders) were introduced. It was these systems that enhanced the user-friendly experience of CCTV cameras, with installation and the collection of data becoming far easier. Digital recorders meant that video tapes were no longer required, so the age of countless amounts of tape stored on shelves was eradicated to the relief of many.

This takes us right up to date and to the introduction of NCR’s, or network video recorders. These systems process and encode footage before streaming it to NVR’s for storage purposes or remote viewing. If a firm has multiple site locations or various departments, NCR’s are incredibly useful and allow for CCTV throughout an entire network.

CCTV has reached greater heights since its introduction in 1942 and, with the technology in such high demand, it’s likely that it will continue to develop and give us even more assurance about our levels of security on both a domestic and commercial level.

Article provided by Stephen Parkes of www.rentrifone.com, a London based Security Company specialising in door entry systems, CCTV, access control systems and digital satellite TV systems.