Posts Tagged ‘business meeting’

Women now make up almost half of the workforce, a far cry from the numbers decades ago, when women only accounted for a fraction of the workforce. Many of these working women are mothers who are juggling the demands of work and parenting. Even dads are playing both roles, as they contribute at work and home. These changes have put pressure on companies to offer more programs that fit the needs of families. After all, when parents know that their children are being well cared for, they can be better workers.

If your company has a business meeting scheduled, there’s no reason why the kids can’t be invited. This allows more flexibility as to when the business meeting can be held, while also ensuring that all employees are at the meeting on time and stay for the duration, while being fully focused on the material during the conference.

But how exactly do you run successful childcare during a business meeting?

Staff Sufficiently

First off, make sure you have an accurate count of how many children will be attending the meeting. It’s important to have the proper staff-to-child ratio so that you can properly and safely care for the children. These ratios are based on the ages of the children and break down to 3:1 for infants, 4:1 for toddlers and 6:1 for children. Since you’re probably tapped out of staff members, hire an onsite childcare company that will provide dependable staff members that will tend to the children.

Keep Them Busy

When you work with an onsite childcare company, the agency will have plenty of age-appropriate activities that will keep everyone busy. This is, after all, the key to running a successful business meeting. You can expect such activities as singing songs, seeing a magician, putting on a puppet show and dancing around to music.

Plan an Appropriate Venue

In addition to the activities planned by the agency, you will need to have a room where the children can stay. Make sure the room is comfortable, has plenty of space to move around, is safe for all ages of children and has bathrooms nearby. While you want the meeting to move along seamlessly, it’s not a bad idea to arrange a few short breaks where parents can check in with their kids if need be. When your employees see just how much fun their kids are having, they’ll be fully invested in the meeting.

At first, your company may feel as if providing child care is difficult to accomplish. Yet thanks to onsite childcare companies, you can provide fun, safe, dependable arrangements that allow you to conveniently hold meetings away from the office, on weekends or evenings. The kids have fun and your employees come together without the distraction of ringing cell phones and text messages of parents waiting to pick their children up.

Image Source: guardian.co.uk

If you have to travel to New Orleans on business, consider bringing the kids along for the ride. While the idea may sound a bit foreign, more companies are allowing their employees to bring their children on business trips – and providing the resources to make it happen. There are many rewards to bringing the kids along on business, as parents don’t have to arrange for child care or miss out on valuable family time. And when having their children in tow, employees are better able to focus on their work, knowing that their family is right around the corner.

Not all business trips will be kid friendly, so it’s important to choose cities that are conducive to young children. New Orleans is a family-friendly city, so if you have a business trip coming up soon, start planning for the family.  Talk to your employer about arranging for family-friendly hotels and onsite child care such as Accent OCA for when you’re in meetings.

What else can you do when you bring your children to New Orleans on a business trip?

The Audubon Zoo has more than 1,300 creatures, including the Komodo dragon, Bengal tigers and rare white alligators.

The Monteleone is a stunning hotel that turns the heads of passerbys. Although a prestigious hotel, rates for kids are affordable, and little ones will love the heated rooftop pool and revolving piano bar.

Kids will take an active interest in the “cities of the dead” or above-ground tombstones; something only seen in New Orleans.

Little hands will love exploring the 30,000 square foot Louisiana Children’s Museum with a mini supermarket and rock climbing wall.

Children love riding around in the wooden electric cars through the streets of New Orleans. Rides are only $1.25, making this an affordable activity.

Other fun activities for kids include airboat tours, fishing expeditions, aquariums, swamp tours and museums. Not only can you enjoy many fun, budget-friendly activities in between meetings, but also New Orleans caters to visitors and their families, which means easier access to child care. With onsite children’s arrangements like Accent OCA, you won’t have to worry about leaving your children with a stranger. All activities provided are safe, secure and fun for kids of all ages.

With this unique approach toward out-of-town business meetings, you don’t have to sacrifice valuable time with the kids at the expense of your work. To learn more about these wonderful opportunities, work with a DMC that can help you find age-appropriate activities, restaurants and hotels that cater to children.

Image: freewebs.com