The Conference Coach™

Carolyn Bradfield

Recently, Good Morning America showcased Royal Caribbean’s new mega ship, Oasis of the Seas.  This floating city has almost 2300 staff, can carry 6,000 passengers, is longer than an aircraft carrier and is 5 times the size of the Titanic.  I’ve done a lot of cruising in my life, and for me, traveling the seas on the Oasis would be like vacation hell.

Picture, if you will, the ship docked in an island paradise like St. Thomas or San Juan.  Now picture 6,000 people who want to shop, take an excursion or go to the beach trying to get off and then back on the ship roughly all at the same time.  Then there are the kids and teenagers roaming and running to find every corner of what the ship has to offer.   I’ve cruised Royal Caribbean and they are a great cruise line, but the older I get, the more I  gravitated to smaller ships.

Right now, I’m on an airplane winging my way to St. Thomas for a cruise on the Seadream (www.seadreamyachtclub.org).  There are only 56 cabins and just about as many crew as there are passengers.  It’s my idea of heaven.  The boat slips into smaller ports; there’s no crowd pushing to get off the boat; no kids, no wheelchairs, no getting lost finding your cabin.  It’s informal and intimate and you really meet fascinating people on board.  I even lost 9 pounds before the trip so I can eat my way through the tropics.  And even better, this trip came at a huge bargain – almost 70% off!

We try and get away this time every year.  It’s important to disconnect sometimes and when you have no cell phone or Internet it’s easy to focus on more important things.  A vacation like this helps clear your mind of day-to-day details so you can think strategically and creatively.

Being away from the business also empowers others in your business to function independently without you.  Copper Conferencing is a smaller company and as the CEO, I am usually intimately involved in all aspects of the business.  There’s an upside and a downside to this.  The upside is that I am educated and can make more informed decisions.  The downside is that people tend to run every decision past me – even ones that are empowered to make on their own – which is most of them.

I’m going to disconnect, recharge my batteries, clear my head and be grateful that Copper has a very strong team that is smart, capable and functions independently.  This empowers me not to worry about the business.  It’s in good hands.  I feel the batteries recharging already.

For more information about Copper Conferencing, contact a Conference Coach today.