Most of us have sat through a dull, repetitive sales or business meeting at least once in our lives. Cries of “Oh no, not Again!” and drooling employees with blank zombie stares are the highlight of these meetings. If you are a sales manager or business owner, you know that putting together a fun and successful sales meeting is not an easy task.

Livening up your meeting and taking a few tips from the pros can help transform your meetings from dreaded endurances to refreshing breaks form the work week.

Tips for a Successful Sales Meeting

Be flexible. Allow extra time for questions and ideas from team members.

Vary the pace of the meeting and provide frequent breaks for anything lasting longer than 3 hours.

Provide each employee with an agenda for the meeting several days in advance. This allows your team to brush up on the information to be discussed.

Start on time and end on time. Your employees often have work to finish after the meeting ends. Show respect by taking their schedules into consideration.

Give each attendee a research assignment prior to the meeting. This takes some of the workload off the meeting facilitator and lets each team member become involved in the meeting. If nothing, else, each team member will remain awake and focused during his or her own portion of the meeting.

Take advantage of brainstorming sessions. Provide an opportunity for feedback and brainstorming during every meeting.

Fun Sales Meeting Ideas

There are no rules that say your sales meetings have to be boring. Thinking outside the box and inspiring creativity can bolster your company’s teamwork and morale, and increase your sales.

Hire a live entertainer for a brief reprieve to break up marathon meetings. Caricature artists, clowns, magicians, and comedians are terrific boredom busters.

Decorate the meeting room with a fun theme. Use balloons, graphics, and props to add interest. Consider creating a theme for your sales meeting such as “Reeling in the Big Sales” with a fishing theme, “Pillaging for Profits” with a pirate theme, or “Betting on Success” with a casino theme.

Provide snacks and note taking materials. You can continue your theme with printed stationary and themed foods.

Conducting a fun and successful sales meeting takes imagination, innovation and focus. Interesting meetings help your team to retain more information and share your sales goals.

American Greetings research shows that 95 percent of children under the age of 10 had some type of celebration for their birthday with 66 percent of those celebrations taking place in the child’s home. Birthday parties are popular, but they can also be a source of headaches for the party planner.

Planning a special birthday party for your child can be a challenge. You want to provide a memorable experience, but selecting a theme and activities that catch your young partygoers’ short attention spans is not easy. Popular cartoon characters are a birthday party staple, but most are not memorable. Try these birthday party ideas and tips to make your child’s birthday a fun and memorable experience.

Ideas for Children’s Birthday Party Themes

Carnival of Celebration

Come to the Circus

Underwater Adventure

Construction Zone

Garden Party

Fun on the Farm

Royal Kingdom Feast

Everything Pink (or whatever your child’s favorite color currently is)

A Day at the Races

Horses and Ponies

Superheroes

Alien Invasion

Exploring Outer Space

Prehistoric Times

Sports themes, especially soccer

Pirates Ahoy

Scavenger Hunt

Tips for Making Your Child’s Birthday Party Memorable

Allow your child to participate in the planning and preparation for the party. The idea is to have fun. Decorations do not have to look perfect and no one will notice if your house is covered in glitter and dried glue.

Keep the guest list to a manageable size. Too many guests will only overwhelm your child and overwork you.

Limit the sweets and offer healthy snack choices. A room full of children overloaded with sugar is a recipe for disaster.

Review proper manners with your child before the party. This will avoid embarrassing comments if your child receives the same gift twice or if one child becomes bossy or unruly, (there is usually at least one of these in every group). Make sure your child knows to thank each party goes and their parents for the gift and for celebrating their special day.

Sacrifice a few hours of party preparation to spend some one-on-one time with your child on their special day. Go see a movie, eat breakfast out, or hold a family picnic. Even if you have to skip dusting the furniture the day of the party, these moments together will provide many cherished memories for the whole family.

Creating a fun and memorable birthday party for your child requires choosing a theme your child will enjoy and keeping the focus of the day on your child, not the details of the party.

Carnival Games Portland - Portland Carnival Games Rental.

We are the Portland areas top provider of carnival games and carnival gaming solutions. We offer a full selection of incredible games for school carnivals, church carnivals, picnics, special events, corporate events, parties and more!

We also have a great selection of carnival prizes which are available for your event- truly a one stop party solution!

Here are some of the amazing carnival games Portland area carnival planners may love to see at their upcoming event:

1) The Dunk Tank carnival game
Dunk Tanks have long been a carnival mainstay - at Clowns Unlimited we have a huge selection of original style dunk tank games, as well as a great amount of other fun dunk tank alternatives!

2) Classic Carnival Games
Fun games like the classic ring toss, beanbag toss, color wheel, tic tac toe, ball throws, and more- we have a huge selection of these types of fun carnival games which are the perfect addition to any Portland area carnival event.

3) Hi Striker Carnival Game
Hi Strikers have been used to test the strength at Portland area carnivals for years now- and we have a huge selection of these activities available for any carnival party or event!

4) Inflatable Carnival Games
Inflatable Carnival Games and activities for all types of special events and parties- we have a huge selection of carnival games and activities that come in the inflatable format- with everything from speed pitch, to basketball toss- literally the options will amaze you.

To compliment any portland carnival game rental- do not forget that we can offer a huge selection of carnival prizes, carnival rides, and just about everything you can think up when planning a carnival party or event in the greater Portland and Vancouver metropolitan areas!

Inflatable games are a fun and interesting alternative to tired, over-used fundraisers. Sponsoring an inflatable games night can fulfill your organization’s fundraising goals for the entire year if handled properly.

Tips for Planning an Inflatable Games Fundraiser

1. Select various activities suitable for different age ranges.

2. Include several inflatable game choices for toddlers and small children that will allow parents to participate as well. Bounce houses and giant slides are popular activities.

3. Include a competitive inflatable game, such as an obstacle course and man that game with an outgoing person who will encourage rivalries and repeat customers.

4. Offer helium balloons and refreshments for sale during the activities.

5. Advertise your inflatable games night well in advance. Pass out fliers, place an ad in the local newspaper. Contact local churches, day cares and pre-schools and offer a discount on tickets for mentioning where a customer heard about your event. This allows you to collect information about what marketing venues brought in the most business. This provides input for planning next year’s fundraiser.

6. Create a fun and festive environment by involving outgoing ticket takers and booth operators.

7. Consider hiring a live band to draw in passers-by and music lovers.

8. Provide plenty of organized parking for your event and notify local police of your plans.

9. Check with city hall to obtain any permits necessary for holding a carnival-type fundraiser.

10. Consider selecting a theme for your inflatable games fundraiser. You can select themes such as a day at the beach, popular Disney or cartoon characters, Fantasyland, outer space, alien invasion, the royal kingdom, or Mexican fiesta. The possibilities are endless!

11. Set out donation boxes with a written explanation of where the proceeds will go. This encourages observers to donate to your cause.

12. Post rules clearly. This provides unambiguous behavioral guidelines to help keep everyone safe.

13. Use egg timers or stopwatches to determine when an activity is over.

14. If you charge $1 per game or ride, you will need at least $20 in one-dollar bills for each game attendant to begin the night. You can avoid this problem by selling paper tickets at a central ticket booth if you prefer to have only one or two people handling the proceeds.

15. Be sure to thank each patron personally for supporting your cause.

Inflatable games make money because they are fun for people of all ages. Keep your fundraiser safe and legal by following local laws and guidelines for public events and prepare for an evening of profitable entertainment.

For a good School Carnival 101 page, that will help you with planning your carnival and figuring out activities for your group check out our school carnival planning page here.

We are the Pacific Northwest’s leading provider of games, prizes, entertainers, and activities at local school canrivals and events.

With over 26 years of Experience, Clowns Unlimited has done thousands of school carnivals, grad parties, special events, and more. We are here to make the school carnival planners life easier, and will do our best to provide your organization with top level customer service and the best games in the industry.

Call us for a free brochure today, and we will be glad to offer you the best entertainment around!

Summer picnic games - Exciting games and fun for summer picnic events.

Are you planning your company summer picnic? On this site you will find a huge amount of resources and summer picnic games, entertainers, and fun activities for your group. We supply the Portland and Seattle areas with the regions best selection of summer picnic entertainment.

Your upcoming event can be made into a huge success by incorporating and choosing the right activities for your group. At our company we specialize in offering the perfect games for your party. We have everything from inflatable games, bounce houses, inflatable slides, carnival games, ferris wheels, climbing walls, ropes courses, and so much more available to help build the excitement at your event. Browse some of the links to the left, and if something strikes your fancy- send in a wishlist! We are happy to be of service for your next event!