The Industry's highest honor

I received a good news report from Michelle Mills from Chicago:

Dear Marcel,
You were personally recommended by SITE President Hugo Slimbrouck (see photo), as an excellent choice as a judge for the 2007 SITE Crystal Awards.
As you may be aware, the SITE Crystal Awards are considered the Industry's highest honor...

I told Michelle it would be my pleasure to free some time between August 20th and September 20th to take a close look at between 5 and 8 entries. I'll draw my inspiration from the crystal owl I got from BAPCO in 2005. I gave this award its own place in my office. As you may know, owls can turn their heads well: as much as 270 degrees! A member of the jury needs this characteristic; you have to look at things from all different angles while showing some wisdom, because that's another characteristic of the owl. There are some people who say that my glasses look a bit like owl glasses...

The brand 'Diane Pernet'

Last week I met my blog muse in Paris: Diane Pernet. Ever since I've caught the blog fever, I've written in my Blog that Diane's blog - A Shaded View on Fashion has over 100,000 visitors a month! - was my big example for creating my own Meetings Blog. In the (trendy?) restaurant Kong at the Rue du Pont Neuf, where you don't get as much on your plate as you get on your bill, I've crowned Diane 'Princess of Blogs'! She earned the title because she, as an American in Paris, has created a 'journalistic brand' in the fashion world.
When you've never seen Diane before, you might wonder from which planet this lady is originating. She's a delicate lady with pale skin and thin blue veins, black sunglasses, firy red lips and a hairpiece like a Paris tower, and she's always dressed in monotonous black. I'm sorry, I forgot to mention the inevitable silver Italian umbrella. Her voice only has one soft husky tone and Diane can say a lot in few words and images.
That's why I only had two questions: 'since when do you have this appearance, and how do you react to people who are scared or laugh?' Diane answered: 'Already a few decades, and I block out all exaggerated reactions.' The shortest interview I ever had! One more question then: 'Aren't you a contradiction in terms? After all, fashion is ever-changing and you never change!' - 'Indeed, that's my brand. I 'm not restricting myself to fashion, I also write about design, art, about everyone who's creating surprising things.'
As a small goodbye present I gave Diane my book: Belgium, Land of the Good Life. Because Fashion and Meetings are both on the look-out for a better life, aren't they?

Kicks for Kids

One of the best articles I've read lately in an in-flight magazine, was 'Kicks for Kids'. I was flying with Lufthansa from Munich to Leipzig, and the cover of Lufthansa Magazin (07/2007) caught my eye. The title was ‘A Family Affair – Business Trips with Children’. Suppose you go on a business trip to a big town and you want to take your kids along, where do you take them to and what can you do there? In the same breath I read the 25 tips on where to grab some family fun in New York, Tokyo, Bangkok, Amsterdam and Lisbon. The flight was far too short for so much reading pleasure.
If I took my imaginary kids for a trip to Tokyo, I would certainly eat at the Kushiya Monogatari restaurant, which is the ideal eatery for children’s birthday parties. All you can eat, and fine quality too. And in New York I would treat them to a ride on The Beast, a giant toy of a speedboat. The Beast tears around New York Harbour at 45 miles per hour to the thumping beat of rock music. And in Lissabon… No, you'll just have to read the article yourself.