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What Makes these Events Creative?

Observation #1
I was standing in the lobby of the Europa Hotel in Belfast waiting for a colleague to go to dinner.  Singles, pairs and groups of young men and women rushed into the lobby and asked where was the White Collar Boxing taking place.  The doorman said on the first floor,  After observing this scene for a few minutes I asked the doorman what is white collar boxing and why were all these people rushing to participate.  After all I had been at the hotel for 4 days and had not seen this many people in the lobby before.  He explained that white collar means managers, lawyers, directors of companies where donating their talent to box each other for charity,  He surmised that some of the people rushing in where coming to see their boss take a beating.   

What was creative about this – well the hotel needed revenue, the charity needed revenue, the boss’s wished to be perceived as giving back to the community, and some observers wanted to see boss take a few licks.  Others were coming to support their boss, and some of them were there because they were told to be there.  In the USA you see the same motivations in charity events where the boss is put in jail and to get out have to get their friends, employees and sometimes themselves to put up the bail money.

Observation #2
I checked into the Conrad Hotel in Dublin went to the room, where the hotel provided access to the internet for a price, and tried to get online to check my email messages.  As technically aware as I am I couldn’t manage the instructions, so I called for help.  The hotel sent up a person who did exactly the same things I did and couldn’t connect either.  But in the conversation said there is free wireless on the first floor.  So I took my laptop and went down to check it out.  Sure enough, free wifi. 

WHY I asked myself – well as I looked at my Guinness and turkey wrap, I surmised that they give you free access in the lobby bar area so you will get out of the room and buy something from the hotel while surfing the net.  I still wonder if the reason it didn’t work in the room was to encourage you to go to the lobby with the assumption you would partake in the food and beverages.

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