If you think you can keep up with the ever-changing rules of airport security, go play the game (there is an annoying ad you have to listen to first, but it’s worth it).

Mike over at Communicatio has some interesting “lessons learned” about working a conference. I particularly liked this one:

When you get to the meeting site, immediately find out the location of every restroom. Inevitably, you’re going to be asked by an attendee, and you’ll want to know the answer to that question. (Likewise, know the location and hours of the business center.)

I’d add: Bring along several changes of shoes, but don’t take your shoes off until the day is over; and make sure everyone on staff knows who’s in charge of what should an emergency situation arise.

What’s your favorite piece of advice for those new to working an event?

Just in time for the fall performance-review cycle: Ten ways to get the most pay out of your job.

Will Ng over at MiSoapbox posted recently about waiters who blog about their bad-tipping customers. Like it or not (and lots of people don’t), everything is getting rated these days. From RateMyProfessors.com, where students can anonymously post comments about their teachers, to online ratings about lawyers, doctors, auto repair shops, real estate agents…well, just about everyone. Except meeting planners, at least, so far. Hotels, of course, have been dealing with this for a while with sites like this one.

Is this a good trend? I tend to think so, even if it’s a little scary to give all sorts of potential whack jobs the potential to smear your work. In my experience, these things tend to be self-correcting. You get one really bad rating, say, from someone who is just never happy with anything, but it’s ameliorated by other ratings by normal people. And if you deserve a bad rating, well, you need to know that, too. Just whatever you do, if you find your work being rated poorly, don’t go all sock puppet about it and create a fake identity to protest your innocence, as the New Republic’s Lee Siegel recently did. As he found out, this goes strongly against good netiquette.

This new openness does bring with it some new challenges, but I think it’s a good thing, overall. It’s really no different than the age-old word-of-mouth—it’s just that that mouth went electronic and global, instead of staying in the neighborhood.

Is your F&B manager a closet artist? Why not turn him or her loose to create bizarro sandwich creations like this one? (Lots more photos are here.) My question is: Who would eat them? They could liven up a luncheon, anyway, or at least make some interesting centerpieces for the right group.

In other silly food news, did you know the latest rage may just be pizza profiling, where you can predict personalities based on a person’s pizza picks (and try saying that three times fast!)? From the article:

• Non-traditional toppings (pineapple, jalapeno, etc.): Aggressive, achievement-oriented, natural leaders
• One meat: Irritable, argumentative, procrastinators
• Several Meats: Dramatic, seductive extroverts, impeccably groomed
• One vegetable: Empathetic, understanding, well-adjusted, easy-going
• Several vegetables: Trustworthy, loyal, dependable, humble introverts
• Extra cheese: Who doesn’t like extra cheese?

Thanks to Patti Shock for both the pointers!