6.3 million confess that Aussies falling asleep in meetings

A ‘Healthy Meetings’ Study undertaken by Hilton Sydney has revealed that 6.3 million working Australians think people fall asleep in meetings because of environmental factors, with a staggering 97% of people surveyed saying they start snoozing when boxed inside four walls without natural light, 88% zone out after sitting in the one spot for too long, and a further 62% of respondents blame poor quality catering.

Partnering with Dr Tom Mulholland, ‘Attitude Doctor’ at the international Healthy Thinking® Institute, Hilton Sydney has responded to the study by re-launching its Level 1 Hilton Meetings Centre.

Jerome Auvity, newly appointed Hotel Manager at Hilton Sydney, explained: “Our study showed that when it comes to factors causing people to fall asleep in meetings, the actual meeting environment is rated as highly as the content and structure.”

“As part of Australia’s largest hotel-based conference space in Australia, our Hilton Meetings Centre is an evolution of the hotel’s world class meetings and events facilities, offering new ‘Healthy Meeting’ solutions and total natural light for the 180,000 plus delegates we look after each year.”

“Our sales team has been trained by the Attitude Doctor, to ensure that we create a more action-orientated, team-building atmosphere that will improve efficiencies and workplace relationships,” added Mr Auvity.

Dr Tom Mulholland, the ‘Attitude Doctor’, is a medical doctor and full time mentor with the Healthy Thinking Institute, teaching executives how individual accountability towards attitudinal processes can create more effective organisations.

Whilst still working part time in a busy Hospital Emergency Department, Dr Tom’s work records the profound influence ‘negative thinking’ has on people, shown to be prevalent approximately 40% of the time across a number of different work and social contexts.

Dr Tom commented: “Unhealthy thoughts during a meeting generally fall into one of ten potential Attitude Profiles and we explore these and their ‘antidotes’ in more detail at the Hilton Meetings Centre.”

“Today, it’s simply not enough to offer ergonomic furniture and climate control.” “When we analysed the triggers and thoughts that can derail a meeting, we uncovered a combination of ‘hardware’ (physical) and ‘software’ (mind) errors”.

“Healthy Thinking™ teaches delegates that it is the responsibility of each individual, not just the Facilitator or Meeting Chair, to rewire their software with ‘Healthy Thinking’ for meetings.”

“In re-designing the Hilton Meetings Centre, I have worked with Hilton Sydney to audit its business operations based on attitudinal models and tools.”

“The Hilton Meetings Centre has set a new benchmark for healthy meeting dynamics and is guaranteed to drive creativity and high energy,” added Dr Mulholland.

The Hilton Meetings Centre offers three new experiences to address the physical and mental needs of delegates:

MEETING MINDPOWER: Healthy Thoughts by definition increase the helpful neurotransmitters in the brain and reduce stress hormones like cortisol in the body and Hilton Sydney offers stimulating pre-meeting reading from Dr Tom Mulholland (“The Attitude Doctor”), to help get in the right mind set.

MEETING WORKOUT (optional, see below):  To maximise brain efficiency, LivingWell Premier Health Club has designed some simple exercises to increase the blood flow to the brain.  Select a tailored exercise program to pump out unhelpful chemicals, increase endorphins, make attendees more alert, increase vision and supercharge the brain.

MEETING FUEL:  In an ideal situation delegates arrive at meetings with plenty of sleep, hydration and good nutrition, so that blood sugar levels don’t crash causing them to fall asleep.  Hilton Meetings offers a low GI menu for sustained sugar release, so delegates won’t fall asleep during an afternoon slump, designed by Executive Chef Anders Groenhelm and supported by the Healthy Thinking® Institute.

More about Dr Tom: Dr Tom Mulholland’s expertise has spanned several roles over the years including doctor, pilot, New Zealand Forest Service Forester, TV Talk show host, author and a dotcom entrepreneur.

Through his work with the Healthy Thinking Institute he has coached corporate teams at Microsoft, CBA, Hilton and Hewlett Packard and other major organisations and has a specialist interest in re-wiring unhealthy emotions and attitudes.

Dr Mulholland has also worked as the team Doctor for the Fiji Rugby team and the Ranfurly Shield-winning Taranaki Rugby team (NZ).  He is also a successful author with best selling books Healthy Thinking™ and The Power of Healthy Thinking™, has had is own TV talk show and has featured on 60 minutes twice. He is in demand internationally and has recently completed a speaking tour of India where his books are on the best seller list.

Dr Tom Mulholland is available through the Hilton Meetings Centre for speaking appearances and other event services.

Visit: www.healthythinking.biz for the Healthy Thinking Institute.

Report by The Mole