Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 29, 1995 TAG: 9503290033
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ALMENA HUGHES FOOD EDITOR
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Sheri Decker could tell you tales.
On any day, the Hotel Roanoke & Conference Center's director of conference services could be coordinating not one but several events involving not only food but other amenities and services.
"The Roanoke Ballroom seats 1,200 people, and that would be the largest," Decker recently enumerated. "But understand that we could do multiples. So 1,200 in there, approximately 450 in the Crystal Ballroom and then we have the Shenandoah and the Pocahontas, which will hold another combined 400 people.''
While the average person will never have to accommodate 1,800 people in a single room, as Decker once did for an Amoco Torch Classic, what she's learned during her years in the hospitality industry could apply to any situation.
"Whether you're feeding five or 5,000, you can do it as long as you're organized," Decker said recently, giving the following top five rules:
Begin with a definite plan.
Keep things written down, set deadlines and keep your lists up to date.
Ask a chef or caterer what foods would be most successful. Think of what would be feasible in terms of who would do the plating up, how soon they'd have to start and how long the foods would have to be kept at a given temperature.
Buffets or theme stations, such as pasta stations, can be wonderful for at-home entertaining, Decker said. They're easy to do, potentially creative, and allow everyone to eat what they'd like.
Diagram the area or do a prior walk-through to eliminate potential problems.
Ask every single little question more than once, and then go over it again.
"The biggest lesson I've learned is that communication is really important," Decker said. "Different people see different end products. Most disasters happen when you don't identify exactly what you're talking about."
Decker uses portfolios in selling the center's services. But portfolios also help people on the receiving end make sure they're in sync with the service provider.
Decker's experience includes cocktail waitressing, bartending, banquet service, restaurant and banquet management and directing conference planning. She moved to Roanoke in February from her hometown of Galveston, Texas.
As director of conference services, she oversees the center's catering sales, covering social events not connected to group business, and also conference planning, covering all aspects of group-business accommodations.
She said that the first local samplers of the center's services will be Roanoke City Council, which will meet there Monday morning, and the Child Health Investment Partnership, which will hold a fund-raising silent auction there Monday evening.
One conference feature that Decker predicted will be a big seller is the "continuous coffee break" between 7 a.m. and 5 p.m. It will offer conferees nonstop access to doughnuts, fresh pastries, fresh and canned juices, bottled water, coffee, tea and other beverages, mini candies, nuts, popcorn, fruits, yogurt, ice cream and other edibles to be selected and enjoyed in two sit- down lounge areas.
Decker said that technically, she should have been at the hotel six months ago. Now she's trying to play catch- up. If and when she ever gets any "off hours," she laughed, she'd like to plant an herb garden similar to the one she had in Texas. She'd also like to take some cooking classes.
And, in spite of her vocation, she'd like to coordinate an at-home, sit-down dinner for 12 and get back to throwing her annual Halloween party and occasional Friday wind-down buffets.
by CNB