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Generally speaking the Coast Mountains of British Columbia tend to get more snow, the climate is milder and they have fewer persistent avalanche problems that is the reason why I want to experience heli skiing Canada there. Skiing being one of the most expensive hobbies, one thing that most people would appreciate is getting offered some fine cheap ski holidays. Saving money is a thing that everybody likes to indulge into, though getting the exact deal that you might wish for might not be that easy a task. Although, with the Internet and a little effort on your own end, getting a deal very close to it might definitely be possible. Keeping few things in mind might definitely help you to narrow down your search and thus make sure that you end up having the best that you could afford without a lot of effort and frustration. To know few such things keep reading.

Consider the location or area:

My personal favorite for a holiday would be Austria, Italy or Germany, but then you are always free to chose yours. Considering the location and the area is one of the very important things to start with, when planning a holiday.

Don’t fall prey to hidden costs:

The hidden costs are the few things that you are bound to fall prey to if you are planning the holidays for the first time. Make sure you ask for all the things that you could think of, like the baggage cost, the cost of taking the ski’s with you on an airline or any extra charges of using the credit cards for payments. You are very prone to being stung by any of the mentioned hidden costs or any other similar charges if you do not get them cleared before hand.

Off season might sound best:

If you are considering cheap ski holidays, you better consider a skiing holiday that does not coincide with the new year or the Christmas holidays or any such rush period. Take off in an off season that people do not consider for skiing holidays on a normal basis, this could help you get better places to stay and better deals on the skiing holidays with some good off season discounts which for sure will be look well on your budget. Be strategic in choosing the dates for a holiday, and you might land with some massive discounts.

All-in package could sound better:

If you do not have a lot of experience in planning a skiing holiday, you might like to keep it simple and hassle free by choosing for some good all-in package deals. These deals might help you to keep your holiday hassle free and easy. Holidays are for fun and you might not like to spend a lot of time planning them and taking care of the budget.

When considering cheap ski holidays the best thing would be to consider the lesser known places and resorts for the simple reason that considering a place that is quite famous might not be the best thing for your budget. Just make sure you take care of the extras that you might not like to leave to the chances, other than that a package deal in an off season to a lesser known place might be the best thing for you, if you wish to have cheap ski holidays.

Think saying “I do” is going to be the most emotional moment in your wedding? Probably so, but putting down a deposit on your wedding venue could be a close runner-up. Iconic Crown is set alongside the Yarra River overlooking spectacular wedding reception venues Melbourne.

Reception costs consume almost half the budget for the wedding, which these days means you can expect to lay out almost $13,000, including food. And the venue you select can not only limit your choice of caterers or bakers, it’s sure to affect how much you spend to “cover up” its weak spots or accent its highlights. Most stressful of all, the popular venues book far in advance, forcing brides to make the big decision almost as soon as they set the date.

For that reason, the savvy venue-hunter wants to know what questions to ask before she walks in the door, much less signs the contract. Here are a few ideas:

Do you have a pre-set list of caterers I can use, or can I choose my own?

Some venues — high-end ones with their own catering staff, or small-town ones with little competition — require you to use the in-house caterers or choose from a small list of “approved” vendors. It can be difficult to get taste-tests or otherwise put this type of vendor through its paces. If you’re stuck with such a list, search high and low for brides who have “been there, done that” and can give you their honest opinions.

Any restrictions on decorations?

Many venues have them, but rules vary widely from place to place. Common restrictions include: no open flame (or no flame whatsoever), no tape or tacks on the walls, or no confetti. When linens are provided, some halls will prohibit the use of pins. Ask if the hall can provide any decorations themselves, especially around holidays. Useful centerpiece items such as hurricane lamps or Eiffel vases are not uncommon.

Can we bring our own liquor, is there a “corkage” fee, and do we need a license?

If the liquor’s to flow freely at your wedding, you’ll save an immense amount of moolah by bringing your own. But some venues prohibit this and require you to buy from them. Even worse is the venue that says “yes” to bringing your own alcohol, but charges you a mandatory “corkage fee” to serve it — which typically starts at an unbelievable $10 per bottle or more! You’ll want to be crystal-clear on the fine print regarding alcohol before you commit to a venue.

As for licensing, many states consider wedding receptions to be an “unlicensed social function,” meaning you don’t need one as long as you’re not charging anyone for the alcohol. But be sure to check your local regulations before moving ahead — and ask your venue if they know of any licensing requirements.

Is there a cake-cutting fee?

Some venues even limit your choice of bakers, but most don’t. A more common (and sneakier) tactic is to charge you a cake-cutting fee, which like corkage fees, can really add up — often at $1 per slice!

DIY Detective Work

These, of course, are only a few of the questions you’ll want to ask a prospective venue manager. A few more tips while you’re checking out the place:

– Bring a tape measure. Get the dimensions of the room, the tables, and the distance between any features that might impact your decor, like windows. How many outlets are there and where are they located? What kind of climate control is available to you?

– Check the kitchen. Does it look clean, roomy and suitable for your catering staff to work from?

– Check the hall itself. Where will you put the band, the cake table, the coffee service? Are there coat racks for your guests? Is a sound system available?

– Check out the parking. Is it ample? Is it paved, or can it get muddy in the case of rain? Is there handicap access?

One final thing to get clear before you autograph that contract is your venue’s cancellation policy. But hopefully, with these helpful tips, you’ll have done enough homework to rest easy in your choice and not worry about having to cancel. Now that you’ve signed, take some time to sit back and relax … before you tackle the next task in that thick wedding planner!

Charity donation tax deduction reduces the amount of your taxes. The effective management of risk is an essential part of the responsibilities for trustees of charities and is often overlooked by those responsible for managing the smaller charity.

Risk is an event or action that may adversely affect an organisation’s ability to survive or compete in its market or to maintain its financial stability or its positive public image and the overall quality of its people and services. Risk can also arise from a failure to exploit opportunities or from a breakdown in operational controls and procedures.

The requirement to manage risk

For registered charities the Charities SORP (Statement of Recommended Practice) sets out the reporting requirements for trustees on the:

1. identification of major risks
2. the review of risks
3. the systems or procedures established to manage risk

It is therefore essential for all charities that they have a sound risk management policy

The role of the trustees

The responsibility for the management and control of a charity rests with the board of trustees. The board’s involvement in the key aspects of the risk management process is essential. Trustees do not have to undertake each aspect of the process themselves. Their level of involvement should be such that the trustees can make the required statement on risk management in the statutory annual report with reasonable confidence.

Sector Group

The management of risk will involve the following key steps:

1. establishing the risk policy
2. identifying risk
3. assessing risk
4. evaluating and implementing what action needs to be taken
5. reviewing and establishing a system of periodic monitoring and assessment

Although these elements can be used as ‘steps’ or ‘stages’, it is likely that trustees will need to revisit each stage as their knowledge of the charity’s risk profile increases.

Any risk management policy will need to be:

1. comprehensive
2. continuous
3. integrated
4. suitable and proportional

Establish risk policy

Risk is an inherent feature of all activity and may arise from inaction as well as new initiatives. Charities will have differing exposures to risk arising from their activities and will have different capacities to tolerate or absorb risk. A charity with sound reserves could perhaps embark on a new project with a higher risk profile than, say, a charity facing solvency difficulties.

The risk policy process will include a consideration of the following:

1. the charity’s objectives, philosophy and strategy;
2. the nature and scale of the charity’s activities;the success factors that need to be achieved;
3. external factors that might affect the charity such as legislation and regulation, and the charity’s  reputation with its major funders and supporters;
4. past mistakes and problems that the charity has faced;
5. the operating structure – e.g. use of branches, subsidiary companies or joint ventures;
6. comparison with other charities working in the same area or of similar size; and
7. checklists of risk factors prepared by other charities or other organisations.

It is essential that for this process to work, trustees and executive management need to be committed to it. Trustees will need to consult widely with key managers and staff, and may even involve supporters and beneficiaries where reputational risk or provision of service to beneficiaries is being considered.

Identify risks

The identification of risk should be integral to the strategic planning and budget setting process. Key questions will include:

1. What external and operational risks may prevent our charity from achieving its core objectives?
2. What might happen and what would the consequences be for us?
3. What are the steps we can take to mitigate or reduce those risks?

External risks generally fall into one or more of the following categories:

1. Political
2. Economic
3. Social
4. Environmental
5. Technological
6. Legal

and tend to be outside the control of the charity.

Internal risks arise from the day to day operation of the charity and the identification of these will require consideration of all aspects of the charity’s operational activities.

This is not the only way of categorising risks and the following alternative classification could for example be used:

1. Governance risks – e.g. inappropriate organisational structure, difficulties recruiting trustees with relevant skills, conflict of interest;
2. Operational risks – e.g. service quality and development, contract pricing, employment issues; health and safety issues; fraud and misappropriation; loss of key staff;
3. Financial risks – e.g. accuracy and timeliness of financial information, adequacy of reserves and cash flow, diversity of income sources, investment management;
4. External risks – e.g. public perception and adverse publicity, demographic changes, government policy;
5. Compliance with law and regulation – e.g. breach of trust law, employment law, and regulative requirements of particular activities such as fund-raising or the running of care facilities. Although the process of risk identification should be undertaken with care, the analysis will inherently contain some subjective judgements and no process is likely to be capable of identifying all possible risks that may arise. The process can only provide reasonable (not absolute) assurance to trustees that all relevant risks have been identified.

Assessing risks

The first stage of the assessment process is to prioritise risks using impact analysis so that the significance of a risk is measured against the likelihood of that risk actually arising. Significance should be considered in both financial and reputational terms. Risks can be prioritised so that those with high significance and high probability receive primary attention. Risks with high significance and low probability scores give rise to the need for contingency planning whereas risks with low significance but high probability scoring can often be addressed by improvements to internal control procedures.

All risks have to be considered in the light of the charities ‘risk threshold’ the setting of which will be influenced by the level of reserves, the projected surpluses etc.

Evaluating and implementing the action required

Where major risks are identified the trustees will need to ensure that appropriate action is taken to ensure that these are mitigated. This review should include establishing the adequacy of controls already in place. For each of the major risks identified, trustees will need to consider any additional action that needs to be taken to mitigate the risk, either by lessening the likelihood of the event occurring, or lessening its impact if it does.

There are four basic strategies that can be applied to an identified risk:

1. transferring the financial consequences to third parties or sharing it (e.g. insurance, outsourcing);
2. avoiding the activity giving rise to the risk completely (e.g. a potential grant or contract not taken up);
3. management or mitigation of risk; or
4. accepting it (e.g. assessing it as an inherent risk that cannot be avoided if the activity is to continue).

Risk mitigation is aimed at reducing the ‘gross level’ of risk identified to a ‘net level’ of risk that remains after appropriate action is taken. This identification of ‘gross risk’, the control procedures put in place to mitigate the risk, and the identification of the residual or ‘net risk’ can be recorded in a risk register (see pro forma below). Trustees need to form a view as to the acceptability of the residual or ‘net risk’ that remains after mitigation. It is possible that the process may also identify areas where the current control processes are disproportionately costly or onerous to the risks they seek to address.

Risk Review

It can be helpful to use a scoring system to assess which risks need further work. Severity of impact could be scored from 1 (least serious) to 5 (most serious) and similarly the likelihood of occurrence could be scored from 1 (remote) to 5 (very likely). The impact score is usually multiplied by the score for likelihood and the product of the scores used to rank those risks that the trustees regard as most serious.

Risks other than high likelihood/high impact should not be ignored. Those with high potential severity of impact but low likelihood of occurrence need to be kept under review, possibly annually, and will need arrangements in place to ensure that they can be addressed should they arise. Similarly, events with low severity but with a high likelihood of occurrence may become gradual drains on a charity’s finances or reputation. Those risks with both low severity and low likelihood of occurrence are unlikely to merit significant attention and effort might be better focused elsewhere.

Risk management extends beyond simply setting out systems and procedures. The process needs to be dynamic to ensure new risks are addressed as they arise and also cyclical to establish how previously identified risks may have changed. For all but the larger and more complex charities, annual monitoring is likely to be sufficient when supplemented by update reports and assessment of new activities or proposed projects.

Conclusion

A charity that has identified the major risks it faces, and established systems to mitigate such risks, will be able to make a positive statement on risk in its trustees’ Annual Report. This will help to demonstrate the charity’s accountability to its stakeholders (beneficiaries, donors and other funders, employees, and the general public). An effective risk management strategy can help ensure the charity’s aims are achieved more effectively and significant risks are known and monitored, enabling trustees to improve forward planning.

Nigel SG Harper Chartered Accountant

Management Consultancy Services Limited are experienced providers of advice and support for the smaller business. A full range of accounting and management consultancy services are available together with a without obligation, free initial consultation.

Further details can be found at http://www.mcserv.co.uk/

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Wedding is one of the important occasions of every person’s life and this is very expensive, if you will not do in proper way. There are several ways through which you can save your money. So we are giving some suggestion for simple wedding reception menus. If you’re looking for the best wedding reception venues Melbourne, your biggest challenge will be choosing just one.

On wedding reception, it is not easy to cut down the number of guest to be invited to your wedding reception because it would not be good if family member, friends, colleagues and neighbors are not invited to the party. Compromising on the ‘guests list’, might end up hurting your near and dear ones’ feelings. So try to make simple wedding reception planning so that no one feels bad.

Reception plan according day of time : Try to make reception menus planning according to the time of the day. In the morning time you should have to serve breakfast or tea. An afternoon reception would include lunch or cocktail hour. Because this is the best time of day where you can save lots of money but in the evening time, which does not have any specific course of food. It may include just about anything; appetizers, snacks, main meal, dessert and drinks. That’s why, receptions during evenings are usually more costly.
Afternoon Tea with Cheese and Biscuits!

You can server tea, biscuits, bread, variety of cheese and grapes to your guest on afternoon. You can also treat your guests with sandwiches and scones. If you have a garden or a backyard lawn, then no other location can be an ideal reception venue.

Choose Simple food : Choose perfect Indian meals which are not very expensive. You can invite your guests for lunch and serve them with two kinds of non-veg dishes, one vegetable dish, rice and naan bread. There are varieties of other Indian dishes which you can include in your reception menu.

Reception planning at a Hotel : If you are thinking reception planning at hotel then you can do some cost cutting out here as well? According to your budget, you can decide upon the kinds of meals to be catered to your guests. To start with, you can make your mind up on appetizers comprising bean salad, asparagus, fruit and cheese platters, stuffed mushrooms and sea food, and provide them on pretty trays.

As we know that on Indian wedding reception, mostly couple invest more money on food and drink. For some couples, who are at the initial stage of their new married life, the wedding reception menu becomes a significant concern for their budget.

Back in April of 2003, I had just finished setting up my DJ equipment for a wedding reception in a luxurious downtown Omaha hotel. Right on cue, the guests started to filter in, and I started the smooth jazz cocktail hour music. I headed over to the bar for a soda. As the bartender handed me the soft drink I ordered, he promptly said, “three dollars please.” Assuming he was joking, I walked away laughing as I thanked him. With a serious expression, he quickly informed me that he wasn’t kidding and that I’d better pay up on my newly acquired debt. It was then that I saw the sign on the bar. “Drinks $5.00 – Beer $4.00 – Soft Drinks $3.00.” Overhearing some of the guest conversations around the bar, I was apparently not the only one surprised by the drink charges. Big weddings often come from a cultural or family tradition, but these days more and more couples are getting married without so much reliance on their family and they also the one who find for a small wedding reception venues Melbourne.

When it comes time to offer tips and advice to my customers, I have to look back on my experiences as a Wedding DJ. In this article, we’ll cover some tips that are often overlooked or seen as no big deal by brides and grooms as they plan for their wedding receptions. These tips, however, WILL make the difference between happy guests and unhappy ones at your reception. In short, the following tips will increase the chances that your guests will stick around and have a great time at your reception.

I realize that many professionals offer a host of tips and suggestions in the wedding industry, and at times it’s hard to take it all in. Clearly, many things have to come together to ensure that everything on your wedding day is a success.

After talking and interviewing thousands of brides I noticed three distinct commonalities that most of them had when laying out their expectiations for their receptions. They wanted to:

1. Keep the events moving smoothly.

2. Keep the guests from leaving early.

3. Keep guests dancing and having fun.

As a DJ, I’ve had the unique advantage of being the first one to arrive at and the last to leave from hundreds of wedding receptions. For that reason, I feel comfortable and confident as I offer the advice you are about to read.

All in all I have always felt that if you want to have a successful reception, one of the single most important things you can do is to consider thing from your guests’ point of view.

TIP 1 – Never charge guests for drinks

When it comes to weddings, brides and grooms are often restricted by the limitations of their budget. There are certainly some shortcuts you can take to save a little money. But be careful! One area I strongly advise you not to skimp on is the bar. Making invited guests pay for their drinks is not a good idea, and it will stifle the atmosphere. The fact of the matter is that guests just don’t like paying for drinks. Plus, a free bar is often all it takes to keep the guests who are on the fence from leaving early.

I do not for a minute encourage binge drinking or any kind of abuse. I have just learned that the guests will loosen up, dance and have a better time when the bar is free (or, in wedding terms, “hosted”). The bottom line is that if you want guests to stick around and feel appreciated, an open bar is a must.

TIP 2 – Don’t start the reception too early

In the summer of 2007, I was the DJ for a reception that started at 2:30 in the afternoon. The event was held at a country club that had large windows all around the reception room and overlooked a beautiful golf course. For the reception, the bride and groom expected to have lots of dancing up until the 8:30 end time.

By 4:00, the dinner, toast and cake-cutting were over, and it was time to get the dancing underway. With an upbeat attitude and a desire to rock the party, I started the dance music. Despite my best efforts, I could hardly get anyone to dance and the reception was over by 5:30. Aside from the lack of dancing the afternoon went well and although I received lots of compliments the groom expressed to me his disappointment that there was very little dancing.

After hearing about the groom’s disappointment, I felt I had somehow let him down. But in reality, the circumstances were just not conducive to much dancing.

It is very difficult to get people in the mood for dancing at 4:00 in the afternoon in a sun-filled venue. Drinks don’t flow like they normally would, and people will generally leave early knowing they still have most of their evening ahead of them.

A good time to start a reception is around 6:00 P.M. in the evening. Any earlier and you risk losing the feeling of a night out for your guests.

Better yet, if you are not planning a church ceremony, you may want to consider having your ceremony at the reception venue. You won’t have to worry about transportation, and you’ll have the luxury of timing the ceremony closer to the reception.

TIP 3 – Avoid long time gaps between ceremony and reception

I recently arrived to set up my DJ gear for a reception that was supposed to start at 6:00 P.M. When I arrived at 4:30 to start setting up, there were already 50 people in the room just sitting there in silence. For a moment, I thought I was late, but I came to find out that most of the people sitting around were out-of-town guests who had been there since 3:00. The wedding had been at 1:00 at a local church, and after the ceremony these out-of-town guest had nowhere else to go, so they headed over to the reception venue. By the time the reception officially started at 6:00, these guests had been sitting around for three hours. Most of these guests just ate dinner and left.

You must consider the time gap between the end of your ceremony and the start of your reception. Ideally, your guests should go right from the ceremony to the reception. The bigger the gap in between, the harder it is on your guests.

I realize that those who have the ceremony in their church can’t just pick the time that bests suits them and must work around normal church services. Many churches will want you to have a Saturday ceremony between noon and 2:00 p.m. That’s fine, but remember that following such a ceremony directly with the reception will mean that the reception will start too early in the day. In order to compensate, some couples get married early in the afternoon and postpone the reception until later in the evening.

My advice is to have the ceremony as late in the afternoon (or early evening) as possible and schedule the reception to follow immediately. If an early ceremony is your only option, make sure your out-of-town guests realize the reception will be later, and provide them with ideas to keep them busy in between the ceremony and reception.

Ideally, you should host your ceremony at the same location as your reception. Many facilities can provide a nice area for you to have your ceremony. If it’s possible, you should look into it.

TIP 4 – Venue Lighting

There is a venue in my town that has a very basic lighting system. The lights are either all on or all off. There is no option to dim any of the lights, so all the lights are usually left on. This makes it very difficult to get people in the mood for dancing. After all, no one wants to be in the spotlight, and bright lights over the dance floor can hinder the ambiance. This tip is very straightforward: to create an atmosphere for dancing, the lights must be dimmed.

TIP 5 – Don’t stand near the exit

Keep in mind that the exit is almost always in the same place as the entrance. Once you and all the guests have arrived, try to avoid standing anywhere near the exit. Standing by the exit at any time during the reception gives off the impression that you are there to say goodbye to guests who are leaving. Before you realize it, you will have (instead of a receiving line) a departure line. To keep your party alive and moving, avoid standing near the exit. You never want to communicate to the guests that it’s time to leave unless it is!

TIP 6 – Have a fun grand entrance

Part of having a fun, dance-filled evening is starting everything off with a bang. There is no better way to begin a reception with excitement than to make a grand entrance. This doesn’t only get you in the mood for the party; it also gets the momentum rolling and puts your guests in the spirit of having fun.

As you and your wedding party arrive at the reception, have your DJ or Emcee line you and the wedding party up to be announced as you enter the reception venue. Pick a fun song to be played while everyone’s names are announced. As a DJ, I always get the audience clapping along to the beat of the music as you all enter.

It is all about setting the tone for the evening, and there is no better way to do that than to have a thrilling and exciting grand entrance with your bridal party.

TIP 7 – Avoid offensive music

From time to time, I work for brides and grooms who insist that I play music that is littered with colorful innuendos and language. This musical pursuit for your reception is highly ill-advised. The fact is that you may not know everyone on your guest list as intimately as you may think. Why take the chance of offending someone with vulgar music? I have seen guests walk out of a reception because of loud or offensive music.

TIP 8 – Dismiss tables when having a buffet-style dinner

From behind my DJ table, as I looked at the two hundred guests standing in line for the buffet at a reception, I couldn’t help but think that these people could have been sitting at their tables, enjoying conversation. Instead, they were weaving in and out of tables, waiting in a long line for food. I jokingly compare this scenario to a herd of cattle lining up for the trough.

This situation leads to awkward feelings for the guests who are already seated with their food as well as for those standing in line right next to them as they sit and eat. I have seen this happen hundreds of times throughout my career, and it is always uncomfortable.

You can choose one of two solutions for this problem. First, you could have a plated meal (or sit-down dinner) in which the staff serves the food directly to the guests while they are seated. Second, if you are having a buffet-style meal, you can have the tables released for dinner. Ask your DJ, host couple, or catering staff to dismiss each table one or two at a time. Personally, I fell this should be done by your DJ if you have one, because otherwise there is not much for the DJ to do during dinner. While releasing tables, your DJ can discover where the “fun” tables are and solicit music requests. This will allow the guests to feel like a part of the upcoming events.

TIP 9 – Use round tables

I recently DJed for a reception at a local country club in which the layout of the tables felt like I was the announcer for bingo night at the local legion hall. The room was full of 8 foot tables, and there were 6 rows of the them in the room. Each row has 5 tables lined up end to end. Guests going to and from their seats had to weave down long aisles of people, and there were times when aisles were blocked.

As crazy as it sounds, the type of tables you provide for your wedding guests will affect the social aspect of the evening. With the exception of the head table, you will want to avoid the standard 6′ or 8′ tables for the guest seating. Long, 6′ or 8′ tables are reminiscent of a mess hall or a lunch room setting and will detract from any kind of elegance. Furthermore, long tables are not conducive to conversation.

My advice is to always choose round tables for guest seating. This setup puts all the guests on an equal playing field for socializing and mingling. It also eliminates the theatre-like seating, in which you have to feel guilty about getting up and moving through a crowded isle.

In addition, round tables make it easier for the bride and groom to circulate among the guests. Finally, they provide the guests with better viewpoints of everything that is going on throughout the evening, helping to keep them engaged.

FINAL THOUGHTS

When it comes to planning your wedding reception, many factors can affect how engaged your guests are and whether they leave the reception early. I have seen the tips presented in this article get overlooked more times than I wish to count. I just hope these ideas have inspired you to consider your wedding reception from your guests’ point of view.

Hi, my name is Steve Bergeron.

The bottom line is: if you are going to listen to one person on how to keep guests at your wedding reception dancing, drinking, socializing, and enjoying themselves, you should listen to someone whose job it is to entertain at weddings.

With over twenty years of experience as a professional mobile DJ, I will share inside secrets to keeping your guests at the wedding reception happy and having a great time.

But don’t be confused!

My book is not all about the DJ you hire. This book also isn’t about cheesy DJ games and activities. In fact your DJ is only one portion of the many tips and secrets presented in this book.

Grab your copy today at:

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