PRIYA PARKER’S ‘THE ART OF GATHERING’ Will Make Your Rethink Your Meetings Anova Immersion Circulators come with a companion app that allows you to regulate temperature and monitor time from your phone. They take a process that was once limited to the world’s most progressive restaurants and put in the hands of home cooks everywhere. At a cost under $100, they don’t require you to break the bank to take your kitchen into the 21st century. As a conflict resolution expert who’s worked with NGOs in Zimbabwe and on Middle East peace talks, Priya Parker is no stranger to important meetings. In her experience, too many gatherings — business meetings, dinner parties, negotiations, etc. — suffer from the same shortcomings. In her new book, “The Art of Gathering: How We Meet and Why it Matters,” Parkers investigates why so many gatherings fail to inspire and offers a list of suggestions to make your get-togethers more memorable. “We are tempted to focus on the ‘stuff’ of gatherings because we believe those are the only details we can control,” Parker writes. “I believe that’s both short-sighted and a misunderstanding about what actually makes a group connect and a gathering matter.” In Parker’s experience, an overreliance on convention is one of the key factors contributing to the lackluster nature of meetings. Instead of focusing on people and creating an experience, organizers focus on ticking the boxes and going through the motions. To remedy this stale pattern, “The Art of Gathering” titles its chapters after provocative advice, like “Don’t Be a Chill Host” and “Never Start a Funeral With Logistics.” Parker infuses her advice with plenty of relevant anecdotes from her career and personal experience. We’ve all been at a company meeting or party where we wanted to pull our hair out. If everyone read “The Art of Gathering,” that would happen a lot less often. If you’re a foodie, you’ve probably noticed the phrase “sous vide” popping up on menus frequently. This method of cooking, French for “under vacuum,” involves cooking ingredients (usually protein) in a sealed bag submerged in a water bath. It’s a staple of molecular gastronomy, and for a long time it was completely inaccessible to home cooks. Anova’s affordable, easy-to-use immersion circulators have allowed curious home cooks to experiment with this beloved fine-dining technique. Immersion circulators offer precise regulation of water temperature, which is crucial for sous vide cooking. The stable temperature allows you to cook protein to the exact doneness you desire. You’ll never have to guess whether your steak is medium rare. In fact, you can cook the inside first and then finish by searing it to perfection. Sous-vide also turns a delicate operation, like cooking eggs with perfectly set whites and runny yolks, into a breeze. ANOVA IMMERSION CIRCULATORS Bring Restaurant Tech to Home Kitchens
GRADUATE HOTELS TAP THE POTENTIAL OF AN UNDERSERVED MARKET When you think about it, college towns should be a hotelier’s dream. They have a full events calendar all year long and draw repeat visitors in the form of alumni. Despite these obvious benefits, visitors didn’t have many options besides chain hotels and Airbnb until Graduate Hotels came along. The venture, spearheaded by AJ Capital Partners CEO Ben Weprin, seeks to create boutique hotels in college towns that cater specifically to alumni of the major schools in the area. “There’s generally a lack of interesting hotel product in our markets, yet [university] communities are incubators for innovation, job growth, and culture,” Weprin says. Noticing this gap, he began Graduate Hotels in Ann Arbor, home to the University of Michigan. Step into the lobby, and it’s clear you’re in Wolverine country. But, crucially, the hotels don’t feel like dorm rooms or a football-centric man cave. Instead, they’re tastefully appointed with nods to school colors and famous alumni. and Tempe, Arizona. The company hopes to open eight more by the end of 2020 and sees no limit to their expansion opportunities. They’ve realized that guests are willing to pay more for university-themed digs, with rates running about 20 percent higher than their competitors. Graduate Hotels also house cocktail lounges, seasonally focused restaurants, and event spaces. These in-hotel amenities lead guests to spend an extra $50 per night on average. The explosive success of Graduate Hotels shows just how valuable it is to find an underserved market and create a product or service that meets their needs. The Graduate Hotels brand is clearly defined and expertly targeted for its demographic. “We are higher-education focused, we are shamelessly ambitious, and we can execute,” Weprin says. Graduate Hotels’ focus on disrupting the hotel industry in college towns has landed them on Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies list for 2018. Major hotel chains everywhere have been left to wonder, “Why didn’t we think of this before?” From that initial location, Graduate Hotels has expanded into 12 college towns, including Athens, Georgia; Berkley, California;
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