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Name my conference rooms contest
CoreStreet reached an important milestone today, and I need your help to, um, get to the next plateau. Or something.
Our main office finally got crowded enough that it’s not always possible to find an empty conference room, so we have to add the conference rooms as schedulable resources to Outlook/Exchange. This means we need to name them. This means we need a naming scheme. This is where you come in.
We currently have eight rooms to name, but the scheme should scale to more as we grow. Send me your idea for a conference room naming scheme as well as eight sample names. For example, you might submit the naming scheme, “Diseases of the Foot” and the room names, “Arthritis, Freiberg’s Disease, Gout, Kohler’s Disease, Ollier's Disease, Club Foot, Maffucci’s Syndrome and Seiver’s Disease.” This example would be syntactically correct, but would not win.
You can enter via the comments section on this post or by email to: phil*AT*corestreet*DOT*com. The names should be one part clever, two parts topical and office appropriate to taste. Winners will be chosen on Wednesday, July 28th by a committee of judges consisting of myself and whoever else is hanging around my desk at the time. The second-place winner will receive one each of whatever CoreStreet schwag (shirt, mug, exploding pen, etc.) happens to be in the marketing closet that day. The first-place winner will receive a $150 Amazon.com gift certificate plus the schwag.
I hope the blogosphere doesn’t let me down on this one.
July 19, 2004 | Permalink
Comments
Start with the Seven Dwarves; supplement with the Seven Duffs (Sleazy, Queasy, Tipsy, Dizzy, Surly, Remorseful, and Edgy).
Posted by: Mark Ayzenshtat | Jul 19, 2004 10:03:40 PM
Conference Rooms
Suggestion 1
Since you chose plateaus, we could go for the mountain theme, scaling new heights;
Famous Mountains
Fuji, Kilimonjaro, Everest, Aetna, Monadnock, K2,
Tallest
Everest, K-2, Kangchenjunga, Lhotse, Makalu, Cho Oyu, Dhaulagiri
Tallest on Each Continent
Everest - Asia, Aconcagua - S. Am, McKinley - N. Am, Kilimonjaro - Africa, Puncak Jaya - Oceania, Vinson Massif - Antartica, Mt Ararat - Europe, Mount Kosciuszko - Australia
Along the same theme, Ski Resorts
Vail, Tahoe, Killington, Sugarloaf, Sugarbush, Beaver Creek, Matterhorn
My personal Favorite - The Martini Rooms
Steihhager, Sapphire, Beefeater, Plymouth,
Kennedy, Lincoln,
Posted by: Bys | Jul 19, 2004 11:06:38 PM
One tried and true method would be planets. Of course, you do run into the problem expanding past 9 - unless X works for a name. I've seen it successfully expanded by using constellations and stars and you could use galaxies. So without further adieu:
Mercury, Vensus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune, Uranus, Pluto
Expanding outward:
Alpha Centauri, Barnard's, Teegarden, Wolf, Lalande, Sirius, etc. (source: wikipedia)
Expanding further outward:
Milky Way, Canis Major, Sagittarius, Large Magellanic, Small Magellanic, etc. (source: Wikipedia)
Posted by: Travis Swicegood | Jul 19, 2004 11:52:11 PM
My
Very
Excellent
Mother
Just
Served
Nine
Us
Pizzas
Hmm...something doesn't sound right...
Posted by: Mark Ayzenshtat | Jul 20, 2004 12:06:52 AM
Naming conference rooms should serve two purposes. First amusing the hell out of yourselves and second providing a clever anecdote to tell customers/clients when they ask about them.
Name them after famous violators of security. Robbers, spys etc, The Dillenger Conference Room, the Butch and Sundance. When clients ask you can point out that since your in the security business you named the rooms after people who violated security as a playful reminder of why you do what you do.
The flip side of that (If I may enter twice in the same comment) is comic book heroes. They're in the security business, you're in the security business.
Posted by: Stephen Macklin | Jul 20, 2004 7:24:58 AM
He's not kidding about those exploding pens.
Posted by: Andrew McGeachie | Jul 20, 2004 9:32:20 AM
Also, under no circumstances do you want a conference room named Uranus.
Boss: "Let's have a conference in Uranus!"
Employee: "Pardon?"
Posted by: Andrew McGeachie | Jul 20, 2004 9:41:54 AM
Encryption algorithms? Blowfish, Triple DES, RSA, etc.
Posted by: emerick | Jul 20, 2004 9:59:20 AM
For an endless list of names, go with failed dotcoms: webvan, pets.com, excite, garden.com, etoys.com, boo.com, etc. etc.
Or robots: Robbie, Terminator, R2D2, C3PO, FemBot, Roy Batty, Ben Affleck, Bender, Rosie and so on.
Posted by: gavin | Jul 20, 2004 11:35:16 AM
Hi Phil,
How about these security related topics....
Emotional Security
Insecurity
Security Blanket
Social Security
Financial Security
Chief Security Officer
Security Guard
Security Alarm
(With a bonus of Security Breech)
Posted by: The Schwartz Team | Jul 20, 2004 2:41:52 PM
I think that your conference room names should acknowledge the most important contributor to any meeting.
Coffee.
A good cup of coffee is the true ally of any conference room warrior.
Here’s my list:
Espresso (where the REAL work gets done)
Cappuccino (REAL work with steamed milk)
Latté
Mocha
Java
Kona
Moccaccino
Decaf (I’d be concerned about the employee who consistently schedules meetings in the Decaf room)
Posted by: Brendan | Jul 20, 2004 3:41:33 PM
Gotta go with the Cheat Commandos:
FightGar, Crackotage, Silent Rip, etc.
Posted by: BZ | Jul 20, 2004 4:31:12 PM
I'd suggest naming the conference rooms after the The Brady's.
You have
Carol Brady, Mike Brady, Greg Brady, Marsha Brady, Peter Brady, Jan Brady, Cindy Brady and Bobby Brady. If you have any closets to name, throw in Alice and Sam the butcher.
Posted by: Bill | Jul 20, 2004 6:30:58 PM
Superhero Aliases.
Superheros of course provide security but when they're not saving the city they've got to have jobs right? (Except bruce wayne).
It also gives the faint impression that everyone in your company has super powers available which can never hurt when talking to clients.
There's a limitless supply, plus as you get more and more they'll have to get exotic and people will enjoy trying to figure out the more esoteric ones.
Banner, Kent, Wayne, Xaiver, Richards, Parker, Prince, and Rogers (That's The Hulk, Superman, Batman, Proffesser X, Mr. Fantastic, Spiderman, Wonder women, and Captain America)
Posted by: josh | Jul 20, 2004 8:15:17 PM
Take a page from the great capitalists of our day, sports team owners, and get the city of Boston to pay for replacing your current conference rooms with much nicer "skyboxes," then sell naming rights to each room.
With big video monitors in each room, a well-stocked refrigerator, and hostesses serving food and drinks, your clients will just _love_ coming to Boston for meetings.
The result? Not only do you get nicer conference rooms, paid for at taxpayer expense, but the revenue from naming rights gives you a nice additional line on the income statement that you can use to goose your valuation.
Posted by: Lee | Jul 21, 2004 2:43:58 AM
Parishes of Bermuda, where you can all go "Benedict Arnold" when the going gets good :)
St George, Hamilton, Smith, Pembroke, Devonshire, Paget, Warwick, Southampton, Sandys
If nothing else, they sound classy, and if your guests have no sense of humor just pretend they're towns in northern NH.
Posted by: steve | Jul 21, 2004 2:00:37 PM
I have been to a lot of companies that have had a lot of stupid naming schemes.
Places are Ok, but unimaginative, same with Presidents.
Attributes you think your company should have can be interesting, and serve as a reminder to employees in the same way those Loyalty, and Teamwork insperational posters can, but the problem is that the powers that be will doom you to have a meeting about how your accountant ran off with 1.2 million in the Honesty room, or the loyalty room.
If your company has a sense of humor I did enjoy having a conference with a company in their "parts of a Starship" naming scheme, going to the Bridge, the Brig, and the Engine room was interesting but didn't exude profesionalism.
So based on what your company does, and wanting to exude a bit of Whimsy with out looking unprofessional, Might I recomend a Naming scheme based on one of the following.
The Vehichles of James Bond:
Alpine
Bel-Air
Bently
Aston
Ferrari
SkyLiner
Toyota
Esprit
Cassini
Citroën
Vantage
Vanquish
Mustang
Bavarian
Matador
Taunus
Volante
Quattro
There are others but this is a good start. I'd drop some of the ones that are very obviously cars to start, but that depends on if you want people to "know" or just wonder.
Posted by: Brandon Wirtz | Jul 21, 2004 6:25:44 PM
Man-o-man, there are some great ideas in here.
Posted by: Phil Libin | Jul 22, 2004 10:25:40 AM
The Rainbow collection:
The Red room
The Orange room
The Yellow room
The Green room
The Blue room
The Indigo room
The Violet room
and the biggest room - The Rainbow room.
It might require additional decoration/artwork to make the name logical, but is easy to remember.
And if you have guests in a few rooms at a time, they can have colored name tags to make sure they do not wander into a wrong room after a break.
Posted by: Marina Zaytsev | Jul 22, 2004 11:17:58 AM
Seems to me, the room names should play on the theme of watchfulness and security, thus:
guard, sentinel, angel, Cerberus, tower, sentry, minuteman, lookout, bulldog, eagle, hawk
OR
shield, aegis, lock, key, gate, door, bar, citadel, tower, Vauban, sword,
Posted by: The Commissar | Jul 22, 2004 4:04:51 PM
Oh what the Hell, I'm reading the Iliad right now, that's warlike and vaguely security-ish:
Hector, Ajax, Achilles, Patroclus, Ulysses (or Odysseus), Nestor, Paris, Agamemnon, Menelaus, and lots more! Ease of pronunciation probably trumps fame.
Posted by: The Commissar | Jul 22, 2004 4:09:22 PM
And your picture suggests characters/names from THAT movie:
Kissoff, Kong, Strangelove, Muffley, Ripper, Mandrake, Turgidson (or Buck), Purity, Essence, Bat Guano, Burpelson, Miss Scott, and ---most fittingly--- War Room.
"We'll be meeting in the War Room room at 3."
"Okay, folks, next Monday at 2 in the Burpelson Room."
Oh, yeah. I win.
Posted by: The Commissar | Jul 22, 2004 4:18:19 PM
Over the counter drugs?
Motrin
Sudafed
Pepto
Immodium
Tylenol PM
No-Doze
Zantac
Robitussin
[[CEO's office or janitor's closet: Preparation H]]
Posted by: jeneane | Jul 26, 2004 12:02:23 PM
You could pick 8 names from the Utah Baby Namer. Although, first you'd have to toss political correctness and any ounce of sanity out the window...
http://wesclark.com/ubn/
Posted by: jeneane | Jul 26, 2004 12:06:07 PM
nothing says security to me like Beanie Babies... Of course, you'd need to get a mascott for each room.
Hamlet the Pig
Mandy the Panda
Sherwood the Bear
Tangles the Cat
Tommy the Turkey
Rudy the Riendeer
Orion the Lion
Bonzer the Koala
Posted by: jeneane | Jul 26, 2004 12:10:42 PM
