Pastries in Paradise – A Sweet Relief, Research Paper Example

There is nothing as difficult as standing out as the best in a group of experts. Pastries in paradise mark a significant event where leading hotels compete in the exhibition of their best pastries to win the award for the best pastries award. The trick behind winning the award is finding out what the attendees exactly want (Goldman & Mac Donald 2007).   This is in terms of their expectation of taste, visual, smell, auditory and tactile. To arrive at this, a focus group is the most appropriate to fish out the required information. This paper discusses how a focus group used to establish the correct design of the pastries in paradise event.

A focus group is a well-organized discussion between individuals, with a moderator who fishes out the required information in terms of their views, expectations, and experiences of any event. Focus groups present more of a discussion than an interview. In carrying out a focus group, the first and foremost thing to consider is the convenience of time and venue for all the invitees. The invitees, who would mostly consist of customers, chosen carefully to ensure they consist of a greater percentage of persons likely to attend the Pastries in Paradise event. The time should be adequate to allow for any new suggestions that could call for changes in any of the five senses, taste, smell, tactile, visual and auditory. A week or two before the actual date of the event would bring satisfactory results.  A focus group conducted in the hotel with a group of customers and a moderator involved. The moderator would seek to find out about the five senses from the customers if form of a discussion.

Finding about the visual is the most notable thing. This is because the first eyesight of a space/ booth would attract a person to take the initiative of interest with the stuff inside (Goldman & Mac Donald 2007). The focus group moderator would seek to find out the most attractive color of the event, and what the audience expects in terms of environment  (Kreuger & Casey 2000). What type of flowers used for decoration, what idols to display in their tents or what program of videos should play on the television during the event? While some would prefer foodie related programs to play, some would prefer an enticing movie or so. In such a case, of  what to play on TV screen, the moderators of the focus group would wisely chose the most appropriate, considering the audience. The background music also considered where the age group would be of considerable importance in this case. While the elderly would prefer slow music, the young generation would prefer hip-hop, jazz and rock type of music. The focus group should keenly identify the audience and the attendees to choose an attractive, unique and powerful music. If a band need invitation, then what band? Sample music played for easy identification of the most appropriate, an instrument like a guitar played while the response studied, more especially on the tone (Morgan, 2003).

For an attendee attracted to a given booth, the next most valuable thing is the welcome. The tactile employed in receiving the guests. How should the tables and chairs arranged, how should the waiters be dressed, and what tone should be used to make customers feel they expected sweet relief?  The focus group would enable the mediator identify areas needing change, innovations and inventions that would make them win the best pastries award.

The third thing to consider is the smell and taste. A sweet, aromatic and appetizing smell will capture the attendee to have the desire to have a taste of the pastries. The smell should be as unique as possible to present memories of the place (Kreuger & Casey 2000). While different people would have different tastes in terms of smell, the focus group should aim at identifying the most appropriate. In the focus group discussion, one would inquire more about the sweetest smell, and about the taste of the tastiest pastries. In this case, the moderator would even have sample pastries with different tastes, aromas and ingredients to identify what the attendants would prefer most.

To conclude, a focus group discussion should be as brief as possible. The sample items in terms of foodies, music welcoming approach and general outlook of the crucial event should only give an overview of the whole procedure. It needs presentation in a manner that leaves the audience in suspense, and with the desire to attend and specifically give their vote to the specific booth.  The questions should not paused in a manner suggesting that they meant to source ideas for  an upcoming event, rather they should in the form of a discussion (Kreuger & Casey 2000). The focus group moderator should participate in the discussion as a non-partisan to cover up for any suspicions for an upcoming event.

References

Goldman AE & Mac Donald SS (2007).  The group depth interview. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Kreuger RA & Casey MA (2000).  Focus Groups 3rd Edition: A practical guide for applied research. Thousand Oaks CA: Sage Publications

Morgan DL (2003) Successful focus groups: advancing the state of the art. Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications.