Don’t start thinking about communications and marketing issues until you have studied and understood the local business issues in each new market.

Take the European Community. Just as U.S. federal law has great impact on your business even if you operate in only a few states, so does EC law affect you even if you only do business in a few European countries. As various directives are being discussed by the European Parliament, it is crucial that your business get its views across to the decision-makers before new laws are enacted. Yet in many European countries corporate lobbying is not accepted. Governments want to hear from trade associations rather than from individual corporations. The prevailing view seems to be, “Do your lobbying within your association and then come to us with a composite industry view.”

When we opened for business in Russia the staff of our local Reader’s Digest magazine didn’t arrive at work until 9:30 or 10 in the morning. It’s not that they are lazy. They’d been up since 5 a.m. standing in lines for food. Three hours for butter. Another two for milk. Another three hours for a scrawny chicken. One of our editors quit because we required her to work a 40-hour week. She couldn’t spend that many hours on the job because she had no babushka to stand in lines for her.

Today the problems are reversed for the average Russian worker. The shelves of once-empty stores now carry Danish hot dogs, German biscuits, American soda pop and computers. But who has the money to buy them when 20 to 30 percent of the population lives below the poverty line, and the gap between rich and poor has grown to Latin American levels? And security is a major issue, especially for employees paid in hard currency like American dollars and German marks.

Tip #2 – Do your research early so you have time to recover from surprises.

People in many international markets probably have

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Disruptive to both the snorer and their partner, snoring is a loud emission of noise caused by abnormal vibration of the respiratory structures. This if most often caused by an obstruction in the airway, either in the nasal passage or by the tongue blocking air flow, and can be reduced or eliminated by maintaining an open airway. This is most easily done with either nasal strips, breathing aids or mouth guards and mouthpieces, depending on the type of blockage. However, there are other causes of snoring that are connected to unhealthy lifestyles such as obesity and alcohol and drug consumption. In cases where obesity is the cause of snoring, the tissues around the throat contain more fat and restrict the airflow, causing the vibrations that result in snoring. Alcohol and other harmful substances relax the muscles in the back of the throat, allowing the tongue to fall back and block the airway. Regardless of the specific reason, snoring is caused by airway obstruction and limit the bodily intake of oxygen, leading to health problems.

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THERE is a whole host of sayings to the effect that traveling in hope is better than arriving and that the anticipation of pleasure is more enjoyable than the event itself. But what about the pleasure after the event — the regrets, the raking over of the coals, the recriminations. Cookery writers religiously talk of the dinner party at home in two parts, the preparation and the dinner itself. But dinner parties are like Caesar’s Gaul. What about the autopsy? That, for many hosts, is the best fun of all. As soon as the front door shuts on the last guest, hostess throws another log on the fire, host pulls the cork on another bottle of claret, and the show is under way: “What on earth was the matter with George?”

“You noticed too?”

`One couldn’t help it. He said next to

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Hoping to throw the party of the season? One that’s indubitably delicious, warms the soul and calls out to be repeated immediately? Then let us entertain you before you entertain them. Read on.

What does it take to become the host of as serious ass party: Imagination, organization, a sense of humor and a good recipe, according to our panel of experts worldwide. See how they set the tone for memorable parties on the pages ahead.

INVITATIONS AND PLACE CARDS

The fluent entertainers we spoke with favor one of two methods of invitation. The first and preferred way, unless a party is very formal, is to telephone the guest, then send a written reminder. This circumvents people’s tendency to not read their mail/forget to RSVP.

The second, more formal approach is the written invitation, delivered by post or hand. “I always send an invitation” says New York fashion designer

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Old quilts and tasseled trim linen velvet and toile-we brought everything with the colors of our vintage print to Hyde Hall, a historic house in Cooperstown, New York. Rather than photograph in a completed chamber, we set up an old bed in a room yet to be restored. We were interested in possibility, not the finished details.

Our decision for the bed: a mix of muted prints– gently worn gently worn glazed chintz for the quilt, new toile on the pillows–brightened by a matelasse coverlet. One touch of white was enough, however, to create the perfect shade of cream for the pillowcase, we simply dipped a white one in coffee.

Were we to accessorize the room, there would be lots of ironstone and touches of nature like the oversize acorn, left. And for fabrics–delicious-to-touch linen velvet and a

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WHO AMONG US HASN’T SPENT A WEEKEND IN the country from which there was no escape? No escape from the host’s dog snarling outside your door when you are summoned to dinner. No escape from a child who has adopted you for an afternoon of video games. No escape from the tedium of a Halloween party or an Easter egg hunt at which you are the only adult. People with weekend houses need guests, but do would-be guests need people with weekend houses?

For the record, my wife, the editor Helen Jeannette, and I do not own a weekend house. Why? Helen told me early in our marriage that if I wanted a second house, I’d better get a second wife (to deal with the linens, the gardening, the staff, etc.). Another reason I don’t have a country house is that I did. It was an estate in Southampton I owned when we wed, but I found that I didn’t own the house–the house owned me. I precipitously put it on the market when an irate renter phoned me at

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So let’s talk about the Russ. Who doesn’t love that?

Russ groups compete to have their school’s–and later their county’s–finest bus or russ car. These are old, large vehicles– purchased by each group prior to Constitution Day–that will be customized and used exclusively to transport the russ in the most hectic days in May. The cars are meticulously decorated, both inside and out, before their owners christen them. Many russ cars are eventually equipped with enormous light-and-sound rigs that turn the ancient vehicles into mobile discotheques. Russ warm up for their evening activities, hold parties, and move between events in these buses. Indeed, to really take part in the celebration, it is crucial to belong to a russ-car crew. “If you don’t belong to a bus, you’re nothing,” declared one girl, crew captain of the bus Catmobile. “In the bus is where it happens.” The somewhat derogatory term “subway russ” underlines the importance youth place on being attached to a vehicle.

Nowadays the russ celebration characteristically appears as an egalitarian rite of passage for all eighteen-year-olds, but this has not always been the

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Josie Natori and Doris Magsaysay Ho, trustees of the Asia Society, hosted a champagne reception and exhibition Feb. 22 at the Grey Art Gallery of New York University titled, “Sheer Realities: Power and Clothing in 19th Century Philippines.” Many of the displays featured fashion specialties of the Philippines — intricate and elaborate laces, beautiful embroideries, intricate beaded handbags, and gold and silver jewelry.

The guest of honor was the first lady of the Republic of the Philippines, Luisa P. Ejercito Estrada.

The reception was followed by a gala dinner at the Puck Building in what was described as “grand Philippine style.” The menu included grilled prawns, beef tenderloin in papaya seed sauce, black rice, sesame sauteed bell peppers and coconut cream flan caramel. “This event was expected to be spectacular, and it truly was,” said Natori, who also is chairman of Natori Co. More than 400 partygoers attended the dinner, and the Asia Society raised

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Here’s some advice for your supporters who want to host an event in their home:

1. Have the volunteer hosts work with your scheduler and finance director to pick a date. Try to allow at least 30 days.

2. Ask your volunteer hosts to invite their colleagues from the workplace, friends, relatives and neighbors. Suggest to the volunteers to look at their Christmas card list. Have them invite lots more people than they think will actually attend. Not everyone will come, and some will be out-of-town. If they invite 200 people and 25 or 30 actually attend, that’s a success. Some people will send checks even if they don’t attend. Hand addressed invitations are preferable to labels.

3. Decide who is responsible for sending out the invitations. If the volunteer hosts are sending out the invitations, make sure they keep track of all printing costs and postage receipts. Federal and

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