Monday

Oct, 8, 2001

on stage again

I figure I don't have to hear the keynote address and this gives me more time to have coffee and breakfast and prepare myself and pack up my laptop to take over to the conference. When the exhibits open, I'm there but I feel useless pretty quickly and I go to the speakers' meeting, which is useless and go see another company employee's presentation. He's used some of my material to good effect, I think.

I don't think I'll eat lunch but I end up going there and there is a three course meal. I don't eat it all but I'm still very full.

Before my presentation, I arbitrarilly go to the one that is in that same room before mine. It's a user presentation and not too bad.

I have a coffee break before my presentation. Good news is that I have plenty of time to set up my computer, test the mike, check the signage and (since it's a marketing thing) the marketing people have time to haul in goodies and handouts and stuff. The bad news is everyone lingers over coffee (this is Europe) and we are afraid no one is coming but in the end the crowd isn't bad.

The presentation goes well, I think, because a lot of people ask questions and the lead developer who is there says I didn't tell any lies after the thing which is damned comforting since I would have been telling them all over the place before then. I'm usually better prepared but I was doing the dry run on this thing on September 11. After that, things were so confusing and logistics seemed more important than the meat of the matter a lot of the time as we tried to decide whether we should go, were the various airlines still flying the flights we were booked on, etc.

I'm relieved that one of my conference presentations is done but we have more work to come. A customer dinner. Not just a "let's have some food and wine and chat" customer dinner but a "let's talk about how you are going to earn the money we pay you" customer dinner. Work, in other words, with courses.

I go back to the hotel and clean up and put on a fresh shirt. (Fresh laundry, yes!!!)

The customer dinner goes as well as I could have hoped. I hope I didn't promise too much nor put the customer off too much.

Bed is welcome.

"Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace..."

John Lennon, "Imagine"

Meta:
We'll just be keeping Lennon's radical lyrics here indefinitely. I'm updating this after the fact. Which means, of course, that I forget even more than usual.

JUST TYPING
Mouth dry.
Adrenalin.
Begin speaking.
Joke a little.
Involve the audience.
If they ask questions, you have won.