Stepping Across the Pond

The explosion of the information age has left many of us with the thought process the world has become a much smaller place.  While as a society we can communicate with few hurdles stopping us, there are some truths that still exist.   I found that out first hand while providing services for a client in Prague.

We have all become accustomed to tapping away on our Smartphone to people all over the globe.  Since we are talking through IM, Twitter, Skype, Facebook or rating something on Yelp, we feel the world is at our finger tips.  In many ways it is – until you get on that plane…  until you fly for 10 plus hours across six time zones. Until you find yourself four thousand miles from home and speaking a foreign language.  Then you realize all of that is a bit out the door, and your communication paths have to change.

But for so many of us as planners, adapting is our life.

This was something I kept saying to myself throughout the trip.  I will have to be honest; this was not my first attempt at an event across the pond.  But it was the first one outside of the European Union.  The account team spent countless hours testing and thinking through every possible scenario.  We even flew with the equipment to insure it arrived safely to Prague with us in one piece.  Sometimes even the best-laid plans can be flawed by unforeseen circumstances. 

Upon arrival some of my coworker’s bags were lost; this could so easily have been the equipment.  But would Fed-Ex have been any more reliable in this case?  We were “walked” from our hotel. Unpreventable in spite of the fact we paid in advance.  But the scariest issue happened the following morning.  Despite IT’s involvement and consultation with the manufacturer, the voltage on the printer was too much for the European outlet.  It immediately blew the primary power source and left us with only one printer for the next four days.

After scouring most of Prague, I realized that the chances of finding a voltage converter were growing slim.  As a last ditch effort I asked the AV company from the U.S. that was onsite.  They had one extra and were so kind as to provide that for us.  We made it through the rest of the event and it was deemed a success by the client.

As this problem happened, we had several challenges of our own.  Although my client and I had international plans and GSM on our phones, nothing worked.  I was able to get on my laptop and IM one of our tech support people.  He happened to have IM tethered to his phone and allowed me to essentially text him about our issues.  We created a plan and came up with the idea of the voltage converter.  While we could have come to this conclusion our own, there was comfort in being able to communicate with someone from home  and verifying our thought process.

While we had several challenges, as I said the event was a success.  We learned a lot and will no doubt have a whole host of items to use in preparation for our next international event.  What I wouldn’t do is trade one moment of the experience.  The whole time I was able to communicate with my friends and family through a host of web tools.  I could describe my adventure through my blog .  Upload the pictures to my Facebook account and even IM them every night.  So this world that seemed so big only a couple of hours earlier, where everyone was so distant; in the course of a couple of key strokes had once again shrunk.

When you take your event to Europe there are many things to consider.  Lean on the people who have been there before.  Not only can they help with the big concepts, but also with the fundamentals of just making day to day life easier while you are there.  But don’t be scared, in today’s information network you have nothing to fear.  Assistance is only a key stroke away as long as you keep yourself connected.  Feel free to reach out to me if you have any additional questions about anything you have read in this article.