Author: Carl Page 64 of 153

Little Book of Event Planning

On January 20, 2016

I’ve spent the last two years running WebEx events for the US Department of Labor. I learned in a trial by fire with large, national events being normal. I worked with the Secretary of Labor, the various Deputy Secretaries and I assisted with software rollouts, policy changes and training initiatives.

I ran meetings for small groups of high-level officials and large sessions with hundreds of members of the public attending from all across the US. I facilitated some international VOIP calls putting people in as many as four countries together virtually.

In that time, I’ve learned some rules of event planning. They served me well and in my time running events, I can count on one hand the number of failed events I had. And in all of those situations, one or many of the things we planned for went wrong.

There are some issues you can recover from and others there is no coming back from. Sometimes an issue can be as unforeseen but fairly minor as a speaker putting the clicker to advance the slides in a pocket which caused the slides to jump sporadically around in front of a packed Auditorium.

There are other, bigger issues such as a phone line dropping mid-presentation or a computer rebooting due to a crash or software installation. The world of event planning and tech support mean never assuming you have everything under control.

I have 10 Rules for Event Planning Success

Expect the unexpected. (And have a backup plan.)
Test. Retest. Re-retest everything.
Be ready to fail. (You will. It is inevitable.)
Know your trump cards (who can push meeting or take scheduled space.)
Write things down. (You think you can remember everything. Right up until you can’t.)
Organize yourself. (Proper Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance.)
Be flexible. (Things will change. Usually on short notice.)
Don’t be afraid to be wrong. (You will be wrong. You will make mistakes.)
Be honest. Never lie. (The truth will come out. Don’t let it contradict you.)
The microphone is always hot. The phone line is always open. (Be careful what you say. Private is public.)

Reinforcements have arrived

By Carl

On January 19, 2016

In Destiny, Observations

There is nothing better than unexpected help coming when you’re struggling.

This is just as true in life as it is in video games. When I started playing Destiny, there’s a lot of patrolling Earth and the Moon. I spent a lot of time and bullets trying to bring down the same level enemies as I was. It was hard and I struggled.

There are some public events in those patrol areas where players have to take down a much stronger foe. Or need to defend a certain point on the map or even chase a band of enemies across the map and take them out at a few separate points.

These public events were very hard starting out. It was a big struggle to be successful. Which brings me to my favorite parts of Destiny.

Higher level players would show up and help!

Reinforcements have arrived

One of the things I love about Destiny is how you can run into strangers and all work together. When I started out, I would meet players 10 or even 20 levels higher. And even though we never spoke, they would help kill enemies and complete public events.

We would point and wave and dance together. And it made me feel so good when someone would show up to help and then run off again.

It is those small interactions that really makes Destiny a special game.

Paying it Forward

Later on, when I was a higher level player, I always go out of my way to help out lower level players. It is very important to me to pay forward the kindness of those strangers when I was first starting out.

I try to always be a friendly and helpful player online. I want to have a good time and help others have a good time too. That’s what games are for. Fun!

Recently, my Fr0zen clan and I were running a friend through Vault of Glass for the first time. It was an easy run because it’s an old raid and we’re now overpowered for it.

The raid starts on Venus, in an area that’s also part of the open Patrol. As we began the raid, we were a person short of a full team and we saw a random person around us. He hung around as we started to play it and we decided to toss him an invite to chat with us.

He accepted and we asked if he wanted to join us. He did and we invited him into our group. Just like that, we were running with a full team of six. And we got to meet another player and help him make it through the raid.

He was a nice guy and we had a good time. Destiny is great for the random encounters you can create or stumble into.

We’ve invited people to our team in the Crucible (a player-vs-player game type). Just like in Vault of Glass, we had an almost-full team and we played a few matches with the same random person. So we sent him an invite and he joined us.

This all came to mind as I was listening to an episode of Guardian Radio. There was a comment from BrutalGear about making Public Events better.

The idea was to add the ability to send a distress beacon out to your friends and ask them to come help you in an event. The events could be made bigger and involve getting through multiple rounds of enemies and then a mini-boss at the end of it.

I love this idea because the enemies always get to call for help. I would love to be able to put the call out for allies to come to my aid. But since I can’t, I’ll continue to help other players out and make new friends.

Say Thank You

By Carl

On January 18, 2016

In Observations

How much of what I post online is real sentiment or something I’ve pondered? How much is just “me too” posts to fit in and not to feel left out?

I think about the empty parade of happy birthdays courtesy of Facebook or the endless “thank the troops” posts on Memorial Day.

If you’re going to thank the troops then thank someone you know. Thank a family member. Thank a friend. Thank a spouse. Thank a co-worker.

Take a moment and thank someone you know. Thank someone who means something to you.

Cyberinsecurity

By Carl

On January 17, 2016

In Observations

ISIS does not concern me. I am more concerned about my privacy being given away from poor security. This security extends from our own government and the Office of Personnel Management to retailers like Target and Home Depot.

Just last week, I had my debit card compromised and used to order a pizza from Dominos in New York. Last year, OPM was hacked. and this leaked not only my personal information. But the personal information of people who I listed as family and friends who could verify the information I listed in my investigation forms.

I was reminded of this when I updated the information when I changed jobs. Everything you’d need to steal my identity or my wife’s identity is out there. Everywhere I’ve lived and worked for the past 7 years is out there.

Names, addresses and phone numbers of my past employers, friends who can verify the information and my family, including step parents is out there. All thanks to poor security practices by our own government.

This doesn’t make me mad so much as it saddens me. We can do better. We should do better. There’s no excuse to not protect a database of every government employee and those listed on their forms.

But it wasn’t. And now it’s out there in the world. For who knows who to have access to.

So excuse me when I don’t get riled up when politicians scream about how we all need our guns because ISIS is coming to get us.

It’s not the terrorists I fear. It’s our own incompetence. It’s our own neglect. That is what scares me more than a small, terrorist group half a world away.

Outside Perspective

By Carl

On January 16, 2016

In Links and Quotes

An outside perspective is always helpful.

I recently read Meeting in the Middle: Learning from a Luddite and it hit on something I often consider. The author is a digital native and comfortable with computers and the internet. Her husband is not.

A Luddite is someone who is actively opposed to new technology. That’s what my husband was.

She spent time online surfing and checking stats. He detested the world computers had made. But this is not a story of how her husband was wrong and eventually saw the light.

I became a little jealous: after all, his digital footprint was virtually non-existent while mine was a cluttered mess.

So she deleted. Vine. LinkedIn. Facebook served as a reminder of how much junk she had shard in the past. Something I’ve become reminded of as Facebook shows me the stupid pictures or signs or silly products I shared years ago.

There is a balance to find in your life. It’s not going to be the same for everyone. But it’s there. The trick is to find it.

I find a line between computers and mobile devices works for me. When I’m on a computer, I’m working. I’m writing or editing. I’m at work answering calls and fixing problems.

And when I’m mobile. I’m playing. I’m chatting with friends. I’m reading my favorite writers in blog or book or newsletter. But most often I’m listening.

Podcasts. Audiobooks. Music. There’s always something in my ears. I compose a complete soundtrack to my life. And that works for me.

If you’re feeling lost or off-balance I have some advice. Consider an outside perspective.

It’s hard to see your life clearly when you’re living it. I’ve fallen deeply in love with someone who made me a worse person. But I couldn’t see it. I was stuck in my life. I tried to make it work or change. I ignored my friends who told me how unhappy I was and how the relationship was terrible. But I didn’t listen.

Until it ends. And looking back, I can’t believe how miserable I was. I couldn’t believe what I had done to myself for so long.

Another prime example of considering an outside perspective is starting a new job.

I started a new job and went from working primarily alone to being part of an established team. Before, I made up everything as I went along and I had no one to consult. My word was law.

Now, I’m working in an established system with pre-defined habits. There’s the way we have always done it. Which is not always the best way. It made me smile last week when my team lead turned to me and said, if you see places we can improve information or processes, tell us about it.

I have fresh eyes. I don’t know how things are supposed to be done and I can bring that beginner’s mind to the team.

It’s valuable to look outside yourself and your normal. You can’t see the problems when you’re inside of it. But from the outside, the issues are crystal clear.