Fall Back: 4 Things to Do With Your Extra Hour of Time

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I kind of like the “fall-back” part of daylight savings time. Who doesn’t want an extra hour of time to sleep?

There is that pesky problem of it getting dark earlier. As I type, I’ve had to turn on the lights in my office to remind myself that the work day is not over.  It’s hard to stay motivated when the sun starts to dip below the horizon around four o’clock.

Plus we have to reset all of the clocks in the house and cars. Or I guess now they are actually correct, since we forgot to change them when we sprang forward.

The time change reminds me of all sorts of stuff that I should do, such as change the batteries in the smoke detectors, remove the cushions from the outdoor furniture and get the furnace checked before it gets too cold.

As long as we have an extra hour of time on our hands, it might also be a good idea to re-focus on our careers. You know, make sure we have things covered and if not, reset our career clocks so we can move forward in a productive manner.

Here are four things to do with your extra hour of time to help your career:

  • Review Career Goals – Are you achieving your goals and/or is your current job moving you in the right direction? Do you even have career goals? If the answer to any of this is “No”, it’s time to step back and re-evaluate.
  • Resume Review – Make sure your resume is up to date, with current information as well as achievements. Do you like how your resume looks? Could be time for a new format, if it’s been the same for the past ten years. Why not work on that now? You’ve got an extra hour.
  • Wardrobe Check – When was the last time you shopped for career clothing? This is especially important since many of us work in casual offices where jeans are the norm. Do you have current-fashion clothing that is appropriate for networking and/or interviewing? You never know when you might need it and it’s easier to shop without “must-have-it-now” pressure.
  • Reach Out – Make it a priority to stay in touch with those in your network, if you aren’t already doing so. If you are actively connected, take it a step further and actually make those lunch or coffee dates instead of saying “let’s catch up soon”. Attend a local trade or alumni association event to meet new people. And guess what? Your new networking outfit will be perfect for this meeting.

You may want to create your own personalized list; at least this should get you started. Just make the most of that extra hour.

Haunted House

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Halloween chair

When Hubby and I purchased our home we were super excited for Halloween. After years of living in apartments with zero Halloween fun, we figured a neighborhood would be totally different.

We envisioned throngs of children dressed in costumes ringing our doorbell begging for candy. We imagined the giggles and shrieks as we passed out tons of sweets, making us the most popular house on the block.

We purchased extra bags of treats to be sure we had enough.

We turned on every light so children and parents knew we were at home. Honestly, you could see our house from space, it was so bright.

As the sun went down, our anticipation grew. The door bell would ring any second now.

Yep, any second. Tic, toc, tic, toc. Any second now.

It got darker. I went outside to make sure the lights were on.

We decided that maybe the previous owners were not kid-friendly and therefore our house had some stigma attached. We brought lawn chairs out front to look more appealing and to give candy to anyone who came within 100 yards of our house. 

Still, nothing.

Honestly, there weren’t any kids to be seen on our street. Not even a squirrel or a cricket.

But we knew our ‘hood was full of kids. What happened? Did we move into a haunted house?

We felt like Linus, all alone in the pumpkin patch waiting for the Great Pumpkin. We feared walking back inside at the end of the evening with our heads hanging in shame having distributed none of our candy.

After a thirty-second pity party, we started to laugh.

It was just a teensy bit funny, two adults sitting outside of a fully decorated lit-up home with bags of candy and not one single trick-or-treater in sight.

We quickly developed Plan B and went into action.

Grabbing our candy and a couple of flashlights we started walking. Didn’t take us long to find Halloween.

The streets behind ours were full of kids running from house to house. Parents had set up BBQ’s in the front yards with coolers and lawn chairs.  There were parties on every block.

We walked up and down, handing out our candy to kids, explaining to parents that we were new to the area. We learned that our street was perceived as having too much car traffic which explained why we had no trick or treat action.

We were invited to have hot dogs and drinks with our new neighbors, even to stay and relax in their lawn chairs.

We kept walking, passing out candy, enjoying this new Halloween tradition and meeting tons of neighbors.

That night, Halloween didn’t go as we had anticipated. The important thing is that we adjusted our plan, had a great evening and made new friends.

Each Halloween I am reminded of that first one in our house, when we sat in the lawn chairs while holding unopened bags of candy and felt like Linus waiting for the Great Pumpkin that would never appear.

And I’m reminded of the lesson we learned about adapting to changing circumstances.

I’ve tried to apply that same lesson to other areas of my life, including work. If something doesn’t go as planned, take a minute to assess the situation, develop Plan B and start moving forward.

It’s better than sitting alone in the pumpkin patch all night, that’s for sure.

Quitting Is Not An Option

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football field

Well, that was embarrassing.

My favorite team lost the game. Actually, it was a blow-out. I believe the technical phrase for what happened is “It was a clinic”.

We were schooled. On national TV.

I don’t even think those were our players on the field.  They must have been imposters wearing our uniforms.

That would have been a best-case scenario.

I’m sure that was a long ride home for the team. My guess is that the coach had some “motivational” words for the players.  Perhaps they had to watch the game on the ride home to see just exactly where things went so horribly wrong.

Yes, I’m sure this week is probably one of the worst for every player. Here’s what I’m guessing:

  • Players do not want to walk across campus; no reason to hold their head up.
  • Not one player wants to sit in class while others stare at him.
  • Many players may want to throw in the towel; give up.

Yes, bombing out is embarrassing.

One thing I do know: Neither the coach nor the team will give up.

Quitting is not an option.

So they will review the tapes. They will run drills. They might make some player changes. They will study plays like preparing for final exams.

They will practice like never before.

They will win again, proving to themselves and to everyone else that they are a good team.

All I’ve got to say is, thank goodness my work mistakes are not watched by millions on national TV.

That said, I’m guessing that most of us, at one point or another, have experienced the “agony of defeat” – or at least feeling defeated – at work.

Maybe the project you were leading missed its’ goal and you wanted to throw in the towel?

Perhaps the annual review wasn’t quite as stellar as you thought it should be and figured, why bother to try anymore?

Or maybe you just had a bad day or week and simply wanted a do-over?

It’s hard to walk back into the office feeling defeated, wondering if others are whispering behind their cubicles about “Project Fail”.

We all have bad days, weeks or projects. I get it. Your desk, your “home away from home”, the place where it “all went wrong”, can be depressing to see.

Even if the “oops” is something that only we know about, we can internalize the error to the point of being unproductive, sometimes wanting to hang our heads in defeat.

What do you do after such a fail?

  • Take the constructive comments from management and figure out how using that information might have helped.
  • Write a quick “post-mortem”, including the original project goals, strategies and tactics, as well as the final outcome. Include a list of “Take-Aways”; things you learned and what you would do different next time.
  •  File this document where you can find it.
  • Now, smile, and hold your head up.

Thing is, we are usually tougher on ourselves than others are on us. Sure, no one likes to “lose”, whether it’s on the playing field or at work.

What’s important is that we determine where we made mistakes, correct those mistakes and move on. Next time, the project – or game – should have a different outcome.

Quitting is not an option.

 

Thank-You Notes: Email or Hand-Written?

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Thanks

As a career coach and mentor I get asked a ton of questions. Everything from interviewing to career transition to resume-writing to what to wear to an interview.

One question that seems to pop up frequently has to do with writing thank-you notes after an interview. Should they be electronic (email) or hand-written?

In my opinion, it’s both.

Hand-written thank-you notes should be written and mailed the same day as the interview. First one goes to the hiring manager, then one for each of the people we have met, including the HR manager.

I prefer to drive to the post office that evening and drop them in the box so they are in process as early as possible. Putting them out for the morning mail just delays them another day; why wait?

Even if it’s late you can drive by the Post Office’s outdoor drop box in your PJ’s; I know because I’ve done this.

Email thank-you notes should also be sent the same day as the interview. These can be short; remember the hiring manager doesn’t need an email novel.

Some may disagree with the need for the hand-written thank you note. Yet remains a special gesture. When my colleagues and I receive one from a candidate, we mentally put an asterisk by this person’s name.

Not to mention the fact that an email may languish in a junk mail folder, or simply be passed up due to the hundreds of other emails in the in-box. By sending both a hand-written and an email version, you have covered your bases.

Yet don’t be fooled into thinking just any words on a note card will do. It has to be a well-thought-out thank-you note, something with character.

The thank-you is part of the personal branding, still part of the interview process. It’s one more way to show that not only do you want the job but that you are the right candidate for it.

Not everyone gets a “tingly” feeling when they receive a hand-written thank-you note, but in this day of email and texts and other social media, I do.

In fact, I just received one the other day from students that I met at Texas A&M. They all wrote notes on a card, thanking me for coming to speak with them.  They probably thought nothing of it. Many probably thought it was silly; that the professor made them do it.

Au contraire.

Little do they know that I keep every one of these cards; every thank you note they send from every time I visit with them. I have a file that is getting thicker all the time.

While employers may not keep a file of such things, they do remember who sends a hand-written note, who sends a thank-you email and who never follows up at all.

The question is: How do you want to be remembered during the interview process? Or do you want to be remembered at all?

Take time to send a hand-written note as well as the thank-you email. It’s worth the effort.

Two Things Not to Ask During An Interview

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There are some things one just shouldn’t ask during an interview.

Even during an informational interview that is really more of a mentoring session. What’s rule number one of networking? Always attempt to make a good impression.  Some questions asked do not leave a good impression.

Case in point: A friend agreed to mentor a college student. This included inviting the student to the office to observe work in progress, answer any questions and review his resume.

My friend did her best to show him around the office and meet other people. She shared projects the company had worked on and critiqued his resume, making suggestions that would help when it came to interviewing.

She introduced him to current college interns and showed him the projects they were working on.

It was a great opportunity for the student to see first-hand the inside workings of a large award-winning firm.

A great time to ask questions like, “Which elective courses might help me in this line of work?”, “What kind of projects do new graduates typically work on as they begin their careers?” and “What kind of computer skills do you look for in graduates with my degree plan?”

Since many college programs, even at the graduate level, require internships, it was also a way to inquire about this, including who to contact at the corporate office.

Not this young hotshot.

As the session was coming to a close, the student did have a few questions, mostly mundane and repetitive of what had been answered earlier.

Then the ball dropped.

“Soooo, tell me what’s a typical day like here; you know when do you come in and when do you leave?”

My friend glanced at her watch; time was now about 7 p.m. and the student interns, as well as other high-level managers were still at their desks.

She felt like saying, “You did not just ask me that did you?”

The student quickly followed with: “How much do you pay your interns?” pulling out data on pay obtained from the internet.

My friend was speechless.

The first question could have been one of curiosity; however a quick glance around the open-concept office would have shown that most people were working late.

The second question was just not a smart one to ask during a networking meeting. Especially because 1) this was not a job interview and 2) that’s not information that was his business until a job offer is on the table.

Both questions were red-flags to my friend. In her opinion, the questions signaled that the student was more interested in finding out about the hours he would have to work and how much money he could make instead of what he might learn.

Combined with the issue that throughout the time spent together, he didn’t once show that he had a passion for his chosen career or for possibly working at the firm.

It’s this kind of thing that might come back to bite him in the hind quarters when applying for an internship or a job later on.

Like I said, there are some things one just shouldn’t ask during an interview.

 

Own Your Weaknesses

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MP900385502[1] We talk a lot about knowing your strengths but no one likes to talk about owning your weaknesses. So I’m going to let you in on one of my weaknesses. Housekeeping is not my strong suit. You’d think with just two adults and a dog, our house would stay relatively clean. Think again. There are many reasons why we have a housekeeping issue. Notice how I transitioned this from a “me” problem to a “we” problem.  I think Hubby should own some of this; I’m staring at a stack of his architectural magazines at least a foot high. Some of you may not consider this a weakness, just “life”. But to a perfectionist like me, it’s definitely a weakness. Years ago Hubby recognized this weakness and convinced me to hire a housekeeping service. Best. Decision. Ever. When the lay-offs hit we cut back everywhere but figured out a way to maintain housekeeping once a month. I honestly think I would go without eating before I would go without housekeeping. Let’s take a look at this weakness that keeps our house from looking pristine. Our lovely dog-daughter is a shedder. That’s right; I’m going to blame some of this on the dog. I’m sure those of you with kids would blame them for poor housekeeping; since the dog is our daughter this makes sense. Each time we brush her there’s enough fur to make one large dog.   Her accessories, which are full of her hair that require cleaning, include two custom beds, a crate, assorted towels, and a large mat where she lays to look out the back window.   Her collection of 80+ stuffed toys is kept in two large baskets – also full of hair. Clearly some fault is hers. She wags her tail as if to say, “Whatever”. People like us too much. We must be super-popular because we are inundated with mail. Each day I stand over the recycle bin to throw out the obvious junk. The rest – bills, Hubby’s work-related mail that looks important, and magazines – gets stacked on the counter for review at a later date. I’m considering making the stack into a sculpture so it’s less offensive. Meet our obnoxious friend, Clutter. Clutter follows us, like a shadow. I’ve read countless articles about organization, bought tons of cute storage bins, cleaned out our files and more. Yet somehow clutter magically appears again.  My cute storage bins are bursting at the seams, the file drawers won’t shut and both of our desks hold stacks of miscellaneous papers. Houston, we have a problem. We’re sentimental fools. Hubby and I are pretty good about purging our closets of clothing that we don’t wear or no longer fits. We used to be even better. When the lay-offs hit, we started getting “clingy” with our clothing, worried that we might not have the funds to replace items that were tossed. Plus I’m totally sentimental about some things: I still have the outfits Hubby and I wore on our first date; I’ve got some of my dad’s ties; and my first set of luggage in an ugly plaid fabric my parents bought me when I left for college. Seriously, plaid luggage. What I am doing with that? When it comes to cleaning we are champion procrastinators. Hard to admit but it’s true. It’s easy for us to put off cleaning when we’ve got 80 shows on the DVR to watch. Funny that procrastinating only affects us in this area.  We are great at prioritizing almost everything else: family, work, groceries, exercising, etc. Just don’t hand us a dust rag; we will drop it like a hot potato. I seriously dislike housekeeping. Really. I mean it. Friends have tried to tell me about the satisfaction; the “high” they experience from cleaning. Nope, not me. There is not one miniscule part of me that enjoys it. I do, however, feel great walking into a clean house. That someone else has cleaned. The cure? I don’t know if there is one.  We’ve tried all sort of remedies and my storage bin budget is tapped, folks. I’m aware that this is a #firstworldproblem, for sure. It’s time to own my weaknesses and figure out how to work with them, not against them. Do you hear that noise? It’s cheering from our housekeeping service; they now know Hubby and I are life-long customers. And I’m okay with that.

Rookie Networking Mistakes

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Oops! Road Sign

One thing that career veterans have in common with college students or recent graduates is that we were, at one time, networking rookies.

Like rookies at pro football training camp, students must learn how to network at corporate events with executives, which is somewhat different than networking or meeting people at college mixers.

As in any sport, rookies tend to make mistakes, and that’s okay. The important thing is to learn from them.

The key to networking is preparation and practice. Makes a world of difference.  Remembering to breathe helps too.

Avoid these Rookie Networking Mistakes:

 

M.C. STAMMERER

“I, um – ah –ya, know, like, I was wondering about, like your work, like, what do you do?” “Like?”

Suggestion: Leave, like, maybe, some of those, um, words out, ya know.

Take time to prepare before you attend a networking event.  Remember, this is similar to meeting anyone new: introduce yourself, have questions to ask and topics to discuss; have your thirty- second “elevator pitch” ready.  Act interested in what people have to say.

This is not about you finding an internship or job this minute. This is about building a relationship or connection that could lead to a job prospect down the road.

 

MR. FLY-BY-THE-SEAT-OF-MY-PANTS

Rookie: “I’m studying photography so I want an internship with a ‘good’ photographer.”

Executive: “What kind of photography would you like to do?”

Rookie: “I don’t care. I just want an internship. “

Of course you care! At least you should.

By literally saying, “I don’t care”, if you’re really lucky you may find yourself scrubbing toilets for the “good” photographer while he personally works with the student who said they have a passion to learn how to light a subject correctly.

An internship is a two to three month opportunity to get experience with no strings attached. This does not have to be the work that defines you for the next thirty years.  Pick one or two areas of interest and speak up!

“I really enjoy photographing people and their animals. I would also like to learn more about the proper way to use lighting, both inside and outside”.  

I suspect that’s what the “good” photographer wants to hear.

This is your career, your life, you’re talking about. If you don’t care, no one else will.

 

PLAY DEFENSIVE TACKLE

This should go without saying but I’ve had this happen to me a few times.

Never criticize the employer of someone you just met. Never criticize a policy, an advertisement, the CEO, not one thing.

First, that person may be responsible for what you just criticized. And besides, you’ve now just put them on the defensive when you should be trying to win them over.

Smooth; real smooth.

 

MY CLOTHES WERE DIRTY SO I’M WEARING MY PJ’S

I’m not sure how many more times I can write about this; it’s driving me crazy because this should be obvious. At each event I attend there is at least one person that has yet to receive the memo.

Dress appropriately for a business networking event.

It’s simple, people! Iron your clothes. Brush your hair. Tuck in your shirt. Put on a belt. Wear shoes, not rubber flip flops.  Slacks, not shorts.

Jackets and ties are not required but concert t-shirts are a “no”. Clean, polished shoes. And ladies, if you can’t walk well in those high-heels, opt for something lower.

Please. I’m begging you.

 

WE ARE EXECUTIVES, NOT PSYCHICS

Business networking events are interesting. Career veterans are like politicians working the room, smiling, shaking hands, passing out business cards.

Rookies are shuffling their feet with their heads down or maybe standing quietly on the sidelines like wallflowers.

If I’m at an event with rookies, I generally introduce myself first and present my business card as sort of an ice-breaker. I get it; rookies are nervous.  I remember because I was a rookie at one time.

Yet we career veterans can only hold the conversation for so long, trying to guess the questions rookies want to ask us. It really helps if rookies are prepared for networking with a list of questions to ask; they can actually refer to the list if they need to.  It makes for a much more productive conversation for everyone.we don’t mind helping.

We just can’t read your mind.

 

IT’S NETWORKING; NOT INSTANT GRATIFICATION

Remember that networking is about building a relationship, something that usually takes time. We meet people at school, at work, through church and volunteer organizations or social activities, and over time we learn about each other.

A clear rookie networking mistake is when someone meets me for the first time, we’ve barely introduced ourselves, and the first question they ask is, “Do you know of any jobs for me?”

No, I don’t; we’ve just met and I know nothing about you.

Take time to know me and what it is that I do. Tell me about yourself and what you do or want to do. Let that sit for a while.  Let’s exchange business cards and stay connected on LinkedIn.

Then, when you see a job that interests you and realize that I have a connection at that company, ask me to make an introduction.

Now that’s networking.

Curate Your Resume

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Curate: a verb.

It’s an interesting word. By definition, it means “To pull together, sift through, and select for presentation, as music or website content”.

I often think of a museum curator, who must sort through hundreds if not thousands of paintings by the great masters like Da Vinci or Picasso, choosing only a handful for patrons to view. The purpose is to select the best of the best; to curate the collection down to tell a story in a limited space.

What a difficult job!

Right now I am trying to “curate” my personal belongings in an attempt to keep the best of my best.

Not because I need to tell a story with my clothes; simply because my goal is to keep everything in my closet in the bedroom.

I started out with the simple stuff: Hubby’s things. It’s easy to curate his personal belongings. After all, no one needs the 100 thing-a-ma-bobs I found spilling out of his tool chest.

Most difficult? Trying to curate a woman’s shoe collection. Ten pairs of black pumps may all appear identical at first glance yet upon closer examination it becomes clear that, much like snowflakes, no shoes are exactly alike and each serve a different purpose.

Hubby is shaking his head. This from the man with 100 thing-a-ma-bobs in the garage.

Curating my belongings is hard. I guess I’m just sentimental since each time I try to rid myself of an item, I remember when I purchased it or who gave it to me and I just can’t bear the thought of losing that memory.

Here’s another curating challenge that I bet many of us struggle with: the resume.

Our tendency is to over-tell our story. To share every detail of each job and sometimes to list every job we’ve ever had, which is too much itself.

Like too many clothes in the closet or too many thing-a-ma-bobs in the tool chest, too much information on the resume is not always the best form of presentation.

The key to being a good curator is to look at a collection with a critical eye; select only the best work and being strict enough to say “no” to the rest.

When it comes to our resumes we should do the same. This can be super-hard because it’s personal. This is our story of our hard work, and we want everyone to see it.

Plus, it’s difficult to determine what to keep and what to eliminate. The key is to remember that the resume is just one tool in the job search process, so use it to focus on the highlights; key points of interest that may entice the hiring manager to bring you in for an interview.

Some thought starters:

  • Review everything with a very critical eye, looking for the most important information you want to share
  • Hone your best success stories for inclusion on the resume
  • Say it with fewer words wherever possible
    • Even career veterans with a long work history should keep a resume to two pages; those starting out should have only one page
  • What are the three things you want the reader to know about you?
    • Start writing with this information; make sure each is clear and not cluttered with unnecessary information

Using these thought-starters, write your resume. Curate your information to provide a succinct presentation of your story.

Just like our closets and drawers become overstuffed and we need to curate our collections, our resumes can become overstuffed with words and information as we hang on to all of our work examples and stories.

Take time to curate your resume. You – and the hiring manager –will be pleased with the results.

Have You Cracked the Networking Code?

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When I was first starting out, I had no idea what it meant to network.  This is the stuff they talked about in business school yet failed to teach.

Don’t laugh but I honestly thought that networking was akin to sales cold-calling.  Since my only experience meeting new people was during our weekly after-work happy hours, I assumed that networking was similar.

Networking to me meant surveying the bar to find a friendly-looking person, grab my business card and go introduce myself.

We were already dressed in our business professional attire. We had business cards with us. This HAD to be what they were talking about, right?

Yeah, it was awkward.

And I wondered why I never got any dates.  Or made any business connections.

Luckily for me I was already networking; I just didn’t know it.

Every year I sent Christmas cards to a huge list that included relatives, friends from high school, college and business school, as well as friends of my parents that I had known since childhood.  That list expanded to include work colleagues and business associates.

Periodically I would call or email someone I hadn’t seen in a while to say hello; that would lead to lunch or dinner to catch-up in person.

As I worked my way up the corporate ladder and made business connections with suppliers, I kept their names and phone numbers in my Filofax long before we had smart phones.

I employed the same techniques with business colleagues as I did with my friends, periodically emailing or calling them or having lunch with them, even long after I had moved on to other jobs.  And I continued this relationship-building everywhere I worked.

After many years of doing this, a colleague heard me mention that Hubby and I send out hundreds of Christmas cards.  My colleague said, “You are so well-connected!”

That was the first time I ever thought that I might have cracked the networking code.

There it is; the secret of networking.  I’ve laid it out for you.

What; it’s still not clear?  Let me say it a different way:  Communicate with people you know and meet; do this regularly.

Networking, at a basic level, is keeping up with the people you know and meet.  To take it to the next level, you build a relationship with those people through work or friendships or however it is you know them.

The key is staying connected. I’m not gonna lie; it takes work to keep these relationships going.  But that’s what networking is about; building a relationship; one that is strong enough so when you need a favor like, “Will you recommend me for a job?” your network is willing and able to help.

Think you don’t have a network?  I bet you do.

Sit down and start listing all of your close friends and relatives. Then branch out to other friends; your sisters’ friends; your parents’ friends. Then everyone you know at your current job; everyone at your last job and the job before that, and so on.  List as many people as you can remember from college; your classmates, sorority or fraternity pals; friends from any clubs you belonged to, sports teams you played on, etc.  List people you know at your church, any volunteer organizations you work with, etc.

How does your list look now?  Do you have some connections?  I know you do.

And you know what?  Your connections have connections.  That’s how this starts.  Your connections can introduce you to more connections.

Remember to carry business cards with you at all times, even to a funeral (I wrote a post about this; check it out here).  You never know where or when you might meet someone.

Look at you; you’ve just cracked the networking code.  I knew you could do it.

Technology Fail

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Tech fail

Lights, camera, action!

And we’re live!  “Welcome everyone! I’m so happy to host today’s webinar….”

I was on a roll.  I had been preparing for several weeks. My thoughts were organized and I was ready to answer any question thrown my way during this video conference.   My outfit was camera-appropriate and I looked good, if I do say so myself.

As questions came in I answered each one as if I did this every day.  It was awesome!

Except that no one could see me.

As luck would have it, we had a “technology fail” at the last minute and for some still-yet-to-be-determined reason, only the audio portion of the webinar worked.  Apparently the audience could hear me but they couldn’t see me.

I got the message just as we were starting.  The team and I tried rebooting, tried to re-load the platform, tried everything in our bag of tricks to get the video to work, yet nothing.

It was so frustrating!

Especially since we had done a dry-run using the same technology the day before, just to be sure all systems were go.

Apparently all systems didn’t agree to the terms and conditions of the webinar, huh?

So what’s a webinar host to do when things don’t go as planned?  I took a cue from the Oscars and moved on with an Academy award-winning performance.  You go on as if nothing was wrong.

Isn’t that what preparation is all about, being ready for anything? 

I remember a course I took in college that prepared me for just such a “real-world” business situation.

Not to date myself, but this was pre-PowerPoint; back in the day when business presentations depended on overhead projectors. The instructor had a list of items we needed to bring in order to avoid any last minute hiccups.  Most important lesson: “Always carry a spare bulb”.  

After all, you never knew when the projector bulb would break, leaving your presentation in the dark.

In addition to “Carry a spare bulb” was “Bring handouts or visuals” – at least you could carry on with the audio portion of your presentation as if nothing was wrong and you had planned it this way.

This lesson came back to me as I quickly found my voice and carried on with the audio portion of the webinar.  I tried to inject as much verbal enthusiasm as possible to make up for the fact that viewers were staring at a blank screen.

The good news is that we have the opportunity to edit and add my photo to the presentation when we post it online.    It will appear as if my smiling face was there all along.

No one needs to know it was a technology fail, do they? After all, I happened to carry a spare photo.