Where have we been?

As much as it pains me to consider the thought that this blog may not be read by the masses of telecommunications professionals that belong to my target audience, I do know that at least a handful of you take the time to read my attempts at providing an arguably-witty perspective. This handful of loyal readers may have noticed that it has been several weeks since my last post, which begs the question…“where have we been?” Get your coffee and pull up a chair…

As we all know, fall represents a great time in our industry… one of increased activity and ultimately (and hopefully) more revenue. It also means tradeshows and travel… the old fashioned kind… on a plane. Who would have ever thought the concept of flying thru the air at 35,000 feet would ever be referred to as “old-fashioned”? (more on this later).

This fall took me to Los Angeles (sorry Angels fans…. I was rooting for you to be the recipient of a Phillies beating in the series) and Miami for conferences. “Wow! That sounds like so much fun!” you might be thinking to yourself. Sure it does. And there are parts of these excursions that truly are memorable and irreplaceable. There really is no better place to drink a $25 Mojito than on the strip along South Beach.

Just for fun, let’s revisit the Miami trip for just a few minutes…my travels to Miami started in the usual way, driving to the airport in Philly, but then, heaven forbid, I had to park! My journey to find a simple 8 ft x 12 ft piece of concrete real estate (nothing fancy, mind you) was nothing short of an adventure… This was not your ordinary airport parking lot experience, though. The folks that oversee airport parking lot maintenance felt it a good idea to block entire levels of Garage B (a personal favorite). After driving around, examining every nook of the open levels (with the assistance of the new electronic signage that tells you how many spots in that row are open… operating on what must be a 12 hour delay) I was left no choice but to exit and bother the exit toll booth person to ask his advice. “The only spots left in the entire parking facility are in Garage E”, he offered. (Garage E? Where is that… Pittsburgh?). To get to Garage E, I had to leave the airport, get back on the Interstate and try again… Apparently the staffers were also operating with the same 12-hour delay as the electronic signs… not one available spot in Garage E. At this point, I am faced with the following options: sit and wait for someone to leave, which never seems to happen in airports even though most flights are round trip, visit with my toll booth friend again for updated 12-hour old information on spot availability, or cruise the garage in hopes of a miracle. I decided to go Rambo and venture into an area that was blocked by saw horses. When I turned the corner, I discovered a completely wide open level with a few other mavericks parked right by the elevator… “thank you, God!”

In the interest of time, I will now cut to the return trip and leave the possibilities for South Beach activities to your imagination…

When attempting to check-in and print my boarding pass at the hotel, the system informed me that it was unable to print my boarding pass. Knowing full well that my driver’s license and a smile alone would not get me onto that plane, I planned to use the self-serve kiosks to print my boarding pass. No big deal, right? Right…? Not so much…

Apparently the 2 kiosks USAir set up for passengers to serve themselves were inoperable. The great news is that we (i.e. those of us waiting in the kiosk line… waiting for the one passenger to hurry up and get his passes and/or the repairman to finish with the other one) were not informed that these machines were down. I did what any of us, that is once we are getting dangerously close to boarding time, would do. I approached a human behind the counter for assistance. I was met with a bark that instructed me to get in line…. THE line. The one comprised of dozens of luggage-checking passengers snaked back and forth, for what may as well have been a mile. The bark was replaced with indifference when I assured her that I, along with any others bound for Philly, would surely miss our flight.

Ten precious minutes later, the counter watchdog realized the error of her ways and announced that she would accept anyone heading to Philly for immediate check-in. After receiving the piece of paper that would allow me to see my wife and kids in person, she added “you better run… they will not hold the plane!” Remember the old O.J. Simpson? He had nothing on me that day…

Would you be surprised if I said the overhead bins required some “elfen-magic” (my thanks to Jack Zoblin, my esteemed colleague, for stepping in and taking charge of the overhead situation) to accommodate my small carry-on, or that we sat on the tarmac for 30 minutes before being allowed to take flight? Don’t be…

At this point, I am going to wind down this novel account and let you get back to your work (if you actually made it this far in this post). As we all know, there is no replacement for live interaction with colleagues and clients. These personal appearances, with all of their niceties, can be complemented by the occasional web or video conference. While you can’t “reach out and touch someone”, you can at least “boot up and see them”.

Now you know where we have been…

For more information on the Conference Group’s video and web conferencing solutions, contact us on 877-716-8255 or agents@conferencegroup.com.