Breaking Murphy's Law - Latest Comments

Re: The Weekly Might Have Missed List (05/31/09)

coachlisab — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 01:00:00 -0000

Thanks, Lee!

Re: Rikk Flohr: Lest you lead your flock astray

coachlisab — Thu, 28 May 2009 00:47:31 -0000

Great example, Lee! Thanks for pointing out this post.

Re: Don’t Kick the Bucket

leepotts — Mon, 25 May 2009 15:09:15 -0000

Can't go wrong with bread and water.

Re: A rapid cascade of events

leepotts — Mon, 25 May 2009 15:07:44 -0000

My equipment table was once set up next to the seam between two sections of an airwall that wouldn't close all the way. The gap was only a couple inches but it let in enough noise to make it difficult to follow the speakers on my side of the wall. On the other hand the slight breeze that also came through the crack kept me more comfortable than I would have been in the overheated room.

Re: Don’t Kick the Bucket

leepotts — Mon, 25 May 2009 15:03:49 -0000

Hope she's okay and was able to find help. You can do everything in your power to eliminate the possibility of external factors causing a disaster but sometimes there's nothing you can do against the internal.

Re: The Weekly Might Have Missed List (05/24/09)

banquet manager — Mon, 25 May 2009 14:34:42 -0000

Thanks Lee.

Re: Don’t Kick the Bucket

Laura Bergells — Mon, 25 May 2009 10:52:43 -0000

Gosh! That's one for the books! (Or blog.)

Working with wildly creative yet unstable people sometimes yields similar results. Watching a presenter imbibe in improbable amounts of inebriates the night before the show, I found myself thinking,

"This isn't going to be good."

Attempts to get her to stop seemed to make her angry -- and determined to drink all the more.

Sure enough, the next morning, the presenter was in the hospital. Alcohol poisoning.

The show went on... without her.

I imagine it impacted her career. Or her life. Haven't heard from her since -- nor do I care to. Can't imagine who would hire her after such shenanigans.

I've seen self-inflicted sickness like this go on before the show -- and word spreads, quietly and quickly. Presenters who self-inflict sickness soon become non-presenters.

Re: A rapid cascade of events

banquet manager — Sun, 24 May 2009 07:00:31 -0000

Lee,

I just wrote a post about the problems with the airwalls in my ballroom. Not an a/v issue but you should relate to it. Read it here:
http://soyouwanttobeabanquetmanager.blogspot.co...

I've also put a link to you on my blogroll.

Take care.

Re: Don’t Kick the Bucket

coachlisab — Mon, 11 May 2009 17:09:41 -0000

This is sad but hilarious, Lee. When I'm traveling before a presentation, I may not be concerned about food poisoning, but I do try to be careful the day before and day of not to eat anything too heavy or anything that will disagree with me. I know what kinds of foods might trigger a digestive "incident," and I may eat them at home for fun, but not the day before a speaking engagement!

Re: PowerPoint Design in 2009: “Very Superstitious…

PowerPointing — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 08:06:21 -0000

Three bullets per slide and they can’t be sentences. Is good rule of thumb, but how about NO BULLETS at all :-)

Thx for sharing

Re: But I can’t find a Pepsi anywhere…

rajgarat — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 00:36:43 -0000

The El Conquistador is an amazing resort. I would like to visit one day. I've been to San Juan on a cruise but next time would like to stay in the El Conquistador.

-Raj
http://beachhotelpackages.com

Re: The Weekly Might Have Missed List (02/22/09)

Expats in Belgium — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 18:11:25 -0000

Hi, just an extra check to your third item.

I have never done this myself, but I have seen presentations where the presenter goes to search for his file, and there in the explorer window are a bunch of embarrassingly named files 'My CV.doc', "Urgent extension of overdraft.doc' etc etc.

Re: The Weekly Might Have Missed List (02/22/09)

banquet manager — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 21:34:25 -0000

I put up a link to your site as a thanks for being one of my "assistant banquet managers". Hope you get tons of new visitors. Maybe you can link back to me too.
So You Want To Be a Banquet Manager

Re: The Weekly Might Have Missed List (02/08/09)

Ian — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 23:26:10 -0000

Thanks for putting up our Obama video. We're hoping that 2009 will be the year of AV crews getting thanked. Or if that isn't possible, maybe getting fed.

Re: The Weekly Might Have Missed List (02/22/09)

jennifer — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 20:16:12 -0000

Hi Lee - thanks for visiting my blog Meet N' Chuckle! I enjoy your lists and the material is great! I'll continue to visit...

Re: Jedi Knights With Frickin’ Laser Pointers

why — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 20:07:58 -0000

That guy has good hands.

Re: The Weekly Might Have Missed List (02/01/09)

Jeremy Jacobs — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 19:26:50 -0000

Nice list Lee. You OK?

#clarity09

Re: Teachers that firmly believe in corporal punishment

frankie — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 10:19:23 -0000

Great quote, but yeah, easier said than done. :)

Re: The Weekly Might Have Missed List (02/01/09)

coachlisab — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 17:29:29 -0000

Great list as usual, Lee!

Re: Rick Pillars: Rehearsal, Rehearsal, Rehearsal

leepotts — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 21:53:05 -0000

The folks at Evil Genius Media + Events seem to know how do it the right way (http://evilgeniusmedia.wordpress.com/2009/01/30...

"Consider a group of people at your event who you have possibly never considered as VIP’s and single them out for special treatment. The food and beverage staff, the venue staff, the cleaners, security and Audio Visual staff etc.

"Always treat these guys like they are VIP’s. I always include them in the allocation of guest gift packs if there are any, I always schedule meal breaks and spend that little extra on a staff meal if warranted, and I always ensure they are fully briefed about the event.

"Why would I do this ? Let me tell you a short story."

Re: Rick Pillars: Rehearsal, Rehearsal, Rehearsal

Steve LaRose — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 01:19:04 -0000

Time and Time again this very same situation happens all over the world. Good meals in the ballroom can make all the difference in the world when it comes to the moral and performance of the crew.

Re: PowerPoint Design in 2009: “Very Superstitious…

leepotts — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 16:56:23 -0000

Is that anything like not knowing what you don't know?

Re: PowerPoint Design in 2009: “Very Superstitious…

maniactive — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 11:57:03 -0000

One of my favorites lines is,

"Don't believe everything you believe."

But then, I'm a fan of irony!

Re: Obligatory year-end retrospective post 2008

leepotts — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 02:53:13 -0000

Hi Laura,

Happy 2009 to you too.

I was worried you might be more appalled than honored.

Just remember, I can only take partial credit for the title. They were your words, I just took advantage of them.

Thanks again for all the support you were kind enough to extend to BML as I've been getting it off the ground.

Re: The Weekly Might Have Missed List (01/04/09)

leepotts — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 02:50:12 -0000

Hi Lara, glad you enjoyed your visit, thanks for stopping by. Be sure to let me know if you have any good presentation mishap stories you would like to share with the BML community. Any stories of mishaps averted and Murphy's Law broken would be welcomed as well. I'm sure you've seen one or two presentations or speeches go wrong.