Are You 99% Perfect?
Providing technical equipment at an event can be challenging. We liken it to ‘Live TV’. There have been no rehearsals, it’s live, we have to think on our feet. Years of experience running events gives us that edge to solve problems before they arise.
But every now and then we have a problem. And when we have a problem 400+ delegates see our problem. Yes we have back-up systems in place but sometimes, just sometimes, our equipment fails on us.
So how many back-ups do we take? Back-up amplifiers, back-up mixers, back-up radio microphones, back-up projectors, back-up laptops?… the list could be endless. We can’t back-up everything, so we back-up the more problematic pieces of kit. Mainly, radio microphones and laptops.
We delivered a UK wide roadshow recently. Same kit in 4 different venues, over 2 weeks. 3.5 seamless events, until out of the blue, the main projector starting flickering. Image on/off. No reason, it had been fine for three and a half events. 400 people saw our problem.
Was it the laptop? We switched to the back-up. Still flickering.
Was it the projector? We switched to the back-up, still flickering.
Was it the cables? We changed to our back-up cables, still flickering.
In less than a minute, after trying all of the above, we found that the problem was our data switcher (our box of tricks that all our computer feeds go into). An expensive piece of kit that has NEVER failed us before. We had no back-up.
We solved it, like we do, but we had no back-up.
So, how many back-ups do you take?!
Our experience has been published by Amazon’s highest 5 star rated and reviewed motivational business author Brad Burton in his new book “Now What?”. Brad’s book is available to buy here.
