This is what happens when you have a meeting at a hotel in the middle of a workers union strike!

1. The Philadelphia Story
Having conducted hundreds of presentations, I thought I’d seen it all and been
thru it all but the presentation to a group of professional photographers in
Philadelphia topped it all. Here’s my story . . .
First clue that things were going to be difficult? We booked the hotel months in
advance and within a couple of weeks I started getting calls from a very
determined hotel workers union that the staff was on strike and that things would
not go well at the “site”. How they got my number I can only guess but one call
turned into several, including some subtle hints that the group would “possibly be
heckled” as they came and went from the hotel. Oh great. So, we called other
hotels in the area and they were all booked, PLUS, all the registration information
had been sent and people were booked, etc. Hope for the best? Bring our own
security? Onward.
We’ve been up since 3AM and after a flight delay we arrive in Philadelphia get
set up the day before the event. The taxi ride to the hotel was unpleasant and
seemed another omen for things to come . . . it was. The hotel had a few union
demonstrators outside the grounds of the hotel but it wasn’t bad. The front desk
was clearly working with new employees and things were taking longer than
normal but we were making progress.
So, we’re tired but ready to get set up so we don’t have to rush in the morning.
We get to the room and it’s not the size we requested. Did some haggling and
got that worked out. Bring in our equipment and request the boxes that had ben
sent in advance that contains our printed material and we’re missing some
important boxes. We do the usual check on tracking numbers and according to
our regular delivery service, it shows all had arrived at the hotel. Oh great. Is
this a union issue or a true mix up in shipping? Eventually the boxes were found.
Evidently they had been hidden behind some things. OK. So far, so good.
We get set up and go to the hotel restaurant to eat. They closed at 10:00 PM
and it was 10:05 PM. They would not help us. We are frustrated but too tired to
argue and take a taxi to a restaurant.
Thinking the worst was behind us (ha!) the real adventure was just about to
begin. Our program is dependent on a Powerpoint presentation and an
electronic worksheet that depends on people to bring their laptop to load the
software on to. There’s always a few that have problems with loading the
software (those darn PC users, ha, ha) but we know how to help them and for
those that can’t load it, we hand out a hard copy for them to use as a last resort.
We handed out our last hard copy thinking phew, that was close. These are thick
copies to make but we always have double what we ever need but today, we just
had enough.

2. We had about 75 studios attending which doesn’t sound too bad but when
everyone of those people plug into the electricity, it started causing circuit
breakers to pop. Funny thing tho, it didn’t happen right away. It wasn’t until we
were midway through our presentation that the projector and microphone quit
working. Me and another staff person scramble to plug into other outlets. We
get back up and working again . . . for 5 minutes. Again, we loose the projector
and microphone. Suddenly, everyone in the class says their computers are
running on battery only. We scramble some more and I run to the front desk and
try to calmly ask for help knowing that our tight schedule is getting really tight. I
can tell by the look on the guys face that he doesn’t have a solution. I realize
that this must be the job of one of the guys on strike who’s probably standing on
the corner with a picket sign and I need him desperately but I don’t have the guts
to go ask and the guy behind the desk has even less.
I head back to the room through a different route that I took the first time with the
guy from the front desk on my heels and notice that the carpet is wet. What?
This can’t be! This is where we are having our lunch later (now becoming soon).
He looks over at the decorative pond and says “damn”. I’m like saying, what?
What do you mean damn? He explained that they just had that installed and it
must have started leaking . . . again. So, I put that on my “deal with it after the
power gets solved” list.
We walk into a dark room with a bunch of heads glowing from the light of dying
laptop computers. For a moment, it looked like it could be from a horror show
and I’m the ringmaster. I let everyone know that the hotel is working on the
power issue. We plug the main cords into the last remaining outlet that is
working and within a minute, we blow the fuse on that one and now I’m trying to
maintain some sort of order and the schedule we had been on is out the door.
The final plan is to just get my projector and the audio working. We run one
really long extension cord out the back door and find an outlet in another room
that is working and so we’re up with that. I instruct everyone that for now, we are
going to have to run laptops off of battery power and we are going to make hard
copies for everyone in the unlikely event that the power doesn’t get resolved
within an hour. I hear grumbling but mostly understanding.
I give everyone a 10 minute break to get my brain back in order and go to the
front desk with a borrowed copy of the 144 page worksheets. I tell them I need
75 copies by 1:00. Again, eyes get real big. I realize they don’t have a copy
machine that can handle that. I have to give them suggestions to outsource it but
I must have it or the power back on at 1:00 and based on my experience with the
power so far, I’m not counting on that so I am counting on the hard copies.
So, we regroup in the room that is only lit by the projector and my voice coming
out of the dark. I notice one by one that laptop computers are dying as faces in
the audience start to fade away. Because of my own glowing laptop, I can’t tell
what’s happening in the dark room. I can only see when people leave because

3. the light from the door slits the darkness. I don’t smoke but I’m thinking of trying
it at lunch.
We break for lunch and the food looks and smells good. I remember the carpet!
The carpet is wet! They move the tables as close to a dry corner as they can
and even though you can see a noticeable change in the carpet color, no one
seems to care or notice. Maybe the food acted as a distraction or they were
preoccupied with the power situation? Either way, I notice that I am soaked from
head to toe from the perspiration of worry. I skip lunch and take a quick shower
and change. I head out of my room and look down at the group from the twelfth
floor and the wet carpet has moved closer to the group. It reminds me of
something evil about to devour our group. I get back downstairs and the smell of
wet carpet is starting to overtake the aroma of our lunch.
The status of the power is no further along but the hotel is trying to use their tiny
printer to chip away at the 75 copies I need to get back to teaching. They bring
me ten just before we’re ready to head into the dark room. So, we don’t have
enough copies for everyone. Gulp! The room is too dark for the ones that do
have copies to even see what they are writing. The wet carpet is slowly
approaching the room and I am one hour behind schedule. Just when I thought I
would have to wave a white flag, the hard copies arrive from the outsource and
we got enough power back to run the room lights and still keep my projector and
microphone working. People had to shut off their computers but at least they had
hard copies to work from.
In the end, it all worked out. By maintaining professionalism and smiling, it
turned out OK. As I was checking out of the hotel the following day, the person
behind the desk asked how my stay was. I laughed and told them that it was the
most memorable workshop we had ever presented.