Defending Against The Fire

I swear some days you find yourself regretting that you ever got out of bed.  Today was one of those days.

Ironically, today started off pretty great.  I wasn’t scrambling around at the last minute like I usually am before a flight, everything fit perfectly into my suitcase which meant I managed to successfully not over pack, and when I got to the airport, I found a parking spot close to the terminal door.  It all seemed a little too easy but that’s where my good luck stopped. 

Once I got through security at US Airways Gate B, I realized I wasn’t on a US Airways flight; I was going on a US Airways Express flight that would be leaving out of Gate F.  I had to go all the way to the other side of the Philadelphia airport, which included taking a bus, just to get to my terminal.  Next my flight out of Philly was late taking off and late arriving in DC causing me to just barely make my connecting flight to New Orleans.  Then the flight to New Orleans was absolutely miserable!  It was so turbulent that it was making me sick. When I landed in the NOLA, I decided instead of taking a cab to the hotel, I would take the Airport Shuttle that was advertised all over the baggage claim area.  Well over an hour later, I could have kicked myself for that decision.  Even after all that, I had finally made it to New Orleans and I was ready to get to work. 

The whole reason I am in New Orleans is to attend the American Academy of Dermatology’s Annual Meeting.  It’s the largest and most important tradeshow of the year for my company and the one I spend almost all year working on.  This is my fourth time attending this show and every year it’s gets more and more seamless, that was until this year.  This year, it became a disaster!  It all started a few months ago when I was told to travel down here at the last possible minute to handle the set up to cut travel costs.  So I came down today, the day before the show opened .  I usually go to this show at least two days before in case I have to deal with any fires that need to be put out.  

When I got to our booth, I realized exactly why I never wait until the last minute to arrive at a show.  First, I noticed that none of our boxes were there (Fire #1).  I immediately got annoyed thinking about how long it was going to take me to track down our stuff from the show services people in the convention center.  However, it only took them two minutes to tell me where my boxes were, which was anywhere but in the convention center (Fire #2).   Show services people constantly tell you they don’t have your stuff until you prove to them that it was delivered and then somehow they magically find everything.  I quickly hopped on my phone to contact my shipping department to get the tracking information.  The panic officially set in when I got the email from my office saying that all 15 boxes we sent to the show were stuck on a truck in Dallas for the last two days and due to the snow, they wouldn’t be there until Monday (Fire #3), which is the very last day of this event.  Sound the alarms!  I was officially going up in flames. 

I spent all afternoon scrambling to put out the blaze.  I went on the attack arranging overnight Saturday deliveries and having copies printed but no matter how hard I tried, it just seemed like everything was falling apart.  After 6 hours of hell, I came back to my hotel room and put a facebook message up to vent about my miserable day and then I got the best advice.  My aunt told me that this is when I should punt.  Well she officially deserves the Lombardi Trophy because she was exactly right.  I had to punt. 

I had spent all day playing offense and honestly I had done everything I could.  Now it was time to kick the ball away and try to make things happen on defense.  They say offense wins games but defense wins championships.  I needed to have a champ status performance to overcome all these setbacks.  So as I line up the X’s and O’s in my playbook, I am ready for a strong defensive effort tomorrow.

When it comes to obstacles, you can let them stop you or make the best out of what you’ve got to overcome them.  No the show will not be perfect but somehow I will make it great.  This is my project, my mess, and my chance to shine under pressure.  Billie Jean King said, “Champions keep playing until they get it right”.  I will get it right.

“But I firmly believe that any man’s finest hour, his greatest fulfillment of all he holds dear, is the moment when he has worked his heart out in a good cause and lies exhausted on the field of battle – victorious.” – Vince Lombardi