I was in Dallas delivering the closing keynote presentation on Creating Strategic Impact for the Transportation Marketing and Sales Association (TMSA) annual conference.
Based on previous experiences speaking at TMSA conferences, my plan was to avoid the stage and speak from the floor to be as close to the audience as possible.
Setting up for the Creating Strategic Impact presentation several hours early, I placed my laptop on a chair on the floor, rearranged cables, and made sure everything worked. I then unplugged the laptop to head to a breakout session.
Returning later, someone had returned the cables to the stage. I pulled the cables back to the floor, hooked everything up, did a final test, and went next door to watch the awards presentation.
Returning twenty minutes later, someone had moved the entire setup back to the stage. As I finished moving the laptop back on a chair on the floor, one of the AV techs appeared. He asked why everything kept getting moved to the floor. Explaining the plan to deliver the talk, he asked if I would prefer the laptop be on a table on the floor. I said that would be great if it were not too much trouble. He said it was not; he was sure we could find a table in the service hallway.
As we were about to track down a table in the few moments before the closing keynote was to start, a female tech arrived and asked what we were doing. The male tech explained the plan and said we were going to go find a table instead of the chair I was using.
She turned around to the stage and casually asked, "Why don't you use the table already on the stage for laptops?"
Well, that was certainly the OBVIOUS answer, but it NEVER occurred to either of us to simply move the table.
That's because my focus was on the floor. The male AV tech's focus was on not using the chair.
Neither of us stopped long enough to take in the whole situation and see there was a table right there - behind us. Yet someone with a completely fresh and different perspective of the situation could see the easy answer instantly.
What a great reminder of how an outsider can see obvious answers that insiders - those most steeped in an issue or opportunity - might never see, no matter how long they look.
Is’ an easy trap for any of us, even those of us who know better, to fall into if we miss viable options our experience prevents us from seeing.
That is why we do what we do, and one big way we add value and specialize in creating strategic impact for our clients.
Could we be of help to you as well? – Mike Brown
