When the Other Shoe Drops

“Typically, in a case like that, a site survey will help you to see those things ahead of time,” Kieser says. “We make it a practice to always do a site survey. But in this particular case, we had done the site survey at a time when they weren’t using the air conditioner. So we did not realize that the hotel would shake. It ended up working out okay, but it was certainly a nerve-wracking time.”

Another time, Kieser’s crew suddenly found its sound equipment battling with the radio frequencies from a taxi communication tower on top of the hotel. “It did not become a problem until the day of the show, which tends to be the case with these things,” she laughs. “Our audio person is a very good operator, and would try to minimize those things as much as he could during the show. We addressed the issue with the hotel and tried to come up with some different options to lower the frequency issue. You really have to try to have good relationship with the venue—to have a good rapport with them so that they can be on your side.”

Kieser’s advice? Carry a Leatherman—a multipurpose tool that usually includes pliers, knives, screwdrivers, cutters, and other implements—which always comes in handy. Always bring more backup equipment than you think you could possibly need. And know who the local contractors are in case something goes really wrong —like the time a hotel electrician hooked up the hot and neutral contacts backward and blew all her company’s audio-visual equipment to kingdom come. (You should have seen the rental bill.)

With a meeting, you can pretty much assume Murphy’s Law will come into play. The keynote speaker will have altitude sickness. A storm will take out power just as dinner is scheduled to begin.

“A lot of it is flexibility,” Sunvold advises. “Not everything is necessarily the end of the world when that happens. You can rework the schedule—or maybe admit that something is just not going to happen at all. Then you’ve got to put a smile on your face, as hard as that can be, and just say, ‘Okay, we need to move on.’”

Kieser’s worst disaster of all time happened at a large event that her company had worked almost a year to plan. A local monorail system provided the primary transportation for the attendees.

“The wheels of the monorail fell off when we got there,” she says. “Seriously. Then, at the same exact time, we found out that the Teamsters went on strike. So we had to bring in union labor from across state borders. And then we also found out one day into the show that the presidential candidates were coming to the building, and it would shut down all transportation to or from the building for several hours.”

In this case, there was really nothing that could be done. Luckily, the attendees could see the limousines in the street, and they knew something was up. Hoffman Communications also tried to keep everyone informed via loudspeaker and with signage.

“You kind of expect that some things will happen,” Kieser says. “But when all three of those things happen at one time, you kind of feel like, ‘Should I just go home?’ Still, you problem-solve and you find ways to work it out.”