Plan well, do well — even if things go awry

This article was published in the October 2016 edition of NTEA News.

Back in April, I wrote about The Work Truck Show^® 2016, which was held the previous month. I stressed it’s a good practice to take what you learned back to your team/company, hold a summary meeting and use that knowledge to help plan for the next Show. It’s your choice how much you want to make of the time spent in Indianapolis in March — and good pre-planning can make all the difference. 

This article involves somewhat of a story-time approach, which I like. For one, I have two young children, so this is part of my life every night I’m home. I also enjoy sharing stories with new employees at Deist Industries in an effort to acclimate them to the industry or the work force in general. I believe learning from our failures is a great way to win in the long run. This will be one of those tales.

I recently had a chance to catch up with a neighbor who relocated to western Pennsylvania from Portland (Oregon, not Maine) a few years back. While talking, I mentioned about 15 years ago, I did some work for a natural gas company in Portland. Ironically, he had started working for the same company around the time I was there on this project. As the conversation continued, I brought up an incident that had a meaningful effect on me.

I was in my second year working in an energy practice on an operations project aimed at improving their efficiency. I liked the company and the West Coast team I worked with. 

I had spent the past six months learning about the business as we ultimately pieced together a presentation with our findings and recommendations to present to the board of directors.

Since I developed a good relationship with the client, I was selected to present our findings to the board of this publicly traded company. Given this opportunity, I reviewed, cross-reviewed and re-reviewed everything with people back in my home office. 

I packed the presentations in my carry-on bags (yes, while PowerPoint was around, many people did and still like to physically hold a document and take notes on the materials) and boarded the plane. I didn’t have room to pack my clothes in the carry-ons, but no worries, I had a direct flight. How could anything go wrong?

I examined my presentation one more time on the plane, feeling good about tomorrow morning’s meeting. I landed in Portland — but my bags did not. I had all of my materials, but no professional — or clean, for that matter — clothes. Fortunately, the staff at my hotel helped me get some clothes from a 24-hour store to wear that evening and washed my not-quite business attire (read: jeans, casual shirt and tennis shoes) for the next morning. For the sake of brevity, I’m oversimplifying — there were many steps for me to get from A to B. It wasn’t part of my plan, but I was going to make the best of it. 

I had to improvise and recover at the last minute, which ended up providing me with a great ice breaker to kick off my presentation. I was disappointed to experience a curve ball so late in the process, but made it through as I knew my materials and was able to answer follow-up 

questions. I believe working with my team and the company’s staff beforehand made all the difference. Clearly, what I was wearing didn’t help or ultimately matter. That said, you can imagine how my process changed as I continued to travel through the years. And yes, I still do whatever I can to have at least one change of clothes with me on the plane, no matter the destination.

I hope this article proves timely for you and your company as you prepare for The Work Truck Show 2017. If you truly want to get the most out of the experience, I recommend contacting NTEA well in advance. A number of resources are available to help attendees and exhibitors have a successful event. 

Learn more and register for the Show at worktruckshow.com or call 800-441-6832.