An Office with a View

An Office with a View
You’re done! The Sales and Marketing Presentation is now complete. It took you 5 weeks but it will all be worth the extra effort you put in on the project. A Twelve CD-ROM project containing 127 color charts, 27 division break-downs all linked in a spectacular interactive PowerPoint will sky rocket you toward that corner office with a view. It took 3 days for you to rehearse changing the CDs while still making your presentation so there would be no awkward pauses. There is only one thing you forgot: Murphy’s Law.
It is 7:00 Monday morning. You go to the computer room, pick up the neatly cased CD presentation and your laptop, tell the kids it is time to go and wave a cheerful Goodbye to the spouse. It is now 7:45. You have 45 minutes to set up the presentation on the company server and get back to your cubical by 8:30. There is plenty of time. The video conference with the Detroit office starts at 11:30. Disc one up loads quickly, then disc two and so on. Well that was easy enough. It is now only 8:12 and time to check out what your presentation will look like on the big 42” screen in the conference room. You access your presentation on the server and begin your presentation. You tummy tightens as you realize the screen has your daughter’s school project proudly displayed in place of your color charts. DON”T PANIC! The rule is always back up your work. You remove the files from the server and are at your desk by 8:25. The presentation is loaded on your laptop and all you have to do is call the IT department and have them transfer your files to the server.
Ben from IT support arrives at your desk by 9:10. You explain the problem and what you need him to do. After a quick examination of your files, Ben explains that your files cannot be uploaded to the server because the new safety protocols and security software has not been installed on the laptop. Installing the new updates will only take about 15 minutes but the files will probably not survive the ordeal. Rule #2, always stay current and update frequently is now firmly etched on your brain. You decide to go with plan “C” or is it plan “D”.
You call your spouse on the cell phone but it wouldn’t dial through. The tower just doesn’t reach as far as it should. Not to worry, you text your teen and explain the mix up, run to the school, switch the CDs and be back in 30 minutes. You arrive at the school and go to the main entrance to meet your daughter for the trade but she is nowhere in sight. Maybe you are not as good at texting as you thought. Finally you spot her waiting for you at west exit door make the trade and head back to work. It is 10:45. There is still time to up load your presentation on the server. The corner office is still within reach, right?
Everyone gathers in the conference room at 11:15. You were never more ready to present your project. The only person you have to worry about is Ralph and he didn’t even show up until 10:30. How could he possibly be as well prepared as you are? 11:30 arrives and the video conference starts. Introductions go well and the first two presentations go as planned. Your presentation is 4th and you are getting just a little giddy. Then it happens. The video goes out and all you have is sound. After a flurry of activity it is discovered that there is not enough bandwidth to maintain both a secure audio and video link. The conference will have to go on without video. The remaining reports can just be summarized. Well at least Ralph will not be able to do his presentation either. Remember Murphys Law?
Ralph stands up and begins to speak. He explains that his report is accessible on a secure web site he just finished uploading this morning. All we have to do is bring up the site in both locations and he will guide us all through the links for his presentation. After the password was entered at both locations a website complete with flash elements and what might have been java roll-overs burst onto the screen blotting out all hope of ever getting out of that cramped cubical. What was that old saying: for want of a glass fiber cable a room with a view is lost.
The conference is over and you extend your hand to Ralph in congratulations. The two of you chat a bit and then reaches in his pocket and pulls out a flash drive. He mentions that he noticed that you brought in your presentation on CD-ROM. He explains that this particular flash drive can hold up to 4 GB of information and would be much easier and secure than the CDs. Since you knew Ralph rarely kept up on technology you just had to ask how he was able to set up a secure website with all the cutting edge elements. He explained that Ralph jr actually set up the site, did all the code and even added some special features to jazz it up a bit. Music seems to be coming from Ralphs suit pocket. He reaches in and pulls out the phone that dreams are made of: an IPHONE. Then it hits you, your daughter is in the same computer class as Ralph jr. Was it a cat or a dog she asked for last week? You can pick her up after school and take her to the pet store. Whatever she picks out can sit next to her as she sets up your presentation on the web. You head back to your cubical to look up the nearest ATT &T cell phone distributer so you can get on the wait-list for an iphone. There is still hope for that corner office!