Unproven assumptions can lead to major glitches down the road.
Murphy’s Law states that, “If something can go wrong, it is bound to go wrong.” I never really believed in that before and thought of the cliché as a way for someone else to rain on my parade. After all, mishaps and bloopers are things that great planning and endless rehearsals cure. Besides, we’ve been doing the same things over and over for the last two weeks without any hitches, so I assumed that it was “just another day at the office”—was I in for a surprise.
During yesterday’s broadcast (a webinar on internet marketing), the audio was choppy, we experienced intermittent internet connection (thanks to our very reliable local providers), and at one point, the speaker was even heard screaming at the top of her lungs in horror saying, “Nawala ang internet connection ko!” [I lost my internet connection].
We found ourselves laughing about the day’s events afterwards, but two lessons became very apparent, especially since we were dealing with technology. They are:
1. Never ASSUME that things will work as they have before. Assuming most often leads to one simple conclusion—I make an A** out of U and ME. Not a very exciting situation to end up in with a live audience.
2. Be Prepared. The internet is an exciting arena to be operating in, but it is heavily reliant on so many other aspects. Having a back-up ready to act as a fail-safe are sure ways to guarantee a smoothly running, seamless presentation. Unless, of course, it’s already the hand of God Almighty that has put you into a corner with no way out.
I guess these lessons apply, not only to web-conferencing, but to everything else in life. So the next time I get into anything (and I apologize for this in advance), I will keep on asking questions, double check and run the risk of being tagged as a nuisance. At the end of the day, no one really got killed because of these, right?
image source: http://freedigitalphotos.net, Photo by Juan Gnecco
