I’m so excited! The Bold Group, which I started to work for last year, is organising their annual conference in Disney’s Yacht Club resort in Orlando and I’m invited to speak. This is the first time since January 2020, that I get to visit the United States again.
I fly out on Saturday to have some relaxing time before the conference starts on Sunday evening. During my 8 hour flight to Philadelphia I start to read 'The Obstacle is The Way', by Ryan Holiday. It’s a book about how you can stop perceiving obstacles as being negative, but instead learn to see them as “...opportunities to test ourselves, to try new things, and, ultimately, to triumph.” It turns out that this book would come in handy later today.
My flight to Philadelphia is uneventful and I’m happy with a comfortable 4 hour layover, before I’d hop on my connecting flight to Orlando. As I’m sitting at the bar, enjoying a tasty burger and a Stella Artois for only 11$, I receive an e-mail informing me that my flight got cancelled. “We apologise for any inconvenience, but due to weather conditions your flight got cancelled. We re-booked you on the 5PM flight on Monday. Please confirm this change.” I don't think so! I’d be missing two out of my three speaking sessions. Furthermore, 'weather conditions' is code for “sorry boss, not our mistake, we won’t get you a hotel or anything else, you’re on your own. Good luck!”
It’s chaotic at the service desk. There is a long waiting line. I hear people yelling and crying: “I have to get home, this is my worst nightmare!” Right behind me is a man and his son. I hear him say: “Hey buddy! They’ve taken away our easy way to get home.. now it’s an adventure! Want to join?” I turn around to see the little boy filled up with excitement. Now that’s the kind of father I aspire to be one day. I can’t suppress a smile thinking about what I literally read about a few hours earlier: events are just events. We assign meaning to them and experience emotions accordingly.
Ok, this is highly inconvenient: I’m stuck in Philadelphia, with no cell service and a spotty airport WiFi connection. If I don’t take action I’ll be at this airport for the next two days. “Which is a lot more convenient than what the people of Ukraine are going through right now..”, my mind is quick to add. Ok, so let’s focus on what is still possible? Rent a car in Philadelphia and drive for 15 hours? Maybe. Fly somewhere closer to Orlando and drive from there? That sounds better. So when it’s my turn at the desk I manage to get a flight to West Palm Beach early in the afternoon on Sunday. From there I would only have to drive 2.5 hours to get to Orlando. I find a rental car for only 56$ to help me do just that. Until I indicate that I have a Dutch driver’s license. “We’ve updated your price to 256$.” Ok, let’s try a different website. I also find a cheap hotel next to the airport and fall into a deep sleep.
Luckily, the next travel day is fairly uneventful and I finally get to the Disney hotel after exactly 39 hours from door to door. I’m exhausted and take a quick nap, to wake up right in time for the welcome reception. Even though I’m a newbie in the Security & Alarm Industry, there are many faces I recognise from my previous career in the ERP world. Some of the people that I’ve worked with since 2012 made the same transition, so it is really nice to catch up and see each other in person again.
 |
| picture made by the Bold Group |
On Monday the conference starts with key note speakers and several break-out sessions. I’m scheduled to host two of these sessions today. For the first one I team up with someone I’ve known since 2013 and we talk about how to improve your Cost Accounting using the software. For the second session I’m on my own, talking about and demonstrating the power of Business Intelligence. How do you use a set of techniques and tools to transform raw data into meaningful insights, based upon which you can make important business decisions? This topic is my favourite topic of all. I just love working with data and data visualisations. They say that “Data is the new gold”, so I guess I’m in a great spot. By a show of hands I learn that only 2 or 3 people have ever heard of or seen Power BI. That makes it an easy crowd to ‘Wow!’, and I receive an unanimous 5 star rating for my session. Many people come to see me afterwards to tell me how much they’ve enjoyed my session. “So did I!”, I reply.
The second day across the ocean is typically the worst day of my jetlag. That’s today. After my last session I can barely stand straight and decide to lay down at the pool. Exhausted, but satisfied. Feelings of gratitude come over me when I’m conscious about my situation: laying at the pool in a beautiful Disney resort in Florida, enjoying 28 degrees Celsius, feeling very welcome in a new industry and just having added value to other people’s lives. A guy next to me starts playing the Beach Boys: “Catch a wave and you're sittin' on top of the world…” I compliment him for his choice of song. It feels appropriate.
It always make me so thankful when I think about the fact that people are willing to pay to fly me all over the world, because I have something to offer that people want. The title on my name badge reads: “Senior Technical Consultant”. “What does that mean? What do you do?”, people ask. “Well..”, I reply, “what I basically do, is type things on a keyboard and then people smile, because I just saved them time and money, so they can be more productive with other things.” Isn’t that amazing? I think so.
There is no evening agenda today, so most people are going to dinners to (re-) connect with business relationships. I didn’t make any plans, so I just walk down in my jeans to go get a quick bite at the bar and continue in my book, when a coworker spots me: “Hey Thijs, I heard your session was amazing today, why don’t you join us for a drink?” I end up in a fancy dinner (55$ steaks and 18$ cocktails) with eight people, including the President of the parent company of the Bold Group: Evercommerce. The company went public last year with a listing on the Nasdaq and is expanding rapidly. I quickly changed back into my business attire and position myself across the table from the President. This way I can follow my curiosity and ask him all the questions that I have. It’s an interesting conversation and I learn a lot. I’m also glad that I’m not picking up the bill…
The conference is very much like earlier conferences that I attended: getting inspired by keynote speakers, learn about the software and processes in break-out sessions, and connect with other attendees. It’s valuable to me to be able to put the pieces of the puzzle together regarding the different products, different third party vendors and customer sentiment. My name gets mentioned on stage a handful of times, so by Day Two I can’t walk around anonymously anymore and I’m extending my business connections rapidly.
 |
| picture made by the Bold Group |
 |
| picture made by the Bold Group |
 |
| picture made by the Bold Group |
 |
| picture made by the Bold Group |
When the conference ends on Wednesday afternoon, I pick up a rental car and drive west to St. Petersburg. Ruth and Joe, friends from my time in New Orleans, live there and I haven’t seen them since 2018. It’s so great to see them again and to catch up. We take electric steps (they call them scooters) downtown and head to the pier to have some drinks with an amazing view.
I’ve only lived for 2.5 years in New Orleans, but the people I’ve met there are friends for life. Without doubt I know I can ask all my NOLA friends to crash at their place when I’m in the neighbourhood. They know they can always ask me the same. Pretty special.
While waiting on my flight home I see someone who recognised me from the conference: “Hey Thijs! Happy to go back to the Netherlands?” “I sure am!”, I replied, “but hopefully I’ll be back soon!”
Comments