Microphone Check / One-Two / One-Two!

I'm pretty sure that is the start of a Beastie Boys track, but buggered if I can remember which one.

Most of yesterday was spent helping Sandra & L1452 record an open seminar/conference they were giving on Gamification.

We were there a good 7 hours before the event was due to start, which I remember thinking was a little overkill. How wrong I was.

Everything was running smoothly until about 2 hours before kick-off, when a lightening strike took out all the power to the street of the venue we were in.

"DIOS MIO, que desmadre!", as the locals would have it. Things got very frantic after that. Trying to work round the small problem of power to drive speakers, lights computers. Luckily, we had brought portable lights and spare batteries for the cameras and a battery operated mike too. A small, but powerful speaker was located and brought to the venue, which could run off the computers. But, we really didn't have any idea if there would be enough power in the various devices to last the duration of the event.

A genarator was located, but failed at the 1st attempt! To say things were frantic was an understatement. Especially, in light of this being the 1st (of many, hopefully) of these talks that L1452 were given. From an initial max number of guests of 45, that eventually became over a 100, it was going to be a cosy fit, made cosier by candlelight making up for a tiny fraction of the lost light!

The whole thing was delayed by over an hour, but the audience was extremely patient and understanding, while waiting. Power eventually, came back a good half an hour into the event, and that was a blessing.

In my eyes, Sandra & Gaby managed to keep the whole event ticking over, despite the obstacles thrown before them. Everyone on the L1452 team pulled together nicely and pitched in to make the absolute best of a very bad situation.

While recording, it was plain to see that people both enjoyed themselves and found what was being presented both informative and useful.

Got a call in the middle of recording and asked if I could cover a class at 7 am in the morning, so there went my early morning lie-in (so looked forward to!) as well, just to round off the evening.

Didn't get to bed until after 1 am, though a few complimentary Tequilas (briefly) took the edge off. And then up again at 7 am (late!) to teach.

As I write this, it's the next day I'm shattered and I am going to have a wee snooze. Adios muchachos.