Now that the first Power Mistake story has been posted, I feel safe in starting to post my own stories. Heck, there are soooo many to choose from! And, if history is a crystal ball of the future, I’ll have plenty of material for future posts! These two events took place within the last month.

I’ve been talking about how much of an impact moving from one house to another has been over the past 5 months. Well, it finally caught up with me. I was scheduled to lead a conference call at 11a.m. Eastern. Somehow, I put the call time as 11a.m. in my schedule – that would be 11a.m. in my time zone, which is Central (1 hour behind Eastern Time Zone). Imagine my surprise as I get onto the call and waited, waited, and waited. After seven minutes, no one had showed up. Yes, I was one hour late and missed the entire call.

About two weeks earlier, the same thing happened in reverse – I was calling into a conference call scheduled for 2p.m. Ah, that was 2p.m. Pacific. I did not even look at my schedule because I was convinced it was 2pm Central! I was calling a prospective client to discuss my communications-training proposal. 2pm Central is 12p.m. Pacific!! I was two hours early! Three minutes early to a meeting is acceptable – being two hours early did nothing for my credibility. Byron, USA

Learning Point: On time is on time. Set your schedule carefully so you call in at the appropriate time AND time zone! This is why it is important to send out the meeting time in only ONE time zone. See Avoid Time Zone Confusion for more details.

We learn through mistakes. That is what makes being human so amazing.
Share a mistake you have participated in so that others can laugh at having done something similar!

Posted by Byron Van Arsdale, Founder
ConferenceCallTraining.com

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Excellent – our first Power Mistake submission! Thanks Sara!

Am having some interesting experiences conducting online Webinars. The technology leaves a lot to be desired!!!! I had 75 callers on the line yesterday for a presentation. Many of those lines were in offices with groups of real estate agents – total head count was about 225 – the online meeting platform was OK, but the conference call line the host was using did not let the attendees in!!! They received a message that the lines were unavailable. The only ones who could get on the call were the host and myself (the presenter). So, we had a GREAT PowerPoint but NO audio.

We had about six weeks of marketing behind a non-event – have to reschedule – there’s gotta be a better way! –Sara, USA

Learning Point: Technology can and will fail when we least expect it. Having a backup plan in case something like happens is crucial. If there is no audio yet you have their visual attention, have a PowerPoint slide ready! For example, add two blank slides at the end of the presentation and then add one that says – Audio Difficulty, (next line) Must Reschedule, (next line) Thanks for being Flexible! Putting it three slides after the end of your presentation will insure you do not accidentally show it when you end your presentation. What are your suggestions?

If you want to submit a Power Mistake, here are the rules. First, leave out the details like company names and full personal names. Focus on what went wrong and not who made the mistake. Whining is so over rated – don’t do it! Second, include your first name and country (note: you can be anonymous here). Third, keep it short, to the point, and give us an idea of what went wrong. We’ll let readers contribute strategies and ideas on how to improve the situation.

For her courage, Sara gets a copy of my upcoming book when it is released! Do you have a Power Mistake (conference call, webinar, or teleclass) that you’d like to share with our global community? Email it to me Byron.

Posted by Byron Van Arsdale, Founder
ConferenceCallTraining.com

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