Dealing with Stress United Space Alliance (NASA Parent Company) Event

I’m often asked how I deal with the stress of my business. Let me begin with a story about an event that would have driven anyone else to commit suicide, close their business and run away to hide in some remote place. The event itself was a ten plus, but wait for the behind-the-scenes story! To prepare you for it, let me set the stage with some of the event details. The first of its kind, the Space Shuttle three-day conference and tradeshow was sponsored by the United Space Alliance (USA), a prime contractor of NASA’s Space Shuttle. Its purpose was to explore new and emerging space shuttle technology, specifically its applications in the private sector. My company, Extraordinary Events, coordinated a full schedule of highcaliber speakers including NASA and USA dignitaries, astronauts and politicians in addition to producing a tradeshow, coordinating technical demonstrations and tours of NASA’s Ames Research Facility and producing ancillary events, such as an opening reception and ceremony, breakfast and lunch throughout and a VIP dinner. Additionally, we helped the client achieve its goal of promoting the future of Space Shuttle technology to the masses by publicizing and producing a public educational event the day after the conference for 10,000. The highlight of the conference was a new film premiered at the opening event which was developed for USA to use as a tool to “sell” the space shuttle to the children of America. It would be distributed to every school in the U.S. and was also to be the "new" NASA, used for tradeshows, promotions and possibly commercials. Oh, by the way, the events took place in a huge airport hangar (the size of three football fields, eight acres contained within its walls) at Moffet Field in Northern California. The opening night reception featured an elaborate buffet, a preview of the 141 tradeshow exhibits (occupying 154,000-square-feet of exhibit space) and a formal opening ceremony in a custom-designed multi-tiered amphitheater, all within the hangar. To create an amphitheater, we rigged three 60-by-65 Transformit fabric sculptures around platform seating. Additionally, the amphitheater was illuminated with landing lights, and the Transformit structures were lighted for the dramatic effect that was achieved as daylight turned to twilight, then evening. Huge as they were, they were dwarfed in this immense space, but they added needed color and detracted from the dinginess of the bland aircraft hangar with its years of dust and oil-spotted floors. Host Miles O’Brien, CNN anchor and correspondent, welcomed guests and introduced dignitaries from NASA and USA, including NASA’s Dr. Henry McDonald and Russell Turner, CEO of USA, who spoke about the emerging Space Shuttle technology and its applications within the private sector. After their speeches, the film produced by Extraordinary Events (EE) was shown on giant video screens. Film crews had attended shuttle launches, buried themselves in NASA archives and weeks later created an MTV-styled work aimed at today’s generation. The objective was to shake up the tried and true. It did. 1

The two-day conference and tradeshow began the following day, with a general session in the same amphitheater area as the previous night’s ceremony. Speakers the first day included shuttle commanders Andrew Allen, director of space shuttle development for USA, and William Ready, deputy associate administrator for space flight, NASA. Throughout the day, attendees could elect to participate in the conference, explore the tradeshow, which featured elaborate booths by companies such as Lockheed and Boeing and technical demonstrations on the show floor, or take tours of the NASA Ames Research Center, which EE also coordinated. A four-course, sit-down VIP dinner at the host hotel ended the day. The conference continued for another day and concluded with a closing session and a final reception hosted by Lockheed Martin. On Saturday, the tradeshow was opened to the public for Ames Research Center’s Space and Education Day and featured 90-minutes’ worth of speakers, including astronauts and politicians. Videos from the opening ceremony were shown, and attendees were invited to explore the tradeshow. Our audience was techies. So the AV had to be perfect. Our bosses were Space Shuttle commanders. Timing and execution were everything. Precision was expected. A professional stage manager and first-class crew orchestrated everything to an extended countdown. Caterers wheeled in and out, timed to set up and tear out on a set schedule. When Andy Allen turned to us (he had commanded five missions and had walked on the moon) and said, “You guys pulled off a miracle,” we were awed and humbled. But the true success of this event can be found behind the scenes when the producer quit without warning on the day of load-in. So we were required to learn the event specifics from the ground up - in five days. And in spite of all these challenges, our event team was able to pull off an extremely successful event. This was a government (red-tape) project on a government base with government personnel. The visibility was incredible – Time, Newsweek, US New & World Report – no failure could even be considered. It wasn’t about aesthetics. It was about perfection. Gather around, and I’ll give you the inside scoop. “Houston, We Have A Problem” The planning of The Space Shuttle Development Conference started in a very ordinary fashion. Our Texas Account Executive was introduced to the meeting and event planning team from USA. He had a face-to-face meeting, and we were asked to submit a bid for their upcoming conference to be held in Houston. We did so and won the bid. Then, USA moved the conference to California and set up a site inspection. Our Account Executive was on another job site. I was, too. So, as I caught a red eye, I asked EE’s Las Vegas Director of Sales (hence know as DOS) to cover the first day of the unmovable site inspection. I would join her the following day. When I arrived, after 36 hours without sleep, the client and DOS were best of friends. Perfect connection. The site inspection went flawlessly as "they" explained what "they" were planning.

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The Account Executive (AE) and I continued to fine-tune the bid with all the new specs. DOS wanted to remain involved as she was a former Air Forcer and wished to stay connected in a project that was this exciting. O.K. Another site inspection was planned. Again, everyone was busy the first day. DOS offered to go until the AE could join up with her and the client. The site inspection was fine. I lay back, knowing it was all in good hands. We asked the client; he was very, very happy. DOS began to communicate directly with the client regarding concept and production issues, all with our approval since they had developed such a close relationship. We asked for a paper trail. None appeared, but "it's coming." Client continued to sing the praises of DOS. Another site visit was planned, this time with technical crew and all Ames (the site) people present as well as many, many upper echelon VIPs from USA. DOS publicly proclaimed herself as "executive producer" of the event and demanded that every item regarding the event had to run through only her. Our Texas rep was the account executive, but SHE was the point person. Several unpleasant conversations later about this issue, we decided to leave it alone, since it would only be troublesome to the client to undermine her authority. Weeks and weeks of work. Constant checking with the client. Was he happy? Yes, everything was fine. DOS was great! She gave him tickets to Aerosmith; his seats were in front of the Texas governor and most celebrities in attendance. DOS was terrific! SO creative! The AE and I asked to see what this creativity was all about. "It's coming." We demanded to see the budget. "It's coming." The client began to ask for paperwork. "I sent it!" she said. "Where is it?" we asked. "It's coming!" I finally flew to Las Vegas and demanded to see "the book" with all notes in it. "It's at home." I was able to get handwritten notes for the budget. I went over it line item by line item. To keep from being excessively tedious, there was a lot of paper shuffling, next to no backup, and we had to carefully readjust the figures. The concept she seemed not to "get" was that the budget was THE BUDGET. We were assured that everything was handled. We again checked with the client who was very happy. The dates of the event approached. According to DOS, technical elements were being donated because of the high visibility of this event. Wasn't it terrific that so much was being given to us? A Jumbotron; a high-resolution video truck to film and memorialize the entire conference; food and beverage. Wow! Lucky us! Days before the event our Line Producer, the AE and I asked to see all creative, plus a sign-off from the client on all budgeted elements. Finally a very loose creative treatment came in the middle of the night with no budget. We were all uncomfortable, but it was time to get on our planes and start "producing." After all, with years and years of experience in the industry, this person had to know what she was doing. And the client was happy. The day before DOS was to fly to San Jose for the first day of load-in, I left a message that I didn't have all contracts in hand to execute payments for items being delivered the next day. 3

On Thursday, Load-in day, I checked voice mail at my office at 4:00 a.m. "Hi, this is (well, name-dropping isn't polite, so I'll be good and not name names), and I just want to tell you that I'm disassociating myself from this project and Extraordinary Events." We did not have the master production book. We did not have contracts. We did not have agreements. We called our Las Vegas office and were told that she had instructed them to forward all calls to our Los Angeles office. We called her home, her cell. Only voice mail. She had gone underground. Our first call was to the Line Producer. Get on the next flight. The next was to the client. The truth. Yes, you heard me, the truth. This is the situation. Tell me every last thing you are expecting, and we will deliver it. Let's not discuss the whys or wherefores. Let's just get it done. With excellence. Our Line Producer arrived in San Jose to be met with a barrage of people and their questions. Every sentence started with "She promised" or "She said she'd taken care of that." Seventy tour guides showed up to walk the route of the tours. WHAT TOURS?? Boeing showed up with a jet propulsion engine from a shuttle. Where's the fork lift? WHAT FORK LIFT?! Again, I'll shorten the story. No equipment had been ordered. No labor had been ordered. No food had been ordered. The conference was woven around the introduction of this amazing video that we produced. No AV had been ordered. There was no sound. We had a dirigible hangar, the size of three football fields, where we were producing a meeting and tradeshow, with five Space Shuttle commanders as our bosses. We had to make it happen. On Friday, the Line Producer was in San Jose, and the AE was on his way. I remained in Los Angeles. My first job was to preview the video. Excellent. What do we show it on? Oh, yes, the donated Jumbotron. Wrong! It didn't exist. Broadcast from the donated highresolution truck. Donated? “Who told you that? It's $98,000, and ‘she’ confirmed it with me. By the way, it's 58-feet long, and we need to park it in the hangar. It's on its way now. Have the check ready.” In the midst of this, the Line Producer called. “The FAA is calling. There are jets circling the field and they want to land.” WHAT JETS? Oh yes, “she” had promised five astronauts that they could fly their private planes into the field and she’d provide clearance. Keep circling, boys, we’ll take care of it … somehow. I begged, borrowed favors and stole from my accumulated years of professionalism to get everything in place. We secured sound and audio visual equipment and the best professionals in the business. Then the bombshell hit. The meetings were during broad daylight, and this dirigible hangar (remember the size, folks?) had 360-degree windows bringing in the beautiful July sunshine. And "she" had promised the client that all their AV, all their PowerPoint, would show up beautifully. How? “She” told them that Navy Seals would rappel down the hangar with velon to cover all the windows. Guess who got to break the news that it wouldn't and couldn’t happen this way? 4

With more intense brainstorming we found some solutions, like building an expensive tunnel to shelter the equipment, but it wasn't easy. I arrived on Monday morning to find both the Line Producer and AE in remarkably good spirits, considering. I was approached by one of the shuttle commanders. "When do we see our speeches?" SPEECHES? "Yes, 'she' promised she'd write our scripts, cues ...." FOR SPACE SHUTTLE COMMANDERS. By that night? Two hours worth? No problem! "Who's directing the show?" SHOW? WHAT SHOW? "Why, 'she' said we'd have a professional director, stage manager, producer and emcee." Now, as if this wasn't enough, add one more tiny component. That very same weekend after one scrub, the Space Shuttle was launched, but had a hydraulic leak. Our client had a lot more to think about than the problems associated with this meeting. I could go on. But I think this might give you a good picture. Unfortunately, not the financial one. I can't even bear to talk about that. From Thursday night load-in day one, I never asked how much. I just said, "Do it." I had to stand behind the company, keep my own troupes from slashing their wrists, diffuse the tension with the vendors and communicate with the client like this was just one more daily challenge. So, that’s the story. After reading it, you might label this event stressful, but was it? Yes, but not worth hyperventilating about … not for me anyway. Why not? The Lesson My life is filled with would-be stressful events like my NASA event. For example, several years ago I gave one of many seminars for the International Special Events Society (ISES). Exactly as I mounted the podium and started thanking everyone for attending, my phone rang. As usual, it was a client demanding I do something immediately, a dire emergency, with no time to waste. As I was explaining where I was and what I was doing, my pager went off with a 911, while a bellman simultaneously ran in with a message about an emergency in some part of the globe and that my staff needed me immediately. Everyone needed something that second. In the midst of it all, I simply looked up at my audience and said, “I was born in a concentration camp. When I was three weeks old my mother, my grandparents and I escaped on a fishing boat across the Adriatic and went into hiding in Italy for the next three years. The other boats with the rest of my family were shot out of the water, and they all went to Auschwitz. None survived. In Italy, my mother met and later married an American pilot, moved to the United States and left me with my grandparents. The next time I saw her, four years later, I had no idea who she was. “Do I get stressed out because one rose in a centerpiece is a little wilted or a drummer is 15 minutes late or the client demands unplanned elements at the last minute or the producer quits and I have to build the event from zero up on load-in day? If no one dies on the job or I don’t read about it in the New York Times, it simply isn’t that important and not worth 5

stressing over. And when you really look at it, what do you accomplish by getting stressed? Absolutely nothing.” This is Chapter One from Andrea Michaels’ book, Reflections of a Successful Wallflower – Lessons in Business; Lessons in Life.

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