Evaluating Past Performance in Real Life

Posted on October 14, 2022 by Bart Leahy

Recently a friend invited me to the Sebring International Raceway, where his brother was driving his Porsche GT4 at a high performance driver education event. Basically, instead of a race, the track was allowing people with sports cars to drive around the track at whatever speed they felt comfortable driving, but within strict safety rules and without racing each other. This was an opportunity for me to ride in a fast car on a track with a lot of hairpin turns. Not being much of a speed demon, the question was: would I? Continue reading →

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Sorting Out Conflicting Regulations, Revisited

Posted on October 7, 2022 by Bart Leahy

Back in May, I posted an entry ranting about the conflicting regulations related to COVID-19 screening for my vacation. I’m now back from that vacation and thought I’d post a follow-up entry. There was more drama…some of it easily preventable, alas. Continue reading →

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Event Management – Establishing and Sticking to a Schedule

Posted on September 30, 2022 by Bart Leahy

Continuing the event management riff, one of the key areas where a technical writer can add value is by applying his or her schedule-making and -keeping skills. You might be the keeper of the schedule or the event manager or both. You also might have to coordinate your schedule with the event hotel, site locations, and overall organization. Regardless, your ability to track and accomplish multiple tasks simultaneously will serve you well as you’re preparing to execute a large event, such as a conference. Continue reading →

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You’ve Won Your Event Bid! Now What?

Posted on September 23, 2022 by Bart Leahy

Note: I am on leave through the end of the month. If you have a comment or question, you might have to wait a little longer than usual for me to respond.

Congratulations! Your hard efforts to write a winning event proposal and present it to the appropriate authorities have been successful. You’ve been given authority to proceed and at least a preliminary budget to start executing your plans. What do you do now? Continue reading →

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Pitching Your Conference

Posted on September 16, 2022 by Bart Leahy

Note: I am on leave through the end of the month. If you have a comment or question, you might have to wait a little longer than usual for me to respond.

Not every organization has a formal pitch process for hosting events. The space advocacy organization I worked with, however, did require a live presentation to the Board of Directors on top of a written proposal. No pressure, right? Anyhow, even if you don’t have to give a formal presentation to promote your event, it is likely that you’ll at least have to answer some verbal questions from the decision maker(s). In either case, the primary message of this post will be: Be Prepared! Continue reading →

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