I love international meetings. It’s always a challenge, but it’s fun.
During April's set up in Cancun, Mexico for Bankers Life & Casualty's annual meeting for their agents, I experienced a first in my thirty years of working in AV. After spending more than a month making sure all the paperwork was submitted correctly for Mexican customs (which by the way takes 10 days to clear) so the gear can be transported in a 40’ sea container, the big day arrived when it was supposed to be delivered to the hotel for set up. At 9am, with a crew of 14 on the dock ready to go, there’s no truck. It’s 9:30am, and there’s no truck.
I call the office. Margaret, our office manager, calls the freight people. Now comes the good part: it seems that customs lost power the day before, and the gear could not clear customs until power was restored. They tell us that the truck is being loaded in customs and should be on the road in an hour. And by the way, it’s a good five hour drive to the hotel.
Now, when I was in school I had some really good excuses on why I did not do my homework. But I believe that I just heard the freight version of “my dog ate my homework.” Good times.
Doing some quick math, I figure that I need to entertain the crew for about 6 hours. Since it’s Mexico that 5 hour drive will easily become 7 hours. I’m hoping the truck will arrive at 4:30pm at the earliest. I could do a stand-up comedy routine, but my crew speaks a little English, but their English is better than my Spanish. This will be a long week.
Long story short, got the truck at about 5:45pm and we spent a long night in a warm humid ballroom.
I do have a great tip on the food and drink front. Late one night we hit the bar for a drink before we went back to our rooms. OK, here it is: Bacardi Añejo on the rocks with a wedge of lime. Best rum ever.
