Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips

When problems occur in complex online presentations, those involved struggle to fix the problems. They are invested in the presentation. That investment inhibits thinking. Always bring along an uninvested assistant.

I have participated in countless ZoomerTeamer meetings in the past year. Some were simple—a daily chat with a small team of colleagues. Some are complex—several thousand observers at an international conference.

Sometimes, there are “technical difficulties.” No one can hear the presenter. No one can see the presentation. Support personnel step in to remedy the situation. No support personnel? The presenters scramble.

I’ve been one of these presenters scrambling to have something that isn’t working work. Whatever it is, it worked just fine during the practice session (there is always a practice session for complex meetings). Nothing works as it should. Everything is fuzzy. Everything is confusing and confounding and all those words that begin with “con” and mean “contrary to what should work.”

I was always invested in the presentation. I had prepared, practiced, perfected, and perspired to no end. I was focused.

I was too focused. When problems occurred, I was focused on a tiny thing that I was convinced was the problem and solution I couldn’t see anything else. That was my failing—I couldn’t see anything else.

That is one of the great problems of being invested—I cannot see enough.

What is needed is someone who is not invested. The uninvested person can see much more than the invested person. The uninvested is carefree and has nothing pressing down on their chest or the brain. The uninvested can breathe and think. And the uninvested assistant has the administrative privileges that allows correcting problems. The uninvested assistant doesn’t have to attempt to describe the problem and the solution to the invested persons who have ceased to breathe and think.

Doing a complex meeting? Find someone who is not invested in the presentation. Grant them administrative privileges. Have them appear at the complex meeting. If problems occur, the uninvested will remedy them much faster than the invested.