Worthwhile Exhaustion

 

My alarm was set for 4 a.m.

And, of course, I was wide awake before it.

But I suppose I was thankful for being awake as I had to be on a train bound for Grand Central Terminal at 4:49.

So there was no time for the snooze option. There was no "five more minutes."

I had to get up.

The Cat supported that endeavor as he wanted me to feed him.

By 4:30, I was clean, dressed, and ready to walk out the door. After feeding The Cat.

The walk to the Greenwich train station will be one of the things I'll miss the most about this apartment. I was standing on the platform in plenty of time.

Greenwich was quiet, as it should be at 4:35 a.m.

Except there were actually two cars that cruised by. Like, what?

I walked off the train and made my way out 44th St and was in the Harvard Club before 6 a.m.

The last Hunt Scanlon conference that I moderated was in Oct 2023 in San Francisco so it was good to be back. 

But if you've never been a part of one, simply that 4 a.m. wake-up call is an indication of a long day.

Besides the commute, there's setting up in the room, presenting the content, staying on (or preferably ahead) of schedule, plus essentially serving as the face of the conference.

It means being "on."

And it can be exhausting when you haven't done it in months.

But it also quickly became familiar again.

We've got the format down pretty well.

Get onsite and put out items on tables. Set up banners and the registration area.

Get a chair for me since that tends to be forgotten. Review the speech. Review the pronunciations.

Eat breakfast. Drink coffee. Lots.

Open the program with my comments, like doing a monologue at an awards ceremony. Then introduce the first speaker.

I was told that I'm very calm as a moderator. I don't get flustered when things go wrong. I'm like a spa. Yes, I was really told that.

Then sit. Quietly. Keep my phone nearby to handle texts on the status of the day.

Watch time. obsessively.

Then stand up to serve as an indication to the speaker that time is getting close to wrapping up. In that process, keep an eye on the Q&A, making sure those with questions wait for the microphone to come to them.

In that same, keep a visual with the two microphone runners so that they know when to stop.

Keep doing all of that until the last presentation has been completed.

Eat lunch.

Attend post-conference gathering.

Take the train home.

Walk in with feet feeling like they need to be amputated (lifetime flat food issues).

And we'll do it all over again in two weeks.

The thing that pleases me is that the reviews are so positive. The team did just an outstanding job of making this all happen, led by Walker Manning.

OK, and of course Chris Hunt and Scott Scanlon.

In short, we crushed it.

But I also walked in, ate dinner, and fell asleep.

Did I mention we're doing it all over again in two weeks?

I'm going to bed.