There’s nothing worse than a mobile going off in a chapter
meeting – well, other than someone texting during a meeting that is. And that’s
why, at every meeting, the Chapter Director reminds us to turn our mobiles off.
So, why was my mobile switched on and, more importantly, why
did it ring? Well you will be pleased to hear that it was all pre-arranged;
part of a very clever 60 Seconds by one of the members of the chapter. Yaro
Kowalczyk of, IT company, Compcontrol Ltd. This is what happened.
As Yaro stood to do his 60 Seconds my phone rang. I answered
with a “Hello”. Yaro was on the other side of the room on his mobile, he also
said “Hello”. I couldn’t hear anything coming from my phone, so I tried
another, “Hello”. It seemed that Yaro also couldn’t hear anything his end so he
to tried another “Hello”. Still no sound my end, so I tried yet another
“Hello”. We both hung up.
Yaro went on to explain that what we had just experienced on
our mobiles, a bad connection, was just like having a bad computer network. And
that a bad network meant that computers and peripherals had difficulty
‘talking’ to one another, leading to all sorts of problems, amongst them lost
tempers and lost money.
Yaro explained that his company, Compcontrol, supplied
unrivalled network services, and that if anyone in the room knew someone having
a problem with their computer network it would be a perfect referral for him.
I have to say that I thought it was a brilliant way of
demonstrating what Compcontrol did and because of that will forgive a mobile being used during a meeting.
Note: Please don’t all start ringing each other at your next
meeting!
