Rolling with the DC technical punches
by David Benson, Educational Technology Consultant ()
I had an experience recently that parallels many experiences I hear from teachers when they first try something new in the classroom: You go to try something new and one obstacle after another throws itself in your path.
Three of us from PBS 45 & 49 went to Washington, DC to do a bit of lobbying on behalf of PBS's Ed. Tech agencies. We collected our materials a large tradeshow display wall, posters of our projects, videos, giveaways and a couple of laptops and stowed it all, except the laptops, in the tradeshow display case. This we shipped to our sponsoring agency, America's Public Television Stations (APTS) in Washington, to await our arrival.
We were to present in the Dirksen Senate Office Building, so we arrived early to set up, and that's when things started to get interesting. First, the DC police wouldn't allow the TV/ VCRs into the office building until the bomb-sniffing dogs gave it the once over that took hours.
Next, APTS couldn't drop our displays at the curb (something about strange trucks, sealed packages, homeland security). However, we had a Plan B. We put everything we needed for the show on our laptops; all we needed was power and the Internet. We had the power, but no Internet.
Okay, at this point one might think we were getting nervous. Not us! All the web sites we needed had been web-whacked weeks before. We had a show! We were set!
Then word came we could bring in our displays we just had to pick them up at the APTS office, ten blocks away, and transport them back for inspection at the door. Our choices were to transport by cab or subway. Since our case was too big for a cab, we chose the subway.
We finally cleared security, got set up ... we were golden. Until the electricity shut down. After many anxious minutes, the electricians found the problem and we were back up and running. Then we waited for the representatives to appear. Do you know what happens in Washington when the president decides to visit Capitol Hill? Let's just say we didn't see the people we expected.
Does this sound familiar? Maybe a little like a high-tech event? Sometimes it seems no matter how hard you try, something goes awry. But, you know what? If you keep at it and roll with the punches, the end will justify the means. Just because we didn't have a roomful of representatives doesn't mean we didn't accomplish our goals; we did present to their aids and as we all know, those are the people who really make the decisions.
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