Face to face

If Tuesday was Washington then today is Bergen and tomorrow Austin – one of the worst travel weeks in a long and looking like no upgrades likely on any leg. I was in Bergen to speak at the Booster conference and it was a lot of fun. A bit a nightmare last night however with a nasty shock. I boarded the plane at Gatwick and thought I would check online to see what I was talking about. I thought I was speaking Thursday but the programme had me in for Friday at which time I will be on a plane to Texas. Thankfully Norwegian Air have free wifi and the conference organisers had consumed alcohol when my email arrived. Sessions were switched thanks to Martin Burn’s agreement and I had a full room.

I’d never been to Bergen before and blessed with a sunny day I had a few hours to go for a walk and seek out a missing Starbucks mug. All in all a good day, made better by a face to face conversation with Martin who attended the session. It is no secret that social media relationships between Martin and myself are poor but several mutual friends had given me sage advise not to engage and instead talk face to face. That worked and we had a good chat. There is something about virtual communication that can allow minor disagreements to accelerate out of control. Learning people’s style is important here and aggression can spiral all too easily on twitter.