It’s time to head home – I’m all checked in @ DFW, ready to get home.  I have atleast an hour before boarding, but that gives me a little time to relax.

There was no one in line at the Midwest ticket counter so that took me all of 3 minutes – Security had only 1 person in front of me which made that a breeze as well.  Good start to the day.  I guess we’ll see how the weather is in Milwaukee this time, since that’s where my connecting flight is.

DFW is quite a nice airport – The seats are comfortable, and the one I’m on now has a leg rest, kind of like a lawn chair. Very cool. 

I stopped by this gift shop that had everything Texas, picked up a few bottles of “Texas Champagne” as the label reads -  Which I believe translates to wicked hot sauce.  I just couldn’t leave Texas without a few bottles of the local hot stuff for the folks back home. 

 Overall this has been a productive trip.   I enjoyed the conference and got some good ideas, including some personal development from a few of the sessions, which in part was the goal.

The weather was nice most of the time, got up near 80 yesterday!  I love the heat, hate the cold — funny since I’m on my way back to Boston…

So this morning before leaving the hotel I reviewed my bill — I was supposed to be charged the conference rate for 3 nights, and the regular rate for 2 nights.   At the time of booking  the person on the phone said “You’ll be charged $200 for Saturday & Wednesday night”   – He repeated this again later. 
Anyhow, the bill charged both of those nights @ $239.  Not unreasonable, but not what I booked at. 

I stopped by the front desk and asked her about it, explained that I was originally told 200 for those 2 nighs. She advised they don’t have a $200 rate, but she took my word for it and corrected the bill.  Wait, why was that so easy?  In all honesty, I wasn’t about to argue over this – I did want to bring it up and see if it was a mistake.  Another example of the great customer service at that hotel.  No attitude, no 30 minute ordeal – that’s all I ask.

Sky looks clear, let’s hope there’s no delays.

I can’t say enough good things about the Embassy Suites Outdoor World in Grapevine, TX.

The staff has been outstanding, from the front desk right down to the shoe shine guy. 
I do have to point out the maid service — They have been great.  Small ”extras” that really make the room nice, such as straightening the papers on my desk, to folding a towel into a pattern and placing it in the soap dish with the soap on it.. Although it’s small touches, it’s not something they have to do.  It seemed as though each maid had their own small touches they applied to the room. One of them even fixed up all the cords from my laptop &  cell phone charges to make them neat and organized.  Or maybe she had OCD? lol .. 

Either way, it’s been an overall great stay – Being away from home and stuck in a hotel can be a real drag, but at the end of these busy days I came back to my hotel and felt relaxed.

Every morning they have a complimentary cooked to order breakfast — and around 5:30 they have a complimentary cocktail hour.  They do everything t hey can to assure the guests have a great stay, and that I appreciate.

 Thank you Embassy Suites!

I fly back tomorrow morning.. I can’t say I’m not ready to go, it’s been an exhausting week.

Another full, productive day - Attended a few good sessions today, but the one I enjoyed most was “Crazy, Busy, Nuts”, with Victoria Labalme as the speaker.  If you ever have the chance to sit in on one of her sessions, do so.  It was motivational, and provided a few of the “Ah-ha” moments we all seek at these conferences. 

Your own health and sanity is just as much important as that of the team you’re leading.  If you’re always stressed to no end, how can you effectively lead?  It’s something I often fail at as well – I fail to stop and breathe. 

I spent a good deal of time at the expo this afternoon – That last ditch effort to find the solutions you’re seeking – andof course grab every last free pen, frisbee, t-shirt, bag, and other chachkeys that you possibly can stuff into your suitcase.  I think I finally managed to stop by every booth.. maybe..

A shot of the expo –

Aside from finding new software, it’s also a great place to make new contacts, and visit old ones. 
I couldn’t believe how foggy it was this morning, I would not have expected that here in Texas.

Anyhow, I have to get ready to head back over to the conference – they’re having the “Doobie Brothers” perform tonight, should be fun!

So day 2 is now done, and my brain is far past overdone.  I’m sitting down with a rum and coke and just finished converting today’s notes into a word document.

There’s just too much information to take in, you can only hope the notes you take make sense a t the end of the day.  As the day gets later I notice that notes become incoherent scribbles – I have to decipher my own writing, how’s that work?

The great thing about today, I had a couple of those “Ah-ha!” moments.  I love those, it’s like that point that the light bulp goes off and you realize it was worth the trip and cost to attend the conference.

Many times it turns out to be something simple and right in front of your face, however you’ve been so focused on fine tuning all the details you missed the easy changes.

There was a discussion around incident surveys that really got me thinking.  What’s the best way to approach these?

• How many questions?
• How often do you send them?
• Do you allow comments?
• What rating scale do you use?

and the list goes on…  He talked about how his company sends only 1 survey per 90 days to a single customer for a solved incident…  Well good, that’s right in line with what we do - 
Then the discussion geared towards the number of questions, and the rating scale.  They use a single question: “Did you like our service?” (don’t quote me on that, the question was similar) -
The customer is given two choices –  “Yes” & “No”   -  Straight and to the point.

If the customer selects “Yes”, the survey is over.   However, if they select “No” they are prompted to explain why.
To those of us that are used to a 1 to 5 scale, or the ever popular “Very dissatisfied / Dissatisfied / Neutral/  Satisfied / Very satisfied” <–  How the hell do you actually guage that?

I think his approach is great, customers appreciate simple and to the point, and it shows in his numbers.  He has a 45% response rate.  

I think the most important piece to this is that you follow up on all negative comments.  Just filing the comment away results in no gain for your company, or the customer.  What you do with those results can  really impact your organization.  The small issues, which may seem insignificant to you, could be a big dissatisfier for your customers.

Time to find some dinner !

Well, I slept a little better last night, thankfully.

Last night was the opening to the conference, and the keynote speaker was Emmitt Smith – Yes, the former Dallas Cowboys running back.  It was called ‘A Championship Vision’.   You know, I can’t say I expected too much from this speech – I just couldn’t see how his life would relate to our industry (IT / helpdesk).  I was surprised, he did a great job.  He talked about his life from when he was a child, and the goals he first set for himself.  The work he put into these goals and how that vision compares into how we do business. 
It made alot of sense, our goals through life, and our goals to satisfy our customers.
Oh yeah, the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders opened the show, so of course it was good!

I spent a little time at the expo last night — visited a few booths, but it was so full it made it very difficult to really get any information.  I spent the time staking our which companies I’d like to talk more with over the next few days.  Tonight I’ll re-visit, and hopefully find a few companies that can provide what I’m looking for. 
I did win a backpack last night, score 1 for me!

I was going to attach a photo from the keynote, but it didn’t come out so well with my camera phone, the back-lighting was too much.

Well, just finishing my lunch, need to get ready for the afternoon sessions.

(edited this post.. clearly I shouldn’t write when I’m this tired, I realized I nearly repeated a paragraph word for word from what I wrote earlier … ahh well, think of it as a bad sequel, it’s cleaned up now) 

I went for a drive this afternoon, spent some more time viewing the area, and then find lunch.

I headed south(or maybe west?) on one of the local highways–

Off to find food! — Last night it must have taken me 40 minutes just to decide which place to eat, soo many choices!

Well, this afternoon I decided to try Sonic for lunch.  They constantly tease us up north with the Sonic commercials, however; there’s not a Sonic to be found up there. 

What I loved most is the way this place is setup -

You really can’t find this up north.  I pulled into the stall and scanned over the menu – When I was ready I hit the big red button and placed my order.

 

Since I’ve never had Sonic, I had to do it up right — I ordered the #5 (I think?), AND a fruit smooth.. Oh yeah, did I mention I  had ‘tater tots? Yes! Tater freaking tots.. awesome.  You know.. It’s clearly the simple things that get me excited… in the end it’s just another burger, but it was a damn good one!

Damn, it’s late and I’m exhausted. 

Tomorrow I’ll try and write about tonight’s opening keynote — Or maybe just more food?