So Johnson Cook (Peach COO), Ryan Graham (VP, Sales, Peach), Tom Kerwin (Sales Associate, Peach) and I went to the ASAE Annual Conference in Toronto last week. The days were filled with meeting people we’ve only talked to on the phone, meeting other vendors, and of course meeting association execs interested in webinars, webcasts and building a community around their knowledge.
The evenings were filled with other kinds of networking. The kind of networking I have not participated in since college. And this is when I began to acknowledge my age. Well after my bedtime, a young lass stepped up to me and with the music pounding in the background and she yells, “I’LL GIVE YOU $20 (Canadian, I assumed) IF YOU CAN TELL ME WHO SINGS THIS SONG!!!” I didn’t hear everything she said but heard enough to know the answer was “Justin Timberlake”. Her jaw dropped and I heard her say, defeated, “Oh my God! (OMG) I thought you were, like, 40!”
Well, I am like 40. And I know who Justin Timberlake is. I like to think I’m hip.
And being nearly 40, I have worldly knowledge (extend a slow nod and a knowing wink if you’re over 40). For instance, I remember the Rubik’s Cube when it first came out in the late 70’s. I also remember getting 2 sides solid before giving up and going back to riding my Flying Turtle down the drive way.
(Flashforward) – Last week, among the people we met at the ASAE Food and Wine Classic in Toronto was Eric Limeback. Eric solved the Rubik’s cube for us in about 11 seconds.
And if you search YouTube, you’ll see videos of Eric doing this blindfolded. Really???? Yes. So I Googled it… How can it be?.
Ok, so I fell asleep in the second paragraph but I dreamed about how similar the theory is to the way we run webinars. Everything is discombobulated to start. But based on the configuration and the state of things, we (and Eric) apply certain memorized algorithms to produce the end result. It’s a collection of procedures all glued together. Every event is managed and treated differently, just as every time Eric solves the Rubik’s cube he applies a different set of algorithms.
Funny how everything comes back to webinars for me…. Funny how I’m comparing my genius with Eric’s.
Just curious: Have you ever had success in solving the Rubik’s Cube? How old were you when it first came out? Do you know who Just Timberlake is?
4 Comments
I could never figure out how anyone could solve those Rubik cubes!? I am sorry i missed the ASAE Annual Conference…hopefully our budgets will be more bountiful next year. As I hear it, we may be loosing money by NOT attending! Thanks for the insightful (and entertaining) blogs.
I was about 16 when the Rubik’s cube came out and I have not in 30 years been able to solve it!! I will be 46 next month and I even own a Justin Timberlake cd! My daughter who is 23 thought I was stupid but when I played it she liked it. He really is talented.
I was in college when Rubik’s cube came out, and was never able to get more than two sides, even though I am good at puzzles. Know who Justin Timberlake is, but don’t own any of his music. Just not my type of music. Only had one friend who was able to solve the cube.
I’ve never solved the Rubik’s cube, but thought the building with one sort of sticking out of it was super cool in Toronto. I can’t believe some girl came up to you and said that!