What to do in a tornado...

When a tornado hits, run to the basement, grab your loved ones, grab a battery-powered radio, and grab a Mariachi band (of course).

So, I just finished an event in Chicago. The first (now annual) Unicity Latino Convention - I should mention here that I don't speak Spanish. In the middle of our opening reception a tornado came to town. Our party was broken up and moved downstairs in the basement. People gathered nervously while the lights flickered, the rain poured and the wind tore trees out just yards from us. The band played on. People danced, sang and continued drinking well after the tornado left. And the band played on. That might just be the theme for this event...

Our event staff was delayed over six hours by the storm, so I (the one who doesn't speak Spanish) ran registration (the badges being with the delayed staff). A box of product went "missing". The key parts of our set didn't show up and the contracted company decided they didn't have them to begin with. Also, our set didn't fit in the room anyway...which is a challenge if you want people there. Most of the event ran on "Latino Time". Did I mention that I don't speak Spanish? The roof in our event room started leaking. Half our presenters were stuck in airports due to the weather. People brought "guests" to the event so the food was, uh, consumed more quickly than planned. Our specially planned menu for vegans was frustrated by the number of people asking for meat. The microphones didn't work. The executive Vice President had his flight cancelled so we stalled a lot. Chicago has a lot of toll roads, construction, and poor signs, so I spent mucho time lost and mucho of time trying to miss my flight home.

On the upside...I got the penthouse suite and a cheese plate (non-vegan)! The AV was good (with some upgrade$). The staff came, worked hard and became heroes. The hotel staff was the best I have ever worked with - they even helped with our event registration (they were non-stop great)! The people were happy. The final set looked good. The leak stopped. The sun came out and the band played on.

Hasta la vista!