VON Canada - I've been to the edge...
I went from the plane directly to the hotel. Checked in and dropped my bags behind the counter. Trent was waiting, we had a serious mission that needed our attention immediately upon my arrival in Toronto.We had two tickets to see the Jays and Twins in the season opener at Rogers Centre, yes we have our priorities straight, dead on. There we met with our partners from Natural Convergence, who says you can't mix business with pleasure.
The next morning started early, breakfast at 6:30am, 3:30am Vancouver time.. needless to say I was a little slow to get started. Our 7:30 meeting was downtown, just a few blocks from the hotel, with a certain financial group which went off well I thought.
From there I went to my VON presentation: SMB IP Market Opportunity which seemed to be well received, Jon Arnold did a great job moderating. Joining me on the panel were David Madelstam - Sangoma, Mahshad Koohgoli - Avaya P2P and Paul H. from Cisco. The pitch was pretty much the same across the board; cost, reliability, features, and simplicity. In my presentation, I coined this paradigm shift in the SMB space as SMB 2.0, I just couldn’t resist.
It certainly was a smaller show than San Jose but it was large compared to the VON Canada 2 years ago when Trent and I met up for that first ball game. On a sidebar, somebody said that they heard that Pulver and I do not get along. Maybe someone knows something I do not but from where I am sitting Jeff and I get along just fine, such a weird comment.
Trent and I grabbed a quick lunch with our bankers and then onward to the airport for a quick trip to Ottawa. I was supposed to be in a dinner meeting this eve (as I write this) but I opted out as I needed to spend some quality time with my wife, if only by phone. Lisa has been waiting patiently in the shadows as I jet set around the continent tending to Shift business.
My wife deserves better. Don't get me wrong, I love my job but I love my wife and son more. Tomorrow we are in meetings all day here and then back on a plane to Vancouver to deal with some business and record the Analyst Perspective podcast there before the weekend sets in.
Thanks to everyone who made it out to VON Canada, it was great to see that showing of support for IP Communications in Canada.
Your aces in my book.
hi, how r u? i wanna congrat u for this work. see ya!
His best bet, other than flying space-available as already noted, is to call around to the various airlines and inquire about bereavement fares. Many airlines offer discounts on last-minute tickets for funerals and the like -- those are typically better deals than what can be found online, but if an airline offers them, it's usually over the phone rather than online.