My worst (and best) day in the office

Here’s a story about my worst (and best) day in the office.

It’s 2018.

We’re running a livestream where cool startups pitch their company Dragon’s-Den-style for our investor audience.

We’re into the first pitch, and everything is going well.

We experience a power cut.

We are offline.

Now, at this moment, everyone in the room is aware. The lights are off. The room has gone dark. The distant whirr of the fuse box has gone silent. 

What do you do at this point?
A) Panic 😨
B) Be calm 😅
C) Run away 🏃
D) Find someone to blame 👉🏻

In reality, I experienced A and B simultaneously.

Firstly, I tell everyone what was happening clearly: “We’ve gone offline - give me a minute.”

Secondly, assess the situation: 👀
- The laptop is still running on battery
- The wi-fi is down but Youtube Live is still looking for our signal
- One of the big fresnel lights has popped

Thirdly, fix it: 🔧
- Remove the big fresnel light and bring in a smaller temporary light
- Swap all mains-powered devices for batteries (keeping them in a dedicated place sped this up 10x)
- Bring the power back on and check everything
- Get the holding screen on and count the speaker back in

We are back online within 2 minutes, and we still have an audience.

That response from the audience and people in the room made that awful day memorable for the right reasons. 👏

I was expecting some awful feedback that afternoon, but instead had many words of encouragement.

It’s not what happens - it’s how you respond to it that matters.

I later looked over the power-hungry fresnel light that had blown the fuse. Within a couple of weeks, I had us delivered some LED alternatives that not only never blew a fuse, they were cheaper to run, and, thanks to a chunky battery, were fully portable with no trip-hazard cables. 💡

A terrible day turned into great change. ✅

Got a work story where you turned things around quickly? Did you A, B, C or D?