Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Plans for Tomorrow - Rail-Volution Conference

Well, things are a little different in terms of plans and logistics for tomorrow, but I think it's going to turn out o.k. or better. I kept focusing on the need to automate what would normally be a traditional PowerPoint presentation - minimizing moving parts for presentation on the bus. Through this video software program that I downloaded, I thought that would be possible.

As I was assembling this PowerPoint and the minutes turned to hours turned to days, I thought better of that and am gong decidedly low tech in terms of the presentation method. What better way that to print out the PowerPoint and present it that way. No messing with whatever is on the bus, no disappointments and anxiety the morning of. What is missed though is all the nifty animations and gizmos that I implanted in the PowerPoint.

But, there is an alternative to that and it involves a new technology, to me, that will allow an upload of the entire presentation to a website that will contain my narration in real time. That way, anyone can access it as if it were a live presentation and they will have the benefit of seeing things how they were meant to seen. I plan on working on that over the coming weekend, so stay tuned. I will be sure to provide a link here.

The other change in plans, and I am disappointed in this, is that I will not be riding Tri-Rail to Miami tomorrow morning. Gone is the attempt of early-rising at 4 a.m. (that I will not miss) and taking the 5 a.m. southbound to Miami, going to the Metrorail and then a cab to the hotel. That would have been "walking the walk" as they say. I've done the trip many times on the weekends before and found it quite enjoyable. This decision was made since it turns out that I would need a "pack mule" to accompany me as I am now toting enough copies of the presentation for people on the bus, along with Lake Worth books from the Greater Lake Worth Chamber of Commerce (they have a lot of them in their office for sale for $10, you might want to check them out) and some CDs spotlighting Lake Worth. That, plus my stuff including laptop and related ephemera, puts it over the scales in terms of using Tri-Rail. So, I will be going in my car, which allows me to leave at a little more leisurely hour. Now I will be riding the bus back to Miami and then will have to drive my car back in the evening. But, that's how it goes.

We miss out on attempts to photo-journalize this Tri-Rail adventure. That will have to wait for another day.

So you ask, "Wes, why should we care about this?". And I say "I don't really know why." However, I do know that there is great interest in this conference and the attention that is being paid to Lake Worth is a wonderful opportunity for us to all learn more. There is nothing wrong with learning and that is what tomorrow is all about. Remember the final presentation will be at 3:30 p.m. in the Commission Chambers.

I'll have my camera with me during the day so expect a post highlighting what transpired along with some digital pictures.