Helpin' you get to the gig.

So...some people "space", and some get to the gig. Different people work best with different tools to help them fulfill their obligations and appointments.

Among the many things that'll keep us on track are:

• Smartphones
• Contact Management Software
• E-mail reminders and text messages
• "Wake up call" services
  

Smartphones
These puppies usually have a rolodex, calendar, "to-do" list, e-mail, and many other handy-dandy features.
The Palm Treo

Palm has been developing handheld devices for over 15 years. They've gotten quite good at it, and have a versatile line of products. The Treo—Palm's Smartphone—probably has the most gadgety feel to it (of all the Palm products). It offers e-mail, web access, a rolodex, a calendar, and a to-do-lis. Many models have a (still and video) camera built in. The Treo has hundreds of optional features (many of them free). You can, if you wish have a Navigation system (for getting walking or driving directions to and from anywhere) for your Treo. You can turn it into a portable music-player, get an online restaurant guide for whatever town you're in, and many other things.

The Treo is far from the only player in the handheld game.

Apple has developed the much-hyped iPhone. The iPhone (pictured to the left, fingers not included) has all the features that most Treos have, and it includes Apple's iPod technology built right in. The iPod is widely considered to be the best portable music (and video) player available. So, those who really want their tunes with their personal organizing tool, might like the iPhone better than the Treo. The screen is quite clear, and there are many built-in features. Since it's new, there aren't quite as many "add-on" products for the iPhone yet. But you can bet they'll be out soon.

For those who care mostly about e-mail, there's Research In Motion's Blackberry.

There are many more handheld devices, but..you get the idea.

The little toys aren't the only answer. Maybe you just want your phone to be a phone. Okay. No problem. For you we have...

Contact Management Software
If you prefer to be at your computer to plan your day, and prefer to carry a list of what you're doing that day, there are many solutions for you. The most popular of these is known as contact management software or Contact Relationship Management software, if you care to use the industry term.

It'll keep track of your "rolodex", calendar, to-do list, and hopefully, a history of every "contact" you've had with clients, prospects, vendors, or your great aunt Tilly, if you wish.

If you wish to take your CRM on the road, most of them synchronize withSmartphones.

There are SO many examples of CRM tools, that we'd do a disservice to any one product by naming only a few here. We have our favorites, and help folks using PCs, Macs, or..nothing in particular to select the one that's best for them.

HERE is a key point, though, with selecting a CRM tool. If you are responsible for getting someone to wherever they have to be, but aren't necessarily in the same office as them, you should make sure you're using the same tool they are. We have been to MANY offices where the boss likes one calendar software, and the personal assistant who's new, uses the one that came with her computer. (Again, we won't name names. Contact me if you have questions.

We'll skip e-mail reminders and text messages for now. Let's explore a low-tech option.

Wake Up Call Services
Maybe you're a low tech person, and have enough devices in your life. Fair enough! Think about using a wake-up call service. They do MORE than 5 AM calls. They can be notified to call you 5 times a day if you need it, and the wake up call times can vary every day if you wish. Some have automated voicemail greetings/reminders, and others have actual humans ring you up.

Not sure how to go about setting it all up? Give us a call, send me a note.

Space—The Final Excuse...

Today I recalled a few of the stories performing artists have told me over the years about "getting to the gig".

My favorite, and the saddest of them is the following: Years ago, I was on a recording session with legendary guitarist Eric Gale. Eric told me one of his "Dude, I Spaced" stories...though in his story, he was a beneficiary of that too-often used sub-excuse.

A well-known jazz composer and bandleader (whom we won't name here), was contracted to play a concert tour in Japan. He was travelling with a rhythm section (that's guitar, keyboards, bass, and drums), and some horns (saxophones, trombones, trumpets, perhaps). When the bandleader arrived in Japan, he hooked up with all but one of the band members. The guitarist he'd originally hired hadn't shown up. The bandleader called the guitarist's home in New York, to find that the guitarist was not only still at home, but was high on cocaine. He had forgotten to go to Japan! Eric was called in at the last minute, went to Japan, and saved the tour.

Imagine you're responsible for hauling all the equipment necessary for your employees to do their time-sensitive job, you take a left on the highway instead of a right, wind up 60 miles off course, and two hours late. Chances are that someone (besides you) will be slightly annoyed at this "turn" of events.

It's safe to assume that most people who have made it to the higher echelons of showbusiness, have earned their status, in part, because they made it to "the gig" a large majority of the time. Whether it was a 6AM call on a movie set, a deadline for a manuscript, or a 4PM bar-mitzvah, the successful people generally do what it takes to ensure they are there to do their thing when their audience expects them to be there.

Woody Allen taught us that "90% of life is just showing up".

Comedian Barry Sobel told us one of the many differences between New York and L.A.. He said that "In New York, when you tell your friend 'I'll meet you at the movie theater at 10 o' clock', you meet them at the theater at 10 o' clock!'...In L.A., they might not show up at all! The next morning, you call them up, and they say 'Dude! I spaced!'...'Dude, I spaced' is an excuse in L.A.!!".

Well, clearly the "Dude, I spaced!" people aren't ones we'd expect to see starring in a Broadway show, or playing concerts at arenas around the world. Typically, those who are successful show up on time, and rarely (if ever) "space".


Most of us are just hard-working people. If we have to go to Japan (or perhaps to downtown Kansas City) for work, we wouldn't be likely to forget that. In this day of so many things competing for our attention—advertisements everywhere, e-mail, podcasts, children, work deadlines, and...just the many distractions of day-to-day life in the "age of technology"—it's conceivable that even we might "space" on some important obligation or other. We might not forget to go to Japan, but..something that's time-sensitive might escape our attention once in a while.

How do we reduce the chances of missing an appointment, then?

There is an abundance of tools available to us today that will do everything from beep and buzz in our hands at a pre-set time, send us e-mail reminders well in advance of our appointments, pop up on our computer screens, and maybe even come to our door, ring our bell, and escort us out to whatever the "gig" of the moment is.

In the next post, we'll explore some of those options. Stay tuned. Write to me if you have questions.

(Introductory Post) I got those "Low tech profession in a high tech world blues"

So..here's another techie blog. Wonderful, right? Well, maybe you'll find something here that'll be useful to you. Whether you're in the arts and entertainment industries or not, you may find something here that you can use in your own work and play. If you do, drop me a note, or please post a comment on the blog.

Dragonfly Technologies is dedicated to serving the arts and entertainment—actors, authors, screenwriters, comedians, musicians of all sorts, dancers, general performers and all those who help the artists "get to the gig". The accountants, attorneys, personal assistants, managers, agents, and occasionally housekeepers of the creators and performers are a central part of making sure that the artist gets to the gig, and has more gigs to get to after the current one's over.

Performance and creative artistry are, at their core, very low tech. A standup comic uses his or her brain, body, and possibly a microphone, to evoke involuntary physical responses from another human being. Hopefully that involuntary physical response is laughter. All the comic really needs (unless that comic is Carrot Top or Gallagher) is their mind and their body to do their job. Richard Pryor did standup comedy from a wheelchair during his last years living with Multiple Sclerosis. Jonathan Katz still does great standup, as well as many other really funny things, and he too has MS. (More on Jonathan later).

Shakespeare wrote Hamlet without the aid of Final Draft. Actors were asking "To be, or not to be?" long before there were blowdryers, house lights, or instant-drying nail polish. Mozart wrote 41 symphonies without Finale. Does that mean we should all be luddites, and use only our raw talent to bring new creative works into the world? Of course not!

Johnny Carson said that the definition of an optimist is "an accordionist with a beeper". Today we might substitute cell-phone or Blackberry for "beeper", but you get the idea. In today's world, comedians have Blackberries. Every so often I receive last-minute instructions / requests for website updates for the headliner comics, or high-profile authors we serve. Those requests are usually along the lines of "It's 12:45. I'm going to be on CNBC at 2PM. Please make sure we put up A, B, C, and my whole January calendar on the site by 1:45.".

Although we have a great staff for that kind of thing, pulling off that kind of last minute update isn't always easy. But the instant communication became possible when the creative folks and his/her team use the right tools to collaborate on getting to the gig, and parlaying the current gig into the next one, the bigger one, the one that'll allow their agent to get a better computer.

We're there to make sure the creative artist has all the best technology tools to aid them in their process; that they use those tools as efficiently as possible; and that they get to the gig, publicize the current and upcoming ones, and can continue unencumbered in creating things that make the world better.

So..bottom line: Creative arts which are low tech can benefit from high tech tools to do low tech things. Those who assist performers, artists or writers should definitely make the best use possible of the tech tools, so that the creative artist can be left alone to do their thing. Lawyers, accountants, agents, managers, personal assistants, website developers and computer techs for the artist, should all be using the best tools possible to collaborate better toward serving the creative professional, and helping them to bring joy to the world.