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Plan, Then Plan Again

Switching plans always brings with it a level of stress and anxiety, but also gives us a creative opportunity to rise to the occasion.

Changing Plans
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It happens. You make plans. Things change. You make plans again. Although in these days with conditions changing rapidly on a daily basis, it seems we are making plans again and again and again.

Take my daughter’s high school graduation. As the youngest of three, we knew what to expect — sitting in the bleachers next to the football field, full of pride, watching her and her friends make the next big leap in their lives. But those plans were scrapped early on in May for a drive-by graduation later in June in the front parking lot of the high school.

Okay, adjust the old plan for the new plan. Got it.

Then it was decided it would be pushed back to mid-July so we could have an in-person graduation. Great — she can be with her friends, and we get the pride-in-the-bleachers moment. Plan again. Then it was announced that there would be four ceremonies to keep the crowd sizes down, so fewer friends, and we would sit with her on the field.

Then, days before the event, we found out it will be moved to a few days later, with 10 ceremonies total in order to have less people. More scratches on the calendar. Got it; understood — plan again.

On the professional front, this issue offers several examples of that roll-with-the-changes mentality. For starters, August is typically our CEDIA Expo preview issue, but with the show going virtual, we didn’t have a lot to share at press time. However, we are working to bring you a CEDIA Expo Companion closer to the show where you can find out what virtual product introductions and education options await you.

Plan, then plan again.

And then there was the original cover story for this month, which was going to be about building home podcasting studios for clients. However, when I couldn’t turn up any viable examples, I had to scrap it, at least for now. [Note: If you have built any home podcasting or game streaming rooms, please contact me, as I’m still interested.]

Fortunately, Luxul’s Mike Grubb sent in an amazing roundtable with a collection of some of the best minds in CI talking about how they adjusted their business plans when COVID-19 hit, and how they continue to evolve as we move forward.

Plan, then plan again.

Finally, we have this month’s feature story about Portal — a true case study in planning and planning again. Their initial offerings knocked it out of the park with dealers, manufacturers, and distributors alike. But when they switched their business model based on what their studies showed dealers were looking for, it had less-than-favorable results. A new plan was formed, and now Portal is back on track and seeing growth even in the midst of this economic downturn.

Switching plans always brings with it a level of stress and anxiety, but also gives us a creative opportunity to rise to the occasion. As a result, often times the new plan works better that the original scheme ever would have.

Hopefully, you’ll agree this issue reflects that idea…

 

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