Sleekness & Preperation Don't Always Go Hand In Hand

Hello folks,

Things are moving along here in Uganda. We have begun our trainings and the L&C students have been great! There has been a lot of energy regarding their presenting family therapy concepts to such distinguished international audience of counselor in training and professions, but they are pulling through like champs! Everyone is getting along and are learning so much from our Ugandan colleagues.

I want to recall an iPad moment. It was the first day of training and we needed to make an adjustment based off of feedback from our counterpart, Dr. Kabura. I said,  "No problem. Let me pull the slides and I will be ready to go." This is my typical response because I always have my materials nearby. So, I went to my handy dandy iPad and looked in Keynotes and surprise the powerpoint was not there. I forgot that it was on my personal laptop that I usually carry with me everywhere. Instead I had four presentations downloaded to the iPad because I had to limit create room for more storage. I moved some of the presentations to  Google Docs and Dropbox as a way to be more efficient. Unfortunately, I did not have internet access and could not retrieve anything. I went to Dr. McDowell, only to find her in the same dilemma. It was one of those moments. We looked at each other and said, "Wish I had my laptop."

This was not the first time which I had this problem, so, it is kind of my fault, but not really. I forget how much I depend on being able to retrieve documents immediately without the internet or wifi. It is not about being prepared, but having various options for retrieval. I have been in similar situations stateside, having my iPad with my information on the thumbdrive - - those two are useless to each other, since the iPad does not have a USB port.

The iPad is great if you have time or have thought far enough ahead to have everything downloaded in advance. However, making adjustments on the fly is difficult and can be frustrating particularly, if you don't have a keypad. Although it is mobile, it is not flexible. What you have is what you have.

Of course, the presentation was fine and it is so easy to actually present from Keynote. Very visible screen for the presenter and limited ways to mess up the flow of slides. We worked things out while being reminded of the lesson learned, the last time I was in this situation. The sleekness of the devise requires you to be sleek in your planning as well. If your life is streamlined then you are right on track. If not, you better bring laptop for the heavy lifting.

Peace,
Dr. Brown